Lola is a wreck!

[sowdie]

This summer has been brutal for Lola and for my wallet. I started a thread earlier this summer about her allergies and I've been switching foods since. If anything, her allergies have gotten worse. She went through a big bag of Fromm Surf & Turf, and she's about to finish a big bag of Natural Balance Potato & Duck. Both are grain and corn free. Both have not made a difference. She's miserable. The inside of her folds are always wet and red and mostly hairless and she just looks awful. I clean them, i try to dry them out, I give her benadryl, I give her salmon oil, and nothing seems to help. I don't know whether to try a new brand of food, or to simply just switch the recipe and stay within the brand. I'm hoping and praying that this is seasonal, because she deserves time off from all this.

On top of that, I brought her to my parent's house this past weekend so she could play with their dog. She had a blast as always, but, we noticed later that night that she was limping. This had happened before. A day or so later she was fine, so we figured she had just overdone it trying to play with the big dogs. This time she is not making such progress. She's still limping a bit here and there, and it's been just under a week. Sounds like this will be an expensive trip.

Can anyone recommend what to do as far as food goes? try another Natural Balance recipe, or try another brand?

 

[Bella'sMom]

are you only concentrating on foods? It may be something else. My Abby has food allergies but she is also allergic to plastic and plastic fibers (synthetic stuffing) I have had to switch out her bowls to glass and metal, her bed covered in a thick 100% cotton comforter, no plastic squeaky toys. Even then it is hard because a lot of carpets, human bedding etc has synthetic plastic fibers. You need to make one change at a time to be able to see a difference. We went as far as removing all our carpet and re-doing the original hard wood floors. What kinds of treats are you giving her, the new foods won't work if your treats are not grain-free etc....

 

[sowdie]

So far we have been concentrating only on foods. Since we switched her to grain-free food, we've been giving her veggies as treats. Did you just pick things to try and remove from Abby's everyday life, or were you doing this based on an allergy test?

 

[sheshistory]

Wow, sorry to hear Lola is going through so much - and you too.

First, about the leg, don't panic too much. If she's limping around, it might be something as simple as her needing to take an anti-inflammatory for stiffness or pain, just like we do when we exercise hard for the first time in a long time. I have a bottle of Rimadyl on hand for stiffness or soreness in Linus' legs, prescribed by our vet. If she's dragging it or something like that, that is more serious and I have way too much experience with bulldogs and torn ACLs but I will be happy to help you with any advice I can give...our Bentley tore both ACLs.

Second, the allergies. You probably have it somewhere but how old is Lola? Is she a few years old and this is something new? If this is something new that she's developed that hasn't been present for the past couple years, I would think hard about any changes you've made - new pets? New detergent? New soap? I am going through a similar issue with Linus and ear infections - likely as a result of allergies. You vet should be able to give you a steroid to bring down inflammation to provide at least temporary relief to get in those wrinkles to help them recover. If it is seasonal, it might be an option to keep Lola on allergy meds during the times she needs them. It also might be a good idea to have the vet swab the wrinkles and folds and see what's growing in there...mine did this free of charge to see if it was mostly bacteria, yeast, or something else. This will help them prescribe a topical ointment or wipe for the face.

I hope this is helpful...keep us apprised of how Lola is doing!

 

[cali~jenn]

Wow if allergies arent the end of us bully parents?!? Well first off with the limp. Give it time and try to keep her more calm until it heals. Cutty was just limping for about a week and a half and even for a couple days got to not wanting to put weighton his hind leg even. I put his throw toys away and TRIED to keep him from playing too much, not easy to do with my boy. Well after a good week and a half it seems to have gone away from what I can tell and he got his ball back last night. Also with us we have anti-inflamatory meds and gave them a try with this but they didnt help so not sure what caused this but that didnt seem to make any diff. For him it was just a matter of time I suppose. Wait and see how she is doing and remember it can take a while for them to heal. If she seems to get worse and your instincts are telling you to take her in then by all means do. Always listen to your gut, better to be wrong than be right and not go.

As for the allergies how long was she on the fromm? It may take more than 1 bags worth to even see the difference it can make. I switch so slowly with foods to prevent any stomach problems that a whole bag isnt a whole bag by the time they are completely off their old stuff. Maybe try and pick the one food and give it a longer attempt to see any differences? Also as everyone else has said you need to figure out what has changed in her surroundings maybe if it isnt the food. They can have benedryl (with no tylenol) 1 pill per 25 pounds and that may help if it is seasonal. My boy has seasonal allergies and it took me a couple years before I figured it out. The first time I had just switched to a dog food and thought it was the food. Luckily the next year we had been on a food for a period of time before the season hit and it dawned on me that now thru oct is when he seems itchy. When I think he is overly bothered I do give the benedryl and it helps like crazy. I know you will get more great advice on here tho, be patient.

 

[Bella'sMom]

We removed one thing at a time, on our own. The vet just listed the most common things and Plastic was one of them. As far as her food allergies, it took a lot longer for trial and error. Abby can't even have mild products in her foods (mild, yogurts etc) She is on a very limited diet and so far, DVP Natural Balance, Sweet Potato and Bison works well with her and with Bella's health issues. But I am sure that there are a lot of other options out there for you. Bella's diet is very restricted so we were limited, just so happens that we found something for both.

 

[Maximus]

I have found that with "Maximus" it was not only the change in food, but the addition of daily Probiotics and Digestive enzymes that really brought about the improvement of his overall health. His skin, his coat and his overall appearance has improved immensely since changing his diet to a totally "Grain Free" food and adding Probiotics and digestive enzymes. Since he is only 7-months old his Immune system has not fully matured, so as he approaches his first birthday I'm sure his system will begin to function appropriately.

 

[Zenscarboncopy]

Poor Lola! Have you tried having her allergy tested? It costs roughly $800, but will tell you exactly what she is allergic to. In the long run, it will actually save you money, instead of buying different things over and over and her still not feeling any better. My friend's little female pitbull has severe allergies to the point that she ruptured her ear tissue from the shaking and scratching and cost over $2000 for surgery. They tested her and found out she is allergic to dust, grass, human dander, you name it. The vet was also able to make a custom allergy shot that she gets once a week, at home, and she has grown a new soft coat of fur, no more scratching, no more misery.

I know the test is costly, but seems to be worth it in the end...especially when her skin clears up and she is not looking so miserable and when she is no longer in pain.

 

[Butterbean]

Sorry to hear that Lola is having a tuff time. You look like you have tried a lot things and nothing seems to work. The best way to get this right is to get Lola on a food trial asap and her allergy tested. This will let you and Lola know the quickest way to finding the problem. She will love you for it. It takes around 6 to 8 weeks.

 

[sowdie]

I appreciate everybody chiming in. It's definitely helpful and encouraging to read about other people's success stories with similar issues.
We went to the vet on Saturday and it was much of the same. She's back on Cephalexin and Prednizone for her allergies and the scabs/bald spots she's been getting. The limping seems to be ok now. The vet wants to try a different approach, although with the same combo of medicine. Lola will be off the Pred in a little over a week, and will continue to take the antibiotics by themselves. The vet wants to see how Lola is allergy-wise when taking only the antibiotics. And if that doesn't work, then it may be time for an allergy test. I'd prefer to avoid it, but i do agree that it'd save us money in the long run. It doesnt seem to be a seasonal allergy. We went over our recent trips to the vet for this same matter, and they were from Oct, Dec, Jan, Apr....so unless there's a miracle, i don't think she's getting a break from this until we find out the source.

Lola just turned 3, and I'd say we've been seeing these issues for about a year now. They've gotten increasingly worse as time went on. Oh, and Benadryl does absolutely nothing for her besides making her sleepy. As far as trying to figure it out on our own, I don't even know where to start when it comes to figuring out the things that have changed around the time this started. We don't buy the same detergents or soaps all the time. We have a cat, but she's been here since we got Lola....I'm going to continue to try switching foods. I've been giving each food a one bag trial. So I'd say about a month or so on each food. I just can't envision buying the same food twice when I've seen zero progress. How is it that there's any trace of the old food after an entire month of new food? I haven't had to do the slow switch either. Lola doesn't have any issues when changing foods. Usually only a few days of mixing the two....

So I guess we'll wait a week or so and see how she does after she's off the pred and go from there. I'll keep you posted. Thanks!

 

[Ann Farley Hamilton]

As far as her wrinkles and folds I went through the same thing with my Mack and the vet turned me onto Glen Haven products take a look at their web site it'll give you a chart of everything and what it is for. I use the F3W wipes for his nose wrinkle and tail pocket as his tail is a cork screw type that does not move so it needs to be cleaned daily or it gets infected. Only 2 infections in 4 years and none since using Glen Haven products. On the wipes the F stands for fungus and 3 stands for strength in this case 3 is the strongest and the W stands for wipes, their chart explains all this. I use it on his nose wrinkle and face and have had no trouble since I started, I used to have the same trouble with not being able to dry it out enough after cleaning but not with these they are drying in them selves so that works out great. Try them and the shampoo or other things you and your vet think might help, we did the benadryl and it never helped this has. As far as food I feed Taste of the wild, wild harvest or wild salmon and sweet potato dry not much though he they get mostly homemade I bought a book that gives a daily diet to follow so to make sure they get all the nutrients they need, also probiotics is very good to add daily to their diet. Good luck and let me know if I can help in any way.

 

[sowdie]

Thanks! I'll look into Glen Haven. Sounds like a dream!
I also wanted to ask if anyone here has ever used Dinovites....my vet said he has a patient who used to have similar issues and swears that Dinovites is the reason for the improvement. Just curious if anyone has tried it.