A testament to Dave (and the staff) of Healthy Pets at Blandford Forum.
Hello everybody my name is PJ (or Peej to my friends),
This is my story about how I became a re-born happy dog after 2 years of hair loss and looking and feeling bloated.
I was born in September 2007 and apart from always having an upset tummy when being taken on my walk’s and finding that I had a mild allergy to dust mites (me a tough 7+ stone boxer that cannot take on a few minute bugs. .. how embarrassing!!) , I was a happy dog until 2009. In 2009 my family felt that my constant upset tummy was not healthy and after consultation with my vet they decided that they would change my diet from frozen raw meat to a “high-end” brand of complete food, supplied by well known pet supplies stores, supported by everyday tinned dog food. I must say that I enjoyed my food but the change turned into a Big, Big mistake!
In late 2009 my fur on my back fell out by the handful (a slight exaggeration but I think you get the idea), I now looked and felt like a barrel of beer (mmm, beer!!) and by early 2010, I looked as if I belonged in an advert for the RSPCA.
Not realising the problem they had caused by changing my diet, my family took me to the vets for advice, the vets scratched their heads and suggested various test, these tests included some quite painful skin biopsies that I still bear the scars for and to make matters worse the tests yielded no results.
The vets, bless ‘em, did try their best and one of the possible ‘solutions’ was, by means of injection every 3 months, to control my hormones. After some months, with some fur re-growth, this was thought to bear some fruit but this was later to be found but a smoke screen!
Come early 2011, the dreaded cycle continued, and this time the change was more drastic than ever, now it was desperation time!
When my ‘Dad’ (that is what the others call him, so I just humour him!) came home and said that a friend and colleague had heard all about my problems, had recommended that they should take me to see this chap called Dave at Healthy Pets in Blandford who looks for alternative remedies . They all said ‘Yeah, what can he do that a vet can’t?’ After a pause, some bright spark said, ‘Well, what harm can it do?’ and after an even longer pause, nobody could find a reason why not.
Come the following weekday, all the family was on holiday, so the one they call ‘Mum’ (she’s the one that makes sure I get fed) makes the phone call to Dave, and Dave - being a very straight forward sort of person - said ‘given the state of PJ, what has taken you so long to call me?’.
The slap wrist accepted, the next day, my family take me to Tin Pot Lane, Blandford (yes, you have read correctly, only in Dorset could there be a road called Tin Pot Lane) to meet Dave and his very friendly staff.
When we arrive at Healthy Pets, Dave was soon on the scene to greet all of us and before I knew it, he was trying to take what was left of my hair! My initial thought was “What’s going on here? Does he not realise I am already balder than my late ‘Grandad’?” but it was not long before we realised the reason why.
Dave was now collecting different foods and other products from around the store and the proceeded to wave some sort of piece of metal on a chain over my sample of fur.
After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and shaking and nodding of Dave’s head, he turned to me family and declared ‘he’s a red meat dog, and here is what you have to do!’
Dave then gave my ‘Mum’ a list of do’s and don’ts with my diet and we left with a couple of dozen packs of FORTHGLADE frozen raw meat.
‘Mum’ followed the diet sheet religiously and, and during the next week, she phoned Dave with updates on a couple of occasions. We then, on Dave’s request, went back to the shop at Blandford and Dave confirmed the no, it was not an optical illusion, that was my fur growing back!
The days and weeks went by and my fur grew, and as it grew, it came back thicker, stronger and softer and within just 12 weeks I had no bald patches left at all. I am now at that time of year when my alopecia usually gets much much worse but, although I am a bit thin of hair in some places (this could be due to stress as I have just had an operation on my foot to remove a small cancerous tumour), I am happy, especially as I have lost that awful puffy, bloated look and have some shape back. I am feeling so much happier and am looking forward to spending this coming winter with a full coat of fur and being able to go into the outside world with my family without them worrying that I am cold and unhappy, and having other people thinking I am abused!
