quick question for sarahB
 

Hey Sarah

I noticed in the animals/pets/waddaya do? thread that your horse was photosensitive and i wondered what the symptoms were. You see my dog, a border collie called Crosby has been having skin problems for the past 4 or 5 years. At the min he is practically bald!!! :scared: His claws also split and break. We thought it may be seasonal so the most recent thing we tried were antihistamines but to no avail :( The vets have done every conceivable test and they finally admitted defeat. We have tried everything and lost count of how much it has cost.

I'm living in hope that your horse had a similar problem and that you may know how to treat it. Any info greatly received.

cheers Claire

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

Claire-she may have semi answered the question somewhere in animals? ? take em,another thread.

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

Does it get worse after he is vaccinated by any chance?
Try the homeopathic route. Thuja is good for skin or Silicea. Go to Boots (chemist) and have a look in their info section.
There are homeopathic vets that may be able to help.
What do you feed himon? Maybe he has an allergy to a feedstuff/additive?

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

Hey guys thanks for response.

Iv trawled way back to dec last year looking for sarahB's other thread and cant find it. I may have missed it along the way so will keep looking.

To answer your questions mumomonty, im not sure about your vaccination theory. Hes only been vaccinated regularly since feb '04 and has been having problems longer than that but strangely the hair loss does coincide with the last 3 years vaccines so its defo worth investigating i think.

We took him to a homeopathic vet a few years back ,(cant remember the remedy she gave him) she said the 'bad' hair he had would continue to fall out but would be replaced by new stuff. most of his 'bad' hair did fall out but didn't grow back in. The only success we have had was with reiki. Only problem is we dont live near the woman who could do it. He's going on his hols in sept when we are over in nz so will be able to have a few sessions then so hopefully that will work again. it would be great to find out the source of the problem though.

I feel so sorry for him, he used to have a particularly thick glossy coat and now he is so bald be needs blankets in the cold and suncream in the summer. Hes also very smelly :o

cheers Claire

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

Morning..... how my horse was doesnt really sound like how your dog is... Now, Ive used an excellent Homeopathic vet in Tunbridge Wells but I cant remember the name right now (bad flu sorry, my brain is all mushy). My horse was a bright red chestnut colour with white legs and face. It was his white bits that were most at risk. It looked like bad sunburn and literally happened within hours.... the white bits went all scabby (a yellowy colour) and then they would eventually clear up and all the hair would fall out too.... he looked a real mess. From the spring onwards Id put on Tescos factor 50 all over his nose and in the summer I bought him a fly mask for his eyes and nose and that seemed to do the trick. My friend whos looking after him now says he has on a full face mask now and hes doing fine. For his white sensitive legs it was a case of keeping him out of the wet.... if he was in a field that didnt drain well he had to come into the stable in real wet weather.... if he went out in the wet I put vaseline and savlon barrier cream on his heels to protect him. At the moment hes in a field that drains well so my friend says hes ok. I had an accident once and had to stay a couple of weeks in hospital (yes I fell off my horse!).... my hubby was a farmer and busy, my so called friends at the time never even checked to see if my horses were ok and my chestnut got rain scald all over his back.... same kinda thing. That took 6 months of care to get right again, eventually he grew a new coat and looked ok. He was a particularly sensitive skinned horse though and my vet just put it down to him being purebred arabian and the colur his skin was and just one of those things we'd just have to manage as best as we could.

Heres a pic of him, you can see how much sensitive white skin he had even though hes chestnut in colour.


I had amazing results when I used the Homeopathic vet for another reason... I will try to remember the name for you.

itchy dogs!!
 

I have a 4 year old male neutered german shepherd - The Beautiful Bruno - unfortunately, by the time he was 6 months he was being prescribed steroids - pregnisone, I think - for itchy smelly skin, etc. We were told it was probably a flea allergy - so increased doses of flea treatment - then we were told it was a contact allergy to plastic - so all toys, bowls, etc had to be changed for more upmarket nylon/metal. I tried every sensitive skin/allergenic dog food I could find. Apart from the cost, I was really unhappy about something so young being given steroids on an ongoing basis, so researched on the net and came up with a "raw food diet"

2.5 years ago, I threw away the bags of kibble and, since then Bruno has had raw whole chicken, bones and all - beef&lamb make him itch - some raw whole fish - too much raw fish make him itch - raw eggs, canned tuna, sardines and mackerel in spring water - I keep all the veg trimmings in a bag in the freezer and every now and then make a chicken and veg stew. www.nznaturaldog.org.nz gives the full details and there is a chat group, [email protected]

It certainly worked for Bruno - at least once or twice a week, other dog walkers will comment on what fantastic condition he's in.

I also realised that he is sensitive to wandering jew - which in the UK is lovingly cultivated as an indoor plant, and in NZ runs riot in the native bush walks and is called wandering willy .... am sure Danny can have fun with that one! Visits to the beach only 2/3 days a week otherwise the salt/sand makes him itch. I have a feeling that being left damp might affect him - he improved when we moved to Khandallah - when we lived in Western Hills above Lower Hutt, he was walked along the Hutt River walks twice a day and often got wet in the water or the long grass.

As a precaution, I stopped his vaccinations and flea treatments - was never keen on pouring liquid to be absorbed through the skin that had multiple warnings about its toxicity - from dog and our points of view!

The final touch was quite recently when I went to buy a new dog brush and was told about undercoat brushes - apparently german shedders .... sorry, shepherds, have dense undercoats - the first time I used it, there was enough to fill a duvet!

It's apparent that it was no one thing that created Bruno's skin problems but changing to a raw food diet improved his condition within days and within months he was a different dog - so I do believe that was the most important thing - the rest is a bonus.

Forgot - he hasn't had a bath for over 2 years - the last time we tried, yet another, more expensive than mine, sensitive skin shampoo recommended by the vet, he was so itchy, he fell over trying to scratch with two feet at the same time - know it sounds funny but it was really distressing - that's when I found out that dogs tolerate antihistamine better than humans!

Hope this helps. The nznatural dog website and chat group were invaluable for me.

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

Have found the Homeopathic Remedies place..... here you go....

http://www.helios.co.uk/

I used them years ago.... excellent results.... worth having a chat with somebody there maybe?? HTH

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

My wife wakes up grumpy most mornings,don't know if it's an allergy to humour or just being married to me. Have tried alcohol and funny cigs-but that just makes her sleep. Have tried to get her put down,but most GP's palm it off as illegal,murder or some such nonsense.And besides its really difficult getting her into the box. Its like she knows where we're going!! :D :D

Re: quick question for sarahB
 

Morning to you to, well technically it's afternoon now but m just out of bed so feels like morning to me :) .

Thanks for your quick reply. Think your right they seem to have two different problems, just the sensitive skin thats similar really. Crosby does have lots of white skin also so that may be a contributory factor to his problems. Thanks for the address of the homeopath also.

Your horse is gorgeous btw, you must miss him terribly, i miss crosby most when we are over in nz for hols!!! Best not tell anyone else that :D

Thanks again for your help
claire

Re: itchy dogs!!
 

Thanks so much for your info, I'll defo check out the website.

At the moment crosby eats James Welbeloved kibble with tinned fish. He's been having that for years now, It was the homeopathic vet who advised it. He cant tolerate any other 'normal' dog food anymore or he ends up with the runs! :eek: The raw food plan sounds worth a try, dogs aren't designed to eat cooked food with milk derivatives in them after all.

I'm with you on the shampoo thing too. That stuff is so expensive and doesn't have much impact. I dont use a flea treatment on him regularly, thankfully iv only needed in once or twice. As for vaccines, i need to keep them up as we are planning to move to nz at some point and if the old boys still around (hes 12 now) we will bring him with us.

Thanks again for your help. I'll check out that website for sure. Did you have to stop his dried food completely or did you just cut it down? Does it not take a lot of raw food to fill them up?

cheers Claire

Re: itchy dogs!!
 

Not designed to eat large amounts of grains either - even the up-market "for allergenic dogs" kibble contains wheat or soya or corn in quite large quantities - if there was more protein, the price would be prohibitive. The raw food diet got rid of the runs, etc. - amazing how much time can be spent discussing a dog's bowel movements!

We went "cold turkey" - threw out the bag of kibble and went for it - Bruno absolutely loved it - feels a bit daunting but, like most things, got used to the routine quickly - I'm Wellington's expert in where to buy cheap chook - for his weight of just under 40kg, he needs 1.2kg of meat&bones, which is conveniently half a size 20/22 chicken - so I just cut it in half and he chomps his way through - and it's the right proportion of meat to bone + bits of liver/kidney attached to the carcasse. You can ease into it with chicken necks but its best to get to "one big lump" asap as they chew better. The first time I gave him a whole raw egg was hilarious - he rolled it around for ages, obviously suspected it was edible, and finally picked it up gently and dropped it - ate the white and yolk and then the shell.

As I say, the chat group was invaluable - both the archive and talking to dog owners with the same problem.