Have you been going for regular checkups at the vet? Have you spoken to your vet about this, or had an appointment to get it checked out? That is where I would start. Meantime, I would let her set the pace for exercise/walks to be in the safe side. Best to you both!!
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!
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My dogs legs have been really sore after exercising. This started happening randomly a few months ago. She is a 4 year old American pit bull terrier. Her legs are sore for a day or two (sometimes longer depending on how intense the exercise was) and then the soreness goes away. I am wondering how I could help her with this problem.
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I rescued a young Golden Retriever in May. She had spent the start of her life abandoned in a small cage, she was emaciated, covered in fleas and ticks and of course living in her own waste. She is a wonderful dog, everything is new and she has very much been a blank slate. She is well exercised, is very social with our other dogs and has successfully completed a basic obedience class and will be moving on to 2nd level training and beyond. Thankfully she does not hold her rough start in life against humans in the least. Her only downfall is that she eats stool from our other dogs in the yard. We keep the yard clean, however we have 5 dogs. Even cleaning the yard daily is likely to leave a pile. She will even wait for our smaller dog to go to eliminate so she can eat it as fresh as possible. I imagine that she probably ate her own feces when she was starving, I am quite sure that this is a learned behavior. Over the course of 5 years my family has fostered 80+ dogs. I know that this is a very hard habit to break, however “poop kisses” are rather disgusting so I would love some input on what has worked for others! Thank you in advance.
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6-month old Golden Retriever/Labrador mix bites me most of the time. She’s usually nice when it’s playtime or feeding time (if she’s overstimulated accidents may or may not happen). But in downtimes she just comes at me. I could be sitting quietly not bothering her and she could be lying down 1 second and the next she’s suddenly biting my arm. It doesn’t often happen to other family members. Is it because she wasn’t taught bite inhibition properly because family members don’t want to leave the room or do it nicely? Is it because they react aggressively when she bites them (i.e. they used to pinch her and step on her paw. now it’s mostly just pinning her down to the floor)?
I’m honestly tired. They think they’re doing it right, but I don’t think it’s working. But since she’s not biting them as much they think of it as working.
I’m literally the only one playing and exercising her and I think that factors in a lot. They just leave her and aside from feeding her in the morning, they really don’t do anything else.
I got a response from another site a few months back and they said I had a people problem, not a puppy problem. Is there anything I can do though? Is it something that’s wrong with me?? I don’t know anymore please help :(((((((((((
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Natisha Mullis-Brooks You do have a “people problem”, but that “people problem” has now caused a dog problem. It sounds like the pup is bored and wanting to play, but hasn’t been taught the social niceties of the “human world”. Retrievers are very mouthy in general because that’s what they’re bred for; picking up and carrying things. But there are actually several things you can do to help.
First things first: If she comes at you and bites down on your arm, yell out, “Ow!”, in a loud and high pitched voice. As hard as it might be to do, try not to pull your arm back as this may trigger the tugging instinct. Even at six months old, she can be taught bite inhibition. It’s not too late!! Yelling out in a high pitched, loud voice may startle her into letting go. After all, her goal is not to hurt you, but to play and get some attention. Think of puppies when they play. When one yells in pain, the other usually lets go. That’s our goal here. If she does let go, offer her a toy that the two of you can interact with: a rope for tug, a squeaker for catching, a ball for chasing. Make sure, when you are with her, you have a toy that she likes with you at all times. Because once she lets go, you want to say, “Good girl!” and give her the toy immediately and then a bit of affection for doing the right thing. Most retrievers have high drives and love a game of fetch.
If the yelling doesn’t work, you can yell “Aaaanntt” and push your arm firmly into her mouth. This losens her grib by widening her jaws and most dogs don’t like how it feels. As soon as she releases you, say “Good girl” and offer the toy and your time.
If neither of the above works, you may have to try a bit of nose pressure. When she bites down yell “Ow!” and then place your hand (thumb on one side and index finger on the other) over her nose so that the meaty part between your thumb and finger are applying pressure to the top of her nose. You want to place it about a quarter of the way down her nose. Then squeeze your index finger and thumb together as if you’re trying to make them touch through her nose. You’ll have to supply a decent amount of pressure for this to work, but you don’t r ally want to harm her. The top of a dog’s nose is VERY sensitive and a. Other dog will bite a pup here with some force, when the pup has gotten out of hand. You want to mimick a mother’s technique, sans the teeth. Once she releases you,give her the toy and affection. She may yell when you do this, but I promise you are only causing a bit of discomfort and no large amount of pain.
Lastly, if all else fails you’ll have to become a bit more aggressive in your tactics. -sigh- Ehen she bites you, place your thumb behind her upper canine by the same means as applying pressure to the top of the nose, but apply no pressure. Instead, run your thumb down to her upper lip and push it into her mouth a bit. This will cause her to bite down on her own lip (we all nonhow horrible this feels!) and in most cases, she’ll let go of you almost immediately. Give you, “Good girl” and affection immediately. And bonus, she’ll get to experience her own bite strength, which promotes bite inhibition.
I wish you two a lot of luck. If you have any questions about technique, I’d be happy to send you videos. I’m a Canine Behaviorist and have worked with dogs for over 30 years. Just email me at: tishtish1975@yahoo.com
Our Dog recently started showing stiffness in her rear right leg. It seemed to happen after playing but didn’t notice anything out of normal while playing. We have taken her in twice, first time they gave her “vitamins”, glucoseamin. Second time, nonsterodial anitinflamatory and mild pain reliever. It seemed to bother her less but has done nothing for longterm, she is sore after 2-5mins of any exercise (very limited exercise to take it easy but keep mobility). She is a 6yr old Weimaraner. I’m not sure I trust this Vet (banfield) and I know without a full scan hard to answer. Any advice for treating the symptom with an understanding of the breed too would be greatly appreciated. Looking online for answers really has only added more confusion and stress. Either she’s dying or has a strain/sprain, is the scope of possibilities online…so not much help. Thank you for your time.
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Christina Chambreau Bradd, this is where, when I only had my conventional veterinary training, I would
often be very frustrated because even expensive tests led me no closer to ways to heal deeply as I had limited options. The holistic
philosophy has taught me that there is an underlying vibrational imbalance that
causes most problems and the healing goal is to resolve that imbalance with
treatments selected for that individual animal. Your dog should be able to walk completely normally for the rest of his life, maybe with some continuing treatments. To better understand this
perspective, read the first few chapters of Don Hamilton’s Homeopathic Care of
Cats and Dogs, the few pages in my book, the Healthy Animal’s Journal or Wendy
Jensen’s Practical Handbook of Veterinary Homeopathy: Healing Our Companion
Animals from the Inside Out,While you may be able to help as home, especially If you were trained in different healing modalities (see below – YOU BE THE
HEALER) by using Reiki,
T-Touch, HTA, flower essences, acupressure, herbs, essential oils, supplements,
homeopathy and more. I am giving multiple suggestions because only some may be
available in your area, and each animal is unique, so what works with one does
not work with all. This is the joy of holistic approaches – we have dozens of
things to try, while conventional has merely a few.
1. Even before you are trained in Reiki, you can ask for this energy healing
that cannot hurt and may help (See REIKI, below, for web sites to request
healing). Once you are attuned, offer it daily to the whole house. This will not cure, but may help and will never harm.
2. Flower essences are totally safe, so select one or more to try. These
flower essence companies have combinations for animals : SpiritEssences.com,
Anaflora.com; GreenHopeEssences.com; petessence.com Many other companies like
Bach with single remedies can help you select essences. At your local pharmacy (maybe) or health food
store (for sure) you can buy rescue remedy. This combination of Bach flowers can
help especially when the pain seems worse, or if there is a healing crisis when working with a holistic vet. Put 4 drops in one ounce of water and
use it: in the mouth, rubbed on more hairless areas of the skin, on the paws,
in a bowl of water in a room not near the drinking water. It can be given
topically or orally as often as it seems to help.
3. Most importantly, change to a raw (or lightly cooked) meaty bone diet as
this it is more digestible than any processed foods so builds up the immune
system allowing her body to self heal.FIND AN INTEGRATIVE VETERINARIAN
I strongly recommend finding an integrative veterinarian with whom to work.
This is a person trained in many different approaches, including using
conventional drugs only when absolutely needed. Working with one can increase
the chance that your cherished companion can live a long and healthy life after
recovering from this current problem. There are good ones and great ones, and a
few homeopathic veterinarians will consult by phone or email. You can go to the
web sites for each type of holistic practice and use their referral list to find
one near to you. Many practitioners are members of only one or two of the
organizations, so you do need to go to every site to find who is near you. http://christinachambreau.com/learn-more/links-to-healing-resources has all the organizations (chiropractic, homeopathic, acupuncture and chinese herbs, osteopathy, postural work, western herbs) listed.
If you are interested in better health in general, please read the following. I hope you are too overwhelmed by all this information but your Weimaraner is so young (I have ones liveing over 15 years) that I would love to help her recover from this and live a lot longer.
7 KEYS TO HEALTHY ANIMALS
1. Know the current level of health. Most health problems are the result of an
underlying energy imbalance. As we cure animals of “disease”,
we find that other things we thought were normal go away, so we can use these
clues to know that animals are not healthy yet. Your goal is for your
animal to have great energy, no doggy odor, no hairball vomiting, little
shedding, a glowing coat and many more. Below is a complete list of these signs
(Early Warning Signs of Illness). In young animals, these apparently
“normal” problems may be the only indications to start exploring new
options for lifestyle or treatment. Buy the Healthy Animal’s Journal
(www.HealthyAnimalsJournal.com) so you can see how these early warning symptoms
and obvious ill symptoms change over time.2. Feed the best. What are the best diets for people or animals — the most
processed or the freshest, most organic? The best ingredients should be
the most consciously raised – local, organic vegetables, free ranging protein
sources. Dogs and cats have ripping and tearing teeth, bone crunching teeth, no
digestive juices in the mouth, jaws that do not chew, a stomach full of acid
where the food sits for 4-12 hours and a very short transit time in the intestines.
Dogs and cats do not pull out a knife to de-bone their prey and do not pull out
matches to light a fire to cook their meat and vegetables. Therefore the best
diet for dogs and cats is raw meat including raw bones, pureed raw and cooked
vegetables and a few supplements (Calcium if no bones are eaten is critical).
Grains are not good for most animals, but if there are none of the early
warning signs (see below) and no illnesses, you can feed some grains,
preferably the higher protein ones. Start as young kittens and puppies or at
whatever age you read this (Brighthaven.org, a cat sanctuary switches 16 years
old and older cats to raw meat diet and some have lived to 27 and 30, and now
one to 35). Second best is same quality, but cooked. Even grocery store
quality meat and vegetables are much better than most processed foods.
Processed foods are an effort for the food industry to use up its waste
products except for a few companies with great motives (and even they sometimes
get bad or inferior ingredients). Processed foods are also a problem for the
environment – they are not sustainable. Many dogs and cats need probiotics,
especially if fed processed, dead foods. My current favorite is Mitomax. I have
had many animals’ minor health problems clear up while using this. Unlike other
probiotics, it is very stable and is ok at the low stomach pH. Every animal
needs and wants a different combination of foods and supplements at different
times in their lives depending on different stressors and health challenges,
just as we do. With any food, observe each of your animals for the effect that
food has on them and change if decreased energy or poor coat or other Early
Warning Signs. NEVER feed DRY food to cats – even as treats. It causes most
cats to drink more water resulting in stress to the kidneys and also can
trigger bladder problems in cats. You can now buy many commercial raw meat
diets. You must research them as well. Ask where the ingredients are raised?
Are chemicals used? Are the chickens, beef, pork, etc raised in humane ways,
out in the sun to get the Vitamin D in the meat, etc? My favorite newest books
to guide you are: Steve Brown’s Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet; Hofve and
Yarnall’s the Paleodog; Becker and Taylor’s Dr. Becker’s real food for healthy
dogs and cats; Taylor and Brown’s See spot Live Longer; and Basko’s Fresh food
and Ancient Wisdom.3. Vaccinate the least. In my opinion, vaccines have caused more harm to
animals than anything else we have done. Do you get measles and mumps vaccines
every year of your life? Researchers in conventional veterinary medicine agree
that we vaccinate too often, in too many combinations, and that this level of
vaccination, while preventing epidemics, is harmful to the health of
susceptible animals. On-going studies show that antibodies are high 10
and 16 years later for dog and cat distemper and dog Parvo so I recommend just
a few baby shots and NO more. While Rabies is also a viral disease, you must
follow the law, which is every 3 years.To help prevent damage from the Rabies vaccine, or any others that are
accidentally given, do the following. First, learn Reiki (see below) and hold
the vaccine syringe in your hand until the “draw” is gone, then Reiki
the injection site once you are in the car, then Reiki the whole animal daily
until they do not “draw”. If you have not yet learned Reiki, use the
contacts below to have it done for your animal after the vaccine. For two weeks
before and two weeks after, give the totally safe Vaccine Detox, a flower
essence from http://www.SpiritEssences.com. Give triple the dose of calcium (or add
some calcium) for 3 days before and 5 days after the vaccines. Dr. Peck is
finding a drop in calcium at vaccination time. Then use the Early Warning
signs, below, to see if further holistic treatment is needed if any of them
appear or worsen. A wonderful list serve on vaccines, their harm and
alternatives is at yahoo groups. To register, go to
novaxk9s-subscribe@yahoogroups.com A great web site ishttp://vaccines.dogsadversereactions.com/4. Use the fewest chemicals, remembering that there are chemicals in vaccines.
Each animal is an individual and will respond differently to heartworm, flea
and tick preventatives. My kindle book, FLEAS BE GONE: a holistic
veterinarian’s guide to natural flea control will help you avoid these. Some
are very sensitive to chemicals used in the yard or the house and in vaccines –
they will become profoundly ill. Others will be triggered by these chemicals to
just not have full health. Chemicals in foods can cause allergic type reactions,
so again feeding a fresh diet from local ingredients will be best. Healthy
yards have lots of weeds. House cleaners can be made from foods and microfibril
cloths clean like a charm. Healthy animals never get fleas and ticks5. Understand how animals become ill and how they heal. First there is an
energetic imbalance (they are just not right), then functional (the dog is
itchy), then inflamed (skin is red, infected, swollen and hot) and finally
tissue changes (thick, black skin). Results of any treatment can be no change,
amelioration (current symptoms disappear with no other improvements, then
return), suppression (current symptoms disappear and they become more ill) or a
cure (everything about the animal to begins to improve, especially the overall
energy level.)
Keeping a journal is critical to determine what treatments are helping problems
to become less frequent and less severe. You can stand firm with what you feel
is working even if your professional disagrees and change approaches when
needed. You can create your own using a three ring binder, a notebook, a
calendar. Be sure to have a master symptom list, pages where you list
treatments you have started or been given, and pages where you make daily or
frequent entries about every symptom on the master symptom list, especially
including the overall energy level, emotional state and new changes. Some
people have found my book makes it easier.
http://christinachambreau.com/bookstore/healthy-animal-journal/healthy-dog-journ is
a great one to use in print or e-version is available.6. YOU BE THE HEALER. I strongly recommend getting some training in
understanding the wide range of approaches to health so you can be in charge of
what you choose for treatments for your animals. There are so many different
ways to stimulate healing that you never need to give up trying. From books,
on-line and in classes you can learn Reiki (which can take the “bad”
out of vaccines and any needed drugs, or even make food healthier), massage,
HTA, TTouch, acupressure, flower essence therapy, all of which are 100% safe to
use for any problems. There are many more approaches you can do to help heal
your animals with some training since they need to be used more carefully –
homeopathy, herbal medicine, Chinese herbs, aromatherapy. In addition to
classes there are many very good list serves filled with people experienced
with not vaccinating and feeding raw meat diets. Classes are found through your
health food store, by phone or on-line. As with human health approaches, there
are many different opinions, so you need to experiment and see what makes your
animals more or less healthy.7. Select the best healers for each animal’s health team. Most people want a
veterinarian (preferably integrative) and an energy healer. You decide what
needs to be tried next for your animal. When you realize the animal is not
improving – seek different care. Use conventional veterinarians for diagnosis
and emergency treatment, or if other methods are not working. Again,
integrative veterinarians (see above) will be able to do both, and have the
philosophical understanding of the vibrational causes of illness.Learn more and more
Every Thursday from 1-2 eastern Dr. Jeff Feinman and myself
host a talk at http://www.BLAB.IMIf you sign up here
you will get a weekly reminder – and know when we change the time to help
people come during lunch.Books – I have books with comments listed –
(www.MyHealthyAnimal.com)Classes – I teach many different classes. The best way to
find them is to subscribe to My RSS feed on my site (click on RSS on any page)
and the newsletter.Email me if you wish to host a class in your town or on the
internet. HealthyAnimals@aol.comMagazines – Animal Wellness Magazine – use ccdvm code when
you subscribe (and Feline and Equine Wellness, too).Whole Dog Journal and Dogs Naturally Magazine (they have
webinars on raw feeding that are excellent), too.Internet – over 50 shows archived–
http://www.homeopathyworldcommunity.com/page/drchristinachambreauSearch online for the many other classes and lectures
available for theMost skills in classes about health approaches for people
can be extrapolated to animals. The acupressure points are the same, remedies
are used the same way, Reiki is good for everything, etc.I also do Pet Health Coaching to help you learn about the
current health issues, what you can do at home to build health and save money,
and I match you up with the veterinarian we think would be best.Good Health for your pet, Dr. Chambreau
REIKI:
Personally, I think every person who lives with or works with animals must know
at least Level I Reiki. The practitioner offers this energy and the animal
comes over to get it (or places her hands upon the animal), or it can be done
from a distance, even around the world with the intent for healing to occur.
The energy flows through the healer into the animal. This is based on directly
applying Chi (energy) to rebalance the energy field so it no longer needs to
produce the physical symptoms. It is a very good adjunct to any healing
modality, especially to relieve pain and inflammation. I have seen cats who
began to eat again when their food was treated with Reiki. It also “takes
the bad out of” things. By doing Reiki on smelly water in restaurants I
have been able to drink sweet tasting and smelling water. Use Reiki anytime
that you must give injections, vaccines, drugs, flea or heartworm drugs, or
other substances with potential toxicity. Reiki is great to calm animals,
relieve discomfort, and can deeply heal some problems in some animals.1. Great information on Reiki – http://www.reikicourse.org.
2. Kathleen Prasad is a wonderful teacher and works with my favorite sanctuary
and holistic education center, BrightHaven http://www.brighthaven.org. Kathleen leads
a free monthly telechat for anyone trained in Reiki and using it with animals.http://www.animalreikisource.com/.3. If you cannot find a Reiki Class near you (same class for people and animals
as it connects you through an “attunement” to the healing energy of
the universe, making you a channel of healing), the following groups offer long
distance, free, attunements.a. http://theholisticcare.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13,
b. http://freereikiattunement.com/
c. Christine at cbearse@earthlink.net, http://www.awakeningrainbows.com. To receive
free distance Reiki send her your first name only, city and state, and whether
or not you have had any Reiki training. She invites you to include your
pets as well. She uses a teddy bear and does a full body Reiki distance
treatment for one hour each Sunday evening from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m. EST.
d. And a team of over 100 healers will send free healing energy until you say
not to. Email Barbara at nancelot01@aol.com with your healing request, name of
animal, species, color & age. In the subject say request through Dr.
Chambreau4. for a fee:
Excellent recommendation in 2015 – http://reikishamanic.com/
http://www.ReikiBlessings.com offers many types of energy healing
classes- search a bit to find the reiki ones or email them. Long distance
healing and training is at http://www.animalhealers.homestead.com.
5. Get a free treatment for yourself at http://www.interdimensionalhealing.com.Another wonderful healer, Deena Spears works long distance with Sound Tuning.
http://www.Singingwoods.com. I have seen many animals and the people in a home be
healed by her work.LISTS SERVES TO HELP YOU LEARN TO FEED THE BEST –
From the folks that brought us Jstsayno2vaccs is a new site for raw feeding –
excellent –http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawk9s/ Here
is what they say, “Lastly, we saw a need for a beginner’s raw feeding group.
Many of the raw feeding groups have grown very large and often new people are lost
in the shuffle. In addition, some raw feeding groups are specialized to one
type of feeding only. We believe that feeding raw is the first step in whole
health and have tried to create an environment of learning and support where
there are no dumb questions and everyone gets individual attention. With that
in mind Kathleen recently instituted a mentoring program where mentor’s sign up
to help individuals, and new folks can opt into the program and receive private
help in their journey. It has been a huge success.http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aunaturelK9 –
the above groups breeding web site. Excellent.EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF ILLNESS FOR DOGS AND CATS
1. Is your companion really healthy?
2. Can you tell if the treatment you selected is deeply curing?
3. Can your companion be healthier than you realize?
YES – read on and evaluate your animal for true health.Most health problems are the result of an underlying energy imbalance, made
worse from poor diet and vaccination. They are rarely acute diseases
(except injuries). Therefore, you may find that the problem does not clear up
as you expect or it recurs. If so, you are dealing with an underlying
predisposition to illness, and these clues to underlying ill health will help
you select a remedy and monitor the results. As we cure animals of
“disease”, we find that certain other “NORMAL” things go
away, too. Do not be satisfied until most of the following symptoms are
gone. In young, apparently healthy animals, these apparently
“normal” problems may be the only indications to start treatment.
This is only the beginning of a list – as more animals are cured we will find
new levels of health. Tracking these is easy when you use the Healthy Animal’s
Journal by Dr. Christina Chambreau (www.HealthyAnimalsJournal.com)
SKIN: doggy smell; attracts fleas a lot; dry, oily, lack-luster coat;
excessive shedding; not grooming, ear problems – waxy, oily,
itchy, recurrent mites; eye discharge, tearing, or matter in corner of eyes;
raised third eyelid; spots appearing on iris; “freckles” appearing on
face; whiskers falling out; fragile, thickened, distorted claws that are
painful or sensitive to trim.
BEHAVIOR: Fears(of loud noises, thunder, wind, people, animals, life); too
timid; too rough or aggressive (even at play); too hard to train; barks too
much and too long; suspicious nature; biting when petted too
long; hysteria when restrained; clumsy; indolent; licking or sucking things or
people too much; not using litter box or not covering stool.
DIGESTIVE: Bad breath; tarter accumulation; loss of teeth; poor appetite;
craving weird things(rubber bands, plastic, dirt, cat litter,
paper, dogs eating dog or cat stools, rocks, sticks…); sensitivity to milk;
thirst – a super healthy cat on non dry food will drink at
most once a week; red gum line; vomiting often, even hairballs more than a few
times a year; mucous on stools; tendency to diarrhea with least change
of diet; obesity; anal gland problems; recurrent parasites.
STIFFNESS when getting up, early hip dysplasia; tires easily in hot or cold
weather; can no longer jump up on counters, or go up or down steps.
TEMPERATURE: Low grade fevers – Normal for healthy cats and dogs is
100-101.5.
AGE & REPRODUCTION: Should live a long life (Shepards 17 years, Danes 12,
cats 24). should be able conceive easily, deliver normally,
and not pass on “genetic breed” problems. -
PK Dennis Bradd, I think you should seek a second opinion, and it would be best to find an orthopedic specialist. It can make a world of difference to find the doctor that sees this type of thing every day compared to one that has only read about what might be wrong (or sees these problems only once-in-a-while).
There are a lot of bad reviews out there about Banfield – and I had a bad experience at a Banfield facility myself (they advertised that they had a holistic vet, and I called and set up an appointment to see that vet, but once I was in the exam room I discovered that they had switched doctors and that the holistic vet hadn’t been working there for over a year. Can you say bait and switch!)
There are other options that you should explore – T Touch, Acupressure, Acupuncture, massage, etc.
And how about an MRI instead of an X-ray? Soft tissue injuries often show better in an MRI, but they do cost more.
Good luck.
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Bradd Bosley Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. Our dog is a family member like most of us here I I’m assuming. It can be frustrating and not knowing professionally how to help her is even more frustrating. I really appreciate your advice. I agree with Banfield..it seems band-aiding a problem is there go to option first. If they don’t know what’s wrong they just give anitinflamatory and pain killers. Tough to see a young active dog all drugged up with no positive results. I was able to get an appointment with a veterinarian physical and mobility therapist. Hopefully we will have some better answers tomorrow. Thank you again
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Bradd Bosley Thank you so much for all this great info. I am a culinary nutritionist and can’t agree more on healing humans and makes sense with animals through proper nutrition and the right vitamins and minerals. I really like the idea of taking a natural approach and I will most certainly read up on more homeopathic ways to help our little pooch. Again, I appreciate the time you put into supplying all this great info. I did have good luck and got an appointment with a physical and mobility therapist here locally that came highly recommended. I hope we will have some answers tomorrow. Thank you again,
Bradd
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Bradd Bosley Thank you for responding to my question, I really appreciate the great advise. I did take X-rays but to your point maybe we try something more if we still can’t get answers. We were able to get her an appointment tomorrow with a physical and mobility therapist, so my figures are crossed. She’s too young and too happy to have any kind of mobility issues. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.
My husband and I run our own company, so can bring our puppy into the office with us every day. We can’t have the time off work to stay with him at home, while he adapts to his new surroundings, so planned on bringing him to the office with us each day, where we would of course give him lots of exercise and love and can potty train him in the grounds of our office. We thought this would also be good for socialisation. But we wondered whether this would be too stressful for him to spend one weekend with us at home, and then start coming to the office with us on the Monday? I know his paws won’t be able to touch the floor of public places until he’s had all his injections at around 12 weeks, so we thought we could take him in a puppy sling and have a crate at work he can occasionally use, as well as his toys, food, drink, treats etc. Any advice or tips would be gratefully received. I have ordered lots of books on it and we’ll be signing him up to dog school as well. Thank you x
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Anonymous Here’s my take on it.
Puppies need to walk, to be able to explore their environment. The best way to do this is tethered to you, rather than in a sling of some sort. Does your company frequently see dogs on the floors? If not, I don’t see why he can’t be on the floor.
Use the crate more than occasionally. If you cannot have him tethered to you, he should be crated. I would also consider picking up an xpen so he has a safe space to play outside of the crate from time to time.
Frankly, I like the idea of taking him in to work right away, especially if you’ll continue doing that when he’s an adult. If you don’t intend to continue taking him in when he’s an adult, I don’t think I’d do what you’re planning, simply because he’ll wonder why you’re suddenly leaving him home when he’s older.
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Charli Glass Thanks so much, Laura.
The sling would just be to carry him to the office, as he could get tired walking there and I thought he might not be allowed to touch pavements etc, until he’s had all injections.
It’s a short walk and then a short train to our office, so we thought he might be happiest in a puppy sling for the journey there.
Once we’re inside the building and in our office yard, we would definitely have him on the floor.
So you think we should have him, perhaps on a leash attached to the arm of my office chair, with occasional time in his crate?
We plan on always having him with us in the office and taking him back home with us, into his adulthood.
Thanks again x
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Anonymous Oh, definitely NO walking on pavement frequented by dogs during the commute, at least until he’s 4 months old. Good luck. 😉
I think this could work! I also think you’ll have growing pains for a bit. Will you be able to hop up and take him out immediately after waking up, immediately before and after all meals (and he should be eating a lunch until he’s 6 months old), before/during/after all play, and every 30 minutes otherwise? I know that for the first week we had our bitch puppy home, that was life…I wasn’t productive at all. This is why utilizing the crate is so important. You can pop him in there for a 2 hour nap and get some work done while he’s sleeping.
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Charli Glass Ah brilliant. Thank you. Sounds like we’ll have our work cut out. Is it best to exercise him indoors then, until he’s 4 months? We have a big garden at home he could run around in, on a leash, but we often get foxes, so I guess they’d be more diseased than other dogs. So much to learn! x
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Anonymous Well, when he’s out in the yard, so are you…and I’m not a fan of long walks for long-legged breeds like boxers. I think your garden should be fine. Get him vaccinated against rabies when the vet says it’s time.
Is this your first dog? You picked a particularly high energy breed!
I have an American Bulldog who is almost 2 years old. Despite training, he is very aggressive towards other dogs. He was attacked by a pit bull, on our property, before he was a year old and every since will not tolerate any other dogs or any kind of animals for that matter. We have paid quite a bit for training to try and help him socialize but after a while he is back to his old self. No one will board him and we can’t take him anywhere that has a lot of people or other animals. He’s great at home and wonderful with our children, so I am at a loss s to what to do. He also has pretty bad hip problems and is in pain a lot if he gets a lot of exercise. I love him so much, as does my family, but I want to do the right, humane thing. Help.
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Madelyn Fischer Hello, as an extreme animal lover, I say no, try to train and comfort as much as you can, but I don’t know you and I can’t tell you what to do. That’s the last case scenario. Good luck!
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Madelyn Fischer Hi Krista, I totally agree.
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Crystal Williams We have done two extensive training courses for his aggression . One two week program and one five week, away from home program.
My dog never eats his own poop. So I never pick it up. Yesterday, he ate some poop in the yard. It was a stacked mound of poop, rather than logs that not on top of each other. It was by the side of the fence where my neighbors live, and they have a malamute that is allowed to roam, so I figured that it somehow broke into my fence and pooped there. I actually had seen my dog sniff it but didn’t think he was actually going to eat it because he occasionally poops along the fence and honestly thought it was his own poop.
Then today, just about 30 minutes ago, he ate another poop, in the same stacked mound fashion, except it was by the side of the fence facing the road instead. I don’t get it… How are these poops getting into my yard? How should I exercise my dog now that he ate poop? How do I know when my dog is going to eat a poop and when he isn’t? Please help! 🙁
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Annie Yang-Shaffer I have no idea why he’s starting to eat the poop though. He never has done it before yesterday… That’s why I’m sure those are not his own poop. :
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Anonymous i’d get a game camera and hang it somewhere unobstructed – that’s the only way you’ll know who’s producing the stool.
until you can figure it out, you’ll have to be far more strict with poop cleaning in the yard prior to letting your dog out. you can’t stop him – he’ll do it for as long as this strange stool is available.
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pup. I think that I have to defer these questions to your vet. My inkling is to say strict cage rest except for short walks outside on flat grassy ground. My concern is that he will keep exacerbating the injury if you don’t. I have lots of information on my blog and YouTube channel under IVDD please go there for advice and case based examples. Best of luck
Thank you so much for your reply! Do some dogs who have been restricted with movement get to the point that they “recover” or is this always a progressive situation? We don’t know if, after the 4 weeks of restricting him, if he will can to return to walks or anything if he is showing that he improved enough. Do you have thoughts on this? Also, is there anything we can do for him at home (like light massage or heat on the back)? Thank you so very much! You are so very helpful! 🙂 -Catherine