He started having seizures at about 6 months old have him on medication for that, but he also has skin problems, his nose gets aggravated all around his mouth and don't know what to do about the skin have tried oatmeal baths but nothing seems to work, switched to grain free no better any ideas?
Well first, what did your Vet say? About the skin I mean. Skin irritations around the mouth might be due to the dish he eats out of. Plastic can get scratches and harbour bacteria. If you aren't already using ceramic or stainless steel you might try a new food and water dish. Grain is not the food most dogs are intolerant of, surprisingly it's chicken, as of my last reading. And food intolerances are less common than environmental reasons for allergic skin reactions. It was very, very hard to see how gut issues could be behind my boy's itching, which started at age two. But it seems they were as they are resolved and now he doesn't itch and is completely off his itch meds. More and more Vets are thinking gut issues can be the cause of itching.
they are not sure it comes and goes, they said it was the food switched to grain free still same problems, didnt know about the chickin or the bowls, ill try that as well.
Sorry to hear about your boy. Mine is also allergic and epileptic. Apparently itchiness around the mouth is thought to be related to food allergy. We have our boy on raw meaty bones and raw meat. We cut out chicken altho he scavenges chicken bones on our walks with gusto! We recently had him on cortisone - 1/4 tablet (125mg) every other day for about 3 months. Thankfully he has stopped itching and last week we stopped the cortisone. We have found salmon oil capsules are good for his skin and coat. Depending on his medication you need to be aware that food can alter blood levels of the anticonvulsant depending on how salty the food is. So if you move to raw be aware it might be lower in salt. What does your vet advise you?
I heard a doctor on the radio talking about this topic, their research into the importance of gut bacteria and immunity. And allergies are linked to immunity. So to me it's not hard to see the link.
That's good to know, was not aware of the salt interaction, thankfully have never dealt with seizures. Yup, and one of the things Oban went through was fecal implant to restore good gut bacteria. What I meant actually, was when he first got itchy it was only in the summer so of course we thought environmental. Then, even when a blood test did show low albumin (low normal if we used UK numbers) we could see no signs of the symptoms that usually bring a dog to the Vet in the first place and then result in the bloodwork. Oban had no weight loss, hair loss, energy loss, nothing - at first. Oban was Vetted this past week and all blood work rechecked and all albumin levels, liver and B12 were bang on where they should be. Two years ago they were not.
Re the salt affecting the blood levels of the medication: Snowie is on Potassium Bromide. It goes through a process in the kidneys where it is excreted and then reabsorbed. If the diet is high in salt, the salt (sodium chloride) competes with potassium bromide for reabsorption. It's not a problem if the diet doesn't change (either high or low in salt) as long as the therapeutic blood levels of potassium bromide remain stable. But if the dietary salt intake is changed dramatically (either higher or lower), then it can affect the blood levels. In Snowie's case, he was on a normal dose for his weight but his blood levels went into the toxic range because he is on a raw diet which is low in salt (chicken is usually in brine, but he doesn't get chicken). The vet thought we were overdosing! He is now on such a low dose, which the vet finds odd, but his blood levels are in the normal range. It is quite possible that he has not treated a dog on a raw diet before... (I've not asked him, he's a specialist and we only saw him for an initial consultation, thereafter deal with our regular vet who then consults the specialist). Interesting that Oban had a fecal implant. I know a gastroenterologist in Sydney who does research into this in humans. He said when they were looking for participants in their research project that were amazed at the number of people who wanted fecal implants! Clearly they were that desperate to get relief from their disease symptoms, which apparently does happen. As you well know, Snowie likes to take a fecal implant whenever he can! Of the human variety. Maybe he's trying to tell us something about dealing with his allergies?! What do albumin levels tell you?
This link explains low albumin levels. It does list Lymphangiectasia but at the time we tested Oban's blood (which I did at age 4 because of the allergy med. he was on, Atopica, just to see if he was ok from It) he had none of the usual symptoms of low albumin. None, nothing, he seemed perfectly healthy. When he did show signs it was like, BOOM, overnight acutely ill. http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/endocrine/c_dg_hypoalbuminia
Thanks for the link. I told my husband about the fecal implant and he a couple of questions! How was the fecal implant done?? Who was the donor and how was it collected?
