fordsportjay

iTrader: (6)

hi,im hoping someone on here may have come across this or can offer any help as the situation is getting quite desperate.its been a bit of an emotional roller coaster today!

my 2 male staffies live with my mum and dad since i had my little girl,now almost 3.my bitch still lives with us.
my 7 year old male-jack,has for over 12 months suffered with very tender itchy skin on his stomach,it went away for a short while about 8 months ago after a course of steroids,but came back soon after.
over the last month or so its got really bad to a point where he is constantly scratching and looks really sad.
he has been to the vets on many occaasions,had all sorts of things tested,skin scrapes,but the vet cannot find anything.he has suggested going to a skin specialist but its going to cost a fortune and unfortunately he isnt insured.
my mum had booked him in to be euthanised today as she cant stand seeing him in such discomfort and so sad.i didnt know about this until this morning,and it was a massive shock,but i sort of understood where she was coming from as his skin underneath is very red and like an elephants skin in texture.

he was due to go at 11am,i went to see him and say my goodbyes at 10.30 and was absolutely gutted as i got him as a pup-i had to leave them to it as i was distraught.....at 11.30 my dad rings me to tell me the vet reccomended trying one more thing as a last resort,so he got a reprive,but only till the end of the weeek as this stuff should work virtually straight away.

we all think its just like a reaction to something but they have changed everything in the house-cleaning stuff,rugs,food, etc etc to no avail....
has anyone come across anything like this or have any ideas as im really gutted but to be honest i couldnt have him back here as im away on holiday in 2 weeks and due to work couldnt give him the time my mum can to administer his medication.

he has a few days for things to change or it looks like he may be going to the big dogs home in the sky-im absolutely gutted and hope something will come up and save the little guy.

Munch

There is a guy on here Jay who is well into his Staffies IIRC, He runs Staffi Rescue, cant remember his name but he might be abit of help to you if someone knows his name lol

hope the poor chap is ok tho, not nice to see a good dog put down

daz1968

We had an english bull terrier with similar problems think it was called the Mange don't know how to spell it, is the hair coming out if so may be similar, from what I remember changing the diet to fresh tripe and meat and some johnsons cooling tablets helped it a lot, the vets couldn't clear it up properly and was told it was a common problem with this breed, but the above helped alot, it never cleared completely but did stop the dog scratching so all hair grew back, but it did have the odd reapearance, but cannot remember a lot about it as was about 15 years ago when I lived at my parents. Don't give up to early just try a change in diet and see if it helps.

S2martin

Have you tried
Fuciderm gel?

It's what my brother used on his staffie that had same sort of symptoms it took a good 3 weeks of doing twice a day as well as ceporex antibiotics

Worth a shot mate?

Richie.

iTrader: (5)

May be worth giving the Staffie Rescue a call Jay

http://www.staffords.co.uk/sbtrescue/contact_us.htm

cos im worth it

Hello mate, my staffi has got allergies big time, been down same road mate, she had to go to a skin speciallest too in the end, done all the allergy tests and the vet said something along the lines of normally they are allergic to one or two out of the test, but she is allergic to TEN! tried all different diets and all sorts aswell, she is allergic to pollen and all sorts of shit, she is on tablets now that are Ł110 iirc a month from the vets, just as well joined Pet Plan when she was a pup or would be a nightmare, to be honest though she is still a bit itchy especially in summer, no where near as bad as she was though. Is there be no way you could try the skin speciallest mate as a last resort, as they might find out its something silly. lost her sister when she was a pup through a dodgy liver and stomach from birth and its a really horrble time. Fingers crossed it all gets sorted mate, Mark

cressy

iTrader: (1)

[quote="S2martin"]Have you tried
Fuciderm gel?



i was going to say try that when we got our blue staffie she had mange as a pup the vet gave us Fuciderm gel was also told that sudacream also works.hope you get it sorted mate

Redkop

Jay, it doesn't cost a fortune to see a skin specialist. I can give you the name of one of the best canine ones in the country and he isn't that far from you - he is in Macclesfield.

Our GSD bitch suffered from a belly rash for about 2 years and nothing would clear it until we went to see this specialist. We had spent a fortune at our vets before that. She has now been itch free for 8 months now after the treatment the specialist suggested and all her hair has grown back.

PM me for details or add me to MSN.

Richie.

iTrader: (5)

Deleted by Request

..damn youd put a dog down rather than go to a skin specialist?..Sort yourself out lad.

fordsportjay

iTrader: (6)

no,i wouldnt.i was devastated when i found out they were even considering it yesterday and so was my mum.but its not like they have tried all sorts of things and it seemed the vet had no idea and my parents had the idea it was going to cost thousands.

she is the one who sees him hardly eating,loping around the house miserable,and whimpering every time he scratches himself to bits.i cant have him back as he is quite boisterous and a bit too giddy for my little girl.

i personally think that because he keeps scratching it,it wont heal because the irritation wont go away.unless we can somehow stop him scratching.i was thinking of putting a bandage around his stomach with some cream like sudacrem or something on it and if he did try to scratch,he couldnt.
im convinced its something silly,but its just finding it i was wondering if it could be stress related as the other staffie is a grumpy old fucker and does on occasion have a bit of a fall out with him.

please dont anyone think "fuck,his dog has an itch so he wants to kill it",its nothing like that.he is the one that sits next to my mum all day while the other one tries to get there.she loves him to bits and i think it was that love in some strange way that made her even consider putting him to sleep to stop his suffering.apparently when they got to the vets she was in pieces and they had to be moved to a seperate waiting room.

i have found a homeopathic vet local to us and if the stuff the vet gave us doesnt work,we'll be going there.

it all happened so fast yesterday,and im glad what was supposed to happen didnt.but now im aware i will be doing as much as i can to help my little black "jack" out.

and a huge thanks to everyone who has offered advice and support.

S2martin

Jay my brothers dog really really went for it scratching wise causing himself to bleed etc and that gel i said stopped the itching mate, but he went to the vets first and the vet gave the dog an injection as well prior to using the cream and once he started on the gel and antibiotics he really did stop scratching it i mean you can buy fuciderm online as well as ceporex so even if you couldn't afford the vets prices get the vet to do a prescroption mate as it cost my brother just over hundred quid for the first visit (injection, cream and tablets) then sixty sovs a month for 3 months i think in total

Redkop

Jay it is an allergy and IMO a homeopathic vet won't help.

It's an allergy caused by a bacteria under the skin like Staphyloccus which only a long term (3 months) treatment of antibiotics will kill off and by keeping to a strict diet (3 months).

For 3 months the only food we were allowed to give our dog was boiled chicken and boiled rice. Absolutely NOTHING else but water. Everything else is banned.

Martin

Ceporex antibiotics were what we gave our dog.

S2martin

What you've said there Lynne is exactly the same method my brother had to go through with his staffie

And them Ceporex really worked well for him in conjunction with the cream the dog was changed within 3 months to a really happy dog again and no scratching well apart from cooty scratching that all dogs seem to do

Redkop

As Martin says, buy the tablets online. I use PET DRUGS ONLINE for wormers, flea treatment etc and for a prescription medication that my dog isn't insured for.

The law changed in October 2005 and vets must now provide you with a prescription free of charge to enable you to buy medication cheaper elsewhere.

Redkop

The same with our dog too Martin, she is a happy, hairy dog now although we didn't use cream, we used to bathe her belly 3 times a week with Hibiscrub shampoo [from the vet] it's very good for dogs with skin trouble.

melia

our boxer was suffering with bad skin problems and scratching herself till it looked like someone had been murdered in our house.tried everything vet claimed different things but then the dog next door[english bull] had same symptoms between us we spent hundreds at the vets trying to find a solution
we tried ruling out eveything they had the same shortlisted it to the tap water so we gave each ov our dogs bottled water and the skin cleared up fur hasnt grown back in some ov the places but she doesnt suffer anymore

S2martin

I say cream and it wasn't really it's like erm..... savlon? out of the tube it was like a shampoo type susbtence and it bloody stunk

Redkop

Hibiscrub is a shampoo, we had to use it diluted in cold water and work it in like a shampoo, leave it for 5 mins, then rinse off with cold water and pat her dry. The only time we used a cream (Fuciderm) was when she used to chew her feet, which wasn't very often thank God.

fordsportjay

iTrader: (6)

thank you very much,ill try to get some of this stuff organised.

Redkop

The skin specialist at Macclesfield will also send a skin scraping off to London University and if the treatment he has prescribed doesn't work, the labs at London Uni will make up a special vaccine just for your dog.

Jon(M600BHP)

My staff has the same problem Vet says hes allergic to flea salava and grass

He seems to think only steroids will cure it

fordsportjay

iTrader: (6)

he had a course of steroids a while back,seemed to clear it a bit but then came back.its so frustrating for both owner and dog

S2martin

It takes months Jay you gotta just keep on giving them to him mate

Kevin Sharp

iTrader: (3)

Noooooooooooooooooooooo you cant have the dog put down, if you dont have the time or money/ dont want the expense, hand him over to the staffie rescue,

some very good advice from lynne there

it wouldnt matter if i had to drive from one end of the country to the other to see a specialist... if one of my staffies had a similar problem (which i prey never happens)....i,d do it regardless of time or cost

hope things turn out ok...for both of you

vroooom ptssssh

Dunno if anyones mentioned as I only rad this quickly, but It sounds like it could maybe be mainge?

My old dog had it, would have the odd sore v.itchy spot on her but nothing ever bad enough that she'd lose fur just little odd sores here and their, had all sorts of skin tests/biopsy's to no avail at all...my mum used something that seemed to clear it but I cant remember what it was i'll ask her tommo

Also, avoid steriods, they balloon dogs and make em retain lots of fluid!

Redkop

When I first took my dog to the vets with it, he gave her steroids, they cleared it up to begin with, but within a month the rash and itching was back. A further course of steroids had no affect whatsoever. So IMO a waste of money.

There's so many allergies that can cause skin conditions in dogs and I would strongly advise an appointment with a Veterinary Dermatologist, as diagnosing and treating something like this is beyond the scope of an ordinary vet if the treatment they have prescribed so far has failed.

cameron2

I bought this british bulldog cross off a "breader/ fuckin prick" last week.
She has a skin problem due to poor living conditins.
Hope you sort it jay!

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

Cool dog

Hope you get the dogs sorted out Jay

christianh3

totally agree

Edited to add, if you can't afford a specialist then fair enough, but give him to a dogs home or something, don't put him down over something thats not life threatening.

Second edited to add , a friend of my mothers (not such a friend now) had a lovely alsation put down, no older than 12month from memory...guess what for....

For fucking barking too much when they were out or in work, apparently the neighbours complained .....i surprised the vet didn't refuse to do it on those grounds. What a fucking idiot bitch of a slut women. Dickhead.

fordsportjay

iTrader: (6)

the extra strength,steroids the vet gave him has cleared it up.he is back to his old self now and has got a huge appetite.apparently it could damage his liver so we have to keep an eye on him,but all is good at the mo.

i just wish the vet had done this months ago,as the dog/we have been through a rough time

big thanks to everyone

Redkop

Really glad to hear he's ok

I can't understand though why your Vet gave him steroids, when most Vets and specialists advocate a course of long term antibiotics to actually kill the bug off

cameron2

Good to hear it jay! My puppy is ok aswell now!

turbo1973

nice one

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

great news that!