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Jana

It’s kind of like having blisters on your feet. You can treat the blisters but you need to see whether your shoes are too large, too small, there is a rock in them … otherwise the blisters will keep coming back.

9 years ago
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Jana

Chronic infections of any kind always have an underlying issue to bring them about. With ears, it could be the anatomy of the ears, it could be allergies (it’s allergies most of the time) … the only way to truly address the infections is to find and address the underlying cause.

9 years ago
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Jana

Dogs can get digestive upset from abrupt change in food, particularly kibble. The main question is whether that’s what did it or whether it’s a coincidence. It is likely that’s what did it, though. That’s why gradual change is recommended.

Another thing to consider whether your dog is dehydrated at this point, or in pain, or in more serious distress than the diarrhea itself. Still acting normally? Playful? No lethargy? I any additional signs of concern, I’d contact a vet.

If not, I’d let the system rest for a day with providing just water or potentially home made broth or bone broth. Then the question is whether bland diet (such as boiled chicken with rice or white potato) is a better idea or whether it’s best to return to the original kibble, let things settle down and if you still want to change do it very gradually.

9 years ago
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Jana

Yes, that sounds right, sounds like hematoma (blood pocket caused by blood pooling from broken blood vessel(s). Here is the thing:

– it can go away on its own but it could take a long time and leave the ear deformed (cauliflower ear)
– I’m quite sure it’s pretty uncomfortable and painful
– most importantly, this often happens when a dog shakes their head a lot because of an ear infection (though it could be just from accidentally shaking and hitting the ear on a table edge or something like that)

So yes, I would see a vet, have him checked to make sure there is no ear infection/inflammation going on and have it treated if there is and I would have the blood pocket treated or at least evaluated.

9 years ago
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Jana

I’d be quite concerned about this. It is possible that the two things are not related but on the other hand it is possible they might be. How about a specialty hospital, where they’d review both dogs’ records in detail and could make recommendations? Or consultation with Dr. Donna Spector https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Donna-Spector-164741590205413/

9 years ago
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Jana

If he actually eats it rather than just shreds it, it could make him sick. I think that’s what killed my childhood guinea pig – he was eating everything in sight. I think I’d switch to some heavy-duty unbreakable glass bowl instead or something that is safe and cannot be eaten.

9 years ago
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Jana

Jasmine had IBD caused by food allergies, which is likely the case with your dog as well. There are reasons behind prescription foods, they are easy to digest, provide all needed nutrition and some of them are either hypoallergenic or limited novel ingredient. With IBD, if offending ingredient gets reintroduced, you might end up with a flare-up again.

With Jasmine, we managed her IBD with home-cooked diet, herbal therapy, probiotics and digestive enzymes.

If your prescription food is hydrolyzed, you’d have to carefully try novel ingredient diet (ingredients your dog NEVER had before). Accomplishing this with home-cooked diet is easier than commercial foods, because with hopefully exception of the prescription foods, it has been found they contain all kinds of ingredients not listed on the labels (likely from insufficient or no cleaning of the equipment between different recipe batches). So choosing such food you’re risking your dog eating the very ingredients that are behind the problem. Home-cooking, you have full control over what goes in. For that, you could work with BalanceIT to get recipes as well as balancing supplement. You could work with co-ops to obtain the ingredients you need for reasonable price. And you could cook relatively large batches at the time and freezing it.

I’m afraid that anything else you try might lead to flare-ups unless there are some manufacturers out there who guarantee full ingredient control over their formulas. Perhaps somebody like Honest Kitchen or Lucky Dog Cuisine might but I don’t know whether that would come cheaper or not.

9 years ago
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Jana

It sounds like you waited too long to resolve this problem. I would recommend seeing a vet, for two reasons

– they might be able to sedate her so she can be cleaned up and groomed properly
– they might help you determine whether her distaste for grooming stems from pain which can often be the case

If pain is at the root of the problem, it needs to be addressed. If there is nothing medically wrong with her, you need to start training her to accept care right away. Check out Donna Hill’s youtube channel, she’s got some great videos showing how a dog can be condition to accept all sorts of care including teeth brushing, nail clipping … the principle is the same for all such things.

9 years ago
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Jana

Dogs don’t make themselves throw up in order to get it to eat it again. Throwing up for extended period of time, particularly after a meal is a concern.

If stomach content comes out “on its own” without any heaving, it’s called regurgitation. That can have its own set of causes, such as megaesophagus, which is pretty serious stuff. Is he losing any weight? Reasons for vomiting can range from issues in the digestive system itself to systemic problems such as kidneys or liver.

With your set of symptoms, please do take him to a vet and have this diagnosed so you can treat it accordingly.

http://dawgbusiness.blogspot.ca/2015/01/symptoms-to-watch-for-in-your-dog.html  

http://dawgbusiness.blogspot.ca/2015/02/symptoms-to-watch-for-in-your-dog.html  

9 years ago
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Jana

What kind of a burn (I believe you mentioned in another post). How long since? How large? I can’t see a callus forming from that? Rather a scab or lesion …? To promote healing, likely raw Manuka honey (worked wonders on JD’s post op wound after tumor removal), or Prep H. To promote elasticity, coconut oil perhaps.

9 years ago

Jana

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