Blu's Journey

Blu's journey with us ended a month or so ago. He took a swipe at my sons face, me & then got a hold of my daughter all within a weeks time.

The dr said she did not feel his Thyroid had anything to do with his behavior.

Moving him out was hard, mainly on the kids. They did not understand how he didnt have manners & why he couldnt come back once he learned them.

Blu is living with wonderful folks involved with rescue, and who are trainers. He has been given his fourth chance at life. We hope that there is a childless family out there who would be willing to take in a sickly dog who needs meds, a special diet, and for them to be in control.

Blu's journey continues & as it does, I will update his story here.

Otherwise, our short 45 day journey was one of the most rewarding, but gut wrenching ones ever.

Pet Insurance

We have Pets Best. I got it before Blu moved in, and as you know when he did he bloated. I spoke to the gal on the phone prior to signing up regarding Danes, Bloat, hips, knees, etc. Everything is covered except congenital. When he bloated I was happy I had insurance, but when it came time to submit my claim I became concerned. Everyone assumed bloat wasnt covered under any insurance and they let me know that.

I just got my check a total of 80% of total costs. For that they get an A+ They did not exclude anything our dr wrote up & submitted. I do not know if they would cancel his policy after a year, or not cover bloat again.

So my experience, Petsbest covers bloat.

Feeding Raw

Loads of links. These are links I've gotten from others, and a few I stumbled across myself. Raw has been really easy for us.

I feed fresh ground flax seed & Sunflower seed for Omega 3 & 6. I give them the Yeast fighter product that Ii previously bought. It includes enzymes & probiotics. I grind egg shells for calcium.

I occasionally give yogurt, cottage cheese, pumpkin for tummy when they have loose stools (which isnt very often), and Bel gets occasional veggies. Blu does not.

Links copied from a local Great Dane Breeder & member of DOL.com

Book by Sue Johnson "Switching to Raw" http://www.switchingtoraw.com/

Tom Lonsdales book 'Work Wonders, Feed your dog raw meaty bones '

Raw Feeding links
http://www.dogaware.com/menus.html
http://www.thehealthyhound.com/whyraw_shortstory.html
http://www.raw-connections.com/
http://www.greatdanelady.com/article...d_raw_diet.html
http://www.ilcockerrescue.org/feeding.html
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spri.../chemicals.html
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/Articles.asp?ID=122
http://www.newcastleboxers.com/diet.shtml
http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/he...onarticle2.html
http://www.rawdogranch.com/feedingrawdiet.html
http://b-naturals.com/Jan2005.php
http://www.4loveofdog.com/menu.html
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#calcium
http://b-naturals.com/natural.php
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/
http://www.leerburg.com/diet2.html
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html
http://www.nudimensionsnutrition.com/Why_Feed_Raw.html
http://www.skylarzack.com/rawfeeding.html
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/index.phpl
http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html
http://www.k9rawdiet.com/how2.html
http://www.k9rawdiet.com/how2.html
http://www.eastwooddanes.com/SampleMenu.html
http://www.naturalrearing.com/coda/index.html
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#diarrhea
http://www.auntjeni.com/barf.html
http://www.charlesloopsdvm.com/dogdiet.html

How Much To Feed CALCULATOR
http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.html
http://www.barfproducts.com/feedingcalculator.html

DETOXIFICATION
http://www.siriusdog.com/detoxificat...d-holistic.html

There are raw/barf groups on Yahoo for danes
wholseomedane@yahoogroups.com
GreatDanesNaturally@yahoogroups.com

Other Links (note some links are very extreme - but gather info where you can)

Xcel Danes
Myths of Raw Feeding

Affordable meals
Mountain dog food

I hope this info helps you. The benefits for us are out of this world. Blu lost all his nasty dark wirey hair only for it to be replaced with shiny, soft, lustrous, steel blue hair. He has gained weight regularly. Stool is firm, small, & turns to dust within a few hours. His systemic yeast infection is gone. He no longer stinks, and has a bounce to his step. As I mentioned prior, he gets NO veggies. We chose this for him because the yeast feeds on the fruits & veggies. Perhaps when he is "normal" we will introduce them.

Also- we feed raw at less cost than it was for 5 star kibble. Now that's an incentive.

Portraits

Post Surgery check up 9-5-08

Dr. Williams - the operating vet who saved his life. Can you tell he's thankful?

Blu went in for staple removal & post surgery check up.

He gained 3lbs!!!!! He is now 106

NO YEAST MEDICATION! He hardly has a yeast infection now (I credit raw- I will have a post just for this subject.)

I need to start back up his ear treatments (that they had him on for 7 days) for 2 weeks because his ears were starting to goop up.

I can start the originally planned holistic yeast treatment.

We return in two weeks to follow up & test thyroid levels. He was tested for mites & external yeast infection - both negative. He has a reaction to the internal sutures so his surgery sight was pretty icky looking. The internal sutures wont go away for another 3 months so he will still have a reaction but he should be ok. (The following day I had to start him on Benedryl, warm compresses & a tee shirt so that the inflammation would lessen, which did within 3 days.)

At his second recheck, if his thyroid levels are good & his hair doesnt grow back in, he may have color dilute alopecia & will always be bald.

So that was our visit. We got out as many staples as she could see. Oh and the most important part? He can have a bath now!

Blu Update via video

I have lots to update with no organizational skills. I hope you enjoy this video in the meanwhile.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

We are so blessed to have you make it to your 3rd birthday. I hope you know how happy we are to have you with us, and we will continue to dedicate our time to help you heal.