XTRAWLD

Have you noticed any heat in his joints when running your hands down his legs? Sometimes they just get overzealous with their running. Update us soon.

Good for you for discovering it. I would not be impressed with that neighbour (and I know you certainly aren't). I can't believe people do that. Glad Fintan is ok. Poor guy!

Awh. Awesome. While Dinky is a cute name, Nova is a bit better....especially when yelling in a park asking for her to come to you.

Option A sounds ideal for your situation. I know it sucks not to be near him but he's in the best care possible right now.

Oh my gosh, how scary. I'd vote for keeping him overnight at the e-vet for monitoring, instead of home alone. Something is obviously bothering him if he's screaming out. Would something be wrong with the esophagus instead of stomach?

To be completely honest, Ryder had it, and I wouldn't have known that he did. Yes he had runny stool, but I guessed it was due to being in a new transition from the kennel to our home, excitement, anxious, etc. We caught it during a routine exam - run of the mill test when we get a new houndie. The sucky thing about it is you have to treat all the dogs in the home, because of how contagious it can be. Others I'm sure would be able to shed some other insight.

Re: Treats. You just don't give any - but this takes weeks, even months for it to clear the system, and you need to have great willpower. You have to narrow down the food they are allergic to first. And then you try to add things back in to see what they get a reaction from. You start with as bland and basic as a diet as you can. Once the itching or breakouts stop, you can graduate to a different food, or a food with more ingredients. Kasey was off the charts with chicken, so we had to avoid any kibble that had any flavouring of that whatsoever. Very difficult. You learn how to be a good ingredient reader....... The fun thing about that, he no longer has an allergy to chicken, because it's fed raw! They handle it differently. The reason why it's easy to assume food allergies is because something can be done about it. The owner has control about the food intake. There is very little control an owner has environmentally, aside from vacuuming and doing laundry constantly, (and in my case sometimes that would worsen the problem - he was allergic to dust and even laundry detergent) but that won't resolve going pee in the grass if they are allergic to grass (as Kasey was), etc. Giving Benadryl for environmental allergies is fine, but it may not resolve the problem - and that's when you know it's more than that.

Congrats to you and your new addition!

Very strange. Like people, dogs have off days. Monitor her. It's getting colder so things are changing. Does she have a favorite spot she likes to lay in, perhaps with a blankie so she's feeling uber comfy?

Kasey's allergies were localized to his face, predominantly ears, but he'd scratch his muzzle with his back claws so hard drawing blood and scabbing. Going through allergies is a pain (no pun intended), and takes a lot of trial and error. I could write a book. It might not just be food, could be environmental. Greta had a trigger that just set her off, and it's hard to narrow down exactly which one was the cause. For starters, you could do a blood test to determine what she is allergic to, but the results aren't as accurate as a skin test. We never got to the skin test stage because Kasey could not stay off prednisone long enough to be able TO test. We used prednisone to control his allergies. Now years later, he is nearly allergy free after being being moved to raw food. If I knew how much of a difference it would make, I would have turned to raw the moment it started happening, but I understand this isn't a change everyone is willing to make/take. Keep us posted.

Wow. What a zest for life at 10. No words of wisdom, but loved this story! Good luck!

Kasey developed his allergies 4-5 years old - but there was an uncontrollable trigger that sent him over the edge. If you don't have any changes in your home/food, it's hard to say for certain it's allergies. Certainly Claritin can help - although I thought Benadryl was preferred. Have you been able to see any kind of scabs, like one that would be formed after a bite? I've found fleas in the most odd areas before, and it's taken me up to half an hour to brush and locate them. I found one once walking along Ryder's front leg.....they are little buggers. How about a bath? That would relieve some of the itching and you'd be able to see the skin better.

I wonder if maybe he got a spider or bug bite (and the venom is irritating)? Or maybe scabies, but that might be a far stretch. Alternatively, have you been putting any coats on him or sweaters recently? Something might have been living in the fabric prior to being washed, etc..... The sort of thing you are describing doesn't sound like allergies to me, especially the up with a shot in the middle of the night part. I'd say it's a possibility, but my first reaction is a bite. Let us know how Monday pans out.

Kasey is notorious for eye booger. We swab it out with a q-tip. Gross and disgusting, but I'd rather get it out of his eye for him, than he shake it and it dries permanently on my walls! We've had him checked out and it's normal, but he has had this all his life to be honest. But at least if you have Ernie checked out, you know you can rule it out in the future. It really is better safe than sorry since it's new for him. As long as it is a light grey so to speak, if it has ANY green or yellow in it - it's pus - which is bad news.

Following the story....you guys are in my thoughts!

I've been giving Fresh Factors for my boys for many months now, might I gander roughly a year. I truly support this product, and would recommend it to anyone - and have on many occasions. We started with one tablet once a day, and then one tablet twice a day (with every meal). I've since scaled back FF to once a day because the fur is ridiculous, and JH still twice a day. I find the company is great to deal with, I have to order over the phone, while shipping to Canada can be a bit pricey. I just try to buy a bigger bottle so I don't get dinged with multiple orders. There is no way that my boys started growing an incredible amount of fur all of a sudden on their coats, other than the explanation that they have been receiving Fresh Factor supplements. Nothing else in their diet changed, and I certainly wasn't tending to them any more or less for grooming, etc. Amazingly, when I've cut the dose down, the fur growth has slowed. I'm also willing to bet, if I stop giving the supplement, excessive fur growth will also cease. So to me, these things work. The evidence is all over my house as a matter of fact, and isn't related to seasons - now that I've been through this for a full 12 months. They may work in varying degrees per dog, but IMO they do a kick a$$ job for both of mine. The funny thing about dogs, they don't know when they are given the real thing or a placebo. People do. They won't change or react differently if given a sugar pill for months at a time instead of a Fresh Factor vitamin or vise versa. Their body will react, not their mind trying to trick themselves. Furthermore, I also feed Joint Health to both my boys, and I can tell you without a doubt that they have helped Kasey with a weak back end, and Ryder recover faster from overexertion from a limp. I don't think it's a waste of money, and if my boys could talk, I'm sure they would say thanks. Start with 1 tablet per meal, and continue for about a month to see what the results are like. Adjust accordingly.

Got a pic of Kasey's tail. Like I said previous, hasn't affected him one bit, but was there the day we got him. The hair closest to the affected area is really wiry. Just seems like improper hair growth there, if any grows at all.

Wow. All that in 2.5 weeks? Sheesh. Kasey has always had a missing patch, which we actually attributed to potentially banging his tail against something at a young age and circulation to the area was cut off due to severe bruising. If i find a pic, I'll send it along. It's similar. Remains bare to this day, although Fresh Factors is helping somewhat, but after having him like this for 8 years, I really don't think it will get better, and it really doesn't seem to bother him. Maybe someone else has ideas?

I wanted to update this thread. Kasey was sent home with a bottle of Aurizon after getting a full flush in both ears last week, and actually a full once over as well oddly enough. We are now on day 9 of 10 prescribed of putting 7 drops in each ear once a day. Needless to say the problem is clearly up quite nicely, but I'm still not 100% sure I like how much dark brown stuff is still around. It is a lot better, but there is still some darkness left. I think I'll call the vet just to ask if we can continue a little longer or what he would suggest otherwise. As far as Ryder goes, we had a bottle of Surolan kicking around, which the vet said as long as it is clear it is ok to use regardless of the expiration date, much to my surprise. So we have been treating him with what we have left over, and he is also getting better.

Oh gosh. How sad. RIP Possum.

Crushed to read this. He did have an amazing life with you.

So my oggie Kasey has been bothered by, I guess, excess ear wax buildup which perhaps has led to an infection. We are taking him in to the vet this afternoon. A few weeks ago, I attempted to clean his ears as per usual routine, and I couldn't believe the amount of dark brown stuff that was coming out. After the cleaning he would not stop shaking. Shaking every few seconds to dislodge whatever I seemingly couldn't get or I had disturbed. His ears started to go dark red from the violence. I took him outside, found an old bottle of Hexadene and pretty much used more than half the bottle during a full out flushing of both ears. It seemed to do the trick, he stopped shaking and was content. While medicinally I do not think it is effective (due to expiry), that forcing of liquid that was more than just what warm water would be is what I was after. This morning, I thought let me just check again, he seemed slightly bothered lately and was scratching at his ears. A direct copy of what took place above happened again this morning, except after flushing he was still bothered. The amount of dark brown to black stuff that was coming out of both ears was incredible. I just gave up, and called the vet. Kasey has NEVER had an ear issue. At worst, he had slightly yellow ear gunk all his life. During his routine checkup in April, the vet tried to peer into his ear and he yelped. He was given antibiotics just in case, he's NEVER done that either when being looked over, so obviously he was sensitive. When we first adopted Ryder he had dark black coffee ground like issues, which we cleared up immediately with flushing and meds, (only in one ear, the other was spot on clean). I know that stuff means trouble, but what is this dark brown to black stuff that is essentially waxy, in a dog that has had healthy ears all his life? Is brown-black wax what is in normal ears? How do we prevent this?

Kasey never took well to Therapaws, but some dogs seem to tolerate them well. We used it just to protect his pads when walking on salt and cold sidewalks in the winter. I'm actually not certain that we got the right size for him either, even though a representative sized him in person at a booth who we bought it off of. I noticed a lot of redness on his knuckles after we take them off, so something indeed was rubbing. While the sole is awesome, I just don't think the interior of the boot is superior (hard seams in the wrong places). The last straw was when his dew claw paw pad (the one high up on his leg) nearly tore off after he was jumping around in the snow and the wrist part of the boot somehow cut it! We now use Muttluks instead for winter walking and I've moved to the the reusable rubber kind for corn treatment (indoor use). Haven't tried it outdoors yet.

Ever since I've been giving the boys Fresh Factors, Kasey is a fur shedding factory! I can't ever remember this much fur coming off a dog in my life. I know it's typical for them to shed a couple times a year, like now, but it's non stop ever since we put him on these supplements. Thought I'd mention it since you are finding some fine spots, and flakey skin. Sounds like it's pretty normal shed cycle, but if you want to consider a little boost, look up Fresh Factors by Springtime. Edited to note: Kasey has been on a low dose of pred since 2008 so I wouldn't say he sheds more because of it.