This is going to be a long post, I apologize in advance.
Abby is our 12 year old German Shepherd/Lab mix. In 2017 she was diagnosed with histocytosis by a dermatologist. She was put on 100mg of Atopica, three times a week. Prior to this diagnosis, in addition to her traditional vet, I had also been taking her to a woman who is a trained nurse and left traditional medicine to show people how foods can affect their lives, she does muscle testing, works with energy fields, gives supplements based on what your body needs, etc. She isn't a licensed vet and hadn't done a lot of work with animals outside of her own. She put Abby on some supplements which kept the histocytosis at bay before we had a formal diagnosis. I kept her on these supplements and eventually we made the decision to reduce Abby's dose of Atopica to twice a week and that's where she currently is.
In June of last year, Abby had a mast cell tumor removed. It was benign but we were told to keep an eye out because they can reoccur. Thankfully, we haven't found any others. Fast forward to this year. The past several months, I've noticed Abby hasn't been excited about eating the foods that she typically enjoyed eating, such as carrots, watermelon, blueberries. I was a little concerned, but most everything else about Abby was ok. She was a little more lethargic, but I attributed it to her getting older. We also had to say goodbye to our 13 year old Pyrenees in December which I believe affected our entire pack more than I realized.
Two weeks ago, I had a call with Dr. Jeff about Abby. She had been trying to scratch her front elbows for a little while, and following our EH about acupressure, I started to get concerned. He suggested that I get some blood work done on Abby. I took her to the vet on the 26th. She tested negative for heartworm but positive for Lyme infection for the first time ever. She was also due for her rabies vaccine. She had lost 7 pounds since her last visit 14 months ago. My vet is wonderful and has always been supportive of me wanting to look beyond traditional medicine. I do still vaccinate her, so I did go ahead with the rabies vaccine and we put her on 400mg of doxycycline for three weeks for the lyme infection. Results from her blood test were all good except he thought her BUN was elevated, which he said could be due to the increased protein that she is now getting in her fresh food diet. He wasn't overly concerned because everything else seemed to be ok with her. Yesterday, she threw up three times, the first time was food, the second less food, the third was just liquid. She wouldn't take her medication, and didn't want any snacks. I took her for a walk and she was totally fine, her poo was normal. This morning, I made some rice and ground beef for her and added a little water kefir for her, she wasn't interested. I have dehydrated raw beef kibble that I use as treats and I gave her two, which she ate, but about 2 hours later, she threw them up along with water. She has been drinking a lot of water, but I'm guessing that's because she's feeling dehydrated.
I know vaccines aren't encouraged, my dogs have always gotten the lyme vaccine, DA2PP and rabies. She isn't due for DA2PP until 2022. My ultimate goal is to get Abby off of Atopica permanently, even though I've been told by a few traditional vets that she will always be on it.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'll share updates.
Abby is our 12 year old German Shepherd/Lab mix. In 2017 she was diagnosed with histocytosis by a dermatologist. She was put on 100mg of Atopica, three times a week. Prior to this diagnosis, in addition to her traditional vet, I had also been taking her to a woman who is a trained nurse and left traditional medicine to show people how foods can affect their lives, she does muscle testing, works with energy fields, gives supplements based on what your body needs, etc. She isn't a licensed vet and hadn't done a lot of work with animals outside of her own. She put Abby on some supplements which kept the histocytosis at bay before we had a formal diagnosis. I kept her on these supplements and eventually we made the decision to reduce Abby's dose of Atopica to twice a week and that's where she currently is.
In June of last year, Abby had a mast cell tumor removed. It was benign but we were told to keep an eye out because they can reoccur. Thankfully, we haven't found any others. Fast forward to this year. The past several months, I've noticed Abby hasn't been excited about eating the foods that she typically enjoyed eating, such as carrots, watermelon, blueberries. I was a little concerned, but most everything else about Abby was ok. She was a little more lethargic, but I attributed it to her getting older. We also had to say goodbye to our 13 year old Pyrenees in December which I believe affected our entire pack more than I realized.
Two weeks ago, I had a call with Dr. Jeff about Abby. She had been trying to scratch her front elbows for a little while, and following our EH about acupressure, I started to get concerned. He suggested that I get some blood work done on Abby. I took her to the vet on the 26th. She tested negative for heartworm but positive for Lyme infection for the first time ever. She was also due for her rabies vaccine. She had lost 7 pounds since her last visit 14 months ago. My vet is wonderful and has always been supportive of me wanting to look beyond traditional medicine. I do still vaccinate her, so I did go ahead with the rabies vaccine and we put her on 400mg of doxycycline for three weeks for the lyme infection. Results from her blood test were all good except he thought her BUN was elevated, which he said could be due to the increased protein that she is now getting in her fresh food diet. He wasn't overly concerned because everything else seemed to be ok with her. Yesterday, she threw up three times, the first time was food, the second less food, the third was just liquid. She wouldn't take her medication, and didn't want any snacks. I took her for a walk and she was totally fine, her poo was normal. This morning, I made some rice and ground beef for her and added a little water kefir for her, she wasn't interested. I have dehydrated raw beef kibble that I use as treats and I gave her two, which she ate, but about 2 hours later, she threw them up along with water. She has been drinking a lot of water, but I'm guessing that's because she's feeling dehydrated.
I know vaccines aren't encouraged, my dogs have always gotten the lyme vaccine, DA2PP and rabies. She isn't due for DA2PP until 2022. My ultimate goal is to get Abby off of Atopica permanently, even though I've been told by a few traditional vets that she will always be on it.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'll share updates.
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She hasn't eaten since yesterday morning, so I'm thinking of holding off on feeding her today and try again tomorrow morning?
