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Brennanite posted:I'm watching a sweet senior dog with arthritis. It's unusually cold and wet, and she's having a hard time getting up the one flight of stairs to the apartment. Is there anything I can do to help her have an easier time? Our Corgi is having some rear hip problems that I think are arthritis. If I massage her leg joints and butt for five minutes in the morning she hops right up. If I don't, she struggles and sometimes won't even try to get up.
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Nov 24, 2013 15:38
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Two days ago we got Bruno,a Labrador-Poodle cross(I think).He's what you'd expect of a seven week old puppy,eats,sleeps,jumps around for a short while,sleeps again.The problem is how our other dog is behaving. Tara is a Springer Spaniel,she's 5 or 6 years old now.When we first got her,we had another dog,a Labrador who sadly,has passed away since then.As a puppy,she got on very well with our old Lab.The thing is,I think Tara being on her own for the last 3 years has made her a bit...odd.She did training classes as a puppy,and she always socialised with the other dogs without any problems.Since the puppy has arived,she's barely interacted with him.She just stares at him from a safe distance.The only two interactions I've seen were Tara growling at him when he tried to eat out of her food bowl and another growl when he playfully bit her injured leg (She ruptured a ligament/tendon in one of her hind legs a few months ago and although she's had surgery,hasn't fully recovered.At this point I don't think she ever will).Bruno will chase her,wanting to play,but Tara just ignores him. I hope the answer is that it's still way too early and we just have to give it time,but I was wondering is there anything I could do to encourage Tara to interact with Bruno? Also,here's a picture of the two of them.It took a lot of work just to get them to stay there for that photo. 
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Nov 26, 2013 01:43
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This is my dogs nail. As you can see the nail is broken and the quick is broken and pointing downwards. Not sure what he was doing that broke it  What should we be doing? Taking him to the vet for ? Or letting it heal itself? Duxwig fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 02:47
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Your image is too big FYI  Since he has that bit of the nail hanging off, it needs to be trimmed, otherwise it could tear even more. You might be able to do it yourself, but it will hurt, and it might bleed. The vet will have the staff to safely restrain your dog, stop the bleeding, bandage if necessary and so on. I'd be going to the vet.
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Nov 26, 2013 03:08
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Swan Curry posted:I hope the answer is that it's still way too early and we just have to give it time,but I was wondering is there anything I could do to encourage Tara to interact with Bruno? It's way too early and you probably just have to give it time. Two days is nothing, especially since Tara is injured which may make her hesitant to play with a rowdy (if tiny) puppy. I mean, if she's not really into playing right now for whatever reason (pain from the ruptured ligament, age, whatever), there's not really much else to do except watch him and growl when he gets out of line. Out of curiosity, doe she ever get the chance to socialize with other dogs and if so, how does she react to them?
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Nov 26, 2013 04:50
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Abutiu posted:It's way too early and you probably just have to give it time. Two days is nothing, especially since Tara is injured which may make her hesitant to play with a rowdy (if tiny) puppy. I mean, if she's not really into playing right now for whatever reason (pain from the ruptured ligament, age, whatever), there's not really much else to do except watch him and growl when he gets out of line. This is decent advice, but I'd also actively discourage the puppy from bothering her, since she's already injured and it'd be pretty easy for her to overreact and make some bad associations. Indifference isn't necessarily something to be fixed - it's way better than reactivity or aggression.
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Nov 26, 2013 05:47
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Ok, this definitely doesn't need its own thread, but I don't know of any better place to ask. We have a wonderful 6-month-old dachshund puppy, and when he decides we're in danger (a neighbor walks outside, he sees his own reflection, etc.) a ridge of hair stands up on his back! My wife and I are just curious if this is a normal thing, because we've never seen a dog other than an actual Rhodesian Ridgeback do the whole hair-standing-up thing. Has anyone else seen this in mini-dachshunds? Thanks!
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Nov 27, 2013 01:25
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Quidam Viator posted:Ok, this definitely doesn't need its own thread, but I don't know of any better place to ask. We have a wonderful 6-month-old dachshund puppy, and when he decides we're in danger (a neighbor walks outside, he sees his own reflection, etc.) a ridge of hair stands up on his back! My wife and I are just curious if this is a normal thing, because we've never seen a dog other than an actual Rhodesian Ridgeback do the whole hair-standing-up thing. Has anyone else seen this in mini-dachshunds? It is a normal reaction in dogs. Google "raised hackles in dogs" Edit: http://voices.yahoo.com/body-language-dogs-understanding-7970004.html
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Nov 27, 2013 01:55
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cryingscarf posted:It is a normal reaction in dogs. Google "raised hackles in dogs" It wasn't until I started looking into dog body language stuff that I realized that "hackles" was that ridge of hair. I thought it was like when they bare their teeth, like raising the sides of their lips. I guess I thought "hackles" was like "jowls." V  V
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Nov 27, 2013 04:25
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Double Plus Good posted:It wasn't until I started looking into dog body language stuff that I realized that "hackles" was that ridge of hair. I thought it was like when they bare their teeth, like raising the sides of their lips. I guess I thought "hackles" was like "jowls." V For some reason I always thought hackles were... some part of their legs. This is blowing my mind. Swan Curry posted:Tara is a Springer Spaniel,she's 5 or 6 years old now.When we first got her,we had another dog,a Labrador who sadly,has passed away since then.As a puppy,she got on very well with our old Lab.The thing is,I think Tara being on her own for the last 3 years has made her a bit...odd.She did training classes as a puppy,and she always socialised with the other dogs without any problems.Since the puppy has arived,she's barely interacted with him.She just stares at him from a safe distance.The only two interactions I've seen were Tara growling at him when he tried to eat out of her food bowl and another growl when he playfully bit her injured leg (She ruptured a ligament/tendon in one of her hind legs a few months ago and although she's had surgery,hasn't fully recovered.At this point I don't think she ever will).Bruno will chase her,wanting to play,but Tara just ignores him. Our last dog had a similar problem, he ruptured both his cruciate ligaments and did not recover well from surgery. Afterwards he became very tense and standoffish towards other dogs when he never had been before. It's probably that she feels unsafe knowing that she can't move away from the puppy easily if she needs to and can't play safely - hopefully she will continue to improve from her surgery, if not then I think it's pretty reasonable for her to be wary of an energetic puppy and not want to play very much, even if it's a shame for the puppy 
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Nov 27, 2013 11:25
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Prism Mirror Lens posted:For some reason I always thought hackles were... some part of their legs. This is blowing my mind. You're probably thinking of hocks. Hocks, hockles, hacks, hackles. Close enough!
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Nov 27, 2013 12:07
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Going to post super quick looking for advice. Hopefully medical problems can be posted here. I have a six/seven year old miniature bull terrier named Xena. Two days ago she's vomiting her food and tons of bile out of the blue. No blood, not frothy or white, no coffee-grounds looking stuff. This continues to the morning and I take her to the vet. They do bloodwork and x-rays and both come back normal. I was given anti-nausea medication for her and she hasn't thrown up since. I'm worried about her demeanor. Usually she's a peppy, stubborn, if somewhat over-bearing and alert piece of work. Right now she's kind of just, well... Pathetic. Less restless and uncomfortable looking, thankfully, but nowhere near her usual self. She is drinking but only accepts small pieces of food at a time. She just took a bowel movement and it was semi-hard, semi-runny. No blood in either urine or stool, though. Should I take her back to the vet, or am I over-reacting?
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Nov 27, 2013 12:20
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You can call the vet if you're not sure and see what they say. It's really a judgement call at this point. From what you've said, I'd probably try to ride it out at home while keeping close tabs on her.
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Nov 27, 2013 13:15
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I called the vet as of three minutes ago and they said they wanted to do a re-check. Suggested giving her chicken and rice but she is so extremely picky that she won't even touch rice at all. Overnight her stool turned even more runny so I'm afraid it has to do with her kidneys and to be honest I'm kind of freaking out.
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Nov 27, 2013 19:20
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atomic bassoon. posted:Overnight her stool turned even more runny so I'm afraid it has to do with her kidneys and to be honest I'm kind of freaking out. Diarrhea is highly unlikely to be a sign of kidney disease with normal bloodwork. I would guess a more likely scenario would be something more like pancreatitis, gastritis, maybe a mild/partial blockage that didn't show up on x-rays, that sort of thing. If your vet recommended a recheck exam, they probably thought she would bounce back more quickly and just want to get another look in case any new symptoms appeared, and probably try a little bit more aggressive treatment (like fluids if she is dehydrated, or pain medication if her belly hurts, or antibiotics if they think she has an infection). The lack of vomiting is a good thing, it means the meds are helping in at least that much. Try not to freak out too much until her next appointment!
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Nov 28, 2013 08:05
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So my girlfriend has two hamsters that live in our spare room. They get lots of attention, plenty of food and water etc. and show no other signs of bad health other than this. In the last week both have appeared to have died, only to slowly come back to life again. They lay perfectly still and barely react to stroking. Then they come around and an hour later they are fine. A brief google search suggests they are likely entering a state of tubor because the house is cold. We live in the Uk and it does get cold this time of year, but I would not have expected it would get cold enough. So the question is: Is that a problem? Is it a good idea to wake them up or let them rest? If they stay in tupor for long enough will they die? Is there a way to keep them warm beyond having the heating on all day whilst we are at work?
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Nov 29, 2013 00:04
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Dr. Chaco posted:Diarrhea is highly unlikely to be a sign of kidney disease with normal bloodwork. I would guess a more likely scenario would be something more like pancreatitis, gastritis, maybe a mild/partial blockage that didn't show up on x-rays, that sort of thing. If your vet recommended a recheck exam, they probably thought she would bounce back more quickly and just want to get another look in case any new symptoms appeared, and probably try a little bit more aggressive treatment (like fluids if she is dehydrated, or pain medication if her belly hurts, or antibiotics if they think she has an infection). The lack of vomiting is a good thing, it means the meds are helping in at least that much. Try not to freak out too much until her next appointment! Took her to the vet last night and she tested negative for pancreatitis and blockage. My vet was super generous and scheduled a bunch of x-rays at his own expense to see what was wrong. Apparently she has a slipped disk that happened four or five months ago and possibly another happening now. The first was just in the process of healing over, as well. She seems to be bouncing back now and is on pain meds, something to lower the acid in her stomach, and two other pills I can't remember the purpose of. In any case, she seems to be getting better and is in less pain! I hate bull terriers for never showing any external signs of pain (yelping, whining, etc.), haha. Hopefully slipped disks aren't too difficult to live with. Vet mentioned steroids but no idea what that means for the future in terms of long or short term care. Guess we'll see!
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Nov 29, 2013 02:18
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Captain_Indigo posted:So my girlfriend has two hamsters that live in our spare room. They get lots of attention, plenty of food and water etc. and show no other signs of bad health other than this. In the last week both have appeared to have died, only to slowly come back to life again. They lay perfectly still and barely react to stroking. Then they come around and an hour later they are fine. I think a more common term for this is "torper" or "hibernation" in case that helps your googling. Most sites recommend preventing hibernation by giving them an under-tank heater, such as this.
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Nov 29, 2013 15:53
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More than likely there is a genetic component to hamsters entering torpor. At one point I was fostering 13 hamsters and they were all in the same room and one entered torpor and the others didn't. You need to warm the up as domestic hamsters aren't really designed to hibernate, and most will die if they enter hibernation.
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Nov 29, 2013 15:59
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Quidam Viator posted:Ok, this definitely doesn't need its own thread, but I don't know of any better place to ask. We have a wonderful 6-month-old dachshund puppy, and when he decides we're in danger (a neighbor walks outside, he sees his own reflection, etc.) a ridge of hair stands up on his back! My wife and I are just curious if this is a normal thing, because we've never seen a dog other than an actual Rhodesian Ridgeback do the whole hair-standing-up thing. Has anyone else seen this in mini-dachshunds? My mini dachshund literally hackles down her whole back she sees a threat (a leaf in the wind, a child on a bicycle, a dog happy to see her). I've tried getting pictures, but I am a shoddy camera-woman, and Lucie is wriggly. And may I take this moment to remind you of the dachshund-owning mantra: No Stairs, No Chairs, No Climbing, No Jumping. Learn it, love it, live it. Welcome to owning an incredibly stubborn, intelligent, and bossy breed. Good luck.
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Dec 1, 2013 04:53
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My backyard is somewhat of a mud pit right now. What's the easiest way to get mud off all four paws on a dog? Before now I was just using a towel and wiping them down, but it's way too long of a process for me to want to do it multiple times a day for the new few days. I was thinking that hitting them with a vegetable brush and and bucket of warm water would do the trick, but was wondering if there's an easier way.
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Dec 4, 2013 01:39
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Crumps Brother posted:My backyard is somewhat of a mud pit right now. What's the easiest way to get mud off all four paws on a dog? Before now I was just using a towel and wiping them down, but it's way too long of a process for me to want to do it multiple times a day for the new few days. I was thinking that hitting them with a vegetable brush and and bucket of warm water would do the trick, but was wondering if there's an easier way. Make your dog wear shoes, or teach it to wipe it's feet before it comes in the house.
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Dec 5, 2013 09:37
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Our dog is about 4 years old, German Shepherd and Rough Collie mix. He has some skin issues. He frequently scratches himself and gnaws on areas of his front and back legs, and his butt. The vet prescribed prednisone in October, which greatly reduced the scratching, shaking and gnawing, but that's run out, and I'm interested in alternative options to steroids. Not sure if it's allergies or some other skin condition. I don't think it's fleas because we haven't seen any. Any ideas on what we can do?
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Dec 5, 2013 15:39
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Crumps Brother posted:My backyard is somewhat of a mud pit right now. What's the easiest way to get mud off all four paws on a dog? Before now I was just using a towel and wiping them down, but it's way too long of a process for me to want to do it multiple times a day for the new few days. I was thinking that hitting them with a vegetable brush and and bucket of warm water would do the trick, but was wondering if there's an easier way. We have a big old reject carpet on our back deck. Usually gets all the grossness off. Mine are prissy about mud though.
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Dec 5, 2013 16:16
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Donald Kimball posted:Our dog is about 4 years old, German Shepherd and Rough Collie mix. He has some skin issues. He frequently scratches himself and gnaws on areas of his front and back legs, and his butt. It does sound like it could be allergies, so you'll need to see the vet again so they can recommend follow-up, like allergy testing, antihistamines, more steroids, a food trial, special shampoos, whatever. If his butt is affected, fleas are very likely to be part of the problem, even if you don't see any, so they may recommend flea medicine as part of the regimen.
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Dec 5, 2013 17:21
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Any of y'all got pigs? I met a pet pig one time and it was dope as hell, I'd totally keep a couple of pigs.
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Dec 7, 2013 12:14
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Philip Rivers posted:Any of y'all got pigs? I met a pet pig one time and it was dope as hell, I'd totally keep a couple of pigs. They're smelly and gross, don't do it. The ones that are bred to be "pets" instead of farm animals tend to have more genetic problems than bulldogs.
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Dec 8, 2013 01:13
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HelloSailorSign posted:They're smelly and gross, don't do it. The ones that are bred to be "pets" instead of farm animals tend to have more genetic problems than bulldogs. The piglets are super cute, but in addition to the above, they scream louder than any other domestic animal I've worked with.
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Dec 8, 2013 01:20
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Philip Rivers posted:Any of y'all got pigs? I met a pet pig one time and it was dope as hell, I'd totally keep a couple of pigs. Godspeed. If you want a teacup pig, they don't exist. There is no accepted breed, because the small stature is totally random. Paris Hilton's teacup pig that was totally gonna max out at 30 lbs is now about 300 judging by photos. They breed small pigs together, but just like two short people can have tall kids, so too can pig DNA do whatever it feels like doing. The ones that do stay small usually have health issues. Pigs are also intelligent and social and need a lot of stimulation or they turn into anger monsters. I so very desperately want one, and every couple years have to remind myself it is a horrible idea.
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Dec 8, 2013 02:58
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It's below zero celsius here now, and this stupid hummingbird has decided to hang around. Haven't seen any for months, then suddenly a couple of days ago I saw this really anomalous bird hunting around, so I got out the hummingbird feeder. But it freezes. I don't know if I want to get into heating elements or whatever, it never stays below zero here for long. So far I've been a) mixing the nectar 3:1 to reduce the freezing temperature and b) rotating between two feeders but i doubt i'll be doing that at 6am when it counts. Of course the internet is full of conflicting advice so I can only trust the random strangers from SA.
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Dec 8, 2013 03:12
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My dog's been losing hair on his muzzle. The vet didn't seem concerned when she looked at it in September but it's gotten worse and now he's got a gunky eye discharge. I'm making an appointment in the morning, but since all the problems are on his face I can't use a basket muzzle and I don't have a cloth one because I've always had a terrible time putting them on. The cloth muzzle also covers up his muzzle which is part of where the vet needs to look. What can I do to make this go more smoothly?
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Dec 9, 2013 04:25
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Dogdoo 8 posted:My dog's been losing hair on his muzzle. The vet didn't seem concerned when she looked at it in September but it's gotten worse and now he's got a gunky eye discharge. I'm making an appointment in the morning, but since all the problems are on his face I can't use a basket muzzle and I don't have a cloth one because I've always had a terrible time putting them on. The cloth muzzle also covers up his muzzle which is part of where the vet needs to look. What can I do to make this go more smoothly? Is he likely to bite the vet? You could ask for some sedatives to give him before you arrive. In a pinch, a muzzle can be made with soft bandages, (you basically tie a loop around the muzzle, then tie the ends behind the ears), that might not get in the way?
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Dec 9, 2013 06:32
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6-Ethyl Bearcat posted:Is he likely to bite the vet? You could ask for some sedatives to give him before you arrive. In a pinch, a muzzle can be made with soft bandages, (you basically tie a loop around the muzzle, then tie the ends behind the ears), that might not get in the way? He did really well at the vet's office last time (muzzled), but he will bite if he's scared enough and while the groomer can trim around his face he hasn't seen as much of the vet. The soft bandage loop might work best, I'll ask when I call the vet. They know him since I've been bringing him in when I have the chance so he can get used to the place. He's also slipped off cloth muzzles and moves very quickly when he wants to.
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Dec 9, 2013 06:42
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I'm wondering how many people have experience with slipped discs in dogs and the recovery process. I have a shih tzu terrier mix that some back issues yesterday morning. We took him to the vet, they felt him up and said that he had inflammation of a disc in his back. They gave him a pain shot and pills for pain and to reduce swelling. Later that night while I was at work my wife noticed he had trouble moving around and took him to the er vet again. They scanned him and noticed that he had 2 discs that slipped and were putting pressure on his spine. They rushed him to surgery and the doctor said they were really happy with how it turned out last night. This morning he's still not moving his back legs and doesn't have control of his bladder. I've been worrying and reading everything I can on it and noticed someone said that if they can't feel their back legs before a corrective surgery the recovery chance drops to 50%. We're worrying because he wasn't able to move his back legs by the time we got him to the vet. The doctor is still optimistic and says that it's normal but we are worrying about our little guy. Does anyone know the chances of recovery of mobility for things like this?
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Dec 9, 2013 15:04
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Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me with a moving problem. I'm looking at moving from the east coast to Hawaii in about a month and a half. I have five cats, the oldest of which is about 8 years. I'm figuring I can't lug five cats in carriers with me through the country, but having them sit in cargo for an entire day seems sort of severely cruel. Is cargo an acceptable route for something like this? Am I likely to lose a cat the way the ever efficient airlines would some luggage?
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Dec 9, 2013 15:17
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Anyone know how much a allergen blood test runs in the US? Tater is recovering from his 3rd or 4th outbreak of hotspots in 16 months and I'd like to nail down what's causing it if possible. The vet suggested a food trial as an alternative as blood tests are 'expensive' but a food trial itself is going to be expensive (I'd probably need to go with something like bison for a novel protein), difficult (3 months of absolutely nothing but kibble, yikes) and I'm not sure what doing a 3-month trial for a problem that crops up every 4 months is going to tell me.
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Dec 9, 2013 15:47
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The blood test from heska is useless for food allergies. Not horrible for non food, but useless for food. It has to do with the kind of antibodies present on the mucosa vs what's in the blood. They're very different. Novel protein food trial is the best method.
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Dec 9, 2013 15:51
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Topoisomerase is slacking...Carnival Rider posted:I've been worrying and reading everything I can on it and noticed someone said that if they can't feel their back legs before a corrective surgery the recovery chance drops to 50%. We're worrying because he wasn't able to move his back legs by the time we got him to the vet. The doctor is still optimistic and says that it's normal but we are worrying about our little guy. Does anyone know the chances of recovery of mobility for things like this? The motor nerves, which let your dog move his back legs, are entirely different, and are much more superficial and easily squished, so they're one of the first things to get knocked out with disc problems. So basically that 50/50 statistic does not apply to your dog, assuming he had sensation in his rear legs. Your dog's odds should be much better. Not moving or urinating on his own is very normal after this kind of surgery, and if your vet is optimistic, I would be, too.
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Dec 9, 2013 15:53
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Pelafina posted:Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me with a moving problem. I'm looking at moving from the east coast to Hawaii in about a month and a half. I have five cats, the oldest of which is about 8 years. I'm figuring I can't lug five cats in carriers with me through the country, but having them sit in cargo for an entire day seems sort of severely cruel. I had my 2 cats air-shipped about 2200km (so like 1600 miles or so) with zero issues. They were crabby and mad, and one had crapped in her crate, but otherwise they were fine. I'd do it again if needed, as it sure as hell beats trying to drive ~any~ distance with cats. Hate driving with cats.
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Dec 9, 2013 15:56
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Enelrahc posted:The blood test from heska is useless for food allergies. Not horrible for non food, but useless for food. It has to do with the kind of antibodies present on the mucosa vs what's in the blood. They're very different. Novel protein food trial is the best method. But how much does it cost? Neither my vet or I are convinced it's a food allergy.
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Dec 9, 2013 16:02
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