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Titan has Demodectic Mange... and a general update on Titan's condition

Titan has only been with me since November 20, 2008, so not all of the bugs (pun intended) are out of his system yet. First, I had to put some weight on him because he was still too skinny when I got him. On top of that, he had chronic diarrhea, which is common in German Shepherds due to that shorter colon which is akin to the wolf (dogs are carnivores, wolves and dogs that are more closely related to them tend to have systems which make it even more important to feed a natural raw diet like BARF). He has the enzymes for digesting raw meats, but needs a little help with cooked things like kibble, even though he gets the best kibble there is! (no grains, no carbs, no by-products, no preservatives, no unidentifiable meats, BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, etc...) It's as natural a diet for a carnivore you can buy in kibble form, but it's still not close enough for some dogs, like Titan. So I have to give him probiotics to help him digest. That worked wonderfully, and he'll have to take them for as long as he lives unless I can come up with the money to feed him the real deal, which is basically what wolves eat minus the exotic meats like Caribou and such. So... digestion problems solved. The new vet I have is great about giving REAL solutions that are a little better on the budget so far!

He still has a lack of muscle problem that isn't resolving, but at least his hips aren't noticeable by sight, only by when you pet his rump because of his thick coat. He has the right amount of fat on him though, so he's eating the right amount of food. He needs muscle to fill in the gaps, but all the exercise in the world doesn't seem to be helping. He even still has two DEEP holes in his chest beside his esophagous (I can put my thumb all the way in there easily past the 2nd joint without moving or pushing in the skin at all ), and his backbone still sticks out more than I would like it to... but again, he's not underweight as far as fat goes.

Now... He's not really growing much. It turns out that when it appeared he gained 10 pounds, making him almost 75lbs, he was measured incorrectly due to his squiggling. He's STILL 65lbs and no longer squiggles on the scale. That's small for a GSD, but he is 25in at the shoulder now, which is within the normal male range for today's smaller new-age German Shepherd Dog breed standard. So ideally at a lean weight he should weigh about 75-80lbs with a normal amount of muscle. I really think he would be about 28in (~90lbs) if he reached his full potential, which is more like the old type of GSD that I like, but sadly he never will. I might be able to squeeze an inch out of him if I give him a calcium/phosphorous/vit D3/vit A supplement. I'm going to order some and see if I can get a little more size out of him before his growth plates seal for good. The product I'm looking into has a balanced ratio of Calcium to Phosphorous and Vitamin A/D3... something other products don't quite balance and don't have... That's why it's so controversial to supplement calcium. Without Vitamin A and a balanced Calcium to Phosphorous ratio, the dog grows too fast and the bones don't form strongly, causing structural problems. I'd only give him something that wouldn't hurt him, especially since he already has a bone problem with that crooked wrist. He could have hip displasia lurking under there for all I know, since I don't know what his bloodline is, and this particular supplement would help with that if it were to ever show up later in life. This is because it will help his hips form normally in the socket (thanks to vit A and phosphorous). Ideally I'd have his hips X-rayed to find out just how they are, but I don't have the money. Right now nothing is bothering him about his legs or hips. He'd tell me if there was... He complains about everything!

He went to the vet today for some booster shots, and I wanted to see about a balding spot on his eyebrow. He's had little patches in random places before... If you visit some of my older photos of him, you'll see a little grey patch of fur back when he was still mostly black on his "blanket" area. It went away though, along with the ones that have appeared on his legs. I figured the one on his face would too, but it's been sticking around and getting worse. They did a skin scraping and he has Demodectic Mange. They even let me look at the little mites under the microscope! I thought that was neat... There were four of them in the one viewing area. They told me that's a lot for that many to be in that tiny of a space. They gave him antibiotics since this usually comes with skin infections, and Ivermectin for the mites. Titan is adding up to be a big vet bill, and my mother is upset about it. Demodex is the inheritable kind of mange that isn't contagious even in severe cases because all dogs have that particular mite species, but the immune system keeps them in balance. This means Titan's problem is immune system related. He either has a poor immune system due to all of that malnutrition he suffered before adoption (and when I had him in the beginning, but he had chronic diarrhea that according to the vet prevented him from absorbing all of the nutrients he may have needed to grow...) which would have impeded the development of his immune system, or he has bad genes and will have Demodex for life. The most likely case scenario is for him to continue to develop his immune system now that the diarrhea is under control, and he will never have a problem again. I certainly hope so!

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