I want to share this with as many people who have dogs as possible who’s dogs may be experiencing what my dog was going through.
I have a wonderful little Staffordshire terrier, she’s 11yrs old and up until fairly recently she has always been a very calm dog. September last year she suddenly started to become very clingy. She had gone from a confident dog to one who had to be by my side at all times. She pined for me if I left the room and whimpered until I came back. It didn’t matter who else was still in the room. Leaving her at home to go anywhere become an ordeal. She also began wetting her bed and drinking copious amounts of water and panted heavily, constantly. I took her to the vet to have her checked over only to be told she had a high temperature and a kidney infection that would need antibiotics. After a course of antibiotics her ears were no longer hot and she improved a bit, but she was still very clingy and wetting the bed and panting. A couple of weeks later her ears again became very hot and she was just very down in herself … another trip to the vet to discover she had the kidney infection again and needed another round of antibiotics. The kidney infection seemed to be cleared and we plodded along being told that she was getting old and bed wetting was to be expected. Her clinginess seemed to have no clear answer and so I was left with no real idea of how to help her.
Fast forward to this year … January … again she had the hot ears and seemed sluggish but still very clingy and wetting the bed everyday now, sometimes twice a day and panting heavily. She still asked to go outside, and she was still using the garden as a toilet, but somehow, she still had plenty more for her bed! She still drank copious amounts of water which she seemed to really need. She would chug it down …. 2-3 bowls a day sometimes. Back to the vet we went again and again she had a kidney infection. It was a different vet and I asked again if he had any idea why she was getting the infections and why she was wetting the bed and drinking so much, again to be told she’s getting old, you have to expect that.
So, I thought my only option was to see if you could get an indoor toilet for dogs, thinking that maybe this could help her not wet the bed. I visited a couple of pet shops and spoke to staff. In the first store a staff member told me that her dog had died last year but he had been in a similar state for a year or so before he died. In the second store the staff member told me their dog was the same and their vet had given them a medicine to give him to stop him going to the toilet so often. They also both told me they didn’t know of any indoor toilet for dogs, so I came away thinking I’ll go online and see if there is any solutions there.
After looking at a load of dog information sites I came across a video … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlxCjjClDnY
Thousands of dogs were suffering from kidney damage and kidney failure and all tied to what they were eating ….. dog food and dog treats. I watched the video and searched some more and came across this article … https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pets/news-features/health-warning-from-vets-in-uk-jerky-treats-for-dogs-can-be-dang/
So, I went straight out to the kitchen and checked to dog food and treats we were feeding her, only to find that it was made by one of the big companies mentioned in the video. I check to see who made the treats and yes, they were by the same company, different brand, but same company. I decided that I wasn’t going to feed her the food or the treats and see if there was any difference. I made her food from oats and liver and some little cuts of meat. I made up a simple porridge and stirred in the liver pate and meat. After two days she was a different dog! She stopped drinking buckets of water and went back to drinking a normal amount. She stopped wetting the bed and her clinginess began to go. I can now leave the room, even leave the house without her getting stress and worked up. She is back to being herself.
So please, if you have a dog and are feeding them dog food, especially dry dog food and dog treats, please! please! please! Check out the video and the article and make sure the ingredients mentioned in the video are NOT in your dog’s food.
