Pet Health

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

There is a thread in General Questions concenrning chocolate poisoning in dogs. Alphagene posted a link to the Petopia site, which contains a section on animal injuries and emergencies. I just looked it over, and I have to say the info there is wonderful. Just wanted to mention it here because it could be helpful to all the folks who post pet care questions, and those who e-mail me as well. (I still welcome private e-mails.)

I crave an art that passionately transcends the mundane instead of being a device for self-deception.–Griffin, from The Griffin and Sabine trilogy.

2

Moving this to the top, because I nearly missed it and it’s important if you have a pooch.
Chocolate is bad, Bad, BAD for dogs!

3

Back to the top! And remember, aspirin is BAD for cats.

Never attribute to malice anything that can be attributed to stupidity.
– Unknown

4

Yep, it is bad, but can be administered under a veterinarian’s directions. Tylenol, however, can cause liver and red blood cell damage and should never be given to animals.

Probably one of my biggest pet peeves is when people try to play vet with their animals at home. While many human drugs can be used safely on dogs and cats, there are many that cannot. Dosages for pets will be different than for humans. And unless you are a vet, you CANNOT diagnose what is wrong with your pet!

5

Somewhat for Michelle, although anyone with an opinion worth having may weigh in:
For some reason unknown to me, my wife decided to look out the window at the backyard. And asked me, “Has Patches (our cat) been out?” As the Teeming Thousands undoubtedly know, Storm Barry is pounding the East Coast, and, when I gave Patches a chance to go out 13 or 14 hours ago, she didn’t take it (of course, I did it to show her how totally miserable it was out there).
Nonetheless, in the Barry-snow, there were a perfect set of cat footprints, leading from the fence down the terraces to our patio, and around the side of our house.
There are certainly some abandoned and feral cats around here; my wife saw one last week. The footprints probably belong to one of them.
Now, the real question: I absolutely cannot take in another abandoned cat (that’s how we got the one that we have now). If I did, I would, in about five minutes, have only one cat again (Patches has found a good thing, and does not want competition – she made this clear when we were still feeding her outdoors). I suggested leaving food out for the other cat, and got the “get real” look from my wife (sometime I’ll tell the story about how a skunk took over the cat’s food dish, but not now).
So, what do I do? Try to trap it, knowing that whatever I can talk my wife’s family into doing (I am not physically capable of handling a live trap) will almost certainly trap a skunk. and, if it doesn’t, will probably trap a raccoon? Call the local animal control office? Or pretend that I don’t know about the situation, and hope that I don’t find the frozen body on my front lawn?

It is often said that “anything is possible”. In fact, very few things are possible, and most of them have already happened.

6

A few days ago our dog got ahold of a brand new bottle of Children’s Advil (liquid) that hadn’t been put away yet from the store… and chewed the bottle open. From what was still in the bottle and what appeared to be on the floor, I guessed that he couldn’t have ingested more than half… fortunately my vet and poison control agreed that it shouldn’t hurt a 75lb dog in that small a quantity…but I almost shit a brick until they told me that!

–
Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com

7

hey, on the what’s good for your pet theme… I am a firm believer in vaccination shots for all pets. But no one told me until too late not to give the “Lepto” vaccine to my breed of puppy. Apparently some dogs are very sensitive to it. Check with a vet first! My poor pup swelled up with little hive-thingies 'till she looked like a raisin. Poor kiddo!

If you could remember all of your dreams…
you certainly would not want them to come true.

8

Michelle, sorry to hijack your thread, but it does have to do with pet health.
Every time I have to get heart pills for both my dogs, it costs a fortune, and I’ve noticed that I can get the same thing over the Internet, do you think that seems wise, or it’s better to get medication straight from the vet that knows your pet? (rhyme was accidental, I promise)

Thanks,
Judy

“Consider it a challenge…”

9

Anti Pro, One of my dogs has Addison’s Disease and her medications are expensive, too. I found it was much less expensive to take her prescriptions to my drug store than to get them from the vet. Eventually I will go ahead and check the online drug stores and sdee how those prices break out.

However one of the drugs Kiss needs is only made by one manufacturer to I don’t know if anyone can give me much a break on that.

As it is now I just call all three of the local drugstore/grocery chains and buy the drugs at the best price or ask the nearest drugstore to match the best price.

But the Vet’s price was the highest.
A

Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&* codes 'til I get 'em right.

10

Akatsukami,

I’m not able to catch cats and can’t bring any more animals into this house.

I do make cardboard houses for the coldest nites of winter. The “houses” are put together like “G” shapes with the ends extended to give the inside of half the house wind protection. The inner part has some wind protection and I put old towels and dry cat food inside.

The houses go on the back deck and/or on the deck below it. Seem to get good use on the coldest nites and since the cats are semi wild they don’t want to stay any longer than necessary.

Maybe they’d be better off picked up by animal control. And maybe I’ll be hopping mad when I see them going after baby birds this spring–but for now I can live with this.

Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&* codes 'til I get 'em right.

11

Anti Pro do you mean heart pills or heartWORM pills?

If your vet is willing to give you a scrip so you can purchase them opnline, that is fine. it is the same stuff that you buy at the vet. Some vets are reluctant to give out scrips because there is a potential for abuse.

As for vaccine reactions, any dog or cat can get them at any point in their lives. it is true that lepto can be problematic in certain breeds like shelties, and Weimeraners can have a serious reaction as well. But I repeat, ANY animal can have a reaction. One of my cats reacts so badly that I have stopped vaccinating her. Premedicating her doesn’t even help. Still, I do advise vaccines on all otherwise healthy pets.

12

I’ve never had to get a prescription for Heartworm pills for my dog. Although vets do insist on doing a heartworm test at least once a year and you have to have proof of your last test in order to get a new box of the Heartgaurd (the brand I use).

I do have a question that I can’t seem to get answered anywhere. I have an idea what the answer is but I’ll ask anyway…

My dog is very strong and does quite a bit of pulling when he is walking me, uh I mean when I walk him. When another critter crosses our path (in particular a squirrel or a cat) he goes nuts and literally runs in place while trying to drag me to the varmit.

Ultimately, he ends up breaking his front toe nails in half. Literally splitting them down the center (imagine the toenail being split, top seperated from the bottom, all the way to the quick).

I used to freak out and take him to the vet who would simply cut the nail all the way off. After I got tired of paying $45 for someone to cut off his nail I started doing it myself (although it gets VERY bloody and I have to keep it wrapped and try to use a stypyic stick on him, which apparently doesn’t feel too pleasant).

My question, is he just digging to hard and it’s inevitable in a dog as strong as he or could there be a vitamin deficiency? His health is excellent and his coat is good. Overall I’d say he is healthy and that he just digs too hard on the asphalt.

Any pro’s care to weigh in and save my dogs nails?

13

Heartworm medicine is normally sold at the vet. If you want to buy it off a website you usually have to have a scrip for it.

If your dog is so difficult to control, I suggest obedience classes. A well trained dog will not pull at its leash or go so darn crazy when it sees other animals. This may not seem important to you, you may not care one way or the other if your dog behaves on a leash, but two obvious benefits I see here is that there would be no more broken toenails and you don’t run the risk of your dog getting loose one time and getting hit by a car, or attacking another animal.

I highly doubt the broken nails are due to anything other than the dog acting like a nut. As long as you are feeding your dog a premium quality food, your dog’s nutritional needs are being met.

You might want to consider investing in a gentle lead instead of a traditional neck lead. It’ll make your dog easier to control.

14

Michelle, when one of the dogs breaks a nail (badly) the Vet has me pull it off/out instead of cutting it. So I’m not sure what the difference is between what Blockhead is saying and, well, you know. Usually the dog has ripped/broken the nail so it’s only partly attached.

I muzzle the dog with an ace bandage, wrap him up like “Baby Jesus” and cover his eyes hoping that he won’t know who does what (So I’ll still be allowed to trim his nails without fear, at least that is what I keep telling myself.)slide one paw out of the blanket and pull with clean needlenose plyers.

After that I have to let him wear a sock until the toenail grows back in - you know, with a bandage and cleaning and so on.

Is there another way to do this?

Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&* codes 'til I get 'em right.

15

Jois,
We do still have the hutch outside that was Patches’s back in the days when we thought she was going to be an outside cat. It has no bedding in it now, but it’s up on a half-barrel (to reduce problems of cold and damp) and, supposedly, is insulated (I admit to not having cut it apart to check). Nonetheless, the cat didn’t want to use it last night, apparently preferring our air-conditioner bay to a shelter so close to the back door.
I can’t leave food out regularly. The skunks will come and eat it; I’ve seen them do this. Possibly they’ve all retired now to their dens, or burrows, or wherever skunks retire to in the winter. I’ll pass the food idea by my wife again, and hope that she’s merely contemptuous, and not actually wrathful.

It is often said that “anything is possible”. In fact, very few things are possible, and most of them have already happened.

16

I am not sure what you are asking here. Block asked if the ripped nails could be due to a vitamin problem, and I said no. As for what to actually do about a broken nail, you can use clippers and clip off all the way down to where it is no longer broken, and if it is broken all the way down INTO the paw itself you can clip off as much as possble and then use something to pull out the smaller bits. Then wrap and clean as you describe. When dogs with such injuries come in to our hospital we have the benefit of being able to give them pain meds. Ripped nails hurt.

17

Wow, poor Tory. I never give the poor devil anything. I check in with the Vet on our next visit. Thanks.

Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&* codes 'til I get 'em right.

18

Squeamish readers should avoid this post. It isn’t pretty. :frowning:
Another “dog health” question for Michelle:
My 8 year old miniature schnauzer, Sox, has been getting “stuck” lately, a stubborn piece of BM stuck, with liquid BM coming out around it, and the most miserable expression on her sweet little face. (Geez, I’m blushing just typing about it!) I’m feeding her IAMS dog food (Senior, since that’s what the vet recommended). What to do?
Prairie Rose

If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.

19

Well as long as we’re using this thread to discuss a multitude of general pet health issues, let me take this opportunity to provide a PSA…

<font size=4 color=“red”>Have your pets’ teeth cleaned regularly!</font>

And make sure to find a vet that understands the importance of this. That might sound silly - you may think they all understand this, but trust me, they don’t.

Last summer I noticed my cat (who was 15 1/2 at the time) was kindof wheezing a bit when she slept and she had an icky discharge coming from her eyes (not “pus,” but a kindof runny, pink stuff). I took her to the vet, who checked her over, did a chest x-ray (showed her lungs were clear), looked at her teeth and diagnosed her condition as, “gee, I don’t know,” and casually recommended that she could “probably” stand to have her teeth cleaned “some time soon” (it had been about 2 years since her last teeth cleaning). And since there was no urgency about the suggestion, I put that on my mental list of things to do.

She then proceeded to tell me that it was most likely a tumor in her sinus cavity, but she didn’t recommend sedating and restraining my cat in order to position her on the x-ray machine to determine if it really was or not. She further went on to say that, because of my cat’s age, even if she did find a tumor, she wouldn’t treat it anyway. JEEZO! What kind of attitude is that??

But stupid me decided that “the doctor knows best” and took my cat home with no further treatment. After another month, when the wheezing and oozing was getting worse, I went back to the vet. She literally shrugged her shoulders and offered me an orange from her tree!

After another month went by and my cat was still the same, I got tired of the “I wouldn’t treat her anyway” attitude of my vet, and decided to find another one who would actually help. Something was wrong with my cat and I was not going to take shrugged shoulders as a response anymore!!

The new vet examined her, and immediately diagnosed an infection in her gums due to impacted teeth!! He said that the symptoms my cat had been having were SO common, and tumors SO rare that he knew it was likely going to be a dental issue when I called and described her symptoms. Sheesh - he knew over the phone and the other dork looked at her teeth and didn’t even suggest she may have an infection brewing!

Rassum-frassum #%&*@ maybe get her teeth cleaned some time, she’s probably got an untreatable tumor, my ass! Stupid vet. Where’d you get your degree, anyway - the Huckleberry Hound School of Cartoon Veterinary Care?! Moron!

Four teeth had to be extracted! Between the surgery, the office visits (before and after surgery), the pre-surgery tests, pain medication for after the surgery and antibiotics, it ended up costing me around $1,300.00!

[moral of the story]Have your pets’ teeth cleaned regularly! (Two years was obviously too long to wait for my cat.) And if your vet doesn’t treat this as an important health issue for your pet - find a new vet![/moral]

Whew! How was that for a rant? :wink:

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank

20

PR, your dog’s problem may be constipation. It happens to dogs and cats all the time. You may need to switch to a diet higher in fiber, or put some canned pumpkin in her food. Of course, you must consult with your vet first. Constipation is the first thing I can think of based on what you say , and it is easy to treat, but there could be other things going on. Constipation can be, well, a big pain in the butt so to save poor Sox from suffering, consult your vet soon. let me know what happens. Hope everything is ok.