At our wits' end...sorry it's long!

[LaylasHumans]

My bf an I are the proud parents of a white female boxer named Layla. My bf rescued her from a local shelter. The shelter told us she had the contagious form of mange, which is strange because the other two dogs and our cat do not have it. One vet told us it was the non-contagious form of mange. Another said it was food allergies. Yet another said it was cancer. She goes through cycles of losing roughly 90% of her hair, then as it starts to grow back, it falls out again. She has also stopped eating her food. We've tried adding canned food to it, adding water, and all sorts of other things. No matter what, she still won't eat it. We've even tried switching brands to see if maybe it's because she doesn't like the taste, but at best she'll get through 3/4 of a bag and stop eating it. When we tell her it's time to eat and we set her bowl down, she sniffs the food, then goes and lays down in her bed. We are at our wits' end at this point and can't really afford yet another vet (they are EXPENSIVE here - minimum $195 for a simple office call, not to mention tests and medication!) telling us they don't know what's wrong, or misdiagnosing her. We do know she's cutting teeth, so we tried softening her food but she still won't touch it. Friends suggested a diet of boiled chicken breast, rice, and vegetables, but we're on a very fixed income and can't really afford that. Aside from the BARF diet, is there anything else we can try? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Cami]

You REALLY need to get an accurate diagnosis.
"Contagious" mange equals sarcoptic mange and is not only contagious to other animals but to HUMANS.
Demodectic mange isn't "contagious" per say but could have come from the mother (you mentioned teething so I suspect she is a pup). The shelter *may*have been saying "contagious" in that respect. Just a thought.
Hard to believe that one vet offered a diagnosis of CANCER with no further means of treatment. What type of cancer?
You say losing roughly 90% of her hair. This would mean that she would be nearly BALD all over??
Any allergy symptoms? Itching, scratching, licking, discharge from eyes, nose?
Again, assuming she is a pup......you have tried far too many food changes and add-ins in a very short period of time. She is more than likely on her way to training you that she will hold out for something more tasty.
Is she gaining weight? Losing?
If she is losing weight then she isn't getting enough calories. If she is gaining/maintaining then she IS eating enough, perhaps just not what you think she should be eating.
How is her health aside from the hair loss?
Stools normal? Energy levels normal?

 

[LaylasHumans]

You REALLY need to get an accurate diagnosis.
"Contagious" mange equals sarcoptic mange and is not only contagious to other animals but to HUMANS.
Demodectic mange isn't "contagious" per say but could have come from the mother (you mentioned teething so I suspect she is a pup). The shelter *may*have been saying "contagious" in that respect. Just a thought.
Hard to believe that one vet offered a diagnosis of CANCER with no further means of treatment. What type of cancer?
You say losing roughly 90% of her hair. This would mean that she would be nearly BALD all over??
Any allergy symptoms? Itching, scratching, licking, discharge from eyes, nose?
Again, assuming she is a pup......you have tried far too many food changes and add-ins in a very short period of time. She is more than likely on her way to training you that she will hold out for something more tasty.
Is she gaining weight? Losing?
If she is losing weight then she isn't getting enough calories. If she is gaining/maintaining then she IS eating enough, perhaps just not what you think she should be eating.
How is her health aside from the hair loss?
Stools normal? Energy levels normal?

The shelter was treating her for sarcoptic mange with medicated rinses and antibiotics. The first vet said demodectic mange, no known origin. Gave her antibiotics first, and when that did nothing, she started getting weekly injections of stronger antibiotics. Second vet said food allergies, possibly corn and wheat, but said nothing about changing her food. Third vet said cancer. I was out of town for both the second and third vet visits, so I'm just going by what my bf told me.

Layla is roughly 2 years old. The shelter got her as a voluntary owner relinquish, and the owner gave only partial records on her. She has a 5-6 inch scar on her tummy, but nobody seems to know if she's been spayed, or if the scar was due to surgery as a puppy. She was estimated to be 7 months old when my bf adopted her, and she had the scar then.

She seems to be stable as far as weight loss or gain. She has watery/slimy discharge from her eyes, and a vet said it was normal for Boxers. Her stools are normal, urine output is normal, she's VERY active, but seems itchy because she wiggles and rubs on the carpet when laying on her back. The thickest patches of fur she has is between her shoulderblades and on the top of her head. Her skin is pink.

According to the dog food bag, we're supposed to feed her twice per day, and give her 5 3/4 cups of food for 90 pounds of body weight, and add an additional 1/2 cup per 15 pounds. If that's the case, with her being about 153 pounds, we would have to feed her 7 3/4 cups of food twice per day. That's a LOT of food...it would completely fill her bowl!

We soaked her food in hot water until it was softened this morning, but she didn't bother with eating it until this evening. We just don't know what else to do with her. My bf doesn't get paid until the beginning of the month, and he's decided to try to find a vet nearby who will work on a payment plan so we can find out what's going on with her. She does also have what looks like a tumor on the edge of her left ear, so we're getting that checked out too. I would think if Layla DOES have cancer, she would be on some sort of treatment for it, but she's not.

 

[EAO76]

Diagnosing mange is fairly straight forward. Have you done a skin scraping? Were there mites present? As Cami wrote you REALLY need a proper diagnosis. In regards to the financial issue you can take all her records to a more competent vet and go from there. At least they could take a look at what’s already been done so you aren’t repeating tests. If she is loosing 90% of her hair then I doubt its allergies. Allergies don’t usually make a dog go completely bald. What treatments have you tried? We have had a lot of luck with Promeris for demodex mange it has cured the worst cases of mange I have ever seen. Some vets don’t prescribe it because the label doesnt specifically indicate treatment for mange but I have seen 1st hand the great results. Now if it’s the other type of mange I don’t think Promeris is effective.

Also if she is responding to mange treatment but then her hair falls out again that means you did not do the treatment long enough. Do not to stop treating until you get 2 negative skin scraps in a row (a month apart). Let me write that again you need to continue treating until you have two consecutive CLEAR skin scrapings a month apart. Some really bad cases of mange (in rare cases) will need 6months or more of treatments. You HAVE to stick with it. Stopping too soon (before you have TWO CLEAR scrapings) will cause the mange to return.

If you can give some more details about her age, how long you’ve had her, other symptoms etc then we can try to help more…

 

[EAO76]

I just looked it up and in 2009 they updated the Promeris label to include treatment for demodex mange. Also a quick search indicated that it may also be effective for sarcoptic mage too (you’ll have to do your own research for that one).

 

[Gatorblu]

Cami post brings up a lot of unanswered questions, that should be answered. If the scrapings were done and they found mange you need to treat that.

My first boxer Star was probably 75% bald from allergies before we started changing her diet. A limited ingredient diet would be the best way to find out what your dog would be allergic to. If you want to rule out grains a good grain free food, that is reasonable is Taste of the Wild. There are 3-4 different "flavors". You can get it at Tractor Supply.

I would also talk to the Humane Society or maybe a rescue and see if there are vets that are any good without that high price. I've lived in many parts of the country, tho' never in OH, but I've never paid that much for just an office visit.

 

[djheitz]

In one of your other posts you mentioned that she weighs about 150 lbs. Have you had her thyroid checked?

 

[srennie]

I'm confused too....why do you think she is cutting teeth? If she is at least 2 years old, she is not cutting teeth. How long have you had her? How long has she been having skin issues? The others asked great questions and without those answers it's really hard to offer anything helpful. I hope you find a way to get her on the road to a final recovery!

 

[LaylasHumans]

Diagnosing mange is fairly straight forward. Have you done a skin scraping? Were there mites present? As Cami wrote you REALLY need a proper diagnosis. In regards to the financial issue you can take all her records to a more competent vet and go from there. At least they could take a look at what’s already been done so you aren’t repeating tests. If she is loosing 90% of her hair then I doubt its allergies. Allergies don’t usually make a dog go completely bald. What treatments have you tried? We have had a lot of luck with Promeris for demodex mange it has cured the worst cases of mange I have ever seen. Some vets don’t prescribe it because the label doesnt specifically indicate treatment for mange but I have seen 1st hand the great results. Now if it’s the other type of mange I don’t think Promeris is effective.

Also if she is responding to mange treatment but then her hair falls out again that means you did not do the treatment long enough. Do not to stop treating until you get 2 negative skin scraps in a row (a month apart). Let me write that again you need to continue treating until you have two consecutive CLEAR skin scrapings a month apart. Some really bad cases of mange (in rare cases) will need 6months or more of treatments. You HAVE to stick with it. Stopping too soon (before you have TWO CLEAR scrapings) will cause the mange to return.

If you can give some more details about her age, how long you’ve had her, other symptoms etc then we can try to help more…

Layla is about 2 years old, my bf adopted her when she was 7 months old (the shelter said she had sarcoptic mange, but did not respond to treatment). The vet who said she has demodectic mange did a scraping and said there COULD be mites but couldn't tell gave us treatments. We went through pills, then injections. We went through the entire amount of what Layla was supposed to have each time, and just when we thought things were clearing up, she started losing hair again. My bf tried to take her back to the vet who did the scrapings for followups, but the vet refused to deal with her because she barked too much and too loud.

The shelter was giving her pills and medicated rinse treatments, which were finished at home. But if she had sarcoptic mange, the other animals (and possibly us as well) would have gotten it, and so far, nothing. Two vet visits were done by my bf while I was out of town, so I'm going by his word.

 

[LaylasHumans]

I'm confused too....why do you think she is cutting teeth? If she is at least 2 years old, she is not cutting teeth. How long have you had her? How long has she been having skin issues? The others asked great questions and without those answers it's really hard to offer anything helpful. I hope you find a way to get her on the road to a final recovery!

I know she's cutting teeth because she has teeth just popping through her gums, and the areas around those are red and slightly swollen.

This morning, we added half a packet of Pedigree Little Champions ground wet food to her kibble and some warm water to make a gravy. She CLEANED out the bowl. We are going to try adding a small amount of canned food to her kibble with warm water to see if she'll eat it. My sister says that dogs associate eating with smells, and maybe she doesn't like the smell of kibble, and that the wet food will make it smell better to her. We can only hope, but I think we're still taking Layla to a vet once my bf gets his checks.