and Downy and she reacted to one or the other. Now I use Arm and Hammer and she is fine.

Also, have you cleaned your carpets lately? That can cause a reaction as well as food or contact allergies.

Amy and Sophia

Don't change his food unless you suspect it to be causing the allergies. I would not feed a low calorie food, but would feed with green beans like Cathy does. I sustitute 1/2 c of green beans for a 1/2 c of food. Works like a charm to drop weight off in a healthy manner.

What are you feeding currently?

Amy and Sophia

i used a dryer sheet and wilson who has horrible contact allergies...i ended up rushing him to the er he just blew up....this was one sheet in a load of clothes....it just seems to me maybe he is getting into cantact with some thing every once in a while and this is what your seeing????
just a suggestion

www.dirt-dog.com/vet/thyroid.html

and the reading came back 1.4 which she claims is normal

Yes, I did recently switch fabric softener! I used downey fabric softener for the first time a few weeks ago, right around the time he started showing symptoms, I have since been using none! thanks!

But I haven't had it rechecked

Bubba has been going to her since he was 9 weeks old, he goes to the bulldog vet for surgeries, he had his palet surgery and neuter done there. The bulldog vet is 2 hrs away and there are no others closer to me.

I currently feed natural balance fish and potato. His tail pocket has been stinky lately and I use malaseb wipes and shampoo to clean it, the vet looked at his tail and said it was ok. Thanks!

if all his tests came back ok and he is doing good on his current food, why take the risk of messing up his routine.... I agree with just putting veggies or something else along with his normal food...

but if you have to get some low-cal food, my kibby was on calorie control royal canin for 6 months and lost 15 pounds... maybe mix a little in with your normal food? it makes them have firm poo alot and feel full because of all the fiber.. however, I am not sure if its grain free. good luck!

If not, that's the first thing I would do.

we put Chester on one and in two weeks he had a tail infection, tear stains and patches of hair missing. We put him back on half his regular food with a cup of green beans on top instead. He is on TOTW pacific stream which is grain free and pretty low calorie anyway, TOTW PS was only 75 more calories for 2 cups than the Wellness low cal.
Is your vet a bulldog vet? I can't imagine any bulldog not having a tendency toward allergies and the red, goopy eyes certainly sound like it. Also, the air licking could be from tail problems or itching.

Kathy, Ollie and Chester

please read the symptoms of hypothyroidism in canines and you will see some of the same things you are telling us. Its a blood test (not part of the usual panel) and if the results are "borderline" I would still put him on the medication. Its a life-long need but the cost is low, the pill is small, and it becomes routine.

re his tail and its irritation, I agree with the Desitin or Gold Bond Powder, but I like washing it out good first, and removing (gently pulling out) any loose hairs first.

Re the possible low thyroid, the next step if the blood test of T3/T4 isn't showing abnormality, is doing the TSH testing, which is what I had done on Igor many years ago. Of course it helped somewhat that I was working in the building with a vet ER (I worked in the ophthalmic practice/same building/different firm) and I brought the dog in without breakfast, he was given a TSH injection and the blood was tested, then tested again 6 or 8hrs later, and the measurement of the thyroid stimulation hormone indicated that he would respond to supplementation, so we put him on Soloxine for life, and after that he was a bit more peppy, and most-important to me at the time, his sperm count/mobility improved enough for me to stud him to my bitch. And he provided a nice healthy litter, with no thyroid issues in that next generation (I know because Betty and I owned them all).

I switched to Tide and Downy, and Sophia started chewing her feet, got goopy runny eyes, and started shedding heavily. I stopped using those things right away and things had settled down for her by the time I left for my trip I am on:-)

Amy and Sophia

With Sophie, I never use wipes any more because it just made her worse. I ended up cleaning her more often and she was stinky and had gunk in her tail pocket all the time. Now I do this:

I have a sink with a sprayer nozzle on it. I stand Sophie at the edge of the sink, back legs in the sink, front legs on the side. I get warm water running and with the sprayer, I spray into her tail pocket, then use antibacterial dish soap and with my fingers clean her tail pocket out really well with the soap. I rinse with the sprayer....it is high pressure and really rinses and cleans that pocket well. I clean again with the soap and spray again until I know all the dead hair and yucky gunk is all the way cleaned out. Then I get paper towels or a really good absorbent cloth and I dry that pocket completely. If I think it is still damp I will get out the blow dryer and on the lowest setting I will dry it out more. I do that about every 7-10 days and Sophie hasn't had any tail pocket problems since I started that routine!



Amy and Sophia

I appreciate your advice BIGTIME! U know your stuff...Thank you for that link, it seems that Bubba is displaying most of those symptoms. And now Im alarmed and wondering what could be cuasing this? I had his thyroid checked last year and again a couple of days ago. Gosh what could be going on? I am sure his tail pocket is bothering him, its smelly and he licks the air when i clean it out. Do you have any suggestions for tail pocket? Alot of people say desitin and goldbond powder.
Thank you again!