greyhead

Jen, when Spencer had critical eating trouble three years ago, he did go for the eggs, so I like that suggestion. Just don't undercook them like I did (once) or there may be vomiting. Scrambled is fine. And if Kat is eating PB, I wouldn't hesitate to coat the scrambling pan with vegetable oil or whatever. I haven't syringed dogs myself, only cats. But AD sounds like a good suggestion for that, and I'd probably be running this past the vet anyway if it came down to syringing. Poor Kat and poor you, you've kind of been through it lately. Keep us posted.

You're such a great dad. And Toby is surely a wonderful boy.

Gosh, Kim, I didn't realize you guys were having this kind of trouble. I'm so sorry for the discomfort, sleep deprivation, all of it. Sending lots of hugs and prayers.

Great news!

Very good! Hope the results come back soon too.

This is Dr. Suzanne Stack's test for LS: http://www.greytheal...umbosacral.html That's how ours was diagnosed by our vet. I'll just add that our Spencer's symptoms weren't as extreme as what she describes, though they have become so over the years. (It is a progressive condition.) This being Friday, you might want to ask her for something for pain to carry you through the weekend or whenever. Hugs to you.

Afraid I have to respectfully disagree that Ensure is mostly sugar. We give Spencer (age 11-1/2, IBD, LSS) 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of regular vanilla Ensure per day just to add a few more calories. He can't process regular food as well as healthy greys, and I think as they get on toward 14 they can use more easily-digested calories even if they're eating regular food okay. Just my thinking. The other varieties of Ensure are too rich for Spencer or older dogs IMHO -- too much protein for their kidneys, too many fancy additives. This formula has 40g of carbs, of which 23g are sugars, 9g of protein, and 6g of fat (only 1g of which is saturated). It also has omega-3's and lots of vitamins/minerals. So half a bottle is half of what I just listed, which is not a lot, but is a boost. And at age 14 I wouldn't worry if your pup became addicted! We give in the a.m. if he doesn't want his regular breakfast, which he usually goes ahead and eats a short while later. If not, well, at least he got 125 calories to take out on his morning walk. And sometimes he gets another half-bottle at bedtime or as a snack during the day if he asks. We've at least gotten Spencer back up to a pound or two over his racing weight, so we're very pleased. If you do decide to try Ensure, start slow, with maybe 1/3 bottle per day. It does tend to loosen the bowels a little bit at first, but that wears off as they get used to it and isn't any sort of problem at all if you start slow. Best luck, and scritches to your greyt old gal! ETA: And your fine boy!

If she rejects the Hill's, you can try the Royal Canin Renal. It comes in Medium Protein or Low, and we've done well with the Medium. Prayers for you and your pretty Penny! ETA: Our vet doesn't carry it, but we got a script to use at another vet who does.

You did the right thing, and no way are you a bad mom! Glad you have the medicine and that rambunctiousness has ensued!

Welcome to GT! Sir Dudley is a handsome boy! Did the vomiting happen very soon after the pilling? Because I've never heard of pilling, however rough, causing vomiting. And I might take the vet's instruction to come back seriously, at least insofar as calling in to them and reporting it to see what they say. I'd take this kind of thing seriously. But I'm a bit of a worry-wart when it comes to stomach/intestinal issues. There's a lot of experience here, and hopefully people will jump in and offer other thoughts. I doubt parasites are causing that much bleeding, but IMO all adopters need to understand the limits of fecal tests. Not all equipment is equal in its ability to detect, and nothing will be detected unless the worms are in the egg-shedding part of their life cycle. So a negative fecal doesn't mean they don't have worms. (We would have been spared a lot of grief if we'd understood that from the beginning and repeated the test at more frequent intervals.) I don't like the sound of the dark, gloppy poop, but I have no experience with what happens when rawhides are swallowed in chunks. New people are usually too guarded to post this info as soon as they join GT, but if you share where you are in general, people may be able to point you in the direction of a vet that will take things more seriously...if needed. By "in general" I mean at least the N, S, E or W part of which state, lol! Mary

Holding you both in our hearts.

Oh Susan, I'm so sorry. Godspeed Kitty, go find your old friends among the sunbeams at the bridge.

Potatoes (white, not sweet) can contribute to incontinence in susceptible dogs, if that's relevant to your situation. Are you giving the raw and the kibble at separate meals? Because once they retire, many of them don't handle having the two mixed in the same meal. Lots of things can cause gurgling tummies and runny poop; some people throw metronidazole at symptoms like that to see if it helps. Others would have the poop cultured for germs if the trouble persists. I'm guessing you already ran a fecal for worms; trouble is, they don't always show up on the day the test is done. Hope others show up here for you with some other ideas. I know you must be worried.

So much better in every way!

When Spencer's poop was so bad, before we got the Clostridium perfringens diagnosis, I sterilized a margarine tub and held it under him as he squatted. Popped on the lid and took it in. That way, or the paper plate way, nothing touches the ground. And with the sterile container too, there's not much question that any germs that show up came from the dog.

We have a hound with leakage like yours. (Creatinine 2.2, specific gravity 1.012, small amount of protein in urine.) We get by by using a belly band at night, with an incontinence pad attached, and by using kidney food. Royal Canin Medium (not low) Protein Renal kibble. And if we try to change the food, we get increased volume of leakage. (We've experimented with that twice.) On that food the overnight leakage is just a spot most of the time. We do enliven the food with a gravy made from a tablespoon of Wellness canned food and a little water. He's also low-positive for Lyme, which can affect kidney function, so we're going to treat for that. We resisted use of Proin because it's dangerous to some dogs, and I didn't like the way he looked after one dose. This should all be manageable, for our dog and for yours. Best luck!

Love this! Spencer lost lots of hair from his IBD med, now all grown back since he's off the med. But for two summers he needed sunscreen on his legs, neck, chest and sides! Even with the mild-smelling kinds, that's a lot of smell to live with all day. And everything is waterproof these days so it's not trivial to remove. Long way to say that I really like that light scarf idea -- something loose and drapey! Some kind of moisturizer might make it feel better, though, and aloe vera's lack of smell is another virtue in my book, especially when applied that close to their spectacularly efficient noses!

Was a tick panel done in any of that blood work? TBD's can affect kidneys, increase water consumption, involve inflammation, and manifest in an on-and-off way. It did all that and more in our Shane. I've come to feel that TBD's should always be explored when our pups have weird, unexplained symptoms like this.

I don't think it's correct that lameness from a TBD is all over the body. In my experience and from what I've read, it can settle in one place. I'd test if I were you. But first I'd quickly go to the Tick List and tell them what you've told us. Tom Beckett of Texas is the resident vet on that list and very knowledgeable. Also this site is very good https://sites.google.com/site/tickbornediseaseindogs/ and a wealth of information.

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. So heartbreaking.

I'm so very sorry for your loss. Godspeed Brenda.

Spencer has really dry paw pads, and Bag Balm hasn't helped much. So someone gave me the idea to try aloe vera gel, and it is doing a much better job! It absorbs better, for one thing. So as a safe, softening agent, you might try that. We're using the stuff that's 99% pure aloe vera, though it's in a tube.

Hugs and prayers for you and Toby. I'm sure you're doing the right things.

If your pup has never been tested for TBD's, I'd do that. One of our's had intermittent panting and pain (with no discernible cause), incontinence, and thicker-than-normal blood before he was diagnosed and treated for Babesia. All those problems went away after treatment. Later he also tested positive for Lyme, which hadn't been included in the first TBD panel. These things flare up from time to time, and even treatment doesn't guarantee there won't be recurrences, I've now learned. But it sure made a positive difference for this dog, and his blood didn't gunk up the works anymore when it was analyzed.