I am so frustrated

[Ellie May]

I am just venting this morning. I am so sad and frustrated. Ellie hasn't been really healthy this year. She has been to the vet atleast eight times. She hadn't been to the vet for a few years before this. Now she is scratching her ears all up and making them bleed. I think it is an allergy to her new "liver" food. I really need to start homecooking for her again but I am not ready. The vet just looked in her ears two weeks ago for a hearing loss problem and they are clean. It has got to be an allergy. I don't know how much more I can take. I mean oral surgery, conjuntivitis, yeast infection in ears, hearing problem, two UTIs, bile acid abnormality, vet says we should spay her all since January. When the bile acids came back abnormal the vet spent about 45 minutes talking to us no charge. Now I just had to call about the ears and a few other questions. I was put on her call back list. I know she doesn't mind calling but I think she was so nice to give us that free time that I don't want to take anymore time from her. Thanks for listening.

[AngelWorks]

Try Honest Kitchen----you can add to it but takes the pressure off of the home cooking thing.

Milo's been on it since mid-may and is doing great. His coat, his health, energy, stools.

I give him Thrive rehydrated with organic chix broth and to that is added: all three of their supplements, missing link, shredded asigo chez and ground egg shells

I mix in to that, whole wheat organic cous cous made w/ the chix broth too.

I sometimes add in cooked chix breast, shrimp, lean beef & or steamed veggies fromwhat we're having for dinner.

[Ellie May]

Thanks AngelWorks. Ellie can't have it though. She is on a protein restricted diet for her liver.

[Ellie May]

I should have added in my first post another thing that is making me want to pop. The internist told the vet to make sure Ellie doesn't have worms. We started her on dewormer and the box says 3 dogs in over 250 vomit from it. Guess who one of the 3 is. Does anyone ever feel like they can't take one more medical issue?

[Wylie's Mom]

I was at your point of pulling-out-my-hair w/ Marcel's ibs/ibd etcetera - I finally had a phone consult with an animal nutritionist - and VOILA, 1.5 days later had firm poos after 4 months of mushy stools/diarrhea/mucous. She was a god send!

Would that be worth a try?

[Yorkiekids]

I'm sorry you have so much on your plate. I hope she's all better soon, and doesn't get sick again.

[AngelWorks]

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/prod...eference.shtml

Preference is meat free and grain free--- 12% protien

[Kiwiglaze]

I know how frustrating it can be when your baby is sick and nothing seems to be going well. I don't know which food Ellie is on, but Kiwi can't stand the Science Diet low protein (for the liver) diet. It made her itchy and stuff. Since she had been on Solid Gold prior to her liver problems, I went back and found out that one of the Solid Gold blends is low protein and now Kiwi is doing great!

Hopefully you can find something that works for Ellie and Kiwi sends her kisses from California! Maybe we could start a "liver support group" here for all of our yorkies with liver issues.

[Ellie May]

I will look into the honest kitchen, thank you. I am going to consult with a nutritionist (probably the one from U. of Tennessee). The problem is I don't have Ellie's diagnosis yet. They will need that. I am soooo ready to pull my hair out today. I hate all this processed dog food garbage. I know that I could use Dr. Dodds recipe, but I am not comfortable with that quite yet and I want to talk to a "professional". I am tired of this poor thing having problems.

[Ellie May]

I wouldn't take the SD from the vet. I had her order Royal Canin. It was the only thing in the order so I had to pay shipping. It cost me over $26 for 6 pounds of food and she might be allergic. Maybe it isn't even that. Maybe it's a mold or dust allergy or something making her itchy.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I will look into the honest kitchen, thank you. I am going to consult with a nutritionist (probably the one from U. of Tennessee). The problem is I don't have Ellie's diagnosis yet. They will need that. I am soooo ready to pull my hair out today. I hate all this processed dog food garbage. I know that I could use Dr. Dodds recipe, but I am not comfortable with that quite yet and I want to talk to a "professional". I am tired of this poor thing having problems.

You won't believe how much a nutritionist will ease your mind! A diagnosis is pretty essential - but even if you don't have one, but DO know you need low protein for now - that'll help. Low protein home cooking might be the way to go. Please keep us posted!

[Ellie May]

I just looked at Honest Kitchen. I am not sure about it because I don't think dogs with liver problems are supposed to have too much iron or copper. It looks too low in fat too. Bummer

[Wylie's Mom]

Here is the nutritionist I used, I linked you to the "liver" page: http://www.askariel.com/pages.asp?pid=liver

You could even print out her suggestions to run by your own nutritionist at the U. I always like 2 opinions!

[Yorkieluv]

Dr. Dodds recipe is a recipe that was made up by Dr. Dodds specifically for liver compromised dogs. That being said though, different dogs do well on different diets. I know your concerns about the UTIs...Did the vet check for stones/crystals? What was her ph?

[Ellie May]

I don't know what the ph was. She had an xray which wouldn't show those stones anyway. She didn't have an ultrasound. She did have a urine sample taken and I don't know if they looked for stones or not.