First I gave her an oatmeal bath to address the outer direction. I finally learned the trick. I kept hearing about using some fancy oatmeal and it turns out the fancy part is to crush it first. I used my daughters blender. (And now I may need to buy her a new one. I kept shaking it and by the end of the session it was making a very unhealthy noise.) Next time I may try the soaking her in the tub with the oatmeal added in the water. (which is how people use it) This time I used the oatmeal as a paste and massaged it into her coat. She found this to be a very tasty bath.
Then I mixed and measured out the thawed deer meat into meals to refreeze. (after feeding both of the dogs some for dinner) I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. It will be just like the primal patties only they are already in the right size for Jack and Jenny. This will make it easy for everyone in the family to feed if I'm not home at mealtime. Next time I may need to use a different calcium source according to the list I just joined. I also need to add some organ meat. I used to add liver but that was the only food Jenny flagged for in her allergy test. Fortunatly I have total control over my recipe so I can change it each time as needed. Jack is going to do 1 raw meal a day and 1 kibble meal at least to begin with. The last time I jumped him to full raw he had some horrible diarrhea. Not fun in a dog that size.
I got just over 2 weeks worth ready to go. I went with freezer bags because they don't take up to much space. It makes me feel un-eco-friendly though so I will either try washing them to reuse or invest in flat tupperware type storage containers. Maybe I'll check to see what I can scrounge up at the local Goodwill store as a way to recycle some.
She was very excited when I started measuring. Eventually she got tired and relaxed a little. She was very happy to lick the bowl when I finished.
Tomorrow I'll be calling the holistic places to see about an appointment.
4 comments:
Aw, bummer man!! My Colby (Pin Head) had terrible skin issues, to the point of pustules and open sores. I did so many things, seeking advice from everyone I could. What ended up working THE best was rinsing after any walks in grass that wasn't mowed or if it was freshly mowed. Bathing in Selsun Blue twice/week. She LOVED those baths! Adding MSM, non-fat plain yogurt, grapeseed extract, CoQ10 to her meals. That's it, that's all. She cleared up and we hardly have an issue any more. I always rinse her (she is trained to jump into a bucket of water now) after walks, but rarely do the Selsun Blue baths any more. She doesn't need all those supplements, either. :D Every holistic vet I saw (I went to several) said it would only get worse, but they were all wrong. I didn't even bother trying food allergy testing because my dogs are farm dogs and eat everything. I simply can not stop that, unless I stopped their lifestyle, so I never fussed about that. The only thing I stop them from eating is the old corn. The corn gets moldy on the fields in the fall when they plow it under and that mold can make them very sick. Fall is a bit of a bummer for a "farm dog", hard to avoid the corn fields.
Thanks for the tips. I like the rinsing idea. That surprises me about the holistic vets saying it would only get worse. Did they at least have some plan to treat it??
I only did the allergy testing because I got a discount since I work at a vet. It still wasn't cheap. I'm glad I did because I had been feeding liver which came up as a no no for her.
I already started adding plain yogurt. The diet stuff gets overwhelming at times. So many people telling me don't do this or that. I'm sure to blunder through for awhile. :-)
Yes, they all had treatment plans for me. Homeopathy, acupuncture, herbs, diet, oatmeal baths, vinegar rinses, lemon rinses, the list just goes on and on. But, they all also said it sometimes takes trial and error to find just what works for that specific animal. So, I am just reporting what worked for my dog. They ALL said allergies get worse as they age.
Being raised by organic farmers I simply could not get on board with their diet requirements, though. I think you are what you eat, for SURE, but I disagree with so much about diet restrictions. I think that leaves you open to too many issues. My dogs eat everything and anything and I simply keep watch on what bothers them digestively. Colby can no longer eat raw carrots. She barfs them up. So, no more carrots. That sort of thing. If something gives them the runs over and over, I eliminate that, but as far as eliminating things my dogs eat so much "stuff" being farm dogs. They eat mouse asses, horse poo, cat poo, bird poo, berries, grass hoppers, rotten apples, egg shells (when the farm workers leave their hard boiled egg shells), dried frogs and it goes on and on. LOL! I also feed them all sorts of things. They love watermelon, they get plenty of raw meat (my folks raise beef and poultry and I get lots of that), plus regular dog food and treats. I DO try to avoid any treats or food with corn. MinPins are prone to yeast infections and demodex and corn breaks down to simple sugars when digested. Sugar "feeds" yeast and mites. So, I do try to avoid corn. I try to avoid soft dog treats (they are FULL of sugars in order to keep the ingredients mixed and the softener uniform) because of the sugar content. Other than that I just don't bother with all the diet restrictions so many vets suggest. It never worked for Colby anyway.
Do what works, try lots of different things and go with your gut!!
Amy thanks for all the great info! I am going to change some of her diet stuff to begin but I agree with your thought about diet restrictions. That's one reason I could never do the feed only one thing for x weeks then add one more ingredient and so on. Who can do that? Jenny is a vacume and I like with other humans who can't always say no to her. I'm hoping that making her diet the best I can (with great ingredients) will help her system fight whatever it is. In the meantime I will keep trying different methods to try to keep her comfortable. I think I'll hold off on the other vet for now but I may get her titers checked. She's due for vax soon but I think that would only screw her up more right now.
Thanks again!!
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