Because everyone knows Tink is a demodex dog, and that's *why* we adopted her, I'm going to put this here. Yes I use alternative stuff, among other things, on her but this looks better to start.
I'm not happy with Tink's skin. We've come a LONG way. Any of you not familiar with her "story" go to my photos and look for the ones that look like a mask out of a horror movie and THAT is Tinkerbell back in June. My best guess is that on Valentine's Day she turned 1 (or we're going to say that's her birthday for lack of better knowledger).
She relapses in a heartbeat -- YES< she's still young. YES< she's a pug so the immune system isn't "mature" yet.
BUT -- I'm doing everything tried and true, PLUS some new pretty cutting edge homeopathic stuff that really should have produced more reliable skin by now. The set back at Christmas (she got into some chocolate 
) gave her a MAJOR demodex flare-up and she had to actually do a full course of antibiotics and it took FOREVER to get the skin turned around again.
Even with fast intervention and everything I could think of to HELP the liver ... nope. She had to go on antibiotics and she lost a huge amount of coat down her back **again**.
We're (David and I) pretty darned good at demodex. And all along we're trying to build the immune system but it's like I just can't cross that final threshold where the body kicks in. And ... she was (by my closest estimate) a year old last Saturday.
SO ... I took her last week and had Dr. Bailey run a FULL "chem panel" on her. My 'regular' vet wanted me to put her on milbemycin -- but I know that's hard on the liver, and in my heart of hearts I keep thinking the liver could be part of the problem. Dr. Demers and I wanted to know all about the liver, the blood proteins and anything we could get from a blood panel.
Results are back and two of her liver values are WAY too high. Just the AST and the ALT -- not sky high but TOO darned high (others are ok) but her hematacrit is only 35.5 (too low -- it's not anemic low but it shows the liver and spleen aren't kicking out enough good clean blood).
Now, she is the WORST poop eater I've ever had. I can't let her run but what she's stopping to "snack" -- and I don't even DARE take her to a dog park or anything public for a run. She literally sits UNDER Billy waiting for it to come out. Luna's? not so much. Kee's ... some
but not so much. Billy's? BIG TIME. (and yes, I pick up, etc. etc. but given my own physical condition I can't "get there" FAST enough -- and I've even tried a squirt gun in desperation -- nope. I won't go big time aversive -- but there's got to be a solution. (And my regular vet has ordered Forbid for me -- just one more thing to try.) She's got to be able to run in our fenced yard -- she's GOT to have exercise so I can't just leash walk her.
I tend to think, MOST of the time, when a dog is absolutely adamantly coprophagic that there is a chemical reason -- SOMETHING missing in the diet, something awry someplace - but her diet is well balanced (and I've got three vets giving me input on that, plus Monica Segal) but again and again I'm mystified.
I do pineapple, I do pumpkin, I do papaya. (I've even done them in combinations) and ALL the dog get it so it should make all the poop equally un-attractive. But ... nope.
WHY IS SHE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DRAWN TO BILLY'S?? Why? What does her body sense she needs that is in HIS poop? We've even added Prozyme to both his and her food to try to make sure both bodies are "using" the food as well as possible. Nope -- not helping.
Billy and Tink are on very similar supplements in some ways -- but he's also getting heart and liver supplements.
We're going to try one more month to get the numbers down (and I've added milk thistle long ago and Sam E, etc. plus more stuff today).
BUT if I don't see a big improvement in a month we're going to do a bile acids test -- because at thatpoint we'll be looking for either "disease" or
more likely, a genetic problem (which soo could be!!!).
Pugs are pretty prone to liver shunts -- particularly, I'm told, in the Dallas/Austin/Houston/Ft. Worth area (it's one of those breeding things where certain areas can produce more of a particular problem. There are a couple of other things -- in particular there is a genetic liver problem where the liver just doesn't form well. Again -- not something I want to happen, but I'd WAY rather know now than get surprised by liver failure later.
Mostly, I know a lot of you are sweet, wonderful, Tinkerbell fans out there. I've wanted to be able to do a great positive update -- but after Christmas it's just been HARD. And now, at least the blood results have confirmed what I was suspecting -- that SOMETHING is keeping the demodex riled up.
This happens with demodex. If the body doesn't just kick in as it should when the immune system is build up and the body is helped to develop -- then you need to look for the REASON.
I am just SO glad I didn't dump a ton of ivermectin or milbemycin in her -- both of those are notoriously hard on the liver. They're fine for what they are GOOD at (heartworm prevention and killing parasites), but SHORT term ... not anything longer term.
So ... here we go.
Prayers and good thots coveted. And your support always means the world to me.
