My sick LGD

[Darroll Grant]

Be careful to not over dose with the I. Wifey had ringworm 35+ years ago. Used I several times. After a couple of weeks and no visual change she went to the Doc. Now had an I burn and is still I sensitive. Now sensitive to sea food due to I content.

[lovetree]

With all of the rain over the past month one of my LGDS came down with ringworm patch onher flank, I used tea tree oil once...presto! All Gone

[threebar]

So - the continuing saga of Tippy - I went away for the July long weekend and when I got home she was a mess again. Prior to my leaving she seemed to be coming along, but wham, she was in the toilet again! Rushed her to the vet on Tuesday morning - they ran a complete blood panel - nothing! All the vet can come up with is that she has had a hypersensitivity immune reaction to "something" - I think it was the ringworm medicine, personally. They did skin biopsies in three different spots and have sent them off to be cultured. They are thinking "Pemphigus Foliaceus" - even sounds nasty. She is on high dose antibiotics and Prednezone for the next month. I don't think she will ever be the same - she seems to have a sun/heat sensitivity thing going on as well. I've made the aweful decision that if there has not been a HUGE improvement in her condition in the next 10 days I will have no choice but to put her down , but I can't watch her suffer anymore. My other dilemma is that she won't stay/go with the sheep anymore - hides under the porch or if she manages it, comes into the back porch - this is a dog that wouldn't come near the house! So I don't know if she is ruined if she does get better. I'll keep you posted.

Vi-Ann

[lovetree]

Vi-Ann,
I had a LGD that at the age of 4 months old was stricken with septicemia. We were lucky that he lived, but he spent over 4 months in our house recuperating.
He did go on to be a very good LGD and did a marvelous job of protecting the sheep, with just one negative side effect of being "domesticated"...
everytime we had a very nasty thunderstorm, he would end up on our porch. I think that we couldve corrected the problem except that Dave seemed to have a harder time detaching from Pedro than Pedro had detaching from the house, so he would always "reward" Pedro and allow him in for "calming and comfort'. ..which I believe was more to Dave's benefit than the dog's. LOL!!
So that could be a side effect, you may develop a ratehr strong attachment to the dog insetad of vice versa ! LOL!
I hope she pulls through !

[Janet McNally]

I also had a LGD who became seriously ill at a very critical age (5 mo old...he had parvo and required confinement for 30 days ). He successfully returned to the sheep over time and did a fine job protecting the flock, although maybe with a bit of a fondness to check in with me every morning. So I don't think this illness will ruin the working ability of your dog.

Janet

[threebar]

Latest update - Tippy seems to be doing MUCH better She spent the night with her sheep last night - 1st time in over a month! I went out to lock everything down last night and there she was, right in the middle of everyone! I practically did a happy dance! And this morning she went to the field with them! She still has 3 weeks of anitbiotics and sterioids, but her skin is looking WAY, WAY better - hopefully when we are done the drugs it doesn't flair back up. She really does seem way more like herself. Anyhow - thank you all for the help and kind words - you guys never let me down!

Vi-Ann & Tippy

[threebar]

So - we are back to the beginning again Tippy's face looks like raw hamburger right now - but I have a huge question - has anyone ever had one of these dogs that was allergic to raw/ground lamb? We are really beginning to think that this is what is causing the reaction - The initial fever/infection was most likely caused by a tick/bug bite, but about the same time that I started her on the "ringworm" treatment I started to feed her ground lamb with her regulare dog fod (chicken based) She was getting that for about 2 weeks - during which time her reaction started - she then quit eating period, so I went back to giving her just dry dog food. That is when she improved, but last Monday, I thought "this dog needs to gain some weight" so I gave her one feeding of ground lamb with her dry on Monday morning and by Monday night/Tuesday morning we were right back were we started! This is truly the last go round - she is back on full dose Prednezone (steroids) and the most powerful antibiotic that they can give me for her - if she has not made a huge recovery by tomorrow/Tuesday, I will have no choice but to humanely put her down which will break my heart but I don't see any other options.

Thoughts on the lamb reaction?

Vi-Ann

[Janet McNally]

Hi ViAnn, lamb is usually considered hypoallergenic, but I sure would suspect it based upon what you have reported. You could go to a real simple diet of chicken and rice and see if it clears up. I did once have a kuvasz who got hot spots (raw wet sores anywhere on his body) from dog food made from beef. The lamb and rice or chicken formulas were ok. Thus I learned dogs do have food allergies. Just that lamb, esp in a LGD, would seem unlikely.

Janet

[Muleflock]

Hi All

I haven't had the time to read all of the posts on this thread so I apologize if I add some redundancy to what others may have written. But I'll add a few points.

Food allergy in the dog:

While excoriation of the ears and face could be a fungal infection, I would treat it as such only after a positive culture. The reason being is that the majority of cases I see are the result of food intolerance, (allergy). Occasionally, and especially in working/hunting dogs, I see sarcoptic mange cause this. The vast majority of dogs that are eventually definitively diagnosed with food allergies are responding to the source of carbohydrate or protein in the diet. Dogs can become allergic to ANY source of carb or protein. Poultry, venison, lamb, beef, salmon, rabbit etc. It's very much an individual thing and can start later in life but usually by time the dog is 18 months. There is no diagnostic test for food allergy other than trial and error. And it can take as long as 12 weeks before the dog stops responding once on the correct diet. Yet it may only take three days on the wrong diet before it begins to respond adversely. Also, a dog that is being given the correct diet but gets just one bite of the wrong allergen even once a week will continue to respond adversely and could give the owner the wrong impression that the correct diet didn't resolve the problem.


Canine Parvo Viral Enteritis in the dog, (CPVE):

- I have been treating CPVE dogs (CPV ELISA +) on a weekly basis for a little more than 30 years.
- I do not see infection in properly vaccinated canines.
- I do see CPVE in dogs vaccinated by owners and breeders.
- Approximately 60 % of CPV ELISA+ dogs that we hospitalize and treat survive.
- Approximately 20 % of CPV ELISA+ dogs that owners treat at home with our help survive.
- The only CPV ELISA+ dogs that have continued health problems after recovering from CPV are ones that had secondary complications that required bowel resection. And the majority of patients that had secondary complications requiring bowel surgery suffer no permanent adverse health issues.

Mark

[threebar]

Thank you for the info Mark - I truly believe that Tippy has a food allergy. Unfortunetly, unless we can get the inflamation and itchiness under control in the next 24 hours, I will have no choice but to humanely put her down. I cannot watch her suffer anymore. It is breaking my heart, but I don't have unlimited resources and those I do have, have just about run out. But even if I had all the money in the world, I can't watch her go through this for much longer. It is so tough, because when she comes out from hiding, she is so herself, wanting pets and love, alert and full of energy, but the rest of the time she truly looks and acts like she is ready to die. My vet has told me that she is "the dog you see in the text book - the extreme case". i truly think that today will be our last day - if there is no improvement by morning, I will have the vet come out. Thank you all for all your information and support.

Vi-Ann

[threebar]

Thank you all again for all of your help. We made the very sad decision yesterday to put Tippy down. We had exhausted all of our options for treatment and things were only getting worse. She will be missed so much and very hard to replace - both with her sheep and in our hearts. Once again, thanks for all your advise and help during this whole mess.

Vi-Ann and Tippy

[Laura L.]

Vi-Ann,
My heart goes out to you. I just lost a guard dog too, he was 12 and it doesn't make it any easier that I had him a long time.
Laura

[gail]

Very sorry to hear Vi-Ann. Sounds like she was a special dog & you did all you could for her.

gail