Maui's Blood work Results
We got Maui's Blood work back from Dr. Jean Dodds. He is totally healthy - which is good news.
Its also bad news tho, because this means we have no idea why he will not eat and his skin is changing colors. He is also still losing his hair.
\
Its really frustrating - we dunno what to do anymore.
I'm thinking its time for a trip back up to The Springs for an internal medicine check on him.
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Its also bad news tho, because this means we have no idea why he will not eat and his skin is changing colors. He is also still losing his hair.
\Its really frustrating - we dunno what to do anymore.
I'm thinking its time for a trip back up to The Springs for an internal medicine check on him.
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Comments
when did all this start happening to him?
Tell Maui I told him to quit whatever he's doing and get healthy again!
He is a really high anxiety dog and stresses out over everything. My suspicion has always been the the stress causes him to have indigestion and that is why he only eats a little bit at a time... He eats until his stomach hurts then backs off. We have tried treating that with Metronitazol and Pepcid but we never saw a result doing that. So that blows my theory.
The only time Maui has eaten like a normal dog was when he was on Amatriptolene. That seemed to really help with the thunder storms and eating but it made him extremely dog aggressive and depressed. So we stopped that. He has had bad reactions to most other mind-altering meds [like Xanax]
So... not sure what to do now.
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I honestly really believe Maui is mentally retarded.
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Maybe the internal medicine specialist will help. Sucks to have to make another trip though. :-(
Portia and Ninja have stopped eating as much in the mornings. I actually changed their schedule a few weeks ago. I noticed that they would never finish their breakfast - most times they wouldn't even touch it. So I started giving them only 1/4 of what they are supposed to eat for the whole day in the morning - they still sometimes don't even eat that! And then I would give them the other 3/4 at night. They eat all their dinner every night. I don't know why...they just seem more hungry at night and willing to eat.
Maybe Maui would eat more being fed once a day instead of twice? Do you notice him willing to eat more during the morning or night? Maybe you can also try feeding just him all Raw again? I remember you saying that your shiba's did really well on just raw.
I don't know if that's any help - but I hope you guys figure out the little guy soon!
but then i thought about it...
why not? I mean, poor breeding habits are probably filled with repeated bloodlines and inbreeding, which in most species causes a disturbing effect on physical and mental development and abilities - why wouldn't it affect canines? Especially those that come from not-so-great backgrounds and 'breeding programs' (ie puppymills, petstores, backyard breeding, etc.)
I'm sure there are instances where these handicaps are overcome or at least managable, but sometimes maybe there isn't a way and you just have to coexist as best as you can while he is under your care..
but -
I hope the internal medicine specialists have a more concrete diagnosis for you!!!
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Kelly - Yes, he eats tripe... he eats a lot of tripe because that is the only thing he eats, but if we give it to much he will stop eating.
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Romi - We have actually done the opposite - we used to only feed once a day, now we feed everyone twice a day. Same thing with Maui, he eats about a quarter of the food then stops.
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Patty - Can you give Zantac to dogs? I guess you prob. can... I will see if Jen has tried it. Thanx!
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Barbara - No, not yet... Jen was going to look into this too.
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Rina - I have no idea what other tests... we are just totally lost. But got a lot of good suggestions in this thread - thanx guys!
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So we have a new plan - the lab suggested Melatonin treatment for his hair loss, so we will do that and then Jen found a med that is supposed to get dogs to eat and it is just a Antihistamine... so we may see what the vet thinks about that. We are also looking into an appointment in the springs for him.
The drug is called "Cyproheptadine"... anyone heard/used this?
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http://www.holisticdog.org/
http://holisticremedies.wordpress.com/
The last link are human remedies, but maybe you can use something for pups too. AND they have a section on anxiety and stress. The symptoms really seem to be stress related issues as you said above, so maybe you can try to tackle the stress first using holistic remedies? Good luck, give Maui is HUGE hug from us and keep us posted on him.
I also wonder if it could be a stress thing, but you mentioned that he had issues before your pack was so large. However his issues were not as bad were they, in regards to the hair and skin issues? Is the big pack just too much for him?
His bowel movements are fine and he doesn't throw up - he is really pretty healthy.
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Barbara - Thanx!!! I'll forward these URLs to Jen, she has been doing most of the research on him and his issues. Thanx so much for doing some research on it.
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Brandon - Maui's eating has gotten worse since we moved to NM, the hair and skin coloration thing has only happened since we moved here too. As for the pack being the issue, he really seems to have improved from an anxiety standpoint, he is far less stressed and very rarely has problems with dogs now. His original symptoms from his high-anxiety was dog restiveness [he would bite any dog except Kaia]... now he NEVER has that issue and seems to even like the company of dogs.
I really think trying to tie the skin and hair loss thing to his anxiety issues is incorrect. To me it seems like an environmental thing, we just need to find that. It only started appearing this summer and since he has been going out in the yard... so it seems like a reaction to something in the yard.
He also never had a winter coat and didn't really blow his coat in Georgia, we we moved her his coat thickened up significantly, then he blew it right around when his chest started balding... so maybe we are seeing a change in his coat due to the Mountain climate????
The skin thins is just odd - I have no idea what that is.
The eating could be tied to anxiety, but really his eating issues have ALWAYS existed and have gotten marginally worse since the move. We stopped giving Maui the Anatriptoline about 4 months before we moved here. Pretty much a month after he was off those meds he went back to his non-eating eating habits. So clearly that helped his eating, but it effected his behavior.
The eating thing is odd because he gets really stoked at feeding time... he eats a bit then stops. We feed him in his crate because if he stops eating the other dogs will eat his food [Kaia or Hilo - the rest all eat in crates or in gated off areas].
He really likes can food, so we are thinking about just giving him can food then something else to chew on during the day... We tried this before and he got sick of all the can food and stopped eating them, but maybe we will have better luck this time.
Thanx for all the help!
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By environmental do you mean allergy based problem for the hair loss? It didn't strike the vet as something they had seen before, caused by some native plant or all the dust, or whatever?
If Maui's skin problem is an allergy, maybe the anithistamine will help. There are many different ones and we had to go through several to find the one that worked the best for Koshi's allergies. [benadryl, tavist, clortrimention, atarax, can't remember any more]. Occasionally he has to take 5 mg of prednisone if he has a flare up. We also used a cortisone spray on areas that were bothering him.
Have you tried feeding him small amounts of food several times a day?
The one thing that comes to my mind regarding the eating issues is a foreign body that is preventing him to continue eating his whole meal. Usually when a dog has one they vomit though, but not always. I just can't see a dog surviving this long with one though. Weird!
He is not dry and he doesn't scratch... he really shows no signs of anything bothering him.
As for the eating thing, I agree, he has made it this far so it makes me feel its more mental thing.
Here are the pics you requested:
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This is from a month or so ago:
*The hair on his chest has grown back a bit.
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There are more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brada1878/
Also here is a pic from how he looked before we moved to NM:
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BTW - Thanx for all the help and suggestion.
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http://www.minnesotamalamuteclub.com/coatfunk.htm
http://malamutehealth.org/articles/cf_understanding.htm & http://malamutehealth.org/articles/cf_photos.htm
http://www.minnesotamalamuteclub.com/brdprobs/konahist.htm
About the eating.....not sure what to say about that, some dogs drop off eating when it is warm. He could have a combined problem. What that is at this point is anyone's guess. : /
Snf
He is so strange - I need Dr. House. lol