Skin Condition, Venting, Frustration

lauriej57 · 03-26-2010, 03:20 PM

Rocky turned a year old a few weeks ago, and he's had this conditon since June or July of last year. He was quite young when it started showing up. We've spent tons of money on shampoos, creams, pills, you name it. Skin scrapings around August/September showed he had ringworm, though it looks more like mange. It affected his ears the most, but treatment mostly cleared up his ears, then it moved to the top of his head. It was also thought, that he might have an allergy to some bug, so we had cream for that. We had 2 other dogs, neither of which showed or shows any signs of this. Everything I read abut ring worm and mange, said that they often develope an immunity to it around 8 months old, so come winter, we let him go without any treatment, just to see. It didn't get any worse for a month or two, then it got really bad, he started getting it everywhere. We took him back 2 months ago, they put him on a prescription for ringworm, at the moment I can't remember the name, and gave him a dose of promeris, which is like frontline, but alos kills mites, is more expensive, and, from my research, is a highly controversial treatment, but he did ok with it. We noticed huge improvement within 2 weeks, and we kept him on both for the next month, he just got his last dose of the ring worm treatment today. Probelm is, this past month, it has started to get worse again.

We took Bruno (Rocky's boy) to the vet today for his first shots, and took Rocky along to get his nails trimmed, omg, he hates to have his nails trimmed, which is why we pay $13 every couple of months for them to do it.

Background here, because of (I assume anyway) Rocky does not like his ears or his head messed with, or baths, because of us having to give him so many baths with his special shampoos and putting creams on his head, ears and other bad spots. Him and Sophie found and rolled in some deer crap the other day, so they both needed a bath. I do the baths because I am a bit stronger than hubby his, because of his disability, but I was getting to the end of his bath, and he started panting and snorting like a bull, if I could've seen his nose, I'm sure his nostrils were flairing, and I"m thinking, ok, be strong, he's going to go off on you in a minute, and thankfully, hubby, for some reason, decided to check on us, and kept him under control, he just needed his head rinsed off at this point.

Rocky is normally just a fun loving boy, and well behaved, a bit overwhelming when he's really excited, but just in fun, never mean. He's never showed any agressive behavior before this. He also weighed in at 68 lbs, which is on the large size for a boxer, and he will gain another 10 pounds or so in the next year, and he's extremely strong, he is all muscle.

So anyway, they ended up having to muzzle him today, to do his nails. We didn't have our normal vet, we had the one from the other office, which I normally like better, but maybe the nail trimmng would've gone better with our normal vet. Rocky did ok with the muzzle, his tail was wagging, but when they started cllipping his nails, he freaked out. He ended up biting his tongue, he ended up with the only nail on the back they attempted to clip, bleeding, and we were told that they would have to sedate him the next time he needed his nails trimmed.

But, back to the skin conditon, the vet did not think it was mange, or ringworm, he is the older, more experienced vet, and I trust his opinion more. He wants to do skin biopsies, we came home with an esitimate of $220, and if this ends up telling us what it is, then we face the costs of treatment. The will send it into the University of Michigan for a Histopatholgy. He said that he has only had to recommend this course of action about once every 2 years.

He is my boy, and I love him dearly, but I can't justify, especially with his recent behavior, spending this money. But I also realize that his behavior could be due the skin conditon, maybe he has pain that he doesn't show? Whatever it is, he doesn't scratch at it, so it doesn't itch. We changed his food about 2 weeks ago, mixed with the other food. Today was the first day that he had just the new food. If it's a good allergy, I could spend months trying different foods.

I feel like we walked out of there with a death sentence on Rocky. If we don't find out what is wrong, and can't fix it, the day will come when we will have to put him down. It may be six months from now, or it may be 6 years.

I guess right now, I'm looking for suggestions, home/natural remedies to try.

Thank you everyonje for letting me vent.

. .

bruinsBoxers · 03-26-2010, 03:47 PM

the vet did not think it was mange, or ringworm, he is the older, more experienced vet, and I trust his opinion more. He wants to do skin biopsies, we came home with an esitimate of $220, and if this ends up telling us what it is, then we face the costs of treatment. The will send it into the University of Michigan for a Histopatholgy. He said that he has only had to recommend this course of action about once every 2 years.

What do they think it is , that would help in figuring out any other treatments .

Dragon · 03-26-2010, 04:42 PM

Laurie I know exactly how you feel. MY wife and I put down our pup at less than a year with out a diagnoses but we couldn't afford any more treatments. We only had him 3 months and bills were $4000+ just treating his symptoms.

Be tough and remember your dogs can sense your emotions. If your worried about clipping his nails so is he.

Also with bath time Peaches hated baths too to start off... so we had play time in the bathroom and gave her treats for hopping in the tub (no water) and then hopping out. Play with toys in it with out water and make it feel like another 'spot' in the house... add a little bit of water as his confidents grow.

I know this wont help solve his skin condition but hopefully it helps you with his behaviour.

lauriej57 · 03-27-2010, 11:19 AM

The vet does not have a clue what it is, that's the reason for doing the biopsies. I have been doing lots of research yesterday and today, and I'm going to put him on some Vitamin E, and see if it helps. Whatever it is, it seems to me that it most likely has to do with a low immune system, or an overactive immune system.

Last summer we bough Rocky a kiddie pool, and he loved it, we put play toys in there and he would actually sit in the pool, dunk his head in to get toys that had sunk. When I gave him his bath the other day, I put the toys in there, and we made it playtime. He was actually doing fine with the bath, until it was time to rinse his head, he loved it when I was lathering him up. I believe he had just had enough, but I tried to take advantage of him being a good boy and wanted to get his shampoo on his head really well, but the rinsing didn't go well, but hubby calmed him down. He never actually got aggressive with me, but I could feel it coming on. He has never been aggressive with anyone before, so I'm not sure where this is coming from.

He's never liked his nails clipped, but the vet has never had a problem doing them before either, so this is totally new behavior on his part.

Ruby Red · 03-29-2010, 09:53 AM

My last dog HATED having her nails clipped - so much so, that what we did was this, Graham sat at her head end and fed her treats, whilst I quickly picked up her foot, and cut just ONE nail. We then left it the next day and did another nail the day after. Yes, it took ages to get them all clipped, but it was kindest way we found of doing it.

With Ruby's nails I only use a metal file and just file them down when they need it.

Dragon · 03-29-2010, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruby Red

With Ruby's nails I only use a metal file and just file them down when they need it.

I use a Dremel tool peaches lays on her back while my boys rub her belly now...
I do it often and only take a little bit off each nail at a time... seems to work