Are the ordinary dog owners of today not communicating with thier dogs enough to know some simple symptoms are leading to large issues, that may include; life long treatment, diagnoses that were too late or the death of our loved pets. Have we developed a blind spot to them even though our medical department gets clearer and stronger… Why I ask such a question is because the research I have done in the last DAY!!! just wondering around on line looking up alergens, immunities, and heredity defects to the breed I own. When we first brought our dog home he constantly rubbed, scratched and bit at himself, his skin was dry though he drank a ton durring the day and he had really bad gass though his food was of good quality (Canidae, we also tried various foods, everything was the same.) We thought it was a case of fleas which could have been present so we treated him with a vet recommended treatment (VERY EXPENSIVE :/ ), infact it was! but its so much deeper than that. Recently he had been forming sores around his feet, we thought it was the rubbing on his paws when he chewed his bones, he has gas problems, we’ve tried various different foods so we assumed his stomach was sensitive, typical for the breed. Just today I found allergins under the web site’s listings that told about the breed and others too. All the sypmtoms led into a chain connecting all our puzzle pieces that the vet should of known right from the start though we assumed other issues, simple, to have been causeing the symptoms though they were all linked together. Our dog infact had an alergen to fleas saliva causing biting scrathing and rubbing, which could also lead to yeast and bacterial infections. from this his stomach had trouble with food, ANY food, which caused him to get upset stomaches. Vaccine overloads can also have affects like this if there are overload in parasites which can also set the dog up for attacks. From the skin irritations his body started producing Immunoglobulin E a type of cell designed to target the allergen and activates Mast Cells that release different substances including histamine, (a chemical causing itching, inflamation and swelling) and they can bunch up creating sores usually around the feet, anus and the ears. All of this was a link yet he was bred from a purina national winner and a best in show, best of breed more than 8 years in a row Sire. Are breeders only looking at the most common illnesses such as hip dysplasia, eye diseases etc these days? Are we taking these small clues and overlooking things to be whats most common, are we strenghthining our medical and behaviorist knowlegde but forgetting the dangers of, Not their background, but their DNA?
What are your thoughts?