** cat who is veracious around feeding time help**

Hello! I have 3 cats that are patients there. I have had 2 cats, Blink and Havoc for about 5 years now. They are biological brothers. They have always shared everything and we never really had any problems with food or their weight.

About 2 months ago, we adopted a blind cat, Gemma who is about a year old. Her foster said that she would free feed her at her house and that she never really had any aggression with food. I’m not sure what happened because once we adopted her and brought her back here, she has became very veracious with her food. Our solution now is to feed her the dry food in a separate room (we feed her according to the package instructions) because if we do not, she will race through eating her food so she can start trying to eat the boys food as well.

With wet food, I monitor them and am constantly shooing her away so the boys can finish their food as she always inhales her food super quickly.

When we separate her, she will cry until we open the door and then she comes running full speed to the food bowl.

I’ve never really seen anything like it! She is so sweet and other than that there really is no issues I’m just looking for advice if there is anything I can do to make feeding time not so chaotic.

I want her to feel secure that she will always be fed but I can’t leave food out because I don’t want my other cats to eat hers.

I guess my question is, is this a behavior that can be changed or do we just work with it the way we are now? She seems to have a lot of anxiety around food and I’m sure being blind doesn’t help so I wasn’t sure what else we can do.

Thank you!

Household “accidents”, need advice, please!! I have 3 cats, 3 dogs, and a toddler human. In the past few months my two youngest “house trained” dogs (9 & 5 yrs) and my youngest cat (4 yrs) have been purposely relieving themselves in different parts of my house. The dogs poop/pee on the floor, in the past month they began peeing on my couch, it’s gotten so bad I have to keep them in crates most of the time they’re inside. The cat will pee on my toddlers belongings – first on clothes in his laundry basket (which is now inside a closet) and on his stuffed animals (which I had to hide in a bin), now has resorted to peeing on any accessible hard plastic toys. If I put the cat in a kennel she uses the litter box 100% of the time, once releasing her she’ll behave for 1-2 days then starts up again. The dogs will have “accidents” within 10 minutes inside after being outside for 30-60+ minutes. I have 3 litterboxes, each with a different kind of litter, all clean, no diagnosed medical issues (taken all 3 to the vet twice since this started $$$). My oldest dog has been going through dementia for the past year, it’s getting worse but not yet at the point of euthanasia. I started preparing to move the past 6 months, house is almost done being packed/cleared. I’m not sure which/both/none are triggers for them acting this way. All of them have moved with me before and they never did this on previous moves. Vet prescribed multiple anxiety meds which are not helping at all, they have no other solutions to offer. Ironically my 14yr old dog with dementia barely ever has accidents in the house. Personality wise they aren’t acting any different. Messes are thoroughly cleaned immediately and they don’t even bother to do this secretively, all 3 seem to purposely do it right in front of me. The situation is driving me to my wits end, I really need help 🙁 Besides keeping them all in crates I have no other solution. Does anyone have insight to what I can do? Thanks so much!

Good morning and happy thanksgiving Pawbly friends!!! We decided to go to a local trail this morning with the kids and the dogs. Rontu, who is usually pretty good on leash, was really a maniac. Lots of panting, whining, pulling…. really a jerk???? My thinking is anxiety because it is not one of our normal walking trails. We walk everyday, but the same usual routes with little variation. I am now going to start bringing him to other places once or twice a week where we can work on this behavior. I will be sure to bring lots of treats and patience. We have not had this issue with any of our other GSDs, so I am just guessing that this will be a good way to start to correct this behavior. If anyone has any other ideas, please share. Thanks!!!????????

Hi, I have a 14 month old australian shepherd mix that has had a terrible time dealing with the car since I got him, specifically a lottttt of drooling. I’ve been able to counter-condition him to be relaxed just sitting in the car but whenever we try to go to the next step and he notices we start moving in the car, the drooling comes right back and he is visibly anxious. I have started taking him to a nearby park with trails (about a 10 minute drive) after seeing Dr. Magnifico’s video on youtube about the subject. He has not vomited yet on these trips but the drool is definitely a concern and so far hasn’t improved (just had our fourth trip today). Also, after these trips he appears more wary of the car, with drooling sometimes starting as we approach the car to return home. As long as he is not vomiting am I not pushing him too much? When I first got him at four months, he was fine until the last 3 minutes of a 45 minute car drive, at which point he threw up. I think this has unfortunately traumatized him since and I just want to make sure I’m not creating further trauma.

I have also tried anti-nausea medication both OTC and from the vet with limited success, definitely does not help the drooling which makes me further believe it is anxiety related.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hi Dr Magnifico . . . . first, thank you for catching our pony that got loose earlier this summer. I still can’t believe she ended up 4 miles away! But she has stayed put since. I am writing because your front desk told me to reach out to you on here. We are going to be changing vets. Our current small animal vet is just too pushy with trying to sell me everything under the sun, but mainly I have concerns with our one dog going there. He is a 5 yo pitbull. I took him to PennVet Behavioral vet about a year and a half ago upon recommendation of our vet. They diagnosed him with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and prescribed him gabapentin. Our primary vet later changed to fluoxetine and he does really well on that. However, he gets nasty when he’s scared . . . especially at the vet. I muzzle him and feed him peanut butter through the muzzle to try to show him it’s all okay (all recommended by Penn Vet). I give him composure pro prior to the appointment. He is just very scared there and as a result growls and snarls, etc. The current vet is so scared of him she doesn’t even touch his stomach, look in his ears or eyes, etc. I am looking for a vet who can remain calm/reassuring for the dog and show him he has nothing to be nervous about and doesn’t mind completing a thorough exam on him, with his muzzle on of course. Please let me know if you feel your facility would be a good fit for him and which vet we should schedule with. He needs his fluoxetine refilled soon and I hope we can find the right fit before then. Thank you!

I have a question about our 13 yo dog who likely has a bulging disc. He is a mutt (probably part Border Collie, part Shepherd). Soon after a small slip on our stairs, he had lameness in his one back leg; this went away after one day, he limped for a few days after, and he quickly recovered from those things.  Though he was walking fine fairly quickly, he showed stiffness, showed hesitation going up stairs unless we gave him a treat (we have only stairs to the outside), and his tail was down and only wagged from the tip of it. We had him quickly on an anti-inflammatory (Novox) and a pain med (started on Gabapentin but had to discontinue). He was fine on a walk; we went on short walks and he always craved for much more than we allowed. We prevented jumping, aerobic exercise, stopped him from using stairs by having a ramp to the outside, etc. We continued the Novox. His symptoms continued, then got better, and then seemed to regress when he started showing signs of pain (panting even when lying down and even when it was cool outside and some anxiety); the pain thing was probably because of taking him off Gabapentin. We took him to the Neurology Dept at a local, large vet hospital and a physical exam indicated that he “likely” has a bulging disc. When they inspected his back, he showed signs of pain and anxiety and his back legs bent and his rear went down. We don’t think we want to do surgery due to his age. He has not had an MRI as the regular vet and my husband and I thought that the treatment would be the same if we did not do surgery — treatment being restricting movement, continuing anti-inflammatory and pain meds, and looking into possible physical rehab. A switch to the pain med Amantidine helps a lot and the panting and anxiety are gone. He now continues to crave longer walks and, at the rare times we forget to block off the couch, he will try to jump up on it. We have been continuing to restricting movement but we just don’t know what to do about activity restrictions and have not had a lot of advice from neurology. He has always craved movement and exercise and when we take him around the block his stiffness seems to go away a bit and he seems energized and maybe even more comfortable. He has always craved a lot of exercise and movement. His spirits are lowered a lot if we keep in him in a small space — it almost seems like he wants to move around. He is eating and drinking, can do #2 (though he struggles some if doing it a long time). If allowed to do some movement, he is mostly happy and getting around with walking. Questions are: Should we restrict his movement altogether despite all this? Should he we do no walks at all? Is it bad if he is free to walk around the first floor or should he stay only in a very small area? I feel we are so confused as to what to do and how to know how to prevent regression. We’d love the input of any veterinarians or other owners with the same experience!

I have a American Staffordshire Terrier. She has had anxiety since we got her at a very young age of 6 weeks from a kill shelter in WV. She is now 7. I think all the vets at Jarrettsville Vet have seen Lucy at one time or another. We just moved 2 weeks ago. From the beginning of May when we started packing up the old house and continuing after we moved, she is having anxiety about going outside to use the potty. She has a covered crate, which she loves, that she stays in while I’m at work. But she has terrible anxiety about going outside, even if Lilly comes with us. I might get her to pee then she runs back into the house and poops. I don’t get it. I’ve never had an issue with her messing in the house before this. Does a calming medication help in this type of situation? I don’t want to drug her but we somehow have to work thru this so she feels comfortable about going outside and doing her business. She is on a leash so i’m always with her. I just don’t know what else to do. Any suggestions? Thank you for any help you can provide!

My dog was just diagnosed with IVDD. He had The wobbly sailor legs. We are on day 6 of “crate rest” and my husband and I noticed that his Back end almost looks skinnier? Could he be losing muscle mass this soon and is muscle loss even a side effect? His back and doesn’t seem as droopy from when I brought him in on Saturday his legs still kind of cross in the back and he is not strong. I have anxiety, diagnosed, and so I’m just looking for some peace of mind. We could just be over thinking it and maybe his backend always was the size.

I think my dog has separation anxiety. He gets very sad and freaks out when he knows we are leaving and cries nonstop. I was wondering if there was a way to make him more comfortable at home when we will be going to work?

I have a 14 month old pit mix that has terrible anxiety. He is terrified of being by himself, even if we are just behind the closed door using the bathroom. He cries terribly & will pace the house until we’re done. If I take a shower or bath I leave the door open so he feels a little better, but he then cries & tries to grab my arm to pull me out (not in an aggressive way). When people come into the house he paces, jumps, & whines for them. He also does this outside when he sees people or other dogs. He is told “down” when he jumps & warned with the beeping noise on his training collar. He will sit but it is very hard for him to stay still, as he continues to whine, shakes, & then rolls into the ground. It’s like he knows to listen & tries very hard but literally can not stay still. He also is terrified of thunder & the sound the trash truck makes. When those sounds are occurring he runs right under the table & won’t come out. We are in the process of training & we were told by them that they also think he has anxiety. They think he would be able to comprehend better if it was under control. I have been researching non stop for things to help with this major issue. I don’t want him on prescription anxiety meds that cause him to seem “sedated” & not like himself (that happened with my family dog). I have come across a tablet to help with separation anxiety & the behaviors that come with it. It is called clomicalm & every review or story I have read about it was positive. I really do think this could be a successful choice for him IF I know this is something that is not harmful. There are possible side effects that could occur but that could happen with pretty much any medication humans or pets. This tablet does not cause dogs to seem drowsy from what I’ve read from people’s experiences & has a high success rate to treat anxiety. We have tried natural treats, oils, thunder vests, etc. & nothing has helped him in the slightest bit. I just want to know if this something that would be okay for him to take daily or even okay to take at all?