Penny meets her brother again

Wow! It's been more than a month since I posted.

We're still keeping an eye on Penny's joint issues, trying to make sure she's not in pain. Also, she's begun licking herself again, because of what we assume are seasonal allergies.

We tried Apoquel, on our vet's recommendation, and the results were instant. By the next day she had stopped licking herself. However, on reading this article about the other effects of apoquel use, we decided to discontinue it, given that Penny's itch is not too bad.

We're trying our vet's idea of bathing her feet and perineal area every time we come in from a walk, and so far the itching seems under control.

One of the main reasons we didn't want her on apoquel for too long is that she already has lots of lipomas on her body, and some warts on her head. So we knew we'd worry excessively about the possibility of her developing more lumps because of the treatment.

So, it was particularly interesting to run across Penny's littermate in the park yesterday, the second time in thirteen years we've met him.

He, too, has lumps. He, too, has warts. And, to top it off, he scooted around on the grass as the humans chatted.

It was such a relief to see that these are not huge problems, that the other human doesn't get as worried as I do. Penny's brother was obviously happy and well, even with these similar issues.

One little tip I'll try is to trim Penny's tail like her brother's is done, so we can wash her effectively, and to make the application of ointments easier.

Penny is sitting with her rear leg stuck out, and her brother doesn't seem to have the same joint problems, so I suppose our participation in energetic sports may have given her problems. But she loved her agility and her flyball, so here's hoping it was worth it.

The two dogs didn't spend much time socialising. I  wonder if, after thirteen years, they even remember each other?

turmeric for dogs

It's been a while since I blogged. Life has been ambling along okay, with Penny having to deal with some arthritis, a leg that has a torn cruciate ligament and some skin issues, but basically she is happy and enjoying life.

I thought I'd do a post today to tell about our experiment with turmeric. A local shop has opened, run by a naturopath for dogs, and we've been keen to try feeding Penny a raw diet, as she used to have.

The other thing that was suggested by the naturopath is that we try turmeric for her increasing number (and size) of lipomas. One of them is rather big and in a place where it might need surgery, which at Penny's age would be a very unpleasant option.

The turmeric we are feeding her is in the form of Golden Paste. We were supposed to start with a small dose, to see how she reacts to it, but we forgot that instruction and started straight away with the recommended dose of 3/4 teaspoon per five kilos of weight.

So far so good.
The good  thing is that this medication should help with her allergies and her arthritic also.

a whole month since I posted

Wow! I was amazed to see I haven't written anything about Penny's life for a whole month. I guess the hot summer weather has made us lazy. The last few weeks have consisted of lazing around most of the day, walking either super early (By my standards, anything before 10 am is super early, lol) or late in the cool of the evening.

Penny's lumps and itches are not bothering her at the moment, as far as I can tell. She's taking one and a half Cetirizine each day, with the aim of settling any allergies, and we put Apex lotion on her itchy areas a couple of times a day when needed.

So, not much to report... which is good, from my point of view.

pet dogs can help prevent allergies

There's an interesting article in The Age newspaper today. It says that having a pet dog that comes inside the house can protect very young children from developing egg allergies.

I've often heard it said that owning a dog can strengthen children's immune system, but this is the first time I've read of an actual research project that shows it's best if the dog lives in the house with the family.

Here's a quote from news.com.au:

Allergy experts from Melbourne's Murdoch Childrens Research Institute studied more than 5000 babies and found those with young siblings and infants exposed to a dog inside the home were less likely to develop an allergic reaction to egg...

Lead researcher Dr Jennifer Koplin said the risk of developing a food allergy seemed to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

She said the immune system evolved at a time when people were exposed to more bacteria in food and the water supply, and infections through crowding and larger families.
Dr Koplin said it was possible developing infants were now not exposed to the right environmental factors to teach their immune systems how to react appropriately.
"They are reacting inappropriately to something that they should be able to tolerate which is in this case, food allergens, or food proteins," Dr Koplin told AAP.
The research suggested the protective effect of a family dog on egg allergy could be due to exposure to endotoxin, a type of bacteria.
Dr Koplin said endotoxin stimulates the immune system to attack bad bacteria and in doing so, is distracted from attacking harmless things in the environment like foods.

How great to read that we can benefit from treating our dogs as they'd wish - letting them live inside with the pack, instead of leaving them to languish in the backyard away from the family.

Penny's feet

Two days ago, when we were bathing Penny's feet in cool water - as we currently do after every outing - we noticed the skin of one pad was peeling back.

Of course we didn't freak out and wonder if our current regimen of cleaning twice daily for ten days with Malacetic wipes and applying Elocon once a day for three days has wrecked her skin completely, or given her some dreadful skin-destroying disease - of course we didn't...

But, just in case, we thought a re-visit to the vet might clarify things.

He said the peeling skin is a sign that something was wrong with it and it is peeling back to healthy skin. Phew! When I think about it, she's had a horrible hard patch on her paw (it looked like callus) since last November. And that's the paw that is causing the limp. BTW, he found a similar development on the other front foot, and suggested something in her gait may be causing this.

He once again checked her limbs completely, trying out every joint and reassured us that this latest limp is not likely to be joint-related. (Always a relief, given her previous cruciate repair.) He suggested we continue to work on getting rid of the hard, peeling skin, and gave us some chlorhexidine to use. We're to wipe the two paws every couple of days, working deeply to wipe or pull the loose skin off. When he did it she didn't seem to find it painful. But I do know that, like other dogs, she doesn't readily admit to pain.

PetPlace says of this medication:

Overview

Chlorhexidine is classified as a disinfectant or cleanser. It is used both to treat environmental surfaces, and in less concentrated forms, to treat the skin, ears and oral cavity. It is effective against bacteria, fungus, yeast and viruses.
Chlorhexidine is an OTC (over the counter drug) but should not be administered unless under the supervision and guidance of a veterinarian.
Chlorhexidine is used in veterinary medicine for the treatment and prevention of dermatological (skin) conditions and for the management of ear infections (otitis externa) and gum disease.

And

This drug can be used in the treatment of superficial skin infections, irrigation (cleansing) of wounds and as a medicated shampoo for the treatment of certain skin conditions (hot spots or acute moist dermatitis).
Chlorhexidine is not effective against infections caused by parasites (such as worms and mites).

Okay, that sounds like a good plan.

But then I remembered I hadn't told the vet I've been wiping Penny's paws with aloe vera gel. I simply break off a piece of leaf and gently rub it into the underneath of her foot. She didn't seem to mind this at all, even when the paw was quite sore.





PLEASE NOTE: Saturday 10th March 2012 - I have a subsequent post that looks at the pros and cons of use of aloe vera in terms of its possible toxicity.

I'm going to continue with the aloe vera, as well as the chlorhexidine, as I don't see that they should counter each other. In looking around to check this, I came across this informative answer at AllExperts to a query about paw problems. I like this answer because although it talks about alternative therapies, it doesn't dismiss modern veterinary medicine. I thought it had a good balance.

The query was about an akita who was licking her paws. Here's part of the answer:

Allergies can cause constant licking and swelling of the paws and accumulation of debris, creating a moist, warm environment that can cause an overgrowth of bacteria, yeasts, fungi and demodectic mites. Chewing and superficial infection allow deeper penetration of these organisms into the skin, creating a very itchy, and hard to break cycle.

The problem is really two fold: If the suspected allergy is treated but not the skin infection, it is unlikely that your dog would have complete or lasting results.

So you see, because your dog is chewing at her paws, she's at risk for developing secondary infections on her skin, which can quickly get out of hand. That is why your vet told you to keep your dog's feet clean, and why you should strictly follow that advice.

Gently wash your dog's feet with peroxide, at least once a day. Dry your dog's feet very well. If your dog will allow it, a hair drier on the low setting would work well. If it's possible, wash your dog's feet when she comes in from outside too, since grass or pollens might be aggravating or causing the itch.

If you can't wash your dog's feet each time she comes in from being outside, simply soaking her feet for 5 or 10 minutes, four times a day, in cool water can help control licking. For additional relief, add a sprinkling of Epsom salts to the water (1 teaspoon in 2 cups of warm water). Again, it's really important that you dry the dog's feet well after a soak.

Your vet asked that you get back to her in a week, you need to do that if you haven't done so. Treatment for an allergy is a long term and complicated thing, it might take months to get it under control, and the first course of treatment might not work, so other medications would be needed.

Since the problem is continuing, your vet may want to run tests for fungus, bacteria, or parasites, or take a skin scraping sample. In addition, she may prescribe medications such as steroids (Prednisone) which quickly relieve irritation and break the "lick cycle."
These drugs have the added benefit of putting the brakes on the immune system, which produces the allergy symptoms. Finally, pets with severe allergies may undergo a series of shots to help desensitize them to whatever they are allergic to.
In some cases, the vet simply isn't able to find anything physically wrong, but can still treat for the symptoms.

And

Aside from the medication your vet prescribes, the following suggestions might help control the itching, but these are not a substitute for vet care, and you should tell your vet exactly what supplements or over the counter remedies you are using on your dog.

Along with washing your dog's feet with peroxide (which is important that you do), also try this:
Brew a cup of tea as you normally would (regular black tea, that you can drink), then soak a clean towel in the cooled tea to make a compress and apply it directly to your dog's paw for three to five minutes, up to five times a day. Tea can discolor fur, so don't be surprised if your pet seems to be wearing socks when you are done. Tea contains chemicals called "Tannins", which help dry rashes and ease irritated skin. Dry the paws well when you're done- with a hair drier if possible.


100% pure Aloe Vera gel (not a blend!) can be applied directly on the paws. Aloe Vera gel comes from the Aloe Vera succulent plant and contains enzymes which break down inflammatory proteins and enhance healing. It really stops itching, and you can use it on yourself too. If you happen to own a plant, just crack off a piece and rub it onto your dog's paws. You can use Aloe Vera gel 4-5 times a day and after cleaning or soaking the paws, or whenever you see your dog chewing at her feet. It's safe if your dog licks it.

There's lots more advice in the post, and I'm saving the whole thing to my computer, because it's one of the best overviews of paw licking that I've seen.

We're going back to the vet in ten days, so here's hoping that the problem will be resolved by then.

the value of keeping a doggy diary

Penny's been eating grass. She has always used grass to settle her stomach, or to settle her gut, and it usually comes out the other end, all neatly folded and looking like it has passed through her digestive system untouched.

I've posted about it previously.

But this time she's had us worried, so much so that we went to the vet. She's been rushing outside not long after her meals, tearing at the grass like a sheep, and it's been coming through inside her faeces, so that at first we didn't realise it was there. (Now you know that we truly love her - who else would be pulling poo to pieces to see what's in it?) And then she vomited up a heap of grass.

So, to the vet...

He checked her thoroughly, asked if she's been well otherwise. Yes, she has. He listened to her gut for long enough that I started to get worried, and said it was noisier than usual. And I learned a new word when I read his notes - ascultation.

I mentioned to the vet that the first time we saw her rush outside, she had just been out in the garden chewing a three-day-old lamb shank she'd previously buried, and he said some dogs react badly to lamb. He then made sure her worming is up to date and suggested we monitor her for another couple of weeks, at the same time increasing the amount of roughage she gets.

I didn't think much of it until I came home and looked at the diary we keep:
Tuesday 24th January: breakfast - lamb, dinner - lamb, snacked on dug-up lamb shank;
Wednesday 25th January: breakfast - lamb and tripe canned food, dinner - not recorded;
Thursday 26th January: breakfast - lamb,dinner - Royal Canin Hypoallergenic dry food (rarely fed but we had some left over);
Friday 27th January: breakfast - beef, dinner - lamb;
Saturday 28th January: breakfast - lamb, dinner - lamb;
Sunday 29th January: breakfast - lamb, dinner - lamb kidneys;
Monday 30th January: breakfast - lamb, dinner - canned lamb and tripe;
Tuesday 1st February: breakfast - lamb kidneys, dinner beef and canned lamb and tripe.

I said to a friend that we might not have twigged about how much lamb we were feeding if we didn't keep a diary, and she said, "What about plain old memory?"

Well, I must admit we feed such a variety usually that I wouldn't be able to recall exactly what Penny's had over the last week. By the way, there have been other ingredients to her meals, such as raw or cooked vegetables, Vets All Natural Complete Mix, Glyde, Melrose Omega-3 oil and healthy treats.

But lamb has accidentally dominated. And why?
Because it was on special in the supermarket and I love a bargain.
Because I happened to buy lamb as the canned food we sometimes feed (high quality ZiwiPeak, by the way).
Because I thought it would be good to mix in some organ meat and didn't stop to think that it was also lamb.

Once we became aware of this, we stopped the lamb, and she has only chewed on a little bit of grass once, that we know of. She's having more roughage than usual, as per the vet's suggestion (cold cooked potato and pumpkin, which she loves), and some rice and cooked chicken for the next couple of days.

Now the question is, should we let her have lamb in future?

My thought is that we overfed one food type, not that lamb per se is the problem. But we'll wait for a few weeks before reintroducing it.

However, I did come across this interesting snippet at K9Web in looking for information for this post:

Dogs are not allergic to a dog food per se, rather they react to one or more of the ingredients in the food. Some of the most common culprits are beef, pork, chicken, milk, whey, eggs, fish, corn, soy, wheat and preservatives. Many animals are now developing allergies to lamb as well. This was once thought to be very hypo-allergenic, but the more it is used, the more sensitivities are springing up.

It's been a lesson for us.

And I'm glad we keep a diary, even though our friends think we're weirdly obsessive.

dogs, allergies and diet

Today we have been set free from the boring, boring hypo-allergenic diet our vet suggested. We followed it religiously, but unhappily, for months, but today when we went to see the skin specialist she said she doesn't believe commercial low allergen diets work, because they all have some proteins in them. For instance, one famous brand has rice, and another has soy.

Hooray! We can go back to our usual wide mix of foods.

Penny still has a rash around her vulva, and still has rashes between her toes, but we are going to wash her bottom with baby wipes (non-alcoholic ones) and try to control the symptoms of her allergies with Elocon cream and lotion, applied as sparingly as we can.

We'll go back for a review in seven weeks. Perhaps we might have tests to see if environmental factors are making Penny itchy, but we'll wait to see whether that is necessary.

Now we can focus on getting organised for Honey's dancing competition. I'll have to think of some nice tasty treats to encourage Penny - but really, she just enjoys the dancing for its own sake.

poisonous plants and dogs

Penny was watching from inside the front door as I weeded the front garden this afternoon; she doesn't get out the front because we don't have a fence along the street. I was pulling out a plant that looked like choko and I wanted to make sure I wasn't discarding a useful plant, so I took a well-earned break and searched on the internet 'plant with milky sap looks like choko'.

I'm glad I did, because this plant definitely has to go. It is poisonous to animals and harmful to people. A Weed Fact Sheet from the New South Wales Government says,

It is suspected to be poisonous to cattle, poultry and dogs. The sap can cause skin irritation and severe allergic reactions in susceptible people.

I guess I'm not a susceptible person, because I've pulled out heaps of these plants, in our own garden and on weeding sessions in Darebin Parklands. Confession time - I'm really, really silly, because I sometimes garden without gloves.

After I read the scary stuff I washed the sticky gooey stuff off my arms and hands and donned gloves. The Fact Sheet says to dispose of the seed pods by bagging them and 'disposing of them safely', so I thought I shouldn't put the plant in the green waste bin. I put the whole thing in the rubbish bin.

Now, it may be a weed, but what's a weed after all, except a plant that we don't want to see growing where it does? I know Peter, the Ranger in Darebin Parklands, hates this particular weed and the Fact Sheet certainly shows what a pest it would be in our lovely bushland oasis.

It is also becoming more widespread in southern Victoria, particularly in and near Melbourne...
they reduce indigenous biodiversity. They do this by degrading the homes or habitat of indigenous plants and animals, thus
contributing to the extinction crisis both locally and globally.

BUT... it's so beautiful if you open the fruit.
I know I'm not the only one who thinks so, because I found a flickr member who took a picture of the beautiful seeds, one that captures the iridescence of the hairy tops, as I couldn't do.