I have tonight had my little 2yr old JRT Milo at the vets. Vets ran blood tests as he was looking rather pale and I waited for the results.
They were not too good and vet has sent them off to the lab for further investigation as its looking that theres a good chance he may have Auto Immune disease. I am so upset and really clutching at straws as I lost my last two dogs to that aged just 4 and 7 years.
I am now beginning to wonder if there is something in my soil in the garden as my other two dogs when we moved here started eating the soil and Milo is doing the same. Vet said i need to find a soil scientist who could test to see if there is iron in the soil or anything else that could be causing the problem.
If anyone knows of anyone who can test the soil who could help can you please let me know as it is urgent I do this, in the meantime he has said to keep both my dogs out of the garden. God knows how I will manage that as my other dog won't go toilet on walks only in the garden and Milo will need to be let out when I am at work etc.
I have just tried to download a Marks & Spencer insurance claim form but can't find it on thier website even though on thier claim line it says to do it there. Anyone know where I can find it.

What a worry. I do hope that Milo will be ok - fingers and paws crossed!

I did a google search to see if I could find anything about the soil - nothing came up really, but I did find this old thread here. One of the clinical signs listed is a craving to eat soil which would suggest that soil eating is a symptom rather than a cause, although I do agree that it is strange that your other 2 dogs have also had auto immune disease.

That thread also has a link to a yahoo group which may provide more insight.

I also looked for the insurance claim form but couldn't see it anywhere - were you signed in to the site, maybe more options will show up..?

Good luck, and I hope someone with more information will be along soon!

Oh poor you, I should think if it does prove to third time, that your soil or something does need looking in to.
I am so sorry, poor little Milo I do hope he will be okay.
Karen :-(

Sorry to hear that, it does sound like to much of a coincidence to be chance!
The marks and spencers form i can help you with. GO to their pet insirance page of the website. Click on "quote and buy". Click on the little box that says "next." Another window will come up asking for details, instead click on the "contact us" on the left hand side. Yet another window will open up and about half way down is a little box with blue writing next to it. Thats the claim form. It couldn't be more hidden if they tried!

Thankyou I've got it and will print it off.  I honestly would never have found that.  Well done much appreciated.

How about contacting your local Environment Health Office?  If there is something in the soil that is attracting the dogs, which does seem to be the case, and ultimately harming them they may be interesting in looking into it for you from the human risk point of view.

So sorry to hear about Milo calm down and try not to panic yet its early days.

Is it possible to fence of the grass area of your garden you can do this quite cheaply with posts and chicken wire from b&Q then staple the wire to the wooden posts remember to put in a gate so that you can go up the garden.We do this in our garden to keep the dogs off the grass during bad weather .

take  care

Roni

I'm so sorry to hear about Milo - fingers and everything crossed for him!

It is probably a good idea to fence your grass/garden off as Roni has suggested, at least until you've found out about your soil!

Please keep us posted about Milo.

Maria

There may be some other environmental cause of this :(

Daisy

most horse feed manufacturers have a soil analysis service. Though this is primarily designed to show which minerals are deficient on your land, they can also tell you if you have too much of a particular mineral. I had one done a few years ago by Dodson & Horrell