Anyone Know Of A Decent Dog Forum???

Rex_Mundi

Does anyone know of a good pet forum that I could post a problem on?

A friend has had a problem with his dog for the last six months, and although the vet has made things better he admits that he is stumped by the problem.

The dog has what looks like an allergy, but this has been looked at in depth and they now don't think this is the case. He has had a biopsy of his skin, blood tests and they've tried assorted diets. Nothing has worked to cure the problem, and the vet admits that he has never come accross a case like this.

It has been suggested to my friend that he looks on the internet for possible solutions. It seems to me that a forum would be the place to look. Any good ones out there that I could sign up to and post? (he doesn't have a computer) Like he says, surely his dog isn't the only dog in the world to suffer a problem like this. His bill so far is already in the thousands with no sign of a permanent cure.

Any ideas for a good place to look?

nickinoo

It's probably worth doing a search for a forum relating to the particular breed as some conditions seem to affect certain breeds more than others.

I had a boxer who had a skin condition & it was diagnosed as house dustmite & mould allergy, he was at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket for skin testing & also had biopsies. We found that by not letting the dog upstairs (which was carpeted) & keeping him downstairs (laminate & vinyl flooring) helped hugely.

Another thing which irritated him were our cats. When they were rehomed (nothing to do with him) his skin improved greatly. We had Malaseb shampoo from the vets which really helped (he'll no doubt have tried this already), my dog was also getting monthly desensitising jabs although we stopped them after a while. The weird thing is we had the dog rehomed & he now lives with another boxer in a carpeted home & his skin is fine.

Tyler_Durden_UK

http://petoftheday.com/talk/

Rex_Mundi

Thanks

They've already tried a special shampoo. He had to wash the dog twice a week with the shampoo, and leave it on for 20 minutes before he rinsed it. It didn't help at all.

The dog is a staff pit bull. I'll have a look round for this breed.

Cheers

Bossyboots

Has your friend tried "human" anti-allergy preparations? Our dog responded well to Piriton which we could just buy over the counter. Our vet admitted that sometimes they get so bogged down with science they overlook the simplicities. Our dog had tests for 18 months before we tried this.

rushnowt

Hiya Rex

There's a homeopathic vet in Devon (highly recommended) but there are others try web search, you can usually contact them, tell them the symptoms or send pics and they will send some homeopathic medicines to try, may be worth a go and generally a lot cheaper than vets.

We've used homeopathic stuff from health shops in the past and they've worked brilliantly when the vets have been stumped.

Can ya give any more info on what the dog's condition is, it might help a bit more, is the dog scratching, losing hair, dark skin patches etc etc. ??

It could also be just as simple has feeding the dog to high a protein diet. What age is the dog ?

Let us know how ya get on

Rush x

Rex_Mundi

I saw my friend earlier today. He's got another visit to the vet tomorrow and hes going to ask for a list of everything they've tried. He's bringing me the list tomorrow evening so I can post a more detailed message in the dog forum of the site that kpburke gave.

I will post a copy of the message here so you can get a more detailed idea of the problem and what they've done so far. My friend says there was too much for him to remember exactly. They've tried various steroids, food, antibiotics and two different shampoos so far. He also asked the farmer whose field they walk in whether it was sprayed (it wasn't).

The homeopathic option sounds good. My friend doesn't even take painkillers himself, so giving his dog loads of drugs is doing his head in.

Cheers...........I will post again.

kazschow

HI I've got a Chow that's always suffering from skin problems... allergies , hot spots you name it, we've been prescribed all kinds of remedies from the vet, including steroids, anitbiotics. I've now found the best thing for her is bathing the affected areas in salty water 5 or 6 times a day (I know that sounds a lot!), this was suggested by a different vet from our usual one in our pratice as a last resort type thing, but it really works. It doesn't stop the fair ups, but does control them, and help them heal up pretty quickly.

We also use over the counter human remedies in our case Benadryl if she's really itch - it helps her settle down and sleep, but this shouldn't be used too often as it suppresses their immune system.

Hope your friends staffy feels better soon, perhaps he could give the salt water thing a try, I was more than a bit sceptical when it was suggested to me, but I'm a convert now.

rushnowt

kazschow wrote:

HI I've got a Chow that's always suffering from skin problems... allergies , hot spots you name it, we've been prescribed all kinds of remedies from the vet, including steroids, anitbiotics. I've now found the best thing for her is bathing the affected areas in salty water 5 or 6 times a day (I know that sounds a lot!), this was suggested by a different vet from our usual one in our pratice as a last resort type thing, but it really works. It doesn't stop the fair ups, but does control them, and help them heal up pretty quickly.

We also use over the counter human remedies in our case Benadryl if she's really itch - it helps her settle down and sleep, but this shouldn't be used too often as it suppresses their immune system.

Hope your friends staffy feels better soon, perhaps he could give the salt water thing a try, I was more than a bit sceptical when it was suggested to me, but I'm a convert now.

The vet gave ya good advice, salt water is probably one of the best things ya can use and the safest.

If ya think it may be caused by something fungal ya can use canestan (sp?) cream, benzol benzoate can be also be used for a multitude of problems to, including mites etc bought relatively cheaply from the chemist.

If the dog is over 12 months of age, make sure the food it's on, contains no more than 20% protein, cos that can be one of the main contributors to skin complaints.

Good luck x

dee2005

I found https://www.vetinfo.com very informative for reference purposes. Not sure about posting questions. I know they do it but am not sure if you have to pay to do so or not. You can check it out on their website.

Trollydolly_2

Try https://www.dogpages.org.uk

Really really helpful, the main forums are about rescue dogs but there will definatly be somone on there that will be able to help you as they will have seen all kinds going through there doors!

Good luck, and cuddles to the pooch!