DianeMcA

Day 4 and feet are looking good, kangaroo and sweet potato for tea, 550grms veges and 850grms kangaroo meat, what a huge feed !!! But he ate it, went for a walk this morning , no feet protection , I let him run, he was twisting and bucking , washed feet down with rain water and thoroughly dried them , that was hours ago and feet still look good , it is not raining today, so I'm heading out in the front yard to mow the grass, I will keep him inside, my vet said that if I keep him off the kikuyu he will likely develop an allergy to another grass ,some of you may not believe the vet said that and that I'm making it up to cover another of my ideas , he also told me to keep up with the omega oils,VC and acidophilus

Just went for a walk , I wrapped his legs in plastic as there is long grass around the edges of the road , his feet look pinker than before but I think maybe they got hot

OMG what a process , Ralph's feet look fantastic ,it's day 3 with no grass contact, I will work with my vet and discuss the next process but yes , I have spoke about blood tests with him before and he's not that keen

Blood tests for allergies ,not sure how they check it, maybe for deficiencies ?

Blood test for what, in particular?

How do I get in contact with you about green tripe ? Do you know anywhere closer to Bega where I could get it ?

The vet advised me to try a protein he hadn't tried before and suggested kangaroo ,human grade no additives,also the blood tests are almost $500.00, so I am trying one thing at a time ,off the grass and very basic diet , fingers crossed

So much going on & so many things tried that will not give you a clue. You have been all over the place. Thing is your dog may be allergic to kangaroo or even sweet potato. Maybe even Calendula. I was allergic to Aloe Vera & it was advised for my skin complaint. You or even the vet have no idea. The blood tests do not always show an allergy but its a starting point & they may show something so its best to have them done & you may get some clue. You may not but try it. Stick to one food for a few days it won't harm him. Maybe beef & beef bones. Stop all chemicals including flea stuff. No chemicals around the floors either. Hot water with a little white vinegar in on hard surfaces & no carpet fresheners etc on carpets, only vacuum daily. Any commercial dry food is no help as it has all sorts in & you would never know what exact ingredient was the culprit if aggravating. Keep a diary & note reactions & introduce new things one at a time. Don't put anything on his feet at all. Its a slow methodical process of elimination if you have the patience. There is no quick fix to these type of things. Good luck.

I edited my reply as I only put plastic on his feet to go outside for a walk , the shoes he has only really cover a short way past his foot and we have had non stop rain and the grass is way higher than that on the side of the road when we go for a walk , I try to stick to the gravel road but he likes to pee on the grass , he was so loving his walk today , it was raining lightly and he would do this whole body shake , starting at his head , moving down his body and finally his whippy tail, he is really content tonight laying stretched out on a leather lounge next to the cat, he normally chases the cat , wish I could put photos on here, he's just gorgeous ,also I have 5 dogs,one is 16, so I do know how to look after dogs, Ralph is my first with allergies, and I was upset with a post earlier accusing me almost of abuse of him and suggesting I give him to someone else for him to spread his wings , :-(

I have acted on the advice , I have removed wandering jew , but there is none in the front yard that is fully fenced and that is where he has been kept and not going up to the stables, I have rang a dermatologist and asked what would be involved in the consult and Sydney being 5 hrs away , I spoke to my local vet and the blood tests can be done here, and sent away, I have had him the last 2 days inside and before going out for walks ,I have been wrapping his feet in plastic and putting on non skip slippers over the top and he has had 3 good long walks today and in the rain, I am not giving him any additives only kangaroo and cooked sweet potato , I am spraying calandular tea on his legs and he is very content at the moment, I am only wanting the best for this dog ,I am under the guidance of my vet and following what he says, he does not believe blood tests are that accurate, I am trying to avoid the use of steroids and it is looking like a contact allergy so far, in the front yard we only have kikuyu and shrubs ,so it maybe the kikuyu,I spoke yesterday to a local nursery about getting rid of the grass and putting gravel down ,I think I am doing enough and I am sure Ralph would have had a dose of antibiotics by now if I hadn't been so persistent and obsessed with the prevention of his condition worsening, I have been to 2 different vets,one that dosed him up to the eye balls with cortisone and now a holistic vet , and if the vet at home can't sort him out ,then yes , we will make the trip to Sydney , and I appreciate the advice and that is the beauty of these forums ,to get a variety of opinions and knowledge from people that have been through this before and act on what I consider good advice.

We have a good fenced front yard with no wandering jew in it, I kept him only in that yard on Wednesday it has kikuyu in it , the grass is a bit long at the front as we have had rain for a good week, well his feet and back of legs went bright red and warm to touch, and lick lick chew chew, so from lunch time on I kept him inside and walked him out on the road with boots on, Today his feet have calmed down and I have been walking him with boots and plastic wrapped around the bottom of his leg as it is raining again, he is still sometimes licking them but not as much he is a lot happier, but this morning his legs are dry and some scabs that started to bleed , I put calandular ointment on them , I also got some calandular flowers yesterday and made a tea and sprayed over his legs last night, with his legs being dry and cracked should I just leave them ? I will keep him inside tomorrow as well, but yes as we suspected it is most likely a contact allergy, hopefully not food as well, I rang my vet yesterday about blood tests , he said they weren't that accurate , it's lucky I have a few days off work and I can keep an eye on him , gees what do you do with a hunting dog with grass allergies ? Can you ever cure that ? Or do you just manage it ?

I appreciate all the advice , we had rain for 4 days and he hardly went outside and his feet looked the best they ever have, I thought you beauty !! They started to look better when I started the ivermectin (vets advice) he has had it 5 times , so I didn't know if it was not going outside or the ivermectin that helped , anyway you will get mad at me , but I thought he wasn't gaining wright with his kangaroo raw vege diet so I spoke to the vet and put him on Sciience diet for large puppies plus kangaroo meat, I spoke with the nutritionslist at SDiet and it made sense , I have been gradually adding it, day 3 today, so yesterday evening we went for a big walk around the old race course feet look good ,got home and washed them with neem oil soap, he was licking them a bit , well during the night licking and going on and today very red and some little pin prick size of blood he has a red spotty rash on his belly as well , so what now? What was the ratio of the ACV wash ? and do I just pour that on him and then rinse followed by calandular tea? he is still having omega 3,6,9 and VC and acidophilus , I don't think boots would help as he is in and out all day and I work .

Ralph has a sore on his toe this morning ,it looks like a busted blister, but there was no blister on it last night , I haven't been putting anything on his feet just trying to encourage his immune system to work ,why would sores be coming out on him now? They are shiny moist looking things,he was whinging last a bit , but he is happy and in good spirits and hungry , is it a start of staph infection? his feet didn't look as red but he is licking them again I am at work so I can't be checking up on him

I know with the boots, I got him some toddler boots/slipper with those sticky bottoms and I velcrowed around the top , and he tries to bite them off and yes his feet do get hot

I rang a dermatologist clinic in Sydney today, but it's $320 consultation and then more $100's for the testing on top, plus driving 10 hrs up and back to Sydney, I'll search on line for boots tonight , will at least start as a cheaper option, he's having mashed pumpkin, lentils and raw lamb for tea , as well as his omega's +++

I have moved the WJew from my front yard but when he goes up the horse yards with hubby when I'm at work , you wouldn't know what was about , I've just gotten home now and his feet look a lot better than last night , though he is scratching his belly and having a lick of his feet, but they are not as red, my vet did talk about a blood test for checking allergies , but I think I would rather take him to see someone, I just want his body to sort this allergy out, and what about the mange that only affects the feet? As he only has hair off and red on his feet and back of his legs , I brought some kids anti slip slippers from BigW and put velcrow around them , but they are not water proof , the good tracker proper dog boots are about $90 sent

I have been in contact with the breeder, she said no allergies in her lines, and been breeding 35 yrs, she said give ivermectin and put him on basic food , chicken or turkey and country cobber dog biscuits , I can't get skin tests till 6 weeks off cortisone , his feet are really red tonight, I rubbed hemp seed oil on them , i live hours away from skin specialist and we discussed it with the vet today , we are going to look at blood tests if it soon doesn't get better, but I am willing to travel to Canberra or Sydney if need be Canberra is 3 hrs, Sydney is 5 hrs still have to wait 5 more weeks for cortisone to get out of system , and I took him to the first vet in December and she put him on high doses of cortisone, it helped while he was on it but back yo problem when finished , I then tried a holistic vet , he changed his diet and again put him on cortisone and advocate spot treatment , and gave acidophilus ,VC omega oil mix and metagenics anti inflamatory , he has been on the best diet for 4 weeks , and the redness has never gone away except when on cortisone , I will not be giving him cortisone again , I am trying to support and build up his immune system , I don't think it has been bombarded , except the cortisone , I never wanted him to be on it but I listened to the vet , he has boots but they are not proper ones ,!i just got kids non slip and put velcrow around the top, I will have to look online for water proof ones

Ok thanks, just been to vet , going on her advice , ivermectin and maliceb wash

As in the article you sent me on sarcopic mange a skin scraping shows mites in less than 50% since he had been scratching since I got him at 11 weeks but of course not as bad and now when I wipe my hands over him hair comes out and he has white pinhead size flakes over his back and his hair is thining out I have been to 2 vets 1st put him on very high doses of cortisone 1mg/kg if body wright and he was only 7 mths old and his skin was no where near as bad as this so I went to a homeopathic vet and 2 more scrapings more cortisone and a vitamins oils ect no better 1 mth later back on cortisone still red and itchy today it really flares up when I wash his feet in water I have rang both vets today and waiting to hear I have advocate here he is due for that but I thought ivemecton was better and with that article it is the first thing they say in the treatment and his breeder said that also I just don't want to muck around with allergy stuff if he's being nibbled away at by mites I am spending days researching and wasting so much time , even now no washing up done nothing and still I am trying to sort it out , I think all my dogs and cats need treating and throw their old beds out, even yesterday I took Rslph for a walk and met up with friends said we can't go down the river cause of wandering jew washed his legs down back at the car they went bright red he is not licking now but he was this morning he is now asleep and he has had a run up the paddock and I didn't wash him down also have you used Maliceep think that's how you spell it

I have an 11mth old GSP he had been treated for allergies his feet are red and itchy had skin scrapings no mites but that's not always positive I have changed his diet a on herbs and oils and vitamins no change in skin I noticed today he has white dandruff on neck and back , water seems to make his feet even redder as I wash his feet after walking incase it's a grass thing , my other dogs scratch and lick so maybe they all have it I treat them all with frontline and advocate last month I rang the breeder she says treat with ivermectin , has anyone had success with treating for mange , I really don't think it is allergy ad he had been itching since I got him at 11 seeks only since Christmas had it been bad mainly on his feet but I thought on the outer corner of his eyes the was hair loss, my shihtzu's get hotspots and one has a black baldy spot on her head which first was a crusty sore I can't see it hurting to try for eliminating mites I too am scratching and have a couple raw spots on my arm ( May be physiological but it's itchy) I have posted before about allergies but I believe it's mites I've got to get rid of Anyone had success with treatment that they can advise me on

Bruce I have Ralph on Natural Animal solutions High Potency VC 1tspn /day ,entraLIVE LoAlaG 1/2 tspn 3/day ,Natural Animal Solutions Omega oil 3,6,9 for dogs 3tblspns daily and 1/2 tab Oxygenics morn and night I mix the powders in a bit of cottage cheese and yoghurt, I like the sound of your skin and coat formula especially the colostrum , I was recommended to get the V all N for adult/senior and just use what is says for puppies and add the supplements , but I stopped the mix (vets advice) and started giving him raw veges juiced, now Ralph just went outside now and has come back in and is licking his feet hadn't licked them all night !! I also add sardines sometimes to the cottage cheese, I rang the breeder yesterday and she has never had a problem with allergies and has been breeding 35yrs, I also put advocate on him 1 mth ago and am due to put it on again today it kills everything including mange and mites but worms as well , I don't want to kill the worms so much as that could have been a problem to begin with , the vet couldn't find any mites with the skin scraping but suggested I treat him incase anyway , when he was a puppy , my daughter first had him from 8 weeks and took him to their local vet and they gave him a worm tab called milbemax at 8,12,14 and 16 weeks and then said monthly with Sentinal , I gave worm tabs monthly instead , he was also doubled dosed , the breeder gave him a worm tab at 8 weeks and the new vet also gave him one when my daughter got him , I have also started him on phernergan 25mg ,should I continue with that ? Also getting Kangaroo meat here is hard I can only get the human grade at $9 a kilo and according to the V ALL N he is to have 850 grms day, my vet is checking , someone comes down from Sydney with Kangaroo meat , might be cheaper, you see I have 5 dogs , can I try turkey ? He lived on chicken and black hawk biscuits before, so what to do ? I will look into getting some Cortavance spray, I can't keep him locked up my hubby goes up the paddock feeding cattle and he runs with the whippet I've just let him out to go , it seems to be the wet grass that's making him itch this morning , I will wash his legs when he gets back , so do I advocate him today ?give him phernergan? Thanks. Diane