swinn's Comments

I got the notice in my regular email that you wrote to me... but i try not to follow the links back, but go to the Mercola website directly... but I could find it! Hmmm So, hopefully you'll get this. Everything is fine here. Thanks for asking! Chief is the same, mostly. No major changes I guess. Life is busy here with the grand baby Gabriel and with Nicole too. I try to help out at much as I can, which is kinda taxing on my back. But, I'm doing well with my PT, getting stronger, etc. Gabriel is quite attached to me. It's so cute, and I LOVE It! Greg is on his was back home for a 15 day leave from Afghanistan... should have been here tomorrow (Saturday), but he's delayed in Kuwait. We're having a baby dedication on the 18th and on the same day a welcome home party with friends and family. Gotta git for now, Paul is home and we need to take his car into the shop... down to one vehicle for a while... Ugh! How are things with you? Is your foot healing up well? ttfn, sylvia

Hi Swinn, I'm not sure what I'm doing here. You wrote in your post to email you through your profile page and I'm hoping this is the way to do it. We're Emptyspace and Harvey. You said that you could offer suggestions regarding his diet. He suffering a lot. My main concern is that he's not able to eliminate. How long can a dog last like that? It's so painful for him when he tries and he wants to go...he has the urge because he rushes as fast as he can to get to the grass. He holds the position for a short while, then has to move on because his legs won't hold him up. He'll try moving on to numerous places, squats and will finally be able to release a very small amount. After all that effort for almost nothing, he has to try to get up the three steps into the house. He's very sad. This is painful to watch as he's always been such a happy, comical, loyal, loving companion. Here's a little about him: He's a chocolate lab, 9 years old and presently weighs 92 lbs. but slim. He's always been given a combination of home cooked and whatever dry food is recommended in the Whole Dog Journal. Since I switched him to a Sr. food last summer, he's been eating Orijen Sr. brand. I've always been careful to keep any type of grain away from him and have dehydrated liver for treats along with chicken breasts and duck breasts. He eats, fresh fruit and vegetables (however, not organic). For the past two years he gets an 11 strain probiotic, MSM, chondroitin and glucosomine, fish oil, blue solar water added to his water, he sleeps on Nikken mattress with a far infrared blanket on top. He's recently been getting acupuncture and laser treatments on his back and hind leg and is on a Chinese herbal pain relief called Body Sore and on days where he's very sore (which is this past week) I give him 100 mg of Tramadol. Since he was a puppy he's been getting TTouch treatments daily, Reiki in the mornings and several months ago, I've been looking at acupressure, and treating him at home along with all the above. My husband takes him faithfully for walks, which stopped about two months ago when his leg would increasingly get worse. He now goes out twice a day and I walk him around the back yard, just to keep his joints from seizing up. He's been showing some strange behaviour, like wanting to hide in the closet. He's become frightened of sounds in the house, like the wind, the furnace turning on, and has become very stressful during storms. When he gets agitated like that I put his thundershirt on.... I cannot give enough praise for those thundershirts. The majority of the girls that I graduated TTouch with feed their dogs raw, however, I never did. I've gone a certain extent to giving Harvey raw meaty bones which he absolutely loves, but after a piece was lodged inside and was unable to come out, I've been reluctant and only allow him to eat until the meat is gone and then have to take it away. That's about all the information I can think of that might help you. Maybe you don't even need it?

PLEASE HELP - I have read many of your posts and have been doing much research myself as I have a cat w/apparent food allergies. She is a Pixie Bob Mix - 11 yrs.p old and I recently lost her housemate, my 13 yr. old Siamese to a bladder tumor. Maxie is an indoor cat and began itching her ears so I suspected possible ear mites & made a trip to the vet. Ear mites ruled out but she stated that the hair loss around & in front of her ears was a huge indication of a food allergy. I had always feed either Purina Indoor formula or Friskies indoor delights Dry -all her life. Vet recommended Purina One for Sensitive Systems - Turkey -(She was thinking allergy to Chicken) Feed this for 2 wks. and her symptoms actually became worse. So, I began to compare labels & saw that all (3) had corn, wheat, wheat gluten, etc. which made me think that she was probably allergic to grains. Vet recommended Buffalo Blue Basic - Duck & Potato. (Guaranteed to be grain free w/no corn, soy, wheat, etc. She has been on this for about a week and a half and is now vomiting a bit. Trying to keep a log/diary with food changes and results - First time she actually vomited was two days ago; then once again last night. Now...keep in mind that this is a cat that has NEVER vomited - Ever... (the only previous signs of allergy were the scratching around the face & ears and the hair loss in those areas). I just read some HORRIBLE reviews about this product & am extremely dissapointed. Feeding raw is not an option - She also refuses canned. What in the world could I possibly try now? Truly at a loss. Don't know if I should immediately take her off the Blue Basic or is it probable that she is vomiting as her system gets used to it and I should ride it out for 4-6 wks. The scratching does seem to have subsided some - at least she isn't scratching where she actually makes a scab. Idk - anytime a cat vomits, it just doesn't seem like a good sign to me. Any food suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks-

Swinn I answered your question i think I did it right buts its not adreesed to you under the discussions but is an added reply under empty stpomach etc hope you read it rhoddybab

Took me a while to figure out the way to pm. Btw Susan Thrixton is on a radio blog today at 4pm edt. Wouldn't let me paste info but I'm sure link is on her site. Best