Probiotics and Fish oil

2015. Feb 4th

This is about last summer. I’ve been wanting to write this, but I was too busy. I’m glad that I finally am able to post this.

Last year, Big Steve had a lot of skin problems. Whenever he gets hives, we give him Benadryl which is an antihistamine, and it works every time for his skin rash.  You can read more about his skin rash here.

As you can see on the photo above, he had some rumps and bumps under his armpit and around his hind leg (inner thighs).

My husband and I went to Pet Food Express and talked to some of the staff there. The staff at Pet Food Express is pretty informative and always helpful.

We were trying to find why Big Steve gets skin problems now. Come to think about it, he didn’t have so much skin problems like hives before we lived in California. We can’t say for sure, but it might be something to do with the environment. Big Steve might have some kind of allergy.  He’s been going through many medical issues since we moved to California, and he also had to change his diet. His stool has gotten softer than before.  His hives broke out around that time he had to change his diet due to his pancreatitis.

Probiotics

The staff had some recommendation for Big Steve. She recommended us to give Big Steve “Probiotics.”  He may have some digestive problems, and probiotics might help with his allergy and may solve his skin problem also. We can’t say what is causing him the skin problems, but we could at least try. There are some choices, but I chose “Microflora” because it is made of herbs. (Microflora : $22.99)

I’m not sure if this is helping his skin problems, but since then he is not getting hives.  (Just a little note: One day, he was taking antibiotics when he had inflammation in his mouth.  He had soft stool at that time, but didn’t get hives. )

Fish oil

That day, we also got fish oil for his coat treatment at the Pet Food Express. We immediately found big differences since we gave him fish oil. Big Steve’s coat became so very soft, and on top of that, he is more energetic than ever!! 🙂  When we took Big Steve to the dog park, someone who knows Big Steve was surprised to see how energetic he was! I also met some veterinary nurse at the same park and she was also very impressed considering that Big Steve is 10 years old and yet he is very energetic!! I really believe that this is because of this fish oil we gave to him. Big Steve loves the taste of fish oil!! 🙂 (Salmon oil : $17.99~$24.99)

 

Flora_probiotics

Flora_probiotics

Fish oil

 

Heat rash?

June 12th, 2014

He’s been doing okay except that he’s been gassy. Yesterday and today, I found some rumps and bumps under his armpit and around his hind leg (inner thighs). I gave him Allergy pill and it went away. I am wondering what are these? When I touch the part, it feels sweaty and sticky a  bit. I called the vet to seek some advice. The nurse told me that I could try “Neosporin or Triple Antibiotics,” but I didn’t want to cause more trouble on him, so I just wipe the part with wet towel and keep the area clean. Nurse told me that if this keeps continuing, she could talk to Dr. and see what he wants to do. I hope this is nothing serious.

blister around his penis?

June 7, 2014

We took Big Steve to the Dog Park today! It was a pug meetup day! We weren’t sure if we should take Big Steve to the Park since he had health problem. But we though he need social time. It went great. We all enjoyed seeing other pugs! 🙂

When Big Steve finds other dogs he likes, he starts humping. He won’t do that to any dogs. He follows after one particulate dog and humping.

My friend was at the park today, and Big Steve loved her dog so much. It’s a male pug and his name is “Fidel Castro.” Yes, Fidel Castro. There was a dog called “Newton” also. I guess it was also a celebrity meetup. 🙂

Anyway Big Steve loves “Fidel Castro,” and Steve was humping him so much. My fried didn’t care, so we just let him do what he had to do.

After we came back to home, I found something looks like a  blister around Big Steve’s penis. I’m not sure when did he have that. But I suspect he got it by humping other dogs. He doesn’t look like bothered by it, so I’m gonna just keep an eye on him.

2 big dogs and Big Steve and Fidel Castro.

Bug Bite

June 2nd 2014

Big Steve woke me up this morning at around 6:00 am. He was scratching himself and his body was shaking by itself. I palpated the part he was scratching and found three little bumps. It goes from his chest area, his side belly, and back. I could imagine some kind of bug must have bitten him. Anyway, I googled if there is anything I could do to make him feel better, but I couldn’t find much.

Last time when he had itchy problem with rash, vet told me to give him diphenhydramine. So I gave him an allergy pill that contains diphenhydramine. I hold him in my arm and measured his weigh on the scale. He weighs little less than 25lb, so I gave him 25 mg, whole pill. (I learned I can give 1 mg per lb.)

Pretty much, it worked pretty soon. The bump – bug bites are almost gone, and he is not itching anymore.

We took him to a dog park yesterday, and he got pretty dirty rolling around on the sand playing with Rocky who is 4 months old bulldog . So after the park, we took him to the Pet Food Express to wash him. I also vacuum the house almost everyday. However, bug can come from nowhere~!!! I curse at them~!!! …Well, I know all the life have role in the world…. sigh. Poor Big Steve. I don’t know what kind of bug bit him. It could be a spider, or something else…

Well, rather than that, he enjoy eating steamed sweet potatoes, and he had a great time at a dog park yesterday! 🙂

Running with Dexter!

 

Playing with Rocky!

Now,  I can clearly see the bite hole on his chest. He sometimes scratch a bit, so I’m gonna give him another pill later.

 

My dog is scratching again.

May 22nd 2014

Yesterday. the May 21st, Big Steve started to scratch himself again. It’s not that bad, and we couldn’t find any rash on his body. However, this morning Big Steve was scratching himself again and there was red spot under his arm and small rash around his inner hind leg. I wander what the vet would think and do about this, so I called the vet and explained his condition.

They told me to stop giving him SO again and said that they will call me sometime next week.

 

Start adding SO to his food again.

May 16th 2014

Today, I went to the Vet to get his GI low fat canned food. Big Steve’s primary vet told me that I should start to give him SO again. I was a bit surprised to be told to do so since Big Steve had rash that was unsure of an exact cause. I asked them if there are other urinary healthy type of canned food. They told me that there are some brand, but they all are kind of high fat content.

I had no choice but to start to add few SO to his GI low fat canned food again.

His rash has gone!

May 9th 2014

It looks like Benadryl worked! He is not scratching or licking anymore.

I wonder what was the cause of all this? Urinary SO, maybe? Now he is off from the Urinary SO and only getting GI low fat canned food as his vet directed to us. Also the vet changed the dosage of his prednisolone. He is going to take only a half prednisolone a week. I hope he is going to be okay with the change.  Anyway, I’m glad he is not being  itchy so bad.:)

I have’n been taking him to trail since he got foxtail, but it’s been a nice weather for walk, so recently, I take him to nearby trail again. I bring stroller with us so that when Big Steve gets tired or where there are foxtails, I can put him on the stroller. I think he kinda like it! 🙂

Everything is coming together and I’m really happy to see him being healthy and happy.

Photo is at a dog park nearby in 2012. Sep. 8th. Big Steve and Sophie(It’s not our Sophie:))

He has gotten a lot better from Pancreatitis, but He has skin rash now.

4/28/2014

Because the vet found tiny amount of crystal in his urine, they gave us a sample of Urinary SO, the one it’s a moderate calorie from Royal Canin. They  wanted me to switch to Urinary SO slowly, so I’m adding a little bit of Urinary SO to his GI low fat canned food diet. Vet recommend us to give him a lot of water. 600mg is recommended for his size. However, he won’t drink water. So I’m giving him food with water I am measuring each time. He’s been getting a lot of water now!:)

5/5/2014

He liked the food, and now his urine color looks normal, and I can tell he is doing great just by looking at him. He had his blood test on May 5th, and result came out 100% normal and it looks great. So vet told me to stop the remaining medication that I have been giving to him, Denamarin andUrsodiol.

5/8 (Thursday)

Big Steve threw up this morning. I know he was licking himself from 2 to 3 am last night. I took him out to pee. After that he went to sleep. However, at 6:00 am this morning, he threw up. He was also scratching himself.

At around 4:00 pm, my husband found that Big Steve had some hives on his skin. So, we gave him ½ tablet of allergy pill(12.5mg) since we remembered in the past when Big Steve had allergy reaction, the vet told us to give him a ½ tablet of Benadryl. After that, I called the vet to tell about it. The nurse asked me if I could take him to the vet soon, so I took him to the vet immediately.

Big Steve’s vet was not at the office today, so the other DR. had to learn about him and examined him.

The vet was not sure the reason of all this or why he threw up, but he suspect food allergy, chicken? wheat? in Urinary SO… or other allergy?

The instruction I got was as followed.

1. Continue Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) non-cold formula 25mg 1 tablet every 8 hours until hives resolve
2. Give ½ Benadryl when I get home (since I already gave ½ tablet)
3. Give 5mg prednisolone tonight (We usually give him prednisolone 2.5mg on Mon. and Friday)

Anyway Big Steve’s vet is gonna be at office tomorrow and we’ll talk about Big Steve.

BTW, he is not scratching himself anymore and sleeping now. Also his hives has almost all gone already. Great!