For those of you who have never heard of a product called Colloidal Silver, here's my experience of it and what it did for one of my lurchers.

Thurs eve.  Mouse's eye looked slightly swollen and as the evening wore on her cheeks became swollen, she looked like she had a marble in each cheek.  I thought it maybe something she had stuck her face into when she was out on her walk and had caused an allergic reaction.

Fri am.  Cheeks still swollen so vet appt. made for that evening.

Fri pm.  Sods law cheeks no longer swollen everything looking back to normal, vet thinks like me it's been an allergic reaction to either something she's eaten or a substance she's come into contact with.

Sun pm.  Swelling appeared in cheeks again, Mouse quiet which is very unusual for her and not eating brilliantly also very unusual for her.  Right back leg and paw swelled up really badly, skin looked very red.  Two small bright red marks appeared on her leg. Awful smell coming from her mouth.

Mon am.  Phoned vets and asked if I could bring her in without an appt. as she just wasn't her usual self.  Swelling had gone down on leg but large area of skin had turned dark purple, red marks were noticeably bigger.  Smell from her mouth getting worse, hadn't touched her breakfast.

Vet thought she may have an infection in her back teeth perhaps due to tooth decay but Mouse wouldn't allow the vet to get a good look in her mouth.  He was also unhappy about the smell and prescribed a course of antibiotics, he wanted the infection to improve before he looked at her teeth under a general anaesthetic.  Checked out the patches on her leg and thought possibly the infection was spreading to other parts of her body.  Wants to see her Fri.

Bathed patches with warm salt water.

Tues.  Red patches on leg getting larger and more appearing, starting to smell. Mouse still not eating. Still bathing patches.

Thurs.  Red patches now turning dark purple, largest size of a 50p piece. New patch appeared on left back leg.  Managing to persuade her to eat a little, smell still bad from her mouth and now patches on leg beginning to smell too. Still bathing patches.

Fri am.  Mouse will still not allow vet anywhere near her mouth to get a good look. Smell improved a little but still evident. Wants to see her Mon.

Sun.    Two of the patches have now spread to become one big patch.  All patches are now black except for new patches appearing which are red.  Not my usual happy little dog at all, smell getting bad again. Bathing patches twice a day.

Mon pm.   Vet decides current antibiotics not helping and decided it was time to book her in for an anaesthetic to see what is going on.  Smell as bad as ever both from mouth and legs, changes antibiotics. Op booked for Thurs.  Patches still bathed twice a day.

Thurs am.  Mouse taken in for op, another new patch appeared on left leg. Other patches growing in size.

Thurs lunchtime.  Received a phone call from the vet to tell me that Mouse was extremely poorly and the swelling in her cheeks was not in fact a problem with her teeth. What they had found was the soft tissue in her cheeks was necrotising (turning black and rotting) very similar to what was happening with the patches on her legs. They had cleaned away as much as they could and had given her a steroid injection, an antibiotic injection and would be giving me a different antibiotic for her.  Sample taken from cheek and sent off for biopsy, blood tests done but results were inconclusive.  Advised me skin on patches would eventually die and drop off to leave raw wounds.  Wanted to see her Sat am to give her another steroid injection.

Thurs eve.   Mouse slept for most of the evening, would not drink or eat.  Did not want to go out for toilet. Her cheeks were still swollen, bathed patches, slept downstairs to keep an eye on her. Martin and I spent evening checking out any information we could find on infections causing flesh to necrotise. 

Fri am.   Desperately worried, Mouse crying as if in pain and showing no interest in anything or anybody.   I knew we were going to lose her and felt totally helpless. Back onto the internet and by sheer luck I found a site about a product called Colloidal Silver.  I won't go into details as you can read for yourselves what it is and what it is capable of. 

I phoned the vet to advise him of Mouse's current condition and to ask him what else could be done for her, his answer was not what I wanted to hear. He could only suggest that instead of giving her an antibiotic morning and evening I give her the two together.  I then asked him if he had heard of Colloidal Silver?  He had but it was something which hadn't been used for a very long time, I told him I was going to try it.  He said that Mouse had reached the point where anything was worth trying. 

At 10.15am I sprayed CS into Mouse's mouth and onto the patches on her legs.  I then decided to decant some into a small syringe and squirt it directly into her cheeks.

An hour later the swelling in her cheeks was visibly smaller. I continued to dose her using the syringe into her cheeks and spraying her patches.

By lunchtime the smell was almost gone and the swelling was again noticeably smaller. 

Fri eve.   Martin arrived home from work and couldn't believe the difference in Mouse, not only her physical appearance but the fact that she was on her feet and jumping up to see him.  For the first time in a long time she was seriously interested in her food and to hear her make the usual 'hurry up mum I'm hungry' noises whilst I was dishing up the dog food was just fantastic.

Continued with dosing and spraying.

Sat am.   Vet could not believe the difference in her physical appearance and the total lack of any smell from either cheeks or legs.  Advised to continue with both antibiotics and CS.

No new patches, current patches not getting any bigger.  Mouse eating like a horse and wanting out for walkies with other dogs.

Current situation.  All except the largest patch on Mouse's back legs have healed and are almost impossible to see.  Once the skin had completely died and dropped off the largest patch we were left with a large raw wound which the vet thought might need a skin graft to help it heal and to reduce the scarring.  Thanks to the CS the wound healed without the need of a skin graft and Mouse will be left with a small scar to remind us of how we nearly lost her.

Her biopsy results gave no definite cause of Mouse's illness and the lab notes stated that it was possibly caused by either a serious bacterial infection or by Mouse ingesting a toxic substance.  Ingestion of a toxic substance was ruled out by our vet as only her cheeks were affected and no other parts of her mouth.

Mouse is back to her usual gobby wonderful little self.  I will never be without CS and keep a bottle in the dogs first aid kit. 

Denise.