NeylasMom

I guess I don't have enough information. I didn't realize it was a research foundation and not a drug company from your original post, but just a quick google search to get to their website and there's very little information about what they're doing, just a few general statements and a place to donate. Is there another website I'm not finding that has details about how they are putting their donations to use to investigate this particular potential treatment? Do they have research trials planned? If they don't do testing on animals, how will they evaluate the efficacy of the drug? I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm genuinely interested, but I'm not sure how they can essentially chastise people for not donating if there's no information out there about what they're doing. ETA: Information provided by themselves, not in news articles. Total aside - are you familiar with Artemisinin? It may interest you if you ever have a pet with cancer again. It works somewhat analagously to the drug you're talking about. Cancer cells love iron - the artemisinin is absorbed by the iron loving cancer cells and then kills them through free radical properties. There are some trials, although mostly on cell lines, not live patients supporting it's ability to kill cancer cells.

That's a great article - thanks for sharing. More and more evidence is starting to point toward the health benefits of delaying spay/neuter, especially in males including a reduced risk of bone/joint related problems like hip dysplasia and bone cancer. I can post links to some journal articles later. The original spay/neuter recommendation of 6 months was based primarily on the study that looked at an increased risk of breast cancer. Unfortunately, that's very limited in scope although there is an increased risk in female dogs. From what I've read recently, if I had a puppy I would wait until the female had gone through 1-2 heats and then spay. I think that provides a good balance between allowing for normal development and reducing risk of things like breast cancer, pyometra, etc. For a male dog, I would wait until at least 18 months and then pursue vasectomy. Vasectomy is being offered in my area now, but very few vets are doing it so it's costly. My hope is that over time more will start to offer it and it will be more financially attainable for the average pet owner. I haven't heard as much about ovary sparing surgery. I know this can be a very touchy subject because of the number of homeless animals, but from a medical (and behavioral) health perspective, removing sex hormones before a dog is developed makes no sense. Imagine what the ramifications on physical and mental development would be if we removed our children's sex hormones when they were 10-12 years old. That's what we're doing to our dogs. These surgeries certainly seem to offer a best of both worlds approach so I hope there will be more support of them in the future.

I agree. Not that I am discouraging contributing to promising research, but it's not the responsibility of pet owners to fund the research that will ultimately lead to large profits for the company developing the drug if it proves promising.

Have you tested her for a UTI? A dog her age shouldn't have issues holding it 5-6 hrs. I would rule out something medical first.

How much are you exercising her (what type - walking, running off leash, playing with other dogs, etc - and how long of each on average daily)? Have you ever used a crate with her? To?you have anything else you could use to contain her, like an x-pen? Does she whine and appear restless like this at other times? Just trying to gather some more information - not enough to truly know what's going on.

Thanks. I do not think you are a terrible dog mom so this is helpful.

Thanks. I think I will just keep an eye on it and unless it starts bothering her, not do anything. I am just hyper-reactive at the moment to anything medical with the girls.

Any idea what's going on here and whether I should be concerned? Violet's eye looked bloodshot, then I noticed the inner eyelid part looks strange. Weird eye: Normal eye for comparison: The inner eyelid part just looks red and inflamed (slightly swollen even?) on that left eye and is covering more of the eye than is normal. She isn't bugging it, though she is scratching the ear on that side of her head a bit more than normal. I have AB/steroid eye cream I could apply. I also have a little Apoquel leftover from when her face swelled up. I'm hesitant to do anything other than keep an eye on it (presuming it doesn't get worse overnight) for fear of doing the wrong thing, but input welcome.

No issues that I know of using them long term in combination though Robaxin is supposedly processed through the kidneys in some part. Zuri took both together for a long time for his LS without any obvious problems. I do think it's smart if you're going to have a dog on drugs long term to consider using milk thistle and a kidney support supplement to try to prevent issues. FWIW, massage was HUGELY helpful to Zuri, much more so than the Robaxin. I wish I had discovered that much much sooner. We were doing cold laser and acupuncture, which both helped some, but we had to stop those when he was diagnosed with osteo. So I took him back to the PT at our ortho office and we agreed massage was our best best for relieving his tight muscles and spasms. Over time we were actually able to work out most of them until the very end when he had to compensate more. If I could go back and do it over, I would have chosen the massage over the other treatments. Anyway, I was lucky enough to find someone who would come to our home and she charged so much less than the ortho place, which was outrageously expensive.

Runny poop shouldn't be a problem with a switch to raw. Are you using the Primal ground beef? If so, the bone content is only 9%, which is too low and is probably your problem. Why not just buy meaty bones from your grocery store? Do you have a good one that has well sourced meats? I get my dog's raw food from 3 places - Whole Foods for their chicken legs. I buy the Bell & Evans legs, which are not organic, but are antibiotic, hormone free, blah blah from the USA. Beef heart and liver comes from a local farm that delivers to me. And the rest of their food comes from Hare Today: https://hare-today.com/ Hare Today is a good option if you don't have access to products locally. I would feed ground chicken with a higher bone content and once he's digesting that well, switch to whole chicken legs or quarters. Once he's good with that you can start introducing other proteins. The Hare Today ground has an appropriate meat to bone ratio and also contains some organ, which is important for certain nutrients: https://hare-today.com/product/raw_pet_food/ground_chickenbonesorgans_1_lb_fine_ground And yes, if you can't convince your husband to switch completely (curious what his reservations are, maybe we can help) then I would feed one meal of kibble and one of raw.

Most likely there is a solution, but without a better understanding of what's causing the panting, its hard to help. Could be heat, could be car sickness, could be anxiety. We need more info, or you might need someone to observe in person.

So I take it the symptoms didn't resolve after the soda bottle thing came up? Sorry you didn't get definitive answers. Wounds like the additional tests might be worthwhile.

That's a low dose imo but also comparable to what's in Denamarin. The dosage my holistic vet gave me was 2-5mg/lb 2-3x/day of milk thistle, which is typically 80% Silymarin so you'd actually be giving 140-350 mg of Silymarin 2-3x/day. But you could start with that and see what happens. I just use Gaia's low alcohol liquid. Zuri was getting 15 drops 2x/day. Its really inexpensive and a good quality organic product. Whole Foods sells it and I found it cheaper online. Anyway, I wouldn't worry. Sounds like what you have is fine for now.

S Adenosyl is sam-E. Denamarin and Denosyl are both veterinary products made by Nutramax. Denosyl contains only sam-E. Denamarin has the addition of milk thistle (also called Silabyn). What we are all telling you is to give milk thistle AND sam-E, whether that's by buying Denamarin (ideal, at least to start) or adding a milk thistle supplement to the sam-E you are already giving. http://www.m.nutramaxlabs.com/animal-health-mobile/dog/dog-liver-health/denamarin-for-dogs

There's no milk thistle in sam-E though they are sometimes combined as in the Denamarin tbhounds mentioned. The latter is a bit pricey, but you could start with it and then try replacing with less expensive forms of each once it's working. Definitely give the milk thistle as well though.

Why the defensiveness Pam? No one accused you of suggesting that. But when the OP asked about dosage it seemed like a reasonable thing to mention the potential concerns with starting it without consulting the vet. No one's suggesting the OP was going to do that either. I noted that she asked whether she should suggest it to her vet. I still felt it was worth mentioning. So maybe just chill out?

I wouldn't give aspirin without medical advice. If it turns out she needs different medications you could have a problem and potentially need to delay treatment as aspirin shouldn't be given with some common meds like NSAIDs. If you a rent feeling confident about your vet, try someone new. Ask your adoption group or friends for recs.

I would start at square one with the vet dermatologist as tbhounds recommended. Apoquel truly has been a miracle drug for some dogs with allergies for whom other treatments aren't working sufficiently, and I've used it successfully with 2 of my dogs for short term issues, but I remain concerned that there isn't good information about long term use of this drug in dogs. So I don't think just putting a dog on it and leaving the dog in indefinitely without a real diagnosis is necessarily the most responsible thing, especially if it places a high financial burden on the owner. I am a little mystified about the prices as its been inexpensive for us. The GoodRx suggestion is a good one. I've saved a lot of money with that app. In fact just 2 days ago I decided I was done with Costco for Rxs. They have great prices but can never follow through on anything properly so I looked up my girl's medication on Good Rx and found a coupon that actually let me get it for a few bucks less from a pharmacy I much prefer just down the street.

Milk thistle stat until you figure out what is going on. Hope it's something simple and totally treatable.

I just wanted to add, for those of you who are having this problem, carrying a pee pad with you might be a good idea to at least spare the floor in your buildings.

Just checking in. It feels so odd to me that no one in here has a dog fighting osteo at the moment, they're all gone. I have frankly been feeling pretty numb. Aside from feelings of absolute dread when I take the girls somewhere and then think about coming home to an empty house I've been pretty emotionless. But this afternoon I went out without the girls for the first time and when I got home and went through the ritual of greeting Violet at the top of the stairs, then letting Skye out of her crate and then looking at Zuri's empty crate in the bedroom who I would always let out last, I completely lost it. I don't know. Despite having so much time to prepare, and knowing he is gone, it just hasn't fully sunk in yet. His ashes were supposed to be returned today, but I asked her to bring them tomorrow so i could enjoy one more day of blissful denial because I think that's going to make it really sink in. The girls are handling it pretty well. They're a bit more clingy and Violet often chooses to go lie on Zuri's bed right away when we come in, but I'm doing so much to keep us busy that they're pretty well exhausted. We hiked for 2 hours yesterday morning and then I took them with me to teach classes last night, which included running and playing in the facility and meet and greeting all of the puppy parents in my puppy class orientation. This morning we took a long walk around our local lake and tonight I'm taking them both to nosework classes. I'm basically just trying to keep myself busy so I don't have to think about it. Otherwise, I sleep. Hope everyone else is hanging in there. Unfortunately I know the worst is yet to come for me.

That does make sense. Let's hope! Please keep us updated. And I certainly agree - waiting a few days to see if her symptoms resolve before an expensive and potentially stressful test makes total sense to me.

I'm so sorry. I just let my old man Zuri go on Monday because of osteo. He had LS that was managed well for years and was diagnosed with osteo in mid-May. I do believe his LS diagnosis masked to some extent the early signs of his osteo though we still caught it quite early. Anyway, I am very sorry for your loss and understand what you are going through completely.

At home test? If she doesn't have a medical issue, then you need to change your housetraining plan, just continuing to do what you're doing isn't sufficient. I would give her more frequent trips out, and give her more time while out to do multiple pees as it sounds like she's not always completely empty when you come back in. And instead of just praising, reinforce with high value food every time she potties outside. It can help to take her to the same area to pee each time and to teach a "go potty" cue. What is your current schedule? How often do you take her out and what does she do each time? Also, worth noting that sometimes if dogs have to poop and are holding it, they will urinate instead. So paying attention and making sure she has ample opportunities for both is important.

It is possible. I've seen items stay in dogs stomachs for months to be vomited later. However, did you clean that off before photographing? If it had been in her stomach a long time, I would expect it to be clumped with fur and possibly other things because of the sharp pointy bits. However, if you cleaned it off then that could be your culprit. Hope that's what it was!