Basenji Health Issues & Questions

@Burma: they said that the vet did do a skin scraping, i dont recall them saying for mites. she eats beneful healthy radiance dry dog food-we thought that could help her skin stuff… You might want to try a better quality food and one without any grains, there are a number of them. And you should check and make sure that she was checked for mites. If you call your Vet they should have it on her records.

could be anything from allergies to something in the nasal cavity. Best to check it out.

At the beginning there were a couple of little spots, this was about three weeks ago, I thought that they could have been the result of playing at the dog park so I just put a little bit of aloe vera on them, but then they started to show on different spots and not only on the black but on the white coat as well. I do not see him scratching himself on those spots but what I notice is that is getting dandruff, it is like his coat is going through something and all that comes to my mind is the food, I do not know.

As our Basenjis age we are all confronted with their care… there are tough decisions to be made for sure.. we can all only do what we can to make the remaining time they have with us the best possible.. and not going to extreme measures is many times the most kindest thing we can do... and just make sure they are comfortable .... been there, done that... not easy... but I know that the best care that was in my opinion was given....

@LindaH: I used Missing Link Plus with Maxx (the "Plus" is the one for joint support) and, IMO, it made a huge difference with him. Maxx had Valley Fever for the last 4 years of his life. It skipped the respiratory phase and went straight to the disseminated phase, affecting his bones. I could tell a big difference in him once I started giving him the Missing Link Plus. Do they like the taste?

That looks like yeast to me.

@tanza: LOL …. so hmm... great weather = higher Vet costs... makes perfect sense to me!!! LOL great weather equals more want to live there. More want to live there, drives real estate costs up. Increased real estate costs drives other expenses up. LOL, it does make some sense. But then, wth is up with NYC which has icky weather? Oh wait, massive overcrowding, never mind.

I would not have posted if I beleived it to be a scam. For folks who do worry about such things - one can always let the person know they would be more than willing to donate directly to the vet clinic for care of their pet. M.C. I too beleive they either got what they needed to help their little girl or they realized they put too much info on craigslist. I am hoping for the former. As for Drew - yes - that is a picture of him. If you really want to know - email me privately and I can send you a copy of an article I was asked to write for an Aussie pubication re: him.

Okay, so you have a few options. The best is training him to go where you want. 1. Take some of his poop and put it further in where you want him to go. 2. Match stick him. 3. Spray the area with tick and flea spray. 4. Add some olive oil or, honest, catlax (the stuff they use for hair balls) to his food so he has a bit looser stool or ask your vet for stool softeners for dogs. I'd call my vet tech partner but she is in India with her husband. But I can guarantee you that human laxatives are a no. Plus, you can't keep using any of them or risk habit forming. http://www.vetinfo.com/dog-laxative-guide.html

Hi Sharon Could you try a different dog food? How 'bout some plain non-fat yogurt? I remember giving my Einstein a cooked beef bone (the round ones, shank??) with the marrow in the center…...oh , my poor boy cried......the marrow made it very painful for him to go. I had to limit how much he ate. It was a special treat for him, so he didn't get them often.....that helps the anal glands for sure. Just a couple ideas. Need daily "poop reports" :) Pam "PJ" p.s. you're lucky you can find pumpkin!!!

They had deaths from it here in the 6 mo version (the australian one is 12 mos, same drug!), pulled it off the market. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/vet/faq/proheart6_qa-qr-eng.php

Thanks, your right, will post some new pictures tomorrow..

I will definitely do my homework before we chose where our next little furball comes from. Patty, I will call the Dr in the AM and ask him about Urtica. -ty He seemed rushed, it was the end of the day and we were not the last new patient. I feel like he didn't really address the current issue, he was prescribing what to do to prevent it from happening in the future. Einstein is finally running around today and starting to feel a bit better. But he still had a benedryl earlier today for the itching and scratching.

Pedro - good to have you back. I'm sorry to hear about your father. If his wife criticises try to keep your cool -picture her in your mind in an emabarrassing situation! You will then better her.

@curlytails: Interesting. Does anyone know why winter nose happens? I don't think it gets wintery enough where I'm at to observe any difference… I wonder if its similar to human skin color & in the winter they just have less exposure to the sun & their nose lightens like we become more pale in the winter?

@bcraig: Ella scratched off almost all the whiskers on one side of her face a couple of different times in the first several months that we had her. Eventually, we chalked it up to anxiety. Her transition to our home was quite difficult for her and she had lots of stress-realted behaviors. But the scracthing of the whiskers was definitely one of them. Is there any new or on-going stress in her life? Im glad my doggie iant the only one. I am pregnant. we are moving things (room switches) making room for our first baby. Her nose looks fine other than the fact that she has no whiskers on one side. It does not look irritated at all. My moms dog had mange, but was not contagious. I'm not sure what kind it was, he had eaten away at his paws till they bleed. My cousins dog didnt have mange, she said it just sratched and they put a cone on and it resolved itself?????? ill still take her in :) thank you everyone!

Mmmmm think I might have spoken too soon, Java was having cuddles with me yesterday evening, and the horrible dandruff is back, BUT, only on him ??? I had reduced all the dogs fish oil capsules, from daily, to 2-3/week, so Im wondering if thats why ??? Will start him up on daily and see if that makes a difference… I hate dandruff :(...

Yay for Jake doing better! Which vet do you go to?

@Patty: Very non-committal, but not a lot of help! Complete sitting on the fence rubbish !

No, i'm not on FB, but the universe keeps telling me i need to be, so ask again later in the week. Energy-wise he is great. Took all the curlytails out to the agility field today and he did a few jumps, tunnel, maybe the dogwalk. I think his new idea of agility training is to interfere with Zest and ask for food. It's a lot of fun to (try) to practice agility with 3 basenjis. :rolleyes: It is heartening to hear you did not have to have the tooth pulled. That was sort of my thinking about asking the vet to wait to see him to give the antibiotics a little more time. He had only been on them 2 days (4 doses) when I noticed the swelling.