She has a few problems, dry eye and an undiagnosed dietary intolerance for which she is fed Wafcol fish and corn. But the reason I am emailing is because of her lips. She is not a particularly jowly dog, but she does get constant soreness in her lower lips folds. This has been going on for about two years I have been back and forward to the vets, with no real conclusion.
They give her Synulox which helps while she is on them, but once they stop the soreness starts again. I clean her lips everyday with Hibiscrub and apply Fuciderm and keep the hair around her lips trimmed short.
It is difficult to do as she finds her lips so tender. To see her delicately scratching her lips is really sad as Peg does most everything full on but her sore lips do bother her so much.
The vets only real answer is a lip tuck, something I don't want to do as apart from anything else I cant afford it.
They are very dirty and scabby each time I clean them and when they are infected you can see the raw skin and even puss, we then get down the vets for more Synulox. but how often can you keep going for antibiotics. I would be grateful for any suggestions please to Peggy's sore lips.
Thanks so much
Tracey and Peggy
My partner is a Dog Listener and occasionally comes across medical conditions caused by stress or obsessive behaviour.
ReplyDeleteI wonder which came first, the sore lip or the scratching? Has she developed a behaviour that gets her attention every time, leading to the soreness? Just a thought.
I would be looking at when the problem started and whether anything can be attributed to that time, stress, vaccinations (how long since vaccination did this problem occur) etc. One of my GSDs gets sore lips periodically and less intensive treatment of aloe & bee propolis cream seems to work well.
ReplyDeleteThe dietary intolerance could be the cause of the problem, it might be worth going down the "barf" route for a while and only feeding completely natural foods and their effects can be monitored more easily than packet. I had a dog that suffered from hot spots and none of the special diets worked as it turned out that he had a problem with protein levels rather than ingredients. I dislike heavy use of antibiotics and would suggest talking to "Ainsworths" for homeopathic alternatives or I have found high quality bee propolis tablets effect in place of antibiotics for some skin issues. Another source of irritation could be the bedding she is on, carpeting or washing products. Unfortunately it could be a slow process in determining the cause.
My suggestion would be to have a referral to a holistic vet to see what they suggest in terms of diet, homeopathy, supplements etc.
ReplyDeleteDon't know where you are but you can find a list of homeopathic vets here:
http://www.bahvs.com/findavet.htm
Angela
i cant remember any specific stress triggers which may have started this. she can be quite a cranky dog at times and so lets you know when she is fed up with something. her dietary problem started when she was around 2 although she had problems with looseness ever since she was a pup i never could get her diet right. it got to the point when she was so thin i was expecting a knock at the door but i was feeding her 4 times a day getting up at 3am so she could have the 4th feed, she was on burns then. my vet did al the usual tests but everything came back negative, she also had a food trial where we discovered she could not tolerate, chicken,lamb, beef, rabbit or rice cooked or raw , in kibble or as it comes. the only food she did not react to was fish. my vet suggested i try wafcol fish and corn as it is reasonably priced and thankfully it worked, she has been on it for about 4 yrs now, i do realise that maybe it doesnt suit 100% and could be the cause of her issues, but as she now weighs 11kg and not 7kg which she got down to and has normal poos instead of green poos i have been happy with it. but i have just put my other dog onto arden grange he has recently been diagnosed with ibd so i thought id try himn on there sensitve rather than the hills perscription so far so good so i will try peg on it when she finishes the huge sack i still have. the bee propalis sounds intresting i will try that, i guess a consult with a homeopathic vet could be worth considering as well but is something i would have to save up for, i am disabled and on a small pension. i also have 4 dogs and 3 cats so a lot to look after. thanks again tracey and peggy.
ReplyDelete