Bringing coat back up

Occy · 10-19-2007, 10:03 PM

Cappy is getting older - but his coat has only recently began to drop off in condition. He has been sick for the last year or so - vets finally looked and said they thought it was aspergillosis but ultimately it was his immune system attacking him again.

His coat is good and smooth and shiny on his back and on bits of his saddle but it's rough, short and dull on his sides.

Is there anything I can add to his food to help his coat recover?

He is on pro plan salmon and rice and minced chicken carcasses. He gets eggs or sardines once a week.

He has been getting a lot more treats since living here - not necessarily healthy ones - things like dentabones, jumbones - made by pedigree - and purina treats such as the meat stuffed rawhides. I know theyre not particularly good for the dogs but could they be harmful to him? The others seem to be fine on them - even daily. He used to get just plain bleached rawhides and i will probably go back to them sooin as I can get to the wholesalers to get a bag.

Please no anti-rawhide tirades - have had that in another thread.

ACampbell · 10-19-2007, 10:41 PM

I give my dogs rawhide bones, so no flaming on you here, they love them, and when they get in bad shape, they get tossed...no blood, no foul.

I also have an older dog (15 yr old Basset Hound) who's coat was getting rough around her neck only...she probably has cancer as she has a large tumor on her back that is inopperable. Anyway, I've been giving her vitamins, and wow has it made her coat pretty...almost like a young dogs! Here's their description:

Brand: Four Paws Products, Ltd. (Stephens Pharmaceuticals)
Type: Brewers yeast with garlic
Ingredients:
Debittered Brewers dried yeast
Dehydrated garlic
Zinc Oxide
Biotin

Crude protein: not less than 41%
Moisture content - less than 1%
Fat: .4%
Fiber - 5.5%

My dogs love them, they eat them like treats, so they must taste alright (I'm not going to test this theory myself though, hehe)They are also probably fairly common to get, I got them at our Post Exchange for like $4, so you can probably get them at any pet store or something similar. They have really helped all 3 of my dogs...their coats are shiny and smooth and not greasy at all.

Occy · 10-20-2007, 02:48 AM

Ill ask my vet re vitamins - I assume, as in humans - he will just piss what he doesnt need out??

Somethings rattling in the back of my head about brewers yeast and it not being good...anyone?

I looked at his coat today - after going back to pro plan from having fed eagle pack holistic - yes eagle pack holistic!! - he seems to regaining parts of his coat

ACampbell · 10-20-2007, 03:01 AM

Drawback to brewer's yeast...if used in large amounts can cause gas build up...could potentially cause bloat. It's rich in Phosphorus so a calcium vitamin may be necessary with them. Otherwise I have found nothing negative said about it and lots of vets recommend it.

Occy · 10-20-2007, 05:29 AM

its the bloat factor - thanks for reminding. already been through bloat once this year - once was enough lol

RonE · 10-20-2007, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Occy

I know theyre not particularly good for the dogs but could they be harmful to him?

Please no anti-rawhide tirades - have had that in another thread.

Would a simple, "Yes, they could be harmful" be considered a tirade?

Occy · 10-20-2007, 09:09 AM

You've taken two of my sentences and put them together to get your own meaning. Read my post in its entirety and you will see I am asking if the treats I am giving - the supermarket bought ones - could be contributing to poor coat health and his health in general. Not rawhides - though there are rawhide treats I get from there

its like me takin your post an quoting you as saying

"a simple, harmful, tirade"

You did say those words.

Please read what I post and if you have any input to the problem Im facing please contibute, otherwise what is the point of posting what you just did?

I may as well start randomly posting "monkey bottom" in peoples threads

NorthernLights · 10-20-2007, 09:23 AM

...

You could switch to a good dog food. Purina sucks. Solid Gold Barking at the Moon is a wonderful food.

othewise, I've heard that feeding one sardine a day really improves coat.

Also- yes, Rawhides can cause intestinal blockages and can be very dangerous. But, some people have used them with out incident. I just choose personally not to use them.

If you have a dog with a deep barrel chest and narrow hips (think boxer, weimeranner, etc) then I'd definitely not give rawhide. The breeds I mentioned are prone to bloat, which I'll leave to you to research if you're interested, and a rawhide would complicate that.

Occy · 10-20-2007, 09:39 AM

having gone through bloat with a dog I daresay I know enough about it - and no it wasnt as a result of rawhides and the vet treating DID say no more rawhides, but he also said no more raw bones too.

Why pray tell does purina suck? people on this forum keep saying it but Ive yet to see any proof. My dog has done wonderfully on the stuff but he was recently ill - his immune system attacks him periodically - last time it was anal furuncolosis this time is lesions in his nose - however the coat has been flat for a lot longer than he has been ill.

it is starting to come right slowly now that he is back on pro plan.

I am in australia - I cant get most of the foods you speak of except natures gift and innova both of which are prohibitively expensive seeing as they are sold by those twats at pets paradise - the same place that buys puppys from puppy mills and sells them for nearly $1000 each.

I might trial the EVO as there is somewhere else that stocks it BUT I will have to supplement it because your magical wonderful diets simply do not include all the things that my dog needs.

we can get
eagle pack - dogs were meh about it - he was sicker on it
royal canin - none of the dogs found it particularly palatable
nutrience - blergh - and that was the holsitic stuff
mera dog - no idea where i would get it any more - a food specifically for gsds - tried it when it first came into the country - dog hated it

theyre aboute the only premium foods we can get aside from natures gift which is fantastic food but i cant pay $100 for 8kg or whatever theyre flogging it for now and Innova/EVO.

ive shown in the past Im willing to try different foods - we just came off the trial of eagle pack holistic.

I might start adding sardines to his food more regularly

We simply dont have the range and luxury that you have in the states. If we did i would be going on the timberwolf dog food

NorthernLights · 10-20-2007, 11:00 AM

Well...if you know the answer, then why ask?

I think you need to do your own research and come to your own conclusions. Seems like that's what works best for you.

www.dogfoodproject.com will start you on your search. Otherwise, I'm all out of advice for you.

Good luck.

Occy · 10-20-2007, 08:00 PM

you didnt answer my question

why does purina suck so much?

Purina Pro Plan - Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach Formula

Ingredients:
Salmon, brewers rice, canola meal, oat meal, beef tallow
preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), tuna meal, salmon meal, brewers dried yeast, natural flavors, salt, potassium chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C), ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite

Guaranteed Analysis
Protein: 26%
Fat: 16%
Fiber: 4%
Moisture: 12%

Calories
427 Kcal/cup

Other Nutrient Guarantees
Calcium: min 1%
Phosphorus: min 0.8%

Aside from the beef tallow - which i didnt realise was in it - I cant see anything bad. Will have to go on the look out for a red meat free food.

ACampbell · 10-20-2007, 09:40 PM

Yeah I remember reading something about beef tallow (I've read so much about dog food recently I'm surprised anything stuck at all) not being good for them...but can't recall what it was...

Occy · 10-21-2007, 12:24 AM

thing is - cappy did so well on pro plan for so many years - til he was vaccinated with a C7 vaccination which i firmly believe started his problems by making his immune system over active - and since then Im willing to believe that his food may be exacerbating the problem. however, ive tried switching it and it was so much worse

Annamarie · 10-21-2007, 12:50 AM

the treats could be part of it. our dog has allergies to corn, milk, wheat, soy... if he even gets one treat with those ingredients in it his skin starts getting dandruff-y and he gets itchy. cut out the treats and replace them with something healthier like real meat.

on a side note, are you bathing him? using any flea treatments? and what does he usually sleep on? he could be allergic to something to do with any of those.

Occy · 10-21-2007, 01:48 AM

he sleeps either on my bed or on one of umpteenth dog bed - no fleas in this house

im going to be putting him back on itnerceptor next month - i trialled sentinal spectrum and i think may have kicked on his problems

we moved house at hte start of the year so i think theres something here but the vet reckons its not

Annamarie · 10-21-2007, 03:52 AM

it could, something in the carpet, maybe a chemical the carpet was cleaned with. or if your old house had carpet and the new place has hard floors, i know my old arthritic cat went really downhill when we changed the floors to wood. too hard on her old paws.

could also be something outside? it's hard to say because allergies can show up in so many different forms. good luck!