Back on Antiobiotics

Ziggy's foot issue keeps flaring up a couple of times per month.  He seemed to be in a little discomfort this time so the doctor put him back on antibiotics and gave him some pain meds.  He licks and bites at his feet a lot but his ears have been doing better.  The doctor still wants me to clean his ears daily and use the Mometamax to keep the irritation down.

We're also using Douxo shampoo and spray which is supposed to help heal the skin irritations but not sure how well it's working.

Dehydrated Pet Food

My local pet store has dehydrated pet food (http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/).   It's minimally processed so I'm hoping that Ziggy can eat this without it affecting his allergies.  Over the weekend (Oct 23-24), I mixed some samples (the grain-free versions) with his turkey and vegetables (after rehydrating with warm water).  He really likes it and this option fits in with my long-term food storage plan so I could buy this food in bulk, separate it into oxygen-free packages with the food saver and that should store successfully for 20-30 years.  I can mix it with his turkey and veggies or serve it alone if I have no access to those other items.

I also found another dehydrated raw dog food here:
http://www.pawnaturaw.com/organic_raw_dehydrated_dog_food.html

Eventually, I'd like to have both of these in my food storage.

Back on Antibiotics

In September, Ziggy's skin condition flared up pretty badly.  The ears got infected, the skin was icky and the foot was bleeding.  My local vet felt that we really needed to get it cleared up quickly so we did a round of antibiotics (Simplicef) andKetoconazole to clear up the yeast infection.

He's doing better now but the foot bleeding has occurred two more times after that.  It seems to be cycling around about twice per month.  I'm so afraid the cysts are returning which could require another surgery to have them removed.

I made an appt with Dr Loops and I'm hoping that maybe we can find another remedy (or a change in the dosing) to get this under control.

Bleeding Foot Returns

The day after my last post, the bleeding foot returned.  It only bled a little on one day and then it healed back up.  I'm glad that's all it was but I'm concerned that there might be another cyst growing in there.  Other than that, things are good.

Leg and Feet Licking

Ziggy's ears are doing better.  I've made a habit of cleaning his ears every morning with soap and water which helps keep them mostly clear.  There's always still some dry flaky residue but a good cleaning every morning helps prevent it from escalating. 

The foot is doing ok (no swelling or bleeding) but he does still tend to lick at his legs and feet a lot although I don't see him biting at it so much lately - just licking.  I never see any major skin issues that would cause him to lick but I find his fur to be wet when I touch him.  Yesterday I gave him a bath with peroxide shampoo to clean his feet and legs. 

Overall he seems to be doing well at this time.

Wet Ears After New Sulphur

Gave the new sulphur LM/2 last night at 7pm.  He' still licking and biting at his feet a lot and this morning his ears were really wet with a white discharge.  I cleaned them with soap and water.  He rubs his face on the carpet and against the mini-blinds on the door.  They're getting pretty trashed as well.

Increased Potency of Homeopathic Remedies

Ziggy got an infection in his left eye so my local doctor has him on antibiotic drops to clear that up.  Also she said his right eye is not producing enough tears so we're doing artificial tears treatment as well.

I talked to Dr Loops about this eye issue and also mentioned that sometimes Ziggy is licking his feet a lot and biting on his back leg so he decided we should increase the potency of the remedies.  They arrived by Friday and I started him on the new Psorinum LM/4 last night.  I noticed this morning he was licking and biting and I'm starting to wonder if this behavior is happening after the Psor dosage and not the Sulphur.  I'm going to pay close attention to that for the next week.

His ears have been doing much better.  I clean them about once per day and it's not too bad.  I did notice this morning that his left ear was more wet and sticky than usual.  Not sure if that is related to the new dosage but it could be.

He also recently had another seizure during the night while sleeping.  He has had two seizures since we started the remedies and what's different is that normally a seizure occurs when he's sleeping under an open window when it's cold outside.  This is August and we're not sleeping with windows open and it's not cold anyway so I'm not sure what's causing it to happen now.

Otherwise, everything else is ok.  He's eating well and drinking water and pooping normally so overall things are good.

Showing Improvement

I started Ziggy back on both remedies (alternating every other day) and he is doing better.  The foot bleeding stopped and it healed up immediately.   It seems like maybe one remedy works better for his ears and skin and the other remedy works better for his foot issue.  Not sure.  But I do see improvement when on both remedies.

His ears are looking pretty good right now.  He was groomed this past weekend and the hair is out of his ears now so it looks much improved.  I can't tell if the hair in his ears makes it just appear worse than it is.  The yeasty stuff comes out of his ears but as long as he's on the two remedies, it's dry and clumpy but it clings to the ear hair and makes it more difficult to clean out.   Now that the ear hair is gone, it's very easy to wipe clean with a cotton ball soaked with vinegar and water.

My intention was to post more often but I tend to get really busy (two pets with medical needs so it gets a bit crazy) and I also prefer to post when I have something concrete to offer, like if there is a major change or if I start to notice patterns.  Because I modified the frequency of the doses, I was waiting to see what was going to happen... plus I figured things would improve once he got all that hair shaved off.  He gets miserable in the summer when his hair is too long and grooming is scheduled for every 6 weeks.  Maybe I should have him groomed more often in the summer.

Edit to add:  That cyst dried up and fell off during his bath at the groomer.  It never seemed to cause any problems and he didn't even seem to notice it was there.  But it's gone now.

Return of the Bleeding Foot

I noticed that Ziggy was licking and biting at his feet the last few days and scratching at his ears.  This morning, his foot wasn't red or swollen but it looked 'shiny' so I blotted it with a tissue and a little blood came out.  Shortly after that it started bleeding a little more.  So before I left for work, I gave him a dose of the other remedy (psorinum).  I'll try alternating them every 3 days and see how that works out.

I don't know if the remedy is causing the return of this foot issue or if there is another cyst growing in there.  But if it's not swollen, then maybe it's not a cyst.  It took 2 months after his surgery for the foot problem to return.  That was on June 1st.  Here we are at the end of July so it's taken another 2 months to return again.

That new cyst on his backside has gotten bigger and purple and crusty on top.  Not sure what it's going to do but I'm watching it.  So right now just keeping a close watch and looking for changes.

Cyst is Drying Up

Ziggy got his second sulphur dose today but the last couple of days his ears have been doing much better.  The yeast stuff has been coming out dry and easy to remove.  One thing I really noticed this morning was that cyst on his side.  It had come up pretty quickly during the last round of remedies but now it's suddenly turning dark in color and feels dry and scaly.  It's very hot today (102 when I was out running errands) and he wouldn't go pee outside even when the neighbor dog came out and peed on the brick column outside of the garage.  So another 24 hours without going potty.  I'll take him out later tonite when the temperature is more comfortable for him.  His energy level is about the same (up and down)... appetite is about the same (up and down).  Overall he's doing well.

Here 's an updated picture of the cyst.

Restarting Treatment

After talking with the doctor, it was decided that I will continue for now with the second remedy (sulphur) every 3 days and then report back in 3-4 weeks.

I gave Ziggy the remedy at lunchtime yesterday and I saw a little improvement in his ears by the time I got home at 5:30 but the big change was this morning.  Instead of being wet and icky, it was dried up again and flaking off, making it easy to clean out with the vinegar/water solution.

So I'm already very pleased with the results.  I'll continue posting frequent updates.

Current Post-Remedy Issues

Ziggy had a seizure Monday morning around 6:30am.  It's a very odd time of day.  He usually has seizures in the middle of the night and when it's cold and the window is open.  I was in the living room having coffee when I heard him cry out so I ran into the bedroom and just held him and petted him until it was over.  That's really all I know to do when he has a seizure.

This morning (Tuesday) he wouldn't get out of his bed.  Usually he will get out of bed at some point leaving us enough time to get him fed and outside for his morning walk.  This morning it was last minute.  I had to pull him out of the bed, get his harness on and carry him out (I do have to carry him outside most mornings - he just doesn't want to go outside that early).  Once he got outside he was ok and walked around and did his thing.  When we came back inside, he got upset because he knew he was going to be left alone.  When he gets upset/anxious, he scratches at a cardboard box that I keep under the table (otherwise he would scratch on the wall).  I think his skin problem and ear problem is bothering him.  He licks and bites at his leg often and now he's starting to lick and bite the other leg (the right one).

I clean his ears out with vinegar/water 3-4 times per day but his ears look bad and they smell bad.  I think he's not feeling very well.  He's eating and drinking water although sometimes his meals are at odd times... he eats when he's ready.

Results of the Homeopathic Treatment

Overall, Ziggy is doing very well after the treatment.  We did two remedies over a period of about 15 days (Psorinum and Sulphur - each treatment 5 days apart).  The last dose (sulphur) was given at 7pm Tuesday July 13th.  Pictures are at the bottom of this post.

There have been no outbreaks of the foot at all (no swelling or bleeding).  There is a little brown spot on the top of his foot where the bleeding had occurred before.

I did notice changes with the skin/yeast issue in his ears and the back left leg.  The major changes came after the final dose of the sulphur remedy.

The problem area on his back left leg went through some changes.  It first became dry and crusty, then seemed to clear up a bit but after the fourth dose of remedy (the sulphur), it turned red and he was licking and biting it a lot.  This leg had a lot of problems in the past so I'm not surprised to see this.  I alternated between vinegar/water, witch hazel, and the natural baby rash solution to keep it clean but had to bandage it up to stop him from irritating it further.

The ears went through major changes as well.  At first, the yeasty stuff started coming out of his ears in big chunks.  I had to clean them several times per day using vinegar/water, witch hazel and the natural baby rash solution (alternating these) with a cotton ball. 

A day or so after the last sulfur dose, the ears became slightly wet/greasy feeling so I cleaned them out with soap and water (a mild glycerin soap from Whole Foods), dried them and used a foot and body powder (from Whole Foods) containing corn starch, grapefruit seed extract, tea tree oil to help absorb moisture. 

The next day I noticed the ears were very dry and leathery-feeling so I wiped them out with the vinegar/water solution and the diaper rash spray... which caused the leathery stuff to start flaking off.  The rest of the day I noticed a lot of large flakes coming out of the ears so I just tried to brush it off as much as possible and keep them clean.

Today (Sunday) - almost a week after the last dose, the ears are still expelling the yeast.  I'm cleaning them with the vinegar/water solution.  The leg is looking a bit better today.

When laying on his back to get pictures of his leg, I noticed some greenish crusty stuff on the tip of his wee-wee.  Not sure what to make of that.

Also noticed a cyst on the right hip just above the leg.  He has always had small cysts in various spots and every vet has always said they are just harmless cysts - nothing to worry about but this one is new and larger than the others.

Personality

He's still lethargic and lazy but has bursts of energy and playfulness.  Sometimes he won't eat at all and other times he eats a lot.  After the first remedy dose, he seemed to develop some tolerance to the heat and could walk around outside without panting or stressing out.  It lasted about a week or so but now he's back to staying out of the heat as much as possible and even goes 24 hours between pee breaks.  If I take him outside in the heat and place him in a shady spot to go pee, he will not go.  He just wants to go back inside and will make a beeline right back to the garage.

PICTURES

Here is the foot - little brown spot where the bleeding used to occur.  The foot is doing well and doesn't seem to bother him.

The dry/crusty skin on the leg.

The leg improved today but was very red and irritated last night from his licking and biting.

Another pic of the improved leg.  It still looks bad but it is better than before.

It's hard to get a good picture of the ears but here is one. 
Today somewhat moist and icky.  I'll try to get some better pics.

The new cyst/growth above the back right leg.

The crusty residue on the wee-wee.

Another thing to note... after a visit with a friend, Ziggy decided he wanted to eat some dry dog food so I let him have a little (this was a couple of days before his last remedy dose).  He enjoyed it very much but I don't know if it had any effect or not (usually it does so keep that in mind when evaluating the current situation).  But that food has been tossed so he's not eating anymore of it.

Conditions seem to change rapidly from one day to the next.  That's why I waited to post the final results but I'm not even sure these are the final results.   :)  I wanted to get some information posted for the doctor before we do a follow-up conversation.

More to come I'm sure.

Allergy Test Results

The doctor called with the results of Ziggy's allergy test.  He's allergic to everything!  Trees, grasses, weeds, mites, etc.  They would have to make two custom vaccines for him because they can only do up to 12 ingredients in one vaccine.  I'm not doing any vaccines right now.  I want to try the homeopathic approach first.

Second Cycle Post-Surgery

Ziggy's foot has started swelling up again in the last 3-4 days and I can tell it's starting to bother him.  He can still walk on it but he holds it up now and then and he's very lethargic.  The groomer called to reschedule his appt to next Saturday so I'm hoping the foot completes its cycle before next weekend.

Surgery Results

Ziggy had surgery at the end of March 2010 and two cysts were removed from his foot.  I really hoped this would finally resolve his problem but it has just returned June 1, 2010... only two months after the surgery.  Ziggy's foot is swollen and he's in pain again.  I took him to the vet immediately and he's now on prednisone and pain medications to help alleviate the pain and swelling for now.

The next step I'm taking will be to contact a holistic vet in the hopes that he can help resolve whatever systemic issues are causing these physical problems.  I'll post more later.