I'm going to throw a hissy fit
Why is Amy matting so much? We missed 4 days of brushing her when we ran out of detangler. She's gone longer between brushings before and we've never had this many mats. I spent 3 hours brushing her out, followed by an hour the next day, followed by 2 hours the next day, followed by 1 hour, then today was 3 hours. She still has mats! Its frustrating.  She's also itchy for some reason. I've treated the pets for fleas and ticks, so its not that (and none of the others are excessively itchy). She was itchy before the flea and tick treatment. I guess we'll look at food next.  She has training tomorrow, and I know that one of the topics is to accept a friendly person touching ears and feet. I'm pretty darn sure that doesn't mean accept a person touching your ears and feet while wearing a muzzle.  I'd throw a fit but the my sheepdog will be scared if I do. I need a magic something that allows me to take care of her ear, shave her down, fix her itchies, clip her nails, and still have a happy dog when I'm done. Can that magic something NOT be patience or perseverance? Maybe it could be a super awesome, cheap, quick fix with no bad side effects just this one time? Any ideas for any of these problems? |
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| If you have her "done" professionally don't come straight home. Take her someplace special.......a new place to walk, sniff, etc........someplace fun. Kensie is Miss Ear too and really reducing her "wheat" foods helps. Plus daily cleaning gently and plenty of nose kisses after.......and a meaty treat after. As for the matting........Kensie is doing that too, to the point I believe they truly do go thru some time of spring "shed"--not like the shedding breeds--but more like a spring cleaning-- and the hair is getting caught on it's way out. You might clip about an inch or two off as you groom to get better access to the mats. I'm about ready to do that here. For "in betweens"...the time when I'm not grooming, just "petting-grooming" I used an Afro comb or a pick comb for uprights. Helps me find that mats faster. |
| one of my dogs, lucy is allergy prone to spring, fall, give her benedryl which helps with the itches and calms her down so i can do her nails as well. Also give her extra every time fireworks, thunderstorms happen around here. Putting her on a grain free food, sweet potato and fish has helped a lot. Vet also has me give her pred 10mg every other day as maint. We tried taking her off, but she was miserable. We do blood panels every 6 months to keep things checked. Also special shampoo for allergies and keep infections down from the scratching. |
| Any ideas for any of these problems? How about a nice big margarita for MAMA???  |
Have you ever had your dog tested for allergies by a veterinary dermatology / allergy specialist? They'd have to be off all steroids for a few weeks prior to the testing in order to give a true reading. A simple skin punch test can detect what they are allergic to. At that point they can be desensitized to what they are allergic to. My 1st show dog was this way. Once we got the allergy under control she grew back her coat, went on to finish her AKC championship, earned a CD in obedience, earned her CGC & OESCA versatility award & lived a nice, comfortable, long life.....ruling the roost around here among the other dogs.  |
| I have not had her allergy tested. I was going to go with diet since that seems to be an easy route. We've dealt with food allergies before, so my thought was to do an elimination diet to narrow it down. If I can't narrow it down and she doesn't improve, then go to the vet. Its good to know what the allergy testing entails though. Is the problem with the mats related to seasonal shedding? Opal blew her coat last month, but I wasn't expecting anything from Amy. The cynical side of me thinks that her hair was damaged when she went to the groomer, and its catching up with her now. I would actually be happier to believe its seasonal shedding. I'm more willing to accept the "magic" solution of just being patient and working gently through her problems today. I can't expect more from her than she is capable of at any moment. I do worry about having to carve out 2 or more hours a day for brushing just one dog though. |
| I think Tiggy loses extra coat in spring and autumn. Which makes her harder to brush. Stress can really effect a human's hair so it probably effects dog's as well. Have you tried omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil). I give my dogs fish oil capsules every day. They love chewing them up. Fish oil is anti-inflammatory so it helps with allergies as well as skin and coat. |
No advice, but lots of  for you.And if you lived a little closer, I'd be there with a big glass of wine for you, too! |
Yeah, I believe in fish oil, Vit E, etc whatever for the pups. Problem with fish oil is the kisses afterward  Still for their health I give it to them daily. |
| How old is she? I know you've said, but I can't remember at the moment. |
| Bella sometimes gets that really thick wax as well. I found it best to head it off at the pass and put the ear cleaner in on a regular basis and gently rub the outside of the ear like I'm scratching her head. it softens the wax and helps it start to come out the the canal so I don't have to go to deep into the ear. You might want to try that and keep the hair plucked or trimmed with scissors so the wax can make its way out. |
| Amy is 4-ish. In January, the vet thought she was definitely on the young side of 4. We clean her ears weekly. Normally, I soak a cotton ball with cleanser, swab her ear flap to the hairline, the swab whatever dirt or wax in on the outer edges. I put the ear cleanser into her ear, top with a cotton ball and massage, which she fusses over. She gets upset as soon as the first drop of cleanser goes in. I encourage her to shake her head, and take the cotton out if she didn't shake it out. She usually shakes her head again. Using a fresh cotton, I swab out whatever is loose. Her ear canal seems narrower than our last flop-eared dog. With the last dog I could clena further into his ear canal. I can't really do that with Amy (because her ear is narrower and she'll bite me). After typing this out, maybe the routine isn't the best one for her ears? I've tried warming the Zymox, but it didn't make a difference in her reaction to the cleaner going in. I did start giving her fish oil and vitamin E yesterday. I'm hoping for a quick turnaround on the itchies. It can't make her breath any worse... |
| If you can rule out ear infections, mites, etc for the ears, the next most common problem is dietary. Some dog foods are good for the dog itself, but do have a buildup of dark earwax as a side effect of sorts. I've had 2 dog foods (that I know of) over the years where I have noticed it. (Sometimes it's eyes too - more eye buggars, etc) They otherwise do well, but once I switch (I rotate foods anyway), it goes away. As the earwax and and eye junk is the only bad thing we get, I do use them, but not as often and for shorter times before rotating on again. But for her it might be a more all over allergic response going on. And if she does have more narrow ear canals, just the wax alone would be more potentially problematic. Until you get it figured out, I would keep her coat shorter. Seeing she doesn't do grooming well (yet!), it makes no sense to continue to irritate her further. I do the fish oil too, along with joint (prophylactically) and Tums supplements. I'll be ready when I need to do serious meds, my dogs keep me on track. Harley has daily pain meds too (he's 16). If I remember my own vitamin I'm doing well.  |
| I'm wondering if it is dietary allergies. We've been feeding the same lamb and rice formula for a while. The last time we changed neither dog would eat the food we switched to (a venison formula). Maybe we should go ahead and try switching them again. I've got to be careful, since I think Amy is having a med switch soon, but I could have her switched to a new food before the medication is switched over. What would the best option be here? Switch foods now followed by the medication switch, or keep the same food and wait until after the medication switch? |
| While you can see a food change in a shorter time, the general rule of thumb is 90 days on a food for allergy testing purposes. So if you know she is going to have a med change, I'd do the med change, then later try the food change. For it to be a valid test, you only want to do one change at a time, or you won't know what one affects her. |
| Thank you. We'll wait then on the food. |
| How is the ear infection going? Rastus has dermatitis and whenever he gets an ear infection it takes ages to get on top of. After 6weeks of treatment our vet was pleased with how good his ear looked so we didn't get more ear drops. Unfortunately one week later the infection came back.  So we've had to start another extended course.  |
| How is the ear infection going? Rastus has dermatitis and whenever he gets an ear infection it takes ages to get on top of. After 6weeks of treatment our vet was pleased with how good his ear looked so we didn't get more ear drops. Unfortunately one week later the infection came back. So we've had to start another extended course. |
| Its starting to look better, its just slow. She hates having her ears messed with, so dealing with it is a dreaded part of the day. Poor Rastus. I hope he feels better soon! |
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