Dog Food Changes & Stella's New Collar

Woke up to a bright and sunny 21° here in 'the tropics' this morning. Some of the rooms were in the mid 50's, it didn't seem that cold when we went to bed. It was time to buy gas and dog food, so I knew I was going to get out of the house today ... with a possible road trip, depending on what kind of dog food I was going to buy.

Over a cup of coffee I decided that Stella needed a new leash, one to give all of us a better chance of telling Stella and Sadie apart in the photos taken. Another factor in the possible road trip was if I was going to change brands of dog food for a final time.

Diamond Naturals is located right downtown at the local 'feed store' where the Fromm for Lrg Breeds was 25 miles away. I needed to buy only 2 more bags to get my free bag of Fromm. No doubts that all of that dog food would eventually be consumed in this house. I had just written last week sometime that I was happy with the Diamond Naturals for all the hounds ... over the time it took for them to eat the 40# bag, things changed.

Heidi was itching so much on clear skin ... it was past the point of obsessive. Stella was fine. All their coats are soft and they shine. Sadie started doing two things, one of them she had done before when on Diamond Naturals ... at night she was frantic to get outside, then sprinting to the field and eating grass, a LOT of grass. The new thing she was doing ... licking her lower leg about 1"-2" wide ... fully saturated but no hot spot, nor any chewing. She licked as much as Heidi itched ... Stella had no issues. To me that looked like they had issues with something in the food.

So like changing my blog back to Blogger for a final time ... I put Heidi back on Earthborn Grain Free and the bloodhounds on Fromm for Large Breeds. The Earthborn for Heidi has a min of 20% fat which is really high and protein of 38% but I think with that much fat and feeding her twice the recommended amounts, it would help her add some weight. Yet, maybe not, as some here have said she might have a metabolism issue, therefor cannot keep weight on ... whatever the case she will be getting better ingredients with the Earthborn no grain food.

Right after this post is published it will "Toe Nail Friday" ... where I will be cutting a total of 64 toe nails counting their dew claws. I look at it only as 3 hounds. Stella's toe nails have always been the perfect length and she doesn't mind getting them trimmed. Since I started just cutting a little bit every Friday/Saturday - Sadie's and Heidi's are slowly being decreased back to a shorter length. The sound of a dremil tool turns all the hounds into sprinting champions so that is not a possibility. Nail clippers are my only option.

Heidi made it out not only for the 1st trip of the day but she came outside voluntarily after lunch. She sprinted back to the concrete after I had carried her into the field. Maybe when it is warmer she will be more interested in getting back into the field.

I took Stella with me to T&T Feeds in Bloomington to buy her a new leash and pick up Fromm dog food. She stayed in the FJ this time instead of following me into the store.  I wanted to see what she would do if I left her alone in the FJ while I was inside shopping. She passed that test with flying colors. She loves going for rides and she did not bark or howl when I walked toward the store. Last night I was gone an hour and a half ... she had not damaged anything but she did move the chest of drawers enough to reach the drywall next to the door. There was nothing on the floor to show she had been digging at the drywall though. So she is on a winning streak of a few days/nights where there have been no damages when I am gone.

Those are lizards

I would have preferred a different color, further away from Sadie's red one but the choices were slim. The ones I liked were sold out in her size. Anyway we should be able to tell from now on, which bloodhound is Sadie and Stella. I didn't care for the faded pink one she came with.

Faded Pink One

The new one besides Sadie's red one. After the manicures we'll take off for a Friday afternoon walk.

In the meantime, with 99lbs of new dog food - a new collar ... all Sadie wants to do is go for a walk.

It's a beautiful Friday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Dog Food Indecision Continues

It's time to buy dog food for Winston, Sadie and Stella. I've analyzed this over the years to the point that I am tired of it. I know for good food and the best bang for the buck, Diamond Naturals for Large Breeds, 40# bag and $33 including tax is the best overall choice. I can drive right downtown 2 miles away and buy all I want.

All three hounds scarf the food up, they love it ... but they seem to love any kind of food put in front of them. Switching back and forth between Diamond Naturals and Fromm I have always noticed a change in their energy levels. Their stools are firmer. Their coats are soft and shinny. The bag will last 15 days instead of 18 days before I got Stella.

I am still so tempted to go buy a bag of Purina Dog Chow. Grain is the source of protein, corn etc. No meat but "meat flavor". That would give me 10 more pounds and $11 less. A huge savings. The propaganda train says that dogs HAVE TO have meat as their top ingredients. Then why is Purina Dog Chow still being manufactured after 80+ years?

Does the expensive, highly rated food prevent health issues? All 3 hounds have a clean health history.

Now Heidi is a different problem. Her skin allergies flared up beyond control in June 2014. The steroid shots stopped working after 7 days. We tried Atopica but it was said to be dangerous plus I could not afford the cost. I tired RESPIT shots but after 15 weeks there was little change. Did I stop those shots too soon? Those shots did make her lethargic thought.

She has been on the most expensive and no grain food there is over the past 15 months. Even longer but never changing the past 15 months ... except the brand/mfg. I have a spreadsheet to track her skin condition, changes in food, any supplements, etc. Her skin never really changes. She still chews non stop, itches, craps in large amounts ... more than any of the other three hounds. In the mornings her skin looks the best ... by late at night it can be flaming red with raw spots where she has chewed.

I thought of putting her back on Earthborn No Grain, but looking through my spreadsheet I saw no differences than now with her on that food. With the Diamond No Grain we just switched to on November 30 she seems to itch and chew a LOT more than before. I could buy her a new bag of something else and have the other three hounds finish her Diamond No Grain. A 15# bag will last her a month.

I was thinking last night "what if ... ", I was to change her to Purina Dog Chow and it worked!!! What if that would happen. What a joke that would be after spending close to a $1,000 in meds last year on her and nothing really worked.

It's a gamble isn't it.

Hounds Are Low Energy This Morning

My trip to Bloomington to buy dog food yesterday turned out to be a longer trip than I planned. I have only one more bag to buy of the Fromm Reduced Activity And Senior before I get a free 33# bag. It's really good food and I can tell a big difference in the coats of the hounds, less shedding, shines and is softer. My vet told me years ago that if the coat was good that meant the ingredients were being used all the way through their system.

In February the vet mentioned two different sources of protein or blends for Heidi's skin issues ... Duck and sweet potato or as a 2nd choice Venison. Since then I have tried different foods that you have read about, with those two proteins. The problem was most of the dog food companies did not have just Duck or Duck Meal with sweet potatoes ... they always added lamb or chicken to the mix.

I am trying to decide if chicken or lamb may be the cause of her allergies. So after "further review" I decided to bite the bullet and spend more for dog food than I told myself I would ever do and bought Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato blend. It's NOT no grain food like I have been giving her with the Earthborn foods, but it's only Duck and Duck Meal as the main protein source. I am hoping the additional carbs from the barley and rice will help her gain weight.

Of course I couldn't just stop at dog food. Since Stella and Sadie had destroyed their Nylabone, I bought another large Nylabone Dura Chew, not noticing on the label "Allergen-Free Peanut Butter flavor. I only bought one and not two bones because based on my experience if I would have bought two bones, Sadie would have wanted both of them. Or both of them would have wanted the same bone.

So far that was a successful trip. Just down the street is my friends car lot so I thought I'd stop in to visit and see how his beagle/bulldog mixed pup was doing. I mentioned that dog in my August visit for dental work. The dog was bulldog size and played the whole time I was there ... which turned out to be almost 4 hours. I'm not sure who talks more, me or Jason. We are both storytellers.

The amazing thing, I was there 4 hours and didn't trade cars/trucks. I did walk around his lot looking at the cars/trucks he had available. He didn't try to sell me but what was surprising I had no feelings of trading either my FJ or Mini Cooper S for anything on the lot ... although he has a nice selection and some nice cars/trucks. In the the past I would have made a trade right then and there. I have bought a lot of cars from him over the years.

I knew traffic would be heavy for a Friday afternoon, heading home. What I didn't expect was backed up traffic due to an accident on the highway about 8 miles from home. Luckily I was able to pass a line of cars and take the first left down a country road which ended up being a back way home.

It was the longest I had ever left Stella alone with the other dogs so I kinda expected the worse but knew there was nothing important that she could destroy if she did have any separation anxiety while I was gone for so long.

She passed with flying colors ... no damage of any kind ... she probably enjoys being with the other hounds and not kenneled alone.

We headed out this morning with camera and coffee in hand. Beautiful day but all of the hounds were low energy. Of course since it's not noon yet, Heidi didn't get off her old leather couch.

The other three hounds didn't do much but sniff the area, stand and stare and then headed back inside. Instead of their "treat" I gave them 1/2 portion of their dog food. They scarfed it down within seconds. It wasn't two hours later that Stella is laying her nose on my arm at my computer desk whining. Once again when I told her it was not time to "eat", she started howling ... lol.

I did not give in this time. Yet while I write this, Sadie is standing at the door of the computer room giving me her usual look that it's time to eat. Their next food supplement will be later this afternoon. It might take them awhile to get use to the new feeding twice per day. It's proof they would eat non-stop if I would leave their dog food out.

From my football tv schedule, which I print out and then highlight the games of interest, there are three games I want to watch are not starting until 10:30pm local time. That is a normal time for west coast games but three games at the same time is not normal for that time slot. It looks like the remote control will get a workout tonight.

The hounds will still get their daily walk in later this afternoon.

Here are a couple photos from Friday night's sunset. The fall nights really light up when the sun sets.

Thanks for the feedback on how often you feed your dogs and the frequency of my blog posts.

The Hounds Get Their Food Supply Restocked

After seeing the change in Winston and Sadie's coat, no itching and a lot less shedding ... I bought another 33# bag of Fromm Senior & Reduced Activity (non affiliate link) dog food today. With traffic, a stop to refill the Mini Cooper S with fuel and the distance, it was almost two hours round trip. By the time I returned home the hounds were anxious to eat. Stella had made no attempts to escape the bedroom but I did see where she stood on her back legs to see out the windows.

When I made the switch to this Fromm food eighteen days ago, I was wanting to change the food of Winston and Sadie to a lower fat or what most companies call a "Senior" blend. Sadie needs to lose some weight and I thought feeling her this food instead of cutting her portions of the other food would work out better.

This summer, along with a lot of other bloodhound owners, there has been more shedding than normal. I just figured it was the extreme heat. Winston was shedding more than normal also and both hounds were itching more than they had previously. With half a bag gone I started noticing that Sadie was no longer sprinting outside at 10pm every night to eat grass. Neither hound was itching as much if at all and my vacuum was showing a lot less shedding was taking place.

Stella arrived a few days after I started this food. She had and still has a great coat, no shedding and made the immediate switch to the Fromm food from her previous food without any digestion issues.

This morning I was close to moving to the Earthborn Weight Management food since Heidi is having great results on their Meadow Prairie blend but when you are feeding around 80# of dog food a month, a difference of 5# in bag size makes a big difference. Fromm has a 33# bag, Earthborn's largest bag is 28#. I'll do a little more cost analysis later to find out which is the best deal. Both foods are great dog food. Both companies use USA ingredients and is produced at their own plants.

With a short trip outside this morning, my trip to Bloomington to buy food and a siesta for all of us this afternoon ... not a lot got done. Nor was anything planned but restocking their food supply. It was a successful day in the life of a retiree.

Sadie

Stella must like the Fromm food a lot with Duck being the #1 ingredient because she still is trying to "flip up" and open a locked lid on the dog food container. She finds it hard to understand her failed attempts, but she is persistent.

Stella

After downloading the photos after taking them this morning I noticed that Heidi's front paws hasn't looked this good since last December. Even her rear legs were not red and I still can see hair coming in thicker on places the vet said not to expect any hair to come back. She is on her 8th day where the food #1 ingredient is Lamb after switching it from Bison. Both blends worked well but I have to wonder if the change in the protein source is the cause for improvement. She has not had any Epsom Salt soaks in the tub this week.

If you remember or you can see past photos under the label on the right called "Heidi's Treatment", that part of her shoulder in back where the white hair is growing back was almost all raw skin and at times had the "elephant skin" look to it.

Also her legs and paws were red, inflamed and at times chewed raw. It might be just one of her better days but at least I will be able to tell what may make it flare back up.

Winston still continues to stretch his diet by eating that fine grade dirt from what the moles push up through the grass. I'm not sure what the attraction is but if he likes it that much, he's been doing it for weeks, I'm not going to stop him. In the photo below you can see some of the dirt residue under his nose.

The hounds played a little this morning when they first went out but nothing like Monday where they were doing all out sprints in the field. At 6 and 7 years old they may have over extended themselves in the aerobic department.

It was a pretty laid back day here in "the tropics" ... just the way we like them.

Stella

Sadie

Sadie

I think it shows that Stella is pretty happy with the fresh cut yard and some afternoon sunshine. I am still amazed how fast I was able to let her off leash (except on the walk) and how she recognizes her new name and will come when that name is called.

Also there have been plenty of chances for dogs fighting with the change in seating at times, or a bone that was never shared until now, including a water bowl of Sadie's that she would lay beside to guard against any basset hound infiltrations. They have their own water bowl in a different room because of Sadie. There have never been any fights over that water in the past 7 years and the past 17 days that Stella has been a resident here.

All seem to get along ... Heidi did bark at Stella this morning to let her know the couch was her's during the daylight hours.

For those that have been emailing the past few weeks asking about my travel plans, rving, the change in my blog, etc ... I am going to post answers to your emails in tomorrow's post along with some other thoughts. Photos of the hounds will also be included throughout the blog post although they might not be part of the subject matter.

This time of year is beautiful in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.

Some Left Over Photos of The Trip & Other Stuff

Rifle Gap SP #86

It's hard to believe a week ago we were sitting in Rifle Gap SP in Colorado. I was outside trying to take some photos of the strangest thing I've seen around here since I've lived here. There was a light rain with the sunshine, but that's not the strange part. It was raining in my front yard but not in the backyard where Sadie stood and Winston was laying evidently in his favorite spot of the yard.

After taking the photos and plugging the camera card into the iMac to download what I thought were going to be just the photos from today, it was telling me I had 41 new photos yet to be downloaded. I looked at some of them, some looked familiar, some didn't. Then I realized the MacBookAir laptop had these same photos and some had been used on my last blog post.

It's confusing at times and I consider myself pretty computer literate. The problem with Apple is, they just assume every customer wants all their devices synchronizing so every device from a computer to an  iPhone or an iPad will have all the same stuff. So they set that as a default. Then users such as myself find out the hard way this is the default and have to track down the settings, change them to stop the synchronizing and if a device doesn't have enough memory, you will need to go back and delete photos or files you didn't want on all your devices in the first place.

To top off the frustration, I found out that Google Chrome was doing the same thing when I used it as a browser on my iMac and then again on the MacBook Air. It would have done again if I had used Google Chrome on my iPad Mini but luckily I don't.

But ... that isn't what I wanted. I wanted my iMac at home to be the "master library" of every thing I had bookmarked or saved to a pdf file over a 5 year period. I wanted the new laptop to be just a travel computer with the only bookmarks dealing with those used while traveling. They would be bookmarks for camping, weather, maps, trailers, etc ... no sports, no basset hound info or bloodhound info, just information you would use when traveling.

I found that when I had set up Google Chrome on my new laptop, I had deleted all the bookmarks I didn't want on that computer ... only to find out when I got home and turned on the home computer, all of those bookmarks I had deleted were also gone on my home computer. Not good!!

Since i have nothing but time on my hands ... I had to import an old file of bookmarks that included all of the ones up to May 13, then I added what I could tell were new ones since that date. I found the place to change those settings so each computer will have their own bookmarks.

Enough of the computer talk ... but it's frustrating when these companies try to force feed you different ways of doing things when you have no desire to do that or a need to do it that way.

I don't know if the lower back is starting to feel the residuals of a lot of seat time while driving those 3,047 miles or was it sleeping on that hard ground in a tent, but sometime yesterday afternoon I started looking for my bottle of ibuprofen. Mowing the front yard today didn't help matters either.

I looked at the temps out in the Green River UT and Moab UT area today ... upper 90's to 102°. We would have had to move anyway a few days days after the storm to either north into Wyoming or south to Northern New Mexico to get away from the heat. Of course here in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana it says it "feels like" 97° with the humidity factor added in.

Besides it raining in the front yard today and not in the backyard, I just thought of a couple of other weird things, I've witnessed lately. One was what I saw on I-70 in Kansas coming home. I would have tried to take a photo from my iPhone while driving but at the time due to the current weather conditions it was best I keep both hands on the wheel.

What was so weird ??  At least to me it was because I would never drive the Smart Car to begin with. I would definitely not drive one 75mph and I would never tow anything with the Smart Car either. This one was in the westbound lanes, and seemed to be keeping up with traffic (75-80mph) towing a small, I'll call it a 3'x3' cart ... to me, that was a little weird as well as a little dangerous.

The next weird thing happened as I visited my local small town post office. You can always count on slow service, no matter what the request is, so you live with it. Today was a little different though. Only one lady working for the post office at the counter.  A line of 6 people including the person being waited on. So being number 3 in line, it took me about 12 minutes to be able to press my fat gut up against the counter and be waited on.

I thought I was there for a pretty simple transaction. I was speaking to the same lady I spoke to on June 3, where I filled out the form for them to hold my mail at the post office while I was gone. We have spoken over 18 years when I have visited my post office in the past but today she didn't remember who I was. I told her in a kind manner when asked, I would like to pick up my mail that was on hold and request them to start delivering mail again at the house. Simple????

I gave her my name, address but began to wonder if she may have walked out the back door to my house two miles away to check my mailbox ... because she was gone long enough to do that. Even though it was only 10am, maybe she took an early lunch break. No matter what ... she was gone a long....looooong time. Can you tell I have a lot of patience for things just like this?

She came back with a small amount of mail, which was expected since I don't get a lot of paper mail due to my whole life being electronic.

But then it got bizarre ... like twilight zone bizarre ... I promise I didn't laugh, nor was I rude ... at least not until I was back outside and inside my car, then I almost lost it.

After she gave me my mail that also included the yellow card I filled out last week requesting the mail to be put on hold, and I was about to walk away, she handed me a large yellow card to be filled out. I asked "do I have to fill out the same card I did the other day to hold my mail, to activate mail delivery?

"No, I thought you wanted to put your mail on hold"

I'm probably not nice to some people reading this by telling that story for many to see and read ... but Sadie, Winston and Heidi have heard it enough today .. they now ignore me and walk away.

Sometimes it really is time for people to retire.

So if you have read this far ... here are a few more photos of last week's trip.

Heidi's Favorite Spot Camping - The Tent

Sorting and Eating the Spilled Kibble From the Rocks ... Winston Refuses to Play That Game

At this time around 1,408 miles worth of smells on that tire rim

It Was Suppose to Happen in Moab .. Not Here

There Really Is A Moon

It Might Be Raining in The Front Yard But Not Here

Checking In - Not a Lot to Write About

Since it has been a few days since my last post, I thought I'd stop by and write a post. Nothing has really gone one since my last post and as you see I've not posted any photos here like I have promised. Sorry about that.

I have found it very hard to take a lot of pictures when the temperatures are in the 30's. That's just me. I've never been a fan of really cold weather to hangout out outside, unless it was skiing in Colorado and Washington. Even though this winter in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana has been pretty mild so far. The weather experts are predicting a little snow this week, but weather is always changing here, so who knows.

Heidi is looking the best she has in a while. I know, I need to take some new photos and post them here with a before and after shot. By the vets direction last visit, I am now giving her 100mg of Atopica every other day instead of daily with plans of reducing her doses as much as possible.

Her recommended dog bath with medicated shampoo every 3-4 days ... I have failed miserably. It's such a hassle giving hounds a bath, even when they don't mind it. She is getting one this morning though.

I am still in my book reading mode, can't seem to stop. It must be the cooler temps outside that keep me reading books inside. Maybe I have traded my yard work in the good weather for book reading in bad weather.

A lot of college basketball on the television and I must say that I am thrilled with Indiana beating Butler yesterday. The college football bowl games are just starting, but I only watch the ones where I like the team match-ups. There are really too many football bowl games but as usual in sports it's all influenced by money. Even though many of the games are not attended well, I guess those few that do attend do bring enough income to the host city to make it worth it. Cities still want to host some kind of college football bowl game. You would think they are about to run out of sponsor names for those bowls.

Some colleges that are selected to play in those bowl games end up losing money for the trip. Yet at the same time a bowl for a college team gives them extra practices, a boost to their recruiting and an increase in alumni donations to their college.

For those following my house heating experiment, I have had to turn on the electric heat since the outside temperatures dropped to the 20's and 30's. A few times it was cold enough inside the house that I didn't see any need to be cold just to save a few dollars. Since I can see my kilowatt usage every day on the utility company website, I can tell from the usage, how to use my 1975 baseboard electric heat in an economical way. I am still spending below my budgeted amount.

This past week I was asked by a different people what kind of dog food I feed the hounds. It was kind of funny because these questions came from people that didn't know each other, were from different parts of the country, was asked via different ways of communication and all about the same time ... within a couple of days of each other.

Looking back at my list of dog food purchases, it looks like I have changed the food a lot, but it's all been good dog food. Some was 'no grain', some wasn't. The reason for the changes were the allergies that Heidi had ... I wanted to see if it was the food or was environmental.

A few years ago you might remember me taking photos of the cart full of eight 40# bags of Nature's Domain bought at Costco. That food is made by Diamond dog food, with the ingredients very very similar to Taste of the Wild, which is also made by Diamond dog.

With a 200 mile round trip to get to my closest Costco, last year I stopped making that trip and started buying dog food locally. At that time it was Diamond Naturals 60+, now called Diamond Naturals for Large Breeds. Recently they changed not only their packaging but also the list of ingredients. They have more fruit and vegetables added but still had 'grain' but has never had corn, wheat or soy. I can buy that at the local farm feed store, 40# bag costs me $33 including tax, cash or check, no credit or debit cards....yes, it's an old fashion feed store.

With Heidi's skin allergies, which she had when I bought her from Guardian Angel Basset Rescue in July 2011, she had those same allergies, and they were noted on my paperwork along with all of her medical records. In trying to find a possible source, I tried different dog foods, some of them were 'grain free'. A raw diet was never tried and 90 days of a Dinovite supplement did nothing for improvement.

Hoping I could solve her allergies with 'no grain' dog food, I tried Taste of the Wild and Fromm dog foods. Fromm is a family owned business in Wisconsin that deals in only manufacturing dog food. They are one of three dog food manufacturers in the USA, that only deal with dog foods. It's really a great dog food.

Well over a couple of years of trying the no grain food, then switching back and forth to the Diamond Natural for Large Breeds ... I didn't find that Heidi's allergies were dog food related. Her skin rashes did not improve by feeding her 'grain free' food. All three hounds have the softest coats and vets have told me multiple times they have never felt a basset hound coat feel so soft.

So the food I am feeding them is good, since the hair would be the last part of a dog using the ingredients of the dog food that is used.

Yes, for people that laugh (in a good way) about all of my Excel spreadsheets, I do have one that lists the top five ingredients of each dog food I have either bought or were interested in, along with the percentages for calories, fat, water etc. I can look at them side by side and compare them.

I have a different Excel spreadsheet I did a few years ago tracking the "true cost" of a bag of different dog foods, by adding using the miles driven to buy the food, fuel cost estimate and frequency of trips to come up with a cost per pound.

Even though it is a 200 mile round trip to my local Costco, that was the cheapest dog food per pound. Although it would increase the amount of fuel used for the month.

Am I crazy with all the analysis I do?  LOL ... at times I think I am slightly insane ... or maybe it's nothing more than curiosity.

Some have said you have to be a little crazy to keep from going insane.

I have deactivated my Facebook account, again. 

In case I don't make it back to blog until after the holidays ... Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's to all that read this blog .. A Happy New Year!

Heidi Has a New Vet & New Treatment

As you may remember a few posts back I talked about Heidi's ongoing problem with allergies that have become worse over the past year. It was noted when I bought her from Basset Rescue (GABR), along with her medical records, that she had an ongoing allergy problem. So it is something we have been dealing with not every month but usually 6- 8 months out of the year.  Over the past year the treatment from my vet had changed from a pill to a shot. I was under the assumption it was an allergy shot, like you or I would get if we had allergies. Months ago after I dug a little deeper on the internet about the ingredients of the shot, I found they had changed from a pill for allergies to a steroid shot.

I didn't like that change so I started looking at other alternatives last spring. No one or no test could pinpoint what she was allergic to. Was it a food allergy, grass or walking through the hay field, environmental or seasonal.

I always suspected environmental because it didn't last all 12 months of the year but also occurred at different times through all 4 seasons. I had also tried different types of dry food, grain free, lamb based, duck & chicken based and even salmon based dry kibble. Last summer I tried a food supplement called Dinovite without any change in her skin problem. These past couple of months I have added coconut oil to her food with nothing really working.

No change ... so I didn't think it was food related.

Throughout the past year I had tried different antibiotic sprays, specialized shampoos with oatmeal or aloe vera. As one reader suggested I tried a solution to treat mites. Nothing improved. Last week I found some antibiotics left from Winston's script last spring and gave Heidi the last of those, which amounted to 2-1/2 days of antibiotics .... improvement.

Since her annual check up, annual shots and the steroid shot in late September I had decided for the first time in about 8 years that I was going to look for a different vet. There were other reasons to look somewhere else besides the treatment. Due to my location, plus living in a small town, there are different vets to choose from but 16-25 miles away. I do have a local vet but stopped going to him 8 years ago. I was about to chose  a vet that is my neighbor but has his office 18 miles away. He is more into the treatment of farm animals for the local Amish/Mennonite farms 18 miles away but also uses alternative treatments for dogs. For some reason I had not called his office for an appointment yet.

Heidi's skin problems came back very rapidly after the antibiotics were stopped and was in the worse shape I had ever seen. To help relieve the redness, swelling and I'm sure soreness, I gave her a bath where not only did she soak with the shampoo but also a nice soak in warm water after the shampoo rinse. She laid in the water up to her neck almost dozing off.

I had decided to call the next morning for an appointment for the new vet 18 miles away. It was after their office hours so it would have to wait till Tuesday morning before I could call. I guess timing is everything. Late Monday night I received an email from my friend that lives in that town 18 miles away, where my neighbor's vet office is located, asking if I had seen the new vet in my town. I had passed this place twice in the past month on my way out of town but had not noticed the house that had recently sold was turned into a new veterinary clinic. I had missed their sign in the front yard.

I spent a few minutes reading their website about their business, the staff, their services and treatments. They sounded like they had a good business plan along with being a paperless office. I made my appointment online, after midnight. They confirmed my appointment by email and a phone call yesterday morning. I normally wouldn't write about a vet visit in detail but in this case I am. Not a lot of detail but just a few highlights that stood out, changes from my past vet and finally some answers after years of asking if there was anything else we could do for her besides just a shot that was no longer working for a month or so but closer to 2 weeks. Was there a different kind of food I should be feeding her?

This older house had been remodeled into a vet clinic ... very nice design and workmanship. After the receptionist double checked my address, phone number and email address that I had posted online ... Heidi and I proceeded to our treatment room. Soon after the vet tech stepped inside, sat her laptop on the table where you would normally lift your dog or cat for them to inspect. But she sat on the floor to get to Heidi's level ... asking questions as she petted her. At no time was I asked to put Heidi up on the table so she would be at the vet's level. We covered a lot of information with questions and answers. The only time I saw her go to the computer was after she took Heidi's pulse and temperature. That is something I want you to remember for later in this story.

Next the vet came in. She also sat her laptop on the table, where I would normally lift my hound for them to look out. Remember this is a paperless office so they had laptops and no folder with written files. The vet also sat on the floor at Heidi's level and gave her a thorough inspection while asking questions and giving me answers to my questions. A lot of information was covered between us. Not once did the vet go to her computer to type what was being said. She left the room after we were finished our discussion and her inspection of Heidi then came back with 3 options for me to consider based on her analysis.

Steroid shots nor allergy shots were an option.

During our discussion I was really impressed with her answers because not only where they detailed answers but the reasons why things were happening and how to treat it. They were the same questions I had asked my previous vet over the past 3 years of having Heidi treated for allergies ... only this time I had answers and not another steroid shot for the "quick band-aide" fix.

She recommended a medicated shampoo to be used only until the other meds started to work. I found out it was not a food allergy. It was not something that could be cured and gone for good, it will be an ongoing problem just as it has been the past 5+ years for Heidi. I also was relieved to find out it was not a grass or a hay field issue. It is most likely an airborne environmental issue like any person has and can be treated with medication without steroids.

What is going to be different is getting her away from those steroid shots ... which is something I wanted. It is also going to be a program where once under control, it would not be something that would flash back after 3-4 weeks causing her pain, swelling and soreness ... it would be under control. At the same time it would be a treatment only when the allergies are active.

I chose the Atopica "The Comfort Club" program. It's a modified oral capsule (cyclosporine) USP for dogs, the same ingredient you or I would be able to take for skin issues. I also left with the Antiseptic Shampoo along with 50mg capsules of Benedryl for her itching, to be used only until the Atopica took effect.

Since it was a paperless office I only walked out with the medications and a small debit card receipt, knowing my invoice would be emailed to me in a pdf file. That was nice because I am also a paperless person and always took those receipts in the past and scanned them when I got home into pdf files. I had their invoice in my inbox within 10 minutes after leaving the office.

The surprise came around 4:07pm when I received an email from the vet office and an attached pdf file named "Heidi's Health Report Card". All of the discussions with the vet tech and the vet were typed in a detailed summary. (They were paying attention to what was said). They even included what kind of dog food she eats and what the main ingredients were. They included the vital signs with temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse quality, CRT, hydration, and body condition. They listed her condition in a categorized list based on their observation...even noting her ears were clean, something they mentioned at the time that they don't normally see in basset hounds.

They asked me if they could take a couple of pictures of Heidi's skin issues for their files and website, as they wanted to track improvements of her condition.

Heidi was cooperative throughout the visit, even rolling over on her back to show the vet her stomach and legpits issues ... without asking.

I'll update my leaf removal process in my next post.

More Computer Play & Leaf Removal

Not a lot has been going on since the rain stopped late last week. I continue to read blogs of people traveling, on retirement and sports. Some of the blogs on my blog list I moved to my Feedly account. That is a really good free program that I like and it's easy to keep up with all the different blogs I read.

Since late Thursday I have been having a lot of enjoyment installing, and learning about the new Apple OS update called Yosemite. For the readers that have Windows PC this probably will not be of much interest but I have a few readers that have Macs, iPads and iPhones, so maybe some information here will help them. When I have looked at the store, I haven't liked any Window changes after XP, especially not Windows 7 or 8. Their prices are tempting though for laptops.

I switched to Apple products in October 2014 after spending almost 14 years on Windows PC's. I was willing to pay more for what I have found to be a very reliable system with zero malware problems or "blue screen of death". I was having major malware problems towards the end of my PC usage and it was almost to deciding to reformat my hard drive and reinstall or buy a new computer. I chose to go in the direction of Apple and buy a new computer. Their computers have the maintenance system built in so I no longer had to spend time defragging the hard drive nor using 5 different programs to seek, find and destroy different malware. I've been running my iMac with no anti-virus and have had zero issues of any kind in my 4 years of ownership. (knock on wood)

I also have started my annual tree leaf cleanup. Due to laziness and being a dreamer, my first step is to do nothing and watch the winds, the leaves, then decide at what point I need to get outside (lol) and start by either raking and burning or use my leaf machine to blow them into a central location, then suck them into a bag that is too small and break them down into mulch material that I usually pile in the area in back that is not mowed.

I wait for a couple of reasons. A few times in the past years during the day very strong winds have come through and basically cleaned the whole yard and blew them over the hill out of sight. I didn't have to do anything those years. I'm hopeful of that this year. The other times they will be blown to a central location where little raking is involved and I can clean them in a few hours. There are a lot of leaves on the ground today and the trees are not even half bare. So there is a chance the longer I wait the larger the leaf piles are and of course longer to clean up, then again ... there is always the chance the wind will take care of them for me.

Back to the new Apple OS X. First of all I am not an expert. I'm a common user, that reads the iMac Forum (Mac Rumors) for most of my answers or use my best friend Google Search to find my answers when I have questions on how to do things on a computer. In the past I have kind of waited for the dust to settle before doing any upgrades on my iPhones, iMac or iPad but this time I decided to go for it when it was available and if it didn't work, I could revert back to the previous OS X Mavericks via my Time Machine backup. Like any new release either in Apple or Windows you will always hear both sides of the story in either love or hatred but after 4 days of operation I can say I love all the changes including the changes to Safari.

With my Exede Satellite Internet monthly limit of 15Gb's per month, I do all my uploads and updates during the free period between midnight - 5am. I don't stay up that long but recently even before the OS change I have been staying up until 3am most nights just because I am a true night person. So the past week my sleep schedule as been all out weird to some ... but it's beautiful outside at 4am when I take a computer break.

So a little past midnight last Thursday night on the first day of availability I downloaded the free OS Yosemite and installed it as a update and not a clean install. I've never had problems in the past doing it that way so I thought I'd continue the same way. After about 3 hours I had the system installed and the fun began. I had to force myself to go to sleep at 5am and that gave me a couple of hour nap until Winston HOWLS by 730am to go outside.

Nope ... no problems at all !!

Sure, there were some changes where I might have to change the way I do things or at least do some research and find a while to make some adjustments to get some features back to the way I had them....but I like change, so I have done some major changes on the way I use my browser without keeping the same processes of the past system.

In fact Safari has improved so much on this update that I have made it my default browser and have left Google Chrome ... something that I thought I'd never do. I moved my dock to the left side from the bottom and stretched my website window down to the bottom of my monitor. I have a choice to have a list of notification on the right side such as calendar, weather, time, etc...but since I'm retired my calendar means nothing anymore and weather and different time zones don't mean enough to have the notification center open on a fulltime basis. So it's doc on the left side and all content filling up the 27" monitor.

I will say at least on my "old" iMac, i3, 4Gb ram ... that Safari is really fast. I have also tried different designs such as bringing the favorites bar back to the top of the screen, for a few days like the old days but decided to go with the new design changes in Safari and follow that. So far, I love the new changes of surfing the web.

A couple of strange bugs ... every time I start my computer the background picture on my main monitor changes to one that I used last spring. So I moved the picture I like to my lower desktop and with a couple of clicks, I reset my background picture upon every restart, hoping that will be fixed in the next update. The other thing and it might be the 'cold war' between Apple and Google ... when I open my blog there is no way to log into my blog in the upper right screen, or new post or design. I use Google Chrome to write new posts or look at the design. I have a feeling that will not change as long as Google and Apple are not playing well with each other, lately.

Last summer while I was waiting to decide whether to buy a new iPhone 6 or the 5s because I was due an upgrade and a new phone contract, I did some reading and found out that a 5s would have the upgraded features. I found out yesterday before upgrading to OS 8.1 that my 5s phone will not have the ability to use Apple Pay, which is ok with me because I'm not sure I want to use Apple Pay anyway ... I'll wait for it to be a requirement in a few years, as I am sure it will eventually get rid of credit cards as we know it, with Google, Windows, Amazon, eBay getting into the electronic payment market. All of my devices have synched without any problems. You have the choice if you want your iPhone and iPad to have the same internet history and bookmarks. I have chose to do that but I can change back later with a click and synchronize the device.

I also found out that my iMac was made right at the cutoff to use the new Apple feature called "handoff". Meaning I could start an email or work on an excel spreadsheet on my iMac and finish it on my iPhone or iPad ... not a big deal to me. My computer missed the cutoff by a .02 on their build number.

In summary for readers that use Apple products ... the new updates are nice, in my case work well without any program or computer hardware issues. One thing to note is the HD space required on the iPad and iPhone is around 5.6Gb, so some might have to delete some old unused apps, maybe some photos to a different drive, to free up space. On my older iMac I am finding things are moving faster and no "spinning beach balls".

I can't promise it will work smooth for you but I can say on my equipment both OS updates have worked flawlessly.

Yes, I have been using my Nikon D3200 camera almost daily and posting most of those photos on my Flickr account. There is a link on the blog in the upper left called "My Other Photos" if you want to see them. The hounds are great and spend a lot of time outside, except Heidi because she is the Queen of the couch and a true hermit staying inside unless we walk or her short trips for relieving her kidneys. As they say you cannot lead a horse to water, she is free to do as she pleases. After all, she's a basset hound and they are a stubborn bred at times.

I have gone back to Fromm dog food. It cost more than I like but I can see a difference in the hounds when I feed them Fromm food. Family owned for a 100 years, all products are made in the USA and they have never had a recall. They are 1 of 3 dog food companies that deal in just dog food, no other markets.

I'll add more pictures in my next post.

All is good in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana and in retirement.

Heidi and Her Allergy Update

Heidi may be the one hound that isn't talked about as much as the others but I give her just as much attention as Winston and Sadie. Since I bought her from a rescue service in July 2011, she seems to stay by herself most of the time. Sadie is a little big for her to play with, Winston is at the age where running around and playing is not on his agenda ... so she hangs out kind of on her own. When she is in the house alone she does like to play, will sprint all over the house wanting someone to chase her but will immediately stop if Sadie enters the house. She does sleep with them at night and will also sit on the couch with Winston in the evenings.

Sadie would like to play with her but doesn't realize how big and strong she is. Sadie has clipped blocked me before in the back of my knee, knocked me down various times and it felt like one of the better tackles I remember from high school football, many many years ago.

When I bought Heidi from GABR on July 2011, she came with a reputation of being "a runner" and a file full of medical records where they had treated her for allergies. She now walks leash free on the daily walks with no problems. She has chased an occasional rabbit but will always tire out and stop before getting to far away.

She also goes out and stays outside for short periods of time without a leash. I think it might have something to do with her knowing this is her home since it's the first time she has been at one location for three years after moving from different families and ending up in the dog shelters her first two years.

Walks Leash Free

Walks Leash Free

Walks Leash Free

 When those allergies flare up like they do every summer, they look like the following pictures.

She does not wear a collar except on her walks. The original diagnosis was alopecia on her rear legs. She has been treated at different times over the past three years with Ketoconazole, Medrol, Tribrissen and the latest was a shot of Vetalog.

Most of the pills and shots last a month or so and then the rash will return. This past July I decided I did not want to use the different shots or pills so I tried a food additive called Dinovite. After 60 days of daily use, there was no improvement and in fact the rash became worse.

So a few weeks ago when she was due for her annual check up and annual shots, I had the vet give her a shot for her allergies. Within 24 hours I could tell a difference in not only her rashes but also the way she acted.

With all the time she spent sleeping and not wanting to go outside, she must have been in a lot of pain. I will remember that in the future. I was thinking she was just tired/laidback but the reason I assume she was in pain is the way she has been acting in the past few weeks after getting her shot.

She now goes outside around 7am with the other two hounds, in fact she will get up and go outside anytime they want to go outside. Before when I didn't realize how much pain she was in, she would not go outside hardly at all. The only thing is now she thinks that every time she comes back inside, she get a Milk Bone and starts barking. She has always barked more than the other two hounds, doesn't bark a lot, only when she wants a Milk Bone and it's time to eat in the afternoon.

So I can tell a major difference in the way she acts. I will be returning the empty box of Dinovite for a refund as their policy states. I read their customer comments, both positive and negative, before I made the purchase but I thought it might work even though I had my doubts.

I never really thought it was food allergies. In the past I have fed her Taste of the Wild (no grain), Diamond Naturals 60+ for large bread dogs, Fromm Golden, Nature's Domain (no grain) from Costco, all with no improvement.

To find out if it might be the grass or hay she was allergic to, I kept her out of the yard when she would go outside and no daily walks for two weeks. Some of those walks were canceled because of the temperatures being above 95°. After two weeks there was no improvement in her rashes.

I mentioned all of this to the vet at her annual checkup and she said in past allergy tests she had given to other dogs recently, they were allergic to almost anything, ranging from dust mites, pollen, dog dander, etc. She did not think it was a food allergy based on her experience.

The vet did tell me to use the Antibacterial Antifungal spray I had bought the next time the rashes show up and see if that would work before bringing her back in for shots. 

The vet then trimmed her nails way back. The vet is the only person Heidi will let cut and dremmel her nails, so they are much shorter than what these pictures show.

Winston and Sadie have not shown any kind of allergies living in the same environment and eating the different foods. They will eat anything in dry kibble just as long as they get their dinner by 4pm eastern time every day. When it gets close to that time, Sadie will come and get me if I have not fed them yet.

She is a great dog that has been a house dog from the first minutes she arrived with no accidents or destruction. I am not sure how she kept ending up in the animal shelter, although the GABR did say the last time she was a "owner surrender" to the shelter. It is estimated she will be 6 years old this December 2014.