zayda_asher

I agree that education is at the heart of the matter... and its about putting it into the everyday, so that people are learning even when they think they aren't or relating it to other topics that they do care about, so that there is an incentive there for them to learn. I'd love to see dog info etc. as a part of pre and post natal classes for example. One of the best models is the Calgary one, which is focused on positively reinforcing owners for appropriate actions with their dogs. This has seen the city’s dog attacks falling to the lowest levels in 25 years. In fact, it has been noted that Pit Bull ownership in the city of Calgary has actually increased in this period as well! Here is a little info, there's heaps out there if you google. Also the paper "A Community Approach to Dog Bite Prevention" talks in depth about what changes can be made to improve matters in this regard. It is located here, scroll down to useful links. There are other papers out there as well on this topic. Sadly, it takes a lot to convince people to put these sorts of programs in place in stead of BSL, as its seen as a soft option by the gen. pub and they want to see that something is being "done" and they want to see it now! BSL gives them that feeling of something being done now, even though its only a bandaid. Pollies like it for this reason too, as it is a vote winner.

Yes and if you ask people "what's a pit bull" a good portion of people actually describe a bull terrier! A lot of people actually think that the bull terrier IS the restricted pit bull!! That's just the beginning of the ID problems

Good to hear, hopefully you see improvement in her condition! Let us know how you go

I believe that there can be nausea because of the balance issues etc. Don't quote me on that though, because I haven't seen it in action for myself. There are dogs in Aus that have had it, but as with a lot of things many people don't talk about it. There is a lot of discussion on the LAST re: the development of the test, subsequent testing and what is known about the disease in general (not personal) terms, I think you may also find a story from one of the US memebers about her ataxic dog in one of those threads... you'll have to search back through to find them though. If you can't find the post I can dig up the members details so you can PM them. I can also point you to a couple of other international forums that would have info if you want.

I hope for you that its NOT HA, but it is worth being aware of when you are dealing with a problem of this nature. 5ish is around when symptoms can start to manifest in AST. Here are a couple of links with some info: http://www.amstaff.org/Health%20Committee.html http://maubras.marine.free.fr/communiqueSTCA1en.htm http://maubras.marine.free.fr/communiqueSTCA2en.htm If you are on any of the AST forums you should be able to find old topics on this. ETA: Unless your vet is very knowledgeable of AST, then I'd expect them not to know much about HA in the breed... I'd go armed with info to show them. And there is a test now that can be done to see if the dog is ataxia affected, carrier or clear.

Glad you found a solution Just wanted to ask / check though: was hereditary ataxia ruled out? If you don't see any improvement in her, then you may want to check for this as HA was/is often mistaken for VD. VD is reasonably common in AST / APBT though, I just thought I'd mention the HA in case. How old is she now?

No worries Erny our flat grinding teeth definitely give us the advantage with those tough skins! ;)

Nope, not an issue - it's the skin... He would've swallowed most of them whole and the skin isn't digestible = whole peas out the other end. If you swallow peas whole the same thing will happen to you! This will happen with anything with a tough outer skin, so a lot of legumes, corn, etc. So even cooked things like that will need mashing. So it was perfectly normal

I've never heard of SM in any of the Bull Breeds, so I'd be very interested in any info K&P has on this. There are a couple of different types of Ataxia in some of the Bull Breeds, I wonder if this is what they were thinking of?

Have you had a chance to balance his diet yet, or is he still on elimination? Some imbalances in minerals and vits can change coat condition. You might find Monica Segal's books helpful: http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DN211 http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DN246

The Evening Primrose IS given orally, not used topically. Its used in conjunction with fish oil, or whatever else is being given for omega 3s. It is given for the omega 6, which they have found to be vital to improved skin barrier function, which they now believe may play a very important role in allergies. On the Vit E: be careful if you now think you are dealing with Adverse Food Reactions. Most Vit E is made from soy, which is another pretty common allergen, as soy is used in so many things. I'm on the look out for an E that is not soy based, so if any one knows of a brand I would love to hear what it is!

I agree. As someone who shares their life with two very allergic dogs I can say that its a hard job and a job you have for the life time of the dog. Treating them properly is time consuming and expensive and its heart breaking when they are sick and miserable. Its not fair on the people or the dog to re-home to people who have no idea what they will be dealing with and may not be committed to the time and dollar investment an allergic dog is. It appears your current vet isn't leading you through elimination diet properly... Here's a chart showing time line and steps for elimination: I'd be having a talk to the rescue about finding some more money to spend on this dog - as the others have said: if he is allergic, then its only going to get worse as he ages, definitely not better!

If he does have food allergies he is absolutely likely to have atopy as well (that's pollen and other air born allergens)... food allergies are relatively uncommon and dogs who have them almost always have coconmittant atopy, as it is the most common form of allergy. So chances are, if it is allergies, he will need more than just an elimination of food sources to stay itch free. Good luck with him

Stick with the elimination diet. If the dog does have Adverse Food Reactions then these can actually prevent the dog from getting good nutrition from the food and gaining weight appropriately... work out what they are responding to, eliminate them from the diet and you often see improvement.

Yes different ingredients to the ones in the shops. They didn't have the coating on them to start with. Maybe 5 ingredients. Chicken, rice, guar gum, durum flour is what I can remember. They aren't listed on the website either. Right, that's interesting... didn't know they had anything else! Less ingredients to test is certainly a bonus!

Certainly sounds like it... My girl was an unsual one in that she had food allergies and only one atopic allergy when first diagnosed (a bad one though)... she developed more atopy as she aged. So it certainly can happen that there are out of the norm cases! I wouldn't discount that there may be other allergies though, even if they're mild. Is that different ingreedient wise to the ones they sell in the shops? They balls they sell in the shop have at least 13 different things in them you would need to test, not including the vit and minerals.

It's probably also important to remember that food allergies (true food allergies, as opposed to intolerances or IBD etc) are the rarer form of allergies: if the dog is having adverse food reactions then it's likely that they will also have other allergies like atopy (air borne) and / or insect, as they are much more common... So you may see a reduction, but not a total improvement unless you also cover those bases. It's also not that common to just have one thing that causes Adverse food reaction, but more likely to be a few items.

As long as you fed the novel diet for long enough to establish that there aren't other complicating factors, as listed on the chart. If you saw improvement, then I'd go back to the novel diet and retest every ingreedient individually... I personally feel it's better to KNOW what the dog is rsponding to, as this gives you more choices... Some people prefer just to stick to the novel diet, but if they develop intollerance / allergy to that, then you can have problems if you don't know what else you can use! And remember that the dog can be allergic / intolerant of ANYTHING at all in the diet - so things like commercial foods (like the 4 legs) that have lots of things in them are a potential mine field... look at the ingreedient list on them and test those things as well (including all the veg). good luck with it!

This is a good flow chart of how a proper elimination diet should work:

Give Oxford St Pet Meat Suppliers in Mt Hawthorn a try: they used to have Roo and Goat steaks and also Horse steaks 9444 1220 Also go into places like Coles at the end of the day on days like Saturday (when they really need to sell what's left before use by date) and they often have their meats reduced to sell - I buy bulk in things like lamb when it's on sale and freeze it to use ETA: I used to microwave meatballs when I could only get mince, it's much easier than baking if you haven't tried that yet..

Did you read the ingredient list for the sausages? Most will have fillers in them - they use a binder called "Rusk" that is often wheat, rice or soy ETA: Additive Alert is a great book to get, as you can check on the numbers used for additives etc. on ingredient lists and check what they are made of Thanks Zayder - I had not idea what the sausages had in that made him itch but now I can see why he cant have them, rice and wheat is a no no for him, I have not tried soy as yet on its own Hate having a dog with food allergies it makes getting treats very difficult The absolute best thing to make habit is to pick anything up and read the ingredient list first! Everyone thinks I'm mad these days because I can't pick up a single thing without looking at ingreedients or get something without asking the person behind the counter "what's in it?!" Saves a lot of drama though!! The other thing you will often get with processed meat products, besides fillers or thickeners (which can also include maize for those corn allergic) is that they will bulk them with random other meats to use up the left overs, so that's another good way to sneak an allergen in if you aren't aware! (so a salaami may be mostly pork, which it says on the front lable "pork salaami, but read the ingreedients and it also has a little beef or lamb in it) That absolute easiest thing I find for safe treats is to buy cheap cuts (whatever is on sale) of the meats they are safe with (elimination diet meat if they are still on ED) and boil it until it's just cooked through: this is a nice, tender, tasty, high value treat for them Just chop into little pieces, bag up and freeze. Edit for spelling & clarity!

Did you read the ingredient list for the sausages? Most will have fillers in them - they use a binder called "Rusk" that is often wheat, rice or soy ETA: Additive Alert is a great book to get, as you can check on the numbers used for additives etc. on ingredient lists and check what they are made of

Not really because he had his own pool before and still got hotspots. They all came out after his last immunotherapy jab ( like a day and a half later) the dermatologist feels it could be a reaction to the shot - they are all on his neck as well so it very well could be. Hmmm, all on the neck around the injection does sound suspect for being a reaction to the immuno But something else to consider: his "pool" was most likely a clam shell or similar, yes? So no chemicals / salt... that could make a difference. Chlorine is quite harsh on the skin and salt, whilst it can be good, might be abrasive on an open wound... so even if it's not causing it, it may contribute? Hope they clear up soon!

Ah, just so you know too WA is most definitely not a BSL free state... we HAVE BSL... but you can re-home here under our current legislation... However they are looking at changing and "toughening" it again, so who knows what clap they will come out with this time...

Monica Segal's books and seminars (on CD) are great: http://www.monicasegal.com/