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Case of Hobart (eye allergy, food and knee)

NielsW

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Hi! We’ve been experiencing some health issues with our 5yo dachshund Hobart and I wanted to address his overall situation in this thread to you to see if we can fix them in a sustainable (preferably natural) way. His info based on your guidelines, with added explanatory context.

2. Name: Hobart
3. Age: 5 ½ (born oct 2016)
4. Sex: male
5. Neutered: no, still original
6. Breed: dachshund
7. Weight appr: 10,7 kg
8. BEAM:
--B- 8/10
--E- 7/10
--A- 8/10
--M- 6-7/10

9. Diet and history
Current diet: frozen meat combined with vegetables. Brand: BARFmenu. For a few months we’ve been trying different protein sources (animals, called ‘subtypes’ hereafter) to see what works best and what protein gives the least eye trouble.

-Ingredients subtype ‘Horse’: horse meat, duck organs, duck bones (all fresh)
-Ingredients subtype ‘Deer’: deer meat, deer organs, turkey meat, turkey bones,
-ingredients subtype ‘Fish’: mackerel, salmon, chicken meat, chicken bones (all fresh), vitamins and minerals,
-ingredients subtype: ‘Duck’: duck meat, duck organs, duck bones (all fresh), salmon oil, vitamins and minerals

Previous diet: he has been on kibble (commercial) the first 4,5 years and there were no symptoms.

When he started developing symptoms about 7 months ago just before the age of 5 (more swollen anal glands, chronic eye irritation, and a cyst on his back (which was investigated and appeared to be innocent, it was emptied with a needle and hasn’t come back eversince), our vet recommended for his eyes trying a hypoallergenic kibble (‘hydrolised protein’) for 6-8 weeks. We tried it and actually his eyes did improve. However, in the meantime we had also investigated some holistic approaches and decided we wanted to skip any type of kibble so we started trying frozen fresh meat, with veggies (still experimenting as his eyes got worse again, in that perspective the hypoallergenic kibble was better)

10. Vaccine history / toxins / other medication
VAX history:
  • Nov 2016 – Nobivac Puppy DP
  • Nov 2016 – Nobivac Parvo-C + Nobivac L4
  • Dec 2016 – Nobivac KC + Versican Plus L4 + Versican Plus DHPPi
  • Oct 2017 – Eurican DAPPi Merial Lmulti + Eurican MErial DAPPi Lmulti
  • Jan 2018 – zoetis Versican Plus Bb IN
  • Dec 2018 – Nobivac L4 + Nobivac KC
  • Dec 2019 - Nobivac L4 + Nobivac KC
  • Jan 2021 - Nobivac L4 + Nobivac KC
Other medications: We have been using ‘Vectra 3D’ as a tick fighting solution (drops along his spine) on a monthly basis, eversince he picked up tons of ticks a s a puppy. We are currently looking for alternatives that are less toxic, but as we deal with a chronic Lyme history ourselves we are very careful with this.

Droplets for his eyes (periods).

Once every 3 months he gets a tablet for deworming (Milpro - active ingredients milbemycine en praziquantel).


11. Primary problem:
Primary: His eyes seem to have some kind of chronic inflammation (low to medium graded by our vet, from 2 to 4 on the scale of 5)

Secundary: stool is less easy with some foods and his anal glands seem to be constantly swollen (according to vet).

I consider the cyst on his back an incident, yet I do feel everything is connected so we’re looking for solutions for this overall health balance.


12. Development of symptoms and triggers:
Regarding his eye trouble (fluids coming out, he also rubs his eyes on the couches and blankets, I suppose indicating it feels irritated) we have noticed the following (all diet related):

1. hypoallergenic kibble was better for his eyes (however this made his stool less ‘easy’)

2. a different type of kibble ‘Renske’ based on mainly fish (it included also some chicken broth btw) still gave some eye problems but his stool was really good

3. an other different type of Kibble ‘Renske’ based on turkey and duck got his eyes drooping all over the place. It is because of this reason that we believe food has to be a trigger (supposedly due to general toxic loads?). We decided to skip any kibble period.

4. Fresh frozen meat, BARFmenu - the ‘Fish’ subtype would make his eyes a bit more irritated, his stool OK.

5. Fresh frozen meat, BARFmenu - the ‘Deer’ and ‘Horse’ subtype seem to make his eyes a bit less irritated than the fish, but still too irritated, stool OK.

The reason we focus on a good stool too is that we think it is important to anyone for leading out toxins in general (to keep a healthy toxic balance) so we wouldn’t want a diet that doesn’t support easy stool.


13. Diagnostics done:
- his blood was checked, it was all fine, his immune system was said the just a tiny bit weakened but nothing to worry about at all.
- his cyst on his back was emptied with a needle and said to be innocent (hasn’t come back eversince)
- his eyes problems were rated 2 to 4 on a scale of 5, on different times of visiting the vet a period of 6 months. Rate 3/5 and 4/5 were said to be

14. Treatment:
- Previous: For this eyes he first got dexamethoson drops for a number of weeks (we slowly lowered it and then stopped)
- Current: he is now on ‘similar’ drops called prednisolonacetate after not having had any drops for a while (apparently as we haven’t succeded in finding the right diet the problem re-emerged in such way we had to start it again).

15. Other health concerns
1. General: We are really looking for good natural (affordable) supplements or herbs to (1) complete his diet and (2) help him cleanse on a daily basis in order to reduce his toxic balance. Do you know if there are any (affordable) supplements -that can be easily acquired from Europe- or herbs that we can give in order for him to properly cleanse on a daily basis? Maybe herbs or algae like spirulina or other seaweeds, and what dosages are appropriate for dogs?

2. Patella luxatie (right knee, back paw, sometimes he 'skips' a step). See recording attached. He was recently also diagnosed with patella luxatie. He sort of had this since he was a puppy, but it seems it just got a little worse. (1) our vet is proposing to make an XR to see what is the situation. When would you decide on surgery for such a symptom?


Looking forward to your help!
 

Attachments

  • patella luxatie recent video.mp4
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Dr. Jeff

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Thanks for sharing this awe-some information about Hobart!

15. Other health concerns
1. General: We are really looking for good natural (affordable) supplements or herbs to (1) complete his diet and (2) help him cleanse on a daily basis in order to reduce his toxic balance. Do you know if there are any (affordable) supplements -that can be easily acquired from Europe- or herbs that we can give in order for him to properly cleanse on a daily basis? Maybe herbs or algae like spirulina or other seaweeds, and what dosages are appropriate for dogs?
Great questions Niels! I think that you might be asking two questions: 1. What natural herbs will help him cleanse? 2. If his body cleanses/detoxes will that make him better?

For #1 I'd say many things can help him cleanse. Almost any fiber source can do that. Cleansing/detoxing is a process that his body naturally uses while he is healing. So actually the supplements are causing the cleanse, but rather are activating his body's ability to detox. Here's a reliable affordable supplement source in Europe and Asia (most countries, but not all);


For #2 tho, the most effective way (that I've seen) of helping him get better over the long term (in addition to the more acute symptoms) is chronic constitutional treatments using homeopathic medicines. Nothing is better for help his body cleanse and heal.

@Dr. Sara may have a specific suggestion for a homeopath, but in the meantime you can check the directory here:

2. Patella luxatie (right knee, back paw, sometimes he 'skips' a step). See recording attached. He was recently also diagnosed with patella luxatie. He sort of had this since he was a puppy, but it seems it just got a little worse. (1) our vet is proposing to make an XR to see what is the situation. When would you decide on surgery for such a symptom?

Regarding surgery, consider not making a decision until after you consult with a board certified surgery specialist vet. Personally I usually don't do surgery for smaller dogs with dislocating kneecaps (luxating patellas) unless the symptom is debilitating and can't be addressed in other ways (like homeopathy).
 

Dr. Sara

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Dear Niels,
The IAVH directory is a good place to start, though not all IAVH members are listed.
Where are you located? I can post your location to the IAVH email list to see if anyone is near you.
Best regards,
Dr. Sara
 

NielsW

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Thanks for sharing this awe-some information about Hobart!


Great questions Niels! I think that you might be asking two questions: 1. What natural herbs will help him cleanse? 2. If his body cleanses/detoxes will that make him better?

For #1 I'd say many things can help him cleanse. Almost any fiber source can do that. Cleansing/detoxing is a process that his body naturally uses while he is healing. So actually the supplements are causing the cleanse, but rather are activating his body's ability to detox. Here's a reliable affordable supplement source in Europe and Asia (most countries, but not all);


For #2 tho, the most effective way (that I've seen) of helping him get better over the long term (in addition to the more acute symptoms) is chronic constitutional treatments using homeopathic medicines. Nothing is better for help his body cleanse and heal.

@Dr. Sara may have a specific suggestion for a homeopath, but in the meantime you can check the directory here:



Regarding surgery, consider not making a decision until after you consult with a board certified surgery specialist vet. Personally I usually don't do surgery for smaller dogs with dislocating kneecaps (luxating patellas) unless the symptom is debilitating and can't be addressed in other ways (like homeopathy).

Hi Dr Jeff,

Thanks for your reply!

About the detoxing (#1): Yes, we figured detoxing would be his main problem for his eyes starting to react 'out of the blue' after taking 4 years kibble- I mean, to me this would be the only explanation that would make sense: he slowly absorbs too much toxins over the years and this 'bucket' (liver?) slowly got full until it started to react and overflow by showing (in this phases subtle) symptoms like eye irritation, a cyst on his back, swollen anal glands etc. Does this make sense to you? I couldn't think of any other (holistic) explanation to be honest. We are familiar with iHerb, so that's great- are you suggesting we could use just any supplement humans also use to detox? Can we use seaweeds like spirulina, dulse, barley grass juice powder? (we support a Medical Medium lifestyle ourselves so we have a lot of stuff of this). Would it be useful to give Hobart small bits of this on a daily basis (for the short term, in order for him to cleanse from toxins? I suppose homeopathy is something for the long run as you suggest (which we are going to address now soon). Would you have any suggestion to improve on his eye problems on the short term rather than keep using dexamethoson eye droplets until we found a better diet for him?

About the dislocated kneecap: our vet is suggesting making an xray (subject to full anesthesia). Would you say this has any proper added value based on the video I attached, also based on your suggestion that you wouldn't support surgery either way? (I think at this moment it's not really debilitating, it just looks a bit uncomfy for him.) Can I ask why you wouldn't do surgery for smaller dogs? (just curious :)
 

NielsW

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Dear Niels,
The IAVH directory is a good place to start, though not all IAVH members are listed.
Where are you located? I can post your location to the IAVH email list to see if anyone is near you.
Best regards,
Dr. Sara

Hi Dr Sara,
We are located in the Netherlands, Europe!

Warm regards,
Niels
 

Dr. Jeff

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You're welcome Niels! ? ❤️
Does this make sense to you?
Yes.
- are you suggesting we could use just any supplement humans also use to detox?
Not any, but most.
Can we use seaweeds like spirulina, dulse, barley grass juice powder?
Yes!
(we support a Medical Medium lifestyle ourselves so we have a lot of stuff of this). Would it be useful to give Hobart small bits of this on a daily basis (for the short term, in order for him to cleanse from toxins?
Yes.
I suppose homeopathy is something for the long run as you suggest (which we are going to address now soon). Would you have any suggestion to improve on his eye problems on the short term rather than keep using dexamethoson eye droplets until we found a better diet for him?
Yes! Soothing warm compresses followed by lubricating drops 3x a day.

About the dislocated kneecap: our vet is suggesting making an xray (subject to full anesthesia). Would you say this has any proper added value based on the video I attached, also based on your suggestion that you wouldn't support surgery either way? (I think at this moment it's not really debilitating, it just looks a bit uncomfy for him.)
An awake X-ray might give you and the vet more info. I'm not sure that I'd recommend general anesthesia to a client of mine whose small pup has a luxating patella.
Can I ask why you wouldn't do surgery for smaller dogs? (just curious :)
Smaller/lighter dogs are more likely to compensate and even heal (did your vet tell you what Grade the luxation is?). You may also want a vet surgical specialists opinion before deciding what to do.
 

Dr. Sara

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Niels, you have some excellent homeopathic vets in The Netherlands. The conference that I attended in the Netherlands was one of the best.
What is your town? I can post a query to the IAVH email list to see if anyone is close to you.
I only see three homeopathic vets listed on the vet referral, and I know there are a lot more than that in The Netherlands. Not every vet gets listed on the IAVH site. I know Dr. Ellinger well, and she is excellent, but she may not be near you.
Warm regards,
Dr. Sara
 

NielsW

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You're welcome Niels! ? ❤️

Yes.

Not any, but most.

Yes!

Yes.
Thanks (2x)!
Yes! Soothing warm compresses followed by lubricating drops 3x a day.
Is that a compress 3 times a day plus the drops 3 times a day? Is there any description what/how to do this? What type of lubricating drops do I get?
An awake X-ray might give you and the vet more info. I'm not sure that I'd recommend general anesthesia to a client of mine whose small pup has a luxating patella.
The vet says they would want to do an xray subject to general anesthesia (incl hips we were told) in order for them to get a proper look and examine the situation of the knee. We were told anesthesia would be necessary because they could then also see the hips (which at some point could get relevant for the knee? - hope I have understood this correctly) and then they could also judge the situation better because the dog wouldn't be protesting so they could feel the knee well in relaxed position and examine the luxation. Making the xray would be useful according to them in order to create a baseline from which we could monitor in the next few years if things become worse. We were also advised to give him painkillers during a week to see if his step-skipping could be pain related (and from there judge the severeness of him experiencing the luxation), but to us it feels kind of wrong to load his system with chemicals (both painkillers and the anesthesia, see the previous detox story). In addition, I must admit, sometimes we don't really know anymore who to trust, as of course, those photo's and treatments are costly.
Smaller/lighter dogs are more likely to compensate and even heal (did your vet tell you what Grade the luxation is?). You may also want a vet surgical specialists opinion before deciding what to do.
No grade yet (see above), they first want to examine it with an xray. What would be any healing options from the luxating knees for him being a smaller dog? Homeopathy?
 

NielsW

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Niels, you have some excellent homeopathic vets in The Netherlands. The conference that I attended in the Netherlands was one of the best.
What is your town? I can post a query to the IAVH email list to see if anyone is close to you.
I only see three homeopathic vets listed on the vet referral, and I know there are a lot more than that in The Netherlands. Not every vet gets listed on the IAVH site. I know Dr. Ellinger well, and she is excellent, but she may not be near you.
Warm regards,
Dr. Sara

In the region of Utrecht! (us not being very mobile, I think Dr Ellinger would be out of our league geographically wise :)
 

Dr. Jeff

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Is that a compress 3 times a day plus the drops 3 times a day? Is there any description what/how to do this? What type of lubricating drops do I get?

Yes. There are lots of descriptions and uses for this on the forum and in the resources but what may be most important is to know why I'm recommending this holistic support. That is to help stimulate his natural healing ability.

Basically, the warmth from the compresses helps dilate the blood vessels around the eye to help bring healing blood cells (and curative inflammation) to the area of his eye. Then you apply the lubricating and soothing drops to further stimulate healing.

In the US, the readily available brands are things like Genteal, Systane, Ocunovis (which contains the super lubricant hyaluronic acid), etc. Unfortunately I don't know what's available near Utrecht but your local pharmacy or natural product store should have something suitable (for soothing irritated eyes in people). These would work:

Hyalogic, HylaTears, Lubricant Eye Drops for Dry Eyes, 0.67 fl oz (20 ml)
also see the hips (which at some point could get relevant for the knee?
Yup.
What would be any healing options from the luxating knees for him being a smaller dog? Homeopathy?

There are many options but what might work best will depend on the totality of his case. Gentle massage, acupressure, The Happiness Protocol and Love Therapy are a few that can help every living being.

Yes, I'd strongly advise that you schedule time to consult with a trained vet homeopath (you can do this virtually) to optimally stimulate his healing.
 

NielsW

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Yes. There are lots of descriptions and uses for this on the forum and in the resources but what may be most important is to know why I'm recommending this holistic support. That is to help stimulate his natural healing ability.

Basically, the warmth from the compresses helps dilate the blood vessels around the eye to help bring healing blood cells (and curative inflammation) to the area of his eye. Then you apply the lubricating and soothing drops to further stimulate healing.
This sounds really interesting, I'll try and find it on the forum.
In the US, the readily available brands are things like Genteal, Systane, Ocunovis (which contains the super lubricant hyaluronic acid), etc. Unfortunately I don't know what's available near Utrecht but your local pharmacy or natural product store should have something suitable (for soothing irritated eyes in people). These would work:

Hyalogic, HylaTears, Lubricant Eye Drops for Dry Eyes, 0.67 fl oz (20 ml)
Thanks, I'll order it as soon as I can!
Would you consider having an xray made in this case of value? I mean, given the fact that surgery wouldn't be an option anyway, or at least, many things to try before even considering any kind of intervention? Or is determining a baseline worth the trouble? And should we persist on non-anesthetic, perhaps?


There are many options but what might work best will depend on the totality of his case. Gentle massage, acupressure, The Happiness Protocol and Love Therapy are a few that can help every living being.

Yes, I'd strongly advise that you schedule time to consult with a trained vet homeopath (you can do this virtually) to optimally stimulate his healing.
Will do!!
 

Dr. Sara

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In the region of Utrecht! (us not being very mobile, I think Dr Ellinger would be out of our league geographically wise :)
I have sent out some queries regarding homeopathic vets near Utrecht. I will let you know if I have any replies. Regards,
Sara
 

Dr. Sara

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I have sent out some queries regarding homeopathic vets near Utrecht. I will let you know if I have any replies. Regards,
Sara
Dr. Ellinger suggested Dr. Evelien van der Waa in Houten, near Utrecht.
I hope this helps!
Dr. Sara
 

NielsW

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Dr. Ellinger suggested Dr. Evelien van der Waa in Houten, near Utrecht.
I hope this helps!
Dr. Sara
Thanks Dr Sara! We actually located her previously using google, but it feels reassuring she's being recommended. We'll make the move asap :)
 

Dr. Christina

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Until you consult with Dr. Evelien, do not do any x-ray, even without anesthesia. I agree with Dr. Jeff that often surgery is not needed. I had one toy poodle whose owner counted over 100 "pops" per daily walk. He would hold the leg up and need massage to let it down about 5 times per walk. After several homeopathic medicines that fit him as an individual he was symptom free for the rest of his life. Did not happen for every dog I treated, but worth waiting to see.

For eye drops, if Dr. Jeff's are not available or working until you consult Dr. Evelien, I would suggest similasan dry eye relief, which should be available in your stores.
Dr. Christina
 

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