Well.... It is time for another Harlea update in her saga with fighting MRSA. We had another followup with her vet yesterday and she looked fantastic for a change instead of all sticky and crusty down near her nether regions. We aren't out of the woods yet as she still has two spots about the size of a half dollar on the inside of thighs and one spot under her right shoulder. Woohoo For progress! Along the way we have confirmed that she also has a new food allergy that may or may not have contributed to this. We already knew that Harlea was sensitive to poultry and fish before all of this started, but in the last 10 day we have confirmed that she is allergic to peanuts of all things which is one of her favorites. We were able to determine this as her favorite Cloud Star peanut butter men treats have been hard to come by lately so she has been eating cheddar men instead. Well we were finally able to get a hold of the peanut butter men about a week and a half ago and the morning after giving her 2 of the treats she had a massive flare up and was all red and itchy on her belly again. Since then we haven't given her anymore and the flareup cleared up within 48 hours. So, had the MRSA not been in the picture we would have been able to identify this a whole lot sooner and maybe we would have been able to clear this up months ago, as we were giving her the peanut butter treats even back in the beginning and at the time weren't thinking that it could be causing a reaction that would continue to feed the infection.
Knowing now what I didn't know then there are things that I will do differently should Harlea ever have another bout with MRSA or even MRSP. My advice to anyone else battling this would be don't be afraid to change your pups diet. I fought long and hard not to and when thinking about it my stubbornness along the lines of she is eating a great food to begin with prolonged this fight when it probably could have been shortened. So, if it ever happens and the infection is not cleared up within the first round of antibiotic I will immediately cut out all treats and switch to either a hydrolyzed diet or modified home cooked/raw diet using a base mix like Honest Kitchen for several weeks to rule out items that could be feeding the infection.
So at least for another 2 weeks she will finish up her current round of antibiotic and get baths twice a week and we will see how it goes from there. I do need to plug a product though. I can't find a post but another member that was dealing with MSRP I believe recommended TrizChlor4 4% Chlorohexidine shampoo was helping them. I wish i could remember who they were as I want to say thank you for the recommendation as we picked some up and all I can say is wow it is amazing for Harlea. We normally use Duoxo shampoo, but Harlea would always fidget in the bath when we used it and with TrizChlor4 she just stands there and enjoys it and her skin and coat have never felt softer or looked brighter.
Knowing now what I didn't know then there are things that I will do differently should Harlea ever have another bout with MRSA or even MRSP. My advice to anyone else battling this would be don't be afraid to change your pups diet. I fought long and hard not to and when thinking about it my stubbornness along the lines of she is eating a great food to begin with prolonged this fight when it probably could have been shortened. So, if it ever happens and the infection is not cleared up within the first round of antibiotic I will immediately cut out all treats and switch to either a hydrolyzed diet or modified home cooked/raw diet using a base mix like Honest Kitchen for several weeks to rule out items that could be feeding the infection.
So at least for another 2 weeks she will finish up her current round of antibiotic and get baths twice a week and we will see how it goes from there. I do need to plug a product though. I can't find a post but another member that was dealing with MSRP I believe recommended TrizChlor4 4% Chlorohexidine shampoo was helping them. I wish i could remember who they were as I want to say thank you for the recommendation as we picked some up and all I can say is wow it is amazing for Harlea. We normally use Duoxo shampoo, but Harlea would always fidget in the bath when we used it and with TrizChlor4 she just stands there and enjoys it and her skin and coat have never felt softer or looked brighter.
