It seems our 9 year old Akita has Sebaceous Adenitis, an auto-immune inflammatory condition that destroys the oil glands. There is no cure, and she may lose all of her hair :cry: Treatment is typically EFA supplementation and oil baths but I am unsure that at her age she will tolerate the 2-3 hours it takes to give her an oil bath properly. So thinking that an oil bath might simply be treating the symptoms rather than the underlying cause, I'm hopeful changing her diet and the fishoil will do some good, essentially suppressing the over-active immune response to begin with and allowing her oil glands to function normally. She is now on a bison/salmon/rice/oatmeal dogfood which we add an EFA+Zinc supplement to. For the past week or so she's been getting 2 capsules of OmegaRx daily. She doesn't seem as "down", but not much improvement in the coat yet. I will introduce the 3rd capsule tonight and will do 3x daily for the next week and see what happens. Given the origin of the breed, I am thinking that her omega-3 requirements may be higher than other dogs, so I'm not too concerned yet with the lack of noticeable results.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. My boxer, whom I posted about eariler, died less than a week after I started him on fish oil so I never got to see what benefits it might have provided nor expirament with the dosage. When I get a new dog, though, I'm going to do things differently- no more of the packaged commercial crap that probably cumulated in the health problems he experienced in the last year of his life. I want to try the zone thing, but to be honest I'm not sure if it's possible to coherce a dog to eat fuits and vegetable so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do about the carb component. I was thinking about using fructose, but that might not be quite so low GI without the fiber. You just use low-GI grains I gather? I was a bit trepeditious about grains because if I figure if humans aren't designed for them then they can't be much better for dogs... plus that's what most commercial foods contain anyway, i.e. rice. So I'm not sure what to do

[quote:5e04c1fea5="BrianG"]I'm sorry to hear about your dog. My boxer, whom I posted about eariler, died less than a week after I started him on fish oil so I never got to see what benefits it might have provided nor expirament with the dosage. [/quote:5e04c1fea5] Thanks Brian--and my condolensces to you as well. :( [quote:5e04c1fea5] I want to try the zone thing, but to be honest I'm not sure if it's possible to coherce a dog to eat fuits and vegetable so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do about the carb component. I was thinking about using fructose, but that might not be quite so low GI without the fiber. You just use low-GI grains I gather? I was a bit trepeditious about grains because if I figure if humans aren't designed for them then they can't be much better for dogs... plus that's what most commercial foods contain anyway, i.e. rice. So I'm not sure what to do[/quote:5e04c1fea5] I've struggled with the above also. The new food she is on is still a dry food, but I am hoping the Zone friendly ingredients (salmon,bison,oatmeal/blueberries) will be of benefit. The only thing is the rice, but apparently its a decent grain for those with allergies. If this food doesn't seem to work (not really sure if the p/c ratio is between .5-1.0 ), I may switch to real food and give her canned salmon and rice or maybe blend up some veggies to mix in with the protein (ie chopped spinach, etc.)

[quote:3d3b68f054="Scott"][quote:3d3b68f054="BrianG"]I'm sorry to hear about your dog. My boxer, whom I posted about eariler, died less than a week after I started him on fish oil so I never got to see what benefits it might have provided nor expirament with the dosage. [/quote:3d3b68f054] Thanks Brian--and my condolensces to you as well. :( [quote:3d3b68f054] I want to try the zone thing, but to be honest I'm not sure if it's possible to coherce a dog to eat fuits and vegetable so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do about the carb component. I was thinking about using fructose, but that might not be quite so low GI without the fiber. You just use low-GI grains I gather? I was a bit trepeditious about grains because if I figure if humans aren't designed for them then they can't be much better for dogs... plus that's what most commercial foods contain anyway, i.e. rice. So I'm not sure what to do[/quote:3d3b68f054] I've struggled with the above also. The new food she is on is still a dry food, but I am hoping the Zone friendly ingredients (salmon,bison,oatmeal/blueberries) will be of benefit. The only thing is the rice, but apparently its a decent grain for those with allergies. If this food doesn't seem to work (not really sure if the p/c ratio is between .5-1.0 ), I may switch to real food and give her canned salmon and rice or maybe blend up some veggies to mix in with the protein (ie chopped spinach, etc.)[/quote:3d3b68f054] Hello, There is a dog food that Dr. Sears endorses. The link---> [url]http://www.healthypetnet.com/produc...;/url] WM

Sorry I cant help with the past but for the future, with a brand new dog :) if it helps, this is what I have been feeding my dogs on and they are now nearly 17 yrs old, & have never had any medication and have never been over weight. VEGS One large celery stick ( use all of it including some of the tops too) 2lbs carrotts or pumpkin ( minus the skin as they sick it up again) any leafy veg - bok choy etc broccoli or cauliflower, including the stalks, and a few leaves capsicum (I think you call them bell peppers ?) I cook all this up together and then freeze half. this lasts about a week they LOVE red capsicums raw and mango is their absolute favourite, and will eat celery raw if it is sweet, apples also, some times I just add some of these raw chopped into the above - good for thier teeth. also yogurt x 2 weekly, anything that I eat they can eat!! ( except milk which is best given when it is soured, good for using up the sour milk) CARB I now use oats most of the time but used to feed them on rice, which our vets say is good for dogs, and pasta until I started Zoning last year PROTEIN Lean raw pets mince (we have roo meat here but i guess it is like your bison) which I then cook VERY lightly still keep some red in it chicken wings marrow bones ( not so many now that they are old they cant handle it) I then use 1/3 of each of the above per meal with a heavier serve of the protein FAT I have always given them oils and fat from the meat -heaps of it( ie saturated fat) but have cut that back since Zoning, now I use Olive oil, Omega 3 fish oil, & peanut butter SUNDAY TREAT Tin of cats food sardines! they LOVE it. but I think your idea of the salmon is better, in fact I should start giving them this twice a week See my other post "Dogs in the zone" for what Dr Sears recommends as the proportions for P/C You may like to check out another post in Pets where a member was talking about feeding her dog grated raw vegs. ( sorry cant remember which one it was) Just reading over this and my reactions are Wow, they have eaten everything and anything ( not to mention the dead birds) even got into a packet of coco pops once, you should have seen the kitchen floor - Hum!! not so good Hope that helps cheers Top

[quote:be578ba9ee="Scott"]It seems our 9 year old Akita has Sebaceous Adenitis, an auto-immune inflammatory condition that destroys the oil glands. There is no cure, and she may lose all of her hair :cry: Treatment is typically EFA supplementation and oil baths but I am unsure that at her age she will tolerate the 2-3 hours it takes to give her an oil bath properly. So thinking that an oil bath might simply be treating the symptoms rather than the underlying cause, I'm hopeful changing her diet and the fishoil will do some good, essentially suppressing the over-active immune response to begin with and allowing her oil glands to function normally. She is now on a bison/salmon/rice/oatmeal dogfood which we add an EFA+Zinc supplement to. For the past week or so she's been getting 2 capsules of OmegaRx daily. She doesn't seem as "down", but not much improvement in the coat yet. I will introduce the 3rd capsule tonight and will do 3x daily for the next week and see what happens. Given the origin of the breed, I am thinking that her omega-3 requirements may be higher than other dogs, so I'm not too concerned yet with the lack of noticeable results.[/quote:be578ba9ee] Thanks for the helpful post, Top. An update: Her condition steadily worsened on this regiment (2-3/capsules PGFO per day, EFA supplement, new food). She started eating her paws raw. The back of her neck was virtually bare. She stank. The skin specialist brought in to see Niki felt that her thyroid levels were low enough to warrant trying a hypothyroid med before resorting to skin biopsies to confirm SA. So in addition to the 2/caps day she was started on soloxine 2x/day. I also upped the FO to 4, and still no change. Needless to say I was confused by the lack of results with the PGFO. I then decided to read the EFA label. [i:be578ba9ee]6000mg[/i:be578ba9ee] of linloleic acid :shock: I felt so stupid for not picking this up earlier. The omega-6 content of the EFA was completely negating the benefit of omega-3s. At the level of omega-6, I was going to need a lot more omega-3 to prevent arachidonic acid build-up and see any benefit. I immediately stopped the EFA supplement altogether and kept her at 4 capsules. Within a week the hair on her paws grew back. Within a month her coat was coming back. I hope to discontinue the Soloxine to get a better read on cause/effect on her condition, but I don't want to change what's working before winter. I'll then have her thyroid checked, go off the soloxine, and see what changes. Bottome line: reducing the omega-6 significantly enhanced the benefit of the omega-3 supplementation and her condition has improved remarkably.

Hi Scott, Interesting story! My dane has been having some trouble (long story), and I've had him on 2 caps SYW PGFO per day. I have seen some improvement in the skin, but it could be attributed to a recent diet change.............after reading your posts, I think I will up his dose to 4 caps a day and see what happens. [quote:6b15dde2b7]I also upped the FO to 4, and still no change. [/quote:6b15dde2b7] How long did you wait before you determined this? Thanks!

[quote:6dba630bea="Cowlover2"] [quote:6dba630bea]I also upped the FO to 4, and still no change. [/quote:6dba630bea] How long did you wait before you determined this? Thanks![/quote:6dba630bea] That's a good question. To be honest, I don't remember, but the fact that her condition was worsening--and got better when I cut out the EFA--led me to the conclusions I did. Of course, I can't rule out the effects of the soloxine either, which is why I'll will taper that down and see what happens after the winter months. I do notice that when I miss a few dosages of n-3, her coat condition starts deteriorating.

I'm starting to feel like Nitschke said - "If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail" After the experience I had with my dog, a gorgeous golden retriever, and his coat, I would recommend, besides the fo, to add a teaspoon of coconut oil(my hammer). I started giving him some becuz he always licked it off my skin when I put it on. In 2 weeks, the change in his coat was stunning. His energy went way up, and he quit that daggone scratching all the time!! Scott, my guess, but your money. If missing fo 1 or 2 times causes his coat to start to deteriorate, he probably needs more. Or...the hammer...coconut oil will increase the uptake of fo, along with other vits, such as E. What's the word, synergistic? Hope he keeps getting better!!!! Bob

[quote:8d7d1f35a8="Fatboyslim"] If missing fo 1 or 2 times causes his coat to start to deteriorate, he probably needs more. Or...the hammer...coconut oil will increase the uptake of fo, along with other vits, such as E. What's the word, synergistic? [/quote:8d7d1f35a8] We are thinking alike, Bob. Just ordered some--though not from the coconutoil.com site. I got a bit of a problem with inflammatory writing that refers to well-meaning human beings as [i:8d7d1f35a8]dolts.[/i:8d7d1f35a8] But that's just me. :wink:

Hey Scott, My dog has suffered for the past 6 months with frequent vomiting, and soft stools. Our vet has worked with us all the way, but after 2 exploratory laparotomies, diagnostic ultrasound, numerous tests including blood, urine, feces, and with the last surgery, tissue samples, they are still coming up empty. Their diagnosis is an unusually closely placed pancreas overproducing enzymes that are keeping the GI tract under constant inflammation. We have been controlling this somewhat through medication, but the dog still has trouble keeping weight on, and had crappy skin. We started him 4 weeks ago on a premium hypoallergenic diet, along with 1-2 caps of PGFO, and after a week he looked better. I upped him to 2 caps a day. After reading your posts, and talking to my vet, it occurred to me that if his GI tract is inflamed, then high dose PGFO should help. SO....we upped him the other day to 4 caps PGFO, and will see what happens. 1. Since he is getting 4 caps PGFO like me, does he also need extra Vit. E, like we do? 2. Because the PGFO is being used as therapy rather than prevention/maintenance, should I increase it more, as is recommended for people? FBS wrote: [quote:15a03da415]I'm starting to feel like Nitschke said - "If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail" [/quote:15a03da415] LMAO.............yes, too true!! Lisa

Heck, Scott, I went down to my local grocery store that has a health foods section and got a 14 oz. jar for $5. It's organic and expeller extracted. Meaning no chemicals used, I hope. It melts at 76 degrees, so I'm thinking it's just fine. If it had been "treated" I'm guessing it wouldn't melt at the correct temp. Just a thought, if you want to get a few days jump on your ordering stuff coming in. Not everyone is as prompt as you!! :wink: Bob

[quote:d6631c0718="Cowlover2"]it occurred to me that if his GI tract is inflamed, then high dose PGFO should help. SO....we upped him the other day to 4 caps PGFO, and will see what happens. [/quote:d6631c0718] Hey Lisa-- Can you give an update? The winter was tough on our Akita. Her condition deteriorated, she was put on antiobiotics because her skin became quite infected. That seemed to help, but the meds ripped her bowels up. The antibiotics cleaned up her skin though, so with the weather warming up I'll see how the 4/day works in maintaining her skin/coat. It leaves me wondering if I should have increased her dose when it got colder.

Apparently things were much worse than we realized....we had to put Niki to sleep over the weekend :cry: She was fine when we left in the morning on Saturday, but when we returned around noon she could barely walk, her breathing was rapid. We took her in, temp and heart rate were in normal range, but the vet could barely hear her heart on one side, prompting x-rays. The results showed extensive abnormal tissue growth throughout her chest cavity around her heart, lungs and spine....

[color=darkred:e8b1799e91]Hi, Sorry to hear about Niki. My best to you and your family.[/color:e8b1799e91]

Thanks Sue.

Sorry to hear about this too, best wishes for you and family. Christine

Thanks Christine.

[color=green:50184111d9]Scott- I just finished reading through all of the posts for this thread and was eagerly awaiting good news about Nikki...I'm sorry for your loss. We lost a dog to heart failure not long ago and I know how tramatic it can be. thelady...[/color:50184111d9]