Morgan , my 13+ year old Golden Retriever, has been struggling with allergies for a very long time, over 10 years as a matter of fact. She gets hot spots , chews on her feet constantly and has recently started chewing on one front leg so badly that she has developed a tendon sheath tumor. She doesn't appear to have IBD or other gastrointestinal issues but folks have also told me that these can go hand in hand ( or paw in paw ) and Morgan may indeed have some mild components of IBD.
Doing a lot of research and looking back at what we have done for her in the past....I made the decision to put Morgan on a totally Grain-Free diet. I am sure that the problem has always been food oriented plus environmental allergies....
One of the ladies from the Newf List, Peggy Lange , ( she co-owns 2005 NCA National Specialty winner, CH Cypress Bay's Sea Sea Baby ) is a great supporter of RAW and Grain free feeding for dogs and especially those with allergies such as Morgan.
Peggy is just delightful and extremely helpful without being pushy....so on her recommendation.....Morgan is starting on a Duck, Turkey & Salmon diet...totally grain free...and wouldn't it be something if this will, after all these years, solve her problem ??
God knows nothing else we've tried has worked....the best feed she'd done well on was Solid Gold, but we'd had to switch from them because our distributor was becoming very unreliable and since I had to take a day off from work to meet her and had FAXED my order ahead of time, I didn't thin k it unreasonable to expect the correct items in the correct quantities....so I dropped them a few years ago and went with Canidae.
Morgan does OK on Canidae but still had outbreaks....same with Pro Plan Special Care for Sensitive Skin & Stomach....so basically, unless I went to a totally RAW diet ( gives me the creeps unless one knows WHERE the meat is coming from plus I just don't have time to prepare it )....Grain Free was my only option for this sweet but itchy old Golden.
So....I got two cases of canned Duck/Vegetables...and yesterday picked up a sack of Nature's Variety Instinct Duck/Turkey kibble and will start transitioning her this weekend. I call it the " Daffy Diet " and now I just have to wait for the Sweet Potato flour I ordered the other day to come in because I will also have to formulate a Grain Free treat so Morgan can still have her cookies...that won't be so bad because I already have a good base in the Veggie/Parmesan and will split off part of that for the Grain Free variety. I think I may be able to add this to my line-up after January 2008 as I've had some interest from some clients in a Grain-Free dog cookie.
I am hoping we can finally help Morgan....she has been with us since she was 6 weeks old and for her age is still very active and cuddly and loving and so deserves the very best we can offer her.
Doing a lot of research and looking back at what we have done for her in the past....I made the decision to put Morgan on a totally Grain-Free diet. I am sure that the problem has always been food oriented plus environmental allergies....
One of the ladies from the Newf List, Peggy Lange , ( she co-owns 2005 NCA National Specialty winner, CH Cypress Bay's Sea Sea Baby ) is a great supporter of RAW and Grain free feeding for dogs and especially those with allergies such as Morgan.
Peggy is just delightful and extremely helpful without being pushy....so on her recommendation.....Morgan is starting on a Duck, Turkey & Salmon diet...totally grain free...and wouldn't it be something if this will, after all these years, solve her problem ??
God knows nothing else we've tried has worked....the best feed she'd done well on was Solid Gold, but we'd had to switch from them because our distributor was becoming very unreliable and since I had to take a day off from work to meet her and had FAXED my order ahead of time, I didn't thin k it unreasonable to expect the correct items in the correct quantities....so I dropped them a few years ago and went with Canidae.
Morgan does OK on Canidae but still had outbreaks....same with Pro Plan Special Care for Sensitive Skin & Stomach....so basically, unless I went to a totally RAW diet ( gives me the creeps unless one knows WHERE the meat is coming from plus I just don't have time to prepare it )....Grain Free was my only option for this sweet but itchy old Golden.
So....I got two cases of canned Duck/Vegetables...and yesterday picked up a sack of Nature's Variety Instinct Duck/Turkey kibble and will start transitioning her this weekend. I call it the " Daffy Diet " and now I just have to wait for the Sweet Potato flour I ordered the other day to come in because I will also have to formulate a Grain Free treat so Morgan can still have her cookies...that won't be so bad because I already have a good base in the Veggie/Parmesan and will split off part of that for the Grain Free variety. I think I may be able to add this to my line-up after January 2008 as I've had some interest from some clients in a Grain-Free dog cookie.
I am hoping we can finally help Morgan....she has been with us since she was 6 weeks old and for her age is still very active and cuddly and loving and so deserves the very best we can offer her.
Morgan got a well deserved and much enjoyed bath this afternoon....I truly LOVE the Eqyss products ... so now all her lesions are thoroughly cleaned off and we can better follow her progress into the Grain Free way of life.
Here is a close up of the tear stains and irritation from Morgan's left eye area.
This is an area on Morgan's left front leg where she's been chewing; if you look closely you can see the small tendon sheath tumor.....
This is Morgan's left front paw where she's also been chewing and licking constantly. You can see the raw area and also the discoloration of the fur.
All photos were taken Thursday 29 November 2007.
Update: 1 December 2007
Morgan began her feed transition Thursday when her canned "Daffy" aka Nature's Variety Prairie Duck/Vegetables canned food was delivered. She got about 1/3 of the 5.5 oz can mixed in with her Pro Plan kibble along with some warm water, her usual medications ( thyroid and arthritis medications ) and her normal small scoop of yogurt.
At first she looked at the change " What the HELL is THIS ???" but soon hunger got the best of her and she soon cleaned her bowl.
She got the same ration with another 1/3 can of the Duck on Friday and this evening I started replacing some of the Pro Plan with the Nature's Variety Duck & Turkey dry food ( along with some warm water per Peggy's instructions ). Morgan dove right in to her meal ; thankfully none of my dogs have ever been finicky eaters ; so I know we'll not have a problem getting Morgan to eat her new dog food or to accept the grain-free treats when all is in readiness for those.
The main thing will be to always have some grain free treats on hand for Morgan and to have them labeled and set next to the regular cookies with a small sign to remind myself and Ron that these will be the ONLY treats ( besides sometimes raw fruits and veggies and perhaps meat from our dinner ) that Morgan will be permitted to have.
I will continue to update Morgan's progress along with updated photos and when she goes to the vet in late January ( she, too, now goes to Dr Howard in Jefferson City because he has a very special affinity and loving touch with the older pets ) I will download and print these blog entries out to show him.
I'd be willing to bet he will be very interested in Morgan's ( I pray ) improvement...even though he'd said last time that Morgan looked very well for a dog her age.
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