galgrey

Rex and Angie!

As much as I hate the thought of sharing my living space with feral rodents, I simply cannot go the poison or snap trap route (there's no way I could dispose of dead mice in a trap ). I'm very afraid of the poison -- years ago when I worked as a vet tech I saw several dogs die as a result of eating rodent bait or the rodents who had eaten it. I will never forget that. If you call a conventional pest control company they will use poison. They will tell you it's a "safe" poison because that's what they're told to say. Personally, I find those to be mutually exclusive terms. I don't know if this will work for your particular situation, but I have used these with great success: Humane Mouse Trap. After finding droppings in my kitchen one morning, I bought two of these traps and put them out that night baited with peanut butter on a saltine cracker. I turned off the kitchen light and went to the bedroom to watch TV. I heard the trap slam shut not 20 minutes later! I got dressed and put the trap with the mouse safely inside in my car and released him/her in a nearby wooded area. Despite the fact that I was sure there was a whole colony of them invading my house, I've never seen another one or any more droppings. I know I'm probably lucky here, but I've still got the traps if any more show up. If this won't work for your situation, you could call a local humane pet removal service to clean them out and then use peppermint oil or other non-toxic deterrents to keep them from returning. Good luck!

Acupuncture is just one of the treatment modalities that is frequently used by a holistic medical practitioner. Other non-traditional modalities include: homeopathy, chiropractic, herbal medicine, etc. See this LINK for additional information. I also just posted something about this in the other link about Holistic Medicine. This is from the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association website: "At the core of this issue lies the very essence of the word "(w)holistic". It means taking in the whole picture of the patient—the environment, the disease pattern, the relationship of pet with owner—and developing a treatment protocol using a wide range of therapies for healing the patient." "Holistic (or Integrative or Complementary) Veterinary Medicine is the examination and diagnosis of an animal, considering all aspects of the animal's life and employing all of the practitioner's senses, as well as the combination of conventional and alternative (or complementary) modalities of treatment. When a holistic veterinarian sees a pet, besides giving it a comprehensive physical examination, he/she wants to find out all about its behaviors, distant medical and dietary history, and its environment including diet, emotional stresses, and other factors." Hope this helps. edited 'cause I can't type.

The AHVMA defines holistic medicine, "Holistic (or Integrative or Complementary) Veterinary Medicine is the examination and diagnosis of an animal, considering all aspects of the animal's life and employing all of the practitioner's senses, as well as the combination of conventional and alternative (or complementary) modalities of treatment. When a holistic veterinarian sees a pet, besides giving it a comprehensive physical examination, he/she wants to find out all about its behaviors, distant medical and dietary history, and its environment including diet, emotional stresses, and other factors." Modalities include (but are not limited to): drugs/diagnostics/surgery, nutritional therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, behavior modification, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, etc. Here's a link to The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association that you can use to obtain additional information. Basically, instead of just treating a symptom with something to suppress the symptom, holistic medicine looks at the whole individual. For example, you take your dog in because he's scratching and chewing on himself like crazy. Instead of just prescribing a steroid and/or antihistimine to a dog that's itching (treating the symptom of scratching), a holistic practitioner would do a physical exam and then obtain information about the dog's diet, environment, any recent changes or sources of stress the dogs might be experiencing, etc. The aim of holistic medicine is not to simply suppress the scratching, but to find out why the dog is itching and correct the reason rather than just treat the symptom. I've used an integrative veterinary practice for 15 years. I also prefer intergrative medicine for myself. edited for spelling

Sending lots of prayers & good thoughts to you & Bodie.

I'm so sorry.

Craig and Molly!

I'm just seeing this. I'm so sorry.

From my reading an enlarged liver is sometimes seen in dogs with tick borne diseases and it is also seen in dogs with Cushings disease among other things. The liver is a complex organ and is affected by factors. You may already be familiar with this information Liver Disease, but as you can see it's pretty complex and enlargement can have many causes. I'll keep you and Cleo in my thoughts and hope for good news at your appointment on Wednesday.

I'm so sorry.

Welcome home, Chance!

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I agree. False negatives on fecals aren't uncommon.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so very sorry.

I'm sorry to hear about your boy and I hope you find something that's helpful for him. Dr. Stack's protocol has brought return to function to many dogs I know and then others didn't seem to respond. I've not personally heard of any being harmed by the procedure -- just that some didn't show improvement. Also, it's not just UK vets that are leary about this. My own vet had the same reaction as yours when I showed him Dr. Stack's article a few years ago and he's not alone from the feedback I've gotten from friends and on this forum. I'm sure others will chime in re: their experiences. Oh, I know chiropractic adjustment has been very helpful to some dogs as well if that's something you'd like to pursue or discuss with your vet. A friend of mine used a combination of chiropractic and the Depo injections. It wasn't a cure, of course, but she saw significant improvement and comfort for him. Good luck. It's so hard to see hurting and not know what to do.

If your vet rules out other medical issues, you might consider chiropractic adjustment. My bridge boy, Keno, used to have the issue sometimes after he ran or played really hard. I can't give you a techical explanation, but basically the nerve in his spine that controls the bladder sphincter was getting pinched when his back was out of alignment and it caused him to leak urine in his sleep and dribble a bit upon standing. Hope he's well soon.

Congratulations and welcome to GT! He's a very handsome boy! Love the brindles!

What a lovely tribute to a much loved girl. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry.

Congratulations!

I'm so very sorry.