Need help, Constant Staph infections

[Buddy16]

Okay, I had a previous thread about this but would like to start another. I will try to explain things differently and as best as I can. Lincoln, my 5 year old Belgian Malinois has been getting what the vet is saying staph infections on his skin. This is non stop...what happens is he will itch non stop (hes on 2mg of Predisolone and 5mg of Trimeprazine every other day). I will check his skin and it will feel lumpy (like little round lumps under his skin) that will burzt in a few days and leak clear white stuff, bleed then heal.

I run to the vets, $60 each time (plus the cost of pills) and all the vet does is do an exam and say "thats staph heres some antibiotics". In January he had a really bad one, they gave me Keflex for 2 weeks and I requested 3 weeks. This dog has been on keflex 4 times and I am often wondering if this is the same infection from the very first time that has developed an immunity to Keflex.

So anyway, the January episode I fed canned food for 4 days prior to noticing his break out. He gets put on antibiotics and hes fine until 5 days ago. He breaks out in another one (pic below). I tried to treat it with Vetrecyn to no avail (maybe I wasnt patient enough). So I brought him in for Blood work and an exam decided to just pay for it all at once. The blood work results are below as well. I have blood work from 2010 and 2008 if needed. I ask the vet for a different antibiotic other then Keflex so she gives me Orbax for 14 days. I request 21 days but not so sure I want to use it for 21 as ive been reading its a very strong one. What was I feeding 4 days prior to this break out? Canned food. Common ingredient in this can and the previous can from January's break out? Chicken. Different brand but each had chicken which is not in either his kibble or treats. He only gets in once a month for a few days as a treat in his evening meal. Ive since stopped

Now, my Visa/Mastercard will not allow anymore trips to the vet until I pay the $800 total I ow between both cards. So unless hes half dead or in serious pain I cannot take him in until I pay this down which will take 3 months.

I am at loss on what to try. I am open to any supplements that people may suggest? He is on 500mg of Vitamin C a day, 200IU of Vitamin E a day and his joint pills. He also gets a Vanactyl P pill once every other day.

Can anyone suggest anything else? I am not even sure its staph. Hes never had a skin scrape for it

Spot, he gets these in various part when he breaks out. Usually find 1-2 per break out. Its shiny because I put some anti inflammatory scream stuff on it (Surolan). Its also really lumpy

Blood Work (I whited out my personal info in paint before posting) Also the vet got his weight and breed totally wrong...hes a Belgian Shepherd (Malinois)

 

[Buddy16]

I also just started the Vitamin C and E about a week ago. He was on fish oil from the vet but it did nothing and I didnt want to continue to give it if it wasnt helping as he has a sensitive gut

 

[Buddy16]

He is also on Optimmune for his Pannus he has in both his eyes but I was told that just suppresses the local immune system (in the eyes). He also hasnt had a vaccination since January 2009 (no rabies, DHLPP nothing..)

 

[Denissov43]

What food do you feed him regularly?

a staph infection is a sign of a seriously weakened immune system and a good indicator of a system that is out of whack... his blood work only shows you what ranges he is in for specific items that might 'ear mark' something internallly wrong with him, but will NOT show you that his immune system is not functioning optimally.
some supplements that would help would be advisable, but also a dietary change might be in order and I mean a complete overhaul...
immune system boosters that would certainly aid him in fighting off a staph infection would be;
Echineacea and Golden seal; double or triple a normal dosage for at least a month or more
Vitamin C (ester C is best) 500-1000 mg 2 x's or 3'x a day
Garlic capsules (not in the onion family and not a problem for dogs) 250-500 mg
Astaxanthin and Zeoxanthin two capsules of each or either daily (would help his eyes as would Lutein 40mg daily)
Quercetin with Bromelain ( a fabulous supplement for dogs with many allergies) 3-4 capsules a day
a tablespoon or two of Nutritional yeast added to his food
and try a diet that is free of allergy causing grains like corn or wheat and try making some food for him like rice and lamb or Rice and beef or a bit of both...
Rice is great for sensitive stomach and some plain white rice cooked and kept in the fridge mixed with some par boiled (but preferably) raw meat like beef chunks and or lamb, or chicken;
two cups of rice and 3/4 lb to 1 lb of meat a day should be a pretty good diet for 65 lb malinois... unless he looks like he is still hungry then you can add up to 1 lb a day of meat, a couple times a week add Some fresh chopped up KALE or spinach finely chopped ( a couple tablespoons), and a raw egg a couple times a week once a week a small can or half tin of sardines and a couple tablespoons of mackeral is a healthy addition as well. Fish about 2-3 times a week start out with just a piece of it out of tin as they love it but it can cause their stools to be 'loose' if you give them too much at once. Some yogurt or kefir daily as well... some digestive enzymes would help alot as well.

these changes in diet and supplementation should affect some results rather quickly... like in a few weeks to a month if not sooner.

 

[Buddy16]

He is fed Purina Pro Plan Salmon/Rice. No wheat, corn or by products in there. Its not the best but its the only food he can eat and have normal poops on (so I dont think I want to change this right now). Ive tried grain free, RAW..nothing works. I am a bit worried about adding all those supplements at once. His gut is VERY sensitive. Is there a certain type of Echineacea I need or can I just grab the one from the human pharmacy that comes in pill form? What is Golden Seal? I can also grab Garlic Pills from the human pharmacy as well?

I heard Zinc would help with his skin issues could I try that and how much should I try?

So if I add all the above he will be on 6 supplements..is that safe?

Is there a specific test I can run that will show his immune function? I dont mind running tests once I pay down my cards. I was thinking about starting with a full thyroid evaluated by Dr Dodds? Once I get paid in two weeks I will for sure grab him some Echineacea pills and Garlic pills. I have to wean him on everything slowly.

Is there a reference to show that garlic is fine for dogs? I was always told it was very bad to give and knowing my luck... I also read about Colostrum (sp?) is that stuff any good? Any specific type of yogurt? His skin is very dry and flaky and ive tried fish oil but stopped giving it because it wasnt doing anything.

Sorry for being all over the place, its 1:30am here and im half asleep so ill have to check this thread in the morning. I rotate between two shampoos and I use the same cream rinse.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/proseb-shampoo-can.html from the vet (I leave it on for 5 minutes)

http://www.jefferspet.com/davis-melaleuca-shampoo/p/0034226/cn/1001324/ (Rinse right away)

Then I just started to use this after I shampoo

http://www.petco.com/product/104009/TropiClean-Oxy-Med-Medicated-Oatmeal-Rinse.aspx (leave on for 3 minutes)

I do this once a week. Not sure if I can do it more often. I find it I leave it more then once a week his coat gets greasy and gross

 

[Buddy16]

Wow this dog will be eating healthier then me haha. Thats okay, I love him more then anything. I can add some spinach and kale (ill rotate). Beef is a bit harsh on his system I find but he loves Turkey. So what ill do when Turkey is on sale ill grab a few and cut them up and cook them to mix with his kibble. Im not comfortable pulling him off his kibble totally but I have no objections to adding things to his kibble and taking some kibble away. Ill have to grab every thing at the end of the month right now I will make a list and scour sales. He is 60 pounds now. The vet paper is wrong hes not 65 (that was his previous weight in January they must of forgot to record his weight this time). He always acts hungry. I could let him eat 10 cups and he will want more...

Right now hes getting 1 cup of kibble in the morning and 1 at night. Anymore he will be the Good year blimp. He also gets an hour sometimes more exercise a day..I asked the vet about a thyroid problem and she said because hes not fat and lazy he doesnt have a thyroid problem.

Does the picture above look like a staph infection to you? Next time ill have the vet do a skin scrape to send for a culture.

 

[Judith]

Has your vet tried hydroxyzine which is an antihistamine, Staph infection is a symptom to allergies it could be something as simple as pollen, you may need to get an allergy test on him to rule out what he is sensitive to, also add some live plain yoghurt to his feed or just give it on its own as a treat to put some good bacteria back in his gut as lots of antibiotics kill the good bacteria as well as the bad, also have his thyroid checked, bless him i hope you find the cause of all these breakouts.

 

[Buddy16]

The vet has tried hydroxyzine and it did nothing . She wants him on their "prescription food" as much as I do not like that food I was going to try it until I saw the price. Would cost me $160 a month to feed him. No thanks. Allergy test would cost $600 and I do not have that right now. At least thats what it was at the other vet but ill ask her what she charges. I do not think its pollen...why? Hes like this year round. Even in the middle of winter. I put him outside for a few days in chilly weather in his run out back to see if it was something inside the house. Nope. He was still itching away.

Which is why I want to run Dr Dodds food allergy test kit (Nutriscan) and thyroid test first. I just want him on supplements now to help boost his immune system until I can pay my bill down because as of now, I cannot pay for anymore trips to the vet. The money isnt there

 

[Denissov43]

all the drugs in the world will only mask symptoms... they are not cures... cures are problem fixers and the problem is a compromised immune system clearly by the fact he cannot fight off the staph that is around everywhere in our world and we are all subjected to it, but only those who are weak in immune system cannot fight it off naturally.
He is sensitive because he is on a diet that is not a diet he can manage.. he is masking symptoms by masking problems when you feed him a food like Pro Plan that is devoid of any real nutrition. Sorry, but Purina is the worst dog food maker bar none.
Not one Purina product should be fed to ANY dog... but thats my NOT SO humble opinion from years of experience and years of knowledge about the company.
I would never feed a dog a purina product ever...
but thats just me... he is sensitive because his stomach has never had an opportunity to process real food for any length of time. Runny poops are perfectly normal actually but we owners automatically think that runny means 'bad'... not so.... the normal digestive process is to acclimate slowly to a dietary change. so if you acclimate him slowly to a raw food change he will process it but it takes time.. often it takes months for a dogs system to finally run effectively on a food that is an optimal nutrition item..
beef is a great source of protein and a natural one that dogs in the wild would eat, so is lamb, and so is pork and so is goat and rabbit, chicken and turkey would be last... fish would also be one they would naturally find if they could hunt...
so My recommendation is to use a high value source of food that you add to his 'kibble' while you take a month or two to transition him to a totally new diet that has only real foods that YOU KNOW absolutely WHATS IN there...
If he likes turkey? great.. start with turkey necks and tails... giblets and hearts too... give him some par boiled turkey necks chopped into 1-2 inch segments. Par boiling means like 3 minutes tops... it just scalds the flesh to that its sort of cooked but not entirely. If you give him stew meat like lamb stew meat or beef stew meat same deal... either flash sear in a really hot pan with olive oil and sear the outer flesh for a minute or a minute and half and then cool it and chop it and serve it with his 'kibble' but remove the portion of kibble amount and add the raw/ par cooked portion of meat... add some chopped kale, some kefir or yogurt (1/8 cup or so) and some digestive enzymes (pet digestive enzymes) and some rice (1/2 cup) with that much LESS kibble... so if you put in one cup of meat, 1/2 cup of rice and 1/8 cup of kefir or yogurt, and then remove that much kibble and mix this together and give it to him as a morning meal... add the echineacea and golden seal capsules sprinkle them over the food or give them to him in a meat ball or a bite of yogurt and he should start to show some signs of improvement in a month...
ALL vitamins are human grade.. I would not give my dog anything that was not human grade and the kind of supplements I take are the 'good one's... Solgar is a good brand, so is Doctor's Best, and so is Udo's choice or Natures Way herbals...
Echineacea and Golden seal by Natures way is about $10 and Quercetin and Bromelain is about the same and he could go through a bottle per month easily..
these will make a big difference but it takes a month or so to notice it...
Its cheaper to COOK for your dog than it is to buy ANY decent kibble and Pro Plan is barely decent and its more expensive than to simply cook him rice and meat daily if he only eats 2 cups a day? he should eat one big meal and not two small ones, it seems like it would be the opposite but dogs have a stomach that was intended to gorge and then not eat for days... so a larger meal per day or every other day is actually better for than small meals per day. Their stomach must stretch out for them to secrete the digestive enzymes that dogs have in their stomachs.. if they never stretch the stomach? Guess what? NO digestive enzymes secret and therefore their food goes mostly un digested.... the complete reverse of how we humans try to eat...
try feeding him 4 cups of FOOD ( real food you have prepared) every other day... same amount of food completely different assimilation and completely different bio availability...
I feed mine raw and I feed large meals now 4-5 times a week... one or two days of fasting.... 3 would be optimal, but they simply annoy me on the days they do not eat because we are eating, not because they are 'hungry'.... they are not hungry (one weighs 84lbs and one weighs 94 lbs).... healthy happy and not hungry, just bored and used to having treats and snacks from us...
Just a suggestion...
what have you got to lose? Just try it for a few months and see what happens? improvement will be noticed in a month... and only optimal health will be achieved when he has been doing this for several months!

 

[Buddy16]

He was on prey model raw for 2 years. He did great on this diet. Then in December he started to crap out whole bone and constantly got the runs (Im talking like outside every 20 minutes). We did stool samples, wormed him, treated him for giardia. Nothing helped. I tried adding real canned pumpkin to his diet, probiotics nothing helped.

I would have no objections to trying a new kibble...providing you or others can suggest one with NO Chicken, Wheat, Corn, Soy or By products.

 

[Liberty & Justice]

all the drugs in the world will only mask symptoms... they are not cures... cures are problem fixers and the problem is a compromised immune system clearly by the fact he cannot fight off the staph that is around everywhere in our world and we are all subjected to it, but only those who are weak in immune system cannot fight it off naturally.
He is sensitive because he is on a diet that is not a diet he can manage.. he is masking symptoms by masking problems when you feed him a food like Pro Plan that is devoid of any real nutrition. Sorry, but Purina is the worst dog food maker bar none.
Not one Purina product should be fed to ANY dog... but thats my NOT SO humble opinion from years of experience and years of knowledge about the company.
I would never feed a dog a purina product ever...
but thats just me... he is sensitive because his stomach has never had an opportunity to process real food for any length of time. Runny poops are perfectly normal actually but we owners automatically think that runny means 'bad'... not so.... the normal digestive process is to acclimate slowly to a dietary change. so if you acclimate him slowly to a raw food change he will process it but it takes time.. often it takes months for a dogs system to finally run effectively on a food that is an optimal nutrition item..
beef is a great source of protein and a natural one that dogs in the wild would eat, so is lamb, and so is pork and so is goat and rabbit, chicken and turkey would be last... fish would also be one they would naturally find if they could hunt...
so My recommendation is to use a high value source of food that you add to his 'kibble' while you take a month or two to transition him to a totally new diet that has only real foods that YOU KNOW absolutely WHATS IN there...
If he likes turkey? great.. start with turkey necks and tails... giblets and hearts too... give him some par boiled turkey necks chopped into 1-2 inch segments. Par boiling means like 3 minutes tops... it just scalds the flesh to that its sort of cooked but not entirely. If you give him stew meat like lamb stew meat or beef stew meat same deal... either flash sear in a really hot pan with olive oil and sear the outer flesh for a minute or a minute and half and then cool it and chop it and serve it with his 'kibble' but remove the portion of kibble amount and add the raw/ par cooked portion of meat... add some chopped kale, some kefir or yogurt (1/8 cup or so) and some digestive enzymes (pet digestive enzymes) and some rice (1/2 cup) with that much LESS kibble... so if you put in one cup of meat, 1/2 cup of rice and 1/8 cup of kefir or yogurt, and then remove that much kibble and mix this together and give it to him as a morning meal... add the echineacea and golden seal capsules sprinkle them over the food or give them to him in a meat ball or a bite of yogurt and he should start to show some signs of improvement in a month...
ALL vitamins are human grade.. I would not give my dog anything that was not human grade and the kind of supplements I take are the 'good one's... Solgar is a good brand, so is Doctor's Best, and so is Udo's choice or Natures Way herbals...
Echineacea and Golden seal by Natures way is about $10 and Quercetin and Bromelain is about the same and he could go through a bottle per month easily..
these will make a big difference but it takes a month or so to notice it...
Its cheaper to COOK for your dog than it is to buy ANY decent kibble and Pro Plan is barely decent and its more expensive than to simply cook him rice and meat daily if he only eats 2 cups a day? he should eat one big meal and not two small ones, it seems like it would be the opposite but dogs have a stomach that was intended to gorge and then not eat for days... so a larger meal per day or every other day is actually better for than small meals per day. Their stomach must stretch out for them to secrete the digestive enzymes that dogs have in their stomachs.. if they never stretch the stomach? Guess what? NO digestive enzymes secret and therefore their food goes mostly un digested.... the complete reverse of how we humans try to eat...
try feeding him 4 cups of FOOD ( real food you have prepared) every other day... same amount of food completely different assimilation and completely different bio availability...
I feed mine raw and I feed large meals now 4-5 times a week... one or two days of fasting.... 3 would be optimal, but they simply annoy me on the days they do not eat because we are eating, not because they are 'hungry'.... they are not hungry (one weighs 84lbs and one weighs 94 lbs).... healthy happy and not hungry, just bored and used to having treats and snacks from us...
Just a suggestion...
what have you got to lose? Just try it for a few months and see what happens? improvement will be noticed in a month... and only optimal health will be achieved when he has been doing this for several months!

Very, very informative, great feedback ! Well written as well.

 

[Liberty & Justice]

He was on prey model raw for 2 years. He did great on this diet. Then in December he started to crap out whole bone and constantly got the runs (Im talking like outside every 20 minutes). We did stool samples, wormed him, treated him for giardia. Nothing helped. I tried adding real canned pumpkin to his diet, probiotics nothing helped.

I would have no objections to trying a new kibble...providing you or others can suggest one with NO Chicken, Wheat, Corn, Soy or By products.

Well I may have to say " ZIWIPEAK " is the absolute BEST if your trying to feed raw without a lot of the balancing. I have fed this for quite sometime after coming off a RAW diet for Justice. HE LOVES this diet and it's the absolute best thing you can buy in a bag. Not cheap, but I frown on restricting a dogs nutrition and health for that coffee a day most of us drink and claim they cannot afford a proper diet for their best friends.

Give it at least a look, it's made in New Zealand which has the most strict laws on what can be put in an animals food.


www.ziwipeak.com

Hope this helps since you've tried the raw diet before. Oh and don't look at the 11 lbs bags and say " WHAT THE HELL " when you see the price. You only have to feed a couple of cups a day so it lasts a bit longer than one would think. I buy 2 bags a month so " $ 280.00 " plus I use the wet food as well since my boy is so dang spoiled and has gotten used to wet/dry mix.

 

[Buddy16]

I will take a look. I fell disabled and had to go on disability so im not making any where near what I was making before. So financially im restricted. How long does a bag last you? I also have no objections to maybe going half kibble half Ziwi Peak/Honest Kitchen

 

[Liberty & Justice]

I will take a look. I fell disabled and had to go on disability so im not making any where near what I was making before. So financially im restricted. How long does a bag last you? I also have no objections to maybe going half kibble half Ziwi Peak/Honest Kitchen

Well it's really hard to say. I mix in a lot of steak, lamb, chicken more often than not and go thru 2 bags a month on average. I will say this " Justice is exceptionally active " as if I would guess he runs 2-3 miles a day on average. Sometimes our hikes our 7 miles on the weekend and he probably doubles that with all the doubling back he does.

So with measure you may get that bag to last you a month alone. It's really, really good stuff and you won't find a negative comment about it from any reliable source. I've done TONS AND TONS of research on foods this past year for what it's worth.

Sorry to hear about your financial set back, good things will come out of this. I do wish you well !

 

[Denissov43]

Buddy: a 20 lb bag of rice costs about $10 bux.... 1 lb of meat a day for him will cost you about $2/ day... so $60 bux a month for meat and $5 bux for rice.... 20 lbs of rice goes a LONG ways...
also you can buy your 'dog food' on food stamps on disability.... if you feed rice and meat and he can eat some of what you eat... so the biggest cost is the supplements right now, and those are gonna run you about $25 total...
and they will last you about 2 months.
dry dog food is around $2/lb for that you are feeding and its crap in comparison... Ziwipeak is very expensive.
I spend about $80/ week on raw meat for my two dogs... they eat about 5 lbs a day so it ads up quick.. but I can afford it.
I think your food bill will be cheaper than a a bag of pro plan if you feed him what you eat... rice and meat and the occasional egg, a couple cans of sardines, a bunch of kale and some yogurt and you can buy one container of plain yogurt and then make your own from then on with whole milk or even 2% you can also use goats milk if you have access from a local rancher or goat herd (not everywhere but not that uncommon) make your own food for your dog and you will save hundreds if not thousands of vet bills and he will be healthier and you will see it in him...

 

[Buddy16]

I am in Canada. We dont have food stamps. I can get mechanically separated boneless turkey for 89 cents a pound at my local butcher (its only sold for dog food) and I could cook that up. If I am buying human grade meat im looking anywhere from $3.99/lb to $5.99/lb. When he was on raw he was getting 2lbs a day. It is also my understanding rice isnt good for dogs would this diet be something he will be on his life or just for a period of time?

 

[Buddy16]

Okay heres what I am going to do. Its making me very nervous to do so but I have to at least try. I am going to grab a bag of Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain Dog food. If I cannot find that ill grab a bag of the Pacific Stream. I will try him on that. It is MUCH better then the Purina. I am sure he will be crapping through the eye of a needle for a month while he adjusts. But, I thought about it tonight. I took him off raw the middle of October 2011. I put him on Purina right after. His first skin infection was December 5th 2011....been going ever since. He didnt have a skin infection for the whole period he was on raw. I wonder if its the Purina thats the problem and once I get him adjusted to a healthier food he will get better.

I wont like the price BUT I would much rather pay $80 per month for a bag of food verses $32.99 for Purina plus $150 for vet bills a month when he needs his antibiotics...thats the attitude I gotta think with when I am about to run my Master Card through one last time then thats it until I can pay it off because it will be over my limit and thats some scary stuff!

 

[Marinegeekswife]

I would have no objections to trying a new kibble...providing you or others can suggest one with NO Chicken, Wheat, Corn, Soy or By products.

I can only speak to what I know. Our boy Spock has a VERY sensitive stomach. After trying 4 or 5 different foods, vet suggestions, etc. we put him on Natural Balance LID (limited ingredient diet) Sweet Potato & Venison and 1/4 can of Tripett's Original Green Tripe. It has made all the difference in the world. Neither is terribly expensive and they've done wonders for the boy's digestive system.

 

[Buddy16]

22lbs of Natural Balance was $80 before taxes. I did check into it and if this one doesnt work I was considering it.

 

[Marinegeekswife]

22lbs of Natural Balance was $80 before taxes. I did check into it and if this one doesnt work I was considering it.

Goodness prices are inflated up there. I pay $55.99 for a 28 lbs bag before taxes. Btw, here is the Tripett website: http://www.tripett.com/Home.html