Some of you already know about my best friend on Earth, Murphy. Murphy is my 2 1/2 year old dog, who has no clue he is a dog... seriously! I have had Murphy since he was old enough to be without his mom, and he is a perfect fit to our abnormal family. He is a black mixed breed dog, full of personality. Murphy loves to play, hike, garden, and is a big fan of cuddling!
To us, Murphy is definitely one of the family. He is very vocal. He loves to mumble, and is pretty good at telling us what he wants. He will bring you his water bowl if he is thirsty. He will open the food container when he is hungry. He will come get you when he needs to go outside. He puts himself in his crate when it is time for us to leave. He has some not so lovely habits too, such as opening the refrigerator to see what is inside.
During the time we have had Murphy, we have been battling some major skin problems. He scratches non stop, and has bald spots from the waist down. After 2 years of having multiple skin scraping test done to check for mites, changing foods, adding oils to his diet, using all natural drops in his food, changing to all natural homemade cleaners for the house, non stop laundry, many many vet visits, and taking medication after medication... i finally broke down and had an allergy test done on him. I put the allergy test off for so long because it is a very expensive test to have done. Also, the test isn't 100% guaranteed.
I would have never made it through all of the switching without Angie, who owns Best Bites For Pets. Angie has been there to guide me through all of the options that I could try before forking out the money for the allergy tests. I order his food from her, as well as his treats, shampoo, and any thing else doggie related that he needs. She has taught me about ingredients that are bad for dogs, and she has taught me how to clean my house naturally and keep things safe for my little guy. Anyone can order from her. Visit her website at Best Bites for Pets and tell her Murphy sent ya!
It is extremely hard to watch your dog scratch all the time, and bite at himself. He was miserable, and he looked terrible. It got to a point where I started to avoid taking him in public. People would stop and stare, or point. Some asked what was wrong with him, and many asked me why I didn't just have him put down after all this time. Really? Would you have a family member put to sleep because they had skin issues? Not me... I will do what ever it takes to get him back to a healthy, happy boy.
Dr. Lloyd, Dr. Hutsell, and all of their staff at Fairview Animal Hospital have really been fantastic. We are there quite often. Even when Murphy isn't sick we stop by just to visit and weigh in. They have really worked with me during all of this. Last week I finally took him in for the tests. It didn't take too long. Dr. Lloyd drew some blood and tested his thyroid first, just in case that was the problem. That test came back normal, so they sent the blood off for full allergy screening. Two days later, I got the call with the results. Finally, after all this time... I have an answer. The main thing that my dog is allergic to is...... dust. There are some other mild allergies to pinto beans, milk, a fungus, and Golden Rod, but the highest sensitivity is dust and storage mites.
So... how do you get rid of dust? You can't unfortunately, but if anyone does know the secret to doing so... PLEASE SHARE!! We are doing some simple things here at the house such as switching the filters in the heat pump to hypoallergenic, washing curtains and bedding weekly, shampooing carpets weekly, and placing everything stored in closets into plastic containers. We also have to start giving Murphy allergy shots. The company that did the test, is currently formulating a shot to counteract all of the items that he is allergic to. Those are not so cheap... so I really hope this helps pretty fast. There is no guarantee that he will be normal again. I have taken before pictures of him, and we should start giving him the shots pretty soon. I will post a new blog in the next couple months with updates, and progressive photos. Lets hope this works!!!!!
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