Oh my.....some days it's just not worth getting outta bed LOL.

We had to take Tiny to the vet today. She's had some skin issues for quite some time now, but she's always had allergies, ever since she was a pup and usually they improved as the weather warmed up. Well this year things didn't improve. Not only that....the last few days she's been really agitated. She is a high stress dog anyway, has real bad separation anxiety and what not. The last few days she hasn't been sleeping well....just pacing around the house all night and stuff.

Anyway...took her to the vet ....$215 later...that we really didn't have right now UGH!!!!!! They did a skin scraping...doesn't have flees or mites or anything. (A friend kept arguing with me that she has mange...I was RIGHT! LOL..she doesn't). So...turns out to be her allergies are getting worse. The vet wants us to change her back to kibble (we feed raw) but I really don't think that is it. I think it's something environmental...so we have meds for her anyways..that she may need permanently. The vet said we should notice major improvements within like a week or so. So if we don't I might consider a diet change then.

Also he put her on some anti anxiety meds. Thinks something may have happened lately to kinda upset her. Not sure what. He said it could have been anything from the company we had here to having a lot of thunderstorms lately. So she is on those for 1-3 months depending how she does...and essentially taking them for that time period should train her to remain calmer or something...that's the idea anyways.

So at least it's nothing super serious. She is still pretty young at only 7 years old. Should have many more ahead of her yet.

I really didn't need a $215 vet bill today though. Sigh. I sure hope she feels better soon. She is sleeping now. He said the pills might make her sleep quite a bit. And if they do too much I can reduce the anti anxiety dose to 1/2.

We shall see.

Anyone else had any of these kinda issues? Any advice? Words of wisdom?

Also made the appointment to take the (soon to be) 3 fids in for their well bird mid september.....

Anyone know where I can pick up a money tree to plant in the yard? LOL

Poor Tiny, I am curious why a vet would think kibble can be better than fresh, these dry dogs foods usually contain way too much junk filler items to be good. I am thinking he has shares in the company.

If you find one let me know, I think my birds must have eaten mine. The bad thing is i was still waiting for it to bear fruit, sent to me from cameroon.

I agree - the raw should be better than kibble. Perhaps the Vet is worried about vitamins & necessary fats.

Do you put oil on the raw food? My friends fed their wiener dog raw 'steak tartar' [lean ground from the butcher] mixed with cooked rice & olive oil poured on top & probably a vitamin. Oils & raw egg [once in a while] is a good thing for the coat - may be an old wives/farmer's cure tho. Do you bath your dog a lot? - If they have sensitive skin I'd do that 2 - 3x's a year.

I've had dry skin with my Doberman - I used olive oil on the ear tips [uncut ones] & even massaged it into her back. She used to get rashes on her tummy - so that was 'rinsed' more often - I think it was a dust/pollen allergy.

I want to feed raw someday for my cats and dogs but I admittedly just haven't taken the time to educate myself about it thoroughly enough. I belong to a Weimaraner forum and I'm starting to learn more about the raw diet since many Weim owners there do a raw diet and from what I'm reading the raw should be the ideal diet. Along the lines of what Jac mentioned, a lot of people do use things like salmon oils and raw eggs (shell and all).

If Tiny may have ongoing issues (like she has to remain on meds or have more tests done to figure out what's going on), you may want to look into pet insurance and see if that would ease your wallet. When we adopted Molly, who's a senior, we did look into insurance for her and that is an option that we may make use of in the future (she's remarkably healthy at 9 yrs old but knowing that older and larger dogs often get arthritis/cataracts, etc. we thought we should be prepared to face these things).

I just checked into pet insurance...think I'm going to get it.

Ya we are thinking of looking into pet insurance too...especially with a growing number of pets LOL. Just not sure what options are available here in Canada. We are usually pretty good about making sure we have extra money for these things...but I just bought my Dad a plane ticket to come see us...and we've had to make 2 big road trips in a week....ugh...so that kinda made things tighter then normal. Luckily if she has to stay on the allergy pills they are cheap anyways...like $50 for 100 pills and most dogs get down to 1 every second day apparently.

We are really familiar with the raw diet...Rob's dad breeds scotties and westies, and has fed raw for years. We are doing all the right things with oil and vitamins and meat/bone ratio's. We actually get our raw food from a supplier....not just stuff we pick up on our own. She gets salmon and olive oil, proper intakes of fish..all that. I think the vet is blowing it out his......

well.....anyways....lol

No we don't bathe her too much. Only when absolutely necessary because I know her skin gets easily irritated. And when we do we use high quality shampoos for sensitive skin..etc.

The pills are making her kinda dopey right now. She isn't asleep, but just laying around..hasn't eaten her dinner yet..and it's mackerel which is one of her fav's. The vet said these pills should actually increase her appetite. So I hope she's just kinda getting used to the tiredness or something.

I was happy to hear it wasn't mange or fleas or mites or ticks or something. She has never had anything like that. I was sure it was her allergies acting up though. The vet said that just like people her allergies could get worse (or better) over time. Guess she is getting worse. I don't mind getting her the meds if they make her feel better. Poor thing.

Anyway.....I'll keep you all updated!

Oh poor Tiny! I hope he gets better. I took Lucky to the vet this week too and it turns out I have a mangey worm bag! ha! I practiclly passed out at this news but she said it wasn't contagious and that she got it from her mom. Goofy dog! Give Maple and Harley kisses from us! and Tiny of course!

Poor Tiny and your poor wallet! I hope the meds help and she's feeling better soon.

I no longer feed BARF, but did for many years. I would love to hear what and how you feed.

Karen,

the brand I feed is called Paws and Claws. Every other day she gets 1 lb of chicken backs (backs have a more appropriate meat/bone ratio then necks), and on the opposite days she gets 1 lb of something ground. Could be whatever ...chicken, beef, duck, goose, tripe, lamb, turkey, pork etc etc...bone ground in as well. She also may get a "dinner" in place of the ground..which is whatever meat and veggies as well...every veggie you could imagine....ham dinner, beef dinner, chicken/egg dinner, chicken/organ dinner, etc. On the nights she has ground she gets about 2 tbsp of either salmon or high quality extra virgin olive oil drizzled on top. She gets a powdered vitamin (the name escapes me now)mixed in periodically as well.

Sometimes if we can get ground beef etc on sale extremely cheap then I will make her own mix..including ground (baked) egg shell, various ground up veggies, etc...and package into 1 lb bags for easy dispensing.

She also gets one serving of fish a week. 1 lb of (usually) canned Jack Mackerel (in WATER ONLY)..drizzled with oil as well. It is also important to note that a certain amount of organ meat is necessary to maintain good health...hence the tripe and organ dinners...etc.

It all goes by weight.....Tiny is just over 50 lbs.....my FIL's dogs are about 20 lbs-ish and they get 1/2 a lb a day.

My in-laws have done extensive research on the diet and have been feeding it for years and years. It is in their sale contract that you must agree to at least try the diet for 1 year and that they will not guarantee the health of the dog if removed from the diet. Because of the bone (from the backs, etc) the dogs generally have very good oral health...and overall smell better (body and breath) then kibble fed dogs. Also...the amount of poo diminishes...and feces turn white and crumble.

I do however feel compelled to say here (because you never know who is reading this)....DO NOT try this diet without doing your homework first...and NEVER EVER EVER feed your dog any form of COOKED bone!! Cooked bone can splinter and be potentially life threatening to your pet!!!

If anyone would like more information on this topic please let me know, and I can help you with that.

Hope that answers some of what you wanted to know Karen!

Thanks for your post Kris and thanks for adding the caution. It is a diet that you need to do your homework about, to do it correctly. I fed similar to what you describe. I have small dogs that needed the diet to be ground, so the Maverick Grinder became my friend.

I've been thinking about processing the fresh veggies for the birds the way I did it for the dogs. I have often wondered if they need the cell wall broken down as well.