HoundHeavenAZ

I fed canidae and cooked chicken/turkey for several years until getting my epi boy last fall. Our vet wanted to limit him to Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Potatoes and cooked beef and veggies. To simplify things I started feeding my girl the same menu. I also bake treats for them made with sweet potato, banana, liver, eggs and their shells and old fashioned oats. The results have been awesome - no gas and poop that rolls downhill! Oh, they also get chicken feet and beef rib bones for their sparkly teeth

I'll be keeping you and your beautiful boy in my thoughts.

Our vet had us switch to cooked veggies and Natural Balance Venison & Sweet Potato and both my dogs are now virtually gas-less! AND the poop is firm and rolls downhill now What an improvement!

My angel Lima began having focal seizures at two. I hope your boy recovers quickly and has no other instances. Will keep you in our thoughts.

Leah had a toe removed about 3 years ago and it doesn't bother her at all. Unless of course I want to trim nails

I've been using Pet Health Pharmacy for fluconazole, potassium bromide and pheno for the last few months and they've been terrific. Pet Health Pharmacy

Good for you and your pups! I've been cooking for about 4 months now and my kids love it and I love don't mind picking up the "solid waste output" now!

So sorry to hear about your Nike having a seizure, it is scary for everyone. When I adopted my boy a couple of months back I knew he had seizures and was somewhat prepared but GT referred me to the Epi Guardian Angels site. I hope you find it as helpful as I did. Hugs to Nike and you.

Positive thoughts coming your way, for both you and your dear girl. Sounds like she is in the best place she could be. Sounds like she picked the best Mom

Funny stuff! My favorite line, "Are you arfing kidding me? "

Glad to hear that she is responding to the meds (again) and so sorry to hear how many others are suffering from similar problems. I had no idea how common this was. As for the allergy possibility - wow, where would you start? Eliminating grains first seems to be the consensus, but as Batmom pointed out you could be working for a while to stumble on the right thing. Not that it wouldn't be worth the effort, but it could take a long time and she has already suffered too long. Thanks for all the information. No, her nails have not fallen out. They look strong and healthy. We've talked about SLO, but thought maybe this wasn't the issue because the nails have not fallen out or become snarly in appearance. Feet are looking better with the antibiotics in her system. One suggestion made on this link was to use a powder like Gold Bond. I think this makes sense as I too have found that when I was trying to keep an antibiotic ointment on her feet it keep the webbing moist which kept the infection in place. I've also wondered about her immune system (Eherlichia diagnosed grey)being compromised. Other than the foot problem she is a happy, healthy girl. Food allergy is another thought and possible culprit. I feed a good kibble and home cook meat with veggies for my dogs. She is wearing her booties now to keep her feet safe, and not allow licking. Most of her nails are the correct length, but the nails on the lateral and medial side of the foot are longer than they should be. I'll be correcting this issue when the feet are less painful.

Poor Blue Baby and Mom. I have watched you both suffer with this mess for what seems like forever. This dog is sooooo tough! She rarely complains about it unless someone steps on her foot and even then, she just yips a bit and takes it. And you KNOW it has to hurt from the looks of it!! I've seen stoic hounds, but this girl is amazing. This is about the third set of antibiotics for her. The last set worked very effectively and removed all but the tiniest crusty bit along one cuticle, but it returned with a vengeance within about 2 weeks after the meds were completed I think. So you know, Blue tested positive for Erlichia when she was adopted from the Tucson track about 3 years ago, so her immune system is no doubt compromised. Other than this mess with her feet though she has been a happy and healthy five year old girl. I've read Dr. Stack's article on SLO and I'm not clear on why our vet, who we have great confidence in for our hounds, has disregarded it as a possiblity. Maybe because it has not affected her nails? Short of a nail bed biopsy it seems there is no way to diagnose SLO and that seems like it would be a last resort for me. I think I'd prefer to try the recommended drugs first to see if they'd work. Has anyone had any experience with the combo of prednisone and chlorphenerimin? I have been told that it is an antihistimine but am not sure that it makes sense for Blue since she has never shown any indication that her feet were itchy or bothering her until the sores appeared. Then of course, she licks them incessantly. I know she has sent off cultures and was told that the second one had 4 or 5 nasty critters in it. And it seemed that the last course of antibiotics really was going to solve it, but no such luck. Lets hope that the dermatolagist can come up with a solution. I hate to see you and Blue going through this again...or still. Leah, Chip and Aunty -

Thanks for answering my unasked question about this! I have been watching to see if there was some activity that was causing this on my boy. What a relief

I started cooking veggies and meat for mine about 3 months ago and switched to Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Potato kibble. I can only remember 2 or 3 times since then that the air has been fouled. Plus we have solid, well formed poops!

Our vet recommended that I cook for my new seizure boy and since he was on beef at the time she said to stick with it for now. Both he and my girl have been on this about 3 months now and we now have FORMED poops and NO gas! Not sure if this is helping with the seizures or not since we have been playing with meds too, but only one seizure in that time makes me even happier Here's what I cooked yesterday: 6 large carrots chopped 1 medium butternut squash peeled and cubed 4 sweet potatoes cubed (mixed types) 1/2 bag cranberries 1 head broccoli water to cover Cook till tender and then add 2.5 LB 70/30 ground beef I fried some beef liver and then chopped it (so much easier after it is cooked!) and added about 2 cups to the veggies. I then distribute it to freezing containers and use the potato masher to break the veggies down as I've read they are more digestible in that form. Each meal he gets a cup of the veggies/meat (slightly warmed of course to arouse the flavors), a spoon of yogurt when I remember to buy some, 1.5 cups of Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Potato and some hamburger meatballs containing his pills. Yes, it takes time to make it all and freeze it, but they LOVE it and the results have been so pleasant that I am happy to do this for them Good luck!

Thank you for the photo. I have never experienced corns on my dogs but I wanted to see what they look like. This must be absolutely miserable for your boy and you. I have a girl that is equally frantic about her feet and I can't imagine needing to do daily foot care for her...the neighbors would think I was torturing her for all the screaming. I sure do hope that this "breakthrough RX" provides a cure for all this suffering.

Invest in a watergun and just say no! Only people are permitted in the kitchen here and dogs are not allowed to stare at my food when I eat. They know they will NOT get a taste...ever.

When I find a nice beef roast on sale, I will cut it into cubes and freeze it. When the dogs get bored I'll take some of the cubes and hide them around the yard for a meat popsicle scavenger hunt. Keeps them occupied for hours! Naturally we've had the discussion previously about no digging in the flower beds. Someday I might get brave and hide the chicken feet, but my neighbors might think that odd...

I'm so sorry for your loss. Shep was a lucky boy to have such a loving Mom.

LOVE the cake idea!

Natures Miracle Skunk Odor Remover is my choice. Put it in a spray bottle and mist away! Good luck

We have a grocery store here that specializes in Hispanic food and they were able to order them for me. When I inquired at the mainstream grocery he kind of raised his eyebrows and said only "Food City"!

Yikes! I just adopted my first greyt boy and we're just finishing off a round of doxy to resolve a UTI. I guess I should be grateful that it wasn't a sheath problem At first I thought it was a marking issue since it was always the same spot but I should have guessed that it was a UTI since the odor was intense.

It took two weeks for our local grocery to get them but we have chicken feet now! I read several posts about their dental benefits and the NOM factor so we gave it a try. Leah loves them and even invited friends over for a snack and they all gobbled them down. Thanks for the tip

I fed Canidae for several years along with cooked veggies and chicken or turkey for my girls. About 3 months ago I started fostering a 4 year old seizure boy and our vet demanded that we restrict food to cooked beef, veggies and Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison dry. The transition caused no upset and now both dogs are doing awesome on this regimen and poop looks like poop should!