Hi from a newly adopted Frenchie

FroxerMom · May 12, 2018

Hey all,
My name is Hattie and I've recently adopted a Frenchie, who I named Daphne as it sounded most like her foreign call name. From my understanding (and paperwork), Daphne was born in Hungary in 2016. Her former owner purchased her and her brother from a breeder and flew them to where she lived in the Washington DC area. Ultimately she ended up choosing to rehome them this past February, when we "adopted" her.

I've been interested in the breed for a while and did a ton of research. I've always been owned by Boxers in the past, and one Pug. When my little Puggie passed away from complications of DM last summer, my male Boxer went into a deep depression. He lost a ton of weight and would just lay around upstairs in a spare bedroom by himself. So, it seemed quite like fate, when I found an adult female Frenchie needing a new home!

Their initial introduction was a bit rough, but they are buddies now. Daphne plays VERY dirty, often nipping at my Boxer's ankles, legs, elbows, and even swings from his jowls. I am currently dealing with insane allergies and interdigital cysts. We've been through one raging ear infection and cherry eye as well. She is a major love bug and snuggles with me every morning at 5 am when we watch tv together. She's horrible on a leash and lunges and barks at other dogs (which makes me terribly sad as we were hoping to bring her with us to tons of dog friendly places). It's all still kinda new for everyone, and she HAS been through a ton and this is the third country she's lived in, so we are being patient. I am hoping to get to the bottom of her allergies soon. If anyone has any advice for that or for leash training, please let me know. She is on a high quality limited ingredient kibble plus canned food and goats milk. I wipe her paws down after coming in from outside.

I hope to post often and share and receive info on here. Thanks!

2bullymama · May 12, 2018

Welcome to FBN!!

Thank you for giving her such a great new home! What brand and protein food are you feeding? How old is she and what does she weigh?

You’re doing good with the wiping of the paws and face when coming in. you can give her Benadryl 1 mg per pound up to three times a day. Be sure to use the regular Benadryl not children’s . There is also a shot you can get at the vet called Cytopoint... it is great , not side effects at all and works anywhere from 4-6 weeks

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FroxerMom · May 12, 2018

Hi Christine. Thanks for the warm welcome!

Daphne's birthday is 12/21/16, which makes her almost 17 months, I think (although I'm not great at math). She weighed 26 pounds when we got her in February, and at her vet visit this past week, she was 27.8. She gets two 1 mile walks per day, plus she plays a lot with my cat and Boxer and I don't think I overfeed. I realize that almost 28 pounds is large. She is extremely stocky with a huge head and is so so solid. The food she eats is Taste of the Wild PREY in the limited ingredient trout formula. I mix in a little canned KOHA salmon and pumpkin. She gets salmon treats when she pees and poops outside. I pour a little goat's milk on top of her food too.

I did read that fish is sometimes a cause of allergies and I thought that was a safer choice, but maybe she is allergic? Thinking about maybe trying duck? Is that a safer protein? She doesn't gnaw at her paws, her eyes don't water, she doesn't sneeze. She occasionally will scoot her butt along carpet (ew), and gets these dang red enflamed cysts in between her toes. It's hard for me to know if she has food allergies or environmental.

We are currently soaking her paws in Epsom Salts, then drying and applying preparation H cream to the affected paws. It seems to be helping one of her paws but the worst one got worse today with another bump forming (I need to figure out how to attach a pic). My vet gave me antibiotics and told me to do a soak in a bleach and water solution three times per week but I thought that sounded all kinds of wrong so giving the antibiotic, but doing Epsom instead.

I have heard of that injection and am definitely going to look into it.

On an unrelated note...I can see my profile pic when I click on my profile, but it is not showing up in my posts. Any tricks to remedy that?

Thanks!

Tgirl · May 13, 2018

She is so cute! I'm sorry you are having all of this trouble. Have you talked to a trainer? As far as the allergies, I'm battling them too but they are pretty controlled with cytopoint. I gave Apoquel before that and that worked too, but I didn't like the idea of giving meds every day. I think something like 90% of allergies are not food related. That said, dogs can be allergic to a number of things and sometimes one more thing is like the straw that broke the camel's back. We can't get rid of pollen in the air but we can control fleas, the laundry detergent we use, foods they may be allergic to and things like that. Good luck to you.

Frenchie Grrrl · May 13, 2018

Welcome to the forum. :hiya:

Daphne is a pretty girl.

To answer your pic question, your profile picture is different from your avatar, which is the one that shows up when you post.

When Gus was having issues with his paws, a nightly foot bath really helped. I also realized that he was having a reaction to the shampoo I was using. You may want to switch to an all natural shampoo with no chemicals, if you aren't using one already. In addition to wiping down his paws, like you've been doing, a quick, nightly, all-over, wipe down with a damp paper towel might help.

I've used Cytopoint when my Frenchie was really bad, but I try to avoid using it. I've tried Querticin, which has helped, and also run a ventilator at night in his room when his environmental allergies have acted up in the past.

I'm assuming that she's been on antibiotics a time or two since you've had her, which tend to destroy the good bacteria, and such, in the gut. I'd also focus on gut health and get her on some daily probiotics.

Alice Kable · May 13, 2018

:smileywelcome: to you and your fur babies!

GraciesMom · May 13, 2018

Hello Hattie. I just want to welcome you and Daphne to the forum. She's adorable by the way - a real cutie. I'm a relatively new Frenchie mom myself so I don't have much advice to offer yet but you're definitely in the right place. I've gotten great advice from the forum members here. We also have something else in common. I was also owned by a Pug who passed away last summer. Six months later I became a Frenchie mom for the first time. Gracie has been a handful and I reached out to a professional trainer recently. It sounds like the lunging problem might be fear aggression, something the trainer explained to me. The good news is that taking Daphne out in public with other dogs might still be a possibility. The trainer sent me an article on this very problem. The article explained a positive reinforcement technique that uses systematic desensitization. Over time you expose your dog to other dogs, each time decreasing the distance from the other dogs and offering treats. The goal is for your dog to associate other dogs with something pleasurable (the treat). If at any time your dog lunges, you back up until the dog relaxes, then start again. Keep in mind I haven't started this yet -- I think I'd be more comfortable with the assistance of a trainer, but it made intuitive sense to me. I thought I'd pass it along.

Honeys Owners · May 13, 2018

I would try switching to a dehydrated raw limited ingredient dog food like Honest Kitchen Spruce, and see how she does. If she does a lot better that's great, but she would probably be best off on a frozen raw product which isn't as convenient.

Try giving cetirizine 15mg once daily ( antiihistamine ) to see if it helps with the environmental allergies.

Try adding some other ingredients to her food like organic virgin coconut oil and turmeric powder ( with ground pepper ) . These help the coat as well.

Antibiotic ointments such as Neosporin or Nu-Stock are good for interdigital cysts, but she won't get as many if you switch her food.

If her ears have lots of wax, clean out as often as needed with a solution such as apple cider vinegar/witch hazel 50:50 on a round cosmetic pad.

Clean out her wrinkles daily eg. with a wet wipe with witch hazel, and wipe dry.

FroxerMom · May 14, 2018

Thanks very much for the info, Melody. I actually DID change our laundry detergent not too long ago. Never occurred to me that could be a culprit! My cat has her vet check up this week so I am definitely going to give them an update on Daphne and ask about Cytopoint and Apoquel. These epsom salt nightly foot baths I've been doing are really helping. Three of her four paws look tip top, after three nights. It's just the original one that still looks iffy, although I think it's a little less red. Thanks for your time and your reply!

Hattie

FroxerMom · May 14, 2018

Thanks Frenchie Grrrl! I feel like a big dummy. I fixed the profile pic/avatar thing. Thanks for the head's up! It sounds like there are several meds I can ask my vet about. The nightly foot bath we are doing seems to be helping and I did switch from Preparation H to Neosporin after the foot's dry. I am giving her goat's milk with her food - do you think that's enough probiotics? Supposedly there are probiotics in her kibble too.

Hello Alice. Thanks for the welcome!

Hi Colette - I'm sorry about your Pug's passing. My girl (Kiki) was 12. She had lost control of her bowels and ability to walk. We adopted her when she had just turned 1. She was such a good girl. I knew I couldn't get another Pug right now, and I read so much about Frenchies. I liked how they are supposed to enjoy being cuddled. That was a big selling point for me.

It's funny you should mention the article about positive training on a leash. I read something a few days ago that walked me through what I should be doing when out walking with her and it basically detailed pretty much everything you said. We even practiced yesterday. If she started being salty, I just turned around and went in another direction until she calmed down. Had to do it many times, but it worked (kinda). I will keep practicing. We recently moved into a house with a fenced yard and I invited a friend over yesterday who has a Boxer puppy, and Daphne sat on the deck with my husband and watched my Boxer and her Boxer playing. She made unholy noises at first, but after only a few minutes, she just watched them quietly.She even sniffed the pup when he climbed the steps to see her. I think here may be hope yet! Thank you for your helpful advice!

Hi Honey's Owners - thanks for the info on raw. I'll read up on that too. I did see your advice on Neosporin and switched to it. Because she had an ear infection that was so horrible when I first got her, I have some kind of medicated wash that I was told to use twice per week and I've been keeping up with it. Fingers crossed, no other ear issues since. I appreciate all your advice!

I hope I didn't miss thanking anyone who responded. I am thankful you all took the time to respond with your expertise! Have a great Monday!

Hattie

Honeys Owners · May 14, 2018

The goats milk is great ( if it's the raw one you can buy from pet food store ) and probably enough. If you want to vary it up you could try giving some live sauerkraut you buy from refrigerator section of health food store, gradually increasing to 1 tablespoon a day, or 1-2 teaspoons milk kefir per day