# Dinovite experiment



## Jim (Oct 16, 2014)

Well, here goes. Today is day 1 of an experiment with a dog supplement called Dinovite. My poor boxer dog Zorba is a mess. No matter what foods, supplements, shampoos, and drugs we have used, nothing seems to work. He scratches his ears, eats at his paws, keeps us up all night with licking and scratching. It seems to come in spurts but on a consistent basis. He will scratch till he is red raw, and his chest and chin are always a shade of pink. Researching the net I came across a product called Dinovite and everything I read it seemed I was reading about Zorba. I took the plunge and ordered a 90 day kit. I pray this is the answer and will keep you updated. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Wish Zorba and me good luck.

Link: https://www.dinovite.com


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## Jim (Oct 16, 2014)

Here is Zorba, notice the pink chest? Normally it's bloody red raw! Ouch!


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## ggoldy (Oct 16, 2014)

What does the vet say about the problem? Allergy's? (alergy's? allergies? I give up.)


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## Jim (Oct 16, 2014)

ggoldy said:


> What does the vet say about the problem? Allergy's? (alergy's? allergies? I give up.)



Vet says to give him Benadryl twice per day or Claritin once per day. He says it seasonal. Zorba stays in our fenced in backyard (cement) and our lawn which we use no chemicals or fertilizers. 

Zorba "flares up once per month and sometimes it lasts a month. Im tired and scared of giving him meds all the time.


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## ggoldy (Oct 16, 2014)

Sounds like the vet thinks it's allergy. Second opinion, maybe. How about a vet's educational research facility nearby? Remove the allergen instead of treating the animal? Out of ideas.


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## zseverns (Oct 17, 2014)

We had this same problem with my Lab. He could swim in the nastiest water to get duck but if he ate dog food with grain or Chicken he would break out and scratch till he bleed. After trying ton of "Grain Free" foods, my wife was talking to a lady she works with and she suggested food with fish protein and potatoes. We found 4Health Salmon and Potato at Tractor Supply worked for him.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/4healthtrade%3B-salmon--potato-formula-for-adult-dogs-35-lb-bag


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## Jim (Oct 17, 2014)

I can't tell you how many different brands of dog food we went through. Bags that cost $20 to bags that cost $80.

For 6 months I fed him hamburg, rice, fresh veggies…..he ate better than me. :LOL2:


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## lovedr79 (Oct 17, 2014)

he Jim, I used to work at a vet and am currently working with animals. have you tried removing his collar? it looks very irritated around it. also, when buying food read the label! if it has corn or any "by product" stay away. we have used kangroo based dog food with great results. check out (yes expensive) Eukanuba or Pro plan dog foods. or we would have clients cook chicken and rice for their dogs. this would usually clean up their problems. I have a dog that would get seasonal allergies so she gets claritan too which works for her. the question that needs to be answered is does your dog have "environmental allergies or food allergies/both?" and yes I have seen dogs that are allergic to grass....... have you changed the blanket or bed, laundry detergent etc. is there something in the house that is new. also have you tried an oatmeal based shampoo. I will look when I get home for what helped our jack russel, you wash them with it, let it sit (extremely hard almost need sedation)for 15 minutes then rinse.


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## Jim (Oct 17, 2014)

Collar is usually off, only when we walk him. We are using the same laundry detergent we have used for years. Hardwood floors, no rugs.

I use oatmeal based shampoos and ones with hydrocortisone too. His bedding is new, but we have used towels, fleece blankets, Dog beds, even let him sleep on the bed :lol:


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## lovedr79 (Oct 17, 2014)

interesting. i have a feeling with him chewing his paws he just might be allergic to something in the yard.


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## Jim (Oct 17, 2014)

lovedr79 said:


> interesting. i have a feeling with him chewing his paws he just might be allergic to something in the yard.



Sporadic…He will chew on his paws, then he will chew up way higher and not touch the paws. Then he will scratch his arm pits until they are red raw. I can't even scratch his back without him going into this scratching trance….The kind where when you find the a spot and their leg just kicks up and starts scratching.


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## SumDumGuy (Oct 17, 2014)

I hear the commercials for D-I-N-O-V-I-T-E very regularly on the radio.
It will be interesting to see what result(s) arise from your experiment. Hopefully it is as good as claimed.


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## Jim (Oct 23, 2014)

Update #1
Things were looking better, it even seems he has more energy. I got home last night and there was a setback. The picture does not show it well, but Zorba scratched his upper chest area until it was raw and he is scratching the side of his head. We gave him 2 Benadryl.


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## lovedr79 (Oct 23, 2014)

oh no. time to go to the specialist. I am sure your vet knows a dog dermatologist. send a pic to the Dinovite people too.


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## Captain Ahab (Oct 23, 2014)

Sounds like stress - maybe he is picking up a vibe


He just needs to go fishing


BTW Ocean water would not hurt - helps out most skin problems


BBTW - there are great white sightings in the canal - if you let him swim attach a hook!


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## Jim (Oct 30, 2014)

Week 2
Still scratching, not as bad as before. Chest is whiter. I did clean his ears which were dirty, but for sure he does not smell as bad as he did before. He is the kind of dog you give a bath to, and the next day he smells like a wet dog. Now he does not smell. I am wondering if it's the Dinovite helping with this.


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## Captain Ahab (Oct 30, 2014)

Bassaddict bathes on wet dog


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## CalBlackSheep (Oct 31, 2014)

Great thread. I'm looking forward to more updates. Hope you figure it out. 

How old is your pooch? My 2 year old boxer/pit used to get real bad hives when she was younger. We never really figured out what caused it because we got rid of all the suspects at once. I will say that one good change was switching her food to Fromm.


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## Jim (Oct 31, 2014)

Zorba is 8 years old, Bella is about 3 (rescue) so not 100% sure.

We switched his food to what Bella eats now which is Wegmans simply nature brand of dog food.


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## DocWatson (Nov 3, 2014)

Jim said:


> Update #1
> Things were looking better, it even seems he has more energy. I got home last night and there was a setback. The picture does not show it well, but Zorba scratched his upper chest area until it was raw and he is scratching the side of his head. We gave him 2 Benadryl.



Hey Jim, sorry to hear your buddy is suffering. I'm sure you've seen this article already but, on the off chance that you haven't, take a look. It's a pretty comprehensive piece about the causes of dogs biting, scratching and licking themselves raw. Hope it provides some insight or direction.
https://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/evr_dg_itch_and_scratch_bite_and_lick

You also might look into immune disorders and hormonal imbalance as causes.


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## Jim (Nov 7, 2014)

Thanks Doc! Very helpful article

Week 3 report

More of the same. Every time he gets up, the right rear leg goes up and he scratches into the air. I feel so bad, that I scratch for him. I gave him a bath in some specialty hydrocortisone type dog shampoo, but that did nothing if not made it worse.

The Dinovite for sure has given him more energy, and has made him a regular consistent poop factory. Now he craps solidly 4 times per day.


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## TNtroller (Nov 8, 2014)

Welcome to the world of allergy's for dogs. I have a 7 y/o female boxer (Roxy) who is on allergy shots 3x/week. For the 1st two yrs of her life we fed her WM brand dog food after the Purina Puppy Chow, and she was very healthy but a pooping machine LOL. WM stopped selling their brand when the dog food scare came about several yrs ago, so we started trying different brands and things went downhill from there. She started having red welps or blood blisters, sometimes large pimples all over her body, but did not ever scratch them, they just looked horrible and made some nasty messes.

Finally went to a "dog allergiest", a local vet who specializes in dog allergies, and they did some testing, similar to those for human. Roxy is allergic to grass, cedar, most pollen dust known to man, grains in dog food, etc., so she gets shots of a serum specific for her, just like a human, along with some pills to help fight yeast infections on her skin. She seldom has UTI's, the yeast infections on her skin are one of the causes of the welps/blisters I mentioned. The pills are utilized only when needed but the shots are done every 3 days. We also use some medicated shampoo from the "allergist" but Roxy does not need baths all that much, but she enjoys a good bath whenever she does need one.

We also use a mix of Listerine and water in a spray bottle to spray her feet after we wipe them down with wet wipes after she is walked. She is walked several times a day, so. We also feed her "4Health" brand dog food available at Tractor Supply here in TN, the whitefish and potato flavor. She does not like the Salmon flavor. They have several different flavors but the "allergist" recommended the fish to avoid additional allergic reactions to meat, etc., this brand is grain free and runs about $35-40/ for a ~30lb bag. 

If the dogs bedding has cedar shaving inside it, get a foam filled one or try a blanket/sheet, this one move helped a tremendous amount for Roxy as sleeping/laying on it so much just defeated a lot of our efforts. I even keep Roxy away from the 4 or 5 cedar trees the line our property lines. She does have flair ups, but with the meds, she recovers much quicker, its not cheap, but Roxy is a member of our family, so she gets some pretty good medical care when needed. 

Google vets specializing in allergies or similar and see if there is one close to you. It's not cheap, but it could end or reduce your dogs suffering, and yours as well. GL and hope your boxer gets better.


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## Jim (Nov 14, 2014)

week #4 Update

Nothing really new to report. He is still scratching and his chest is a full shade of Pink along with his undersides near his back legs.


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## Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

Save your money. :LOL2: Dinovite did not help one bit.

Poor Zorba, we are going to take him to a specialist. He has a few years left and don't want him suffering until then.


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## lovedr79 (Jan 20, 2015)

talked to my buddy over christmas, he was going to give me what he had left over as it did not work for his dog. i thought he said it was working but apprently it stopped.


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## DuraCraft (Jan 27, 2015)

Oh me Jim, sorry to read about poor Zorba. Our mix chocolate lab/pit bull is fed that Blue Buffalo food and does better on it than anything. Except it is noted for making bad breath! She doesn't have allergies, but I have wondered about that dinovite mess. Reckon we know now.

Any improvement since ye last post?


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## Jim (Jan 27, 2015)

Still the same. Baths every other day help the scratching though.


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## Tigerhunter (Feb 16, 2015)

We have a 6-1/2 year old female boxer who has had very similar issues..... Itchy paws, ears, skin... you name it. Chronic ear infections which put her on steroids and antibiotics for the first two years of her life almost constantly. 

After thousands of dollars spent at the vet, we have her pretty well figured out. The very expensive allergy testing revealed that she is allergic to grass and all types of mites (food, dust, etc.). This is made apparent as in the summertime her paws bother her noticeably more than in our NY winters. 

She takes 3 Benadryl in the morning and 3 Benadryl in the evening. She has been doing this for probably 4-5 years now without much of a side affect if any (other than being sleepy if nothing is going on, still plenty of energy when she wants to play).

Another huge factor is the food. Many have mentioned checking the ingredients which is very important. We started on the Royal Canin boxer formula (which at the time I thought was pricey), then once we noticed she was itchy we switched to purina pro plan sensitive skin and stomach. Once we did the allergy testing we were prescribed Hills Z/D. This seems to help tremendously. You need a prescription an it runs anywhere from $90-100 for a 25 lb bag. We use an online service with autoship that ships it at an interval you pick for free. With random discounts it runs $85-90 delivered to our door (we live 30 minutes from our vet). They also make treats in this low-allergen formula. When we first started her on this we were feeding her 3-4 cups per meal and she was still losing weight. After concurring with the vet, we now give her 2 cups each meal along with a hard boiled egg to help her keep her weight steady ~65 lbs. A side note is that we do not allow either of our boxers human food, mostly stemming from allergies and dog scuffles. I feel this is very important for the dogs health, especially if it has severe allergy issues (like I think this case is). Another side note, we give her a fish oil pull with her dinner which helps keep her coat a little more shiny and not as dry.

As far as "external" care. Summertime we have prescription wipes for after she is outside.... We slack on this but it does seem to help a little. Bathing- we have (you guessed it!) prescription shampoo where you lather it up and let it sit for 15 minutes. This seemed to help quite a bit, especially if we stay on top of a regular bath routine. 

She gets chronic ear infections, partly do to her allergies. We have ear cleaner from the vet (not prescription but ~$40 a bottle) that we use to clean her ears at least once a week, knock on wood- we have done well with this the last year or so.

A lot of products off the shelf at pet stores and big box stores tend to have lta of chemicals and fragrances in it that can be very irratable to sensitive skin (this is true across the board for animals and humans). A lot of the advertising is misleading if you actually look at the ingredients and the order of them. With how sensitive your pup is, double check your shampoo to see what's in it. I know we had some oatmeal/chamomile at first that looked good but it turned out that those were the scents and there wasn't anything "soothing/calming" in the shampoo. Typically, "you get what you pay for" plays in here too.

I am sure that I missed some stuff but the food, Benadryl and shampoo are life savers for our dog. Side note- I bought this purebred boxer at 6-8 weeks old and have spent thousands at the vet and on food. We rescued a deaf white boxer a few years ago and she hasn't cost us a dime besides checkups and vaccines. Her food is $30 for 35 lbs, main ingredient lamb or chicken (alternate flavors). We figure if we take the average of the two dogs then we have two medium "priced" dogs....lol!


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## Tigerhunter (Feb 16, 2015)

Nice looking pup by the way- ours is a brindle too!


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## Jim (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks for the info! 

I was starting to assume it was the grass and now I think it is dust(ashes)……from the fireplace insert? We open the door to add wood and some ashes fly out. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?


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## BigTerp (Feb 18, 2015)

As far as allergies goes, the best thing we have done was invest in an iRobot Roomba automatic floor cleaner/vacuum. I have 2 Rottweilers. One 11 yr. old male and a 7 yr. old female. The male is about 105#'s and my female is around 130#'s :shock: They shed like CRAZY!! I also have 2 large cats. My wife has allergies to just about everything and gets routine allergy shots. She still gets itchy eyes and sneezing fits every so often, which I'm sure is from the animals in my house. My male Rotti also seems to get dry itching skin and, at times, licks himself all evening long. We've had the Roomba for about 2 weeks now and the difference is very noticeable. My wife hasn't had any allergy symptoms in the past week, and my male Rotti doesn't seem to be licking himself like a maniac nearly as much. We have laminate wood floors throughout our house and sweep every other day or so and throughly sweep/mop on trash day. Typically we get two completely full dust pans of hair and pet dander on trash day. Now we barely get a 1/4 dust pan full. It's AMAZING what comes out of the Roomba bin each time it runs. The amount of dust/dander in it actually grosses me out knowing that crap has been living in my house. It also gets under any furniture that sits 3-1/2" or so off the ground. This is nice because all of the dust, pet hair and dirt likes to hide in places we don't routinely sweep like under the bed, kitchen table, dressers, etc. It's nice to walk around my house and not have tumbleweeds of pet hair flying around. Now they aren't cheap!! After a 20% coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond we bought ours for a little over $300. But when it craps out I will immediately go out and buy another without hesitation!!!


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## bobberboy (Feb 18, 2015)

Re: Big Terp's post. We only have one medium sized cat in our house but my partner's allergies have gone pretty haywire in the last couple of years. We bought two Honeywell HEPA filter air cleaners within the last year and they make a huge difference. You can't believe how much stuff they take out of the air - stuff we would normally be breathing in. The sunbeams aren't nearly so full of floating things now and neither are our noses. We placed one air cleaner in the bedroom and the other in the study where we spend most of our time.

I wonder if the pure bred dogs have a higher incidence of health problems? I have heard that pure breds sometimes can have health issues as well as shorter lives. I don't know if it's true and I'm not a dog owner. 

Jim if you think the ash from your wood-burner may be at fault, maybe it's worth putting an air cleaner near the fireplace. The HEPA air cleaners are pricey but relative to the costs you are already having, not that bad.


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## Jim (Feb 18, 2015)

Wow, I just purchased a Huge air purifier through Amazon before reading this post. :shock: 

:beer:


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## bobberboy (Feb 27, 2015)

Jim said:


> Wow, I just purchased a Huge air purifier through Amazon before reading this post. :shock:
> 
> :beer:



Any news?


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## Jim (Feb 27, 2015)

Its only been going for about 3 days. There is less scratching for sure, but he has his ups and downs anyway, so this could be a down period. The house is less dusty and the kids love the way the lights on the front light up when the purifier detects odors....so guess what they've been doing? :LOL2:


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## lovedr79 (Feb 27, 2015)

also try a humidifier. i am having a hard time with animals at work due to low humidity.


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## bobberboy (Feb 27, 2015)

Jim said:


> Its only been going for about 3 days. There is less scratching for sure, but he has his ups and downs anyway, so this could be a down period. The house is less dusty and the kids love the way the lights on the front light up when the purifier detects odors....so guess what they've been doing? :LOL2:



Kids are always up to a challenge...


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## Captain Ahab (Feb 27, 2015)

Nicd


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