Kirska

About 2 months ago, we saw neverending black ooze coming out of Anabelle's right ear. It was Friday and we took her into the vet Monday. Turns out she had a very bad rod bacteria infection. It really came out of nowhere. Her ears are always gunky when we clean them but this was like a faucet.

The vet filled her ear with some kind of yellow goo to treat about 3 times (once every 2 weeks).

While we were away to LA and overseas our housesitter noticed it got worse and took her in again. This time she saw a different vet at the clinic, the main senior guy. Normally we see the younger vets. He saw what may have been a tumor and recommended surgery within a week to completely clean out her ears and check for the bump.

No bump turns out, but now we're looking at putting her under for the 2nd time to clean out her left ear, which suddenly also has a really bad infection. The right ear has improved but the left has only gotten worse.

So 6-7 vet visits, 2 overnight stays, and $1200+ later it's been suggested we put them on a hypoallergenic food to see if that helps. (By the way pet insurance == lifesaver)

I am thinking of trying the Wellness basic brand with salmon. Has anyone else experienced this and what do you recommend? The vet gave us a sample of the skin Hills prescription stuff but I'd rather shop around on my own for something higher quality.

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Mom to Anabelle and Lila, rescued ladies and Harley, Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt

"Saving just one dog won't change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog." - Richard C. Call

Mikey T

Wellness or any other food made with a natural meat protein is not hypoallergenic. Any traditional protein source can be a source of a food allergy. There is nothing inheriently less allerigenic to salmon than chicken vs beef. etc. truely hypoallergenic dog foods treat the protein in the dog food cutting into shorter amino acid chains that are so short the can not tigger an immune system response. These food came out because of problems with the tradition exclusion diet for a variety of reason. Because dog now are routinely exposed to a number of protein source not all of which are in the dog food but dog snack etc. It is very difficult to create a properly balanced protein source other than chicken without using multiple proteins, So very often that So called salmon diet often contain small amounts of other meat and vegitable proteins as well and it might be these that the dog is actual allergic to. So to be effect an exclusionary diet must have only one novel protein source and a novel carbohydrate source (that is because most carbohydrate sources contain protein as well) which makes the diet unbalanced this is fine for a short period but not for long periond of time,

I an not implying the the Wellness Salmon would not be an exclusionary diet but you need to make sure there are no overlaping traditional food ingredients other than 100% fats to any food that anabelle had in the last 12 weeks it would be exceeding long shot to find any comercially manufactured that did. Which is why in the past exclusion diets were homemade. And why the need for truely hypoallergenic food.

That said hills is not the only manufacture of hypoallergenic food however hypoallergenic food is general available by perscription only

Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Canine Hypoallergenic HP 19 Dry Dog Food


Purina Veterinary Diets HA HypoAllergenic Canine Formula Dry

btw the skin protection formulas by hills are not hypoallergenic as well but might server as an exclusianary diet depending on the dogs previous diet however they do make a hypoallergenic food.

If you don't follow the right protocal ie the new diet is neither hypoallergenic or exclusionary it is very possible to have a food allergy that is missed

Allergic and Non-Allergic Food Reactions Causing Skin Diseases

Caring for a Dog with Food Allergies

Kirska

I think the idea was to find a food without any chicken ingredients to see if it's the chicken (or processing of the chicken) that is causing the problem.

She did suggest that I try home cooked with venison, but I hardly ever even cook for myself so it would be hard to do.

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Mom to Anabelle and Lila, rescued ladies and Harley, Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt

"Saving just one dog won't change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog." - Richard C. Call

Mikey T

FWIW not that it can't happen but allergies are general associated with recurring yeast infections in the ears not bacteria infections. Gram Negative bacteria infection can be extremely resistent to traditional antibiotics and treatsment. Keep in mind the link provided below are from a manufacture so there is going to be some bias

Geriatric Otology

Therapy of gram negative Otitis Externa

Pseudomonas Otitis

Management of otitis externa

ChucksMom

My cocker/springer has had an ear infection since Feb/Mar. We tried everything the vet gave us and had pretty much given up hope of it ever clearing up. Out of desperation I went online and found this: . It's been about 2 weeks and his infection is finally starting to clear up. Not sure if it would work for Annabelle or not...

Mikey T

taking a shot in the dark, the "approved" method is first to determine if a food allergy exist and then determine what that allergy is actually to ,. Simply guessing at the food allergy is a very long shot. Especial given that with food allergies it is is often multiple allergies as well. If the dog was allergic to chicken iit easily could be allergic to a plant based protein like wheat as well. If the new food contained no chicken but had wheat glutten it would be ineffective. Beause the treament was ineffective the assumtion would be no food allergy or at least no allergy to chicken but that would be wrong because there were simply multiple food allergy and not all were eliminated in the diet trial

Which speaks to why a dermatologist is an asset over a general pacticing vet in sorting through these issue because the know how and are capable of sorting through the multiple combinations in a systematic way

Annie714

This is what I use for Annie and it's the one and only ear meds that don't make her crazy. She still semi resists letting me put the drops in but then after they are in she doesn't run off and rub her ears on the grass, which is what she has done in the past with every other ear drop. They do not suggest using any other cleansers when using the Zymox drops, so the enzymatic process isn't disrupted. I have the Zymox cleanser as well but we are still in the middle of treating with the drops. There is a noticeable difference in her ears also. They seem to be "throwing up" the gunk and she doesn't shake her head or paw at her ears anymore.

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Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

Mikey T

I find if you warm the liquid to body temp like milk/formula for a baby the dog are a lot lest resistent to the drops over time cold liquid in the ears is not a pleasant experience warming it up makes it more so. Need to be careful doing so with any liquid containing alcohol however.

Kirska

I will have to try the stuff in the link. I think both dogs could benefit from it.

I am giving this food a shot, we will see if it makes a difference:
Blue Buffalo Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon & Potato Adult Dry Dog Food at PETCO

It was the only limited ingredient food that my local Petco carried in big bags so I am trying it first.

Harley hasn't eaten in the morning all week so far (most picky eater ever), but this morning he ate all his food with a bit of this stuff mixed in, so far so good.

I am considering if all goes well after several weeks mixing in some wet Wellness limited ingredient duck for some variety but we'll see.

__________________
Mom to Anabelle and Lila, rescued ladies and Harley, Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt

"Saving just one dog won't change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog." - Richard C. Call

Soundtrack

When it came to Webster's allergies, which were very severe, the elimination diet prescribed by his vet was:

2 parts potatoes
2 parts sweet potatoes
1 parts turnip or rutabaga
1 tbsp olive oil

This was not nutritious enough for a long-term diet, but adequate in the short term to determine that he did in fact have food allergies (within a week I noticed a difference in his skin). Then I added one ingredient at a time to see whether he reacted to it or not. Chicken would turn him bright red within 24 hours. He was also allergic to beef, canned tuna, eggs, pork, lamb, grains and a few other things. After considerable trial and error he ended up on a homemade fish and potato diet, which was not too hard to make as I basically gave him whole raw sardines that I bought frozen in bags and mixed it with a batch of boiled potatoes and olive oil.

Nowadays I would probably reduce the potatoes, use sweet potatoes instead (better glycemic numbers and more nutritious), and see if he could tolerate bacon grease or fish oil instead of olive oil.

Once his allergies were under control I tackled his ears with Blue Power Ear Treatment
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/Adob...0Treatment.pdf

Results were noticeable within days.

We started with ears that were oozing yellow pus, that you could smell a mile away, and were so tender I couldn't even dab gently at them without them bleeeding. After two weeks, the infections that he had had for years, that caused his previous vet to recommend putting him down, were totally gone.

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