Please! Someone help me with my border collie!

[Netty]

Hey Everyone! Very nice forum.

I am having alot of difficulties with my border collie Tiffany she's going to be 12 years old in October and has had this horrible existing problem with ripping her fur out. She has to wear the "cone" around her neck, but since shes been wearing it for so long, shes learned that she can still bite her tail in certain areas. We've given her the cortizone shot along with the Biospot that you put the whole way down her back, benadrill, we give her bathes with oatmeal, and other antibaterial dog washs'. She doesn't have flees but is in very much pain. The last time she was at the vet was Nov 2003 and we just moved to a new area and are currently looking for another vet. She always gets this, but now it's terrible. All she does is sleep and eat, and at one point has licked her paw raw from the pain. We are going to see the vet this week, but any suggestions on how to help will be appreciated!

[nern]

Welcome to the forum.
Sounds like your dogs might have severe allergies. There are a few members currently dealing with this in their dogs....hopefully some of them can give you some helpful advice. Keep us posted on what the vet says.

[elizavixen]

I am one of those dealing with allergies. I have a 10 mo St. Bernard who gets hot spots, itchy skin, etc. We are still working on it with the vet but I can tell you what I know.

First, what kind of food is your dog on? She may have some sort of food allergy. If it is more seasonal then it is probably not a food allergy but it could be a combo of things. I have my puppy on Calif Natural lamb and rice which is a good allergy food. There are others as well.

My vet gave me Temaril P on our last visit. It worked very well and very quickly. The only problem with it is that it contains prednisone so it is not a long term solution. Again, if the allergies are seasonal you may be able to get away with giving her meds during peak times and then quitting but if they are all year round or most of the year, meds are not a very good option.

The vet also recommended I begin supplementing the dogs food with Omega 3 & 6 (fish oil). Some others on this board recommended Nzymes. I just started with them and he seems to be doing OK (don't know if that is due to the nzymes or something else). The website for that is www.nzymes.com .

The last resort option is allergy testing. Then you can get syrum (sp?) that you can give them every week that is supposed to help. It is very expensive though (my vet said approx $400).

I don't know how old Border Collies live but 12 seems old to me so I would ask the vet about the Temaril P or some other sort of medicine like that. The prednisone has long term side effects but since she is old you may just want to put her on that to give her some relief (I don't know if that is the best advice but it is up to you).

[Netty]

Thank you both for your suggestions. She is currently on Lamb and rice, so I'll be sure to check that information out with my vet. It's funny that you suggest nzymes.com because my husband just found that site a few minutes before I logged on to see if there was a reply. We think we are going to buy that for her and see if this helps. I'll keep you posted on what we find out. Again, THANK YOU so much for your suggestions.

Lynnette

[winersrep]

I found that I had raised my Border Collie on Lamb/Rice dog food and she developed an allergy to it. I canged to a food with another meat source and another grain source. Example Beef// CAN'T REMEMBER Barley, wheat, Wow and the bags are gone and foods in a container. She did well on the changes, yet it takes 3-4 weeks to get it in their systems and the other that's bothering them out of them. I did later try the all vegetable " Beneful" food and she started it all again. I feed Nutro? Gosh with the bag gone, I don't know. I just go to the feed store and buy it.
Silver bag because I buy Senior low cal my dog is 9 years old.
Good Luck to you
Ps I guess I should say my Border Collie " Sis " died a week ago today. She had seizures and could not come out of this one. I talk like I still have her and sometimes for a few minutes I forget. I will miss her so she was my special girl. I don't know how to go to the bathroom without her in there with me, ha ha ha . Oh how I love her.
Be careful and good luck

[Sara]

I've known lots of folks with pits who had severe allergies like this and when nothing else would work they ended up switching to a raw diet and it cleared right up. There's lots to research on it and lots to think about when deciding if it's for you but it may be a thought down the road... It's called Raw feeding or BARF...lots of info on the web and a simple google search will bring up some info.

Sara

[Samsintentions]

Highly reccomending the Raw diet here. If your too squeemish to feed whole rabbits, chickens and what not. You can get premade Raw. its called BARF (I know, not an appetizing name). It comes in a big log like big packages of hamberger meat. And its organ, bone, meat and tissues (all natural) in one blended "loaf"


Also. I feed my dogs NuVet Plus. REALLY helps with allergies. Byeboer came from a kennel with no grass, when he got here, he's got allergies to it. I've been supplimenting him now for about 2 months, and their all but gone! if your intrested here's the link to them....

www.nuvet.com/63656

[coppersmom]

I just wanted to add that I think that Biospot is a terrible product. My girls both broke out in hives within minutes of putting it on them.

[Mary_NH]

my boss has 2 maltese brothers. They established their roles when they were young - one willingly allows the other to be dominant so they never had any battles.
She crates them together and they are happy. She goes home from work and they are napping all curled up together.
If your 2 dogs get along well and you are confident they won't get into a knock down drag out battle I'd crate them together. Might help the one with separation anxiety to remain calm.