D'Elle Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Jester has tick fever and valley fever. I have posted about this in the General BC Discussion forum, under "We've had a rough month, here". Does anyone have recomendations on what I might give to Jes in addition to the medications he is on, to help him to recover? The vet did not have any suggestions for me. I hate the thought that he would be on medication for the rest of his life and want to give him the best chance to beat these diseases. Generally he is acting almost normal....just a little lower on energy than usual....and he has a good appetite. I am giving him a cooked chicken thigh and some sweet potato or yam with his regular kibble every day, and sometimes cooked broccoli as well. Any suggestions on immune system boosters? Thanks D'Elle and Jester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Vitamin C - there is a product called MegaCPlus by Othromolecular Specialties that I've used with great success for chronically ill dogs (who weren't after this). Transfer Factor is another product my vet recommends. Omega 3 Fatty acids (wild salmon oil) and high quality food will also help. Raw is my usual recommendation, but I'm not sure that's a good idea with such a sick dog with low immune function. A cooked diet of high quality food is safest for now. There are vets like Susan Wynn (former president of the Alternative Med Vet Asc.) who will work by phone and email to help you develop an ideal diet for a dog with medical issues. Might be worth considering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 When I was boosting Jack's immune system (demodex mange), I rotated him through a couple of different products: astragalus, echinacea, moducare and colostrum. That was in addition to the daily salmon oil, vitamins C & E, that all my dogs get. I hope Jester is feeling 100% soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted September 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Sorry - I should have asked this before: What doses are appropriate for these vitamins? I have read that "excessive" doses of vitamin E or C can stimulate the immune system, which is not considered a good idea, as it can set off an auto-immune disorder (got this from the Tick-L page). So I am very concerned about giving Jester the right amounts of things, and of course scared about these diseases. He weighs about 39 pounds and is six years old. Does anyone know what doses of which things would be best? Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Your dog does not have an autoimmune disease. So "boosting" the immune system in the case of good nutrition would be helpful, not harmful. "Excessive" is not a huge issue with water soluable vitamins like C - the dog will get diarrhea from more that he needs long before you will see damage. There is good research from a vet source on the site I gave you for the C source. When my Taz hurt her back she tolerated (no digestive upset) over 2500mg a day of C for months - as her back improved, and her tolerance dropped to much less. How to establish what level is correct is on the label. Synthetic Vit E is controversial because it's got a lot of good uses, but can increase the risk of things like a bleeding stroke. I would encourage you to give it to him in more natural forms - varieties of vegetables for example. Demodetic mange is an autoimmune issue, and one case where boosting the immune system might not have been a great idea. You can actually prolong the problem. Colostrum is a seperate issue - it appears to support more than build, or at least not cause any issues with however it works. With all the concerns you have it might really be worth your time to work with a vet who does nutritional counseling. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Everything that I read about treating Jack's mange naturally (instead of shooting him full of chemicals), said to help him fight the demodex by boosting his immune system. My own vet said that he couldn't be sure it would help, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. But, what do I know? I was just sharing my personal experience, and Jack was "cured" in a few months. I certainly felt better treating it the way I did vs. the chemical route. To each his own. D'Elle, if you are going to supplement with salmon oil, you should also supplement with vitamin E. That's why I give it to my dogs daily. It's been discussed several times on here, if you want to do a search, I'm sure you'll find more info than I can obviously provide. I have no experience with tick or valley fever, so I can't address any of your questions, I just wanted to share what I did for immune boosting, and I wasn't implying any of those options would be good/bad for your situation specifically. Best of luck to you and Jester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Localized Demodex resolves in 6-8 weeks - treated or untreated. It's a funny issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockdogranch Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I would really defer to the folks on Tick-L, as the TBDs CAN affect the immune system, and the folks over there really know best, A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 Localized Demodex resolves in 6-8 weeks - treated or untreated. It's a funny issue. I'm not going to keep derailing the OP's thread, so this is it, but Jack's demodex was generalized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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