Thyroid & Hair Loss - Page 5

She still might be allergic to fleas..............again that blood test is NOT RELIABLE. You really need a dermatologist to diagnose this dog. She needs to be skin tested.

Sorry, but I have not been on the list much lately. GSDLVR, I am glad you tried the shampoo. I hope that you let us know your results. I always saw an immediate relief in the itching when I used it. Not 100%, but maybe 80% and that is remarkable, to me. I think that you can use this shampoo on a regular basis, every week at least, as a human would for normal shampooing. It is actually a rather harsh shampoo (designed to debride scaly areas) and could be irritating if left on too long. The old H&S shampoo said to leave it on no longer than six minutes. It's expensive, so you only have to use it on the affected areas.. Not the whole dog. You can use another type of shampoo to do the rest of the dog. Glad also that you found the fleas. So, it's reasonable to assume that this is at least part of the problem. Our GSDs do tend to be rather prone to allergies and even autoimmune disorders, unfortuneately. I think that the degree to which this determines you decision to breed is a judgement call. And the decision could be very subjective, bringing in a lot of factors for consideration. Most importantly, I would look at the litter mates for an indication. Difficult to gather this information, I know, but worthwhile if you are really interested. Immune disorders are acquired, and in fact it is a normal response to environmental exposures. All of us acquire allergies to many things, over time. Again, this is normal. In my opinion, you should be able to breed your bitch, but you want to get her healthy first, and if there are complications such as neighbor's pets which are fleabags, you are going to have to find some way to deal with that. A topical systemic insecticide is usually the best way to treat them if you can get the neighbor to agree, so long as the dog isn't old, or having liver & kidney problems. Someone made a very good point about underexposed animals actually having much worse allergic reactions than habituated or continually exposed dogs (to an allergen, such as flea saliva) and this is an excellent point. I completely agree with this and it is consistent with studies I have seen. A dog which has been raised in a very clean, allergen-free environment is going to become much more sick upon initial exposure to a pathogen or allergen, because it has no immune titer to begin with. Does anyone remmeber the first big case of Hanta virus that killed two young Navajo indian athletes in the Four Corners area of New Mexico? These were extremely robust, healty, young people, both around 21 years of age. But they had a sudden, massive exposure to this virus (via mouse droppings in an abandoned cabin) and they literally were drowning in their own lung secretions. They went down SO fast, because their healthy young bodies produced a huge torrent of specialized proteins to respond to the sudden exposure, sort of like a super-acute condition. Later it was learned that there are other sufferers of this virus in rat-infested urban areas, but their symptoms were sub-acute and the progression of the disease was chronic and much slower.

Yah, I did not want to make that one too long, so I cut it off, but in Philadelphia, PA they found that the local urban rat population was actually infected with this virus as well, or a very close variant, and nobody there got acutely ill, because everyone who lived there was continually exposed, over time. But there were many people who were on dialysis, with otherwise idiopathic (unknown cause) kidney failure, and they figured out that this was in many cases the reason.. this Hanta virus variant. Just do everything you can to control the flea problem, and consider a move if you cannot. You cannot raise healthy pups in context with fleas. I've actually seen fleas on nursing pups so bad that they were anemic and dying, and a friend of mine had already flea-host tapeworm in his pups that was so bad their bowels were impacted by the time they were around eight weeks old. Fleas are disgusting little vampires! If you live in a very arid area like our high desert, or a very cold climate, you will not tend to have a problem, at all. In coastal, humid and warm areas, fleas are a problem. And about the allergen test that your vet was giving. If it was a plate-agglutination test, those are notoriously inaccurate. This is one of the in-office tests that vets typically give, so there's a good chance this is how your bitch was tested. I think that you just may have a normal dog that could be healthy again. But you have to completely eliminate all flea exposure and do the other things I recommended, and give her a bit of time to recover.

I forgot to mention that the two Navajo Indians were marathon runners, in training. Not only were they young and healthy, but they were in absolutely peak condition. The manner in which they reacted to a sudden, massive exposure was misinterpretted to read that they were victims of a horrible, super-virulent and completely new viral disease. The public was in a panic, wondering when this disease might show up in their area! In fact, what was happening was that their bodies were SO healthy, and reacting so normally to a sudden, massive insult, that it was their own immune reactions that actually killed them. The strange irony is that this can happen in young, healthy people much more frequently than older people. When the big influenza epidemic was making the rounds, circa WW1, far more young people died than older people. Older people can die of complications (usually opportunistic secondary bacterial infections, such as pneumonia), true. But young people, reacting to something they have zero prior exposure to, can die very suddenly. The two young Navajo athletes died very fast, in something like 24 hours. And when you have very healthy dogs that go into a place like the public impounds, where disease is virtually endemic and where exposure to incoming dogs can be sudden and massive, you can have something like this happen, too. Those dogs can become very acutely ill. So, maybe you have a very healthy dog there that just needs help! You'll never know until you roll up your sleeves and deal with the flea problem.

Well, I just thought of something else, so here goes.. Vets can be wrong, and frequently are. I could tell you several (quite a few) stories in which vets made the wrong call, and some in which I actually made the correct diagnosis and treatment, for them. I didn't have the benefit of veterinary training, but I did ace all my biology and physiology courses and it seems to be something in my family that we are good in medical areas. My sister is a very good nurse and we had a very famous old relative who was a medic in WW1. There is a monument to him at some university, somewhere. The point is that it's all just common sense and good observation, in the end. This cannot be taught. Some have it, and some don't. Let me tell you one thing, for sure. The vets don't like to be shown up. They take it very, very personal and like most of us, they never want to look bad. But in the end, the dog is your responsibility. You can run all the tests in the world, and spend yourself silly, but it won't necessarily heal the dog. Just be sure not to miss the obvious, here. The betting money is on the flea problem. When you eliminate that possibility, you could make your decision what to do with the dog. But I wouldn't drop a lot more money on it, and I wouldn't put the dog to sleep, either, until you are very sure this is not the cause.

DDR-DSH & Blitzen - I appreciate all your help here. Problem is - there's more. I just went to let her out (I am crating her inside to maintain her warmth as it is very cold outside right now) and check her/brush her/feed her again and she looks worse today...more chunks of hair missing - gigantic flakes coming off with hair, ash color "dush" falling from her body and her ribs are showing and she looks gaunt...and I feed her the best dogfood - 10 cups a day right now and she is skin and bones...she wolfs her food like she is starving, she drinks and drinks and drinks water (a half gallon at a time minimum)and then walks around looking for more food like some kind of wild scavenger animal. I fear there is something terribly wrong with her. It can't be just fleas....the itching and hair loss, yes, but the other symptoms don't coincide. It sounds more like this "Cushings Disease" thing that VBK9 brought up. I am going to go read up on it.

Yes, this definitely sounds more complicated. I don't think there will be any easy solutions, here. Well, good luck with her and don't feel like you cannot put her down, without hanging your head in shame. Sometimes it just comes down to common sense. I've seen people run up credit cards trying to save dogs.. $10,000 and $20,000, against impossible odds, and after all is done, the dog must be put down, anyway. I did it myself with a dog we called, "Buddy". We spent a good $5,000 on him, and the last night cost $1,000 of that. I said I'd never do it, but I did. You just hate to quit and you want to believe in miracles, etc. We finally had to admit defeat. He had myaesthenia gravis, and it was diagnosed too late. He'd just lost too much ground, battling against foreign body (inhalation) pneumonia for the third time. Well, it's sad, but I like to tell people this: That on the other side, in Heaven, there is a little boy or girl, or maybe an old man or woman, SOMEONE who just died, and they miss their family and their pets, so the angels ask them what would make them happy, and they ask for a lovely dog to play with and take long walks with. Our beautiful dogs and all of our animal friends will be there to greet us again one day, but in the mean time, they are playing with others who will love them as much as we did in life.

Boy, this keeps getting deeper and deeper - check out the over-vaccinating thread.... I am speaking with someone who may foster Xandra (retired longtime show person and medical professional) for a short time for me to see if she can help. Apparently she has been able to work wonders...one reference called her the "Patron Saint of Animals"...she makes her own dogfood (out of fresh venison and free range cattle ORGANIC) and has a system that has worked. I am meeting her and her two "babies" (i.e.: dogs) today to screen her.

Good luck, GSDLVR. I'm starting to think of your dog as the board mascot and am hoping that some miracle comes along to help her.

Please keep my girl in your prayers - she went with a wonderful retired GSD show woman and 30 yr medical professional and her rescued dogs tonight for 2 weeks to undergo intense holistic and organic treatment. A really sweet lady.I am excited about this! WE WILL OVERCOME! :) And I get her back in 2 weeks!