The Kishi Experiment

Once upon a time I had a beautiful red shiba. This dog had personality, trainability, and an attitude to boot. She was my child before the human child. I was the doggy soccer mom, driving her to all her activities. We were buddies, partners and she was (and still is) my once-in-a-lifetime dog. Then at almost 3 years old, one week after the human child was born, I rushed Kishi in to the vet with a rash. The vet said it was allergies, and that very pivital day in our lives started 6 years of testing, antigen shots, antibiotics, antihistimines, anti-fungals, and prednisone and a variety of other drugs. The symptoms would disappear for a couple weeks after the medication ended, and then she would end up looking worse than she ever did before. It was not seasonal. It was something we dealt with everyday, all year around.

Black elephant skin took the place of her once beautiful orange-red coat. She would chew holes in her body, so she was forced to wear a cone around her neck around the clock. When the chewing became really bad, she had to wear a muzzle. I gave her baths with medicated shampoos several times a week. It almost feels funny to take a shower without her in there with me. And the worst thing... she smelled... BAD. So bad that when you walk downstairs in my house, you could smell her without being near her.

The vets seem at an impass. There is nothing left to do that hasn't been tried already. The latest thing, I think I mentioned on the blog was trying an antidepressant to see if that would break the chewing cycle. After 3 months of usage, I have noticed a difference in her attitude. She no longer hides. She wants to be with us and greets me at the bottom of the stairs (the dogs are all trained not to come upstairs). She's like the old Kishi again. But it didn't seem to break the chewing cycle.

So now I'm grasping at straws. She's almost 9 years old. What should I do to make her comfortable in her senior years? I was reading online about allergies and I ran across a website written by Linda Arndt, who calls herself The Great Dane lady. She had some good articles on holistic treament of allergies. One of them peaked my interest. It was all about systemic yeast. They showed photos of dogs with the exact same symptoms that Kishi has.

Great Dane Lady articles

I followed a link to another website.

Nzymes

I read each and every story about the dogs with yeast infections and every story sounded like Kishi's story. I researched back in Kishi's medical files and I found out that all of her problems started after a round of antibiotics that she had to take after she and my chow got in an arguement and she had a puncture wound on her leg. At the same time she received her yearly vacinations. I believe the two of them together overloaded her immune system and with all the additional antibiotics that she has had over the years, the yeast growth has just taken over.

So I ordered the yeast kit from Nzymes and I'm following what they suggest to the T. You can follow it on this blog and see if it works. I will update it once a week with photos of her progress.

These photos were taken the very first day of medication. Kishi is miserable. You can see it in her eyes. What you can't experience is how bad she smells. It smells disqusting. And very much like yeast.


This shows her belly and how bad it looks. The red spot is in an area she can't reach, so it wasn't caused by chewing.


Here is the spot on her back that she will chew a hole in without her cone around her neck. It has healed since the last time she got to it, but the hair has not grown back.