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Plastic shopping bag and the nearest outdoor trash can? ran over a baby bunny with my mower once, poor thing just froze and I didn’t see it with the thick grass. By the time I got back with the .22 to put it out of its misery it had already expired, thankfully. One of these days Pongo is gonna catch a rabbit in our yard, he got pretty close yesterday.
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May 30, 2022 13:04
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Usually my dogs just go ahead and eat them. The feathers make for some interesting poops but they've never had any issues otherwise. Major would happily live on nothing but pigeons if he was younger and could still catch them.
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May 31, 2022 02:18
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Chop Chop would love to eat one of the crows around our place but they're too smart for him
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May 31, 2022 02:25
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Please help me, fellow dog people. Does anyone have a suggestion for a "my elderly dog can't attain grip/traction on hardwood flooring" kind of situation? Our place has become a truly horrifying quilt of rugs, runners, yoga mats, whatever else to help him out, and we're open to pretty much any solution short of replacing it all with carpet. I'm now looking for stick & peel surfaces as well as "cut your own size" rug/runner material to at least make it all somewhat uniform in appearance.  We've tried a few different designs of socks/boots but he completely rejected all of them. This is the cute old boy in question: 
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May 31, 2022 03:16
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I dunno bud, I've got so many bath mats, throw rugs and yoga mats everywhere. Lots of sympathy though, old dogs are tough. Have you tried something like Dog Toe Treads or Toegrips that you stick on their nails? My old dude scuffs his back feet a lot so I'm not sure they'd stay on but I was going to bring them up with my vet next time.
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May 31, 2022 05:05
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For a lot of money you could get a couple large non-slip floor mats: https://www.amazon.com/Ottomanson-S...C71&sr=8-5&th=1 I recently had to get an area rug for my bedroom because Bonnie was having difficulty with the running / jumping to get up onto my bed, but she manages just fine on the vinyl / hardwood in the rest of the apartment... so far
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May 31, 2022 14:05
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Very low hanging but keeping the hair between the pads trimmed off can help
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May 31, 2022 14:38
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Thank you all for the suggestions -- it really sounds like we'll just need to continue doing whatever small things we've been doing. He's 16 and arthritic, so we'll just do our best.Submarine Sandpaper posted:Very low hanging but keeping the hair between the pads trimmed off can help Good point, we're generally trying to be more consistent with the timing of his nail trims.
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May 31, 2022 16:22
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I know the answer to the following ultimately is “take him to a vet” and we’re trying to find one that has an opening in the near future. But anyone dealt with a little dog that randomly appears to be losing coordination and balance and then is completely fine the next minute? This just happened to my Ziggy. He’s a younger dog, maybe 1.5 years. Almost seemed to be a seizure or something along those lines. Maybe the second time that it's happened overall so not necessarily a chronic condition but it seems severe enough that we should get ahead of it if possible. Macichne Leainig fucked around with this message at 17:38 on May 31, 2022 |
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May 31, 2022 17:33
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Protocol7 posted:I know the answer to the following ultimately is “take him to a vet” and we’re trying to find one that has an opening in the near future. Ear infection, maybe? Or if not an infection, a blockage/pressure caused by season change(s)?
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May 31, 2022 18:14
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Protocol7 posted:I know the answer to the following ultimately is “take him to a vet” and we’re trying to find one that has an opening in the near future. Could be a mild seizure, but I'd also wonder if it might be an ear infection. My last dog got them chronically, and the symptoms would be him pawing at his mouth or ears, and occasionally getting a bit wobbly when trying to walk around. He even fell down a couple of times, but usually would just lay down and look miserable. Anyway, as you suspected, the answer is "take him to a vet". It's probably not serious, but random loss of coordination could definitely be a sign of something much bigger. (Uh, don't start Googling; you'll just drive yourself crazy worrying because that could be a symptom of a hundred different awful things, none of which are likely.)
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May 31, 2022 18:19
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I wouldn't wait and take him to the vet now.
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Jun 1, 2022 18:15
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My usual vet is booked out until the end of August which kind of blows but I was able to speak with the actual doctor on the phone for a few minutes and they didn't seem too concerned if it's a one-off thing (which it is at this point). Regardless, they want me to log the event, duration, etc so if it happens again we have some data to refer to, and of course we have the address and info of a local emergency vet that they recommend that we'll go to if it does happen again. If I really want I can call in the mornings when they open to see if a cancellation happened and I can have their spot, but I'm pretty happy just taking him to the emergency vet should an event happen again. Fortunately I work from home and it's all pretty lax so I can keep a close eye on him and take him in no matter what. And he's been great the last 24 hours, so I'm a lot less anxious now. Macichne Leainig fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Jun 1, 2022 |
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Jun 1, 2022 22:32
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My girlfriend and I are relocating to Thailand in a few weeks and bringing our minipoodle along. We're extremely nervous about how she'll fare on a 15 hour plane ride but we've acclimated her to her new crate and set up a water bottle that she can easily drink out of. She also has a bed/pee pads in there and we'll probably put in some stuff that smells of us inside as well. My mother's vet insists on gabapentin for dogs and so she's been nagging me to give it to our dog, but I'm pretty sure it's universally believed that sedating your dog before they go in the cargo hold of a plane is a horrible, horrible idea? I've heard separate things about "tranquilizing" vs. "sedating" though. I see there are pheromone dog collars that can relax dogs as well. I'm just trying to see if there are any possible options for relaxing our dog without putting her at any kind of risk. So far my impression is "no." I'm also just deathly afraid that she'll get lost in transit or something
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Jun 2, 2022 01:40
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Yossarian-22 posted:My girlfriend and I are relocating to Thailand in a few weeks and bringing our minipoodle along. We're extremely nervous about how she'll fare on a 15 hour plane ride but we've acclimated her to her new crate and set up a water bottle that she can easily drink out of. She also has a bed/pee pads in there and we'll probably put in some stuff that smells of us inside as well. I would not put her in the cargo hold if at all possible.
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Jun 2, 2022 20:38
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Yeah I don't know much about traveling with dogs on planes, but everyone I've talked to about it says to avoid the cargo hold at all costs. I don't know what alternatives there are unfortunately.
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Jun 2, 2022 20:41
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I've been looking into overseas options and as far as I've been able to find it's under the seat, cargo, or boat.
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Jun 3, 2022 02:26
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Most pets are perfectly fine in cargo. There are higher risks for brachycephalic dogs but in general dogs (and cats and goats and horses etc) are shipped all over the world on a daily basis and arrive happy and healthy at their destination. Of course staying with you is the best option because you can be there supervising the whole time but if your dog needs to travel in cargo it will most likely handle it fine and the staff there will take good care of your friend. The best person to ask about meds is your vet. You'll need to be doing pre-travel vet work anyway so just ask there. I personally would just make sure your pup is very comfortable in their travel crate and has all their paperwork on hand and not worry about any additional meds.
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Jun 3, 2022 02:58
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Buy an extra ticket and sedate. I have heard horror stories about cargo.
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Jun 3, 2022 03:16
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Yeah unfortunately there isn't an option for cabin unless I can get her approved as a service dog somehow. And everything I've read about sedation/tranquilizing says it's dangerous as it can upset the dog's equilibrium and put them at great health risk in a cargo hold because it can actually sometimes make the dog's anxiety worse. But I'll talk to a vet about it.
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Jun 3, 2022 05:55
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At the very least you’ll want to test whatever you give her before the flight. My dog had paradoxical reactions to tranqs and would become a total nut job energy monster. Not the best thing ever to discover on the airplane for the first time!
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Jun 3, 2022 15:46
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Does anyone have any experience with laryngeal paralysis? My 11-year old Lab, Tuck, was diagnosed a year ago, and has gotten quite a bit worse over the last few months. I know there’s a fairly major surgery that you can get that will open up his airway, but it seems to come with a bunch of other issues, and given that he’s going to be 12 in August, I really don’t want the cure to be worse than the disease for him…
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Jun 3, 2022 19:08
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I live in rattlesnake country, and my puppy is 12 1/2 pounds of reckless bravery. One of my coworkers recommended doing rattlesnake training and also the vaccine. She also said that she's pretty sure the rattlesnake training gave her schnauzer an anxiety disorder and the vaccine gave him an autoimmune disorder, but somehow still recommends it? Does anyone have experience with either the training or the vaccine? I don't expect to be bringing him along on a lot of desert hikes because he's small, long haired, and I don't think he's got the endurance to do long trails. We do live right next to a nature preserve and he's already killed a (non-venomous) snake that wandered into the backyard. Picture for attention. He does this every time I leave the house because he's obsessed with me. 
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Jun 3, 2022 19:30
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Paddyo posted:Does anyone have any experience with laryngeal paralysis? My 11-year old Lab, Tuck, was diagnosed a year ago, and has gotten quite a bit worse over the last few months. I know there’s a fairly major surgery that you can get that will open up his airway, but it seems to come with a bunch of other issues, and given that he’s going to be 12 in August, I really don’t want the cure to be worse than the disease for him… Does he have the polyneuropathy too? My old dog has geriatric onset laryngeal paralysis and polyneuropathy. He's a 14.5 year old saint bernard mix with severe anxiety issues so surgery really wasn't an option for him. What's helped him is keeping him cool, controlling his anxiety (he pants really hard when he's anxious, which makes it hard for him to breathe, which makes him more anxious), and giving him a bigger kibble that's easier for him to swallow without gagging on. Some people recommend raised feeders but my dog just got confused about it and knocked it over and tripped over it so we decided it's best to not change things in his life. We're going to have to be careful as it gets hotter and I'm thinking of shaving his belly down to keep him cooler but I'm not quite ready to make that last big decision for him yet. I'll just keep the AC cranked as long as he's otherwise doing ok.
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Jun 3, 2022 22:24
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If he does have polyneuropathy it hasn't been diagnosed. Yeah, keeping him cool, relaxed, and slowing down his play/exercise has really been the only thing that has helped. Just sucks because up until four months or so ago he was still a balls to the wall Lab, and now he's really restricted. You can tell it frustrates the poor guy - the desire is there but his body is letting him down.  Thankfully he doesn't have a ton of trouble eating and drinking. Good call on the larger kibble though - will have to try that.
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Jun 3, 2022 23:38
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canyoneer posted:I live in rattlesnake country, and my puppy is 12 1/2 pounds of reckless bravery. One of my coworkers recommended doing rattlesnake training and also the vaccine. She also said that she's pretty sure the rattlesnake training gave her schnauzer an anxiety disorder and the vaccine gave him an autoimmune disorder, but somehow still recommends it? I don't have experience with snake training per se but I did lots of research on it recently since I'm moving to Thailand. E-collars can basically traumatize dogs and the local training here used them, so I canceled my appointment. I found this website and spent a few bucks on their ebook which has some useful tips. https://www.snakeavoidancewithoutshock.com/ They basically recommend teaching dogs certain things like "leave it" and working your way up to fake toy snakes and such. They even have an expensive package with an actual snake skin if you want to try that.
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Jun 4, 2022 08:12
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Hadn't seen it since it was published. Still makes me laugh. I miss Old Deadspin. https://unnamedtemporarysportsblog.com/i-caught-my-dogs-poo poo-with-my-hand/
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Jun 4, 2022 09:13
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Hi guys, I'm really worried about my awesome dog Monk. He's currently on Prozac (generic) for major noise anxiety. I was told that he's a collie mix and I rescued him August 2020. We encountered a very big/loud firework on a walk back in February and he's been a nervous wreck since. Some days are worse than others and today I had to drive him to a spot to poop as he won't leave the parking lot and the spots around the condo are surrounded by construction noise. It's to the point where even a car door shutting is setting him off. When it happens he just pulls me back home. The vet said it looks like full blown ptsd though I didn't get much/any time to discuss it with her (switching vet soon). The report at the shelter was that they got an email tip and he was found tied up in the backyard with no one home/living there. Sounds like he could've encountered any number of scary sounds/events in that scenario. In retrospect I've begun to see his early behavior in a new light like the fact that he jumped out of the car when I was taking him home from the shelter! We're on week 3 of the Prozac and he has an appointment today that I'm worried about ( he will refuse to go in I'm certain). Basically the Prozac isn't helping (have I given it enough time? vet may wish to prescribe a different drug), in fact the loss of appetite is screwing up his poop schedule and making things worse. I'm talking to a trainer tomorrow and hoping there is something they can do (group lessons sound good as he likes other dogs). It's so hard to see him like this. Thanks for any insight. Handsome boi:  
tonesville fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jun 6, 2022 |
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Jun 6, 2022 16:31
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Prozac is often the first drug they try but there are lots of options! I highly recommend finding a veterinary behaviorist to help you work through this. They will have all the protocols and drugs your sensitive boy could need. My dog has generalized anxiety, some sound anxiety, reactivity towards people and dogs, and severe travel anxiety. We tried l-theanine and prozac at first then switched to zoloft with sileo specifically for sound events and clonidine for travel. Now that he's (very) old he takes a higher dosage of zoloft and trazodone to manage his old man breakdowns. I have no idea how I would have navigated his many diagnoses and medication switches without my vet behaviorist and her team. It's been expensive but it has meant having a happy, relatively normal dog for the past 12 years. You can search for board-certified ones nearby here and many do virtual consultations these days.
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Jun 6, 2022 19:05
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Thanks for the hope! I do hate to say it and I know Vets are working at triple capacity since covid but I'm not getting much info/help at all. I just left his followup tech visit where he refused to enter at first but we got him in and they said he did well. I think I'll go back to the vet I used with my last dog. They were much more patient and willing to discuss than the current one(s)....(he hasn't seen the same vet twice!?) I'm supposed to get a call or email from the vet soon. Chatting with the trainer tomorrow (are they different from behaviorist?)
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Jun 6, 2022 20:06
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Is your vet still doing that bullshit where you can't go in the building with them? I loving hate that. Tater's old vet made me do that with his multitude of appointments and tried to make me wait in the car. At 4PM. In the middle of a 108° August Sacramento heatwave. I've changed vets since.
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Jun 6, 2022 22:25
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Tayter Swift posted:Is your vet still doing that bullshit where you can't go in the building with them? I loving hate that. Tater's old vet made me do that with his multitude of appointments and tried to make me wait in the car. At 4PM. In the middle of a 108° August Sacramento heatwave. I've changed vets since. I'm sympathetic to the vets, because they don't want to get the plague. I have no clue what I would have done with Pavlov if he'd had a serious issue while my local vets still had that policy in place, though. He has severe vet-related anxiety and has to be tranquilized for pretty much everything, which is hard enough when I'm the one pinning him down so they can inject him. I can't imagine the vet techs trying to wrestle an anxious, 70-pound dog, even with a muzzle.
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Jun 6, 2022 23:01
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Tayter Swift posted:Is your vet still doing that bullshit where you can't go in the building with them? I loving hate that. Tater's old vet made me do that with his multitude of appointments and tried to make me wait in the car. At 4PM. In the middle of a 108° August Sacramento heatwave. I've changed vets since. Mine recently reimplemented the policy and while I can respect it (covid is a gently caress) it's also sad to see Apollo go from "yay roadtrip" to "oh. here." to "i'm not leaving the car." and buddy it's good for you.
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Jun 6, 2022 23:53
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Tayter Swift posted:Is your vet still doing that bullshit where you can't go in the building with them? I loving hate that. Tater's old vet made me do that with his multitude of appointments and tried to make me wait in the car. At 4PM. In the middle of a 108° August Sacramento heatwave. I've changed vets since. Mine is back to allowing in-person visits and I was even able to make a future appointment with a specific doctor. One of my dogs is NOT OK with male vets (it’s noted on his record) but they gave us one anyway the last visit for a vaccination and my dog had to be muzzled 3 minutes into the exam. Thankfully he can see his regular doc for his annual next month (who he’s been seeing since he was a pup and loves).
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Jun 7, 2022 00:05
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StrixNebulosa posted:Mine recently reimplemented the policy and while I can respect it (covid is a gently caress) it's also sad to see Apollo go from "yay roadtrip" to "oh. here." to "i'm not leaving the car." and buddy it's good for you. Brisket whines and shakes when we go to the vet and they were doing wait in the car appointments. But lol, the loving goober as soon as the tech grabs his leash he hops out and follows without complaint
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Jun 7, 2022 01:34
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My mother’s dog had to be put down relatively suddenly last May. While we were allowed to be in the room for the final visit, their COVID protocols dictated that we couldn’t be there when they did the deed. She was taken from the room and we never saw her again, and she didn’t have us with her when we went. Just typing this is making me tear up while I’m sitting here at the dog park with Tater and the new dog. gently caress. gently caress
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Jun 7, 2022 03:04
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tonesville posted:I'm supposed to get a call or email from the vet soon. Chatting with the trainer tomorrow (are they different from behaviorist?) A trainer would be like a counselor or social worker whereas a vet behaviorist is like a psychiatrist. They're a trained vet that specializes in behavior. They'll often work with trainers but they're able to prescribe meds. When my regular vet was doing curbside they handled almost all of my dog's vet work because he started trying to go through the window at the techs who came to get him but still wouldn't work with me for a solution that would prevent them from getting their faces eaten (he's absolutely fine as long as I'm with him, I don't know why we couldn't just do things outside fully masked).
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Jun 7, 2022 03:05
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Tayter Swift posted:My mother’s dog had to be put down relatively suddenly last May. While we were allowed to be in the room for the final visit, their COVID protocols dictated that we couldn’t be there when they did the deed. She was taken from the room and we never saw her again, and she didn’t have us with her when we went. Oh my gosh that’s heartbreaking. I’m so sorry.
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Jun 7, 2022 04:32
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Instant Jellyfish posted:A trainer would be like a counselor or social worker whereas a vet behaviorist is like a psychiatrist. They're a trained vet that specializes in behavior. They'll often work with trainers but they're able to prescribe meds. When my regular vet was doing curbside they handled almost all of my dog's vet work because he started trying to go through the window at the techs who came to get him but still wouldn't work with me for a solution that would prevent them from getting their faces eaten (he's absolutely fine as long as I'm with him, I don't know why we couldn't just do things outside fully masked). Hmm I see I'll ask about this with the trainer today, That's a great analogy thanks for that. There are a couple of behaviorists near me. His world is getting smaller by the day this morning he won't go anywhere near the exit to the condos.
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Jun 7, 2022 13:01
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Tayter Swift posted:My mother’s dog had to be put down relatively suddenly last May. While we were allowed to be in the room for the final visit, their COVID protocols dictated that we couldn’t be there when they did the deed. She was taken from the room and we never saw her again, and she didn’t have us with her when we went. This is so lovely, jesus. I realize this is way too late, and COVID protocols may have fallen apart anyway but - for future reference (and for anyone reading), I highly recommend finding a service who does these things at home. They're more expensive than taking your friend to the vet, obviously, but the cost is pretty reasonable, even without being compared to the amount of money we usually end up spending on these furry idiots near their end of life. I didn't know these existed until recently, and being able to say goodbye to Bear at home, where he was comfortable and we could spend our last minutes together in his yard, was just tremendous. Boxman fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Jun 7, 2022 |
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Jun 7, 2022 13:16
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