Quote: Bev Thibault

Buckley, weighing 3 kg, was given his shot on 8 Jan., which co-coincided with the day after the final dose of Buckley's prescription for Amoxillan, and the first day of his prescription for Clavamox.

At that time, however, the skin irritation & a singular bald spot was attributed to nipping of his litter mates, which was repeatedly witnessed by the foster family.

He was on antibiotics for kennel cough, right? Just finished one protocol and just starting a second one ...

Not in any way a criticism of you, Bev. A huge criticism of that vet. Pups on meds for an illness are not vaccinated.

The scratching does not appear to disturb his sleep (he does not do it while napping, his naps continue to be an hour or more). His ears are clear; no greyish discharge.

My hubbie has just cleared away the straw. And we combed Buck over one of my gesso'd canvas (stark white) and saw no signs of alive or dead fleas.

We just gave him a cool water oatmeal bath & he whimpered through the whole thing. We've dried him well, and he's asleep - I'll try and send pix tomorrow.

Re: fish oil - do I break the gel cap open, then feed it using a syringe? Or do I break it and mix the oil with his kibble? The kefir. I'll go to a health food store here; shipping from Leerburg is cost prohibitive for me. What should I look for on the label of the fish oil & E gel caps (we don't have the brands you mentioned in Canada).

And if I haven't already said so, thank you, thank you for all your help. You all have truly been Godsends!

Weight about 6-7 pounds?

That would be .65 gram, or .13 teaspoon of fish oil, using the protocol I use, and 100 IU of natural E (preferably mixed tocopherols for the E, but next best is d-alpha; avoid dl-alpha).

If you get this http://leerburg.com/47.htm , it has good dosage info. If you use something like Nordic Naturals liquid (a very high-quality deodorized brand in health food stores, etc.), you'd use a 1/4-teaspoon measure and half-fill it. If you have 1000 gelcaps, you'd pierce and squeeze, refrigerating half for the next day.

Tell me your fish oil brands. I can read the labels online and tell you which are better quality.

 Quote: Bev Thibault

Buckley, weighing 3 kg, was given his shot on 8 Jan., which co-coincided with the day after the final dose of Buckley's prescription for Amoxillan, and the first day of his prescription for Clavamox.

At that time, however, the skin irritation & a singular bald spot was attributed to nipping of his litter mates, which was repeatedly witnessed by the foster family.

Get a new vet!

FWIW, my recent litter was pretty tough on each other, and there were absolutely zero bald spots. I wouldn't expect a foster family to know better, but a VET should know that bald spots are secondary to SOMETHING wrong!!! I really would at the very least, make your displeasure known, if you don't report her. I don't see how they will ever get more conscientious if we don't start making note when they deliberately disregard the instructions/indications on the vaccine vials themselves!

On the fish oil and how to feed, I have never had a dog who didn't like it; you shouldn't have to syringe it.

Bev, I have some Timberwolf Organics wild salmon oil in 8oz bottles. I will send you one or two if you just PM me your address. I am upset that this poor little pup is paying for medical ignorance.

I'm just a simple groomer but I guess for a little different perspective on it this is what I see. A lot of changes, no recovery time. There are way too many shifting variables with this puppy to be able to know exactly what's causing it. Could be food, could be a reaction to the food change, could be medications, could be an underlying medical condition, could be environment, could be mange, could be fleas... way too many could bes with no constant variables.

I would be very slow to do changes from this point on concerning diet until you see some stabilization. The fish oil will hurt nothing and aid in recovery so go ahead there but personally if it were me I'd stick with the science diet for now. It's not a great food but it's good enough until you see if the other things you're doing will help correct the problem since food is unlikely the core issue.

As far as the oatmeal baths are you literally using oatmeal paste or is it an oatmeal shampoo? If so brand? any conditioner?

 Quote: melissa thom

... but personally if it were me I'd stick with the science diet for now. It's not a great food but it's good enough until you see if the other things you're doing will help correct the problem since food is unlikely the core issue.

Probably don't need to post this, but I respectfully disagree. Vehemently.

Considering how important this stage is in a puppy's life for proper development, why on Earth would you leave him on cheap cattle feed? Furthermore, while food allergies, as we all know, are not as common as others, grain-laden diets certainly exacerbate the problems, as they are just "one more thing" that his poor system is trying to deal with, and in their roundabout way, they suppress the immune system. How is his body supposed to heal without good nutrition? Sure, we all know I'm an extremist, but "good enough?" Science Diet? Methinks not. What is "good enough" about it for a sick little pup trying to overcome a pretty awful start?

There is an autoimmune problem going on here. On top of it, the poor little thing was vaccinated, of all things. Anyway, absolute crap food is NOT going to allow his body the resources it needs to beat this.

All the chemicals introduced/injected into this little one have led him where he is today- he needs all the help he can get to detox, and I know of no better way to detox than eating SPECIES APPROPRIATE food.

BTW, Normal, healthy, 8wk old puppies do not have this type reaction to food changes,etc. They may have a bout of diarrhea, but baldness??? Mood changes? In an 8wk old? I highly doubt he's developed a severe food allergy at 8wks. Fleas are my best guess, but with all he's been subjected to, it's just a guess. Then, it was all compounded by absolutely bombarding his immune system, and predictably, it went haywire.

Hey Jenni,

I know we're all a little extremist here on diets but I just see this as a case of we don't know, followed by a case of let's change everything and try to guess what causing the problem when changing things even to the ideal may cause worsening of symptoms or unrelated symptoms which could keep a diagnosis from happening in a timely manner. Thousands and thousands of puppies are raised yearly on science diet and while it does have a bit of the cattle feed trait that I don't admire, it's a far enough step away from byproduct and sugar loaded Purina puppy chow that possibly contributed this issue in the first place that he'd probably be alright with it in the short term until the overall issue is figured out.

When you try to figure this stuff out it's best to move one factor at a time rather than change everything and hope the puppy can cope with the stress especially when dealing with an immune event. It also gives you something much better to inform the vet rather than telling them I've switched foods once every week I've owned this dog, he's had kennel cough, been on two different medications, gotten vaccinated while he was sick, is being bathed daily, and now he's itchy and is gaining bald spots. What's the problem?

I guess we can argue about best course of action to recover but reality is we don't know what's wrong.

Rest assured; I took no offense. I realize that there are great Vets and not so great. I'm new to these experiences, so I have lots to learn. I'm just sickened by my puppy suffering because of my ignorance, which allowed my vet to do something contra-indicated.

Much thanks, Bev