An acquaintance of mine has a 3 year old GSD male that she rescued. She is not a member of this board. I am going to ask her to join so that she can follow up o any questions.

She and her family are very pleased with this dog but he is suffering from a skin/hip issue that has her vet perplexed. She wrote me and I have extracted the info from her e-mail and provided it below.

Does anyone have any ideas? My first thoughts are allergy, a nervous issue, food issue, or maybe all of the above.

Background:German Shepherd Male. Location: Georgia, USA

German Shepherd Male
We rescued our shepherd Will from awful conditions....3 x 5 cage....sores, feet, infection, infestations fleas. With lots love, hard work he is anything but unhealthy and brilliant. Up to date on all shots, meds.

Concern:
Will's coat remains quite course, but full, healthy except over his hips. He is treated for fleas monthly, combed and here the hair does not grow...thin. He did have some hip displacement when we first got him but shows no permanent problem, but naws on it constantly.

Advice Wanted:
Homeopathic options? Is his action a response to pain, allergies?

 Quote: jim-davis

German Shepherd Male
We rescued our shepherd Will from awful conditions....3 x 5 cage....sores, feet, infection, infestations fleas. With lots love, hard work he is anything but unhealthy and brilliant. Up to date on all shots, meds.

Concern:
Will's coat remains quite course, but full, healthy except over his hips. He is treated for fleas monthly, combed and here the hair does not grow...thin. He did have some hip displacement when we first got him but shows no permanent problem, but naws on it constantly.

The new owner needs to join here asap because we need to ask questions in detail, such as where else the dog is chewing, how his ears look inside, whether a scraping showed mites, where and what kind the infection is/was, how his paws look, and more.

"Up to date on all shots, meds" means very little because we don't know what meds are meant.

Flea hypersensitivity (flea allergy dermatitis) sounds very possible, regardless of monthly treatments, because one exposure drives a dog with flea allergy dermatitis crazy. Remember that it's the number 1 dog allergy.

I have a dozen questions at least, including the infection details.

Does hip displacement mean hip dysplasia?

Until the owner can get signed up here, I'd recommend that the dog start getting fish oil and E. The anti-inflammation and coat benefits alone are going to help him. If you get his weight, we can give you the fish oil and E dosages. I'd urge that the dog be started on a low- or no-grain food (or, even better, raw).

I'd also recommend a couple of lengthy warm baths to at least give him some relief now (see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/fleas.htm for details of an effective bath). I would also recommend a thorough vacuuming of the whole house (even if the dog has been there only a few days), discarding the vacuum bag outdoors, and repeating two days later to get flea stages. If he has a blanket or bedding, I'd launder them too.

There may be more (or entirely different) things going on, but nothing suggested here will hurt and it will all help a dog who was rescued in that condition.

Your friend did good rescuing him. Please urge her to join up here at her first opportunity.

Connie,

Thanks! I think he is a big boy (100lbs)...and that they have had him for a while.

I am going to forward your thoughts to her, they are great suggestions.

Jim

Ten grams of fish oil and 400 to 600 IU of Vitamin E (preferably with mixed tocopherols but at least d-alpha and not dl-alpha).

You can see by the ten grams (10,000 mg) of fish oil that they are going to want liquid and not gelcaps, which run 1000 or 1200 mg per capsule.

Here's one: http://leerburg.com/47.htm

100 pounds -- he's overweight? If he has HD (or even if not), that would be something they'll want to change asap.

Has he been skin scraped? Dogs coming from less than ideal conditions often have skin infections which can inhibit hair growth that can be bacterial, fungal, or parasite.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

Has he been skin scraped? Dogs coming from less than ideal conditions often have skin infections which can inhibit hair growth that can be bacterial, fungal, or parasite.

Good call. Maybe the infection mentioned was a skin infection. But what kind?

It'll be good to have the owner online.

First off, I would wonder what kind of diet this dog has been on.
Something tells me that if his conditions were so bad off, that it could be likely that he wasn't on the best food.

I would imagine that dietary changes can take some time to show the benefits as well.
I have seen some pretty huge changes from better diet, including salmon oil and Vit E.

Plus you hit on a possibility with the nervousness etc. While all his changes have been for the best, it still takes time when the dog is re-homed to adapt to it's surroundings and to develop trust with the new owner.

All that said, he might have some allergy issues.
I would start by wanting to know about the diet and then consider looking into allergies once we know that the diet is a good one.

You can't go wrong suggesting she become a forum member as she could get so much info that could help her.
It is hard to say right now without knowing more.
But it is a good start.

PS, a few beat me to this post.