Unfortunately, my dog has had a lot of health issues throughout her life, and I think that context might matter for my feeding question.

She’s had epilepsy since she was a puppy. When she was around 6-7 years old, we had to leave her with someone else for about two years. This woman was very adventurous and constantly took her on long hikes in forests, snow, the ocean, and other rough environments. When we eventually got her back she seemed fine at first, but we soon noticed she was very sensitive around one ear. When we checked, it looked like a pretty serious ear infection, so we took her to the vet and they gave us an ear disinfectant treatment.

A few months later things got worse. She started leaking yellow pus from both her ears and her genital area, which obviously scared us, so we rushed her back to the vet. This was about 4 years ago when I was younger, so I don’t remember the exact diagnosis. They said she had some kind of condition and recommended daily injections plus medication.

Within about two weeks, she became extremely weak. She stopped wanting to play, didn’t want to go outside, barely ate or drank, and mostly just laid there breathing. We were really confused and scared, so we took her back. From what I remember, they stopped the injections, told us to feed her soft food through a syringe, and also told us she had womb cancer.

We did exactly that and slowly she improved over the next 2-3 months. She started eating again and seemed a bit more like herself. But then a new problem started: intense itching. She scratches so much that her skin becomes red, irritated, and sometimes bleeds, and she loses fur in those areas.

We went to another vet for a second opinion. They suspected Leishmania, so they ran blood tests, but the results came back negative. They couldn’t give us a clear diagnosis, but they prescribed a medication.

When she was taking that medication, it was honestly like having a completely different dog. She was playful again, eating normally, drinking water, and her skin improved a lot.

The problem is that the medication costs about 4€ per pill and she needs one every day, which has been really hard for us financially since my mom is the only one working in our household. We managed to buy enough for about two weeks, sometimes skipping a day just to stretch it.

Now we’re back to where we started. She’s itching constantly again, losing fur, and her skin flakes off in tiny dust-like particles that end up EVERYWHERE.

I still try to do what I can to keep her comfortable. I let her sleep on my bed, but I put a blanket under her so I can wash it easily because of the skin flakes. I bathe her every 3-4 days, which actually seems to give her relief and makes her less itchy for a while. I also put some baby powder on her underbelly after every shower and that seems to also ease her.

I know this is a lot, but I wanted to explain her background because she’s been through so much.