I'm so confused

[slleipnir]

Zeke seems to have a lot of health issues, and I have no idea what to do.

First of all...he has runny poo a lot. I don't know if that's serious, but I can't imagen it's too pleasant. I've tried changing his food to find something that works. Right now, he is on very expensive hypo-allergenic food which seems to do nothing :o He has something wrong with his nose. It's kinda crusty/looks infected? Took him to the vet and had him on meds for a couple weeks. Doesn't seem to be completely heeled. Today he was limping and has a little spot on that paw. I think he's been chewing on it? He always has a little "bald" spot on his eyelid.....

I'm soo confused...I keep taking him to the vet and paying hundreds of dollars for nothing. I can't afford it!! I don't know what to do with him. I don't want him to be in any pain...I buy him the best food, he is very healthy otherwise....I don't get what I'm doing wrong?! I'm going to make yet another appointment with the vet, but I'm so frustrated. I have to take him back again in a couple months for shots. I don't understand what is wrong with him. I've asked my vet about raw, and she doesn't reccomend it. She said it can be good if know everything about it and how it works. If you're not willing to put A LOT of time into it, then don't do it. I don't really have a lot of time to put into. I don't feel comfortable feeding it. She said dogs in the wild may eat raw, but they don't live very long either...or something. Don't remember exactly.


What do I do? I'm sorry it's dumb. Oh, the vet said the thing on Zeke's nose looks like Lupus (???) or something. I don't remember exactly what it's called, but she assumed it was allergies.

[wolf_Q]

Poor Zeke!! I hope he gets feeling better. Have you tried any venison formula dog foods? Nebo had problems (diarrhea) with other dog foods but he does great on anything venison based.

I believe lupus is a skin condition in dogs and it does affect the nose. There's a collie that comes in our shop that has it and his nose is very crusty/red as are his paw pads. That's all I know about it, maybe you should get Zeke tested?

[slleipnir]

Venison? We don't have that...I don't think. I'll look around for it.

I'll ask the vet about having him tested when I go back...I don't mind spending the money on him...it's just when I spend the money for nothing that bothers me. I feel like the vets here are useless :o When Jo was a pup she kept throwing up. They told me it was the flu. But she did it week after week. I took her to the Atlantic Vet Collage and they fixed her up. If they don't figure it out I'm taking him to the AVC next time. They don't like to take people from a different vet...but....if they're not going to help me..

[Karen]

The runny poo and the crusty nose could both be caused by allergies. What are the ingredients in the "hypoallergenic" food?

As an "allergic person," I can tell you that ain't nothing hypoallergenic just 'cause it's labelled that way! The most painful lipstick I ever tried was Clinique, which my cousin assured me was "completely hypoallergenic," as did its packaging. It felt like my lips were burning in the few second bwteen when she applied it and when I could reach a tissue to wipe it off.

Hope poor Zeke is feeling better soon!

[IRescue452]

Keep in mind that wild dogs are exposed to every disease without vaccines. They are exposed to the perils of living in the wild. They don't always find food, and when they do find prey it often fights back before it goes down. Dogs in capitivity have the luxury of living much longer. Wolves in the zoo live into their teens simply because they are in a captive setting and not exposed to so much. Once you get into the schedule of feeding raw, it costs less and is easy to do. It doesn't take much time to get a piece of meat out or to mix up some yogurt or eggs with veggie puree.

[wolf_Q]

Venison is deer meat....usually its imported from New Zealand, at least all the ones I have seen. Natural Balance makes a venison formula, as does Nature's Variety and probably some others if you don't have those brands. My friend's dog (Cisco) had allergies, he was chewing his feet up really bad and she switched him to that and he improved.

I understand about spending lots of money to find out nothing. I've taken Nebo to the vet more than once for diarrhea and they checked everything, even x-rayed him and found nothing wrong (shortly after I tried switching to the venison formula and it helped immensly).

Do you have any places that sell pre-made frozen raw? Its pretty expensive I only buy it to feed every couple of days I can't afford it every day, but that way there's not all the research involved. Nebo loves it!

[Vela]

I have to disagree about what your vet said about raw. If you go look in Sarah's thread about raw success stories you will see why. It's too long to retype it all hehe. My dog has done nothing but improve since I started raw and it's really not hard. I still feed EVO kibble for about 30% of their food at this time the but results have been more than I coud have ever hoped for for my girl Ginger. I would recommend it to anyone and I don't find it more expensive, especially in light of vet visit costs. I hope he feels better soon, poor guy.