2 year old black spoo male, neutered. I groom him every 3/4 weeks, I post pictures of him here with various modifications to his continental trim. Very happy go lucky /goofy and a bit overly hyper.
I don't know what he eats now, but I believe in the past it was Science diet. If I had to make an educated guess I would guess he has been put on a perscription version of Science diet, she said today he was "back on the special food again"
Issue one;
cronic yeasty ears - most likely food allergy of some sort. Vet disagrees (???) and so far no allergy testing has been done. (Mom is looking for another vet as I understand it who will do the testing) mom cleans ears several times a week with cleaner bought at vet clinic. The dog is not on medication. This has been going on for at least a year now. I never clean his ears, I just pluck usualy if they need it. Normaly the cleaning has already been taken care of, if anything I wipe out with a gauze pad and make sure no water gets down there during the bath. Cleaned them today with her cleaner b/c she hadn't had time. It took 10 cotton swabs per ear... Gross. Not s super strong smell, you can't smell this dog from a distance. The yeast smell is slight even up close and evenif you smell right down into the ear, they are often red though.
Issue Two, this is a reccent one started the begining of October.
Cronic loose stool, sometimes progresses to bloody. vet has yet to determine the cause? Apparently one of her two cats also came down with the problem the same day he did. I haven't asked if the cat got better but the dog hasn't. The second cat is so far as I know fine. He has never cleared up entirely but had several more severe bouts of this issue over the past two months. In his two years of life he has proven himself to have a sensative stomach and has suffer once or twice from stress related digestive issues. He now gets no treats of any kind, only his daily ration of dog food, whic like I said I am not sure what it is at the moment. She says he also is getting plain yogurt twice a day and a special food(i don't know what exactly) to help ease his latest bout. He is also only being allowed to drink his home water, no water from anywhere else even though we live in the same town. So no water while he's here for grooming.
Issue three;
This poodle sheds....?? Since he boards all day with me when he is groomed and he is such a complicated type groom I tend not to book other dogs to come in on his days. So he gets to come in and hang out in the house with me, he is exceptionaly good buddies with my four dogs and has been for over a year (none of them by the way are having any digestive issues). I have noticed that he does seem to lose more hair during brushing than other poodles I've groomed, leaves hair in the tub too. He also usualy leave a little clump or two on the carpet in my living room. Until today I thought the clumps being left on my carpet were tiny bits of hair that had been scissored and stuck to his feet or something. I did start to wonder about the amont of hair he left in the brush and tub on his last visit but thats because my new tub is white and it's more obvious than it was before. Sometimes I notice a tiny bit of dandruff. Today she asked me about him shedding, said he leaves clumps of hair all over her house all the time. I was surprised to hear that. For a dog that loses the amount of hair he seems to I would think his coat would begin to look sparse, not at all. It's really thick and really soft, which is why it matts like crazy if she lets brushing get away from her. You cant just grab hold of a bit of hair and pull and get hair out of him. It usualy comes out in a brush or just appears on the carpet.
So the staff at her vet clinic reconize her voice on the phone now, she has him or her cats in frequently enough to be probably one of their best clients
I don't know for sure if this is her first dog, but I do know it is her first poodle. Supposedly he is "fully health tested" she really made an effort to do her research before getting him. She waited for him for a couple of years as I understand it. I don't know where she got him from though she has told me once or twice, it isn't a big name kennel or anything and the breeder doesn't show at all.
With a combo of problems like this what do you make of this dog? Nutritional issues perhpas? Thats was my first thought, which I never share with her. Is it common to run across poodles that shed like he does? He isn't a mix unless it's pretty far back in the pedigree. Poodles are all this breeder has. Are there genetic issues that would manifest themsevels in any of these ways or a combonation of them? My second though was stress in general. She keeps a reallly tight leash on him so to speak and he doesn't get to "be a dog" as often as he should. She was shuddering them morning when she dropped him off because my two spoos were out in the yard and the grass was wet from the morning dew. 'ugh, they're going to be all wet, I can't let him get wet, I can't stand it!!" Thats just one of many examples I could give you. what she wants seems to be that nice calm poodle that just hangs out and walks nicely on a lead and is friendly with strangers but never jumps up or gets overly excited. She does a ton of training with him, I think she's to regimented with him, he has to have permission to drink water at home.... You get the idea.
Mostly I'm just curious now. Where better to ask than here where somebody may have some grand insight into the problem or at the very least a different approch she can take to dealing with her first two issues if nothing else. I feel bad for both of them.
I don't know what he eats now, but I believe in the past it was Science diet. If I had to make an educated guess I would guess he has been put on a perscription version of Science diet, she said today he was "back on the special food again"
Issue one;
cronic yeasty ears - most likely food allergy of some sort. Vet disagrees (???) and so far no allergy testing has been done. (Mom is looking for another vet as I understand it who will do the testing) mom cleans ears several times a week with cleaner bought at vet clinic. The dog is not on medication. This has been going on for at least a year now. I never clean his ears, I just pluck usualy if they need it. Normaly the cleaning has already been taken care of, if anything I wipe out with a gauze pad and make sure no water gets down there during the bath. Cleaned them today with her cleaner b/c she hadn't had time. It took 10 cotton swabs per ear... Gross. Not s super strong smell, you can't smell this dog from a distance. The yeast smell is slight even up close and evenif you smell right down into the ear, they are often red though.
Issue Two, this is a reccent one started the begining of October.
Cronic loose stool, sometimes progresses to bloody. vet has yet to determine the cause? Apparently one of her two cats also came down with the problem the same day he did. I haven't asked if the cat got better but the dog hasn't. The second cat is so far as I know fine. He has never cleared up entirely but had several more severe bouts of this issue over the past two months. In his two years of life he has proven himself to have a sensative stomach and has suffer once or twice from stress related digestive issues. He now gets no treats of any kind, only his daily ration of dog food, whic like I said I am not sure what it is at the moment. She says he also is getting plain yogurt twice a day and a special food(i don't know what exactly) to help ease his latest bout. He is also only being allowed to drink his home water, no water from anywhere else even though we live in the same town. So no water while he's here for grooming.
Issue three;
This poodle sheds....?? Since he boards all day with me when he is groomed and he is such a complicated type groom I tend not to book other dogs to come in on his days. So he gets to come in and hang out in the house with me, he is exceptionaly good buddies with my four dogs and has been for over a year (none of them by the way are having any digestive issues). I have noticed that he does seem to lose more hair during brushing than other poodles I've groomed, leaves hair in the tub too. He also usualy leave a little clump or two on the carpet in my living room. Until today I thought the clumps being left on my carpet were tiny bits of hair that had been scissored and stuck to his feet or something. I did start to wonder about the amont of hair he left in the brush and tub on his last visit but thats because my new tub is white and it's more obvious than it was before. Sometimes I notice a tiny bit of dandruff. Today she asked me about him shedding, said he leaves clumps of hair all over her house all the time. I was surprised to hear that. For a dog that loses the amount of hair he seems to I would think his coat would begin to look sparse, not at all. It's really thick and really soft, which is why it matts like crazy if she lets brushing get away from her. You cant just grab hold of a bit of hair and pull and get hair out of him. It usualy comes out in a brush or just appears on the carpet.
So the staff at her vet clinic reconize her voice on the phone now, she has him or her cats in frequently enough to be probably one of their best clients
I don't know for sure if this is her first dog, but I do know it is her first poodle. Supposedly he is "fully health tested" she really made an effort to do her research before getting him. She waited for him for a couple of years as I understand it. I don't know where she got him from though she has told me once or twice, it isn't a big name kennel or anything and the breeder doesn't show at all.
With a combo of problems like this what do you make of this dog? Nutritional issues perhpas? Thats was my first thought, which I never share with her. Is it common to run across poodles that shed like he does? He isn't a mix unless it's pretty far back in the pedigree. Poodles are all this breeder has. Are there genetic issues that would manifest themsevels in any of these ways or a combonation of them? My second though was stress in general. She keeps a reallly tight leash on him so to speak and he doesn't get to "be a dog" as often as he should. She was shuddering them morning when she dropped him off because my two spoos were out in the yard and the grass was wet from the morning dew. 'ugh, they're going to be all wet, I can't let him get wet, I can't stand it!!" Thats just one of many examples I could give you. what she wants seems to be that nice calm poodle that just hangs out and walks nicely on a lead and is friendly with strangers but never jumps up or gets overly excited. She does a ton of training with him, I think she's to regimented with him, he has to have permission to drink water at home.... You get the idea.
Mostly I'm just curious now. Where better to ask than here where somebody may have some grand insight into the problem or at the very least a different approch she can take to dealing with her first two issues if nothing else. I feel bad for both of them.