dog with mange

[Guest guest]

, " Edith Ziegler " <edefreedom1945

wrote:

 

 

 

 

<<<<<As for feeding bones he will not chew on a bone.>>>>>>>>

 

 

 

 

Oh dear... There's no way he's going to be able to get proper nourishment if he

won't eat any RMBs.

 

How about this...try cutting just one or two very small ribs from a small

chicken or cornish game hen breast that are still attached to a nice hunk of

meat, and then put them in a ziplock bag and smash them to smithereens with a

hammer and see if he'll eat them. If he won't go for that, you could also take

morsel of these same smashed RMBs and wrap it inside of a little slice of some

kind of boneless meat/heart/liver or whatever you know he definitely likes, make

a fuss over it as if it's something very wonderful and let him gobble it down as

if it's a special treat.

 

Smashing small, very meaty RMB's with a mallet or hammer and then finding ways

to disguise small pieces of them with something yummy might be a good way to

start getting some bone into him. It would definitely worth a try anyway.

 

In lieu of RMBs, you also might want to consider feeding him some dried powdered

eggshells. You can make you own by drying empty eggshells and then grinding them

in a clean (in other words new - not used for coffee beans) coffee grinder, or

you can buy them here:

 

 

http://www.pet-grub.com/pet-supplements/eggshellent-calcium.pets

 

It doesn't take much supplemental powdered eggshell to provide a healthy daily

dose of calcium, and it's something your dog really needs.

 

I think it's really vital that you find a way to get a high quality source of

calcium into this dog on a regular basis. My concern is that long as he's

deficient in calcium and the other macro minerals found in RMBs, his body may

not be able to heal itself no matter what topical remedies you try to get rid of

this mange.

 

 

 

<<<I have tried and the best I can do is to remove the covering on the end of

a chicken leg bone.>>>

 

 

Great! Start by offering him more fibrous connective tissue that's still

attached to a hunk of raw meat, such as cartilage, sinew, gristle and tendons

etc more often, which is not only really good for helping to improve his oral

health, but may also pave the way and help encourage him to take the next step

to smashed meaty bones.

 

 

 

 

<<<<He will not chew on anything that is the least bit hard.>>>>>

 

 

 

 

Another suggestion,if you haven't done it already, is to have his mouth checked

out by a vet. If he has any gingivitis, periodontal disease or sore, rotting or

loose teeth, it might be very painful for him to eat, and this might be at least

one reason why he's so reluctant to tackle any RMBs. It's possible that he

might need to have his teeth professionally cleaned, or maybe he even have a

tooth or two extracted.

 

 

 

<<<He is afraid of any dish I have tried to get him to eat out of.>>>

 

 

 

 

Then forget trying to feed him from a dish altogether. Instead, put something

like a towel, old bathmat or a place mat flat on the floor and let him eat off

that.

 

 

 

<<<As for fish oil I am leery of that with all the mercury that is in fish so

I have purchased organic sun flower seed oil.>>>>

 

 

 

Sunflower seed oil, since it's a plant based oil as opposed to an animal based

fat, is much less bioavailable, nutritionally speaking to your dog. Plant oils

require much more energy from a carnivore to transform into a form they can

assimilate, so they're much harder for your dog to digest than are animal based

fats.

 

I'd really suggest you discontinue feeding him sunflower seed oil and stick to

animal based fats instead.

 

If you get a high quality fish oil, particularly one that's derived from small

fish such as anchovies, herring and/or sardines, mercury shouldn't be an issue.

The smaller the fish, the lower down on the food chain it is, and the fewer

toxins will have accumulated in its flesh. Check out marine based oils from

Nordic Naturals which tests for purity and uses sophisticated purification

techniques to remove industrial pollutants and heavy metals from the raw

materials that go into their products.

 

 

<<<<If it is a bad time for him he will yipe as though something awful has

happened to him. I have been using Bach Remedy for that and it helps but

the yiping does come back in awhile.>>>>

 

 

 

Poor little guy! It must be heartbreaking. Bless you for taking him in and for

taking such good care of him.

 

If possible, you should really see if you can get him treated by a classically

trained homeopath. There's a list of such practitioners available on that

homeopathy link I put in my last post. The right homeopathic remedies

administered correctly can do wonders to help heal the sort of emotional and

physical damage your dog is suffering from.

 

 

 

>> his skin on the back of his neck and over his shoulders look like corrugated

cardboard.>>>

 

 

 

If this were my dog, I'd probably try massaging some pure shea butter onto his

damaged skin, and also putting a few drops of apple cider vinegar in his

drinking water every day.

 

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes with the peroxide/borax treatment.

 

 

Elan