Week Three--starting the Nutro

Sorry everyone this past week has been EXTREMELY hectic...with my boss back from China and my niece and nephew here, I have had to juggle quite a bit of stuff...so sorry for the lack of updates.

I know I say this all the time but Zeus is REALLY good with kids.  My nephew absolutely adored him, they bonded quite a bit (too bad my sister does not like dogs (gasp, I know)).  He was really happy and enjoyed playing and chillax-ing with my nephew as he is on the computer.  Bea and Zeus both really liked having a loud and rambunctious household (they were both not afraid, stressed or nervous).  The only bad thing that happened was I thought the kids were playing with Bea and Zeus but Bea somehow managed to get out of their radar, find an open door and decided to explore the neighborhood for about an hour before I realized she was gone...luckily we found her at the neighbor's house.  She ran home when she saw my fiance looking for her.  Unfortunately, I think the dogs are more sad this week because the kids are gone.

So on Sunday, I changed Zeus' diet to the Nutro grain-free with one tablespoon of the Addison canned food.  So far (3 days), he has not had any abnormal eye goop.  His ears are still ok.  His poop is borderline hard (not ideal) and soft (ideal) and it is the exact color of the kibble (brownish).  He eats it all but it seems that he does not enjoy as much as the Orijen.  Yesterday though, he did start scratching with his hind legs again.  So I don't know if that is due to the food or what, but I will keep a closer eye on him and see if he still does that.

I wanted to make another observation, I don't know if it means anything or maybe I am just being paranoid, but I wanted to jot it down so I don't forget.  Yesterday, I threw the ball to Zeus several times and he ran after it, but when he got to the ball, he could not pick it up.  Like, he kept trying to push it with his paw but then he doesn't go down to get it.  I don't know if it is because he could not see it or he was just having a hard time reaching down to get it????  Also, when I ran inside to get the camera and threw the ball again, he was not interested in playing fetch again. Odd.  Anyhow, I will keep an eye out on this behavior and see if I could document it, hopefully he is not losing his vision.

Results from week one

So it has been one week since zeus started his eliminafion diet. Since friday he has added 1/4 tablet of ketaconozole. His ears still has some gunk but there is a lot less and the rate of growth has decreased. As for his poop, its finally getting better. However, after giving him the Interceptor on Saturday, there has been 1-2 flatworms coming out of his poop (he poops once a day) on Sunday, Monday and today (tuesday).  He is definitely losing weight...his waist seems to be getting smaller.  Overall though, he is doing quite well with this diet.  He does not have anymore excessive eye goop!  Yea!

Day 5

Ok, so today, there was no eye goop.  YAH!  There was not yellow-snot sneezing either.  However, the sniffling was still slightly present in the morning.  After I pet him, he is still shaking his head, but not as bad as usual (in terms of length).  His left ear is ok but his right ear still has some build-up (but not as much).  I ran out of the Zymox for two days now...waiting for it to come in the mail.

As for his diet, he really really loves the kibble.  So much in fact that I have had to feed him in his crate.  I had Bea and Zeus separated while eating in the beginning, but I tried to feed them closer and closer together (under two people supervision of course!) to get him more socialized.  Things were ok because it took him a lot longer to eat the TOTW kibble, but with this kibble, since the bites are so small (which is great to be used as treats), he wolfs down his food.  As Bea does not focus 100% on her food at dinner time (she eats really fast WHEN she is focused), Zeus would try to eat her food. For someone on the elimination diet, that was not good.  So I took her bowl and he kept following me LOL.  I had to feed her separately.  So he has been eating in his crate in a separately again.  In general though he does not have any food aggression except for raw bone marrows.  He does NOT like it when other dogs (humans are ok...I have petted him when he has eaten his bone marrow) eyes his bones.  In addition, sometimes, the bone marrow gets on the floor and I have picked it up and put it back on the towel...he was ok with that.

So this past weekend he got new toys (thanks Annie and Masako, he absolutely loves them) and we have been playing fetch.  Sometimes he doesn't like to drop the item so I decided to use the kibble as a treat when he drops the ball/squishy toy.  Well, when he sees me get the kibble from the glass container, he stops wanting to play and tries to get the all the kibble from my hand.  I throw the ball and he refuses to fetch until I give him kibble.  Sigh, it's so cute, with Zeus, it's food trumps fetch.

Eyes on day 4

He has some tearing this morning. I would not be alarmed usually but yesterday i saw that the eye goop was very goopy and about 1/2 inch in length coming from the eye. I cannot upload pics from the phone so I will have to do it when i get back.

Ok maybe it was a false alarm.  When I came home today, there was no eye goop...whew!

Day1-3

Ok, so my boss just got back in town so I have been have been busy at the lab.  Zeus has been on this elimination diet for THREE DAYS.  On Sunday, he was ok...however on Monday, he started to sneeze often.  I did not think that much of it.  However today, his allergies (in terms of eye goop and sneezing is worse) (see below):.    EARS: After cleaning them (right before the experiment), the right ear seems to start building up the brown stuff again.  However, the rate at which the build-up occurs is not as bad. FUR: Same as T0. SKIN: Not much scratching is observed. EYES:  On Tuesday, when I came back from lab, there was a big glob of watery eye goop (the goop is clear)  coming from his right eye only.  I was so surprised and felt bad, I immediately wiped it.  Big mistake, should have taken a picture.   NOSE:  Sneezing a lot more than usual--I would say about 2x as much.  In addition, he sneezes SNOT. Yellowish SNOT.  :( BODILY EXECREMENTS:  Chalky, hard poop as usual.  Did not poop during walk today..this is highly unusual...he always poops during one of the two walks. I don't think that it is purely environmental as the weather in Riverside did not change--it is still hot and dry.  Plus, my father-in-law was home all day yesterday and today...could it be the food?

Experimental Outline

So, under the expert guidance of Masako and Annie, a plan has been formulated in which I will follow in order to deduce the causing agent of Zeus' allergies. 

The experimental outline is as follows (please note: this protocol is based on a twice-daily feed, so if you only feed once a day, double the amount):

FIRST and SECOND WEEK

     1.  Innova Evo Red Meat 1/3 cup

     2.  1 tablespoon of Addiction Black Forest Rabbit and     Blueberries

     3.  ¼ rounded teaspoon of holistic digestive enzymes

    4. Drop into his water 1 tablespoon with his water or 2-3 drops with his food (DETOX Sol’n)

    5. 1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (in food)

THIRD WEEK

1.     Nutro grain free diet 1/3 cup

2.            2.  ¼ rounded teaspoon of digestive enzymes

3.     Drop into his water 1 tablespoon with his water or 2-3 drops with his food (DETOX Sol’n)

4.      1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (in food)

FOURTH WEEK

1.      Orijen Regional Red 1/3 cup 

2.      ¼ rounded teaspoon of digestive enzymes

3.     Drop into his water 1 tablespoon with his water or 2-3 drops with his food (DETOX Sol’n)

4.     1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (in food)

FIFTH WEEK

1.     Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain 1/3 cup 

2.      ¼ rounded teaspoon of digestive enzymes

 3.     Drop into his water 1 tablespoon with his water or 2-3 drops with his food (DETOX Sol’n)

 4.     1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (in food)

SIXTH WEEK

      1. Wenaewe (veggie diet) 1/3 cup morning 

2.      ¼ rounded teaspoon of digestive enzymes

3.     Drop into his water 1 tablespoon with his water or 2-3 drops with his food (DETOX Sol’n)

      4.     1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (in food) 

T0--Observations before the switch

Brown stuff that came out of his ears

Before I begin the Dietary Elimination Experiment, I wanted to note some initial observations.

DIET:  He was eating Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream variety.  He started to switch to raw, and I did 3 days on and 3 days off.  In terms of raw, he ate: raw beef bone marrow, mackerel, beef liver, kidney and heart, ground turkey, eggs, carrots, tomatoes and green beans.  I eliminated all poultry products as soon as I found out that Shibas have a tendency to be allergic to poultry.  For treats, he got beef bully sticks, raw bone marrow and cheese.

EARS: His ears was extremely cruddy, there was brown stuff in it and it had a very distinctive BAD cornchip, cheesy odor.  His right ear (when facing him), seems to be more affected than his left ear.

FUR: His fur seems a little dry, not very shiny.

SKIN: He was scratching his belly, paws and had mild dermatitis around his bottom.

EYES: Eye goop present in the morning...not unusual.

BODILY EXECREMENTS:  He drinks a lot of water so he pees a lot.  However, his pee is still quite yellow.  As for his poop, he seems constipated (though he poops EVERYDAY, at around the same time (when we go for a walk)) because his poop is quite hard and chalky (this is much better on days he is on raw).  The color ranges from dijon mustard to a muddy brown color.  He does have gas, but it is not as bad as when we first got him.

NOSE:  Sneezes more often than Bea (my Shiba).  Sometimes, he wheezes, particularly on a windy day or when he plays with Bea and her hair gets in his nose (she's shedding).

Why Foster?

Well, it all began with the death of my beloved American Eskimo, Einstein, who died of kidney failure at the young age of 8.  After his death, I wanted to get another dog and as I was doing research on my future dog,  I had remembered thinking Shibas were really cute (when I was initially looking at dogs) but was deterred as I read that they were not recommended for first time dog owners.  So, as I was "googling" Shibas (for my second dog), I fell in love with them all over again and (in combination with being compelled to help all the misfortunate dogs who I came across who were neglected, abused, dog flippers and  BYBs on Craigslist) I wanted to get a rescue.  I had talked to several breeders and it came down to Bea and Aiko (a rescue from Saving Shibas).  I went to go see Bea first and fell in love.  She is a healthy, spunky 7 yr old Shiba!  However, I still felt that I wanted to foster so I contacted Masako (from Saving Shibas) and now I (well, I should say my family) am fostering a Shiba named Zeus.

Zeus is a 10-year old Shiba that has been kept outdoors his entire life.  Zeus is a very lovable dog (temperment wise) but when he came to the rescue, he had a little dermatitis around his bottom--the skin seemed mildly broken.  He was itchy, scratching his belly with his right hind paw.  He licked his paws and shakes his head.  When he was given to me, the director had put him on antibiotics (Cipro), probiotics, and Zymox ear drops.  However, his ears began to gunk up and smell even more and when I took him to the vet, he gave him more antibiotics and allergy meds (prednisone).  So, to help determine what was giving him allergies, I was expertly guided to do an ELIMINATION DIET.  So, the purpose of this blog is not only to help others who are undergoing a similar situation, but mainly as a tool for me to note my observations as to determine the causing agent behind Zeus' condition.  Plus, if I ever undergo this situation again, I can go back to this and look at my protocol (as I have an extremely horrible memory).  In addition, comments/advice/construction criticism will be happily received! :)  

 **Picture Above: It was sooo hot and now the weather is finally cooling off...so I think I will just lie here on the cool concrete, thank you very much.  But, I will leave my paws on the ledge.