Question by pz: do you know anyone who has had worst luck with pets? do tell…?
i have had 6 pets in my adult life…30 years old, got started at 19.

cat 1: Poops~n~Bites : died of cancer at age 6 (after surgeries, cryogenics, chemo). She crapped on the carpet every day of her life UNTIL one month before she died. And although a lover she would bite you when she felt she was done being petted. We euthanized her, but probably waited too long because it was really hard to do.

cat 2: Trixie (followed 6 months later) died at age 6 also, from a heart attack from the vacuum-no joke!!

cat 3: Ninja (four years later) died AGAIN at age 6 from kidney failure (after lots of visits, home IV fluids, change if diet). it came on strong and from the time the symptoms were present we only had about 2 weeks with her. we had gotten her levels back to a good level from a few days stay at the vet ($ $ $ ) but she was in a LOT of pain a few days later and we put her down.

Cat 4 : Guadalupe “Lupe” 4 years old ALIVE!! However, Lupe was diagnosed with a heart murmur at age one: 1 or 2 on a scale 1-6, 6 being worst. a cardiogram showed half her heart was solid hard from heart disease at age 2, and also was rated 4-5 on scale. without meds she was given 6mos to live at age 2. we give her 2 pills a day and seems like she is great although we know her time is limited. we know a day will come that she will exhibit signs of suffocation (cardiac arrest) and we will immediately bring her in to be put down. they said it’s very painful (CA). also, they want us to give her cardiograms every 6 mos but they are $ 400+ and WE ARE BROKE. the only one in the house with health insurance is the DOG.

DOG 1: willis!!! the million dollar dog (insured!) status: ALIVE AND EXPENSIVE!!! (and i love him with allllllll of my heart, soul and credit cards)

YEAR ONE:
*multiple bladder infections
*lots of diarehea (changed diet)
*multiple eye infections
*massive loss of hair (related to allergies)
*severe allergies (food and insects)
*puppy strangles disease
*benign hystiocytoma #1
*extreme infection from absess from removal of 1st hystiocytoma. the vet wasn’t able to test it. he thought it may be a tumor & i tried to be pro-active, since it looked like Poops~N~Bites’ mass cell growths and i was told boxers are tumor factories. the result was a few days after surgery we ended up taking him to the vet 4x in 24hrs (was seen at reg. vet 2x & er vet 2x, both places by multiple vets). the last time we brought him in (to ER less than 2hrs after reg. vet visit) they told us he probably wouldn’t make it (infection had spread all over his body-he was FILLED w/ fluid and pus). they did an aggressive surgery and put lots of drainage tubes in and removed tons of gangreen skin. they weren’t able to tell me if he was going to make it for 2 days!! he wasn’t able to exercise or play for one month after that, but recovered.

YEAR TWO
*pneumonia
*got “the flu” or ate poison outside again (we live in the city)
*hystiocytoma #2 (left untouched since first was benign and it went away eventually)
*flu (or ate poison outside)
*ate a half of a CD, as well as dvd cases, hair brushes and mutliple ink pens….
*LOTS AND LOTS of yeast infections in ears and between toes resulting in many, many expensive shampoos, medicated pads, ear cleaners, epsom salt baths (5m 2x a day). did i mention my husband and i both work 1-2 FT jobs each and were in school FT??? (we had doggie day care and opposite schedules so he wasn’t neglected and we also walked him at the minimum 2hrs a day)
*funky stinky penis infection (mild, but disgusting)

YEAR THREE
*benign hystiocytoma (2 of them… one got gruesome, both went away)
*ate chocolate, raisins & a btl. of neosporin.
*Bloat
*Tumor (grade 2-1) we had removed.

DOG 2 : Shakey Jake
a one year old boxer we rescued 4 months ago. i found him on craigslist and adopted him because he was in a really tiny crate and he was 7months old. the owner told me he was in there 12-13 hrs a DAY!!! because of work and commute. it broke my heart, esp knowing how much exercise and socialization these dogs need. she promised me he was up to date on shots, totally healthy and mostly house broken. turns out, she lied. i brought him to the vet 12 hrs later…he had ear mites, worms, skin infections, broken tail in 2 parts and was malnourished. he didn’t respond to our voices (i thought he was deaf-no just ignored). he bit us (not maliciously just playing, but OUCH) and was totally crazy. it took 2 months to house train him. he’s still hyper but all of his health stuff got cleared up with shots, meds, bandages and love!!!

he had one $ 300 flu-like experience but besides that is seemingly healthy. he was fine after he got rehydrated.

about my boxer eating choc/raisins/neosporin/cds/pens/etc PLEASE DO NOT JUDGE ME!!!!!! all times were extreme accidents (or in part from them climbing on the counters that we thought they couldn’t reach). my husband cut off part of his thumb at work and left the neosporin on the table

Best answer:

Answer by Lynn B
My sister had a dog with a lot of the same problems (food allergies – hair falling out, skin rashes, absesses). She switched to RAW diet (raw uncooked meat, a balance of meat and organs) and the allergy problems are gone.. the dog has a beautiful coat of fur now. Turns out her back problems were also related to food allergies. Despite RAW diet costing more then kibble she has saved hundreds on vet bills.

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Question by clairez23: Can anyone help – I have tried everything!!?
My dog Jake has been suffering with skin infections for the last couple of years on and off and we don’t seem to be getting anywhere with the vets. They just keep prescribing him antibiotics which clears it up to be bearable in the short term but it keeps coming back. We recently paid out to have allergy tests done which seem to show he is allergic to everything except lamb and rice but even after changing his diet; couple of months on and still he is suffering. They have basically now drawn a blank and I don’t know what else I can do. He is affected mostly on his stomach but particularly his sheath – that is the most sore and swollen – sometimes so bad that he has discharge and cannot retract the penis. His coat condition is good and his gums, ears, eyes etc are fine it is just this repeated infection of the sheath and stomach. Can anyone help – I am open to all suggestion, even vitamin supplements or holistic approaches. Oh and he is a 7 yr old GSD/ retriever x..Thanks! xx
The tests showed that he was allergic to all meats except lamb, turkey and fish and also wheat and soy bean. In addition he is also allergic to dustmites but nothing else other than that. I have had four different vets see him and they all just say that skin infections are common in GSD breeds. Thanks for all of your responses and will keep trying x

Best answer:

Answer by TonyusSeptimus
Home made raw diet. Problem will go away completely in 3-4 weeks.
No vet will tell you that.
Late Entry : dear “negraters”, kindly GFY!!!

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Question by Pug?Bug: Has anyone else had to give their dog a chemical bath to clear demodex mites?
My poor little guy is one year old and is suffering quite badly with demodex mites.

Skin scrapings and testing has shown a high level of mites as well as a yeast and bacterial infection. He has been undergoing a course of treatment over the past few months which has helped his symptoms – but not cured them. The bacterial infection and yeast infection has cleared but the mites remain!

My vet thinks the underlying cause of it may be an allergy. However, he wants to treat the mite problem first to make the dog more comfortable and to see if the problem could just purely be the mites before we start the costly process of testing for allergies/diet testing.

To treat the mites, my vet gave ‘advocate’ as treatment. This was supposed to clear the mite problem up with 4 uses (one pipette a month). We are onto the last pipette now and while he does not scratch/lick/bite himself as often, at times he still appears uncomfortable. At my last visit to the vet, the mite number had dramatically reduced, but he still had live mites on his body and so the vet mentioned that our other option could be a chemical bath. He is reluctant to give my dog this treatment as it can often have horrible side effects for the dog. Has anyone else used this method of treatment? If so, did it work? did it effect the dog badly? did it prevent the problem from returning?

We are back at the vet in the morning for another skin scraping to look at the number of mites on his skin and discuss where to go from here, just wanted to hear from first hand experience what this ‘chemical bath’ was like.
My vet will be the one giving my dog the first bath. He wants me to stay at the surgery with him while he washes the dog to show me how to do it properly and how much to use. He said he will make up a solution in bottles for me to take home which will be safe to put straight on without me having to add water etc. He has checked with the manufacturer of the product that it is safe for use on pugs as he knows the treatment can’t be used on chihuahuas (I don’t know why?!?) Apparently I will have to wash him every 2 weeks for 2 months with it?

Best answer:

Answer by Infinitely Superior
DIPS DON’T FREAKING WORK!!!
Ivomec,though not “labeled for use” in dogs DOES!

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Question by cotigostar: What can I do for my dog? Has anyone had this issue?
I have a Golden Retriever who is about 8 years old who has a pretty bad skin condition. We have had him since he was a puppy about 4 months old and we always took care of his medical needs ourselves. I grew up on a horse ranch so the vet always came to us and took care of the dogs too while he was over. My dad would also grab de-wormer and preventatives from the feed store ad take care of all that at home. Being as we lived out in the country our dog food options were limited to what was available at the feed store so I don’t know if that contributed to my dog’s condition at all. He was always fine as a puppy and early on in adulthood but somewhere around 2-3 years old he started developing nasty sores around his neck. They would come and go and they seemed like maybe hot spots (?) with green pus. He never scratched at them or even seemed to care but they were pretty gross so I’d try to rinse them off and put ointment on them, not knowing what else to do when I was 12 or 13. As he got older he developed them more but I never knew what they were and eventually my uncles took over the ranch when my family moved away. They watched over the dogs but they didn’t know anything about them as they all came from another country. When we sold the ranch we brought the dog to our house and that was the first time I had seen him in years. He smelled horrible and even after a few baths it wouldn’t go away. We noticed him scratching alot and shaking his head so my parents took him to the vet. From what they understood (because they don’t speak very much english) the vet told them he had an ear infection and a mild skin condition. They gave him anti-biotics, ear drops, and a medicated shampoo (this I looked into for my parents to double check the doses). Now that I am at school I came to visit for the holidays and he still looks pretty bad. I work at a pet store and just from being around so many different people and different dogs have started thinking about different possibilities. Could a food allergy cause those “hot spots” and how can they be treated? Is there anything else that might be causing it? How about his ears? He used up his whole prescription of ear drops and anti-biotics and my parents said it got better only for a short while and then got worse again. I hate to see him shaking all the time and scratching everywhere. I was thinking maybe shaving him down just so I can get a better look at him. We live in Florida so the weather isn’t really a concern with shaving him down (he won’t be very cold). They spent around 1000-1500 dollars on him at the vet and with how the economy is right now don’t have the money to take him in again. I’m 19 and in school so I might have about 1 or 2 hundred to spend on him but not much more. Worst case scenario I am not against putting him down because I don’t want to see him in pain but I really want to do everything I can first.

Another thing about him is that he has what seem to be lumps on his neck but I don’t think they are tumors. Again I have seen dogs with tumors and it just seems like maybe calloused skin? If anyone has any advice or has every encountered this let me know. I spoke with my parents about paying for his food myself if it will have an affect on him and sending them medication if it really is just a severe case of hot spots so any ideas you may have just let me know. Thank you!
I am not asking for charity. I know very well that dogs require medical attention from a professional veterinarian. I also didn’t ask anyone to sit and chat with my parents. I am asking if anyone has ever had this situation and can offer some advice and suggestions. My parents are not ignorant and would gladly take the dog to the vet if they had the money. However right now they are not in the best position and the $ 1000 dollars they already spent on his didn’t make a difference. So again if anyone has come across this before let me know what you did and how it worked out. I will definitely call the vet and see about changing his diet and look into something that might calm his irritated skin for the time being. Thank you everyone for the help so far.

Best answer:

Answer by Apricot Toy Poodle Lover
Do you actually work at at store where they sell puppies? If so, quit ASAP.

Pet Store puppies all come from Puppy Mills.

http://stoppuppymills.org/ http://saynotopetstorepuppies.com/ http://millbusters.com/

Take the dog in and talk to the vet about it’s diet, or any products used on the dog.

Some dogs are allergic to corn, so your ask your vet about dog foods without corn. I buy Eukanuba Naturally Wild for my dog. It has no corn, and not super expensive.

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Question by Lottie: Is anyone else a very allergic person? Like me.?
So is anyone else on here allergic to a lot of things like me? To be honest I am getting use to it but it is a right pain in the ass and always wonder why some people have a lot of food and airborn allergies?!?!

Im allergic too:

Grapes
Salycilate Acid
Cats (not dogs) but other animals too
Dust
Grass
Dairy products
Red meat
Kiwi
Pollen
Skin products
etc

Am not like feeling sorry for myself but concerned as to why so many?
Forgot “Aspirin” on my list too. Lol

Best answer:

Answer by Shona D
I have hayfever…….if that helps???

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