Help Needed! Allergy or yeast die off?

alohadaisy

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Feb 23, 2014
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I am almost at wits end with my new bully. She's chewing her legs and scratching her face.

I rescued her about 3 weeks ago so I have no history on her. I found her dumped on my road in the dark starving and covered in black scabs with a terrible eye infection. She smelled horrendous. I brought her home and washed her. Many of the scabs washed off as sticky clumps, leaving large bare patches of pink skin. I took her to the vet the next day to be scanned for a chip and to address her issues.

The vet said no mange or parasites, prescribed antibiotics for skin, eye and respiratory infections and said her skin issues were likely allergy related and said to get a novel protein food and it should clear up her yeasty ears and prevent the black scabs on her body.

I couldn't get any novelty food over the weekend and I started reading about allergies, yeast and skin issues with bulldogs. It seems like they can react to all kinds of things and decided to try raw. Chicken and pork did not seem to sit well with her - she would itch her sides bloody after eating. She didn't seem to react to beef. She's been eating raw hamburger for 2 weeks now.

Morning: 7 oz raw hamburger, 1 raw egg (no shell because they're shell treated eggs), 1 tsp Now brand Bone Meal, 1 tbs. Organic coconut oil, 1 tsp dried alfalfa, 1 tsp raw apple cider vinegar with mother, 1 tsp Now brand nutritional yeast (dead yeast), 1 tsp bentonite

Evening: Same as morning except switch egg for 1-2 tbs plain yogurt

Treats: homemade gelatin bites made with plain beef gelatin, hamburger, diced carrots and peas.

I do not have bones in her diet yet, hence the bonemeal - chicken is out and I don't have a source for safe sized beef bones. Weight bearing bones are at the store but I understand those are too hard for eating.

She is filling out well, her ribs aren't standing out any more and the skin and fur on her body looks good - nice white skin and her fur is quickly growing in on the bald spots. Her ears are not producing much blackish red goop any more, 1 ear is almost clear. Her smell is much improved but she's still mildly smelly. I can't isolate the source on her but it's a bit like off cheese which makes me believe I'm combating a yeast issue.

She was limping and I discovered a furuncle between her toes so I started soaking her paws in Epsom salts and rinsing with peroxide and cleared up the cyst.

I started adding a couple drops of oil of oregano to to her food 5 days ago as a additional yeast killer.

3 days ago I gave her raw whiting fish and hamburger for 2 meals (morning and evening). That same day the skin of her lower legs, paws, chin and muzzle have turned red and she's been itching her face and feet. I started giving her benadryl morning and night and soaking her paws in Epsom salts with some vinegar. I gave her no more of that fish and went back to only beef.
I stopped the oil of oregano yesterday as I was concerned this was caused by too much yeast die off. I washed her legs this morning - i did one side with selsun blue and the other with sulfodene to see if one worked better than the other. Looks like both were equal and she looks less red.

She went into heat about a week ago so I don't know if hormones could be exacerbating the situation.

So finally to my question: am I experiencing yeast die off, which I understand manifests these symptoms and should improve as long as i adhere to her no starch diet or did Daisy react to the fish? How long do we endure the redness and itching before changing things?

Thank you! uploadfromtaptalk1394568776928.jpg

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bullmama

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Sounds like you have actually made excellent progress considering the condition she was in when you got her, so kudos to you!

Antibiotics can cause yeast overgrowth, so I would think that may be part of the problem. Whenever we have a yeast issue here, I swear by pharmaseb shampoo! I usually bath a couple times in a week, when combating yeast. Doing it this way seems to kill off whatever yeast I didn't get the first time. The shampoo will dry out the skin, but leaves the coat silky smooth.

I would not recommend using this shampoo weekly since it's very drying to the skin, but if you need to keep a bad yeast issue at bay it really works amazing.

Note that not many vets carry this shampoo, I have to order it online.


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xxaprilrose

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alohadaisy

alohadaisy

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Ooop, I hope Malaseb shampoo is ok? I ordered that on amazon as well as malacetic wipes and have been eagerly awaiting them. I'll try the duoxo wipes if these aren't successful.

I just hate seeing her scratch like this and want to prevent unnecessary suffering. There's lots of info about yeast problems but not much about the detox phase.


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2BullyMama

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FANTASTIC progress..... :bravo:

I would say the fish is out. My girl also has chicken issues and when I gave her salmon she had the same reaction so I stick with beef or pork. (kibble, not raw - she cant do raw due to colitis flair ups)

Stay the course you are on and follow what Lisa (desertskybulldogs) suggested on the bathing.
 

Davidh

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You have made some great progress with her, and I'm sure before long you will have her back to her happy self. Finding the right food is always a challenge and sounds like you are on the right road. I hope the new products you ordered will help her.
 

bullmama

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Ooop, I hope Malaseb shampoo is ok? I ordered that on amazon as well as malacetic wipes and have been eagerly awaiting them. I'll try the duoxo wipes if these aren't successful.

I just hate seeing her scratch like this and want to prevent unnecessary suffering. There's lots of info about yeast problems but not much about the detox phase.


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Different active ingredients but it may work great. The pharmaseb lathers pretty good and smells good so if that one doesn't, give it a try next time around. Douxo wipes are great too, so is the shampoo.


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alohadaisy

alohadaisy

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Thank you! I was feeling really discouraged when I couldn't stop the leg eating. She's doing much better, the soaping seems to have really helped - her skin is pink instead of bright red.

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Sharon Mitchel

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Wow, I'm impressed with how much you've learned in such a short period. And to top that off you've been able to implement it and have seen some real progress! Hat's off to you!

Re: duoxo pads... I just purchased these for Charley's chin because they were recommended here. I found they are alcohol free so they don't sting tender skin. Charley tolerates this "abuse" so much better.

By the way, she is a pretty girl. You are both very lucky!



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Samantha Orts

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Don't have anything to add... no experience with yeast, but wanted to say you're awesome for taking her in and caring for her like you are! That's really amazing :)
 

Enjnene

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You have absolutely come a long way ! Very lucky bully for finding you , I don't have any ideas but I think if you just keep up with the good work it will get better soon


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aprilemari

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Wow you are doing a great job. What a great bully mom!! i think any allergy takes weeks to get out of their system. just keep it going as you are! And just as you did with the fish, if you notice a bad reaction, stop it right away. your new bully must love love love you.
 
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alohadaisy

alohadaisy

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Thank you :) Her face and legs are are much calmer, still some biting and scratching going on but not with the fury she was working over herself.
[MENTION=3225]aprilemari[/MENTION] Haha I'm glad she's so patient - she's not fond of the morning and evening cleanings ;) But she forgives me quickly

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alohadaisy

alohadaisy

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Update: I'm still battling the itch. The Malaseb shampoo came in and washed her but I think it may have been too harsh on her skin - it's very drying and I think the dry skin only made the itching worse. Her front paws seem to be doing pretty good now but she licked her back legs red and raw 2 days ago and started a gross puss-oozing patch in the wrinkles of one of her hind legs. I cleaned it with peroxide then malascetic otic solution then iodine and coconut oil. Finally wrapping it with gauze and covering with a bandage to keep her from licking it has stopped the puss. I'm going to wash her legs regularly with sulfodene shampoo - not as drying and seems to ease the itching.
She's also started itching her stomach and neck and opening little hotspots. The skin of all 4 legs and her chin are still rather red.

At 8 months pregnant this is so exhausting. I'm still questioning myself if I am feeding her right. It has been a little over a month on raw feeding. Reading how folks switched their EB to a new food and all the skin problems cleared up I'm looking forward to it happening for me. But what is the time frame? How long do I keep at the hamburger before it is conclusive that she needs a different protein? I know if it's systemic yeast that is the root of it that it will take awhile to kill it but should the detox phase be lasting this long? If it's really allergies, am I needlessly tormenting her with food that she is allergic to? If I need to switch off of hamburger that means no more raw feeding - the town 'butcher' only does chicken, pork and hamburger and only stuff for humans - can't even get green tripe commercially here. More exotic proteins are very expensive to get here and I don't think I'm ready to take on raising meat rabbits or goats with my baby just 6 weeks away. So we'd need to switch to one of the good kibbles.

I have digestive enzymes and probiotic supplements on order for her to add to her food. Acv and yogurt may not be doing enough to improve her guts. I just don't know how long I should keep feeding her hamburger at this point, the itch is driving us both mad.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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Update: I'm still battling the itch. The Malaseb shampoo came in and washed her but I think it may have been too harsh on her skin - it's very drying and I think the dry skin only made the itching worse. Her front paws seem to be doing pretty good now but she licked her back legs red and raw 2 days ago and started a gross puss-oozing patch in the wrinkles of one of her hind legs. I cleaned it with peroxide then malascetic otic solution then iodine and coconut oil. Finally wrapping it with gauze and covering with a bandage to keep her from licking it has stopped the puss. I'm going to wash her legs regularly with sulfodene shampoo - not as drying and seems to ease the itching.
She's also started itching her stomach and neck and opening little hotspots. The skin of all 4 legs and her chin are still rather red.

At 8 months pregnant this is so exhausting. I'm still questioning myself if I am feeding her right. It has been a little over a month on raw feeding. Reading how folks switched their EB to a new food and all the skin problems cleared up I'm looking forward to it happening for me. But what is the time frame? How long do I keep at the hamburger before it is conclusive that she needs a different protein? I know if it's systemic yeast that is the root of it that it will take awhile to kill it but should the detox phase be lasting this long? If it's really allergies, am I needlessly tormenting her with food that she is allergic to? If I need to switch off of hamburger that means no more raw feeding - the town 'butcher' only does chicken, pork and hamburger and only stuff for humans - can't even get green tripe commercially here. More exotic proteins are very expensive to get here and I don't think I'm ready to take on raising meat rabbits or goats with my baby just 6 weeks away. So we'd need to switch to one of the good kibbles.

I have digestive enzymes and probiotic supplements on order for her to add to her food. Acv and yogurt may not be doing enough to improve her guts. I just don't know how long I should keep feeding her hamburger at this point, the itch is driving us both mad.

It can take up to 4-6 weeks to see FULL results with any food change. I am going to tag a few of our raw feeders they may be able to add some suggestions for you
 

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