Okay, in a panic here - Page 3

Allergies are rampant in our dogs because of dog food full of off label chemicals (flourides in particular) as well as low quality ingredients for one thing.  Over vaccination of dogs for diseases that are easier to cure than deal with the vaccine reactions and long term health effects is a second source of allergies in dogs.  A third source is exposure to chemicals, pollen, and other environmental irritants that our dogs can not deal with due to lack of previous exposure or overwhelming volumes of allergens in the environment.  I was at a dog show and one exhibitor/competitor had to pull her dog because the dog was very sick.  She and her dog had flown in from the west coast to the east coast and the local pines were turning the cars yellow with pollen shed.  Lots of other trees and weeds were blooming and pollinating as well and you could write your name on the cars in the pollen dust.  The local vet said that they were covered up with sick dogs due to allergies when she took her dog to the vet for diagnosis .. allergies.  California dogs don't like east coast pine pollen and too much was too much apparently.

For HEXE .. 250 mg of doxycycline once per week is better at preventing lepto and lyme as well as other tick borne diseases in humans and dogs than all the vaccines on the market because it actually works.  Doxycycline is recommended for use in humans as a prophylactic treatment at low rates working in high exposure environments for several diseases.  Something that works is always worth more than something that doesn't.  Before the wailing about antibiotic resistance begins let me point out that eighty percent of antibiotics sold and used in the USA are sold in animal uses and in healthy animal feeding primarily to improve weight gain and is the primary source of antibiotic resistant pathogens.  If resistance is your concern about prophylactic antibiotic treatments then  become a vegan as that will do more to prevent antibiotic resistant pathogens than denying treatment to your dogs or yourself.

bubbabooboo, to put it simply, bullshit. 

The primary cause of the rise in the number of dogs with environmental allergies is the breeders who continue to BREED dogs with environmental allergies...or food allergies...or low thyroid levels. The primary cause of the rise is the willingness of breeders to brush off the seasonal 'itchy' ears, or the inability to tolerate anything with chicken in it, or a need to give the dog supplemental levothyroxine in order for the dog to be sufficiently fertile to impregnate a bitch or conceive when bred.  It's all overlooked because the breeders have too much money, time, reputation and/or ego tied up in these dogs to be willing to say, no, this dog really ISN'T breed-worthy, despite the SchH titles and the breed survey and the show rating or the breed championship...

In the ten years I operated a sled dog kennel as part of a group of mushers, I was involved in the care and breeding of quite literally hundreds of dogs, and among us there was never a single dog that ever displayed any kind of allergies, despite the fact that we vaccinated twice yearly with a distemper/adenovirus/parainfluenza/leptospirosis/parvovirus combo product [full disclosure: initially, there wasn't any parvovirus in the vaccines, because that disease hadn't yet become a problem when I first became involved in the kennel]. They were fed Wayne brand dog food [the company sponsored hound and bird dog trials, as well as sled dog races], and later when that brand became unavailable in our area we fed Joy brand dog food [they also sponsored field trials and sled dog races], and when Joy was also no longer easily found, we went to Blue Seal Ultra 27; the dry food was supplemented in the fall and winter months with raw beef heart, liver & lung. The bitches all cycled regularly and bred easily and naturally, whelped their litters normally and without assistance save for one trauma-related incident, the litters were normal in size, and the dogs were still actively working in harness into their tenth and eleventh years. We had a single case of cancer outside of normal age parameters, an osteosarcoma in a two year old, but beyond that nothing outside of the senior-year mammary cancers in intact bitches from time to time, and the usual benign lumps and bumps. The pairing that produced the two year with osteosarcoma was not only not repeated, we didn't breed either parent again, although they both remained in the racing teams until they passed at 10-12 years of age.

Anecdotal? Yes. Doesn't make it any less true, and doesn't make it any less accurate an assessment of than the claim that the problems all stem from 'over vaccination' and the feeding of commercial dog foods.

 [Edited to add a feed used in between Wayne and Blue Seal that I'd initially forgotten about.]

Humans have more allergies now than ever before .. are we breeding bad humans??  Are all people with allergies genetic misfits??  People from Africa and other areas of the world move to the industrial nations and then they have allergies they did not have before.  It's because of crap food that both humans and dogs eat loaded with non-nutritional garbage like preservatives, dyes and taste enhancers.  It's not just dogs developing allergies due to environmental overload .. humans are developing the same symptoms.  Feel free to feed "Ol' Roy" dog food if you wish and if your dogs do great on it what does that prove .. the food is good ?? or your dogs can eat sawdust and thrive??  Most dogs need real food .. not some sterilized garbage with synthetic vitamins in a bag.  Garbage in and garbage out .. from Rabies to Parvo to Distemper .. the vaccines aren't needed to prevent disease at the current vaccination recommendations and schedules .. they are a cash stream for vets and vaccine companies.  The Lepto vaccine is both ineffective and unnecessary when a simple prophylactic antibiotic will more effectively prevent the Lepto serovars (all of them) as well as other diseases (lyme and tick borne) at lower costs.  So no the Lepto vaccine nor is the Lyme vaccine the best thing we have .. we have treatments that are both safer and more effective as well as less expensive.  Obviously you like to over vaccinate but if you never saw an allergy you may need to listen to the dogs more because I really doubt that there were no allergies to be seen "in hundreds of dogs".  If you want to feed crap dry dog food please feel free .. the dogs will suffer and you can spend the money saved on vet visits.  Back to the subject did GSDtravels ever get a diagnosis??  Like I said it is the time of year for increased allergies in the northern hemisphere.

No, I'm pretty sure I'd notice if there were ANY health issues in my dogs, buddy...I'm a vet tech by trade and training, though I stopped working in clinical settings years ago and now work in the regulatory end of things. We vaccinated as we with the sled dogs because we traveled with the dogs in the fall for training and in the winter for racing, and the primary owners of the dogs in the group felt the exposure to so many other dogs, along with wildlife, warranted the twice-yearly vaccination.  My GSDs didn't travel that way, so I don't vaccinate that way any longer, though I do give an annual lepto vaccination because of environmental factors.

Believe what you want. My GSDs have lived to a minimum age of 14, and I don't expect the two I presently have to be much different, though I can't really say about the rescue, since he was already 7 when I took him in, and has discoid lupus which will likely play a role in how his aging process goes. I hope you have equally good luck with your dogs, just as I wish that for everyone's dogs.  I simply don't believe it benefits the breed when we consider dogs that have to be fed 'special' diets in order to be in optimum condition as suitable for breeding.

Edited to add:  Oh, yeah, and regarding that prophylactic doxy treatment? Thanks, but no thanks...I'll pass. I don't believe any creature should be routinely given an antibiotic, as it will interfere with the body's natural ability to develop immunity to the various infectious agents everything is exposed to on a daily basis. But you go right ahead with it if you'd like. I would be careful as far as suggesting it to others, though, as it comes perilously close to practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Also to clarify that I haven't been working in practices, so it benefits me not at all for people to visit their vets or not.

And if you read up into the thread, you'll see that she got a thermometer, took Drake's temp, found it normal and went to bed.  He was fine the next day, just some seasonal post-nasal drip coupled with residue on his nose from the Bag Balm. So no diagnosis needed, 'cause he didn't go to the vet.

I'll leave the 'are we breeding bad humans' question lying on the table, because that's not a discussion for this forum, let alone this thread. I have strong opinions on that, too, as you might suspect.

Vets and vet techs tell me that I need 12 month per year heartworm preventative (wrong) and that raw bones will kill my dog and that a raw diet is dangerous and that I should feed dry dog food!!  Excuse my inability to worship the golden words of either vets or vet techs. Sounds like allergies were the answer after all since the bag balm was an ongoing treatment and not something new.  So what is seasonal post nasal drip caused by?? Allergies perhaps??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-nasal_drip

Post-nasal drip (PND), also known as upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), occurs when excessive mucus is produced by the nasal mucosa. The excess mucus accumulates in the throat or back of the nose. It is caused by rhinitis, sinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or by a disorder of swallowing (such as an esophageal motility disorder). It is frequently caused by an allergy, which may be seasonal or persistent throughout the year.

<LOL>  Everybody hates the police, vets [and vet techs], and lawyers...until they need their help.  Why should you be any different?

I don't need vet techs usually .. if I need my dog weighed I can do it myself.  I don't need a license to read the label and quote it as the doxy treatments are well established in the literature for Lyme, Malaria, and Lepto in humans and dogs.  I would suggest that the practice without a license caveat  applies equally to Vet Techs as they are not licensed to prescribe meds and must be supervised by a licensed vet to legally do many of their duties (not weighing dogs though).  As a dog owner I can treat my own dogs without a license and give vaccines and medications.  Rabies vaccine is the only vaccine I am reliant on the vet to administer at the moment. 

I am flying a flag for my vet who RECOMMENDS a natural diet, and also goes so far as to suggest (when you know him well and get into a good chinwag with him), that humans would be far healthier if we ate most of our food uncooked as well (though not meat LOL). Though I have to say some people find him a little too radical (best word I can think of) when they just want a jab and a bag of Science Diet LOL..

Glad your pooch is ok travels!
My vet agrees 100% on the raw diet and the vaccinations. Most are to make the $$ with no real evidence to prove otherwise. I have fed both ways over the years. Vaccinated as well.
I now feed raw and do NOT vaccinate.
The difference is night and day. Never had healthier "animals" in my life. JMO