Hypoallergenic food
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Hi
Well, not sure to be honest. Its a long story. We are his third home (rescue), we got him when he was almost 2, he will be 7 in July. His teeth and gums have never been great and at his last check up the vet took a swab sample and was astounded by the bacteria in there. His breath has been remarkably bad in the past year. So bad we kept checking the baby to see if she needed to be change - you get the idea! Well a course of antibiotics and prednisone later and he can heavy breath on me as much as he would like! She has a feeling its some auto immune issue, but thankfully blood work and urine came back fine. He will be having a cleaning in about a month or so and they'll take a biopsy of his gum to see if there is anything deeper going on and in the meantime suggested he stay on one of the antibiotics and change his food to hypoallergenic. She said they carry Royal Canin Vet. but suggested Natural Balance or something similar to get at the pet store. And, the one pet store I went to didn't carry NB, but said they liked this one more as it has more protein than carbo. Oh, and he is prone to diahrea (sp?) as well, especially if he manages to snag a food from the kids. One day he got the teeniest bit of fish and I took him for a run an hour later and let me just say, thank God it was winter and it was dark as no amount of baggies would have cleaned up the sidewalk! A hose was the only way or just keep running!
Well, not sure to be honest. Its a long story. We are his third home (rescue), we got him when he was almost 2, he will be 7 in July. His teeth and gums have never been great and at his last check up the vet took a swab sample and was astounded by the bacteria in there. His breath has been remarkably bad in the past year. So bad we kept checking the baby to see if she needed to be change - you get the idea! Well a course of antibiotics and prednisone later and he can heavy breath on me as much as he would like! She has a feeling its some auto immune issue, but thankfully blood work and urine came back fine. He will be having a cleaning in about a month or so and they'll take a biopsy of his gum to see if there is anything deeper going on and in the meantime suggested he stay on one of the antibiotics and change his food to hypoallergenic. She said they carry Royal Canin Vet. but suggested Natural Balance or something similar to get at the pet store. And, the one pet store I went to didn't carry NB, but said they liked this one more as it has more protein than carbo. Oh, and he is prone to diahrea (sp?) as well, especially if he manages to snag a food from the kids. One day he got the teeniest bit of fish and I took him for a run an hour later and let me just say, thank God it was winter and it was dark as no amount of baggies would have cleaned up the sidewalk! A hose was the only way or just keep running!
Hey there!
That is wonderful that he has found a forever home with you and your family, I'm sure he is very grateful for that!
That is some serious bad breath if you thought the baby needed to be changed, my goodness! I do commend you for taking him to the Vet to see what was going on as most people wouldn't do that. I don't mean that to come across condescending but I just know most people wouldn't bother taking him in b/c of the breath issue. That's a great sign that the blood work and urine came back good, now it's just the biopsy.
As far as the food, I too feed Natural Balance and it is A LOT cheaper than the Royal Canin IVD Rx diet. That stuff is outrageous!! I had Ava on the IVD Venison for a short time and a 20 pound bag ran me about 90 bucks!! ouch! As far as places that carry the Natural Balance, I know here in Birmingham Petco and Pet Supplies Plus carries it. Where are you located? You can always go to the natural balance website and do a store locator for your state. It's a great food, Cooper and Ava do really well on this food.
Have you tried Purina EN prescription diet? I'm no expert by any means but it sounds like it might be a GI issue. EN is to calm that down and to avoid upsets of that type. I know it's pricey too, but hey it's money well spent if your boy starts doing better.
Poor guy and poor you on that walk!!! When Cooper was a baby he did something similar to that but he did it in the middle of the parking lot/street!! I was like great, how in the heck am I going to clean this up, I had to do something - I was living in an apartment!! So, I feel your pain ...
I will be keeping y'all in my thoughts and keep me posted on how he's doing.
That is wonderful that he has found a forever home with you and your family, I'm sure he is very grateful for that!
That is some serious bad breath if you thought the baby needed to be changed, my goodness! I do commend you for taking him to the Vet to see what was going on as most people wouldn't do that. I don't mean that to come across condescending but I just know most people wouldn't bother taking him in b/c of the breath issue. That's a great sign that the blood work and urine came back good, now it's just the biopsy.
As far as the food, I too feed Natural Balance and it is A LOT cheaper than the Royal Canin IVD Rx diet. That stuff is outrageous!! I had Ava on the IVD Venison for a short time and a 20 pound bag ran me about 90 bucks!! ouch! As far as places that carry the Natural Balance, I know here in Birmingham Petco and Pet Supplies Plus carries it. Where are you located? You can always go to the natural balance website and do a store locator for your state. It's a great food, Cooper and Ava do really well on this food.
Have you tried Purina EN prescription diet? I'm no expert by any means but it sounds like it might be a GI issue. EN is to calm that down and to avoid upsets of that type. I know it's pricey too, but hey it's money well spent if your boy starts doing better.
Poor guy and poor you on that walk!!! When Cooper was a baby he did something similar to that but he did it in the middle of the parking lot/street!! I was like great, how in the heck am I going to clean this up, I had to do something - I was living in an apartment!! So, I feel your pain ...
I will be keeping y'all in my thoughts and keep me posted on how he's doing.
I'm in Portland, OR and I'm sure I can get NB at another pet store. It was just I was trying to support a neighbourhood store. My hubby bought the previous food for him. I know he was on Innova at the beginning, but money was tight, so he got "downgraded" to something else and I can't remember if it was Nutro or Natural Choice (are they the same?) - I rarely bought it (I carry the baby, he carries the dog food - lol!) and I was always coaxing him to eat. Now, we have the old dog food, a small bag of this new one Simply Natural which we are gradually introducing him to and a little bit of wet food (Hills I/D from the vet) so I can hide his meds in as he has figured out that the white pill in the middle of the blob of peanut butter or cottage cheese was just that - a pill! He gobbles it all down! I love to see him eat. He was only 40lbs when we got him and now he hovers around 60lbs. The vet would like to see him higher, but as long as he doesn't drop and maybe with his mouth not hurting as much and his tummy doing better, he'll put on more weight.
Thanks, and I'll keep you posted. We go back in a few weeks for a check up and then a plan for what to do next.
Thanks, and I'll keep you posted. We go back in a few weeks for a check up and then a plan for what to do next.
I'm sure the dental issue has a lot to do with his weight. I know my Doberman had dental issues late in her life and eating was painful for her. So, I'm sure once the antibiotic starts killing away the infection and he gets his dental, eating will be a much more pleasurable experience for him.
That is so funny about him finding the meds in the peanut butter - Ava does that too, but it's with her heartworm preventative. She is great with taking meds in the PB but when it came to that flipping tablet she would lick the PB off and spit the tablet out. Now, I get a piece of cheese, spread a little PB on it (to act as glue) then break up her tablets and fold it over - she finally takes it!! But, I tell ya it's an act of congress! And, after she gives me the look .. "I know its in there, so don't be too proud of yourself, Mom."
Your post cracked me up ... "you carry the baby and he carries the dog food" Sounds like a good plan to me!! It depends which Nutro product he was buying ... there is Nutro Natural Choice, Nutro Max and Nutro Ultra. And, I know about money being tight, things are tuff right now.
Send me a PM to give me an update b/c sometimes I have a hard time finding certain posts! I'm still learning how to navigate this board
That is so funny about him finding the meds in the peanut butter - Ava does that too, but it's with her heartworm preventative. She is great with taking meds in the PB but when it came to that flipping tablet she would lick the PB off and spit the tablet out. Now, I get a piece of cheese, spread a little PB on it (to act as glue) then break up her tablets and fold it over - she finally takes it!! But, I tell ya it's an act of congress! And, after she gives me the look .. "I know its in there, so don't be too proud of yourself, Mom."
Your post cracked me up ... "you carry the baby and he carries the dog food" Sounds like a good plan to me!! It depends which Nutro product he was buying ... there is Nutro Natural Choice, Nutro Max and Nutro Ultra. And, I know about money being tight, things are tuff right now.
Send me a PM to give me an update b/c sometimes I have a hard time finding certain posts! I'm still learning how to navigate this board
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