Exercise - Allergies

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Daisy would be licking her paws.
better but I still catch her once in awhile.
Any opinions on this I would welcome.

Ok I will give my secondary opinion your not up for my best recommendation 
of feeding raw and no grain. :-)  I agree with your vet.  Though another 
place to look is to fleas, licking can cause secondary staph infections the 
next thing to look at is allergies.  The first things we look at with 
allergies if we know we don't have a flea issue that has manifested into a 
staph infection is food.  Grain is usually the first culprit and yes corn 
and wheat are very high on the list of allergens and they are usually found 
in the first 4 to 8 ingredients in a lot of dog foods.  It's not as common 
but a dogs just like humans can also have protein allergies and sometimes 
protein sources have to be eliminated too.  But let's not get a head of 
ourselves here...

If what Daisy is dealing with is a food allergy, my first guess would be 
grains.  So yes changing her food to a food with grains that are not as 
offensive is a good first step.  Also keep notes and do not make too many 
changes at once as you want to track things by process of elimination.  You 
may want to have your vet check her feet to see if she had a staph 
infection or yeast infection caused by the licking.  If she does no change 
in food is going to clear that up, she will need a course of 
antibiotics.  In addition make sure her treats also do not have corn or 
wheat in them.

Other allergies can be seasonal and dogs can be allergic to molds ect just 
like humans so be aware there too.  But also know allergies can always and 
often do turn into staph or yeast infections if they are left untreated and 
then they will just appear to be year round.  So it's very important to 
assess if there is a possible secondary issue, of infection that needs to 
be dealt with.

Ruth is dealing with a similar problem with Annie right now.  I groomed 
Annie this past week and I saw what looked to me to be a secondary yeast or 
staph infection with Annie, both in her front feet and her vulva.  So Ruth 
took Annie to the vet who concurs with me that she has an infection going 
on.  Annie may also have allergies but we don't know just yet as she does 
have an infection that does need to be dealt with.

Annie had also had a food change to Canidae, she had been on FRR but on my 
recommendation Ruth changed her to Canidae a month or so ago.  So now she 
will most likely more back to FRR if after treatment with antibiotics she 
is still reacting.  Ruth is also keeping a journal and running changes by 
me before she moves on them so that we can collective try to asses is this 
an allergy and if so what to?

Also to note, Janet who has Kryten & Ripley ( Kryten from Judy, Ripley is a 
Casino kid) also was having problems with Kryten from a very young age with 
terrible foot chewing.  They never did really figure out what his problem 
was but it is a lot better now that she has moved him over to raw 
feeding.  I don't think Ripley has shown any signs of allergies?

None of the dogs we have that are related have allergies, actually I have 
never had a dog who has allergies I have been very fortunate. The breed is 
prone to allergies, but fortunately most can be controlled with some minor 
changes...


Thanks for send the picture of Daisy perched as if she was on the bow of our
new boat. And yes I have called it Jason's toy:-)) Do you think Daisy would
jump out of the boat, I worry if we are out on the river that she just might
jump out if she sees a stick floating by.

Your welcome, have to tell you when you wrote and told me you got a boat 
that picture just automatically came to my mind.  Jason - Congrats, on your 
way cool boy toy! :-)

On dogs and boat safety one never knows if a dog will jump over board or 
not or accidently be thrown over board for that matter so I do suggest 
getting her a PFD ( personal flotation device).  You can find them on line 
I am sure but you might want to go to a good sporting goods store and check 
out their doggie PFD's for size.  Most sporting goods stores will allow 
dogs in side to try on equipment.  Is there an REI store near you?

I promise to look for an off leash park so I can take her this week!

Ha! and while she is here in April and your at Disneyland I will run her 
socks off... :-)

I wanna go to Disneyland too!

Gina