As I watched Copper enjoying his morning walk in the yard yesterday, it hit me that I’m on the totally wrong track for my poor little pup’s allergies. Well sort of.
I do believe the grass allergies are part of it, they have added to his sensitivity to something, I think. Now that the grass has changed phases into the fall season, I’m not so sure it was just the grass.
I believe it is worse than I imagined.
After I fed him in the morning, his symptoms escalated and we spent the day worrying about him. First off, he was anxious due to a storm that was coming. He licked his paws even after washing them, and he paced the floor. So I thought it was the storm.
But he also didn’t want to be held or touched by me much of the day, other times he didn’t want to be put down. He was basically inconsolable. And miserable. The last thing he wanted to do would be to go in the car to the vet. Everything about the day was a storm brewing.
So I started to do some research about other types of allergies. And found a link to Dr. Marty’s site. I watched a long video, which was very thorough, and very convincing about what he has discovered in his 40+ years as a vet and what simple things we’re doing wrong for our pets involving what we feed them.
The more I listened and researched, the less I thought of myself, and the worse I felt for Copper.
I’ve been an unintentional horrible dog-mom. It all seems so blurry now.
I’m distraught at my failure to put two and two together.
I’ve made a terrible mistake in thinking that what I’ve been feeding him is good for him because he eats it on his own. Finally, after all these years, he can eat his food on his own!
It has been a long battle to get him to eat without me sitting there on the floor next to him. Maybe he was struggling to find a way to tell me I was wrong? Did he want to say to me, “That crap you’re trying to feed me is slowly killing me…but I am hungry…and I want to please you…woes me I’ll eat it.”
He can eat the Mighty Dog canned food without too much fear. He cleans the bowl, with a little help from me by holding it so the bowl doesn’t move. Based upon a really cool blogger friend, (Linda, who felt sorry for both me and Copper when she sent me the link), I’m going to order him this bowl set, once I get him eating better food.
As I watched the computer screen, (listening to Copper in the background licking and scratching and whining), the points shared on Dr. Marty’s video (his website’s link is here) struck a cord. His comments about what to avoid and what to give your dog instead hit me right in the heartstrings.
The food Copper has been eating has all the things we should be avoiding for him. A list viewed on an excerpt from a dog food advisor website confirmed my fears about Mighty Dog Food’s contents:
I’ve been feeding Copper none of the things he should have in his diet, e.g.,:
- Raw, organ meats (kidneys, liver, those with high nutrients).
- Omega 3’s – fatty acids
- Prebiotics – flax, ginger
No wonder he’s miserable. He’s literally been eating crap. I’m such a horrible dog-mom!
We’ve been feeding him Mighty Dog solely since around May. Prior to that, we were feeding him homemade food that had brown rice in it (fairly close to the recipes here). The brown rice is not supposed to be too bad for him, but I thought it was getting caught in his throat because after eating it since he would cough a lot. We were also feeding him Merrick’s dry kibble. We didn’t know what was the culprit, so we weaned him off all that stuff and onto what he would/could eat easily, (the alternative of Mighty Dog that we offered him).
By the way, that is coincidentally when he started the original hacking symptoms. We took him to the vet and it was determined that he likely has tracheal collapse syndrome. It happens commonly in older small breed dogs.
Yesterday I fed him the second half of a can of this and he seemed to take a turn for the worse.
He had stomach issues all day, and he finally calmed down and slept well last night. He was anxious to go out this morning, but he lost his footing on the top of the stairs and was stuck hanging there on his belly. I had to rescue him.
He ate fine, and only licked a bit this morning. He’s resting comfortably, so he must tolerate the beef version better?
I’m thankful that he hasn’t been going through the coughing symptoms as much lately, only when he gets really stressed or in temperatures where it is really hot or really cold. Mostly his symptoms have changed into licking and itchy skin.
Coincidentally – the symptoms of food allergies or sensitivities to food according to WebMD (link to article here) are:
All the places he licks and scratches after eating! Ugh…duh, what a fool I’ve been. I’m so sad.
So, we’re off on a new path.
I ordered food from Dr. Marty’s and the shipment is on its way. I’m hoping we’re not too late. I also hope that when the food arrives, Copper will make considerable improvement in his overall well-being. He’s an older dog (14 years) and I want his remaining years to be enjoyable. Plus he deserves to take walks in the yard – he loves it outside.
Post Inspiration – Pet Allergies
PS – If your pet has food allergies, what brand of foods have you found to work for your pet? Do you make your own pet food? Have you tried Dr. Marty’s brand?
Oh, Shelley!
There is no guilt quite like the guilt we feel about the pets who depend on us … and I can only sympathize and remind you Copper has a mommy who cares enough to feel bad, worry and doggedly pursue the truth (no pun intended). Please keep us posted … I’m rooting for you both.
Aww, thank you, Ellen. I’m hopeful this food change will help. Yesterday, I tried some kippers from a can (fish oil, omega 3’s are super important in skin irritation recovery) and he was super happy and is licking less with just two servings. Poor guy, I know he knows I love him, and I hope my next report in will be happy news!
Sorry Copper has been having such troubles. We always try to do the best for our pets, and the pet food companies all claim to be exactly what they need, so we tend to go by that. In your case it just wasn’t good for him, I guess. Hope the new diet will improve how he feels. 🙂
Thank you, Barbara, I’m hoping for the same. We both appreciate your concern and well wishes. He’s such a little guy, he should respond fairly quickly I hope!
Wow Shelley, I’m so glad you guys found out what’s been going on with Copper. I look forward to seeing how hen does with a new diet. I remember Mighty Dog from long ago, had no idea they use so much byproduct. Yuk.
Thank you, John, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the little guy. Yeah, I was disappointed to read about all the byproducts too. Yuck is right!
How upsetting to discover the downside of that dog food. Gross! Fingers crossed you have discovered the solution to Copper’s health problems. Better late than never.
I agree, very upsetting. My fingers are crossed too. Thank you for your encouragement and support, we all appreciate it!!!
You’re most welcome – sending positive thoughts!
Thank you!!
We have dealt with food allergies and unadvertised changes to the various brands of dog food we’ve used over the years. You have to be vigilant, but don’t beat yourself up over not knowing what’s in the can.
You know how I feel then when it comes to doggy food frustrations. Maddie looks healthy, so you’ve found a good brand for her. I’m trying not to beat myself up too much, hopefully this brand will be what Copper needs to thrive in his elder years!
We’ve had to switch brands several times. It should be this hard.
Especially when you consider what they’d eat in the wild. Copper even prefers bunny poop over his Mighty Dog… 😉
🙂
Mimi has occasionally has days where she regurgitates everything she eats either from stress or allergies. Not sure which. My vet tells me to boil chicken breast and shred it into small pieces, mix it with white rice until she settles. It seems to work. You have to think about the care they get today versus the care our pets got 20 years ago. We are doing better, still learning what is best.
Anita – your comment accidentally went to my trash bin!? Yikes. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Bummer for Mimi, glad you’ve found something that works. We’ve done that same thing for Copper too when he seems to have a stomach ache. We are getting better, it would be much easier if the pups could talk and tell us what they are feeling.
I fully agree.
Don’t beat yourself up. Most people won’t do the amount of research you did. That’s a good dog food analysis website. I’ve used it too, to upgrade my 13 year old’s food. I hope you find the solution for Copper.
Aww, thank you, Dawn. Humans trust the advertising I guess. I know I did. You know how it feels, I hope your dog is doing well. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ve found a good solution for Copper.
Oh my! What a thing to figure out. You were only trying to do what was right for your doggo. I’m glad your research helped you figure out a better way to feed the old guy. I’ll be looking for progress reports, btw.
Yeah, it was a shocker to me to dig deeper into the food he has been eating. I’m really hopeful this change will help. Don’t worry – updates will flow here on my blog, if Copper and I can share hope for other doggies, we aim to do so! 😉
Hope for doggies, I love it.
🙂
I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Our dog has severe allergies and we changed his food several times in the process of getting him better. After allergy testing, his list of allergens was two pages long. 🙁 So now he’s on a food made of salmon and peas (yeah, it stinks) that costs $79/bag. But at least he stopped chewing the skin off his paws. He’s still pretty anxious, though. I think they just get nuttier as they age (don’t we all…ha!). Poor Copper…they can’t tell us how they feel. It’s hard. Hang in there.
Aww, thank you for your sympathy. Two pages long…sigh, I hope that’s not the case for Copper. You’re on the right track with the salmon and peas though. The stuff I ordered is $29.95/bag, thankfully Copper is small, it should last a while. Yesterday I tried some kippers from a can, and the fish oil seemed to help within a 1/2 hour, he wasn’t licking like crazy. He’s even a bit better this morning after giving him some more of it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, his poor paws were very tender from all the chewing and licking.
We both appreciate your concern and sympathy!!
So sorry to hear about it, Shelley… I have heard about these kind of problem for doggies many times. Hope yours is doing better.
Thank you, Amy. It’s tough stuff. I’m hopeful though that things will turn around.
Wow, what a revelation to find this out Shelley, and I hope it does the trick for little Copper. My friend has cats and one has a sensitive stomach and for years she had to serve raw food only. She’d order it from a pet supply place and they’d deliver it frozen. That worked well and then out of the blue, her cat didn’t like eating it anymore, so they had to experiment to find something else and she made fish and chicken dishes and that cat ate as good as any human and no stomach issues either! Thank you for the mention as well – that was nice of you. I am hoping the bowls in their slip-proof map work well and the new food regiment will allow eating and anything associated with it to become a joy again for your little guy!
Thank you, Linda. So far, the integration of the food is going well and he’s doing better already! I can’t wait to see how well he does when he’s only eating the new food! Poor pets – if only they could talk and tell us what they need.
I so appreciate your concern for him/us, you’re a dear friend, thank you!!
You’re welcome … that’s good Shelley. I watched my friend go through many types of food trying to avoid stomach issues for her cat. For a time she had to administer a portion of a tranquilizer for its queasy stomach. She had to feed the two cats in separate rooms and the dishes removed and not available so the cat with the raw food diet did not try to eat the other cat food. You should see what Carol does with a passel of ferals which she feeds and shelters on her deck year around. If they don’t eat one type of food, she worries and tries something else (canned, dried and human canned chicken or tuna) … they are not even her own cats … feral kitties. I hope this does the trick for Copper. I am going to give you another tip because I’ve been following the Food Poisoning Bulletin for years. I started when I bought salad greens for my canary. I worried about recalls, contamination. There were often recalls for different raw cat and dog foods. I was always passing them along to Carol. These are not all brands, but it is good to check it out every day … here is the link. There’s lots of info and it’s searchable … I I subscribe by e-mail. At the top you can sign up or do Facebook or Twitter. I still get the e-mails as a friend of mine has a grandson with a serious peanut allergy. He is now on therapy wherein the allergist has him eating small amounts of peanut products. He still must carry his Epi Pen (he’s only 7 or 8) but he has been hospitalized for attacks in the past. So I pass the info they post on food that contains peanuts (by accident). https://foodpoisoningbulletin.com
Yikes, that’s horrible for the little guy with peanut allergies. I’ve heard some of those horror stories about pet food too. I hope it isn’t the case in our situation. The stuff is freeze dried, and rehydrated right before serving, so I hope it is okay for Copper. Thank you for sharing the link!
You’re welcome – yes, I didn’t want to scare you and when I look at that e-mail there were more for cat raw food than dogs and not many lately, so whatever the issue, I guess they’ve resolved it. In recent years, I opened up Shredded Wheat and saw bugs marching out of the wrapper and had a huge fly in my can of creamed corn. Ugh!
And I found a worm crawling on my brocolli. UGH…it’s a wonder we all survive the food we eat, prepared or raw, processed or not, it’s a risk we take to keep on keeping on.
I was freaked out by the big fly and I opened the can and took a couple of bites before pouring it into the can, then saw the fly. Del Monte customer relations said “no humans touch this product, so no one would have seen it.” So that means there is no quality control somewhere that is a warm body with a brain?
YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙁
Yes I did a post about it – with pictures.
I just checked that Food site I sent you … no issues with raw dog food since May … https://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2019/fda-warns-darwins-natural-raw-dog-food-salmonella/
Whew…that’s good news!