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Little Mac posted:So how do you know when it's time for a dog? I took my eighteen year old dog to the vet awhile back after she began urinating in the house. She was already mostly blind and deaf, but she got worse. She started pooping in the house, too. She'd get lost in the house, her sleeping hours became erratic. When you pet her, normally she'll take it for a second and then just walk off. I assumed it was canine senility and took her to the vet and they prescribed Anipryl. It was costly. I could only afford the one bottle, but I tried it. We went through the whole supply and her behavior didn't seem to change at all. I don't think there's any perfect time for you to let an animal go – it's really a judgment call for you to make. But if she's not enjoying the things she used to, if she's not able to function, no one here would consider you a horrible monster for giving her a peaceful end.
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Jan 6, 2013 20:20
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Has anyone ever tried breeding animals for longevity? Why not?
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Jan 6, 2013 20:23
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Little Mac posted:So how do you know when it's time for a dog? I took my eighteen year old dog to the vet awhile back after she began urinating in the house. She was already mostly blind and deaf, but she got worse. She started pooping in the house, too. She'd get lost in the house, her sleeping hours became erratic. When you pet her, normally she'll take it for a second and then just walk off. I assumed it was canine senility and took her to the vet and they prescribed Anipryl. It was costly. I could only afford the one bottle, but I tried it. We went through the whole supply and her behavior didn't seem to change at all. I'm really sorry you're having a time pressure put on you to make this decision. Sometimes when animals are sick it's easier to know when to help them pass, but there's rarely a really clear right answer. In this case, it sounds like her quality of life has declined a fair amount. If you take her to be put to sleep, you'll have a chance to give her a good last day and say goodbye to her before you leave the country; and she won't be left with people who might be frustrated by not being able to take care of her properly. I think it's what I'd do. You certainly wouldn't be a horrible monster.
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Jan 6, 2013 20:30
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Sucrose posted:Has anyone ever tried breeding animals for longevity? Why not? I always imagined one of the difficulties is that you only really know how long an animal is going to live by letting it get old, and by the time you're able to say "Yep, that one has a nice long lifespan," it's too late to breed it.
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Jan 6, 2013 20:39
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Little Mac posted:So how do you know when it's time for a dog? I took my eighteen year old dog to the vet awhile back after she began urinating in the house. She was already mostly blind and deaf, but she got worse. She started pooping in the house, too. She'd get lost in the house, her sleeping hours became erratic. When you pet her, normally she'll take it for a second and then just walk off. I assumed it was canine senility and took her to the vet and they prescribed Anipryl. It was costly. I could only afford the one bottle, but I tried it. We went through the whole supply and her behavior didn't seem to change at all. If she's not really enjoying her life now, then in my opinion, it's a kindness to let her go before she becomes physically miserable. It's the hardest decision to have to make, but if what you are doing is in her best interest then I think it's always the right decision. She sounds like she's just worn her body out, so it may indeed be time to let her have her rest. Especially if there wont' be anyone there to really care for her. You are definitely not a horrible person for considering her needs like this.
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Jan 6, 2013 21:12
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RazorBunny posted:I always imagined one of the difficulties is that you only really know how long an animal is going to live by letting it get old, and by the time you're able to say "Yep, that one has a nice long lifespan," it's too late to breed it. You could select for longevity on the paternal side with freezing sperm and AI easily enough, but yeah, as far as the females go you'd have to do some sort of number crunching on the pedigree to come up with some number that represents a 'breeding value' for lifespan. It's something that is actually pretty commonly done for other multifactorial, quantitative and perhaps delayed-onset traits so it could be done, but the problem with something like longevity is that IMO it is TOO multifactorial. Too much of it is left to circumstance (toxins/HBC/etc are common in young animals), the owners desire and ability to obtain quality veterinary care in a timely manner, the owners feelings on euthanasia and quality of life...I don't think it would really be able to have an impact.
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Jan 6, 2013 22:41
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escape artist posted:He's a hefty chihuahua, and yeah, the vet Rxed that much to him. Luckily, overdosing on benzos is nearly impossible. I'd have to feed him a thousand pills at a time. I can't imagine dogs process benzos that much differently from humans, and it's quite possible to overdose on them. A dozen would almost certainly do it quite nicely. Sorry to bring this up a page later, but overdose is something you shouldn't underestimate; I mean, imagine if he got into the bottle? You're right though, 10mg isn't enough to overdose him. I hope you both got some sleep.
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Jan 7, 2013 02:30
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Little Mac posted:No one else in my family is around to take care of her or will be when I leave That right there stuck out to me the most. Ultimately it is up to you, but if her quality of life is going to go down with your absence, it really might be more humane to consider saying goodbye to her now so she leaves with some comfort instead of until she gets to the point where she is really suffering.
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Jan 7, 2013 17:02
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In three weeks, I am attending an orientation to volunteer at a local animal shelter. My intended focus is dogs. I've always had a dog in my life somewhere, but I've never really "worked" with them. Any recommended dog books (or webpages or whatever) that would extend to shelter dogs, or for volunteering in a shelter in general? Any tips on what to expect? I've read through two books covering all AKC breeds + temperaments for some basic breed familiarity, and I am just now finishing The Dog's Mind as a basic behavior primer, but I could use some practical books for working with dogs. Any specific recommendations on books about working with abused dogs would probably be helpful. I'm open to just about anything.
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Jan 9, 2013 06:55
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Crazytroll posted:In three weeks, I am attending an orientation to volunteer at a local animal shelter. My intended focus is dogs. I've always had a dog in my life somewhere, but I've never really "worked" with them. I've been volunteering with the dog behavior and socialization team at my local shelter for the past year. All the dogs we work with have been vetted and passed a behavior assessment so they can go out on the adoption floor - we don't see many problem dogs front-of-house, those are usually worked with by staff, very experienced volunteers, or fostered out. The day-to-day churn of dogs may not be abuse cases - there are plenty of people who give up their pet for financial or life change reasons (new baby, having to move). You may also see some former strays. The mix is location dependent, as well as whether the shelter supports animal control or does private intake only. Most of what I do draws off of what I've taught my own dogs, and the training we were provided in the volunteer sessions. The stuff I found most helpful was the illustrated guides to dog body language; sort of a 'how not to get bitten 101'. Something like this: http://www.doggonesafe.com/Speak_Dog (This particular website is geared towards dog bite prevention for kids, but it covers a lot). The shelter is a stressful situation, and you'll see dogs who retreat into shyness, dogs who explode into hyperactivity, and dogs who react to seemingly everything. Each of these types of dogs can use something slightly different. I focus on building value for interacting with people for the shy dogs, starting from treats dropped on the ground and working up to teaching a nose touch to hand. For the hyperactive dogs, I'll work on more control behaviors: sit, leave it, drop it. As for the reactive ones, they're usually much better to work with on a long walk in as isolated an area as you can get. If they'll stay under threshold and I don't think they'll redirect I'll stuff their face when they see a trigger to keep from practicing bad behavior and start some counter-conditioning. As for breed generalizations, herders are pretty uniformly crazy in the shelter, chihuahuas run the gamut of capability and personality, the pits in my shelter have to pass extra evaluations so they typically have the best temperaments, and labs are crazy hyper unless they are geriatric or obese.
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Jan 9, 2013 09:12
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I put my dog, Katie, to sleep this morning and buried her when I got home. Thank you guys for your advice. It's been a rough day, though in a way I'm glad it's just me here since boy is my crying annoying! But seriously, thank you.
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Jan 9, 2013 21:57
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Arthur is my 3 year old cat. He is indoor and outdoor. He is very cool. He can be a massive prick when he wants to be... Arthur is acting a little odd. He has taken to trying to bury his food in the kitchen, which basically means he is pawing at the floor and tipping over his dishes. Now he isn't off his food, he will demolish his dry food in seconds, so I figure he does not like the range of flavours. Here in the UK we have so far tried whiskers meaty in jelly, and in gravy along with jelly fishy flavours (the rspca shelter said he should stick to jelly based foods). We have now moved on to Shiba and he is doing it again. He seems to last about a week and then get bored. He is using his litter tray normally, scooped daily, and his behaviour hasn't changed aside from what I described above. I want him to enjoy his food but I don't want to be wiping up his food and mopping up his water every day. Is he getting bored of his flavours, or could it be something else?
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Jan 10, 2013 02:15
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Little Mac posted:I put my dog, Katie, to sleep this morning and buried her when I got home. Thank you guys for your advice. It's been a rough day, though in a way I'm glad it's just me here since boy is my crying annoying! But seriously, thank you. Sorry for your loss Little Mac, she had a nice long life with you, and you did the right thing by putting her comfort first. 
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Jan 10, 2013 03:33
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Greycious posted:Sorry for your loss Little Mac, she had a nice long life with you, and you did the right thing by putting her comfort first. Seconding this. It's so hard to let them go, but better that than not enjoying life.  Hope you're move goes well. Good luck.
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Jan 10, 2013 05:40
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My 5-year-old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog recently developed a bit of arthritis in her rear ankles. It mainly makes her hesitate when going up stairs - she's still eager to run, walk, etc., and I haven't seen any other changes in her behavior. I've started taking her inside via the other entrance (which has a ramp) and am taking steps to cut down on her weight; she was, meanwhile, also prescribed Deramaxx, 100 mg once a day. The thing with Deramaxx is cost. I've gotten the impression previously that my vet thinks I have more money than I do; $30 a week is not exactly something I'd prefer to swing at the moment. The vet prescribed it after I asked if there was anything she could give my dog to alleviate the pain she felt when climbing stairs for the time being; now that the stairs issue has been circumvented, though, I'm wondering if the medication is entirely needed, or if it has another benefit. Also, I've looked online a bit about this, and I note that Rimadyl is a bit less expensive and seems to be in wider use. Is there a reason why a vet would prescribe Deramaxx over Rimadyl? Thanks for any input.
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Jan 10, 2013 20:09
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Blenheim posted:Also, I've looked online a bit about this, and I note that Rimadyl is a bit less expensive and seems to be in wider use. Is there a reason why a vet would prescribe Deramaxx over Rimadyl? There can be many reasons why vets chose one NSAID over another, but a lot of it boils down to... Personal preference: Some vets prefer certain NSAIDs over others, saying the ones they use work better than the ones they don't. They may have also seen some of the adverse reactions that NSAIDs have and attributed it to a specific NSAID, correctly or not. It could also just be the NSAID they've always used, so they just keep on using it. Clinic availability: There are many different kinds of NSAIDs, and in some clinics they'll only carry two or so simply because (for the most part) they all do the same thing. The clinic could also have a "special" deal with the company that sells that NSAID (or conversely had a really bad interaction with the company whose NSAID they don't carry) - or they just like the drug rep for that particularly company better than the other drug reps.
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Jan 10, 2013 20:23
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Engineer Lenk posted:I've been volunteering with the dog behavior and socialization team at my local shelter for the past year. All the dogs we work with have been vetted and passed a behavior assessment so they can go out on the adoption floor - we don't see many problem dogs front-of-house, those are usually worked with by staff, very experienced volunteers, or fostered out. Thank you. Can't wait to start (Jan 26th is the orientation)!
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Jan 12, 2013 07:48
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I've been feeding my lab/husky mix, Lola, a cup and a half of Avoderm in the morning and a half cup in the evening with a slice of FreshPet DeliFresh wet food (which is like 1/2 the daily recommended serving of each which I figured would make up her daily needs) for about three months now. When I adopted her from a shelter in July of last year she was eating Science Diet and it took me two months to transition into her current diet. Recently though she's been scratching like crazy at her left ear and when I took her to the vet the vet found a lot of gunk and nastiness in her ear, but just the one. There's no sign of infection or mites so she said it might be an allergy. She's suggested that I cut out the wet food and stick to just the kibble, which one one hand is fine since Avoderm is one of the better kibbles but on the other hand the wet food is far less processed and has an ingredient list that reads meat and vegetables. When I tried to express that to the vet she just discounted it and said that dogs don't need wet foods and a kibble only diet is better. We have ear drops that I've been using in Lola's ear daily (she hates this) and I've been feeding her just the Avoderm but what are the chances that it's an allergy and not something else? When would it be safe to reintroduce the fresh food and how slowly should I go about reintroducing it?
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Jan 14, 2013 22:21
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mascaria posted:I've been feeding my lab/husky mix, Lola, a cup and a half of Avoderm in the morning and a half cup in the evening with a slice of FreshPet DeliFresh wet food (which is like 1/2 the daily recommended serving of each which I figured would make up her daily needs) for about three months now. When I adopted her from a shelter in July of last year she was eating Science Diet and it took me two months to transition into her current diet. Does she need the fresh food? The kibble is probably fine and since its from a decent quality brand, if she's not scratchy with just the dry food, then just keep her on that. Its possible she might be allergic, but what's the point of putting her through lots and lots of expensive tests (and elimination diets etc) if just cutting that one thing out takes care of the problem?
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Jan 14, 2013 22:25
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I live in a residential neighborhood. My neighbors just got a rottweiler, and it's chained up outside, on the side of their house. It's not fenced in, so it sees people and cars and other animals go by all day every day. It's constantly barking and snarling and jumping around. It even sounds like it is going hoarse, like a person would who is shouting too much. I think it's cruel to the animal. I've been attacked by a dog twice before, and the way it snarls and barks at me makes me afraid to go outside. I'd go ask them about it, but I'm sincerely afraid of this animal. Who should I contact about this? Animal control? I don't think they are breaking any specific law.
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Jan 15, 2013 00:15
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rear end in a top hat Bicycle posted:I live in a residential neighborhood. My neighbors just got a rottweiler, and it's chained up outside, on the side of their house. It's not fenced in, so it sees people and cars and other animals go by all day every day. It's constantly barking and snarling and jumping around. It even sounds like it is going hoarse, like a person would who is shouting too much. I think it's cruel to the animal. I think most municipalities require access to water and shelter for outside dogs. Some places do have anti-tethering laws, you might want to check for your area.
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Jan 15, 2013 00:28
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wtftastic posted:Does she need the fresh food? The kibble is probably fine and since its from a decent quality brand, if she's not scratchy with just the dry food, then just keep her on that. I'm sure she doesn't need the fresh food but I'm not entirely convinced that feeding a dog the same kind of processed dry kibble day in and day out with no fresh foods is the best thing either. The vet didn't seem positive that it was an allergy since allergies usually present in both ears and there wasn't any apparent infection in the swab they looked at. She asked that I cut out the wet food mostly because Lola is a little chunky and she doesn't "need" it. She also said that kibble is better for Lola's teeth which is like ugh.
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Jan 15, 2013 02:23
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mascaria posted:I'm sure she doesn't need the fresh food but I'm not entirely convinced that feeding a dog the same kind of processed dry kibble day in and day out with no fresh foods is the best thing either. The vet didn't seem positive that it was an allergy since allergies usually present in both ears and there wasn't any apparent infection in the swab they looked at. She asked that I cut out the wet food mostly because Lola is a little chunky and she doesn't "need" it. She also said that kibble is better for Lola's teeth which is like ugh. The argument that its better for their teeth is meh (IANAV), but honestly, plenty of dogs do just fine on an all kibble diet and so long as you aren't feeding Ol' Roy your dog will do just fine. Besides, the extra pounds on your dog in the long run can and will probably cause more problems then cutting out this wet food will. If you want to try to feed more veggies as treats (something fresh and healthy) ask your vet about it. I've heard that carrots, cooked sweet potato, cooked squash and so on are great for dogs and can be nice treats as well. I guess if you wanted to switch to an all wet food diet, you could do that but again, but if I were you I would consult with the vet, just to be on the safe side. Sure there might not be clear cut evidence of an infection or allergy, but probably best to have everyone on the same page.
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Jan 15, 2013 03:25
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So puppy's first bday is coming up and were thinking of being those parents who make/get him a dog birthday cake with some kind of "frosting" on it and all. Thought about making it at home. The issue is the boy is allergic to everything: barley beets carrot chicken duck egg rice sweet potato turkey apple banana berries spinach. Any awesome suggestions of how to make a cake without those? Or should we just give him some really lean hunk o steak?
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Jan 15, 2013 04:34
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wtftastic posted:I've heard that carrots, cooked sweet potato, cooked squash and so on are great for dogs and can be nice treats as well. Apple slices are also great. Asa's favorite treat is carrots. She gets a lot more treats in veggie form than anything else - I figure if she's going to get some extra calories, they might as well be healthy. Plus she'll run around with the carrot in her mouth until she loses the kitten following her before she'll eat it. Which sometimes takes a while :P
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Jan 15, 2013 12:07
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Nevermind
No. 9 fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jan 20, 2013 |
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Jan 15, 2013 13:31
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I plan to buy an invisible/in-ground fence to help contain my Malamute. Before anyone leaps to castigate me, understand that I have a chainlink fence enclosing my ~3/4 acre backyard. Everything was wonderful, and he went in and out of the house as he pleased using the dog door. Then he discovered that he could push under the fence, so I installed tension wire. Then he discovered that he could dig enough earth away to slip under that, although only in theory as I haven't left him unattended outside since he dedicated himself to escape. My plan is to hang boundary wire from the fence to prevent him from spending much time with couple of feet of the fence, thereby preventing him from digging underneath. The fence itself should prevent him from charging through the fence's shock zone in a bid for freedom. I really hate using pain as an obedience tool, but I'm out of ideas, and it beats him running into the street and dying when he gets out. He is an indoor/outdoor dog, but too much time indoors (~8 hours at night, ~3 hours during the day) and he is on a countdown to making GBS threads and pissing all over the floor, so restoring access to his dog door is critical. I have a 16 month old, and both my spouse and I work full time, so the dog ends up spending two to four hours in 15-60 minute increments chained outside. There is time to play games with him, but not to play warden. Has anyone else used this multilayer approach to dog containment? Any brand/model suggestions? Installation or configuration tricks not found in the manual? Alternate suggestions other than "You're a monster who wants to torture his pet?" edit: Looking at the PetSafe Stubborn Dog In-Ground Fence to mount on the fence itself. Double Edit: AwfulBetamax.apk autoparses URLs. How inconvenient. Loucks fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Jan 15, 2013 |
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Jan 15, 2013 13:57
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rear end in a top hat Bicycle posted:I live in a residential neighborhood. My neighbors just got a rottweiler, and it's chained up outside, on the side of their house. It's not fenced in, so it sees people and cars and other animals go by all day every day. It's constantly barking and snarling and jumping around. It even sounds like it is going hoarse, like a person would who is shouting too much. I think it's cruel to the animal. I'd try calling AC anyway. Another option might be going the noise complaint route? The situation not only sucks for the dog but also you and everyone else in the neighborhood.
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Jan 15, 2013 14:19
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So our new dog has Giardia. She's been on the couches/lawn/carpet. How crazy do I need to go on those things to get them cleaned up? Her poop hasn't been super runny or anything, so it may be a mild case if that matters?
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Jan 15, 2013 20:14
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Has anyone experienced prescription dog food (Iams low residue, in this case) having any side effects? Max started eating it yesterday and now he smells like straight up rear end. They never go outside unsupervised so he can't have rolled in anything and it doesn't smell like one of them had an accident. I walked into my apartment when I got home and my first reaction was "wow it smells like dog in here". Neither of them usually smell at all. Only change is Max being on the prescription food. Could it be the food making him smell gross?
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Jan 16, 2013 01:07
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I know the prescription cat food Charlie ate made him stink, so it's entirely possible.
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Jan 16, 2013 01:12
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And now I have another question! Max just had a shitsplosion on the carpet (if you'd asked I would've taken you out, dog!), and I noticed there was some blood in there. Not like a murder scene, but a definite red tinge. He just had a rectal exam yesterday, is this normal? E-vet time or wait till his regular vet opens in the morning?
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Jan 16, 2013 02:14
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He probably just irritated his butt in the poo-splosion, I'd just watch him for a while and see.
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Jan 16, 2013 02:55
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:And now I have another question! Maybe that's why he was getting kind of stinky.
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Jan 16, 2013 03:11
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Our new neighbor has a pitbull. He likes to go out and socialize with the ladies and leave his dog out back overnight. Tonight is supposed to get down to 25 degrees and I feel bad for the dog. He doesn't have a dog house or anything. Is there anything I can do for him? Is he okay out there? I would feel less bad if his fur wasn't so short and he cries because he's lonely. 
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Jan 16, 2013 05:14
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john mayer posted:Our new neighbor has a pitbull. He likes to go out and socialize with the ladies and leave his dog out back overnight. Tonight is supposed to get down to 25 degrees and I feel bad for the dog. He doesn't have a dog house or anything. Is there anything I can do for him? Is he okay out there? I would feel less bad if his fur wasn't so short and he cries because he's lonely. If he doesn't have shelter (does he have water?) the owner is likely breaking the law. Call animal control. If they don't care, call in a noise complaint.
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Jan 16, 2013 05:23
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Invalid Octopus posted:If he doesn't have shelter (does he have water?) the owner is likely breaking the law. Call animal control. If they don't care, call in a noise complaint. The guy on the opposite side of the fence is making him a steak and getting him some blankets to cuddle up in. He had water and some kibble outside. I will talk to the guy tomorrow since the other neighbor seems to have a handle on what to do with a cold dog tonight. I get the impression his mom and dad took care of the dog till last week so hopefully he will learn his lesson after a talking to and get some shelter out there for tomorrow night. Otherwise, I'll call up animal control.
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Jan 16, 2013 06:14
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Uh, hi again PI. About an hour ago, my dog Gansett was attacked by two other dogs. I'm super pissed. I couldn't find any bites at first but called the vet anyway, and he said that if I find wounds I shouldn't worry and should just bring him in tomorrow morning. I just found a couple of bleeding punctures behind one of his ears. I suspect that the vet told me to wait until morning because they were about to close for the night. Should I take him to the e-vet, or follow my regular vet's advice and wait until morning?
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Jan 18, 2013 01:14
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Maybe call the e-vet and describe what it looks like, and ask what they recommend. Our e-vet is great about giving this kind of advice over the phone. Otherwise, is it bleeding a lot or anything? I'm sorry your dog got attacked, that sucks Good luck.
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Jan 18, 2013 01:37
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My 12 year old cat appears to have a leaky rear end in a top hat. I noticed when he was making biscuits on my bed and suddenly something fell from his rear end and I said to him, "Was that a turd?" and it was, but a tan, liquid drip of turd. Upon anal inspection, he had a few droplets in the fur beneath his tail and I cleaned him up as well as I could with a baby wipe and he's sleeping soundly. His weight has been up and down lately, which I believe may be attributed to stress from the death of my older cat back in November or so. Otherwise, he's fine. Very spry and energetic. He poos outside (not an outside cat, just have a small, fenced in pet run for the animals to potty out in our backyard) so I haven't noticed anything unusual about his stool. I have a minimum wage job and I make very very little with, and have checked out sliding-scale vets in the area, but because I live with my parents and they make over 80k combined a year, I can't apply for benefits from these places. My parents won't offer to take the cat to the vet either. It took months of begging to get the older cat put down even though she had been in worsening health for a very long time, and they only relented when I found a vet that would do it for free. Just wondering if a leaky anus is enough of a reason to take the cat to the vet or if it's something I don't have to be too worried about. Please don't suggest I get rid of the cat if I can't afford it because that's just not happening. No one is going to adopt a 12 year old cat and I'm not surrendering him to have him put down (no no-kill shelters in the area) if there isn't anything deathly wrong with him.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:02
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