"When I tell you something is dangerous, I mean it. And, I never forget the Victims"
T.J. Hooker
"Everyone can master a Grief but he who has it”
William Shakespeare
”I had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth”
Kurt Vonnegut about his character, Kilgore Trout.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Tuesday Tails: Wheat Allergy, very scary for you and your pet.

I have a wheat allergy, and so dogs, apparently, can have it, too.  Here's what I found out about this

"Nasty Little Wheat Allergy in Dogs

A list of the symptoms in dogs.

Itchy skin
Shaking of the head
Ear inflammation
Licking front paws
Rubbing face on carpet
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Flatulence
Sneezing
Asthma like symptoms
Anal itching
Behavioural changes
Seizures

 Human symptoms are a little different. We don't lick our paws or rub our faces on the carpet but we get every other one of them!

The Whole Story:

Wolfie, when he was feral, acquired several allergies; so, with advice from our vet, we kept him away from the known allergens in his new foods and treats.  I'm sure he got plenty of left over wheat from discarded trash at fast-food places in the mid city, as well as other wheat filled human foods and, well, other stuff.  He came to us with no hair to speak of, and several conditions which could have involved wheat allergy, too.  So, we avoided wheat.

Approximately a week ago, we started to give a new treat, some little green things, to Wolfie a couple times a day.  On Day One, nothing happened, but the next day he threw up all his breakfast and his regular treat at noon.

The next day he didn't get a green thing because we went to my sister's house and we didn't take those treats with us.  So, we forgot about them for a few days, and then on Sunday he got another one.  He didn't want it but we called it a treat so eventually he ate it.  Well, Monday, at breakfast time, he reluctantly ate another one of the green things, in lieu of getting tiny bits from an organic rice cake, mine.   So, then, as is our habit, he fell asleep next to me while I read.

About an hour afterwards, he sat bolt upright, turned and looked at me, and looked frightened, a, "It's Armageddon, and time for you and me to get under the bed!" look of fright.  I held him and petted him for awhile but he was trembling so hard that he felt like his teeth were rattling.  I let go and he ran to each edge of the bed. running along the edges and looking down but not jumping, which he can do.  It was at this point that I decided to get him off the bed before he broke his neck, trying.  He was having trouble breathing.

I honestly thought that he'd had a stroke or was maybe even feeling seismic mini tremors which dogs are sensitive to.  We checked the San Diego area for ANY level of seismic activity.  Zero!  I thought he had something stuck in his ear.  He cried when I look down them and they hurt.  I could understand that because my own ears hurt even now while they are still recovering from stuffing down so much wheat over the years.  Who knew?

The rest of the day and all evening he wouldn't sit in our laps, always wanting to hide under the chair or the bed and even trying to squeeze that chubby little body under the sofa.  I stayed up late last night to watch over him but by then we'd found out that the new treat had wheat in it, something he doesn't get in his regular diet, and, from the page above, we found that he had exhibited nearly every symptom in the list over the period of time this things were being given him.

When we thought more about this later, I remembered that one of daughters would get hallucinations when she was having a food allergy attack.   She got very bad ones, as in her hands would disconnect from her body and float away.  So, that's akin, we surmised, to what was happening to Wolfie.  He knew we smelled right but something else was very wrong with Mr. Z and I and so he refused to be held.

The odd thing was that he still went in the car without complaint for a Walkies and tore around with his usual energy.  Then he went for a energetic little trot around the local PetSmart.  That evening he was coaxed to eat his regular food and treat, drank a lot of water, and hid under our chairs while we watched a scary sounding -so we turned the sound off and put up captions- story about the birth of the Universe. There were lots of Big Bang type sounds, you see.

Overnight, he recovered.  I woke up early and shot out of bed to check on him.  He was sleeping peacefully in his cuddler next to Mr.Z working at the computer.  Lord what a strange few days it's been.

Wolfie, as he contemplates his new Life of Leisure

He enjoys every minute of it except the treks up the local Mountain
with his Favorite Alpha Male.  Poor little guy.  Have some pity Papa!

2 comments:

  1. Poor Wolfie! I need to get back to blog reading ever since I lost the Google reader haven't found another comfortable RSS reader! And I still don't understand the circle thing...perhaps on my snowday I will learn tomorrow 😃
    Facebook is just so easy, too for me! I miss reading your blog and I need to post before I lose the small amount of readers I have!

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    Replies
    1. HI Paula! I have missed you and wondered if you had gone back to school or something! Sometimes people do that. :-)

      I hope you will start posting on your blog. Facebook is just too confusing, Like Google+ is, for me so I don't go either place much at all.

      And about Wolfie, thanks for that little verbal hug. I'll deliver it right away after we get him from the groomers today. We really thought we were going to lose this dear little fellow. The next day was the vet if he got any worse but he improved dramatically once he wasn't getting those darn green things!

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I’m going through some stuff but I will peek in now and then and will be back when it’s over..