My Kya Bear~!:

After completing my veterinary assistant course, it became clear to me that I should write a report based on my own experience with my German Shepherd. My story that I am about to explain tells about my struggles I went through to keep my dog alive. It was not an easy task as you could imagine. I’ll start first by explaining that Kya (my German Shepherd) was abused by her previous owner. When I took her into my home she was in real bad shape. Suffering from malnutrition, Kya was losing her hair. The thinning bones on her back, the awful stench that she reeked from, would have made anyone shed a tear to look at such a beautiful creature in such poor health.

When you see an animal suffering this much, you often wonder and question if keeping them alive is the humane thing to do. I remember hearing her whimpering the first night we got her. She was in pain, depression. It sadden me so much. I knew I needed to help Kya, but I didn’t know where to begin. I was afraid for her. I probably should have taken her to the veterinarian, but with the way she was, I knew they would tell me there was no hope. I believe though that if you’re still alive and if you’re still breathing then there’s always hope. She seemed to have many problems though. We literally had to lock the bathroom at night because if she finished what was in her bucket of water, she would head onto the bathroom and lick the toilet bowl and shower clean! I knew that my baby girl was suffering from a serious case of dehydration. This is why I began with her appetite and water intake. I figured I would work my way through each of the problems as they came along.

I decided that since Kya was not able to keep any food down, that I would either have to fast her or give her a diet that her stomach could handle. Being fed only onions, and bacon grease by her previous owner, it would not have been smart of me to start her on a high-quality protein diet. After all, she was less then a year old and as you know, anytime you switch a dog’s food, it should be a gradual process. Dogs have sensitive stomachs and the last thing we needed was to have Kya vomiting up foods.

After doing some research, I came to realize that the best and safest way to make sure Kya was getting something in her stomach was to follow the old-fashion white rice diet. My dog was also dehydrated, which I knew would help the problem. Giving her some rice in a bowl and coaxing her to eat it was also not something that was easily done. Finally she managed to eat the portion that was in her bowl. I began to feed her small handfuls of the rice because smaller meals are much easier for her stomach to digest rather then making her pancreas work over-time on digesting a larger meal. Believe me, I had all I could do not to throw her a rack of lamb and tell her, “eat up!”

After about two days, I realized that Kya was able to keep the rice down. This was good, we were making progress. Using some rice, I decided I would mix it with a half a can of beef flavored dog food. I started gradual, and little by little, slowly was starting to add some dry food and taking out the rice. This dog needed more then just a water-based carbohydrate! She needed proteins and the essential vitamins to help her grow big and strong.

To my surprise she enjoyed the dog food that I was feeding her. One of the hardest things to do is to make an anorexic dog eat again. You literally just want to make their foods as palatable as possible, but even sometimes their own hunger pangs can’t make them want to. Anorexia in a dog is different from a person. Of course, no one knows for certain exactly why an animal stops eating, most of the time it’s from an underlying illness. Regardless though, she was eating which made me hang on to a little more hope.

About a week into helping Kya maintain a healthy appetite, I realized that she was starting to look better then she had, but there was still something not quite right about her fur. My Mother and I bathed her hoping that this would help eliminate her awful stench and maybe help her coat “shine.” Her coat was anything, but shiny! It was flaky and she only had patches of fur here and there. I noticed that although she scratched, she didn’t have fleas. This is what perplexed me the most. I knew I had some research to do so that’s what I did.

After reading many, many articles, I realized that Kya was suffering from some kind of Mange, but I wasn’t sure exactly which one. I used several home remedies and none seemed to work in my favor. In the mean time I kept Kya on her beef and dry diet, which I had no idea was creating worse problems then before.

I knew a few of my Dad’s friends had German Shepherd’s who informed me that there dogs scratched a lot too and were taken to the veterinarian several times because they thought the dog had fleas just like I had suspected. However, the veterinarian had informed them of a “food allergy.” After hearing this, I went back and did more research about sensitivities to certain foods in German Shepherds. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong and was very afraid to switch to a different dry food fearing that Kya wouldn’t eat again.

I talked with a few people who I thought could help. They certainly did too! I was very grateful for their knowledge, but things they recommended didn’t seem to work for my dog. I remember I was reading an article on food allergies and one of the women who owned a dog with one asked, “What’s the best diet to put your dog on if you suspect a food allergy?” To my surprise, the veterinarian had answered “lamb and rice.” Most people, like myself, would probably thought to keep a dog on a beef and dry diet with a food allergy. No dog has ever been allergic to beef right? Wrong! That was my expression exactly! My dog Kya, was allergic to beef!

One word of advice I have is, if you suspect that your dog may have a food allergy, I would highly recommend a lamb and rice diet. Be sure to read the labels on all dog foods to be sure that there isn’t any products that your dog is allergic to mixed into them. Some companies, for example, still use meat-by-products in poultry foods so always double check. I had to learn the, hard way!

After about a year now, I am happy to report that Kya seems to be living a happy, healthy life! She is extremely spoiled though! She is without a doubt both gorgeous and intelligent. All the work that was put into her recovery time was time well spent. I am so very thankful for getting her back on all fours!