Golden Retriever with recurring skin inflammation/outbreak/infection?

[ShrekDawg]

Sounds more like a chronic respiratory problem.

That's what I was worried about but he didn't seem to think so. And when we got her spayed at a mobile clinic (which we did really late, she was almost 3, now turning 6 in August), they said she was a little skinny but healthy, then we had a house call vet for the dog and had her do shots for the cat too while she was here and she said she was healthy but she didn't really look at her very much and I thought she was better with the dog. And like mentioned, the new vet (well, saw him June 2014 when the dog was injured then took him and the cat last year, due for this year), also said she's healthy and that he didn't hear anything and she was 9 pounds like 2 ounces. So that's 3 vets and I should buy it but I don't. None have looked at her in depth and even as a kitten she had this real funny little pur, real loud and sounded like a race car and sometimes she would throw weird sounds in there like a breathing thing so idk. I'd like to try going again and having them really look at her or having her go to a specialty cat clinic in the same area. I would just like to be absolutely sure and rule everything out and everyone just glances at her, does teeth and ears, and that's it. When I mentioned the coughing he listened once or twice but shes long hair. Now that was last year and it was just a couple coughs and occasionally and she doesn't do it now so who knows but still

How often is the litter box cleaned and how much of an ammonia issue are you noticing?  The fact that you see that as a potential cause would seem to indicate that you may need to adjust your maintenance schedule even if the actual issue is stemming from another cause.

Well we used to rarely clean it and it would sometimes go like a month. although I don't think it actually ever got that bad because my dad usually wound up cleaning it so maybe it was less that a month but point is it always smelled. Now recently I've been trying to clean it at least every week, I started doing daily but didn't keep up past the first few days. But right now I'm really behind and haven't cleaned it in probably a few weeks. It smells bad. I think I'll do it today. But the other thing is she used to go outside of it or the dog would hsve accidents and my dad would spray bleach on it and he's done that several times over the years plus even if he didn't the pee probably soaks in the concrete so even if we clean it sometimes it smells. I wonder if the bleach would cause her problems? But a couple weeks ago I got mad at him and wouldn't let him and I put vinegar where she had just peed in a corner and all the previous spots and all over and that really seemed to help. And she used to hang out in the basement a lot but now comes upstairs often. Maybe I should also start feeding her upstairs so she's down there less often??? And start consistently cleaning the box every day or multiple times a day and allow no more bleach ever again and see if that helps her???

 

[enola]

The litter box needs to be cleaned EVERY day.

 

[ShrekDawg]

The litter box needs to be cleaned EVERY day.

Yeah I'm going to start trying to clean it daily but I only have one cat and she is tiny and a big box so it doesn't start smelling or getting really dirty or gross until after 1 week. But I'll start cleaning it a ton more

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Well, we have a new kibble - Candidae Pure Sky. I think it is grain-free. My husband got it; is gradually adding it in and reducing the Purina OM.

@dainerra good call on the thyroid - our dog has had a thyroid issue for quite awhile and is on medication for it. They do re-check it periodically.

@KDOGG331 when you mentioned goop in your cat's eye it reminded me of a time when one of our cats who NEVER got sick started having an eye discharge. Didn't add up for me because she was IMPERVIOUS to everything. I became convinced she had a foxtail in her eye. Took her to the vet and he did the weird clamp thingie and probed around in there and didn't see anything and wanted to put her on antibiotics. I just had this intuition that she had a foxtail and pleaded with him to keep looking. Sure enough, after I convinced him to literally "dig a little deeper" he extracted an inch-long foxtail that had worked its way far, far up into her eye socket. The vet said if we hadn't found it that day, she probably would have ended up losing the eye. Of course, your cat could have lots of other things wrong with her and it probably isn't even foxtail season but I wanted to mention it - make sure she has been checked for a foreign object in the eye.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

@KDOGG331 also, re-reading your post about your cat - has she been tested for feline herpes? My son adopted a kitten from a shelter which he bequeathed upon us (thanks a lot, son!

) and it had one eye swollen shut. Our vet was furious that the shelter even adopted this cat out because it was so underweight and pathetic and SICK. It had feline herpes, which is very contagious to other cats - another of our cats got it from him and it affected his eyes, too. Presumably, your vet has tested for this, but just fyi.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Well, we have a new kibble - Candidae Pure Sky. I think it is grain-free. My husband got it; is gradually adding it in and reducing the Purina OM. 

@dainerra
 good call on the thyroid - our dog has had a thyroid issue for quite awhile and is on medication for it. They do re-check it periodically.

@KDOGG331
 when you mentioned goop in your cat's eye it reminded me of a time when one of our cats who NEVER got sick started having an eye discharge. Didn't add up for me because she was IMPERVIOUS to everything. I became convinced she had a foxtail in her eye. Took her to the vet and he did the weird clamp thingie and probed around in there and didn't see anything and wanted to put her on antibiotics. I just had this intuition that she had a foxtail and pleaded with him to keep looking. Sure enough, after I convinced him to literally "dig a little deeper" he extracted an inch-long foxtail that had worked its way far, far up into her eye socket. The vet said if we hadn't found it that day, she probably would have ended up losing the eye. Of course, your cat could have lots of other things wrong with her and it probably isn't even foxtail season but I wanted to mention it - make sure she has been checked for a foreign object in the eye.

@KDOGG331
 also, re-reading your post about your cat - has she been tested for feline herpes? My son adopted a kitten from a shelter which he bequeathed upon us (thanks a lot, son! ) and it had one eye swollen shut. Our vet was furious that the shelter even adopted this cat out because it was so underweight and pathetic and SICK. It had feline herpes, which is very contagious to other cats - another of our cats got it from him and it affected his eyes, too. Presumably, your vet has tested for this, but just fyi.

Congrats on the new food! Canidae is a good brand

As for the cat, WOW! good thing you insisted and got that foxtail out! Never even thought of it!! Will definitely have her checked for foreign objects! And wow that's insane they adopted such a sick cat! Probably could have sued? But she actually has never been tested for anything! Will maybe have her checked for that.

But the weird thing is as far as I can remember she's always had it or at least for a few years. And it's mostly just like in the corners, like eye boogers, and i wipe them away, but if i dont it crusts on the fur like tear stains, but occasionally it has gotten way worse and more liquidy and has woken up to her eye shut. That was a while ago though and on the wet food she seems to have less issues and with box cleaned more but still has some and its weird. We also would sometimes use newmans dog eye drops (pet store clerk told us it could be allergies and they had no cat ones) then the cotton swab/q tip things that you break to release liquid to the tip and wipe the eye and eye wipes and those would help but only for that day. Hours later or next day itd be back. Hoping its as simple as a food allergy or an ammonia/respiratory thing but itd be bad if it was something worse

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Update on our Golden Retriever:

Ended up having her taken to a dog dermatologist. ($$$!) Her decision was to change the antibiotic that was being administered. At the same time, our groomer suggested we try a chlorhexidine shampoo. The condition cleared up within a week. Of course, this has happened before and then there is a new outbreak. It has been a month and so far so good, but we shall see.

The dermatologist suggested that her next step would be to test for Cushing's disease. I looked it up and it is apparently common in older dogs, but I haven't seen a correlation with skin outbreaks. If it happens again, we will proceed with the testing.

In the meantime, we are less convinced that the issue is food-related.

 

[Chickengal505]

Congrats on the new food! Canidae is a good brand

As for the cat, WOW! good thing you insisted and got that foxtail out! Never even thought of it!! Will definitely have her checked for foreign objects! And wow that's insane they adopted such a sick cat! Probably could have sued? But she actually has never been tested for anything! Will maybe have her checked for that.

But the weird thing is as far as I can remember she's always had it or at least for a few years. And it's mostly just like in the corners, like eye boogers, and i wipe them away, but if i dont it crusts on the fur like tear stains, but occasionally it has gotten way worse and more liquidy and has woken up to her eye shut. That was a while ago though and on the wet food she seems to have less issues and with box cleaned more but still has some and its weird. We also would sometimes use newmans dog eye drops (pet store clerk told us it could be allergies and they had no cat ones) then the cotton swab/q tip things that you break to release liquid to the tip and wipe the eye and eye wipes and those would help but only for that day. Hours later or next day itd be back. Hoping its as simple as a food allergy or an ammonia/respiratory thing but itd be bad if it was something worse

My boyfriend's cat and her sister (who lives with a different family) both had severe upper respiratory infections when they first came out of the shelter as kittens, and while her sister's eyes stopped running after the infection passed, Charlotte's eyes never truly cleared. Her left eye is the worst, it just runs without ever discharging any serious goop, it reminds me of tear stains. I clean it daily with a tissue, and clean it every other day or so with a q-tip, hydrogen peroxide and rub neosporin on it when I'm done. It doesn't seem to bother her, and if I'm really on top of cleaning it, I notice it's a lot drier than if I leave it. We initially treated her for conjunctivitis, and tried everything from more antibiotics and antifungals, to tea-bag hot compresses. Nothing's worked, and we've just resigned to managing it instead of trying to really cure it. Charlotte's eye has been like this for at least a year. The discharge we wipe from her actual fur is rust colored, so I suspected a yeast problem, but I have no way to prove it. I'm thinking about switching the hydrogen peroxide with apple cider vinegar as a cleaning solution, and seeing if it helps keep things dry. I don't use over the counter eye or ear cleaners on my dogs or cats, as I've found it's usually water based which can worsen yeast and fungal infections. We give grain-free dry food, which we moisten with egg-white and water to keep her moisture intake up. We've found that dusty litter agitates it, so when we have a real box, we use a crystal litter called Mimi litter, but as of late we use a self washing litter system called the Cat Genie, which uses plastic pellets instead of litter. I'd look into changing your litter, as it helped us a great deal. Crystal litter is a little more expensive, but I think Tidy Cats makes a crystal litter that's cheaper than the one we use.

 

[ShrekDawg]

My boyfriend's cat and her sister (who lives with a different family) both had severe upper respiratory infections when they first came out of the shelter as kittens, and while her sister's eyes stopped running after the infection passed, Charlotte's eyes never truly cleared. Her left eye is the worst, it just runs without ever discharging any serious goop, it reminds me of tear stains. I clean it daily with a tissue, and clean it every other day or so with a q-tip, hydrogen peroxide and rub neosporin on it when I'm done. It doesn't seem to bother her, and if I'm really on top of cleaning it, I notice it's a lot drier than if I leave it. We initially treated her for conjunctivitis, and tried everything from more antibiotics and antifungals, to tea-bag hot compresses. Nothing's worked, and we've just resigned to managing it instead of trying to really cure it. Charlotte's eye has been like this for at least a year. The discharge we wipe from her actual fur is rust colored, so I suspected a yeast problem, but I have no way to prove it. I'm thinking about switching the hydrogen peroxide with apple cider vinegar as a cleaning solution, and seeing if it helps keep things dry. I don't use over the counter eye or ear cleaners on my dogs or cats, as I've found it's usually water based which can worsen yeast and fungal infections. We give grain-free dry food, which we moisten with egg-white and water to keep her moisture intake up. We've found that dusty litter agitates it, so when we have a real box, we use a crystal litter called Mimi litter, but as of late we use a self washing litter system called the Cat Genie, which uses plastic pellets instead of litter. I'd look into changing your litter, as it helped us a great deal. Crystal litter is a little more expensive, but I think Tidy Cats makes a crystal litter that's cheaper than the one we use. 

Wow, thank you for all the great info! That sounds similar to Luna's and she even has the rust coloring when it dries too. I never even thought of a yeast issue. We havent used the eye drops or anything in a while but I will not use them again now. I'm going to try that cleaning solution too, thanks I don't know if her dry food is grain free, I don't think it is but it might be. She was on Meow Mix for years then I switched to better food over the summer, she was on Earthborn Holistics both wet and dry for a while, she loved the Primitive Feline dry but I don't think it was grain free. Now she's been on Wellness CORE cans and the dog was on Wellness CORE dry for a while and now is on Zignature because it doesn't have anything yeasty but unfortunately neither make cat dry food :/ i think her dry food now is Wellness CORE indoor formula and I think it grain free but the dog version is original formula which she loves so I wish they made the same for cats. She doesn't really see to like this food but will eat it when she has to. We ran out of wet food a little while ago and I've been meaning to get more but that helps keep moisture up and I read wet food is better for cats, something to do with the organs, so I got her some and she loves like all wet food but dry food is harder to find one she will eat. But she's also kind of spoiled so prefers wet food so that could be why. She won't eat dry unless there is no wet. I am also thinking of changing from free feeding to set times. I bought a supposedly "low dust" litter, supposed to be 99.9% dust free, (dr elseys precious cat ultra) but I found it did still havehave some dust. Perhaps just a no litter at all and crystals would be better. I have also thought of trying the walnut or corn cob litters they have or maybe pine pellets or shavings? I don't think shavingd would work well.

 

[Chickengal505]

Wow, thank you for all the great info! That sounds similar to Luna's and she even has the rust coloring when it dries too. I never even thought of a yeast issue. We havent used the eye drops or anything in a while but I will not use them again now. I'm going to try that cleaning solution too, thanks

I don't know if her dry food is grain free, I don't think it is but it might be. She was on Meow Mix for years then I switched to better food over the summer, she was on Earthborn Holistics both wet and dry for a while, she loved the Primitive Feline dry but I don't think it was grain free. Now she's been on Wellness CORE cans and the dog was on Wellness CORE dry for a while and now is on Zignature because it doesn't have anything yeasty but unfortunately neither make cat dry food

i think her dry food now is Wellness CORE indoor formula and I think it grain free but the dog version is original formula which she loves so I wish they made the same for cats. She doesn't really see to like this food but will eat it when she has to. We ran out of wet food a little while ago and I've been meaning to get more but that helps keep moisture up and I read wet food is better for cats, something to do with the organs, so I got her some and she loves like all wet food but dry food is harder to find one she will eat. But she's also kind of spoiled so prefers wet food so that could be why. She won't eat dry unless there is no wet. I am also thinking of changing from free feeding to set times. I bought a supposedly "low dust" litter, supposed to be 99.9% dust free, (dr elseys precious cat ultra) but I found it did still havehave some dust. Perhaps just a no litter at all and crystals would be better. I have also thought of trying the walnut or corn cob litters they have or maybe pine pellets or shavings? I don't think shavingd would work well.

We feed Evolve cat food, it's cheaper than most grain-free foods but is still a high-quality cat food. Cats have a low thirst drive, meaning they don't feel the urge to drink water as much as humans or dogs do and therefore they often won't drink enough water to keep their kidneys healthy. Over time this can cause crystals and blockages in the urinary system, that's why wet food is better. It gives them more water and keeps them more hydrated than if their only moisture intake was normal water.

A pelleted or crystal litter is probably going to be your best bet dust-wise, I'd found that every clay litter has dust, regardless of whether it's dust free or not. Charlotte has eaten a few low quality foods over her life, because various people we shared a home with free-fed their cats and allowed her to eat their food, even when we made it clear we didn't want her to.

I haven't noticed a correlation between the foods with grain and the stains, but I have noticed that when living with my boyfriend's parents, who smoked, never dusted and had five other cats, her eyes got nearly unbearable. We moved, and our house now is almost entirely open-air, and very well circulated. I wouldn't say they're getting better but they definitely not as bad as they were.