Please can someone advise me on my poor boy

by amara Mon Jan 21 2013, 21:00

First topic message reminder :

Hi, this is a very longwinded tale and I dont quite know where to start...... here goes. We got our pup rocky in late july (he was 10 weeks old), he seemed a perfectly healthy bouncy pup and was really chunky, although as he was the last pup to be homed so I cant compare him to his siblings. He had his immunisations and then soon after he injured his rear leg and it was then his problems seemed to start. He began losing fur under his neck, under armpits and around his groin area, felt oily and had brown waxy ears and the base of his nails were brown. The vet prescribed malaseb at this point and wasnt really sure what was going on but mentioned that he was 'yeasty' and it may be a food intolerance. When I got him from the breeder he was on eukanuba, after loads of research on the internet I found out this probably wasnt the best food!!! So changed him onto james wellbeloved salmon and potato which he would not eat, the vet told me to persevere which I did for almost a week but rocky seemed to hate it and would only eat a tiny bit when really coaxed, he obviously lost quite a bit of weight over that period, the vet was still adamant that he wouldnt 'starve' himself!!!!! I wasn't willing to take the risk on such a small pup. I cant remember exactly which food I changed him onto after that one but we have tried many of the hypoallergenic ones, none of which he really liked, he would just pick at them but wouldnt eat the fish flavoured ones AT ALL.

After his second vaccinations I started at a puppy training class, the training centre was also a doggy daycare and stocked raw meat and after long talks with the owner I decided to try him on raw, he took to it immediately, seemed to thrive, his skin settled and fur started growing back, I was so happy that i'd found something that suited him. However, after a few months he started with mucousy diarrhoea and frequently went to the toilet in his crate, his skin went very dry again and he lost loads of weight, I decided to take him to a different vet for a second opinion. The vet did skin scrapes for demodex as she thought it looked like this, these were negative. She also did skin swabs and put him on amoxycillin. She called me to say the swabs had shown a staph infection and that the amoxycillin would cure it.

A couple of weeks later I got up to find rocky in his crate yelping he couldnt weight bear and was shaking, I went back to my original vets as it is 2 mins away from my house and the other vet would have taken half hr in traffic. I immediately thought it was to do with the leg he injured, however, after examination it turned out he had a raging temp and simply couldnt stand, they gave him some kind of injection, think it was rimadyl (maybe not though) and told me that if he wasnt pottering about by the afternoon I needed to bring him back, I was also given anti-inflammatories, painkillers and antibiotics (AGAIN!!!!), by the afternoon he seemed quite a lot better and was able to stand, over the next couple of weeks he improved and that was the end of that.

He then started with the runs which turned into very bloody diarrhoea and then he was just passing pure bright red blood. Back to the vets we went and he was put on Metronidazole and I was told to get him off the raw diet as he had probably got some kind of parasite, so back to square one Crying or Very sad

. I knew I needed to get something as close to raw as possible so put him on naturediet trays (chicken and rice), he was ok on this but lost weight and his diarrhoea continued, the vet prescribed more metronidazole and said he 'probably had colitis' and that his food probably wasnt agreeing with him and to try Wafcol, arrrggghh more FISH!!! I did buy some to try but low and behold no success, this was just before christmas 2012. At this point he wasn't bald anywhere, his skin was starting to go a little dry but I put this down to the diarrhoea and him being dehydrated. A client of mine at work told me that her dog suffered with skin probs and since staring burns pork and potato her dog was doing amazing so I got some and WOW he immediately wolfed it down, I only had him on this for 2 weeks and his condition deteriorated massively, he went bald under his armpits down to his elbows, around his groin, got brown patches in his nails and brown gunky ears again ?yeast infection. After reading up on this I realised it was probably due to this food having something like 35% potato and quite a lot of maize in, I'm led to believe yeast feeds on carbs or sugars. I compared almost every single hypo-allergenic food on the market and decided to put him on wainwrights duck and brown rice trays as the amount of rice is tiny and I put a handful of the same dry food on top (Im trying to stay away from chicken as I cant be sure that's not what caused the diarrhoea (I was giving him lot of chicken when feeding raw and then the naturediet was chicken so wanted to completely eliminate it). He is currently on this and loves it but he is in a state, I think he maybe getting little bits of fur growing back but is completely bald under armpits and groin/belly,has small scabs all over and very very dry flaky skin. I'd been recommended a really good local vet so took him there tonight, He basically told me rocky is a very complex case and needs loads of tests doing but cant get him in til next monday and to keep him on the same food and not to put anything on his skin. Im heartbroken and don't feel I can wait a week (why would he make me wait a week?), his tummy is playing up again, he is getting thinner and his skin is shocking. The vet said he appears to be very undernourished, which he probably is as he's had on/off diarrhoea for months. Part of me wants to put him back on raw as I have read about dogs with compromised immune systems benefiting from raw but I think the vet will go mad. He's not given me any indication as to what he thinks could be wrong and was rather off hand with me. I just don't know what to do. I'm so scared that they are going to suggest putting him to sleep. The whole thing is wearing me out, I have my own business to run and 2 young children to deal with. I love rocky to pieces and want him better but I feel like hes got some terrible disease and that i'm gonna lose him Crying or Very sad

. To cap it off i'm not sure my insurance will cover the costs due to my first vets not sending in insurance paperwork and me thinking I was insured when I wasn't, that is another story, but im worried sick as all these tests are gonna cost a fortune and if they won't pay up I cant afford to pay.

Please if somebody can help me as to whether raw is the way to go with this poor boy or whether to give the wainwrights trays more time (he's only done 11 days on this) and if anyone has any opinion as to what could be wrong with him. I'm thinking he may have had a weak immune system as a pup and that the amount of illness and antibiotics he's had has lead to this.

Sorry its been so long but thought i better go through the full story, thank you in advance.

Gonna upload pics of his skin, thank you again (actually feel better for writing it all down)

by **rebeccaleanne** Fri Feb 22 2013, 21:55

so sorry to hear all this but at least you getting some were! keep us updated when you we are all thinking of you!!

by Guest Fri Feb 22 2013, 22:02

Thank you for the update Amara. Poor little Rocky, we are all thinking of him, and you. However, it sounds like the vet has corrected what was the problem - recovery time now. So wishing you all the best for that (and your bill) - do keep us updated and love to you both