I'm currently wondering why I bothered going with a breeder of the gsl of Australia given the current issues I am having with my girl. The latest being demodex. There are many red flags with this breeder that only came to light after I purchased my dog. There is really little I can do except take it as a lesson learned and get on with her life away from her idiot breeder!
So the issue - demodex. The vet was surprised, (as was I), that she had it. She has two spots missing fur, one on her hip and one on her right elbow approximately an inch in diameter (although not completely circular). I did check her I've and it really appeared that she might have just lost a bit of fur rough housing with my other GSD. Except the fur just didn't seem to be growing back. This week her paws started to look, well wrong. She is a white german shepherd so the skin on her paws was really obviously pinker than her normal skin. They also started to look what I will describe as threadbare. Not chucks missing, flaky or scabby skin, but just not enough fur. So that's when I took her off to the vet wondering what on earth was wrong with her THIS time. A skin scraping later and it is confirmed demodex. Seriously just not cool. She will be having injections for the next 6 weeks or so and I am planning on getting her desexed shortly. We are both pretty sure that given her short history, she won't be able to mount a proper immune defense and it will become systemic if left untreated rather than resolving itself.
What can I do to help boost her immune system? Her dry food is a mix of wellness and Canidae. I make a couple of different loafs which I give to both dogs at night. Chicken (or turkey sometimes), brown rice, mixed vegetables and egg is the first one, second is beef, kangaroo, mixed vegetables, brown rice and some pasta and the third is usually a "surprise" in that it can be a combination of whatever I have left over in terms of the meats, pasta, rice and usually an egg. My 12 month old has never had a single health issue and I constantly get asked about her because she has the most plush, super soft and glossiest coat you have ever seen! They also both get beef soup bones as snacks. So apart from the dry food, they eat all human grade food that I make. My 12 month old is on the featherweight end of the scale at 52lbs but she decides when she has eaten enough and just stops - never had a dog like her! She is lean but there are no bones, ribs, vertebrae.
The demodex puppy is 49bs at 18 weeks and is going to be a massive dog! Her parents were both massive dogs. Both my girls are inside dogs but do get to run in the yard.
I'm not sure what I can do diet or supplement wise to boost her immune system. Exercise, sunshine and fresh air are covered. Both are walked morning and night plus I've been taking them swimming at the beach on weekends. I feel it is better to get Summer swimming where I can rather than pounding the pavement walking her developing joints for kms. I do a 35 min loop, drop her home and continue with my other girl for another 45 mins on a different loop.
Any suggests welcome
So the issue - demodex. The vet was surprised, (as was I), that she had it. She has two spots missing fur, one on her hip and one on her right elbow approximately an inch in diameter (although not completely circular). I did check her I've and it really appeared that she might have just lost a bit of fur rough housing with my other GSD. Except the fur just didn't seem to be growing back. This week her paws started to look, well wrong. She is a white german shepherd so the skin on her paws was really obviously pinker than her normal skin. They also started to look what I will describe as threadbare. Not chucks missing, flaky or scabby skin, but just not enough fur. So that's when I took her off to the vet wondering what on earth was wrong with her THIS time. A skin scraping later and it is confirmed demodex. Seriously just not cool. She will be having injections for the next 6 weeks or so and I am planning on getting her desexed shortly. We are both pretty sure that given her short history, she won't be able to mount a proper immune defense and it will become systemic if left untreated rather than resolving itself.
What can I do to help boost her immune system? Her dry food is a mix of wellness and Canidae. I make a couple of different loafs which I give to both dogs at night. Chicken (or turkey sometimes), brown rice, mixed vegetables and egg is the first one, second is beef, kangaroo, mixed vegetables, brown rice and some pasta and the third is usually a "surprise" in that it can be a combination of whatever I have left over in terms of the meats, pasta, rice and usually an egg. My 12 month old has never had a single health issue and I constantly get asked about her because she has the most plush, super soft and glossiest coat you have ever seen! They also both get beef soup bones as snacks. So apart from the dry food, they eat all human grade food that I make. My 12 month old is on the featherweight end of the scale at 52lbs but she decides when she has eaten enough and just stops - never had a dog like her! She is lean but there are no bones, ribs, vertebrae.
The demodex puppy is 49bs at 18 weeks and is going to be a massive dog! Her parents were both massive dogs. Both my girls are inside dogs but do get to run in the yard.
I'm not sure what I can do diet or supplement wise to boost her immune system. Exercise, sunshine and fresh air are covered. Both are walked morning and night plus I've been taking them swimming at the beach on weekends. I feel it is better to get Summer swimming where I can rather than pounding the pavement walking her developing joints for kms. I do a 35 min loop, drop her home and continue with my other girl for another 45 mins on a different loop.
Any suggests welcome