Allergies

[Valeria S]

Are the allergies an issue for your dogs?

Would be very interesting to hear how you feed your dogs, based on what you chose the diet, and what the outcomes.

This is an important subject to me since my 6.5 mos pup had skin problems since i got him at 2mos old. And it turned out that a lot of boerboels in Russia suffer from food allergies or other skin problems. 

When I brought the puppy home, i fed him with homemade meals(meat, milk products, cereals, vegetables + vitamins & minerals) dry food was given only once a day. After few weeks I had to bring him to the vet with the skin problems. He was diagnosed with pyoderma. The dermotologist's verdict is that pyoderma is the outcome of the allergie. Now we are trying to diagnose the origins of this allergy (food, environment, parasites etc)..

[Hylton Samuels]

Do this test. Take a raw chicken bone and a cooked one. Now try and snap the cooked one half and also the raw one. See what splinters are cause by the cooked bone and how had it is. When snaaping the raw bone it has so much more elasticity and just gets eaten up in the dogs stomach acids. Raw bones will never harm because the dogs stomach acids are to strong. I've lost about 4 boerboels on my 7 years buying this top breed due to ill health after changing to raw feeding my adult male is the longest i've had a boerboel. Only now i feel safe to build on my stock, because im a person that wants to buy only the best and if you cant guarantee that then i'll move on. 

Lisa Tiro said:

I agree with you. I will read your Greenopia but I have been researching raw and have joined the yahoo group on it but I just feel like it is way too much work especially if I am leaving someone else in charge if I am out or away. I also worry about choking and sharp bones going through the intestines. I do give her chicken and turkey necks we are eating either and I give big meety raw beef bones too. I also was told that the big beef bones are bad because she could chip a tooth OMG! And that pork is too gassy so I am completely confused! I think I will supplement her diet with as much organ meat and necks and maybe some chicken quarters with the wings cut off for now and see how it goes.

Hylton Samuels said:

None of my dogs suffered from allergies and skin problems ever again. Do yourself a favour and read the attached documents. NEVER LOOKED BACK!!! Google the word " Greenopia" and see what surveys was done on dogfood brands and which types of dogfood got good test results. Don't care who says what , cause i had it over and over, i stick to BARF feeding and it's not even as expensive as people say. Id rather Raw feed my dogs than sit with all these unhealthy dog problems. Im out

[Carol Buchen]

Hi, We also have had problems with pyoderma, and also pyodermatics. We losy our 2 1/2 year old boy 2 weeks ago. 

He had been on a special diet and several medications. Also a special shampoo and a twice daily foot bath as his paws were very badly swollen. After all the vets help, he stopped eating the then prescribe a med to give him an appetite. He started eating again, and then suddenly stopped. We took him in again ( he had been going in regularly ) but then when I took him in they did and ultra sound and x rays and discovered he had eaten everything in sight. Socks, Stuffing from toys, branches, etc. 

He had a very twisted intestine which had ruptered and he had fluid in his stomach. They tried to patch the intestine but it did not work and he passed away during surgery.  We are very sad. I hope this is helpful. 

We fed him dry food before this all happened and we do not know the cause of the infection or allergies. 

We purchased him from a breeder and do not blame the breeder. We are just very sad.

If your puppy stops eating/ I would recommend that you have an x ray done immediately to see what his intestine looks line and if there is blockage, as our Tau never had a bm problem and we had no clue. 

Good Luck   Carol B

[Lisa Tiro]

Carol, I am so sorry about your loss. I too lost my 2 1/2 year old girl 4 1/2 weeks ago on New Year's Eve to AIHA, an auto immune disease. We battled it for a little over a month and she had 4 blood transfusions. Sadly she didn't respond to the meds. As a puppy Bella also had the skin issues. She had mange and a urinary tract infection in her first year and then rashes on her tummy which we changed her food for and stopped giving so many treats. We are heartbroken and I still cry every single day. On the up side I picked up my new boy on Friday. We are over the moon. He will never lessen the heartache that we feel but we are making new memories with him and there is nothing like puppy breathe lol...

 

Feel better and I wish you well.

Lisa

Carol Buchen said:

Hi, We also have had problems with pyoderma, and also pyodermatics. We losy our 2 1/2 year old boy 2 weeks ago. 

He had been on a special diet and several medications. Also a special shampoo and a twice daily foot bath as his paws were very badly swollen. After all the vets help, he stopped eating the then prescribe a med to give him an appetite. He started eating again, and then suddenly stopped. We took him in again ( he had been going in regularly ) but then when I took him in they did and ultra sound and x rays and discovered he had eaten everything in sight. Socks, Stuffing from toys, branches, etc. 

He had a very twisted intestine which had ruptered and he had fluid in his stomach. They tried to patch the intestine but it did not work and he passed away during surgery.  We are very sad. I hope this is helpful. 

We fed him dry food before this all happened and we do not know the cause of the infection or allergies. 

We purchased him from a breeder and do not blame the breeder. We are just very sad.

If your puppy stops eating/ I would recommend that you have an x ray done immediately to see what his intestine looks line and if there is blockage, as our Tau never had a bm problem and we had no clue. 

Good Luck   Carol B

[Maria]

Hello, I have 7 month old girl, she has skin allergies as well, itching a lot. Multiple times when I contacted the breeder (who's located in Texas and we are in Pennsylvania) I was told that it's normal for her to have skin allergy first year of her life because she is getting used to different environment. The supplement I was told to use for support of her joints is flex powder originally designed for horses, has all needed vitamins/minerals, I  have to mix it with olive oil and organic honey, local in season, and she has to be on it all her life. Some never herd that honey is appropriate for dogs but breeder says that it getting her use to different  poplins.  Anybody herd about honey in dogs?

[Lisa Tiro]

Hi Maria,

Is your breeder Mount Olympus Boerboels? All these things is what they told me as well. I got my first pup from them 3 years ago. It is certainly not normal to have skin allergies the first year or at all. I do however believe in joint supplementation and fish oil, not olive oil. My girl Bella had many health and temperment issues. She has since passed away as my prior post explained. My new pup is 10 months old and came from Kansas. He has no skin allergies at all. He was on kibble up until he was 8 1/2 months and then I switched to RAW feeding. He is doing great so what they told you is a blatant lie. Your pup may have issues due to diet but it is certainly NOT NORMAL for them to adjust to different poplins. That is just rediculous. I actually did the honey thing with Bella too. I really feel kind of stupid now thinking back on it. Anyway, good luck with your girl. I hope you have better luck than I did with mine.

~Lisa

[Diana Smith]

My dog will be 4 in a couple of weeks and he's had problems with pyoderma, generalized skin allergies and cysts between his toes since he was about 8 months old.  I've had him on several different foods, all to no avail.  He's been allergy tested when we lived in PA and it came back completely negative!  He's been on prednisone most of his life because everytime I try to wean him off, he starts getting hives that eventually ooze fluid and form scabs.  When the scabs come off, his hair comes with it and he looks mangy.  Poor guy.  One bright spot is that when we moved to NC recently, his paws improved considerably.   I'm going to take him to the dermatologists at the vet school here in a few weeks with the hopes that they might be able to find out what he's allergic to.  I wouldn't be surprised if they can't, however.  I spent thousands at vet dermatologists already, to no avail.   Basically, my last vet told me that we'll probably have to keep him on some low dose of prednisone for the rest of his life, and yes, it will cause problems with his liver eventually but if we don't, he'll probably die from a skin infection.  :-(   He's 125 lbs and seems to do well with a tiny dose of 5 mg per day since we moved to NC, so maybe it won't be too bad for him.  ANYHOW, in response to your original question:  He's eating Nutro Venison and Rice and I give him scraps of whatever I eat also, since restricting food in the past hasn't seemed to do anything for his allergies.

[jim l.]

Hi Diana, so very sorry to hear about your boy, my first boerboel also had bad allergies, then i switched to a raw food diet and he improved 100%. i don't know if you ever tried it with your Boy, if you need any help please let me know,