Shyla

Shyla was in a shelter in Tucson for 3 weeks. She was found running loose. She was lame and had puncture wounds. After almost 3 weeks at the shelter, she was in need of a home and at risk of euthanasia. She arrived with kennel cough and an elevated WBC, so we treated her with antibiotics.  A Wisdom Panel DNA test found her to be a Weimaraner, Australian cattle dog, American Staffordshire Terrier mix. She was about 2 years old when she arrived in December 2010.

Although the shelter let her go as unspayed,  we and our vet have found a spay scar, which was a nice surprise.

Carson & Shyla playing

Shyla & Missy

Shyla

Shyla began getting in the habit of badgering  Tara, nipping and barking at her incessantly. I tried herbs and amino acids known to help with anxiety (this “OCD” behavior is usually caused by anxiety) to no avail. We asked the vet for a trial of Prozac, which immediately helped, though we sure do not like using psyche drugs. Then, our VP, Bonnie, helped connect some dots. Shyla had had a persistent groin and abdominal rash which did not respond to dietary changes. Bonnie reminded me that Boomer, an old basenji we took in years years ago, had a similar rash. At that time, we concluded he had an intestinal yeast (candida) overgrowth. We treated him with grapefruit seed extract and over time won the battle and the rashes cleared up.

Sure enough, Shyla’s first 3 days on GSE caused an exacerbation of the rash (die-off), but then the rash started to heal and her behavior improved even more. We weaned her off the Prozac and continued to treat the yeast infection. Besides the grapefruit seed extract, we have had to use pau d’ arco, Jernigan Yeast Ease and Ketoconazole to finally get a handle on the infection.

Intestinal yeast overgrowth in humans can cause moodiness and other behavioral problems, because the yeast produces toxins, including alcohols, which get into one’s bloodstream. The antibiotics she was given at the shelter to treat her bite wounds probably allowed the yeast to multiply.

Because all of the JERAS dogs arrived with physical and/or behavioral challenges, we find we are often playing detective discovering the problem and the cure. A lot of these issues are ones which the average veterinarian has not been trained to recognize. Because of my personal health challenges, I have acquired the knowledge needed to deal with a lot of it.

Shyla proved to not be trustworthy with all the other dogs, so she shares a yard and part of the house with Liza. She is allowed supervised play with the other dogs every morning for a few hours.