[USA]

The dog you see in my avatar had localized demodectic mange when we first adopted him. He was 4 and a half months old. He had a ring of no hair around both eyes and he was itchy. This is pretty common in puppies as they transition from their mothers immunity and develop their own immune system. I transitioned him from the kibble he came with to the home prepared diet all of my dogs get. His immune system developed and held the mites in check without any drugs or medications.

All dogs have mites it’s just that a healthy immune system usually keeps them in check and no symptoms appear. It is possible that your dog will need some help in restoring balance but my first choice would be a home prepared diet of 75% meat (including about 10% organs) and 25% non-starchy vegetables and a little fruit. A good starting book to read on preparing a home made diet would be Steve Browns See Spot Live Longer. All recipes that do NOT contain bone can be lightly cooked or served raw. I would start with lightly cooked while his immune system develops and then if you like you can ease him onto a completely raw diet or continue with a lightly cooked one.

Good Luck with your new addition!!!

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari and C4c:
How do you like my Avatar? It’s Archie, my hyperthyroid kitty. I finally took the time to pick a photo. Lol

I am glad you’re considering probiotics! I threw kefir out there because I know you are kinda taking on the costs of Bentley even though he’s not your responsibility. It has 11 strains of probiotics and it costs between $3 to $4; awesome price for that many beneficial strains. To answer your question about dosage for small dogs 1 tsp – 1 Tb. I dose my cat daily due to his health issues; Bobby gets kefir 2x/wk. More dosage info is on the Ottawa Whisperer link.

Swanson is always recommended by regular DFA posters so I think you are making a great choice. Buy one get one free, better yet! I would even give it to Alec and your guys a few times a week. I agree with C4c, if you are going to spend the money for a probiotic you should buy one with the most strains to get his immune system back on track, the whole point of adding probiotics. The grapefruit yeast supplement only has two strains; IMO that would be something to try when he is healthy again. I also am not sure of the “yeast” included in the title. The probiotic complex is a little better, it has five.

[Case]

Thank you zolicyclus! She’s an APBT down from the Watchdog line.

The probiotic/enzyme combo that I’m using contains 10 million CFU of L. Casei, B. Thermophilium, E. Faecium, & 375 million CFU of S. Boulardii. I’m also using Orijen, so I’ll have to do some research this week.

You have to register your e-mail address at gravatar.com to upload a pic for an avatar. It’s fast and easy. We’d love to see your dogs.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Marietta –

You’ll need to upload a photo to Gravatar.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[Hater and Molly’s Mom]

Naturella, That’s Molly on my avatar. She’s just about 2 years old. I have a pretty good stock pile on cans right now, but i know i will buy more. I picked up some of the Earthborne tubs a few days ago. I just can’t seem to help myself, lol!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by Hater and Molly's Mom.

[Naturella]

Thanks, Hater and Molly’s Mom! Nice find on the Wellness Core too!

I really may have a problem with shopping for food… I was doing so good and not getting any more, but when the word “FREE” enters the picture, man, it’s hard! Lol.

But we’ll see…

Anyway, is that Hater or Molly in your avatar? 🙂

[theBCnut]

If you mean an avatar, you go to gravatar and register and many minutes later it will just appear here.

[theBCnut]

Go to gravatar dot com and create an avatar and it will do the rest.

[Dori]

Are you still feeding Brothers? When I first started with the raw feeding I was concerned about the fat content but it doesn’t seem to bother them in the least. I’ve been feeding them Primal, Answers, Stella & Chewys, Darwins. I used to feed non raw THK but Katie became allergic to alfalfa so I had to stop that which was too bad because I really like the company. Where can I see pics of your dogs? My girls are my avatar and Hannah is the pic on my Facebook page. Dori Hassett on Facebook.

[theBCnut]

Yes, Micah is my avatar. I’ve never gotten a good picture of Gideon, not one.

[Shasta220]

Patty, is Micha your avatar?

[Elisa C. R]

Hi Shasta220;

I adopted her from a shelter when she was about 9 weeks old. They had her listed as Border Collie / Lab. The Mom looked a lot like a Border Collie, it is unknown what breed the Dad was. Yes, that is her picture in my gravatar. (THANK YOU!) : )

[Shasta220]

By the way, what breed(s) is your puppy ? I’m assuming it’s your gravatar pic. She’s cuuuuuute!

[Shasta220]

Yep. I have a tablet too, and managed to get a gravatar account going. After you get a pic on that account, you may need to wait a few minutes then reload DFA’s page for it to appear 🙂

[theBCnut]

You have to go over to Gravatar dot com and create an avatar.

[Shasta220]

Love your new avatar! I’m guessing that’s Sir Bruno? 😀

[theBCnut]

Several of us have dogs that only react on one side. The dog in my avatar only reacts on his white side, both eyes and ears.

[Shawna]

Hi Dori,

THANK YOU for checking in to that.. I was pretty sure about that but not positive. Now we know for sure!! I also had no idea, until Losul brought it up, about the refrigeration thing. Hopefully they have that printed on the box somewhere. Guessing if it is it is not in bold print… 🙁

I can see your pups better in the forums avatar.. They are just too adorable!!!!

[Yorkieville]

Thank you, Inked Marie. I’m so sorry that you lost four dogs in five years. It hurts so much to lose them. I lost my sweet Sydney, two years to the exact date, before I lost my precious little Kia. They were our children. Kia’s picture is my Avatar. She died, so unnecessarily, and that is why, I am struggling with such deep grief. She was perfectly fine-but a year ago on a Wednesday, she refused her breakfast. She loved breakfast the best, and at 5:30 in the morning, she would be demanding it! She refused it-her little nose seemed stuffy. I gave her Nutri-Cal, then, 1/2 t. of CVS Brand Children’s dye-free/alcohol free decongestant. When she refused another freshly prepared meal, I put a call in to my Vet. He was our Vet for since my sweet Sydney was just 6 months old. All the staff knew me so well, and they knew my girls. Before Sydney died, all I had to do was call, and they’d say, “Which baby, Sydney or Kia?” And I’d get a call back within a few minutes to bring her in immediately.
My Vet always said, “When you call, I know something is wrong, because you know you’re girls so well”.
Well, that afternoon, I spoke with a fairly new receptionist, and I told her, “Kia’s Vet needs to see Kia today-she’s very tiny (4#s) and she’s not eating, and she’s breathing through her mouth.”
She kept asking me to repeat my name, spell it, etc.
My Vet didn’t call me back until 7:45 in the evening. I told him, “Her temp. is down to 96.3” and he said, the decongestant would lower her temp. He said, “With Kia being so tiny, it could be anything. I’m looking at her records, and she had so many teeth pulled last summer, it’s probably an infected tooth. If the decongstant doesn’t relieve her stuffines, bring her into the office in the morning, I’m off on Thursdays, but one of the girls will take care of you”.
This is the same Vet, that used to slip in the back door of the Clinic, meet us in a back room, in his softball uniform, give my girls their vaccinations & go back to his game.
I stayed up with her all night. Listened to her breathing. She wasn’t gasping for breath. But I picked her up in the morning, and she seemed cold. I quickly heated a microvable heat pad, my husband placed her on it in my hands, I wrapped her in her favorite pink blanket, and held her, and she looked into my eyes, trusting that I was going to take care of her. I said to her, “Kia, focus on Mommy. I love you. We’re leaving for the Vet in an hour & you’re going to be fine”. And she made one small sigh, and she was gone.
I was hysterical!
I held her until I knew someone would be in the Vets office. And then, I called and told them, that Kia had died. One of the Techs that knew us so well, met us at the side door, and the Senior partners daughter, who is also a Vet, came into the exam room. She wrapped her arms around me and cried with me. She had lost her two Maltese, two weeks apart.
The next day, my Vet called, and said, “It sounds like it was something in her lungs. Even if you had brought her here, or taken her to the ER, and spent $1,000. we might not have figured out what was wrong.” He knew we had never spared any expense on our girls.
The Vet that took care of us that day, called me about 10 days later, and said her Dad was furious-he said, our Vet should have had us bring her in immediately the evening before and put her on oxygen. They both believed, he would have found what was wrong.
Before MS, I spent 35 years raising Orphaned Wildlife, and I did a lot of work for that Clinic.
So, the Senior partner, was my Wildlife Vet.
I’ve since learned from other people, that my former Vet is all about the money now.

[Naturella]

Wow, it has been a while since I have looked at this topic – never thanked Patty for the useful information, so thank you, Patty!

Well, I finally managed to somewhat comfort my now husband (in my avatar, we got married on Friday), who is usually worried about feeding Bruno (also in my avatar) raw, but today we had a first real venture into it with a piece of pork neck bone and meat. Bruno loved it, and seems quite alright on it. I have 2 more pieces and plan to give them in the next 2 weeks (once a week basically), and see how that goes, and if he continues to be fine, I will see if I can increase it to maybe 2 times a week to 3. I also plan to introduce recreational marrow bones (the small ones, due to fatty marrow) sometime soon and change them once every couple of weeks or so, not so sure about that yet.

But yes, first real all-raw meal was served today and liked a lot. We seem to be in good shape for the occasional raw! 🙂

[theBCnut]

Go to gravatar dot com

[theBCnut]

HaHaHa Everyone has the same reaction at first. I don’t know why it takes so long for your avatar to show up, but it’s the same with everyone. It’s definitely not you.

[Dori]

Having the hardest time getting photo onto gravatar.com. I’ve followed all the steps. Takes all my info but photo never shows up. Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated. As always, thanks to all in dogfoodadvisor.com land.

[theBCnut]

Register on Gravatar for an avatar. Just to be on the safe side I would go to at least 10 months on the controlled calcium foods. As long as you keep your treats and toppers to under 20% of his diet then you don’t have to worry about them being slightly too high or too low in the calcium department. I always add a source of omega 3s(sardines, fish oil, etc.) to kibble and I like to add coconut oil too. I give a multi-strain probiotic a couple times a week. My gassy intolerant dog always gets digestive enzymes.

[theBCnut]

No idea! Does FB use gravatar? If so, then probably.

[pugmomsandy]

Go to gravatar.com and make an avatar. You can actually make more than one.

[theBCnut]

Register with gravatar.
/forums/topic/how-to-create-your-own-custom-avatar/

[GirlNeedsaGirdle]

Hi – Dying to post a couple of questions in the Forum, but first things first…my avatar does not show up. Checked it a couple of times. Anything I forgot, maybe? Thanks for any help

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi BlueEyedGirl-

First, if you want to upload a picture as your avatar you need to go to gravatar.com. You can also add a picture to a post using photobucket. Copy and paste the image link into your post and it should show up.

Now onto the food…Wellness Core Puppy is a great food, but it is a BIG step up from Hill’s. To play it safe, you might want to gradually step up the quality food. You could start with Nutrisource Large Breed Puppy. Nutrisource has a reputation of being an easy food to switch to. Then you could transition to Wellness Core. 3-4 foods in a rotation is good. That would be my minimum. If your dog doesn’t have intolerances or allergies then you could find many foods to keep switching through.

Because you don’t know if she is a large breed or not, I would play it safe and feed large breed puppy appropriate food. Feeding lower calcium won’t hurt a small/medium breed dog. In my opinion, it’d be better to err on the side of caution.

I think that the amount of calcium that they get from treats is pretty negligible. However, if you are very concerned, I think dehydrated/freeze-dried tripe would be a good choice. Tripe has balanced Ca/P and I believe it is lower in calcium than some other treats. Freeze-dried liver may also be good.

There are more knowledgeable members on here that can give you more feedback and correct me if I’m wrong. I hope this was helpful to you. Have fun getting ready for your pup. It’s so exciting getting ready to bring a new dog home. 🙂

[theBCnut]

Go to Gravatar dot com.

[InkedMarie]

jas: love your avatar picture!

[RescueDaneMom]

FreeholdHound- you made me LOL! That’s good to know. I’m always looking for good treats. My Dane, Max, loves the Orijen and Stella & Chewy freeze-dried treats. I will try the Vital Essentials next! Is that your greyhound in your avatar?

[theBCnut]

I assumed it was you, your pup, and some sweet guy, whether boyfriend or husband, I wasn’t going to assume.

My avatar is Micah, my pup with food intolerances. It is actually one of 3 pictures I took one after the other, but the only good pictures I have ever got of him. He’s far too busy for a silly thing like pictures.

[Naturella]

Oh, Patty, in my avatar are my boyfriend Brian, myself, and Bruno. I figured it was somewhat self-explanatory, but just to clarify – this is us. 🙂

[theBCnut]

Love your avatar, by the way.

[InkedMarie]

Cute picture!

[Naturella]

OH! Here it is! Nevermind, thank you! 🙂

[Naturella]

Does it take some time for the picture to kick in? I just set mine up at Gravatar, but I don’t see it…

[pugmomsandy]

Got to gravatar.com and create one. You can actually make a couple avatars and switch between them if you want.

[MsDad]

How do I add a picture/avatar to my profile? I’ve tried to edit my profile but there’s no option for uploadind a pic.

[theBCnut]

Very cute!

[KiraLynB]

Testing to see if mine works. Please delete if you like. 🙂

[justme2]

thank you

[Mom2Cavs]

One of my Cavaliers (in my avatar pic, Laverne) has anal gland problems off and on. I attribute it to allergies with her. I have taken her, all the dogs, off all poultry. She is now eating for kibble Holistic Select grain free. It is a poultry free, fish based kibble with a pretty decent fiber content at around 6% max, I believe. It does have potatoes, but they don’t seem to be a problem with my dogs. I do top with canned foods and have been keeping them poultry free, as well. So far, I’ve been using Wellness for the majority….95% Salmon or Beef or Lamb, Beef Stew, and Simple Salmon or Lamb. This seems to be working. She hasn’t had any issues since I switched to doing this. I was using Zignature kibble, and will probably keep it in the rotation. I just bought some Big Dog Natural dehydrated raw in beef flavor that I plan on trying in the mix. I also add probiotics and enzymes to my dogs’ food. There are lots of them recommended on this site. Currently, I’m using Wholistic Pet Digest all Plus (or something like that lol!). This is all I do, no other supplements atm. Oh…I almost forgot, I do give a biscuit at night before bedtime. I’ve been using Wellness Lamb grain free or Whitefish (not grain free). Any soft treats given, usually during therapy dog visits, are Wellness Pure Rewards beef. As you can see, I like Wellness hahahaha. 🙂 I’m not saying this regimen would work for your dog, but to think about allergies….perhaps do away with chicken and definitely grains. Go from there. I’ve been battling this with Laverne for awhile now and I feel I finally have a handle on it.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Go to gravatar.com

[theBCnut]

No, the vet might not know without some testing. Some vets just recognise the particular smell, but some don’t.

To get an avatar go to gravatar dot com

[KarenC]

All 6 of mine are foster fails. Either because I fell in love and couldn’t let them go or because they were really “unadoptable” to the general public and just sort of stayed. Molly, the dog in my gravatar, came from a horrible abuse/neglect/abandonment situation and was so terrified of humans that she wouldn’t let me touch her for close to a year. The only time she was comfortable and would relax was around Judd, her “boyfriend”. In her best interest, we decided that she would just live out her life with me..and Judd. They are inseparable. When he goes, I don’t know how she’ll react. She has come so far modeling his happy-go-lucky behavior.

[DogFoodie]

Aww, Ron, that’s a very bittersweet story about Eddie.

It sounds like he found the home he needed with you and your wife. Most people would’ve never had the kindness or the patience Eddie deserved.

That explains your avatar, too. : )

I hope that Abby fills that empty space that Eddie left in your heart a bit.

[KarenC]

Who is the kid in your gravatar, pugs? Cutie! A good friend has had pugs for years and I always love to go visit them.

[Ronald]

Got my little avatar, thanks for the help..