Hello and I hope this finds you enjoying your weekend. I’ve been hanging out with Finn and the pups, staying close to home and spending as much time outside as possible. We are having the best weather – low 80s and low humidity. I’m trying to soak it up before a week of rain heads our way.
Finn is down for a nap so I wanted to check in with a quick life update.
ITCHY ZOEY
We were up bright and early on Friday morning to get Zoey to the vet at 8a. She has been struggling with allergies and really itchy lately. I wanted to make sure she didn’t have a skin infection and to see if there was a safe medication that would help with her itching. The vet prescribed a 2-week dose of Apoquel, which is an allergy medicine specialty formulated for dogs. We’ll see how she does after the two week loading dose. Hopefully it gets her over the hump but it’s also safe to take at a lower dose for an extended time.
I am very much in the camp that less is better when it comes to medications for my dogs (just like I am for myself!) but I am very pro using them when necessary and this was a necessary situation. She was miserable.
She’s only been on the Apoquel for 2 days and I have already seen a marked improvement! On a related note, if you guys have any suggestions for supplements that you use for itchy dogs or skin/coats in general, I’d love to hear them!
BREAKFAST DATE
Zoey’s vet is close to Sunflour so we popped in there after her appointment to grab breakfast. For years I was a regular at Sunflour but I’ve fallen out of the groove lately. It was really nice to be out early on a pretty day and to see people grabbing breakfast and coffee.
WELCOME HOME BENJI!
Benji came home from his three-week training immersion with Keen Dog Training on Friday! They brought him home around 6p and we did an in-home lesson. I will write a full blog post in the next couple of weeks about our experience with Keen Dog and my thoughts on and experiences with dog training. Let me know if you guys have any specific questions/topics you’d like for me to address.
Here’s Benji holding his place while Finn ate dinner on the night that he came home! Go Benji!
SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET
Our outing for the day on Saturday was a trip to the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market. I had Finn and I up, fed, dressed and out of the house by 8:30a so that we could be there early for the best selection.
Finn had a great time at the market and was Mr. Social. He was saying hi to everyone and singing the whole time while I pushed him around in his stroller. (I need to write a review/do a round up of toddler gear but this is the compact stroller I use when we are out and about and I love it.)
It was such a great market and I probably bought more produce than Finn and I can realistically eat this week but I am going to try! I also bought a dozen eggs and hot Italian sausage.
I already used the Italian sausage in homemade spaghetti sauce, ate two eggs this morning for breakfast along with strawberries and blackberries, had a tomato sandwich for lunch yesterday and a salad for lunch today with the cucumbers, carrots and radishes so I am off to a strong start!
BACK YARD LIVING
I am grateful every day for my fenced in back yard. It is a lifesaver to have a safe place for Finn and the dogs to run around unrestrained. We basically live out there on nice days. I think we spent 4-5 hours in the back yard on Saturday in addition to an evening stroller walk.
Look at this little man! (Officially obsessed with these Native slip on shoes for summer. So easy to get on and off and to clean!)
He’s in two different pairs of shorts and shoes because one photo was from our AM play session and the other from our afternoon. He gets so sweaty and dirty…as he should! 🙂
This is a totally normal scene. Finn loves to lie on his back (especially when he starts getting tired) and watch the trees and sky. Biggest jackpot is when an airplane flies over.
REMEMBERING SULLIE
Last Wednesday marked one year without this perfect angel here on earth. It was an emotional day for me. While I feel so incredibly blessed to have had Sullie in my life for just shy of 13 years and remember her with so much love in my heart, it is difficult for me to see photos of her towards the end and to remember that day.
Here are the words that I shared on Instagram.
My two first babies. ❤️ I said goodbye to my Sullie girl one year ago today. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her with a smile on my face and an ache in my heart.
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I got Sullie when she was 10 weeks old and I was 23 years old. We shared nearly 13 years together. Sullie saw me through marriage, new cities, many job changes, divorce, the loss of my brother, break ups, pregnancy, childbirth and my first year of motherhood. She was my constant through a period of life that was full of ups, downs and changes.
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How blessed was I to be the recipient of such great love and devotion? She was sweet, patient and steady and when I looked into her eyes I felt she met me at a soul level.
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Despite knowing the depths of our love, I was rocked by the intensity of my grief in losing her. I received messages from people telling me to get over it, she was just a dog and that I needed to get some perspective. But I received more messages from people who understood and honored this love and the grief that accompanied it.
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Grief is a journey that can only be navigated by the one experiencing it. Your feelings are your feelings. With great love comes great loss. It is all real and valid.
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Sending spooning snuggles, peanut butter bones and lake swims up to my girl in heaven. I was so lucky to be your mama.
I can look at this photo and remember exactly what it felt like to be in this moment with her. I will hold onto all of these sweet memories forever. There will never be another like my Sullie girl.
Go give your pups some love and a treat from me, Sullie, Zoey and Benji. Wishing you a beautiful week to come.
Fish oil supplements are great for skin and coat allergies. I had a Rottweiler for years with horrible skin allergies. Once I put him on fish oil, they cleared up and he had the softest shiniest coat. Since then, I have kept all of my dogs on fish oil. No side effects, tons of benefits!
Seconding the fish oil! I use the liquid form and just stir it in with my dog’s dinner. He eats it right up and it has definitely improved his coat.
My dog’s itchiness is due to yeast, which may not be the cause of Zoey’s. I’ve read enough about the prescription treatments for yeast to be a little nervous about them. However, so far, I’m managing it at home with a special shampoo, wipes, and apple cider vinegar. Let me know if you need more info on yeast treatments.
Fellow golden owner here – so love seeing a Sullie tribute and a Zooey update! Our 3 year old has suffered from skin issues from day one – he didn’t have a ton of success on Apoquel and I sometimes found it made him extra sleepy, but have really found that Cytopoint injections do the trick: https://www.cytopoint4dogs.com/about-cytopoint.aspx.
We can get ~8-10 weeks between shots and while $$ (like all vet-related stuff…), it’s nice to not have to try to force feed a pill everyday! Take a look at it or talk to your vet about it if you feel the Apoquel doesn’t nip the itching!
I also echo Amanda’s comment above – I also have my dog on salmon oil every night! Hill’s Science makes prescription diets too, my dog is on their “z/d” diet – specially formulated for skin issues!
Our beagle was extremely itchy and our vet also recommended the cytopoint injections and they work fantastic and one shot can last for up to 3 months so it’s pretty cost effective too!
Fellow dog mom of a very itchy allergy prone dog! We do apoquel as needed when his allergies are in full swing and cytopoint injections when he’s in a really bad place and has skin and ear infections that won’t go away. One other recommendation is the SkinGuard Restore products… he only gets baths with the shampoo and we use the mousse in trouble spots in between baths (like behind the ears or on his chest). He’s a short haired dog so maybe it’ll be different for Zoey but it might be worth a shot?
Agree with all the comments recommending fish oil! I mix the liquid in with their food as well.
Your posts about Sullie always bring tears to my eyes. My dog was diagnosed with cancer last year. He had the tumor removed and was doing so well, but we found out last month it has metastasized to his lungs. It is SO hard hearing someone tell you that you only have a few months left with your baby. I always appreciate your vulnerability, and it especially hits home right now.
About the Apoquel….we just put Hank, our 2 1/2 yr old English Bulldog, on it 2 days ago and he is a different dog! Playful, not licking his feet and scooting around or scratching. I fought putting him on it for a couple of months now (this has been a bad spring for allergies in the Charlotte area.) We opted for the Apoquel over injections because you can tweak the dosage, give them less if they don’t need it. One of our previous bulldogs had severe skin issues and Apoquel was the only thing that saved her from suffering. Fish oil has never worked for our dogs, unfortunately. Good luck!
My dog was getting frequent skin infections and started Apoquel and it really cleared it up fast.
We put our sweet girl on Apoquel and she’s a different dog! We did a loading dose and keep her on a super low dose daily and it’s made a world of difference. We also give her a little bit of local honey when she gets bad…she loves it!
HI Jen. Our aussies have always had skin issues.. We have managed it with diet. Message me if you want more info. THey could not take the meds. DEbi
I had the same issue with my pug and found it was food related, once I took chicken out of her diet, her scratching stopped completely!
I second this! My boxer can’t eat anything with chicken in it. I feed a salmon based food to get the same effects as fish oil, and she gets a daily Zyrtec (or you can try Benadryl).
Thanks Rebecca and Jessie! She’s been on this food her whole life and we’ve never had skin issues this bad before so I think it’s some sort of seasonal allergy. I do feed her a duck and sweet potato based food. I switched to that when Sullie was younger because it was the ONLY thing that cleared her chronic ear infections.
Our (almost 10 year old) dog has been on duck and potato his entire life and recently began having some major skin issues. Our vet said that dogs can actually develop allergies to a protein, even if they’ve been on if forever! We switched to a prescription dog food, but that upset his GI system. Trying a salmon-based food for the next eight weeks now. He’s been on apoquel daily for the past several years (downside – it’s super pricey) for minor skin issues. It definitely helps with the itchiness, but we are also going to try Cytopoint to see if it’s more effective in knocking out some reoccurring infections we have been facing. Allergies are the worst, wishing you luck in figuring out how to support your love.
Hugs, Jen! I lost my soul-cat 13 years ago, and still feel pangs of sadness. But because the love I had for her was so strong, I still have SO many clear memories, despite the time that has gone by. She’ll always be with you!
Hi Jen,
Long time reader, love following your journey. We lost our girl Bella 1 month shy of her 13th birthday in 2018 and still think of her and talk about her everyday. In 2007 we blended 2 families, I brought my 2 1/2 y/o daughter to the relationship and my now husband brought his sweet 1 year old GSP Bella. The bond our “daughters” immediately developed definitely helped move our relationship forward. In 2010 we welcomed a baby (Zoë) and Bella became a playground to poke and prod and constant companion. She was with us through moves, caring for a family member going through intense chemo, additions of a foster cat and a new puppy and two rounds of cancer herself. We wrestled with putting her down when we did , but knew that it was best for her. The next week my husband and I were walking on a beach, still grieving, and saw a lone set of paw prints about the size of her paws that stretched the area we were walking, no human prints next to it. It was a really comforting moment, thinking that she may be with us. Thank you for sharing about Sullie, as well as your journey with your sweet family and your motivational messages.
I’m sure your vet knows what they’re doing, but you should also consider Cytopoint for allergies. It’s an injectable and can last 1-3 months. I like it better than Apoquel. I’ve dealt with a dog with itchy skin for years and while diet sounds promising, nothing works like medicine. Benadryl and Zyrtec only work for a small percentage of dogs (and then often cause them to be drowsy). As always do your research!
Love your posts so much and I know how much you must miss Sullie!!
Our dog has had some allergy issues as well and we have the best luck with prescribed food for her allergies + Cytopoint shots 1-2x/year depending on how aggressive her seasonal allergies are. Best of luck finding something that works well!
hi Jen. I always look forward to your posts! Finn is really getting big – such a cutie! I cried with you when you lost Sullie because it reminded me of the pets I have loved and lost. I totally understand the ache it leaves in your heart. Stay well.
Great post! I cannot believe how big Finn is getting. So so precious!
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
I’m curious. Do you wear a mask when at the farmers’ market? Are you able to get Finn to wear one?
I wear a mask any time I am out in public, especially when there’s a lot of people around like at the farmers market (even though it’s outdoors). Finn is a no-go on the mask but at least I can contain him in the stroller.
Our dog has been on apoquel for almost 4 years. At the height of allergy season, we give him daily small doses and in the winter, he doesn’t usually need it at all. It’s been a game changer for him and us. I also bathe him with selson blue, recommended by our vet, which helps the itchiness. The only downside to the medicine is it’s not cheap.