Hi,

We have an almost 13 year old chocolate lab named Koko. About 5 weeks ago, she had a seizure. We took her into the vet and they prescribed Phenobarbital to help control the seizures. Since then, she has been incontinent in the house, and has to go outside very frequently (which is a side effect to this medication). This is a problem when my husband and i both work Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. She has accidents in the house almost every day. Thankfully we put her in our laundry room which has wood floors so clean up is a little easier, but it still is stressful being that she usually pees, and then walks through it all day long tracking it everywhere in that room and gets urine all over herself. Especially when she has seizures, she paces for hours afterwards until finally calming down. We have tried NUMEROUS different types of diapers, doggy diapers (vets best from Petco, womens depends, XXL childrens diapers) and even tried buying suspenders and attaching those onto the diapers and around her to try to keep it on, but NOTHING stays on throughout the whole day. I just bought the “Dog Diaper Keeper” off Amazon today so I am crossing my fingers that it’ll work, if not i dont know what to do.

Besides that, my husband and I also have noticed that she has become increasingly anxious during the day and night time. She has always been on the more anxious side but lately it’s been getting worse, fast.

Since starting the Phenobarbital, she has had 3 more bigger seizures that we are aware of and since then have been to the vet and they have also prescribed Potassium Bromide which she is taking alongside the Phenobarb. We also noticed she started having facial seizures which the vet said could either mean the Phenobarb/Potassium Bromide are working and controlling the bigger seizures, or if the facial seizures continue along with big seizures it could be time for a CT scan.

In the last couple weeks, she has begun to wake up very early in the morning (3am) barking. We thought that maybe she was scared to be alone since having seizures, or is starting to get Alzheimer’s. Her kennel is in our living room so we thought that moving her into our room would help knowing that we were there, but it hasn’t. We also take her outside to go to the bathroom and that doesn’t seen to solve anything either. We are afraid to feed her too early because we don’t want her to get in the habit of eating that early in the morning. We have tried everything we can think of and she still continues to bark at all hours in the morning. The vet also prescribed her Diazapam to calm her down after seizures, but we are reluctant to use that to calm her down just because she is barking at night and hasn’t had a seizure.

We fully understand that it’s not her fault, and that she is getting old and is needing some extra TLC. But we feel so bad because we can’t figure out what she needs/wants. We desperately want to help her and keep her comfortable throughout the night.

Do you or anyone else have any advice for us? For the early morning barking or the diaper issue? Anything is greatly appreciated!

-Ashley

She is eating and drinking water. She still moves around and jumps. She is breathing fine,no runny nose,and only that one eye

My dog threw up two days ago and lost her appetite for that night. She was still a little lethargic the next day and slow to eat breakfast. She now has her appetite back but still seems to be very slow and naps for most of the day.Normal?

No one let him in, nor is there a way he can get in on his own. He is acting lethargic. He seems to have lost some weight. He will not eat and is currently resting on the edge of our bed. He will take water. He is not purring. He moves slowly. Any idea of what might be wrong?

She is a 5 month Pomeranian. We have taken her to the vet and was prescribed some tonics. But still there is no change. She also loves to eat paper and anything else she can get her paws on. She still hasn’t understood commands like SIT, STAY, etc. I am 15 and she is my first pet.

We have a 4 month old boy, (Cinder) and a decided to get a new kitten, (Willow) recently so they can be friends while we work all day, so they don’t get lonely. She had ringworm and red bites all over when we got her, she wasn’t looked after very well. We got treatment for her from our vet, a 2x week shampoo and anti-fungal cream daily. Her’s are all clearing up and looking better, but now Cinder has developed one on his ear. We are treating it like we were told to treat Willows. Shampoo 2x week and cream daily. Now his ear is red and shredded of skin and hair and the other one is starting to do the same. He’s developed red spots on his temples and head. He had just started to get diarrhoea as well. And we haven’t changed his food, his mood is as normal. Still running around and chasing things. We have confined them to a tiled area of the house, which he is hating. But does this sound like something other than ringworm? Willows ringworm is healing completely different. Or is it possible he’s reacting to the treatment?

My dog was neutered last Thursday (9 days ago). They used dissolvable stitches. I can’t even see the suture sight because it’s healed so well. There is a tiny bit of redness in one spot so that’s probally it but I can’t be sure.
There is a blizzard where I am at and he definitely is getting wet. I’ve tried to shovel out a spot for him but he went wild in the snow (it’s his first time experiencing it!) And ignored my shoveled spot. I don’t see any problem.
I know the vet advised 10-14 days for a lot of activity and getting it wet but I don’t think there is really any way around this.

Do you think there is any real reason to panick if he seems fine and I don’t see any problems down there?

-history, my ex husband and I got her at 7 weeks old. He already had a lab (approx 8 months old). We separated and I was able to keep my girl, he kept the boy. She has had 2 litters. The first, 11 puppies all healthy- the second, all passed away. (The litters were in no way planned) Not directly after the second litter but within a year she started getting severe ear infections. She was fixed and treated for yeast infections for the ears- she never full relief. After a couple rounds of antibiotics my vet recommended getting blood work done as well as allergy testing. Turns out she is allergic to 21 different things and is in the early stages of kidney failure.

I am taking complete care if her medical issues and spend a good amount of time with her. We go on morning walks, I come home at lunch and take her out, we go on evening walks, and she sleeps in my bed with me.

She is the sweetest pup I’ve ever known, but she is overly clingy. At first it was cute but now anytime I move, she moves. I walk into a different room, she follows. I go to use the bathroom and she sits at my feet. Literally, if she could, she would crawl inside me. Again, I love my pup, I’m just concerned this is not healthy.

Any advice??

I have 2 dogs and 3 cats. One dog is an American Bulldog mix and the other is a chihuahua rat terrier mix. I’m trying to house train them to behave around the cats, but it’s not going so well with my elderly cat. The 2 young female cats just run upstairs or up the cat tree if they want to avoid the dogs, but my elderly cat can’t really do that, and he just simply moves maybe 5 steps away in the same room, pretty much feeling trapped. When the dogs approach, first he just shuts down, and if the dogs come close, he hisses and bats at the dogs.
Right now there is a cheap baby gate separating his territory (the dining room and kitchen) from the dog room (the living room) but I’d like to make more areas available to him, since he seems to see all other areas as “not his territory.” If taken to any other room, he kicks the person holding him and escapes. (He can’t jump over the baby gate.)
What should I do in this situation? Is there any hope for getting him to be less uneasy around the other animals?

I have 2 male cats around 9 months old. They are brothers and I have had them both since they were 5 weeks. The less dominant of the two has been spraying so I went and had him neutered. Its been a week and there had been no spraying so I thought we were in the clear. Yesterday he started spraying again. I don’t want to rehome one of my boys but I don’t know what else to do. Any advice would be appreciated.