Dog Health Problems

Golden Retriever Health Problems

Happy dog leaning out car window.

Table of Contents

Chester, who is now a beautiful, glossy, energetic 10 year old Golden Retriever, had a difficult start – he was one of many Golden Retrievers with health problems! Take a look at the problems he faced.

Diarrhoea In Dogs

For the first 6 years of his life, he had diarrhoea. The vets prescribed everything they could think of, the owners tried every different diet they could think of, but still, every morning, Chester’s Mum had a lovely brown, creamy mess to clear up.

Canine Pica

Golden Retrievers and Labradors are often called ‘dustbin dogs’ because they will often eat anything they can find and have been known to scavenge through people’s bins for scraps!

Chester was no exception, but he had a particular liking for rubber, especially used condoms, much to the embarrassment of the family.

Fleas And Dog Health

Chester as you know is a Golden Retriever. Health problems were his middle name. Chester had a dull and dry coat. Fleas came back so quickly after chemical flea treatments, it almost wasn’t worth applying them.

Parasites always infest the under-dog! Chester’s immune system and overall health were so poor that he could not repel the fleas naturally.

Overweight Dogs

Golden Retriever pups are usually so full of beans that they almost knock you over. Poor ‘old’ Chester came into the consulting room and flopped down on the floor.

He looked like a fat old chap, but he was only six! Apparently, he had always been like this. The family just thought it was his nature.

Mast Cell Tumours In Dogs

The most alarming thing was that over the last 6 months he had suffered from 3 aggressive mast cell tumours in different places, which had been surgically removed and analyzed. The prognosis was poor.

How Did We Turn Chester’s Health Around?

Diarrhoea is the body’s way of getting rid of something, so the first thing to do is to stop putting anything in; so 24 hours’ starvation, with filtered water to drink.

Treatment needs to work with the body, not against it, so we started by giving him Argiletz clay mixed with Aloe Vera 6 times a day to adsorb the toxins that his body was trying to get rid of and calm his intestines down a bit. Probiotics (in Pet Plus) daily recolonised the gut with healthy bacteria, essential to proper function.

After a few days on this and raw eggs mixed with boiled rice, his bowels settled down and he was passing normal poops at last!

A few days later, he was given some minced raw rabbit with minced bone (Prize Choice), mixed with liquidized greens and Pet Plus, a little and often. Over the next few weeks, his meal sizes increased and their frequency decreased until he was on two meals a day.

BARF – The Results

Chester has now been eating raw meat and bone with liquidized raw greens and Pet Plus for four years and has had perfect poohs every day! His fleas have gone, his coat is glossy, he is beautifully slim and absolutely full of energy. And best of all, no more cancer!