Bell's Ear And Other Issues

Well Bell had an appointment with the Vet but Nicki just had to come along for the ride. I couldn't stand the thought of Nick sitting at home in the pen while I took Bell to the vet so what the hell...I took them both.

Once again Dr Aronson talked me out of doing the allergy testing. The guy is quite persuasive to say the least. He said he didn't have a lot of confidence in the testing (now he tells me!) because it doesn't seem to be accurate enough and he didn't want to waste my money. (I like the way you think Dr Aronson) I had many tests done with my previous dog and he's right. The tests really only give you a general idea of what the dog may be allergic to with food and external influences. It's not a guarantee at all. I couldn't help but wonder why we did so much testing with my other dog if he felt the tests weren't accurate. He volunteered that information before I even had to ask it. He said when they first came out with the test there was nothing to compare it to..no other tests had ever been available. As a vet he was thrilled to have a new tool to diagnose allergies in dogs. Over time they came to realize that the testing wasn't accurate enough to rely on for a conclusive answer but they learned meanwhile that good results could be had most of the time if they used probiotics with dogs that had allergy symptoms.

So it would appear that my dog Allie was somewhat of a test dog and we never knew it. The allergy testing we did with her over the years did give me a good indication of what she would react to with food. But the science had not been perfected and apparently it still is not perfected.

Bells symptoms are very similar to some of the early symptoms that my Allie had. Bell's ear is red and irritated; she has a belly rash; she scratches a lot and has more than normal shedding going on; and she vomits bile and/or her food (thank goodness it's only occasionally!). Nicki shares a few of these symptoms as well but does not have the same level of issues. Hers are a lot more subdued.

Dr Aronson was able to do a culture of the ear (just barely) and found that she has an overgrowth of yeast in the ear. It wasn't possible to culture the belly rash but it's assumed at this point that it is also a yeast issue. He treated her ear with some drops and rubbed it...she loved that! And Nicki was pushing her way closer to Dr Aronson the whole time to get some too. Nicki is an attention hog anyway.
The ear medication came along with a body wash for the belly. I'm to wash the belly once a day and it's supposed to calm the area down and eventually return the skin to normal. Let's hope so!

We discussed what I'm feeding them as well. Originally I was giving them only people food and that's when the issues started. I then tried a couple of different dog foods with human food added. Still had a problem. Around that time the diarrhea issues kicked in as well. (remember that?? I do!) So I started doing more research on dog foods and finally came up with one I can live with and hopefully so can they. It's from the Honest Kitchen and it's a raw dehydrated food that requires that you only add a protein to the mix after it's re-hydrated. This seems to be working well. The only issue I have is the expense of it. It ain't cheap! And with two large dogs it goes rather quickly. But only having to add a protein really helps out a lot. In the long run it may actually save me money. Plus I don't have to do a whole lot of cooking for them.

So currently I am to continue treating the ear and washing the bellies and keep them on the new dog food. I am also staying with one protein source until the treatments are over so we can have a better idea of how they do. I'm using dairy currently as their protein. (cottage cheese; yogurt or shredded cheese) It's affordable and they love it. I've also been told to add back in the probiotic they were on for the time being as well. I just pop that in their food and they never even notice it's there. (although they do like the taste of it too)
And now I'm keeping my fingers crossed!