Food Allergies in Dogs!!

Star is now 3 yrs and 6 months old, she has always suffered with pink looking skin - but over the last few months it has got much much worse we took her to the vets and they said she had a skin infection on her back legs where she'd been nibbling the skin - she was put on antibiotics and steroids and it cleared up lovely, her skin in general looked so much better and she had completely stopped scratching and biting herself - but then as we reduced the steroids the scratching and biting started again and her skin looked so terribly sore, she just couldn't settle down at night - we decided that enough was enough and took her back to the vets who asked if we had considered Allergies and did we want to get her tested - using the allergy test "The York Test," we wanted to get to the bottom of this so we agreed and went ahead, the vet did the test there and then took the blood and filled in the form then off it was sent with the results guaranteed to be back within 2 weeks - in the meantime we just kept everything normal.

On Monday evening we recieved a phonecall from the vet she had the results already - it had only been a week!

The results show that Star has No allergies to anything in the environment either indoor or outdoor But she does have several FOOD allergies

These are - Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Lamb, Beef, Potato, Oats, Corn/Maize and Cows milk

So then came the fun of searching foods that were going to be ok for her - after hours of looking at dog food ingredients online - theres is only ONE diet in the UK suitable (apart from prescription diet) and that is James Wellbeloved Ocean White Fish and Rice - obviously the same will have to apply to the treats that she has, luckily Fish4dogs treats are 100% fish - But we have to be strict and exclude all of those ingredients from her diet to enable her skin to heal - another symptom was her skin always smelt very cheesey another symptom of an allergy I now know, but until you are aware of allergies and their effects its difficult to know what is wrong.
We are so glad that we went ahead with the test as now we have the answers, we know what has to be avoided to help star enjoy life.

We have a visitor for a week :-)

This week we have our Grandma's dog Sally visiting us whilst Grandma has gone to New York
We Love Sally she is a 15 yr old Jack Russell and she is most definately in charge of us youngsters!!

We've enjoyed going for little walks together just taking things at a slower pace - we share our treats with her but she doesn't share her yummy smelling dinner with us - I think Me and Star will have to work harder on this one, may just have to make cute beagle eyes at mummy!!

How nicely we sit and wait for our tea x
(Only becacause there's food involved) BOL

Look at me aren't I cute :-)

Ughh I do hate this wet weather!!!

Now mummy I'm looking at you all cute and sitting nicely, please can I have some of Sallys food??

What do you expect the boy Alfie moved!!
So I got the BIG bed hehehe

And I got to Snuggle up in the Tiny bed Awwrroooooo - thats what I wanted all along really!!






Grandma comes back soon so we only have a couple more days together but its going to be a fun couple of days for sure!!!

Nottingham Beagle Walk 4th Sept 2011

For the last 3 years Claire Buckels has organised a Beagle walk in Nottingham to raise money for the charity Beagle Welfare - no easy task!!

This year as part of the day to raise some extra money we decided to do a raffle after the walk, but for this we needed some raffle prizes so Claire wrote an e-mail for some help - I then set about finding companies to send the e-mails to and filled in online forms too, we got quite a good response and some companies gave quite generously these include - Nestle Purina Pet care, Naturecare, Twycross Zoo, Wagg, Johnsons Veterinary, Ancol, Lily's Kitchen, Butchers, The Bespoke Dog Bakery, the netpetshop and Chudleys - Fish4Dogs also provided us with free samples of treats and bags that we gave out at the end of the walk - special thanks go to all of these companies and for everyone who donated items on the day without you the raffle would not have been possible... You can find links to all of these companies on my links page!

The wonderful products donated by the companies

Lily's Kitchen and underneath
Christine's Beagle Cards

The raffle table with the Wagg food and Hills donated by Naturecare.

Goodies from - The Bespoke Dog Bakery,  Ancol, Netpetshop
and Johnsons Veterinary

And no raffle would be complete without a few bottles







The walk

We started setting up for the walk at 9:30am in the rain luckily we had plenty of Gazebo's for shelter once they were up of course, there was Beagle Welfare merchandise for sale, A Lucky Dip, The Raffle and Beagle cards to sell produced by Christine Hartland which you can find the link for on my link page, all proceeds to Beagle Welfare
As the morning went on people and their lovely beagles started to arrive what a wonderful sight it was despite the wet weather.

At 10:30am the walk Started and we were off on our hours walk just after we set off the rain stopped and it suddenly went warm - even the sun made an appearence

All of the beagles had a wonderful walk lots of good sniffs all the way around

When we arrived back to the start it was time for some food and a drink for 30 minutes and then we had some novelty classes it was such good fun and at 50p per entry even more money raised for such a good cause a special thank you goes out to Nicky Stewart for kindly making the beautiful rosettes for the classes.

Here are the novelty classes

All in a days work for a beagle 

Decisions, Decisions!!!

And here with just two weeks until her 10th birthday is one of the winners Lizzie - looking very proud and rightly so!!




After the classes were complete it was time for the raffle we had so many lovely prizes that most people went home with something it makes taking part all the more fun

Here are two of the lucky winners winning a Kong toy







After the raffle people chatted, took photo's and exchanged beagle stories - it was a wondeful day the day itself raised £560 from Donations for attending, the Lucky Dip, The raffle, sale of Merchandise and the Novelty classes - currently people have also donated £177 on the walks JustGiving page which can also be found here should anyone want to donate Claire Buckels is fundraising for Beagle Welfare
So all in all thats a wonderful total of £737 which will go towards caring for and rehoming beagles in need.
Maybe after reading this you would consider joining us on next years walk details of these will be on the beagle welfare website, next year for all beagle welfare events please take a look you can even become a member of beagle welfare and recieve 2 issues of beagle welfare's magazine "In full cry"
which is always a lovely read - but don't take my word for it just follow the link and explore all you want Beagle Welfare

Thank you and hopefully see you next year for more beagle fun!!!!!!

Picnik

Thanks to a friends blog and their clear intstructions I've finally managed to edit a photo taken at the weekend of Alfie the light was on the camera and there was absolutely no shade, so was quite disappointed by the outcome of my pictures after reading a great post on this blog
this is me sarah mum of 3
Here is the before and after so if you have photos that you've not been too happy with its well worth taking a look at this blog on how to put them right

Before

After

Silent Sunday

Wagg Treats

Today Star and Alfie were very excited when the post arrived I opened up the envelope and inside were two packs of Wagg Treats One were Low-Fat treats for Alfie and the other pack was Training Treats for Star - I'll explain why in a minute.

 They just couldn't wait to get the packets open






Alfie and his Low-Fat treats - earlier this year Alfie started to show signs of being uncomfortable after eating - after various tests at the vets inc an ultrasound he was diagnosed with Acid-Reflux this means he now has to be on a relatively low-fat diet as food high in fat often increases the amount of acid made and this increases the chance of him getting indegestion - gone have the days when he could have pigs ears and whatever treats he fancied, then came the job of looking for treats that were low in fat that wouldn't upset his digestive system after trying quite a few we found the treats that caused absolutely no problems at all were the Wagg Low-Fat treats.  What we like about the treats is they are nice and soft and can easily be broken into smaller pieces for training.

Please can I have them I know these are Mine!!!!





Star and the training treats - Star can have most treats without any problems but usually has the low-fat ones too as we tend to keep more of them in because of Alfie but Wagg very kindly sent her something different to try Wagg Training Treats - she loved them and was licking her lips even before the packet was open, the treats are the perfect size for training as any beagle owner knows the breed has a tendancy for weight gain so you really do have to watch what they eat.  I think its wonderful that Wagg treats don't add sugar meaning fewer calories and less weight gain and the fact that they don't use artifical colours or flavours to enhance their products instead they use healthy wholesome ingredients.

Star licking her lips in anticipation





Wagg have a range of treats and sticks to suit a wide range of situations - Puppy, Sensitive, Low-fat, Training treats, Mobility sticks with added glucosamine & chondroitin and Wagg Training sticks which can be broken into smaller pieces. As well as treats they also do a variety of complete dry food.

So if you have a dog with a blog please check out this Link as Wagg are currently sending out treats to dog bloggers in exchange for a review

Dog Food

Beagle Tail

The last few days Alfie hasn't been very happy - his head has been down and his tail down too, my husband took them both out for a walk hoping it would cheer him up and get his tail wagging but no :-( tail remained in a downwards position and on touching it he cried out in pain, time to make an appointment at the vets - luckily we were able to get in the same day, that evening we took him to the vets to get checked out - he had a full examination of his spine, legs and hips all perfectly normal took his temperature absolutely fine, then for examining his tail - he wasn't a happy Alfie at all he shot his head around as the vet touched it as if to say "ouch that really hurts" the problem seems to be coming from the base of his tail where it connects to the body he can move his tail from side to side to wag but not up and down, it could have been caused by something as simple as banging it when he was wagging it or maybe playing too rough with Star and over-used it. A 5 day course of carprieve was given we're now on day 3 with a small improvement this afternoon when he managed to lift it level with the rest of his body only for a short time but its progress!

A little more about beagle tail AKA cold tail, dead tail
Dead tail syndrome and "cold tail" is quite commonly seen in hunting dogs, but may not be familiar to veterinarians. It is most often seen in breeds like English Pointers, English Setters, Foxhounds, Beagles, and particularly Labrador Retrievers. In most dogs the most frequent age of onset is reported to be 2 years old.  Typically the presentation is a young adult dog with an acutely flaccid tail that hangs down from the tail base or is held horizontally for 3-4 inches and then drops down. The tail remains in this position even when the dog moves about.  Pain may be seen on touching the tail base and some owners report that the dog seems uncomfortable.  The best thing to do is leave the tail alone.
Rest is definately recommended. 
Complete recovery is usually seen by 2 weeks and often occurs within a few days although it can recur later during excercise or play. Some owners feel that anti-inflammatory drugs shorten the recovery time if given when the condition is first seen.  
The cause of dead tail is not known although it is thought to be associated with over-using the tail (especially in underconditioned dogs) and swimming or bathing in water that is too cold or too warm. Tail conformation (high set or very active), gender (males more frequently affected), and nutritional factors have also been suggested as possible causes. Ongoing studies suggest that dead tail is associaed with muscle damage in the tail with dogs examined early in showing elevated muscle enzymes eg., creatine phosphokinase. 

Alfie has had it 3 times before so we were aware what it was but some dog owners may be concerned if their dog suddenly developed it and wasn't aware of the condition so I thought it beneficial to other dog lovers to pass on this information :-) I've also included two pictures of Alfie so people are aware of how it appears

Alfie and Stars New bed

This week our mum ordered us a new comfy bed it came today and it is sooooo comfy
I (Alfie) just cannot get out of it well I managed to get out for my tea and then I saw Star going towards it so I leapt passed her and jumped right in and then stretched out and went to sleep - BLISS!!!!
And of course I'm (Star) just as comfy in my own bed with lots of cuddly blankets

Silent Sunday

 

Alfies 3rd Birthday 12/06/2011

Alfie's 3rd birthday started off very early in the morning with a long drive to Gloucestershire where there was a Beagle Welfare event taking place - After entering the novelty class 'Handsomest dog' Alfie came 1st making it an extra special birthday - his very first Red Rosette a very proud moment indeed!!  After a long day meeting lots of other lovely beagles it was time to go home me and Star were so tired........ When we got home we had a sleep then I opened my cards and presents one was a very special present called a Kong Wobbler me and Star had so much fun!!! Pictures of it are in "our toys" page.

Stars 3rd Birthday 17/04/2011

For my 3rd birthday mum, dad and alfie took me to a place called Cannock chase - it was a lovely warm day and we had a lovely walk totally dog friendly as we went on our little adventure along the path we stopped for the odd dip and much needed drinks in the lakes that are there then when we got back to the car we had our lunch and went home for a snooze and then it was present opening time I had lots of yummy bakers low-fat treats off my grandma, a pedigree jumbone from Alfie and mum and dad bought me a very special tuffy's mega ring which has been tiger tested and following the success of Alfies christmas present a tuffys mega square ball it was worth every penny we have so much fun playing tug of war with the ring as its big enough and strong enough for us both!!

A new agility tunnel

Back in May mum bought us a new agility tunnel from Pets at home - at 1st we didn't know what it was this great big blue snake like thing appeared in our garden.  Our first reaction was to bark at it as we were unsure but then I (Star) ventured inside for a closer look wow I went inside and at 1st I got a little bit confused as what to do next so I turned around and came back out but surely there was more too it than this?? So I went in again (Alfie in the meantime just stood watching) mum went to the other end and called my name then I realised thats what I had to do go through it what fun that was and it was great to see my mum at the other end with a treat :-) My brother Alfie wasn't so keen to try it out to begin with but when he realised how much fun it was he followed me inside and out the other end, then being a beagle he invented a whole new game as I would try to work my way through to the other end he would jump on me and stop me!! Then when we were very tired I went to sleep on top of it and Alfie went inside the opening and curled up and went to sleep it was so nice and warm - not only a good for a game but great for snoozing in too!!!