[somebodysme]

Long story short…my dog’s paws became infected after an allergic reaction to road salt over the winter. I tried everything to heal them up but ended up having to get a shot of anti-biotics and then a round of pills. Before that she had also been on antibiotics for UTI and demodex. So she’s been on lots of antibiotics and she’s only 15 months old. Her feet are healing up but there’s still a bit of dry scaly spots on them….I do not want to see them blossom back out into infection and swelling. UGH!

She also has some sort of allergies causing itching, red ears and watering eyes. She was tested for demodex but three scrapings came back negative.

My question after the brief history of her is: What supplements can I give her to help boost her immune system to counteract all the negativity of those antibiotics in her system. I’m giving her echinacea, vitamin C, B complex, A, E and cod liver oil. Also a human grade probiotic. Good? Bad? She is now on NV LID Turkey for her diet. A small amount of canned to give the pills with.

[pugmomsandy]

Those sound good. I also give astaxanthin and a supplement with Transfer Factor (currently Immunel with Transfer Factor from Swansonvitamins.com).

You also don’t want to give her or at least space them out for longer intervals (45 days) heartworm prevention and flea/tick meds because those are pesticides and add to her toxic load. Also don’t walk her in or let her play in areas that have been sprayed with pesticides. Also use a non toxic shampoo. I think good examples are Earthbath and Green Bulldog and I’m sure there are several more.

[somebodysme]

Thank you Sandy, for how long should I continue this immune boosting regimen. She had her last antibiotic pill about a week ago.

[pugmomsandy]

I give it 3 or 4 times a week all year. But if you don’t want to do it all the time, I’d definitely recc’ at least for a week after heartworm/flea/tick meds. Some folks give milk thistle for a week after heartworm meds to detox the liver. I give supplements all the time because we live in a polluted world! Just going on walks can be somewhat toxic! Who knows what’s in other people’s yards or the dog park. Even eating kibble can be taxing on the body and certain body organs.

Her history of being on many abx suggests she needs some sort of booster as abx kill off the good and bad organisms in the gut where the immune system is. Do you give probiotics regularly? Those help seed the gut with beneficial organisms and boost the immune system.

Demodex can take a long to recover from too. Can take months even with negative scrapes. My pup was a funny looking alien for almost a year. Had demodex, hair came back, demodex again, finally got over it. This was without any kind of booster since I didn’t know about them back then.

Since giving them boosters they don’t get sick even when my fosters come in with kennel cough or other skin infection and even sarcoptic mange. And they do mingle together when it’s p/p time.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 9 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[somebodysme]

As far as the astaxanthin that you suggested, do you just buy it for people usage? What mg pill do you buy? I give her a product called PB8 for a probiotic one pill each day. Human dosage is 2 per day.

See I just KNEW that her demodex had come back judging by her appearance but the vet didn’t see any sign of demodex and suggested from her appearance that she is suffering from allergies and most likely from her food. So we’ve been on Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch that did not seem to agree either and she was eating grass like she was possessed…HA! Her scratching was coming back and her ears were bugging her too. I bought a small bag of Nature’s Variety LID Turkey and have been giving her this for a couple days and the grass eating and slightly soft stole has already gone away. Luckily she is able to switch foods without any problems.

[pugmomsandy]

Right now I have Mercola astaxanthin for people – 4 mg capsule. I give it when I feed them raw because they don’t even notice it’s in there!! Stick a raw meat ball in their mouth and down the hatch without even blinking. I’ve got a homemade baggie thawing out right now.

[somebodysme]

Would one 4 or 5 mg pill be enough for a 50 lb dog? I think I saw the pills they have on Puritan’s Pride (where we order from ALL THE TIME!) they were either 5 or 6 mg. I definitely want to get on raw feeding and she absolutely loves raw food and has no stomach issues with it but I have to get this skin rash sorted out and all healed up before I can think about anything else. It appears as if the NV instinct LID Turkey is going to work out…she’s already stopped scratching. I had noticed every day on the Earthborn that her itching was coming back more. I’ll have to return the unused portion of that.

[pugmomsandy]

Yes, that’s more than enough. Mercola’s pet astathanxin is only 0.2 mg per tablet and a medium dog would get 2 tablets (0.4 mg).

[lovemypets4life]

holistic health extension has colostrum and apple cider vinegar in it to help boost the immune system

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