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!

My rescue dog is a Miniature Chihuahua and today she broke her front left leg and I have no funds to help her until I get my Disability check next month.I was already taking her to the vet as soon as my check came.I don’t know what to do, she is everything to me and in awful pain and I have Never felt so helpless in my life.We have a very strong bond and I love her so much please help her I don’t know what to do I just want to die for real please help Thank you Gina

My year and a half old Great Dane had large lump on belly, took her to emergency vet where she put a needle in it and drained lump. Sent home with heavy duty antibiotics and pain meds. Now dog has diarrhea and trouble with her bowel mvmts. and has started puncture hole bleeding. Don’t really want to take her back to vet. Beginning to not trust any doctors as I read on your blog site that you don’t agree with draining and lumps should eventually absorb on its own. She doesn’t seem in distress or pain. What can I do to take care of her at home with giving her meds that will help her heal?

How long does my dog have to fast before having an abdominal ultrasound?

Ear hematoma in dog is an affliction which gets too much attention for needing surgery to repair. In fact, surgery seems to cause more damage than the hematoma itself. First, let’s look at the cause. Something has happened to rupture a feeding artery into the pinna. An underlying condition contributing to ear irritation most likely made the dog rake the ear against something or shaking the ear repeatedly. Either way, an artery is the only blood vessel strong enough to release fluid pressure to tear apart the tissues binding the skin and cartilage. These tears as well begin releasing fluids into the now ever-growing hematoma being created. Here is where different approaches to treatment occur. Should the vet address the blood pool only and aspirate once or multiple times? Should the vet incise the ear and suture the skin back to the cartilage? Should the vet install a drain or allow fluids from the bleeding vessels to exit the ear? In my opinion Yes, No and No. Aspiration alone relieves fluid buildup without harming or wounding. If coagulation has already begun, then a hypodermic needle aspiration will be non-effective. With an early onset hematoma, a hypodermic needle aspiration is pet and pet parent friendly with both relieving the pain for the animal and keeping costs down for owner. However, aspiration is not going to fix the broken blood vessel. The only way to repair the broken blood vessel feeding the hematoma is to allow the animal time to build reparative tissues to seal the break. These repairs take place while the aural hematoma condition is in suspension, meaning the hematoma is no longer filling, the fluids become still allowing for rapid coagulation to begin growing granulation against both skin and cartilage, and the once flowing broken blood vessel now has back pressure against it and the site of break begins to seal and heal. This occurs naturally in untreated aural hematoma. Consequences are that the bulbous blood clot formed is reduced in a fashion where granulation has attached all skin and cartilage to the blood clot, and as the clot is reduced towards the center, the skin and cartilage are pulled along with it causing the shrivel. Since in this scenario the amount of shrivel is proportionate to the diameter of the blood clot, then the solution would be to limit the blood clot size to as thin a layer as possible, making the skin and cartilage in as close proximity as possible at time of blood clot coagulation and granulation. This process is not foreign to veterinary medical. Splinting the auricle for a duration of time will achieve natural healing by allowing a thin layer of blood clot to form in the entirety of the hematoma region. The thin layer acts in the same fashion as a natural bulbous clot, but without the consequences of crinkling the ear after reabsorption. Keeping an open mind to aural splinting for aural hematoma can and will bring new Holistic medical treatments needed to address the current clinical duress patients and their owners are now having to endure.

My Plott Hound had a large internal lipoma removed on Monday directly above his penis in his abdominal area. Almost immediately, he developed prominent swelling directly to, proximal, and distal to his operative site. In addition, he has swelling down his leg. Took him back to the vet where a needle aspirate was done. He was diagnosed with multiple seromas. There was no WBCs seen or anything else visualized under the scope to indicate infection INSIDE. However, externally, his skin is red and angry and there is a lot of swelling. He is on 2 broad spectrum antibiotics. He is having a hard time walking on his right leg. Took him back today (day 5 post op) because swelling is even worse. He has swelling all down his leg. Vet says it made sense to her because of gravity. My dog is in a lot of pain, can’t sit down. He put his paws down and his bottom stays up in the air. No one can even palpate his operate site without him going through the roof in pain. He is on Tramadol and an NSAID. I’m extremely worried. The vet isn’t a fan of the drain because she doesn’t want to create more room for infection. Ultra Sound showed no abscess. He is drinking a lot of water (more than usual) and urinating normally. His last BM was yesterday. Eating mostly fine. Low grade temp. Does this sound all right? I hate that he is suffering. The pics I have included were yesterday, not today. But you get the idea of the areas of seromas and erythema. Today, the swelling is worse and his entire leg down to his paw is fluid filled.

Help! My dog raided my garbage bag and ate a cooked turkey bone? Is there anything I can do besides watching my dog for signs of distress?

Hello! We were hiking with our dog this morning when he got a thorn in his paw. Luckily we were able to remove it but it required two of us since he doesn’t like having his feet touched especially when he’s in pain. I have two questions. I realize now we need to carry a soft muzzle or something in case this happens when he is with only one of us, do you have a kind you prefer? Also how can we work with him, so he is more comfortable with us touching his feet?

Thank you so much,
Kristen