Dog Food Chat banner

bubba and his hair

15K views 35 replies 13 participants last post by  magicre  
#1 ·
#3 ·
So, from what I can see of that ADORABLE squishy face (and I'll admit, my eyes aren't the best), it seems like he is getting his hair back. How is the itching? He looks very content in the second picture!

Do you think it is the change in diet, or removing the salmon, or a combination of both? I'm really impressed with the way you are willing to try a totally new approach to his diet and are open to a whole new way of doing things. I'm going start a 'very' few new additions to Chelsy and see how she does.
 
#4 ·
the fact that i posted this in the wrong section means i haven't had enough coffee LOL

i was going to post it in the barf section and when i went to look for it, i couldn't find it LOL

um....i'm willing to try anything to get his hair back. this is a pug who has gloriously thick double coated fur and i can see his belly.

i've been able to see his belly since he blew his coat the first year on raw.

we attributed it to one of two things: not enough dietary fat or the salmon oil.

well, the fat intake has increased and we stopped the salmon oil but i'm not so sure that's what it was, since the hair never came back.

the seed mixture, when i grind it properly, seems to be working a little...it's only been a week.....that's why i think on his face, there is a little more fur.....not his belly yet.

we'll see.

i poached wild salmon for them last night....they have never had salmon. that parasite doesn't just make them sick. it kills....so i don't trust freezing for two to four weeks, although many people do.

i will sleep better at night poaching it a little and giving them the poaching water from it. they had that last night, along with some other things.

so far, their poop is not showing undigested food, other than a tiny teeny piece of carrot.

we'll see. :)

if the wonderful mods wish to move this to the BARF section, i'm down with that :)
 
#6 ·
in all actuality, nat, i think the seeds did it.....the oils from the seeds....

i've only been playing around with certain veggies and fruits for a few days, really...but the seeds i started on the 8th or 9th.

now, he's not totally back....mostly just his face, but both honey and i have noticed he is not as bare on his belly as he was.

there truly was no reason for this and the salmon oil might have been coincidental.

i feed a great deal of variety and red meat, so i don't believe he was ever lacking....

but the flax seed, pumpkin seed, sesame seed, and sunflower seed started working it seems.....after only a few days, like four or five....and i cannot argue with hair. :)
 
#8 ·
I think we have to do what's best for our dogs. I am not ready to move from total raw because Snorkels IS growing her hair back and almost everything is better, but if she were still having ER visits I would be looking at other options - being too stubborn can surely be bad for the dog.

I'm glad you're trying something different. i really hope it works - it seems like it is!

Personally, I hope I don't have to. i remember the days when leaving Snorkels with someone meant 4 pages of instructions for food only, and all the yogurt, beans, pumpkin, olive oil etc etc. That was a difficult time and didn't work anyway - it might have worked better if the starting point wasn't dry dog food, though.

I will definitely try the stuff suggested on the thread I had about Snorkels' constipation if the removal of Cheerios doesn't work. But I'll probably do it one at a time, not all at once.
 
#10 ·
meghan, that's okay. i covet your dog, too. :)

xellix....we were rolling along, perfectly fine and then one day, he blew his coat and it blew off him and never came back.

we thought it was dietary fat, so we added fat.

we thought it was salmon oil, so we stopped the salmon.

my dogs get approximate 7-10 different proteins at any given time...and lots of red meat, so we thought we were doing great.

could not figure out what was wrong.

and it's been a year.

i'll do anything at this point.
 
#11 ·
That is awesome! I am glad to hear it is working. I know that Zoey grew hair back on The Missing Link, and the combo of Melatonin, however I do feel that some dogs just like humans are baldies :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: magicre
#15 ·
Yep, gotta try, I tried bunches of stuff with Zoey before I found the Missing Link, yes it has some not so desirable ingredients but it works....so I've stuck with it.
 
#13 ·
Re, I love him...he is one of the cutest!!! Oh, how I want to kiss that face, lol!

Good to hear you're having progress.
 
  • Like
Reactions: magicre
#14 ·
Here's a page with about 50 different things that can cause hair losss, and the type of hair loss you see:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2111&aid=421:

Snorkels had pattern alopecia:

Three types; hair loss may occur on the ears of Dachshunds (pinnal alopecia); neck, thighs, and tail of American Water Spaniels and Portuguese Water Dogs; abdomen and the back of the thighs of Dachshunds, Chihuahuas, Whippets, and Greyhounds

Funny that raw food made it all grow back. Maybe if it's another kind, seeds will make it grow back. Obviously something is lacking, it's just hard to tell what.
 
#17 ·
Oh my gosh!!!! Cutest black pug I have EVER seen! That face is just the sweetest <3<3<3 Imagine the puppies our pugs could have made together haha
 
  • Like
Reactions: magicre
#18 ·
Bubba's cute!!! I've never even seen a black pug before, only the fawn ones. How much of the seeds are you giving each day? I started giving them last night, bought a spice grinder and ground up the four kinds of seeds and gave around a teaspoon.. didn't need to mix with anything, Tess liked the taste.

Her coat isn't great, I hope it makes a difference.
 
#19 ·
thank you everyone......he is adorable. it's what saves his life daily....

poor little rescue dog....poor little back yard breeding...

it's just that it happened almost overnight. one day he had hair and within a week, he did not.

caty, i took a 1/4 cup of each seed and ground them up. they live in the freezer now. i did not grind them up into dust, though, as instructed :)

bubba gets about a 1/2 tsp. per day and malia is getting 1 tsp. per day. she is twice his weight.

i am also taking it in my cereal. i get about a tablespoon or so.....and i have to tell you, my hair is getting thicker.

the reason i noticed this was my hair was really long...and i was pulling it by keeping it in a pony tail, which breaks the ends....plus the weight of it was causing me to lose hair.

granted, cutting it all off would help tremendously and it did. it's been a few months...but in the last ten days now....it's a noticeable difference. ask my honey :)

kat.....we would make beautiful babies, but you know black pugs are an anomaly. they don't breed true.

thank you, janet...:)

heather, we used to use missing link.....when we home cooked. gotta say, as much as i don't like all of the ingredients, it worked. i haven't tried it since, because the seed oils should do the same thing as missing link without the stuff i don't like...and i can also look on the bag and give him whatever the bag says that i think is helpful in the way of fruits or veggies that help with skin and hair.

xellil..i haven't ruled out baldness for other reasons....but i gotta try, ya know? :)
 
#20 ·
xellil..i haven't ruled out baldness for other reasons....but i gotta try, ya know? :)
Oh, I agree - with Snorkels, it just sounded like pattern baldness and yet change of diet helped it. I was just amazed at how many kinds of baldness there is.

And so many associated with allergies. What's the deal with that? Dogs shouldn't be allergic to grass! I wonder if all that is, in the end, at least partially related to poor diet. It doesn't sound like your issue, though.
 
#21 ·
How much does Bubba weigh? Maybe I should be giving less than one teaspoon, since Tessie only weighs in at 10lb/13" at the shoulder.
 
#23 ·
bubba weighs in around 22 lbs. we let him gain a few pounds because of his breeding and because he couldn't breathe right for the first two years of his life....until we got him a nose roto rooter...so he's very barrel chested. he looked as if he were going to fall over at 18 and 20 lbs. LOL

i'll see if i can get a height, but he's pretty small for a pug.

and i'm starting out small, in much the same way we would begin pmr....transition is everything...don't want to give too much and don't want him throwing up or getting diarrhea, ya know? :)
 
#22 ·
omg I love pugs. Your dogs face cracks me up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: magicre
#26 ·
Thank You for asking! It's going really great especially after adding heart and organs very slowly...perfect poo ever since. He just loves it and I enjoy him enjoying it, lol.
I'm really interested in this approach of supplementing with seeds...maybe it's me but I look at Yogi and swear his hair seems to be thinning in some areas. Please keep us informed and hope it's the answer to the problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: leilaquinn
#31 ·
awesome.....i swear you had the longest drumroll to going raw...but it has really paid off for you....glad it's working out so well.

i was lucky enough to get emu necks and ribs....what a funny feel it has but the dogs love it, so i'm glad i got it. :)
 
#32 ·
Thank You, Re! Yes, it took us some time...didn't it...lol! Well, he is the happiest dog now and looks great...even lost a couple of pounds which he needed to lose. I told my mom it must be a sad thing when you look forward to feeding your dog and preparing his meal...I think, I almost enjoy it just as much as Yogi.

There is an emu farm not too far from my mother's place here in the mountains and hoping to pick up some before going home. Also, visiting my sister in Atlanta the first week in Nov and going to check out 99 Ranch Market everyone talks about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: magicre
#35 ·
thank you magicre for this thread.

because it gave me a real hard knock. i was a barf feeder before & experimented with all kinds of recipes & supplements. i had this habit of changing supps, stopping them for awhile & sometimes removing them totally. my boy's fur started thinning the beginning of this year, and so did my girl. tried as i might, i just couldn't find out what's wrong, UNTIL your posts reminded me - the SEEDS!

they were on seed oils & coconut oil last time and i remembered vividly that both their coats were thick. i really had no idea why i took them off that oil thing.

i'm so going to restart them back on the seeds & coconut oils!

thank you magicre!
 
#36 ·
you're welcome, but it was on the balkan's thread that i learned about the seeds....and then it was a d'oh moment for me.

:)

if you try it, let me know.....

i see it as supplementation, these seeds, not barf feeding...it's like liz whose dogs don't do well on salmon oil, using coconut oil...it's just a different nutrient performing the same job.