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Aussie rescue update and ANOTHER food question
I just wanted to AW our rescue, Buddy. He graduates from scaredy dog class next week - he's been an absolute star. He's making huge progress in his fearful behavior, especially relative to men (even strangers). He still pees when my husband leashes him, but other than that we've settled into a bathroom routine and we've been a week and a half free of accidents in the house. He's an absolute mushball - he loves cuddling with me and getting belly rubs, trys to sneak into the bed in the middle of the night, and will even sit with my h on the couch when I'm not home. He gets along really well with our female aussie, despite the fact that she seems to think he's a giant chew toy for her amusement.
He had an ultrasound and additional bloodwork last week to rule out some scarier causes of his intestinal distress - and he's been on a low-residue canned perscription diet since then. Previously, he was on a limited ingredient fish-based diet with pumpkin mixed in. Our vet has recommended an endoscopy as a next step in his treatment - which is an overnight stay and obviously pretty invasive. My question is this - on the salmon, his poop was better formed but his frequency was causing random, sporadic accidents in the house - on the low residue (chicken and fish) the frequency is much better, no accidents, but the consistency is back to awful (liquid, blood, etc.). Would it be worth trying a raw, alternative protein (I was thinking rabbit) diet as an interem step to endoscopy? Would that be considered low residue? Any other suggestions? Overall, he seems like he's happy and enjoying life - but his movements don't look comfortable and I just can't envision that he could be passing blood that consistently and be right as rain.
Also - he's a bundle of energy now that he's settled in - near constant motion, unless he's on the couch or under the bed. Getting a good picture (where either his head isn't blurry, or both dogs don't look like they're in trouble because I've asked them to sit 75 times) is next to impossible!
Re: Aussie rescue update and ANOTHER food question
What a cutie!
I'd highly recommend a raw diet. You can start with one protein and gradually add in others. One of our dogs was allergic to chicken and lamb when fed kibble, but when we switched to raw, he was able to eat both meats.
Cooking the meat changes the molecular structure. One of my favorite sites for starting out is preymodelraw.com.
So happy to hear that he is making progress! I remember your orginial post and I think I wrote a novel about our experiences lol. Not sure about the food though and hopefully the tests will help you get a diagnosis. I know a few border collies with IBS but I'm not familiar with it personally. Poor guy.
And lol about the energy once he started settling in. My big guy was the same way. He was so calm and mild mannered but after a few months he was playing with toys, running zoomies, and playing long games of fetch. It was about then we started playing disc with him which later turned into us competing. Being in that structured environment with so many different types of people helped his confidence so much and now my fearful calm boy is a total bossy social butterfly that has to be the life of the party lol.
Poe: Here we go once again with the "I was a wild stray..." story. Blah blah blah *eye roll*
Blog: The Misadventures of Jackson and Poe
Congrats on your cutie!
Have you run any of the digestive blood tests (I know you said bloodwork but I wasn't sure what they tested so far)? If not, I can send more info. I would start with that and personally I am a fan of a raw diet, building in other things over time but I think that there are additional supplements that can really help maintain a healthy digestive system - it can be a delicate balance but I use probiotics, digestive enzymes, prebiotics, and fiber in the form of psyllium. The endoscopy isn't a bad idea though if you continue to have issues as it will let you know better what is going on.
Have they tried tylosin/tylan powder that is commonly used for IBS/IBD to get things under control?
Your questions are way out of my league, but I'm so glad he's emotionally feeling better! I hope you get the IBS under control soon!
Thanks, folks! He is a real sweetie pie - even if I'm pretty sure my hub's gotten an ulcer over the state of our rugs. I'm just glad we've had the opportunity to give him a chance. I will say, reassurance from our friends and others that he's making progress and that we're doing a good job has helped US make progress too. So thanks!
Regarding some of the questions - he has had a fecal float, CBC, and a GI blood panel (all clear), as well as the ultrasound (showed slight thickening of the rectal walls and slightly enlarged lymph nodes, but nothing serious enough to worry the vet). The didn't test him for heartworm as it's assumed he was tested by the rescue intake (although they lost the papers) and he has records of going through some pretty serious dewormers. He also did almost two weeks of Flagyl (no improvement), and he's currently on Tylan powder (started a week and a half ago). Both aussies get NaturVet Digestive Enzymes - we tried Salmon Oil with him at the beginning but it all came out the other end. We're currently treating him with an internal specialist at Angell Memorial in Boston. We did try grain free Fromms with no improvement.
I've been a little hesitant to feed him raw only because we tried raw with Lucy and it did NOT go well - i have visions (nightmares really) of taking a step back into the big Dville with both of them. But I feel like we're getting closer with him and I wonder if it's really a combination of low-residue/novel protein that he needs.
And in terms of the energy, oh yes - I took a look at his adoption listing the other day and it had him listed as "low to medium energy" - which makes me laugh as I watch him launch himself into the air and spin in anticipation of morning walkies. I do think he'll be a good agility dog someday (or other similar activities) although we've got to get through some basics first. When we graduate next week, we're scheduled to talk to the trainer about "next steps" - hopefully something that he and Lucy can take together.
The NaturVet Digestive Enzymes if it's the one with probiotics and prebiotics looks pretty good to me. I give a different brand but this one looks pretty good. I give Wholistic Pet Digest All Plus and the biggest difference I see is that mine has 10 billion CFUs per gram vs. 100 million CFUs. In addition to this, like I said I give prebiotic in the form of fructooligosaccharides and fiber in the form of psyllium (pumpkin caused more issues for my boy so this gets right at the source of the fiber itself).
I'm glad they are trying tylan instead of flagyl. Usually IBS/IBD dogs seem to do better on tylan so it's worth a try.
Additionally, you could discuss your with IM specialist whether you could try slippery elm. It can do a lot to calm a digestive tract and I will use it for both humans and dogs when they have issues, not usually a long term thing.
It sounds like you are working with a specialist, but if you haven't looked at this link for gastro testing it might be helpful to compare to what you've done already - http://vetmed.tamu.edu/gilab/service/assays.
I do feed a raw diet and don't plan on ever feeding kibble, but if your boy keeps having issues I would consider the endoscopy. Food trials are definitely worth doing as well, but sometimes you need to use the medical diagnostics available to get to the bottom of it.
Good thoughts to your boy!
The minis size bumps agaisnt the Aussie female sizes. Minimum standard for a female is 18" for an Aussie, and the minis standard is 14" to 18," so it makes sense that a mini could be very close to a Aussie's size.
I *think* minis can be registered with the AKC as Aussies, they just don't conform to size (unless that has changed).
Gloria's not full grown in that photo, but she is now. She's about 26 pounds and about 16" inches tall. It's ridiculous to watch her try and herd.
Ahaha - I've heard of a herding rabbit, so who knows!
Buddy is 30 pounds, but he could stand to gain a bit. Lucy is *cough* 45 pounds. At least she was before she started sampling Buddy's food. I have no idea how tall they are though!
Your thread made me look at the MARS rescue minis again. *guilty* They had a mini on there that was 18" and 35 pounds, so bigger than Buddy! I think you could probably call him either.
I really should stay away from that rescue's petfinder (we don't qualify to adopt without a yard), they have a dog named Brody would was practically saying "I'd love to be Gloria's BFF!" with his gorgeous brown eyes.
http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/22166903
WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S NOT AN AUSSIE?! Just kidding. I tried to figure out what to call her once and got lost in the details between the multiple breed clubs and breed name changes plus nasty forum opinions that called her everything from a mutt to a designer dog. I'm familiar with the fact "mini Aussies" aren't considered an AKC Australian Shepherd breed variety. I'm also familiar with the fact that there are two factions, MASCA and NAMASCUSA, that call the dogs Miniature Australian Shepherds (breed variety) and Miniature American Shepherds (separate breed) respectively, which adds confusion as to what is the appropriate breed name.
I think I found the letter you're referencing in that the AKC states they'll start kicking MASCA/NAMASCUSA/NSDR dogs out of the Australian Shepherd registry. It references the dogs as "Miniature Australian (aka North American) Shepherds," but it doesn't seem clear whether or not non-standard size Australian Shepherds not affliated with any other club are getting kicked out too, or only the MASCA/NAMASCUSA/NSDR dogs? The fact that the AKC is calling them Miniature Australian (aka North American) Shepherds even makes it unclear on what the appropriate breed name is for Gloria.
Gloria came with NSDR papers, so I called her a Mini Aussie because that's what the NSDR calls her. To me, it has always seemed more judgmental than it sounds in your statements, but given the tumultuous background, I can understand why someone with an AKC Australian Shepherd could disagree/be offended with my calling Gloria a mini Aussie. You appear to be involved in the breed with regards to AKC/Competitions, and I am not, so I'll defer to your judgment on this one. I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't deliberately trying to be misleading in what I call Gloria. While I don't necessarily feel comfortable calling her a mini Aussie, I felt even more uncomfortable calling her a MAS because she's not in that registry. Does that make her a mutt? Not if i had my way, but even mutts usually get refered to as the breed they are closest to.
Fellow Aussie parent signing in and we've been on the Tylan powder for over a year now and big D free. It was over a year of trying things and even switching vets to a holistic one.
Wives Unscripted
My point was that based on what I could figure out, as a pet owner, it seemed I was going to offend someone whether I call her a MAS or a mini so I defaulted to what her papers called her.
Bred slightly out of standard for a pet is what I'd consider the most accurate description for Gloria, but I thought calling her an Australian Shepherd would be considered worse than calling her a mini.