What a cute little... oh, oh gosh.
Red belly.
It's very aggravated. Skin conditions, galore.
It's distressing.
Like, she's in pain. She'll cry.
She doesn't want to get up out of bed.
That inflammation must be so sore for her.
And there's scabs all over her.
Really, this dog is suffering.
Bella, we have to fix you.
In Sydney,
worried owner Megan has brought petite Shih Tzu, Bella
to see Doctor Rob.
Megan's desperate to find a solution
for the two and a half year old's chronic skin problems.
Bella's usually really energetic and fun,
but she's got a skin condition going on,
so she's not the life of the party at the moment.
She's like half herself.
Okay, bubba.
I'd say it started probably six months ago with Bella.
She's gotten worse in the last four weeks, so it's flared up
and her skin just gotten really bad. She's like red raw.
She's cut herself open.
It's constantly a "Bella, stop scratching"
Then she'll lick her paw.
And then it's like, "Bella, stop licking your paw"
And it's something else that's constant.
She's just not Bella anymore.
Poor Bella's illness has reached a point where it's
affecting the entire family dynamic.
So Bella's got another friend, I guess you could say.
She's a maltese. They usually run around, they'll play.
They're like best friends when they want to be.
But at the moment, she doesn't want to go outside.
She doesn't want to, like, play.
So my other dog's now lonely as well.
We've gone to previous vets and just never
really found a solution to Bella's skin problems.
So we were recommended Rob.
Fingers crossed.
Now, Bella is next. Hello, I'm Dr. Rob.
- I'm Megan nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
What a cute little... oh, oh gosh.
Red belly.
It's very aggravated. Skin conditions galore.
Such a gorgeous face.
Well, let's come on down,
let's find out what's going on.
Okay, very gorgeous, isn't she?
How long have you had her?
About two years.
She's very cute.
So tell me what's going on with her skin?
What's been happening?
It started off with her scratching nonstop.
Well, she got a few, like,
she pretty much cut herself open.
And it's just the cuts are gone.
But now it's like, I don't know if it's infected or it's
just she doesn't stop scratching.
And if she stops scratching one spot, it's licking her paw,
It's rubbing her face, her ears...
A lot of crusts inbetween the front legs.
Yeah, she's very crusty.
It's distressing.
Like she's in pain, she'll cry.
She doesn't want to get up out of bed.
wow, yeah, even the back legs have a lot of infection,
and I can feel the little lymph nodes here.
They're quite up.
That inflammation must be so sore for her.
And there's scabs all over her.
Really? This dog is suffering.
Bella, we have to fix you.
I think her whole body's in crisis mode.
And the smell - that's bacteria.
Yeah, oh she stinks.
The smell is secondary to the inflammation.
That's the allergy driving that inflammation.
Could be food allergy,
it could be plants.
You've got to look at the plants in your area,
especially buffalo grass is bad.
and any vines are notorious.
I want you to maybe take some pictures
- so next time you come in - Yeah, of course, yeah
- Because I wouldn't.... - I can have a look at them.
and I'll know what I'm looking at.
Just check her over and make sure everything else is right
first before I concentrate on that.
Dry flakes litter the clinic bench
showing the awful condition of Bella's skin.
I'll just check her mouth, has she been having trouble
eating or anything like that?
Um, she's definitely changed the way she's eating.
It's taking longer.
It's inflamed around the mouth, even.
So there's infection,
We know that.
There's inflammation, there's allergy,
we're going to attack everything at once.
And the poor little mite, gorgeous.
So we're going to do a swab on her skin.
Yeah.
The big worry would be
if she has a really bad bacteria
that's resistant to a lot of antibiotics
they can develop that just like people do.
- Yeah. - Then we're in trouble.
All sorts of trouble for possibly the rest of her life.
Got to take a holistic approach.
Really throw everything at her because she's suffering.
Yeah, she's really suffering.
Yeah I know, she definitely is.
Can't have that.
I'll probably never be able to cure her.
But what I want to do is control it
so we don't see any symptoms at all.
Perfect.
Gorgeous.
Get her looking cute again with long ears
that would be perfect.
She used to have a long coat?
Yeah, she had the perfect Shih Tzu coat
and then it just stopped growing.
Just a gorgeous little breed.
Alright, let's just take a swab of that awful
crust that she has on that foot.
Okay, that will go off to pathology.
We're going to give her some antibiotics to kill the bacteria,
we'll give her a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory for her skin.
Shampoo that I've made up for her.
It's not strawberries and cream,
don't put that on your ice cream.
And we'll look at it from the inside,
as far as the food that she's taking
to try and give her a hypoallergenic diet.
Put her onto this food, this is made by Prime 100.
It's got a lot of science behind it, I like it.
It's only got one protein.
A single protein, less allergens
going through the body and it's going to work
a lot better on her skin.
It's going to settle her right down.
Let's hope with all of this,
we get the same results with her.
Fingers crossed.
Introduce it slowly into her food.
Not too fast.
Just a little bit at a time
and slowly decrease her current food.
So then if she'll eat this or not..
There you go, darl.
Good girl, good girl.
She's a bit of a fussy eater sometimes.
Okay, well, if there are any problems,
I want to know about it straight away.
If you're worried, don't be.
Come and see me or give us a call.
- Okay. - So we can find out,
Otherwise, I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Yep.
I've got to say goodbye to her.
So, any issues let me know, but I'll see you in a fortnight.
Perfect.
You right with everything?
Yeah, that's perfect.
Okay, I'll get that door for you.
All the best.
Thank you.
Two weeks later, Megan has brought Bella
back to see Rob for a checkup.
- Hey, how are you? - Good. How are you?
Good! More importantly,
How's my little one? That gorgeous little face!
She's getting better.
She's definitely making improvements.
Oh, thank goodness.
Since eating the Prime 100 food,
she's made a drastic improvement.
Not much scratching,
she has, like, happy days, she plays.
She's not as red and cut anymore.
The smell's gone, too, remember that awful smell?
- Yeah. - Compared to what it was..
- It's really good. - It's definitely improved.
Yeah, yeah.
You can see it's a bit pink, but it's not red in your face.
No, she's not cutting herself open any more.
The scratching is, like, minimal.
She'll have, like, a bad day, not constant.
Yeah, and I just love her face.
Honestly, that is the cutest little face,
and there's not as many crusts as they were, either.
- No. - So there's big improvement.
Good news!
Good news, back you go to Mum.
She's happy,
she plays with her toys,
she's running around again,
she's excited, she gets out of bed.
Yeah, no, she's,
she's better.