Harlea Saga Continues Update

[Marine91]

We are now going on month 4 of all of this and let me just say it has been a wild ride so far. Harlea went back to the vet yesterday for a follow up and we have made some good progress as it looks like all of the MRSA is gone but she did have a few yeast blooms remaining which is still progress considering where we were just a few short weeks ago. The affected area is now localized to between her hips near her girly parts instead of bouncing between that and her entire belly so she is back on another round of antibiotics to try and finish this off once and for all.

We have once again learned a couple of new things between vet visits.

1. Harlea is allergic to something in our tap water. We had the water tested and I believe that it is the high concentration of fluoride but cannot confirm. We discovered this as I had been filling her crate dish with tap water at night while all her other sources of water are filtered. Within 2 days of removing tap water from the equation Harlea stopped licking her paws and within a week half of her belly was cleared up.

2. Harlea is allergic to the material her bed is made out of. Part of this irritation Harlea has were little pustules that would always make her feel wet and sticky. Grasping as straws we covered her bed with a cotton t-shirt one night and OMG the results in the morning were amazing. She still had the irritation from the Staph but the pustules and stickiness were gone over night and have not returned.

3. Our vet finally agreed with us that this is not a food specific allergy, but asked us to start freezing her kibble to rule out a storage mite allergy. Which I am totally up for trying.

All in all this has been a nerve racking experience. Especially since I know that some of the problems she has faced were caused by things that I did or items that I gave her. We live and learn and I can't beat myself up over it as I didn't know at the time but I do know that I will never make those two mistakes again. So we will continue giving her the meds and twice weekly baths and be keeping our fingers crossed that the end is in sight.


For those of you that don't know what has been going on the past few months with Harlea you can catch up at the links below if you wish.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/showthread.php?36038-Nasal-discharge
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/showthread.php?36690-Harlea-Update
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/f...7-Got-Harlea-s-Test-Results-In-a-Bit-of-Shock

 

[2BullyMama]

that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!!!

 

[brutus77]

I'm glad to hear that Harlea is feeling better. I wonder if I too should be giving Brutus filtered water. He has recently been licking his paws pretty bad. Hmm..I am going to try it. Now, about freezing the food, is this regular kibble? Can storage mites get into a sealed storage container?? This is great info for me Todd, thanks.

 

[Mia Amor]

We are now going on month 4 of all of this and let me just say it has been a wild ride so far. Harlea went back to the vet yesterday for a follow up and we have made some good progress as it looks like all of the MRSA is gone but she did have a few yeast blooms remaining which is still progress considering where we were just a few short weeks ago. The affected area is now localized to between her hips near her girly parts instead of bouncing between that and her entire belly so she is back on another round of antibiotics to try and finish this off once and for all.

We have once again learned a couple of new things between vet visits.

1. Harlea is allergic to something in our tap water. We had the water tested and I believe that it is the high concentration of fluoride but cannot confirm. We discovered this as I had been filling her crate dish with tap water at night while all her other sources of water are filtered. Within 2 days of removing tap water from the equation Harlea stopped licking her paws and within a week half of her belly was cleared up.

2. Harlea is allergic to the material her bed is made out of. Part of this irritation Harlea has were little pustules that would always make her feel wet and sticky. Grasping as straws we covered her bed with a cotton t-shirt one night and OMG the results in the morning were amazing. She still had the irritation from the Staph but the pustules and stickiness were gone over night and have not returned.

3. Our vet finally agreed with us that this is not a food specific allergy, but asked us to start freezing her kibble to rule out a storage mite allergy. Which I am totally up for trying.

All in all this has been a nerve racking experience. Especially since I know that some of the problems she has faced were caused by things that I did or items that I gave her. We live and learn and I can't beat myself up over it as I didn't know at the time but I do know that I will never make those two mistakes again. So we will continue giving her the meds and twice weekly baths and be keeping our fingers crossed that the end is in sight.


For those of you that don't know what has been going on the past few months with Harlea you can catch up at the links below if you wish.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/showthread.php?36038-Nasal-discharge
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/showthread.php?36690-Harlea-Update
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/f...7-Got-Harlea-s-Test-Results-In-a-Bit-of-Shock

I'm so glad she is getting better. I always give everyone even Mia filtered water just for that reason the fluoride in the water (Alex Jones) lol watch way to much of him. Can I ask should everyone just be freezing food just in case? Why wait right?

Sent from Mia's s4 (Mia Amor)

 

[dolphin]

Wow Todd that's a lot to deal with, I'm super happy that you've been able to figure out all of those things. Well done and good to hear there's light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Manydogs]

[MENTION=8859]Marine91[/MENTION] Good news to here that Harlea is making progress towards being well! You have worked hard to get to this point! [MENTION=9370]brutus77[/MENTION] storage mites are already in the food when you purchase.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Aww Todd, I'm so sorry you're going through this with Harlea, It sounds like you've been through a lot with her, and I'm so glad she's starting to feel better. Don't ever blame yourself though, you could never have known that the water or her cage were causing her to have allergy symptoms. You are a great bully Dad, and the fact that you did the detective work and found the causes of these symptoms is a testament to that. I hope she continues to Improve.

 

[Marine91]

I'm glad to hear that Harlea is feeling better. I wonder if I too should be giving Brutus filtered water. He has recently been licking his paws pretty bad. Hmm..I am going to try it. Now, about freezing the food, is this regular kibble? Can storage mites get into a sealed storage container?? This is great info for me Todd, thanks.

Storage mite are in the food as soon as you pick it up. It doesn't matter if it is Fromms or Old Roy they will be there. Air tight containers can help but the research I have done since yesterday all said to freeze the food and serve it from the freezer as as all the mites will be dead.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[brutus77]

@Marine91 Good news to here that Harlea is making progress towards being well! You have worked hard to get to this point! @brutus77 storage mites are already in the food when you purchase.

well crap, then what good does the freezing do? does it kill them?? Should we be doing this? how the heck am I going to fit all that food in my freezer??

 

[Manydogs]

[MENTION=9370]brutus77[/MENTION] The freezing kills the storage mites. If you dog is not allergic to storage mites, you don't have to worry.

 

[brutus77]

@brutus77 The freezing kills the storage mites. If you dog is not allergic to storage mites, you don't have to worry.

Brutus is having so many problems since January, so i'm not really sure whats going on. I think it is food allergies but we will see how he does on his RX food again. I made the mistake of taking him off of it. Stupid me.

 

[Manydogs]

[MENTION=9370]brutus77[/MENTION] I hope Brutus will do well again w/ his RX food.

 

[brutus77]

@brutus77 I hope Brutus will do well again w/ his RX food.

thanks.

 

[Bulldozersma]

So glad Harlea is feeling better. It's amazing how sensitive our babies can be and how something as small as tap water vs filtered water can get to them.
I hope she is all cleared up soon. Such a sweet girl

 

[ddnene]

Todd I'm so sorry to hear about the troubles w/Harlea… but it sounds like you are figuring out what's going on. I'm going to have to start filtered water on Wally his tear stains are getting bad. Did you ever have Harlea tested, or did you decide not to do it?!!