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RE: A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}
You need to see a doctor. NOW.
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Code2High
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05/16/12 10:15am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Traveling w/ a pet, check this out
?? "Check this out."
Are you selling something? I'm a little confused about the agenda here. You don't post here, you just showed up to link something controversial/upsetting, that contains NO useful information, on another board.
And you used wording that is let's just say, not consistent with someone who is upset, but sounds more like you're talking about a funny video.
Who are you advertising for?
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Code2High
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05/16/12 10:12am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Proposed USDA rule change internet puppy sales
I'd like to point out that the "Federal Gov't" is the Very Same Government that runs our highly regarded Military...
Not everything the Feds do in our names, at our direction, and with our consent is wrong.
I totally agree with this statement in that we have the best military on the planet and I am proud of what they do. We also have the most expensive military on the planet. I would remind you that this is the same govt that is supposed to secure our borders and stop the flow of illegal drugs in our society. Do we want them in the pet business too?
Regardless of what we "want," the federal government is already in the pet business, because they license the breeders, aka puppy mills. And short of states creating major hassles for pet owners wanting to bring their own dogs into the state, the the federal government is really the only entity that can regulate interstate sales effectively.
How effective it will be remains to be seen. A lot of times stuff like this is not enforced, rather when an issue comes to the attention of the authorities, it provides another way to go after the offender.
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Code2High
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05/14/12 03:49pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Why is my dog eating cat poop?
He is probably experiencing a lot of emotional distress. That comes from realizing that it took him TWELVE YEARS to discover the joys of CAT POOP! All dogs love cat poop, it's just that a few haven't learned that they love cat poop.... yet. Yours used to be in that category.... now he isn't. I suggest a baby gate and the kitty toidy in a room he can't go into.
On the senility thing, you'll want to see a vet and probably they'll want to get a look at his blood values, ensure that there's nothing going on (kidneys, liver, blood sugar...) that could be causing a problem. After that there are some meds you can try, and I'll say I've had some luck with sam-e in a senile old dog. Pheremones can also help with anxiety, and they make those in collars these days. Ten bucks at wallyworld..... might be worth a try.
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Code2High
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05/11/12 12:09am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Pets while driving
The couch will not likely have seatbelts, but there should be something reasonably solid (such as the post to the table) that you can tether them to.
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Code2High
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05/10/12 07:58pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Easy-to-digest calories??
Sounds great. You can increase the calories by adding a little fat (butter, veggie oil) to up the calories without increasing the amount he has to eat.
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Code2High
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05/10/12 11:53am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Easy-to-digest calories??
It sounds like a very good idea. It will give you more info about what he's eating in terms of kibble. And it will allow you to give the enzymes along with the food, so that he's getting more food with enzymes, as opposed to just the grazing. Not that he can't eat during the day, but if he has two good meals with the enzymes, it should improve things if there's nothing drastic going on.
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Code2High
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05/09/12 06:53pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Easy-to-digest calories??
Oh NOW you've done it.... making me crave chicken-coconut soup (Thai) with rice added.... heaven. Bet Ike would like it, too.
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Code2High
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05/09/12 05:28pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Easy-to-digest calories??
Carbs if they are simple carbs, digest and burn readily and can spare protein for other things. Two issues are that too many carbs can unbalance the system/blood sugar, and that a gram of carbs (or of protein) has half the calories of a gram of fat, and most carby foods are a lot more bulky, so that proportion is even lower than that. Meaning that he has to eat more to get the calories. Very simple carbs are less bulky but are going to affect the blood sugar more and that may not be optimal.
Fat, however, can overload the system and too much could upset the pancreas.
Protein works the kidneys, and there are limits there, too, especially with age.
Assuming he's getting enough protein from his food, I might consider something like rice or sweet potatoes.... with fat added. Nothing like a bowl of buttered rice. YUM! Or rice cooked with ground beef?
On the other hand I guess you could try slathering a donut with peanut butter and see if he likes it. Start with small bites and work up! He's an old man, you want to give him what he likes. Just go slowly and figure out what he'll eat and what his system seems to tolerate.
Enzymes can be really helpful, so can a probiotic once a day.
Doug might know about meds to increase appetite. I seem to recall a discussion about it but it might have been for a human cancer patient, can't remember. It all sort of blurs together.
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Code2High
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05/09/12 02:03pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: giving a pill to a difficult dog
For this particular problem, there are actually some things you can try that will not require dosing the dog. One would be Scratch Free from Dr Goodpet, which a lot of people swear by for itching. I can't get their URL to post but if you google it you'll find it. It can be put in the drinking water. Although it is designed for itchy skin, my experience with allergies is that what calms one type, tends to calm all of them.
Another homeopathic for allergies, one that I use when mine flare up, is histaminium-hydrochloricum. You could dissolve the pellets in the common drinking water, they really shouldn't bother anyone else in the household.
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Code2High
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05/09/12 11:54am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Cat peeing everywhere
Be sure you've got a full kidney, liver, thyroid panel. Blood sugar. Also urinalysis. And a fecal. If that's all been done, I personally wouldn't do it again, but I would verify what's been done and that the tests run were sufficiently detailed on stuff like thyroid to pick up a problem there.
I had urine problems with Sput. Her potassium was a little low and her kidneys a little weak. I opted out of changing her diet.... she likes what she eats and and she's a very fussy eater and had just lost weight from me messing with her diet. So I just put her on a potassium capsule once a day. She stopped peeing so often then. I also got her back on her regular diet, which includes a supplement called Jungle Kitty, which is formulated to address the issues that aging cats experience. She put weight back on, coat got glossy and thick, in general has been better for months even though I know she's not going to be around forever. She'll be sixteen next month.
I also used the "cat attract" herbs in the litter box, and I put her in a big crate for a few days with a bed and a litter box, to re-orient her to using it. Then went to letting her out during the day and having her sleep there at night. It seems to help a lot. My cats are all in a room together and when she asks I let her spend a night out of her crate, but not more than one at a time, lest she start to forget again.
Finally, I got "I love my litter box" which is a flower essence blend from Cat Faeries. That seems to help a great deal. If you check out that website, they have litter box recommendations as well.
On the other one, it's hard to say. If she's just going over the edge, then a bigger box might help or a higher sided box such as a storage tub (that's all I use) could be useful if it is well recieved by kitties. Mine prefer clear ones as it turns out, though they used the other kind for years. Get one that's roomy if you go that way. Mine all love them, I haven't used a "litter box" except for tiny kittens, in many years.
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Code2High
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05/09/12 11:44am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Washing machines and your cats
Any small space they can find their way into....
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Code2High
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05/09/12 01:17am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: ANOTHER recall from Diamond~It's now time to contact FDA
The risk here is the same as handling (or feeding) raw chicken.
Well, it does sort of take care of one of the standard objections to feeding raw, doesn't it? No way to say that it's "safer" at this point.
The difference being that people who are handling raw chicken know they are handling raw chicken.
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Code2High
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05/08/12 10:59am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Furniture Protectors
Cover it with dogs, then the claws won't get through... That's how it works in my house.
Under the dogs I tend to use a quilt from the thrift store.
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Code2High
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05/06/12 05:26pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: giving a pill to a difficult dog
I have to believe that all these good people that have reported success giving a dog oral medication using a pillgun, hiding it in food, shoving it down his throat, etc. have never really dealt with a large truly difficult-to-pill dog.
:B
I think there are certainly difficult animals to pill. In fact, having helped to medicate a cat a few times that required first netting and pinning the cat on the floor, release of both solid and liquid waste, and a whole lot of hissing and spitting and seeking to defend itself with claws and teeth, I'm actually pretty familiar with "difficult" to medicate.
The behavior the OP describes is not, however, what I would classify as "difficult to pill." In fact, the fact that liquid meds are being given with no real problem indicates quite the opposite. It is a dog... like my old kitty Sput... that doesn't like treats and therefore has to be actually pilled, instead of simply being handed a treat. That creates the need to pill the dog, but it doesn't make the dog difficult or impossible to pill. Lots of dogs won't take a pill in food. And it is a dog that spits the pill back up... which indicates only that it's a pretty normal dog that will spit a pill back up if it isn't too far back to do so.
Now, maybe the OP isn't telling us that the dog turns into Cujo, screaming, kicking, biting, losing control of bodily functions, and shaking or hiding for hours after the "event," in which case it's a whole different conversation.
But if that isn't the case, then the reason people are saying things like "use this" or "get the pill back further" is because those people, myself included, have learned that the difference between impossible and a piece of cake is often a matter of the skill level of the human. What I've learned, over and over from decades of having animals that needed a pill at some time for one reason or another, is that if you have to actually pill them, then you want to A)coat the pill with oil or fat so it doesn't stick in the mouth, leave a bad taste, or get all soggy while you get this done. B) You need to figure out how to have physical control of the animal so that you can do what you need to do, which is... C) Get the mouth open and finally D) Shove that pill back into the maw, past the back of the tongue, to where there isn't a way for the animal to spit it out.
I don't actually hold anyone's mouth closed, I don't stroke their throats, I don't mess with any of that. If I get that pill where it needs to go, it can't be spit back up. If I don't, it's coming right back at me and I'm not going to waste my time... It's simpler (and safer, in the case of the cat!) to let it come back out and just repeat and do a better job the second time.
Last summer my rabbit Wuzzy was put on medication for a few days. I'd never had to give a rabbit anything in a syringe before. It was IMPOSSIBLE! He hid his mouth, I couldn't hold him and get the syringe where I needed it... I ended up one night scruffing him and holding him over my head in a last ditch effort to get the stuff in him. It worked but... not something I wanted to be doing. Then I read a couple of things on the internet and figured out how to do it. Now he gets syringed twice a day and it takes me a few seconds to do that part, because I've learned how to hold him so that I can get the job done. Knowledge, it's a good thing.
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Code2High
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05/06/12 03:49pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: We are family
Cats are very territorial and more oriented to their tribe than a lot of people imagine. I grew up with cats that would band together to chase off dogs with some regularity.
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Code2High
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05/06/12 01:10am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: giving a pill to a difficult dog
The other aspect is the relationship with your animal. Repeated fights, stressed situations can really damage the relationship.
After getting creative and exploring many different techniques, there may be situations where the decision not to treat is reasonable.
Doug, DVM
Stick the pill in a bolus gun give it to your dog with no emotions involved and move on. Don't sit there and beg your dog to cooperate or try and fool it. Dogs pick up on your attitude. Approach it with a "this has to happen and WILL happen" attitude and they tend to not be a problem. If your dog tries to snap at you you've got bigger problems than giving pills.
It disturbs me that a vet will suggest that a dog not be treated because of issues with the owner. I worked in kennels and dog sat. Some of the owners left bowls full of concoctions that the dog would sometimes be fooled by and most of the time not. I used a bolus gun with every difficult to pill dog. Never a problem and the dogs don't hold a grudge. :) They'd rather it be over and done with too. Proper pilling with a bolus gun takes maybe 20 seconds.
If you must attempt to hide it in something pumpkin puree(not pumpkin pie filling) is very effective. It's thick enough that they don't realize there's a pill in there most of the time. Never met a dog who doesn't love it and it's good for them.
What you have to realize is that the owner the dog has is the owner the dog has. Believe me, I don't always like that, either. And some problems with owners may be amenable to education, (I think this problem probably needs some further training on where that pill needs to go, and that would come from a vet or tech) but others frankly run a little deeper. From a vet's perspective, it comes down to what they can do, and rearranging the owner's psyche is probably not on the list for a lot of vets.
In the end, it's really a cost/benefit analysis, and it has to be based on the situation as it is, not the situation if you were there or I was there or even if the vet was there every day, because he isn't and neither are you or me. So in the real world, where the person who lives with the animal has to medicate the animal, it can come down to "what is the animal getting out of this" vs "what is the stress it is creating."
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Code2High
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05/05/12 07:18pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: giving a pill to a difficult dog
I was considering not treating Sput when she responded badly to the potassium gel. But once I got my technique down to get the capsule far enough back for her to swallow it, it became a non-issue. I agree that there are animals that are going to be really resistant to the point where the stress may not be worth it, but this sounds more like a technique problem than that.
Liquid is fine as long as it agrees. Some sweeteners aren't good for dogs, particularly sorbitol as I recall, so look at the bottle and see what the sweetener is. And as with pills, if you don't get it back far enough it will come right back at you. Personally I like pills better because I can pick it up and do it over and know what the animal did or didn't get, but a lot of people prefer liquids.
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Code2High
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05/05/12 02:35pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: giving a pill to a difficult dog
I offer mine pills in treats. They generally take them. I don't attempt to "hide" the pill, though. It's there to make it easier for them to swallow. I find when I'm trying to put one over on them they know and tend not to react well. If they don't take the pill with the treat, I just shove the pill down their throats.
For a dog that won't do that or isn't attracted to whatever you might put it in, it's really simpler to just pop it down the throat.
But the important thing when you do that, is getting it far enough back. That means past the back of the tongue, where there is no "making" the dog swallow. If you're "making" the dog swallow, it wasn't in the right place.
What I do with small dogs and with cats is to kneel on the ground with my toes stretched out behind me and my knees a little open, feet meeting up in the back. The small pesky creature goes in the triangular space created. This gives me pretty good control of the animal in general. It prevents backing up, which allows for getting the pill where I want it in the mouth.
Then I open the mouth by reaching over the muzzle and applying pressure behind the canines. Make sure you have the lips in there too, it discourages biting down on your hand. Then take the pill and put it all the way back in the mouth and push it past the back of the tongue. Let the mouth close and the animal will swallow.
Coating with oil or butter helps it not stick to the mouth and throat on the way down, and leaves a better taste in the mouth. I have an elderly cat that gets a large potassium capsule every day. She won't take treats but turns out to rather enjoy the taste of walnut oil, of all things. So that's how she gets her capsule. It takes about three seconds to give it, and then it's over, as long as I get it all the way back. If I don't, sometimes it doesn't get swallowed and I let her spit it out and redo it.
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Code2High
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05/05/12 11:44am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Summer heat can be deadly without our being aware.
Tigger was part pit and would lay in the sun and roast herself. And Zig likes the sun on a cool morning... she is often to be found with Tinkerbell, resting in a sunny spot in the yard. But she has a lot less tolerance to heat than Tig did.
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Code2High
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05/01/12 05:14pm |
RV Pet Stop
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