Not nice to see

[Val (Zebedee)]

but Myshka has had that "thing" flare up on her eyelid again, but this time on both eyes & top and bottom of one as well. Never been this spread out before, so I made an appointment for her to revisit the dermatologist vet. She 'thinks' it's a zinc related problem, but we've only had 3 flare ups in 18 months.

Anyway, as the appt was 09:30, I didn't give her breakfast, which is just as well as she was taken straight in for a biopsy. Put under general anaesthetic as heavy sedation wasn't enough, I picked up my poor girl at 2pm looking like this:

she has dissolvable stitches in the wound which should take about 10 days & zinc supplements to take until the results are back She came out with a stupid Buster collar on that was causing her more discomfort & distress than the wound! Plus she broke my mug within 5 seconds of being home, so off it came & she has been OK ever since!

Just playing a waiting game now to see if the results show anything conclusive ... the down side is, this time she's not covered by insurance as apparently I don't have cover for life with Petplan, only the option where they cover for 12 months! So I am now £380 out of pocket but she is more than worth it .... word of warning, check your policy to make sure you have got the correct level of cover

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

aww poor mishka *hugs* hope they find out whats up with her and can sort it - hugs for her off me and the pack xx

[Carianne]

bless her

Hope she's better soon

[valkyries]

aww bless that looks nasty hope alls well hun and they can sort it xxxx

[carla84]

I hope she well soon !! That looks nasty poor girl !

[Mazz]

Poor baby. Bless Myshka. Zoya sends Husky Hugs.

[lynnmw1208]

Did this start as a lump first? Pongo had some sort of lump on his eye and we thought it was from banging his head on something (as he does a lot). His went down though. I'll have to keep an eye on it though! I hope your furbaby feels better!!

[dygosamikita]

bless her....hope they found out exactly what it is so she doesn't have to go through it again.

[Lyn]

It looks typical of ZRD. We have two susceptable to it and this is now one of the times when owners of dogs with ZRD find it flares it: Moult and change in weather. It can flare up infrequently and she may not have it constantly. Ours is linked around the girls seasons.

Typical sites for it to appear are round the eyes, the nose, mouth, inside the ears and occasionally on the feet.

Use up the Zinc your vet has given (Is it Zinc Methinone?) Then get yourself either Zinc gluconate or Zinc Picolinate (or both, and alternate each day, which we do) from holland and Barrett or another health food shop. don't use zinc oxide (what most supermarket zinc tablets are) as thats not effective. You can get Zinc methinone online, but the other two types are more readily available, cheaper and work well.

Give 1MG zinc per KG of bodyweight per day (20mg for a 20kg dog etc). It can take several weeks to see an improvement and it can get worse before it gets better. If it works, keep your girl on it long-term. A small cube (say, inch square) of liver a couple of times a week is also helpful. Raw or cooked is your choice, but no more than that as the high level of vitamin A can be harmful in large amounts. Other zinc rich foods you can add are red meat, oily fish like tuna in oil and free range eggs are also beneficial.

Also apply sudocreme to the sore area daily (sudocreme contains zinc).

As I say, it can take a while to clear and she could always be prone to flare-ups of it. We follow that routine of suppliments and zinc-rich foods all the time for ours.

[Andy]

It looks typical of ZRD. We have two susceptable to it and this is now one of the times when owners of dogs with ZRD find it flares it: Moult and change in weather. It can flare up infrequently and she may not have it constantly. Ours is linked around the girls seasons.

Typical sites for it to appear are round the eyes, the nose, mouth, inside the ears and occasionally on the feet.

Use up the Zinc your vet has given (Is it Zinc Methinone?) Then get yourself either Zinc gluconate or Zinc Picolinate (or both, and alternate each day, which we do) from holland and Barrett or another health food shop. don't use zinc oxide (what most supermarket zinc tablets are) as thats not effective. You can get Zinc methinone online, but the other two types are more readily available, cheaper and work well.

Give 1MG zinc per KG of bodyweight per day (20mg for a 20kg dog etc). It can take several weeks to see an improvement and it can get worse before it gets better. If it works, keep your girl on it long-term. A small cube (say, inch square) of liver a couple of times a week is also helpful. Raw or cooked is your choice, but no more than that as the high level of vitamin A can be harmful in large amounts. Other zinc rich foods you can add are red meat, oily fish like tuna in oil and free range eggs are also beneficial.

Also apply sudocreme to the sore area daily (sudocreme contains zinc).

As I say, it can take a while to clear and she could always be prone to flare-ups of it. We follow that routine of suppliments and zinc-rich foods all the time for ours.

Thanks for the info Lyn. (+1) We weren't even aware of this problem, we'll keep an eye out for it (lol no pun intended)

Hugs n paws crossed for Myshka that everything gets better.

[Lyn]

Well if it does turn out tho be ZRD (Zinc responsive dermatosis) You can reassure yourself it's a fairly common problem in Huskies (amongst other breeds), you did nothing wrong and it's easily controlled with small additions to the diet and a zinc tablet a day. She may have it for life, but it's not hard or expensive to treat.

[Andy]

Well if it does turn out tho be ZRD (Zinc responsive dermatosis) You can reassure yourself it's a fairly common problem in Huskies (amongst other breeds), you did nothing wrong and it's easily controlled with small additions to the diet and a zinc tablet a day. She may have it for life, but it's not hard or expensive to treat.

would giving them a zinc supplement or increasing zinc containing foods stop this from starting?, just as a precaution.

[sabresmum]

Aww poor Myshka. Hope she's better soon xx

[Val (Zebedee)]

thanks to everyone for their wishes & hugs, Myshka's loving them!!

Lyn, added to rep, that is exactly what the dermatologist vet said, I thought it was seasonal but Myshka's had it 3 times now, Dec 08, Sept 09 & April 10, so we can't see a pattern with it. Also, we only started her on raw foods 6 months ago, previous to that she had been on kibble for the 1st 4 years of her life.

The vet checked her ears, elbows, pads (which were very slightly dry around the edges but nothing obvious) which were all normal, so she is a bit baffled & that's why they've done this biopsy this time.

She now eats beef or lamb mince regularly, tuna in sunflower oil, filleted mackerel and the odd egg, but I was told to limit the amount of bones (ie, chicken wings / carcasses, etc) as the calcium 'overtakes' the absorption of the zinc. She doesn't like offal! She'd rather roll in it (kidney, heart, liver, even tripe! Yeuch!)

The vet has given her Carob choc with Zinc! They look like something you'd find in a box of Thornton's chocs!! The tub says 40mg elemental zinc, 30 tablets containing 176.6mg Zinc Sulphate in Carob Choc

[KERNOWHUSKIES]

bless her, big hugs from me n mine x

[Sarah]

Awww poor girl!!!!!!!!!!

My boys send lots of hugs to her Val (Kaiser said can he send some humps )

Really hope that the meds clear this up and you start to see an improvement over the next few weeks hun, please keep us posted as to how she gets on xx

Great advice Lyn added to rep

[valkyries]

hope it starts to clear up soon Val bless her lots of hugs send from my lot xxxxx

[ninooks mum]

hi val and gang hope Myshka will recover soon and loved the camping pics too lots of love and hugs from nooks xxbest wishes Meg and jay xxx

[Lyn]

would giving them a zinc supplement or increasing zinc containing foods stop this from starting?, just as a precaution.

Including zinc-rich foods is fine and will do no harm (Zinc is needed for general skin and pad health) but I wouldn't give suppliments just for the sake of it. High-dose Suppliments CAN be harmful if overdone and not needed.

Val, thats the most appealing zinc suppliment I've ever seen!

It is true excess calcium interferes with zinc absorption. We give our girls their suppliment at the opposite end of the day to any bones, so they dont have both digesting at the same time

[Andy]

Thanx Lyn will just add a smidge of liver to their diet once or twice per week.

[Cathy]

Oh, poor Myshka! She has a had a rough time of things lately! Hugs from all of us, and please keep us all posted. I hope it's all figured out soon. And tell Diesel to be extra nice to his girl!

[davidjk]

poor thing, well at least it is being looked into.

[Val (Zebedee)]

And tell Diesel to be extra nice to his girl!

He always looks after his little sister, barges other dogs away if they get too rough (even though she can fight her own battles!) - dunno why, she is a right royal pain in the butt to him!

[Tikaani&Aiyana]

Hugs to Myshka, hope she starts feeling better soon and the carob choc does the trick!

[Val (Zebedee)]

she was a bit suspicious of the choc at first (why am I getting one & Diesel isn't??) but after 20 seconds of sniffing it & throwing it round the floor, 2 chews & it was gone!