I love my two yr old basset hound virgil but Im running out of options on what to do to make him a happier dog and me a happier owner. I can't afford these weekly vet visits, that cost anywhere from $100-$300 week. For the past yr he has had many of issues but the major one that I need help on is his skin problem.
We finally found out two weeks ago that he has thyroid disease so I thought we were on a uphill road, but not so much. I was told thyroid disease causes skin problems so I thought the pills he has to take twice a day would help, so far they haven't. But I'm still hopeful. He has many other issues described as symptoms of T.D. Such as overweight (74poinds at two yrs) etc. So I was almost relieved to find treatment answer for him.
But so far I'm still concerned about his constant itching of mostly his belly. To the point he has itched all of his hair off and skin is raw, beat red, little bumps, and sometimes little scabs, almost like he gets inverted nipples. The skin also under his armpits, near his peter, etc. look like black little dirt or scabs but is where he itches the most. Its not dirt though it's an irritation.
He has learned to army crawl and his belly on the carpet to itch his belly (which was cut at first) but if hes not eating or sleeping he's itching and trying to eat his paws off cuz he's soooo itchy. He cant even play like he use to anymore and barely listens to me as he just sits there and itches and stares at me.
As of last night I put a t shirt on him and it has helped him from not itching for now, makes me think it's more of a contact allergy to our carpet because When I took it off he started in again and even was sneezing constantly (which is new he didn't have that symptom the last yr with the itch)
We also just switched his food to the most expensive $80bag hyperalleginic food couple days ago to see if that would work. To soon to tell.
Lthrough out the last yr we have had him on diff strengths of steroid and other pills to help with the inflammation on belly etc. the last pills he was on was atopica which is $200 mth and didn't work either. The steroid helped him to not itch at first but eventually gave him aggressive side effects and crazy behavior and horrible hunger attitutdes. He would eat everything in my back yard, even tried eating the bark off the trees, ate all my hosta plants, etc.
So we are still dealing with him having the nasty gas ever. That hasn't got better for last couple mths he just constantly smells like a fart even after bathing him. Every time he moves he is farting. My fiancé can't even be in the same room as him anymore because he claims he will throw up due to the smell. Which he follows me everywhere, so my fiancé is a bit annoyed and to be honest I'm stressed. I don't know what to do. Keep him in a t shirt the rest of his life?
Has anyone else had issues like this?
We finally found out two weeks ago that he has thyroid disease so I thought we were on a uphill road, but not so much. I was told thyroid disease causes skin problems so I thought the pills he has to take twice a day would help, so far they haven't. But I'm still hopeful. He has many other issues described as symptoms of T.D. Such as overweight (74poinds at two yrs) etc. So I was almost relieved to find treatment answer for him.
But so far I'm still concerned about his constant itching of mostly his belly. To the point he has itched all of his hair off and skin is raw, beat red, little bumps, and sometimes little scabs, almost like he gets inverted nipples. The skin also under his armpits, near his peter, etc. look like black little dirt or scabs but is where he itches the most. Its not dirt though it's an irritation.
He has learned to army crawl and his belly on the carpet to itch his belly (which was cut at first) but if hes not eating or sleeping he's itching and trying to eat his paws off cuz he's soooo itchy. He cant even play like he use to anymore and barely listens to me as he just sits there and itches and stares at me.
As of last night I put a t shirt on him and it has helped him from not itching for now, makes me think it's more of a contact allergy to our carpet because When I took it off he started in again and even was sneezing constantly (which is new he didn't have that symptom the last yr with the itch)
We also just switched his food to the most expensive $80bag hyperalleginic food couple days ago to see if that would work. To soon to tell.
Lthrough out the last yr we have had him on diff strengths of steroid and other pills to help with the inflammation on belly etc. the last pills he was on was atopica which is $200 mth and didn't work either. The steroid helped him to not itch at first but eventually gave him aggressive side effects and crazy behavior and horrible hunger attitutdes. He would eat everything in my back yard, even tried eating the bark off the trees, ate all my hosta plants, etc.
So we are still dealing with him having the nasty gas ever. That hasn't got better for last couple mths he just constantly smells like a fart even after bathing him. Every time he moves he is farting. My fiancé can't even be in the same room as him anymore because he claims he will throw up due to the smell. Which he follows me everywhere, so my fiancé is a bit annoyed and to be honest I'm stressed. I don't know what to do. Keep him in a t shirt the rest of his life?
Has anyone else had issues like this?