Would consider anything that would help , shes having purina beta puppy and adult and puppy mixed 50/50 as shes very hyper and the vet said to cut down her protein in her food , we are considering changing her food , and have been looking around but dont know which would be most beneficial for her ,

Hi there hartleyhare Purina has many additives and would not be my first choice of food. If you are not able to feed fresh food Burns is one of the better complete foods with no additives or wheat. Visit their website and request samples...do a Google search for Burns Pet Nutrition.

Thanks minihaha will look into that , im sure theres a kennels near me that can do with about 6 sacks of food ! that i have already brought oh well , least they will go to a good home .

hartleyhare if it is mange be prepared for the fact the coat may grow back very slowly ....

hello hartleyhare have you tried Eukanuba for an active dog thats what we give clyde because he`s very hyperactive and full of energy

Hi H/H heres a link for homeopathic vets, hope you find out soon whats causing it.

http://www.bahvs.com/vetmfhom.htm

Sorry can't give any advice other than like others have said ask for skin scrapes,to make sure she is treated for the proper skin problem.Do hope she gets better soon.Must be so sore for her.

Hartleyhare I once read that in some cases of mange affecting a few dogs the hair follicles become damaged so the coat never grows back quite the same as it once was. So whatever you do to try to make things better, be prepared that the coat may never fully recover. Lets hope in Nell's case it does

Before you start changing foods & thinking of allergies etc get your vets to run the tests. I have a bitch with allergies & you really need to isolate the causes before deciding to change foods etc.

OK quick lesson for you all on allegies as given to me by my vet!

The histamines in a dogs body are triggered when the allergies get to a certain level (lets call this 10) the allergies maybe made up of 2 gluten 3 chicken protein which equals 5 then you have an allergy that is environmental grass or dust etc which is say 4 equalling 9 then you beloved pet scavenges a left over burger that some prat has chucked away! which brings the total to 11 or 12 then BANG the histamine cells explode & you get a reaction usually skin irritation ! BECAUSE the food part of it is the easier part to look at and to treat then that is what the vets treat. Thus trying to keep the levels under the point of problem. Simple eh?

ALSO don't forget that a dogs skin is "faulty" What I mean is that inbetween each layer of skin in humans is a layer of antibodies which means that if we cut ourselves our imune system starts working at the layer in which the damage has occured. Dogs don't have this! Soooo the infection goes down all 50 or so layers until it reaches a layer of antibodies to attack the problem! This means that if a dog has a skin infection a couple of weeks on antibiotics ain't going to cure it in the long term unless the infection is only in the top layers! If the skin is infected the best way of sorting it if to find out what type of infection is growing & then treat the problem with the correct antibiotics & for a long period of time (6 weeks plus) This how my vet patiently explained it to me anyway!

Hope this kind of helps in a very long winded way!! LOL

Basically as I said at the start you need to find out what exactly the problem is whether food or skin infection properly then treatment should hopefully work for Nell. Not an easy time for you though I know only too well!

Cutting down on protein could work but remember you need to work out the amount of protein in grams rather than the % of protein as I fell into that trap when I switched foods before & worked out that the amount of food I have to feed to keep condition meant that I was feeding a lower % food but actually feeding more protein in grams! Meaning my dog was still as hyper!

Hope all works out & poor Nell is better soon

Kadyxx

Teagan still has 'thin' patches from where she had mange!