Ear Problems

Think i posted before about Shadow's ear problems but thought i'd post again
hoping that someone can suggest something i hav'nt tried.

Shadow is now 6 yrs old and has had a problem with one of his ears for a few yrs now.
Vet said it was an allergy but to what we dont know.
So far i have tried Thornit,Trizedta,a natural product from Pet Nat.
He has been to the vet a few times and he is given a steroid injection
which does help and lasts about 5/6 weeks but dont want him constantly on steroids
because of side effects.I should add that he also constantly chews his paws.
There seems to be a connection between the ear and paw chewing but dont know what.
The only thing i hav'nt tried is a raw diet but Shadow doesnt do well with bones,he's usually
sick if he has bones and i know he needs some bone content if he is on raw.

Does anyone have any suggestions.????

Hi Jan, as far as RAW is concerned you can buy the chicken, lamb and beef as a mince with the bones ground down, its all Bryn can have as far as bones is concerned as well.

Which dog do you give peritin to? Is it Shadow

Yeah Sandra its Shadow.Forgot to say he has an antihistamine every day
and also Apple Cider Vinegar.

Dunno what else hun sorry, the thornit works a treat on Bryn, funny how its only the one ear that he has a problem with, I would of thought an allergy would affect both

i would try raw like sandra says you can buy it with bone in but i would go for lamb rather than chicken , alot of dogs are allergic to chicken , or you could try hypoallergenic mixer like laughing dog and trays of food like natures menu much more expensive but if it helped it would be worth it

Thanks Sue.Shadow is on Skinners Duck and Rice which is Hypoallergenic
and has been on it for about 4 yrs.

do you think she could be allergic to rice , i found this
http://www.televets.com/articles/dogs/skin-allergies-in-dogs.html

If you decide to try the RAW diet Jan, obviously you can buy the packs of mince from pet shops, however, if you felt it worked and wanted to keep him on it then it can become quite expensive from places like pet shops, there used to be a yahoo group, called RAW or Barf diets Cant remember which it is, on there quite a few people from Scotland would put an order in together once a mth I think and share the savings from one of the bigger outlets like landywoods so that it would work out cheaper

i think lorz gets hers from landywoods

Thanks Sue,i've book marked that article. I dont think Landywoods delivers
any further than Edinburgh but its a while since i was on their site,that may have
changed.

have you tried raw green tripe ... fred doesnt do well with bones either tbh and since hes been on tripe hes had no stomach problems like he used too .. *touches wood* hes not had a single bout of 'bloody diahhreah' i know its totally different to ear problems, but it might be worth a try

ooh p.s

landywoods had stopped any new orders due to meat shortage .... it may be worth trying them though incase theyve changed circumstances

He could be allergic to any number of things but thought changing his diet
was a good place to start.

Shell,dont they need some content of bones for roughage.?

fred will very very rarely eat bones hun ... he will sometimes have complete meal mixed with meat juices .. he will have a chicken wing once in a blue moon

I was thinking about cutting out chicken completely as i know a lot of dogs
are allergic to chicken.

yea...i never realised that until the girls at the petshop mentioned it ... i took fred off chicken wings and complete chicken flavour meal... mainly to change to something fattier... but i wonder now if the chicken foods he was on was giving him the runs

Possibly.

what about TPMS

http://www.tpms.co.uk/

They dont deliver to Scotland.

thats not good

what about these

http://www.anglianmeatproducts.co.uk/

or these

http://www.albionmeatproducts.co.uk/products/chunky.html

Thanks Shell,prize choice is a good site.

just found this one too jan

http://rawtogo.co.uk/default.aspx

im looking for a supplier too