Update 6-23-12: Hallie has been adopted!

Please donate towards her surgery if you can! Every penny helps!

I can’t even begin to express how amazing Hallie is. After all she has been through she still sees the good in everyone and makes friends with everyone she meets.

Once she is completely healthy, she’ll be ready to take her Canine Good Citizen test. In fact, I think she would make a fantastic competition obedience or rally dog. She LOVES to please! Even in a highly distracting environment she keeps perfect focus and performs each cue with amazing enthusiasm. It’s quite a sight to see and she impresses everyone everywhere she goes.

She is totally head over heels for her foster brother Bruschi and follows him around wherever he goes. She took to him instantly from their very first walk together. She thoroughly enjoys having another dog to play with.

He did a test to make sure Hallie is producing enough tears. To do the test, he put a paper strip in her lower eyelid and had to hold it there for a full minute. Hallie was such a good girl for this awkward and uncomfortable procedure. Thankfully the test revealed that Hallie is producing plenty of tears. Her eyes look a TON better, but unfortunately, Hallie does have entropion and will need surgery. Because it is incredibly risky to put a dog with a compromised immune system under anesthesia, we are going to wait to do the surgery until she is healthy.

Dr. Johnson ran an ear cytology that showed us that Hallie has some bacteria and yeast buildup in her ears, so he gave her a homeopathic ear pack.

Her skin is still warm to the touch and dandruffy, so he prescribed a bath with Zymox shampoo twice per week. To help further aid in her skin in healing, he prescribed an all natural supplement called “Damp Heat Skin“.

Dr. Johnson prescribed a probiotic to help ensure Hallie has plenty of good bacteria in her system.

The good news is that none of Hallie’s conditions are contagious, so we can start integrating her with the rest of the family. Tonight we took her on a group walk. It went really well and we’ll be taking her for several group walks per day over the next couple weeks before fully integrating her with the rest of the family.

Our next appointment is in two weeks on May 8th. If you can spare even just a dollar or two, it would help Hallie tremendously!

Because Hallie was almost two hours away, we agreed to meet the owners halfway which meant an hour’s drive for each of us. Little did we know what that meant for Hallie. The halfway point was a Racetrac gas station just off the highway. We pulled in at noon, and a few minutes later a gray pickup truck with a crate and a dog in the bed of the truck pulled up behind us. I was nearly in tears as I whispered to Dan, “She’s been in the bed of the truck for at least an hour on the highway. She must be terrified!”

I ran to the bed of the truck to let Hallie out of the crate. It took everything I had not to bust into tears right then and there. She couldn’t even see through all the mucus in her eyes, and she had almost no hair on her body. I could see the fleas crawling all over her skin that was scratched completely raw. I replaced the rusty, one pound chain she was wearing with a new, soft cloth collar, wiped her eyes clean, and helped her into the back seat of our car.

The owner handed us a bag of food that was labeled “Vegetarian Dog Food – Great for Skin and Coat.” I waited until he left and threw the bag of food right into the trash. Dogs are carnivores. Depriving a carnivore of any species appropriate nutrition for years and years would certainly make any dog sick.

We made the trek home and got Hallie immediately into the tub for a therapeutic bath. I gently massaged her raw skin with Earthbath, an all natural shampoo, for about 15 minutes, which was plenty of time for the shampoo to suffocate and drown all the fleas that were tormenting her.

In the hour it took us to get home, her eyes had built up enough mucus that she could barely see again. I cleaned her eyes out again and was able to examine them further. Her top eyelashes were stuck to her eyeballs with mucus, and when she blinked, her top eyelashes were underneath her bottom eyelids! Because no one but Dan was around, I allowed myself to cry. It hurt my heart to see how much pain Hallie was in, and to think of how long she has been like this. I am stunned at how loving and sweet Hallie is despite all the pain she is feeling.

I patted her dry with a fresh, soft, warm towel, and made her a comfortable bed in a crate in our isolation room with a fresh bowl of water. Since it was Sunday, our veterinarian wasn’t open. I woke up first thing on Monday and called Dr. Gerald Johnson at Silverthorn Veterinary Clinic and took the first available appointment the following morning.

When we got to the clinic, Dr. Gerald Johnson and his staff examined Hallie. They asked about the limited history we knew of, did a fecal, skin scrape, and a 4Dx test (which tests for heartworm, lyme, ehrlichia and anaplasmosis).

The fecal came back positive for hookworms, so Hallie was prescribed Panacur. While Dr. Johnson agrees that diatomaceous earth is typically fantastic as a general dewormer, in Hallie’s severe case we want to rid her of the worms as soon as possible so she can start healing from the inside out. With as heavy of a load that Hallie has and because of the life cycle of hookworms, diatomaceous earth would take a considerably longer amount of time to rid her of the hookworms than Panacur will. He did recommend that we use diatomaceous earth after the Panacur as a maintenance wormer and to kill any worms that the Panacur might have missed.

Hallie’s skin scrape came back negative for mange, thank goodness! Dr. Johnson believes the hair loss is due to the completely species inappropriate vegetarian diet she had been eating her whole life. He prescribed a homeopathic remedy to help bring her body into balance and aid her skin in healing. He recommended we feed her a raw diet and add fish oil and coconut oil.

Dr. Johnson is hopeful that her eyelashes are only turned in on her eyeballs due to the inflammation and mucus in her eyes, and not due to entropion. We have another appointment in a week to see how she is progressing and what her eyes are looking like. We should know by then whether or not surgery will be necessary for her eyes. Until then, he told us to rinse her eyes with saline three times a day, wait 15 minutes, and apply an antibiotic ointment, Gentamicin Sulfate. Dr. Johnson said he doesn’t usually resort to antibiotics, but in a case as severe as Hallie’s the use is warranted.

He prescribed an all natural supplement vetri-liquid DMG to help support and boost Hallie’s immune system.

We will receive the results of the 4Dx test tomorrow.

Our next appointment is April 24th. If you’d like to donate to help pay for Hallie’s medical bills, please click the donate button below to donate safely and securely via PayPal.

Please subscribe to our blog to stay updated with Hallie’s progress!

Bathing

You don’t need toxic flea dips and shampoos to kill fleas. Anything that suds will drown and suffocate fleas. Bathe your pet, suds them up, and let them sit for about 10 minutes before rinsing thoroughly. Be sure to use a natural, gentle shampoo formulated and pH balanced especially for pets. We prefer Earthbath.

Vacuuming and Washing Dog Beds

Vacuuming and washing beds and linens in hot soapy water will rid your environment of fleas and their eggs.

Diatomaceous Earth (Food Grade)

Diatomite, also known as “diatomaceous earth” or “DE”, is a sedimentary rock composed of fossilized hard shelled algae. It is harvested from the bottom of dried ancient lakes and broken down into a fine powder.

There is a pool grade and a food grade. Make sure you are using DE label food grade! Food grade diatomaceous earth is an excellent safe and natural product that kills any kind of parasite with an exoskeleton (such as fleas and ticks.) As the parasites crawl throughout the DE, their exoskeleton is scraped off and any moisture is absorbed by the DE, causing them to dehydrate and die.

We use DE in our yard and around our house. You can use it inside if you have carpet, but be careful that you and your pets do not inhale the dust, as any inhaled powdered substance can be a lung irritant.

Food grade diatomaceous earth (which has been approved as safe by the FDA for internal consumption as well as external use) is also great for naturally killing internal parasites such as tapeworms, roundworms, whipworms, pinworms, and hookworms.

Sprays

Neem, Peppermint, Lavendar, Cedarwood, Lemongrass, Eucalyptus and Ctironella (not the lamp oil!) are all essential oils that are fantastic at repelling any kind of insects, including fleas, ticks, flies and mosquitos. We make up a mixture of our own, rotating between different essential oils and mixing them with water in a spray bottle. We mist the dogs before they go outside to repel insects and prevent them from bringing any new critters home with them. We use this on ourselves too! The oils smell amazing and work better than anything we’ve ever used! (Cedarwood is our favorite!)

Flea Combing

After each walk, (especially for those walks in heavily wooded areas) we take about 5 minutes per dog and use a flea comb dipped in apple cider vinegar all over their entire body to rid them of any parasites they may have picked up along the way.

A Healthy Diet

Fleas are not attracted to truly healthy dogs. A species appropriate raw diet can help bring your dogs health and body into balance, boosting their immune system and making them unattractive hosts for parasites.

What should I look for or avoid when choosing a food?

Avoid anything that won’t specify the species of every meat source. “Animal”, “poultry” and “fish” are a few examples. These are derived from highly questionable sources and often change with every bag, so you’ll truly never know what you’re getting. You will never see a generic meat source in a high quality food because they have nothing to hide.

Avoid by-products. These are slaughterhouse cast offs not fit for human consumption. Also, by-product is a generalized term not referring to any specific part (it could be feathers, it could be beaks, etc), so it can change with every bag.

Avoid grains. Things like rice, wheat, and corn are cheap fillers that most dogs have a very hard time processing. Dogs are carnivores and their bodies are not designed to consume grains.

Avoid chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT, TBHQ, Sodium Metabisulphite and Ethoxyquin. Many of these are not only known carcinogens, they are banned from human consumption in some countries due to their questionable side effects.

Here is a more in depth look at what ingredients to avoid and why.

Should I switch between flavors or brands, or stick with the same one?

Imagine eating the same food 365 days a year for the rest of your life. Not only would you get pretty bored with your food, but there is good chance you may develop an allergy to that food. Allergies develop largely due to constant exposure to the same allergen over time. Rotating foods can help prevent any new allergies.

Dogs bodies are designed to obtain essential nutrients from a range of different foods. Rotating protein sources gives your dog the variety that their bodies need to thrive.

Some dogs do okay with a hard switch, while others will need you to do a gradual switch over the course of about a week for each rotation.

Should I set a schedule or free feed?

‘Free feeding’ or leaving large bowls of food out at all times is not recommended for a number of reasons.

For many pets the temptation of unlimited food is just too much, and they consistently overeat. This can lead to obesity along with a myriad of other secondary health issues. Another reason we don’t recommend free feeding is because you’ll never know if your pet refuses to eat, which can be a sign of a life threatening medical issue.

With scheduled feedings, your dog will have regular bowel movements, making potty training a breeze. You’ll know exactly how much your dog is eating, making it easy to adjust the amount if you see your dog packing on the pounds.

Can I afford to feed high quality food?

When you feed higher quality food, you feed less because the food is much more nutrient dense. The cost per bag may be a little higher, but the bag will last you much longer, therefore decreasing the cost per serving to about what the low quality food was costing you. By switching to a high quality food, you’ll be improving your dogs health all around, resulting in lower veterinary bills.

Can you recommend any specific brands? 

Some quality brands of kibble are Orijen, Acana, Fromm and Earthborn Holistic.

What about raw diets?

If you want to take your dog’s nutrition and health to the next level and really give them what nature intended, a species appropriate raw diet is by far the best thing you can possibly feed your dog. If you’d like to learn more about feeding a raw diet, visit these links; here, here and here. You can also contact us if you have any questions.