Hi All

Just a quick update on Hamish, the vet phoned me this morning to say that the 1st set of bloods had come back from the lab, he said he has shown an allergic reaction to something in the house and that he wanted my agreement for them to investigate this further, he said that they will now go more indepth on this section. I asked him if they were checking for food allergies but he said no because the lab that they now use does not test for food allergies because they are not always a true reading!! I was surprised at this because i thought that food allergies were being tested so that we knew what to stay away from so cannot understand this, surely there is some way to test for food intolerance? Anyway he said that there had been no reaction to grass or tree pollens but to keep him off of grass at the moment because with his skin inflamed we don't want to make it any worse, just until we get the full printout through from the lab when the final set of tests come back. I also asked him if they were doing a full screening of his blood but he said no because there was no need to, it is just the allergies that he is checking out.
When he went down for his blood tests on Friday the vet said that the lymph glands in his neck were swollen but said that this was all to do with his system working overtime to fight the allergies in his body, i was worried that the lymph glands being swollen meant he had something serious wrong with him like cancer or something so asked him again today but he said it was nothing to worry about and that once his body calmed down to the allergen that the lymph glands would settle, i am still worried about this though, i know i panic about Hamish but i have never had a dog before so don't know much about them.
Will keep you all informed as to how he goes, and any more news i hear back from the vets.
At the moment he is lapping his prize choice lamb meals up and eats a whole pack each day, the only thing i have noticed is that he is passing very small bits of mess and also it is very hard, does this mean he could be a bit constipated?
Thanks again
Helen

Hi Helen - sounds like Hamish is allergic to 'airborne allergens' (same as my boy). It's probably 'house dust mites' - let me know when you get confirmation from your vet. All my boy's lymph nodes also swelled - I was worried sick that it could be cancer - but the swelling eventually went down - as your vet mentioned - it's his immune system working overtime so try not to worry too much (easier said than done I know). His poop should be firm - not sloppy. What colour is it (sorry to be so graphic)? When eating a raw diet a dog should poop less and it should be firm. I doubt that he's constipated ...

My mum once caught her finger on a rusty nail.  She cleaned it and dressed it and about a week later she was telling me that her whole arm hurt right into the arm pit which was a bit hard.  She didn't connect it but I did and told her to go to doctors.  First thing they did was look at her finger which had gone septic.  The poison had travelled up her arm and her lymph glands were hard because they working their socks off trying to fight the infection.  Don't worry about cancer, lymph glands swell when they are doing their job. :)

Hi

Yes i will let you know as soon as i hear back from the vet about the results. I feel more at ease no that i know its nothing bad with his lymph glands swollen, but i was worried sick over the weekend i must admit!!
His mess is hard little balls of poop that he is passing and they are dark brown in colour not pale like he was passing when on the antibiotics.
I have received my MSM 1000mg tablets today from zipvits and i also ordered him some Vitamin C 500mg but have noticed on the container that the ingredients include blackcherry flavour and i remember on 1 post on here that it said not to get any vit c that had flavourings or sweeteners in so think i may have got the wrong 1's here, i don't want to give him these if they are wrong, it didn't say when i ordered them that they were sweetened. You also mentioned that you gave your westie restore, where can i get this from?
I am just so glad that he is eating at last and enjoying his food.
We have had some accidents with him lately though, last week he messed 1 morning in the kitchen and today when we got up he had wee'd overnight in the conservatory, even though we put him out last thing last night and he refused to go to wee, should we not leave his water bowl down as he had a long drink before he went to bed last night, although he has had a long drink before other nights and has never wee'd overnight, cannot understand why he is doing this and especially not last week when he messed in the kitchen and we were up but he just couldn't be bothered to go outside in the garden as it was raining. The vet said that he is just being naughty and to not let him think that this is normal behaviour so each time i have told him off and put him out the garden like i did with him as a puppy because i don't want him to get into a habit of using the house as a toilet but cannot understand why all of a sudden he has started doing this!!
Any idea's, i hardly had any accidents with him like this as a puppy so i certainly don't expect it now from a 2 1/2 year old, i could understand it if he had something wrong with his stomach or bladder but the vet said there is nothing wrong he is just trying to make a point!!

Thanks
Helen

There is a guy called Robert McDowell in Australia who has a web site.  He gives free consultations via the net.  if you put his name in your search engine you will find his site.  Worth a try.