Potentially infection.
"Otherwise, allergies going on, setting these ears off."
Yeah, definitely really inflamed.
The only way we can rule in or out
whether food is playing
a role is to do a food allergy trial.
So no more vegemite on toast.
We're going to see Dr. Danni today and see why
you're so itchy.
In Melbourne, Kristen is concerned
about her beloved Ralph.
The overweight nine year old Groodle has
persistent ear problems and flaky skin.
"So she's asked Danni to come and have a look."
Hopefully we can get Ralphie sorted today.
Knock, knock.
Hi, Danni. Here she is.
Hey, Ralphie boy.
Hello pupper, how you going mate?
He's been waiting for you.
Oh. Darling. Hey.
Oh, you're such a gorgeous boy.
Sit down Ralph we've got to have a talk about you.
Ralphie is like a big, cuddly teddy bear.
So sweet and smoochy.
I love him.
So tell me, where are we at? How's he going?
The ears are still bad.
It's mainly the ears, he's itching a lot at his mouth,
rubbing his mouth on things. Generally not comfortable.
But the ears I feel like are painful.
Yeah.
Alright, well, we'll certainly have a little look
at them today, see how they're traveling.
And I'll have a look at the lips, too,
because they can get itchy lip folds
and things like that and we'll go from there, pup.
"- Okay? - Alright."
Dogs, they're pretty stoic characters,
but they do give us those little clues
that something's not right,
whether it's them leaning into the hand
when you give them a scratch,
when they've got an itchy ear.
So it is important to really pick up
on those little clues they give us.
Just going to have a little look in your ears, mate.
It's alright, mate.
It's a bit sore I think at the moment, too, isn't it?
Let's have a look at your ear.
"- Good boy. - Good boy."
It does imply there's something irritating the ears.
Yeah sure.
I'm trying to have a look at Ralph's ears
today to see where we're at.
But he's clearly so uncomfortable.
He's really resisting me.
Looking in them today, he seems very itchy
and a bit sore at the moment, the poor thing.
Yes, definitely really inflamed.
The left ear is probably a little bit worse than the right.
"There's a fair bit of wax sitting in the ear"
canal, they're definitely inflamed,
but we've definitely got potentially infection
otherwise allergies going on setting these ears off.
I also want to just have a look at these
lips that you said have been itchy as well
and see how the skin's looking there.
Hey, pup?
Sorry. It's a bit funny having people look at your mouth.
There's nothing too notable on the lips, which is good.
He might have some itch, certainly, but it's not...
We don't have any dermatitis or,
you know, it's unlikely
for there to be an infection as well.
"But we'll get a sample and just make sure, hey, pup?"
"- Okay. - Alright."
So I'll be nice and gentle, mate.
I'm very sorry, okay.
Good boy.
So I'm just going to get some samples
from both of the ears and the lips.
And the reason for that is to make sure
we haven't got any infection going on.
It's just a bit of a funny little feel.
If we do, we're going to get that treated firstly.
But I just need to take them
back to the clinic and have a look under the microscope.
Alright, so we've still got ongoing issues with
those ears, the lips,
hopefully we can rule out any infection.
The next thing we need to talk about, little Ralphie boy,
Kristen and the entire family.
Is the F-word, and that is food.
So Danni says the F-word and I'm like, oh my God,
I didn't know what she meant.
But yeah, food's an issue. We know that.
We just love him so much.
"And I know we overfeed him and feeding the wrong things"
so this is going to be good.
"I think what's underlying all of this is allergies, okay?"
And food allergy is one of the things
that can set off skin in dogs.
Okay.
The only way we can rule in or out
whether food is playing a role is to do a food allergy trial.
"So it's an elimination diet trial where we use a special diet"
"that has a novel protein, novel carbohydrate"
that Ralphie's never eaten before,
to see whether over a sort of 6 to 8 week period,
we see improvement in those signs,
in the itch, the ears and the mouth.
Doing this, if we can get the whole family on board.
This could hopefully help with the skin but also shed
a little bit of weight along the way.
Which would be great for his longevity.
Yeah, look, he is a bit fussy,
so I suppose the only thing is I'm worried
"- he might not like it. - Okay, well how about"
"we do a little bit of a trial just to see if he enjoys it."
And then we can go from there.
Okay, that'd be good.
"- Alright. - Come on Ralphie."
I was just thinking it was fur,
but I think deep down, I knew he was getting a little chubby.
So this is the product I think would be good for Ralph.
The reason for that is that
it's just got crocodile and tapioca in it.
Things that he would never have eaten in his regular diet,
pet foods, home cooking, that sort of thing.
It's really important
because we know then his immune system
hasn't developed a reaction to these things.
Okay.
So it does mean that he will not be able
to eat any other item, though,
"for that trial of 6 to 8 weeks, okay?"
So let's see if he likes it.
Give him a little snack. Now for his weight,
"I would feed him around 600 grams over the entire day."
Okay.
"And because we are feeding for a bit of weight loss, ideally"
more regular meals is good.
So maybe,
you know, if we can split it over three
or four meals a day, that 600 grams.
That would be great.
"- Okay. Yes. - Moment of truth."
What do you think, Ralph?
"- Oh, yum. - Good boy, pupper."
Ralph loves the food.
It is such a relief because that's going
to make life so much easier for them.
The main thing that we need to remember
is that he's only being fed this,
so no more vegemite on toast.
Hopefully, that itch starts to really settle down.
I think the biggest test
is going to be for the rest of the family.
No more treats, no more snacks.
Hopefully they can do it.
Danni, thank you so much for coming around.
Absolute pleasure. I'll be in touch.
"I'll let you know how I go with those samples."
And then I'll see you soon.
" - Good luck with it all. - I think he's going to love it."
I have a good feeling. Good luck.
"- Thanks so much. - Alright, see you later."
Come on Ralph, say bye. Thanks Danni, bye.
Danni is on her way to visit owner Kristen
and her much loved Groodle, Ralph.
I am very keen to see how Ralph is doing today.
Okay, Ralphie.
Today is a test, Danni's coming,
hopefully she'll think you look a bit thinner.
We're at the halfway point of Ralph's
food trial at the moment
and at this point you can really see
anything between no improvements,
or already seeing improvements.
So it'll be interesting to see what we what we find today.
"- Here she is, look. -
Hello, Ralphie boy."
Hello you gorgeous boy.
Hello, how're you going?
"- How are you, Dan? - Good."
How've we... Hello.
How've we all been going with the new diet?
Really good, yeah, he's been eating it.
"It was a little bit tough at first. "
"- Okay. - And just not giving him"
bits off the pizza
or whatever we're having.
"It's a big adjustment for the whole family."
How's the rest of the family coping
without giving him all his little...?
They've been pretty good.
The first week wasn't, so I did have a couple
we had a couple of slip ups.
That's okay, you're only human.
But once everyone realised how important it was, we all...
Yeah, and I've been giving him
some in the morning and some at night.
"- No, that's good. - Yeah."
I think, yeah.
2 to 3 meals, whatever works.
But I think that's good.
When they're on a bit of a weight
loss plan too, having those regular meals
helps them cope much better.
So that's really good. Has he lost any weight, actually?
I don't think yet.
"Not yet, okay. Early days, early days."
And it is very furry at the moment.
He's a fluffy boy.
"- I think a lot of it's fur. - Yes."
"And how do you feel he's been going with his skin?"
Have you noticed any...?
I feel like the ears are still a bit itchy.
The one thing I have noticed is that
he stopped wiping his mouth after eating.
Fantastic. That's a really good sign.
And, you know, hopeful that maybe
it has been food setting that off.
So we'll still need some more time to be sure.
"- But it's a really hopeful sign. - Okay"
It'd be so good if it turns out that food is setting things off.
There was one thing I wanted to ask.
So my husband was saying,
can we just give him little bits,
like of actual approved dog treats?
No, no. You really...
"- Because we're on... - Not even how tiny..."
Even though it's a very small amount,
if he's got an allergy
to whatever proteins and carbs are
in that treat that's enough to set him off.
And void the trial so you'd have to...
"- I kinda thought that... - Effectively start it again"
so I haven't given him any.
"Yeah, no, very smart thinking because it is confusing."
So Kristen's checked with me
whether she's allowed to give Ralph
any treats and unfortunately, when we're doing the food
allergy trial,
"we can't feed anything else other than that food."
So that crocodile tapioca loaf
is the only thing that can enter his mouth
through this 6 to 8 week period.
It's so tough but they can do it. I know they can.
Now, how have the rest of the family
been going with their strict
"- no treats at home? - Everyone's been really good."
So, I got video evidence for you because
my husband likes to give him toast,
So we stopped giving him the toast,
and what we've found
is that he now knows the toast isn't for him
and he's isn't coming for it anymore.
So you'll see he just stays on his own waiting for the toast.
Sorry, Ralphie, you can't have toast anymore. Not for you.
See his face, though? He's like...
I can't believe Kristen has brought video
evidence to show that they haven't
been feeding Ralph that Vegemite on toast.
I love that she's so committed
and determined to get this sorted.
Oh, she's a champion.
Well done.
Well, that is really, you know, proof
that he's gotten used to the new routine
and he settled into it, that you guys are doing a great job.
Yeah
You've all been very dedicated. I am impressed.
"- We have. - Because it's so hard."
And you feel bad because you just want to give them,
you know, so much love and reward.
But hopefully it all pays off
and you can get rid of all these
itchy ears, itchy mouth and
ongoing skin problems forever.
That would be amazing.
Yeah, that's what we're hoping.
Got some improvements.
Hopefully we see more in a few weeks.
I'll see you soon.
Thanks so much, Danni.
"- Bye. See you, Ralphie. - Bye."
I'm feeling good after the halfway check, especially
because we've had some reduction
in those sort of itchy symptoms.
"So I'm feeling like if we can just find out"
what this is at the end of it,
it's all going to be worth it.
See, she's very proud of you.
I told you, you could do this.
Good boy.
You've been such a good boy, Ralphie.
Kristen is waiting for Danni to
do a check on her beloved Ralph.
For the past eight weeks,
Ralph's been on a single protein diet
"to see if it helps with his allergies."
I'm feeling good about Danni's visit today.
I know that he's been really good
over the last eight weeks, especially.
"I think she's going to see a heap of improvement."
"- Knock, knock. - Oh, hi."
"- How are you? - Good."
Hello, Ralphie boy.
How're you? You're looking handsome today, aren't you?
Good timing because I'm just feeding him his last
of his eight week trial.
"- Perfect. - He's liking it."
He's still enjoying it which is fantastic to see.
So what's been the biggest improvement
"that you've noticed with Ralph since he started the trial?"
Definitely the mouth itch.
He just doesn't do that anymore.
He was always rubbing and itching
along the couch after a meal,
just not happening anymore.
Well, that's amazing
"because that is really strongly associated with food allergies."
So that's a really good sign.
And how've you gone with the ears
because I know he was scratching them a lot before.
Yeah, I've noticed he's not.
For the last four weeks
I haven't seen him doing that itching,
which was quite ferocious,
you know, going back a couple of months.
So obviously he's allergic to something.
Well, it's certainly ticking all the boxes.
Yeah.
We still have one more step to confirm
definitively that it's food
and not some environmental change
that's made an impact.
Do you know what the protein was in his previous diet?
Was it like beef or chicken?
So we just gave him a range
so that the way I looked at it, like
every day was a different protein.
Sure.
Well, look, I mean, then I would just sort of
"just systematically try one protein at a time."
Just remember it can take up to two weeks to see
that skin flare up from starting a diet.
It can be minutes,
but it can be the two weeks,
so just give it that amount of time.
So chicken and beef are the more
common proteins that dogs are allergic to.
So if you don't know what he was
on, you know, if it was a mixture
of the two before, starting with either of those will be fine.
"But it's likely that one of those are going to set things off."
Prime 100 have lots of single protein diets
that you can use for that trial,
which might make life a bit easier.
"But as long as you're feeding, you know, if it's beef..."
Feed beef. Chicken, and then eventually
you'll be able to figure out what it is
that's setting him off.
If everything's good, then you can
continue feeding that diet if you want to
Okay.
You know what I mean?
But otherwise,
just keep working through to figure out
which proteins are setting him off.
So it'll be really interesting to see once you start doing
"these food challenges back onto the other proteins,"
whether you notice the mouth rubbing again straight away.
"I feel like that's the thing I'm going to notice first."
That might be because that was like
the obvious change initially.
So keep your eye out for that
and well done to all of you for actually
sticking with it because it's not easy.
"It got easier, so, yeah, it was really hard"
at the start, but it got easier.
And it's just so worth it in the end because it's so simple.
Once you've gotten through that,
it can be incredibly hard for families
"to stick to a single protein diet when they're used to feeding"
"maybe a variety of things, treats, scraps from the table,"
So there's a lot of habits
we need to undo so that we can do a really effective trial.
We might want to lose a little bit more weight a little quicker.
So for him, probably around the 300 grams
a week is the kind of goal weight loss rate.
Okay.
So maybe keep sort of fiddling with
the amount of food he's getting in the day
until you sort of achieve that and just
keep weighing him weekly,
fortnightly, and hopefully we can trim him down, too.
Well, I've been putting everything sort of measured
in a bag and making sure he's not eating anything else, so.
Well done.
I am thrilled with the results that Ralph's had on this trial,
and to be honest, I'm always a little bit skeptical that
we're going to have such a great result,
because often there's a combination
of things setting off these allergies.
But the fact that the main problems
with the mouth itching,
and the ears and both of those
appear to have resolved
it's a really, really positive sign
that the food is all we need to deal with.
And that is a really simple path
from here on in for Ralph.
Well, this will be the interesting part
to see what it is.
"- Completely, yeah. - Yeah."
Well, keep me posted.
And if you do get any, you know, if any other questions
"come up during that process, just let me know as well."
"- Yeah. - Okay."
Thanks, Danni.
You're a good boy, well done.
Keep up the good work.