[joebeans]

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Ok guys,

You all know that I am battling this skin issue with Señor José. Well I am starting to get really frustrated, and getting tired of shelling out $100 at a time at the vet's office. This marks his FOURTH week on antibiotics!!! I still don't see much improvement. He's been on the antibiotics, an antihistimine to stop the itching (which it isn't), and a shampoo that I am supposed to be dipping him in. He's been negative for mange twice on the skin scrapings. I'm supposed to take him back to the vet this weekend for a re-evaluation. He is still biting his feet, and scratching himself, and the hair doesn't look like its even starting to grow back.

Should I take him back to the same vet??? He is a very nice man, and seems like he knows what he's doing, but should I go get a second opinion? I know sometimes the mange can be so deep that it won't show on a skin scrape, and they do the dips anyways, but I don't want to put him through that if thats not what it is... I'm just getting very frustrated, I don't like giving him these heavy doses of antibiotics (I'm not a big fan of taking them myself) and I don't want to spend another $100 at the vet this weekend on more crap that isn't going to make him well! I really wanted to use him to sire a litter but now I am starting to think genetic issues and maybe I shouldn't use him for breeding. His dad was a Blue/Tan and I have heard that there is such a thing called Dilution Alopecia in blues and chocolates and their offspring. I've emailed his breeder asking her for advice and to lend any information about his sire/dam and the rest of his litter. I'm just not sure what to do, sorry for rambling, I just don't want José to go bald before we figure out what is wrong with him

What do you guys think I should do at this point?

 

[Kari]

That's sounds like a tough situation. I don't think a second opinion could hurt. People see stuff differently, so some fresh eyes might catch something the other vet couldn't . If there hasn't been any improvement in Jose's condition in four weeks, then it sounds like their treatment for him isn't working. :?

 

[Vala]

That's sounds like a tough situation. I don't think a second opinion could hurt. People see stuff differently, so some fresh eyes might catch something the other vet couldn't . If there hasn't been any improvement in Jose's condition in four weeks, then it sounds like their treatment for him isn't working. :?

:thumbup: TOTALLY AGREE!

 

[Dee]

That's sounds like a tough situation. I don't think a second opinion could hurt. People see stuff differently, so some fresh eyes might catch something the other vet couldn't . If there hasn't been any improvement in Jose's condition in four weeks, then it sounds like their treatment for him isn't working. :?

:thumbup: TOTALLY AGREE!

Me three! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[Dolgad]

hi joebeans!
I also agree everybody for you to get a second opinion even if the vet is really nice :?
I also read somewhere that blue/tan chis sometimes have this strange thing of loosing hair...but other people report that aside from loosing hair everything is normal and chi is not itching...but yours is scratching as I understood...so maybe it is not the case
there is also grass allergy or some kind of grass mites - that affect the paws, legs and then move to chest...does your chi have contact with grass? maybe you ask the vet about it?
then I heard that if you wash your chi (or any other dog) very often, it will give her the itch, and she'll scratch, and you wash her again, and the doggie scratches again...it is like never stops...And the dog can lick him/herself so much that the hair will start to fall off.
Also there are very small ticks that eat dry skin and these tick are not visible with humans eye, only microscop, they recomend Frontline for it.
I am not pretending to be clever,hope you wont take it wrong :wave:
Cuz I recently went through a lot of pages in internet looking for different issues chis can have with their health...just for my own sake :wink:

 

[Dolgad]

joebeans
here I am again...
just tought it might be usefull...
Other site (unfortunatelly I dont think the link will help you cos it is in Russian :wink: ) says that if the bold patches are symmetrical that most probably it is some kind of hormonial or genetic alopecia (shedding), if not symmetrical - then look for parasites or not balanced food or shampoo etc...
also sometimes long-time shedding can be connected with oncology disorder...
It is a brief translation from veterinary site...thought might help you!
wish your baby Señor José to get well soon!!! :wave:

 

[JJWC]

Hi there!

Mocha had similar problem too, the tips of her ears went bold, I took her to the Vet and ran all test, and everything seems right. She was on antibotics, prescription dog food, cut off all sorts of snacks, medicated shampoo..., but the hair doesn't seem to grow back.

You know how her hair grew back finally? Since I live in an apt, there's no front or back yard, and I normally walk her after work, then I changed my schedule and walk her in the afternoon to take her sun bathing (dunno why this idea came up to my mind then)...anyways, after a week or so of sun bathing, the hair started to grow back and the problem is gone FOREVER! Thanks goodness!

joebeans, dunno if this would help, but just wanna share. Hope your chi is gonna recover soon.

 

[stelun]

Chynthia , I agree 100% on getting a second opinion.

My example is : This summer when Stella was sick, one vet told me it was brain cancer........the other vet said it was an ear infection. It ended up being an ear infection.

Please let us know what you end up doing.

Good luck!

 

[latenight423]

Dobbie and his allergy to fleas

Dobbie is very sensitive to fleas. If he has a flea on him, he chews all the hair off of himself trying to get rid of it. He actually looked like he had been shaved on both sides. Advantage (or something like it) works great in keeping fleas off of him, which keeps him from chewing himself. His hair has come back great. I thought he had a serious skin problem.

 

[mel]

we had a dog who was allergic to grass. It was horrible, I was pretty young then, so I don't remember what helped her if anything. Could def be some kind of allergy. Def get that second opinion. I look at my dog like a person. If it were me or a child, I wouldnt settle with that-I'd find another opinion(just like I did with my back problems, and I am glad I did)

 

[chiwawamama]

Itching and hair loss can be caused by allergies. You might try changing his food. Canidae is a wonderful food for allergies, and I believe it has helped my dog tremendously.

My little Stanley had a terrible problem with his ears itching, cracking, and peeling around the edges for a long time. The fur wouldn't even grow on them because they were so irritated. He would also bite his feet because I think they got irritated from scratching at his ears. The vet didn't know what to do about it (actually 2 different vets) and gave me some scary news about some chihuahuas actually losing their ears due to a similar problem. I couldn't bear see him suffer, so I did my own research on the internet and decided that it seemed like a food allergy or yeast. I think it actually was yeast infections in the ears caused by a food allergy (he was on Eukanuba at the time). Dogs can get yeast skin infections all over their bodies, though.

So, I switched him to Canidae (slowly) and started giving him 1 heaping spoon full of Dannon plain fat free yogurt EVERY day. You have to start yogurt just a tiny bit at a time and work your way up to a spoon full so they don't get diarrhea, though. I read about the yogurt for curing yeast infections on the internet. Yogurt contains L. acidolphulus which controls yeast. You can get Canidae on the internet, but it is hard to find in stores. After a couple of months, his ears cleared up. I haven't had any more problems and no more vet trips. I continue to give him his yogurt, "icecream", EVERY day, and he loves it! He thinks it's a treat!

I don't know if this is the same problem your dog has, but I hope this helps you. I would definitely get a second opinion from another vet.

 

[SC]

I think I've mentioned this before but Annabelle has food allergies. My vet said that food allergies cause them to scratch their head or feet or both. Annabelle did both and sometimes it would look really bad. She would lose her hair and scratch and bite her head and feet so much that they would bleed. She is on Science Diet zd and gets no people food. She's done really well on it. It took a few weeks of her being on that food and getting no people food for us to see a difference.

 

[Ms_P]

It can take as long as a month for all the bad stuff to get out of their system from food alergies. So you have to stick with the new food for at least that long before you can judge weather or not it's helping.

 

[truluvin4us]

hello i was wanting to tlak to you about this... this happened me to me awhile back... if you are still on send me a pm.

 

[rachel]

I agree..It wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. Is there another vet in the same office that would maybe give you another opinion? That way they could see the records & everything thats already been done. Sammie went through the same thing, kind of. My regular vet thought it was just allergies and gave her cortizone, etc for it. He went on vacation & the vet that filled in for him thought it might be more, so she did the skin scraping & found it was mange. I know you've already done that, but just an example of how different vets view things. Or have you maybe tried a different food? Maybe he's allergic to something in his food? Good Luck! Let us know what you find out!

 

[STELLABELLA]

i would definetly get a second opinion and i would not breed him until you are sure whats wrong. I hope he gets better!!!

 

[Ms_P]

Hey guys and gals, this thread is almost 2 years old.
Look at the date on the original post.

 

[truluvin4us]

I know that this is gonna sound strange but this is what happened to me..... we had just gotten a dog last year named kisses and when we got her home she just digged and digged at herself. so we gave her a bath immendietly. after a few days my other dog was doing the same thing but not as bad.. they kept us up ALL night long scratching and crying. with sores on them and theur hair was coming out where the sored was... i was wondering what was going on.. by this time hubby, step daughter, and i was scratching too.. we too stayed up all night wondering what was goin on... i then went straight to the vet that done testing on kisses and said she had part 2 mange that was scabies.. and guess what? it could be gave to humans.. So we got scabies from kisses. i was so mad, cuz it costed soooo much to be treated by. cleaning carpets every day, bleaching everything. the dog medicine was 20.00 and pemethermin ceam for us was 35 a tube.. i had to shave kisses and keep her outside to let the cream dry.. thank god my other dog wasnt as bad..
i know its kinda gross, but it happened. turned out all the other pups that the people who we got kisse from had ALL DIED! Thankfully all the scabies are GONE!


-tru

 

[truluvin4us]

also... there is a certain kind of medicine for part 2 scabies.. that the regular scabie medicine wont help... its the pemthermin kind of medicine..


-tru

 

[Lin]

Hey guys and gals, this thread is almost 2 years old.
Look at the date on the original post.

LOL... wonder how it got resurrected?! :lol: