Nearly one month after his health crisis started, Angus is starting to show improvement in his health. To date all the tests conducted have been inconclusive and the vet has finally settled on a diagnosis. Since none of the results give a definitive answer the doctors Quack have decided that my baby is a neurotic needy dog who suffers from separation anxiety. So basically, he's nuts and that I'm (his mommy) loving him to death. Unconvinced, I've been doing a lot of research on what could be the possible cause(s) of his malady. In the meantime, let me share my food findings...

When I first got Gus at two months old, the pet shop instructed me to feed him Beefpro which was what the they (and the breeder) were feeding him. Before long, Gus started exhibiting fatigue (i.e; was sick of it and refused to eat another bite) against the brand so I decided to transition him to a "better" brand, Purina Proplan. And boy, did Gus just lap it up, he loved the taste (truly couldn't get enough) and his coat was just as shiny as ever (although with some shedding). One week into the transition he fell ill. Bloody and mucoid stool abound but fortunately he didn't vomit (which is supposedly the kiss of death according to the vets). They (the vets) dispelled the notion that it was the food (it was their recommendation) so we continued on with the transition until he was eating purely proplan. 7 days into that he started retching. He was immediately taken off Proplan, was confined with iv drip, and from then on to the next 2 weeks was fed purely Hill's Prescription Diet i/d/. In those two weeks he didn't seem to get any better nor did he seem to get any worse. He lapped up the canned food but was seriously hungry for the most part. Unfortunately I couldn't give him any more or anything else under strict orders. Finally, last July 30 we began the transition from Hill's Prescription Diet i/d to Hill's Science Diet Puppy. Beginning August 4 he was purely on Science Diet. Since then Gus' stool has shown remarkable improvement. A feat none of the antibiotics or meds was able to accomplish. His coat is at it's shiniest and is even better than when he was on proplan. He even sheds remarkably less than when we first took him home. I know that Hill's Science Diet gets a lot flack being a product of Colgate and all and that it's ingredients are supposedly evil but honestly Gus responds remarkably well to it. He's doing a lot better now but I'm not that sure if his improvement is due to the food switch or due to the fact that I quit my job so he has either or both me and his daddy to be with 24/7. Regardless, I have lost all faith in his regular vet and am in the process of finding him a new one.

Now, I don't want to jump into conclusions and make any accusations against any particular dog food brand (must be responsible consumers, as well as pet owners) but I'm going to leave it as Purina Proplan is not for my baby.

Tags: Health Issues

Bookmark: