After two weeks of Skipper, and the nice positive messages about Skipper's progress, there is also something unpleasant to report.

Allergy ...

Unfortunately we have to conclude that our dear Skipper has an allergy! We quickly became alert to this after naturally having gained the necessary experience with Lexxieboy. And we had hoped this time to have a German Shepherd who would be healthy. That's how he talked to us. We knew nothing more about him than that he would pull enormously on the leash, and fall out to other dogs on the leash. Those are two problems I have had with Rowan in the past, so they are not unknown to me. My partner also had this before with previous dogs, so we did not shy away from this when we saw it happen during the first encounter with Myla and Lana.

Small bald spot on his front paw

He was told that he had a small bald spot on his left front paw because of biting and licking, and that would have to do with a flea allergy. Before that he was treated with Bravecto, a means that I would NEVER give to a dog myself. And he had a flea collar for that.

It could be flea allergy ...

Because I know that Rowan also reacted fiercely to fleas, I could imagine something about that and that is no problem. We are always very alert to fleas and always treat them against that. That is inherent in living in the countryside where cows are in your back yard and live at the edge of the forest.

But there were NO fleas ...

But after 1 week we saw that the biting and licking on his front leg only got worse, the bald spot became bigger ... only there was no flea to be discovered with him. And our two ladies also had absolutely no problems with fleas. Fortunately on the one hand, unfortunately on the other. Because a flea problem would have been easier to solve. With proper treatment and hygiene, you can get rid of it very quickly, and the dog is therefore relieved of its unbearable itch. Unfortunately, this appears not to be the case and other small things started to stand out.

Flapping his ears, and other small signs ...

For example, we regularly see Skipper flapping his ears, which may indicate a starting ear infection. His feces were not always great either. Good in the morning, too soft in the afternoon ... all signs that were known to us since we had seen this many times with our Lex.

Alarm bells ...

In any case, the alarm bells soon started to ring and we kept a close eye on this for two weeks. Because although we thought it fairly quickly, the fact is of course that a dog also has to adapt after a move where he wakes up in the morning to the people he knows, in a house and environment that he knows. Then a very exciting day with a lot of new impressions and in the evening he has to go to sleep with people he doesn't know at all, 2 other dogs he doesn't know yet and who didn't give him a very warm welcome ... that has a huge impact on the dog. And all those signs could also indicate stress.

He is relaxing more ...

The last week we see Skipper more and more relaxed, he starts to trust us more and starts to find his way and place between the two ladies here in the house. Unfortunately, this did not lead to a reduction in symptoms, which caused us to suspect that we were unfortunately dealing with a once again allergic dog.

But his symptoms didn't get less, so now what ...

Now it is important to try to figure out WHAT our Skipper is allergic to. Is it gluten? Just like with Lex. Or is it something else. This is only possible by first putting him on gluten-free food for about two months and hoping that this will reduce his symptoms.

Elimination diet ...

If this does not help, we will have to start another elimination diet for Skipper in which he gets for eight weeks a protein source that he has never been fed before, and if that helps, another protein source may be added. So we have to figure out what he is going to respond to ... And if all this does not help, then it gets worse for Skipper.

Maybe the allergy is an atopic allergy ...

Then a blood test will have to be done to see what he is allergic to, because he will suffer from an atopic allergy that is often accompanied by fungi. This is all 'reasonably' treatable MITS you know what causes the allergies. Unfortunately, this last type of allergy is more common among German Shepherds and our Skipper now just becomes a German Shepherd. The chance that he has an atopic allergy is therefore quite high and that will therefore have to be demonstrated by means of blood tests AFTER food allergy is excluded or confirmed, because it can also be both.

There are treatments possible but ...

In the case of an atopic allergy, treatments are possible in which we have to treat Skipper against fungi and yeasts, but also have to see that it gets rid of the itch. This can be done through medication, but it is not cheap and he will have to get it all his life. Injections can also be given that work for 1 to 2 months, and he will need this throughout his life. We can also think of a treatment in which we try to desensitize him for the source of allergy, and this will also have to be kept his whole life.

Then we're talking about life long injections and the costs are very high!

All in all, not such a good prospect in the case of an atopic allergy ... and we fear that Skipper will also lose some of its beautiful fur.

Let's hope we can afford that ...

Of course we try to do everything we can, but now we hope that it is financially within our reach. Because when we wanted to offer a new dog a new home, we did not expect that we would again have to deal with a dog with sky-high costs ...

I try to stay positive, and hope that we are dealing with an allergy that we can combat and that we can simply take away the source.