Lisa, it makes me so sad to hear about your baby, I know how horrible it can be to see your pup in pain and not be able to fix it.Â
When I first got Mickey he was switched over from what the breeder fed to Chicken Soup, my other dane Java was on CS. Mick did ok the first few weeks, I attributed the diarrhea to switching his food. A few weeks later the rashes started showing up, and it took me a while to narrow them down to his food as opposed to environment (cleaning solutions, shampoo, grass.....). I figured he had a meat allergy, so I tried several other brands and formula of kibble, including the so-called hypoallergenic formulas such as wellness fish and potato.
Mick just wouldn't get better. Then at 7 months he had his first hit with pano and HOD, it was horrible! He would sit and just tremble because he was in so much pain. Luckily buffered aspirin worked really well with him, and I would give those if I noticed he was hurting a lot. Just before his first bout though, I had decided to switch him to raw and see if that would help with the rashes and diarrhea. Amazingly, within days of switching, Mick had the first SOLID poop I'd ever seen him have! The rashes were also disappearing, so I was hopeful that raw was the right path with him.
Of course, I took Mick to the vet during his first episode, and the vet chastised me for putting him on a raw diet, "a dog this big will NEVER get the nutrition he needs from a raw diet" is what he told me. That is the first and only time I questioned my decision to go raw. I put him back on kibble because I was afraid for him, I knew HOD could be fatal, I didn't want to lose my little Mickey. Well, his poop went right back to mush, and the redness started appearing in his arm pits again. Boy did I struggle with this! Common sense told me that if Mickey had diarrhea, he absolutely was NOT absorbing the nutrients he needed to be healthy. BUT, this vet told me it was wrong! That's when I threw caution to the wind and went back to raw, I couldn't stand to see my poor baby suffer through all of these problems, raw was at least taking away SOME of his discomfort, and that was better than nothing.
I can honestly tell you that I believe switching Mick to raw saved his live. 3 weeks after his first bout we had a second, but it was MINOR compared to the first. Weeks later, and not a single reoccurance, I knew I had done the right thing. Mickey was healthier and happier than I had ever seen him, I swear I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it now. For us, the RAW diet is a godsend.
I urge you to give it a try. Start your baby on chicken, just chicken for three weeks. I started with chicken quarters, they are good sized and force the pup to chew the bones well. If you see negative results, go back to kibble, no harm done. Hopefully, in 3-4 weeks you will begin to see improvement in his digestive system. I would not add supplements or new meat for those first 3-4 weeks though, you don't want that to interfere with results.
The cool thing is, Mickey was cured of HOD and Pano without the assistance of any vet perscribed medications. I don't think this would have happened if I wouldn't have switched his diet.
Please let me know if you have any other questions, I would be thrilled to help!
