Are you looking for pet advice?

My dog just developed a bald spot right next to his ear over the last two days...looks red but not bleeding or anything else. Any idea what the heck happened or is wrong with him?

 

Need advice on a rescue. Needs updated vaccines and dewormer. How can I get his weight up in a healthy manner.

He is very active. Loving. But has no training what so ever. He's 1 1/2 and the size of my 7 month old.

 

Poor baby, glad you are taking him in and helping him get healthy again!!

-T

 

@jaredmillerdvm @Kerch71 or any other vets got any advice? I believe he is starting to paw at it and now it's bleeding a tad. I'll have to make an appointment with a vet soon as they can get him in.

 

Looks like a hot spot. shave the hair keep an cone on him and try topical hydrocortisone. if that does not work he will need antibiotics and oral steroids.

 

looks like he may have whipworms, make sure they test his stool and get him on heartworm prevention. purina pro plan large breed puppy.

 

Need Help! My English Lab/Aussie is scratching to no end. She's already on a grain-free diet, I'm giving her allergy bites from Iheart, along with @ my vets recommendation 30mg Zyrtec /or generic. Not really helping, and I don't want to keep giving her the Zyrtec. Looking for other healthy alternatives before I just get her a shot. Thanks

 

I’m not a vet but my dog used to itch like crazy until she was put in apoquel. We give her 1 pill a day and no more itching or biting herself.

 

Thanks Justin, I will definitely look into that

 

Hi there. First thing you need to do is take her off grain free, dogs are rarely allergic to grains and it CAN lead to heart disease/failure. Like the previous member mentioned Apoquel is a good medication for allergies/atopy. Cytopoint is another good medication for atopy, an injection can last anywhere from 1-2 months. My last choice would be prednisone unless money is a concern, more side effects while on it also. Best of luck.

 

I tried taking her off grain free, it made it worse. She's allergic to wheat, beef, eggs, and peanuts.

I will look into your suggestions and thanks for your help

 

I rather have an itchy dog than a dead one. If she is truly allergic to grains then seek a nutritionist to see what needs to be added to the diet to prevent possible heart disease.

 

Guess I'll ask it here. Every so often my female dog about 2yrs old will randomly throw up what appears to just be stomach bile. Sometimes after chewing on a bone, sometimes not. Sometimes after bouncing around with our other dog, sometimes not. Is this "normal"? She seems fine before and fine after. No loss of energy, regularly eating and drinking, regular behavior, normal stool. Thanks!

 

I wouldn’t worry about it unless she stops eating, loses weight or has consistent diarrhea.

 

@Kerch71 @jaredmillerdvm

Hey guys, we got some bad news from our vet today and really just looking for a 2nd opinion. She seems to think that based on blood work he may have Kidney disease and possibly something with this thyroid. They are doing additional tests on the thyroid and wanting me to bring in a urine sample. She's recommending special dog food with less protein for the kidney issue. The only sign something is wrong is a very slight decrease in appetite. He used to INHALE his food. He's also drinking more water.

 

What do you consider an itchy dog? A dog that is itching every few mins or less than 5 times a day, etc???

 

Hey there
What kinda dog do you have and how old is he? Those kidney values are not very high IMO and a change to a kidney diet will likely get them to decrease. An additional test called an SDMA is what I would do next. The value of SDMA is that it can help determine how serious the increased kidney values are.

As for hypothyroidism, he's definitely on the threshold, but I would measure free T4 and TSH to definitively determine hypothyroidism. These are important tests because dogs can also get "sick euthyroid syndrome". This syndrome causes dogs to have a decrease in T4 due to an illness elsewhere in the body (such as kidney disease). T4 will usually return to normal if this other illness is treated.
So, I would start a kidney diet, measure SDMA, FT4 and TSH, and then recheck the bloodwork in 30 days. This will give you a comparison and help determine if you're dealing with kidney disease, hypothyroidism, or both. Hope this helps. It can get a bit complicated (and expensive) to figure out what's going on. Keep me posted!

 

Less than 5 times a day I wouldn't consider itchy. Definitely itchy if it's every few minutes to once an hour. If you think your dog is itchy, then it probably is. Top causes of itching in a dog include fleas and atopic dermatitis (allergy due to environmental cause).

 

Thanks for the detailed response. He will be 7 next month. He's a malinois mix with possibly some pit bull in him. He weighs 68lbs, down from around 72lbs when he was last weighed but he was fat before so I think he actually looks better.

When I emailed her this morning this is what she told me. She seems to think he's in the late stages of kidney disease.

"I sent out yesterday for a free T4 and TSH. As for an SDMA, at this point it would be useless, it detects early disease before the BUN or Creatnine are elevated, his would without doubt be elevated at this time since he already shows later stage disease."

What do you recommend? She wrote us a prescription for 2 types of dog food. Royal Canin Renal Support Diet or Purina Veterinary Renal Diet. I was surprised because I always heard Purina wasn't healthy dog food. Some articles I'm finding online don't recommend low protein diets like this so I'm curious to get your thoughts.

 

I'm not understanding why your vet is saying it's late stage kidney disease. Not with those values. Late stage renal disease often shows elevated Phosphorus, which he doesn't have. They are also anemic because the kidneys help stimulate red blood cell production. His red blood cells are normal. An SDMA test is not just for early detection either. I'm not doubting it may be high, but how high? It simply gives you more information. Sorry, but I don't agree with your vet. Late stage renal disease patients are often very sick and will start vomiting and have dilute urine. Was a urinalysis performed because you can't make the "late stage renal disease" statement without a complete urinalysis. It's also wise to ultrasound the kidneys. Perhaps he has a mass on one of his kidneys that is causing the elevations in BUN and Creatinine. He could have the kidney removed and be just fine. I will never say late stage renal disease without a urinalysis, ultrasound, and SDMA. BUN and Creatinine alone are not enough.

Purina and Royal Canin are both excellent choices. These 2 companies are the top nutritional research companies. Purina vet diets are excellent imo. Both RC and Purina will cost about the same and you can't go wrong with either one.

 

Any opinions on Apoquel? I give my dog one every day for his chronic itching. It made a world of difference. Not cheap tho. I'm mainly concerned with potential long term side effects. Thoughts?

 

I agree. And he's acting fine. He's still playful and loves to walk. We're going to find a new vet that's closer to us since we moved, we'll get a 2nd opinion and have the new vet do the SDMA test. My wife dropped off a urine sample with the original vet today.

 

The urinalysis came back today and the vet said he has "lots and lots" of blood and protein in his urine but no bacteria. Despite that, she thinks it might be a bacterial infection so she's starting him on an antibiotic. Amoxicillin I think. The tests on the thyroid haven't come back yet.

 

The only side effect I've seen is that Apoquel can cause elevations in liver values in some dogs. I've prescribed a ton of Apoquel. It's a great drug and very effective.

 

Sounds like a bacterial bladder infection which can cause elevations in Creatinine and BUN. Amoxicillin should take care of it. You might also consider rechecking the urinalysis and bloodwork in 10-14 days. I can almost guarantee that the kidney values will have improved. Keep me posted!

 

Good deal. We actually have another vet appointment tomorrow with a new vet just to get her opinion. I'm going to ask her to do the SDMA test and her thoughts on the kidney ultrasound. We also got word the free T4 and TSH came back fine so his thyroid is ok! Thanks again for your suggestions. I'll keep you updated.

 

That's nice to hear. I know he was in a really weird zone for the first few days after starting it, but his quality of life is so much better now. What do you mean by "elevations in liver values"?

 

If you do a bloodwork panel, it tests many different systems in the body, including the liver, kidneys, blood glucose, etc. The liver has 4 different enzymes that we check to see if it's functioning properly. The values should be in the normal range. Apoquel can sometimes cause one of the values to be above normal. But the benefit of Apoquel imo far outweighs this mild elevation in one liver value. It's not really harming the liver imo. It's just causing it to metabolize this enzyme slowly, which causes it to build up in the bloodstream and give you a high value.

 

Ahh, ok. That makes more sense. I appreciate you taking the time to answer!

 

You bet