sarabz

Add some water to his food. I was having this problem with Bella - she gets 1 1/2 cups of kibble, and I add about a cup of water just before serving. It allows her to basically lap up her kibble without choking. I don't let it sit long enough to get soft, though.

Yes, probably anxious about the routine disruptions. But... I had a cocker spaniel as a kid. Mom was always the last one to leave the house for the day and I was always the first one back. The spaniel would chew on Mom's stuff (shoes, jackets, books) and never mine.

It's dangerous to drive a car, handle household cleaners, anything electric-powered, eat or drink the wrong things or too much or too little.... I think I'm not going to worry about this one. As with other things use common sense (which isn't "common" enough) - if your immunity is compromised, take precautions. If your dog ate something off the sidewalk, don't let her lick your face or open sores (eww & ouch) for a few hours. If your cat is sick, don't let him lick your face.

Thanks for the thoughts! We are brushing and using the PetzLife spray, but I was concerned with the bleeding gums after chewing on a rawhide. Assuming that's as positive a sign of good canine dental health as when my gums bleed after flossing so thought I'd better do something about it.

for you and for Roo

I've read a lot of threads here about options for taking care of teeth, and it seems that raw meaty bones are probably the way to go. BUT - living in a small apartment in NYC leaves us with few locations for feeding. No outside area, no easily-cleaned area. Crate? Maybe, but what about "residue" on bedding, and tracking in other areas of the apartment. Suggestions? Other avenues besides RMB? This is coming up because over the weekend, Bella's gums were bleeding after working on a rawhide. They're all over the place at my parents' house, so they're a very rare treat for B. She gets a daily Kong (but licks out the filling instead of chewing) and occasionally a beef tendon, and we brush her teeth but this obviously isn't enough.

Bella usually only drinks water at home. We have a 3-qt bowl (plus another small bowl in her crate) and we usually fill it every other day or so. We just spent the weekend at my parents' house - they have 4 dogs and always have water available. I only saw Bella drink from it once, and once from a bowl I had in the bedroom.

Whew!! Hate it when those miscommunications happen, but SO GLAD to hear she's out of surgery and doing well.

DH and I both work full-time, so typically Bella is on her own approx 10 hours. The first week we had her she was crated, with either DH or I coming home at lunch to take her for a walk (no yard here) The first full weekend was the only time she peed in our apartment- she was doing her now-normal "gotta pee" moves of stretching several times and pacing around and we just weren't paying enough attention. The second week she was baby-gated in our bedroom, with midday walks The third week, we were coming home at lunchtime and waking her up, so stopped coming home midday for walks. As of December, she's had the run of the apartment when we're gone. We were having challenges with her getting into mischief in the late afternoon/early evening as it was getting dark - she'd shred books and anything else paper (tissues, tissue paper, etc), empty anything in the trash can, pull slippers from under our bedside tables, do zoomies on our bed, etc. Then a couple of times when I knew I'd be leaving last & getting home first I left the baby gate down, and no problems since. She's much happier being able to snooze on HER sofa during the day. HOWEVER - to tag on to what others have said, I do think you should have Ike checked out by the vet. Make sure there are no medical issues and then look at behavioral. Then go back to lots of praise when pottying outside (I avoid the treats because Bella started asking to go out, peeing a tiny amount and then looking for a treat), immediately correcting and taking out if he starts going in the house (clean up after taking him out, not before), etc. Good luck!!

Many hugs to you, Bandit and your Marine. My thoughts - and of course from the perspective of Bandit not being mine, my heartstrings not being tugged at, etc - I think if it were me and the lump is osteo I would opt for no dental and yes to pain management. Only you have the perspective of the difference between pre & post dental - Bandit doesn't. I would save the funds, the worry and the stress on him and forgo the dental. Also, that is based on my understanding that opting for pain management only if it is osteo means a few more months of care, not years.

Oh, many hugs and good thoughts to you & Callie!!

We use it (regular formula) and get it through PetFlow.com Bella is doing really well on it - she gets 3 cups total per day and it seems to be working really well for her. She has some gas on any food we have tried, so we give her a little yogurt and that seems to do the trick.

I found that Bella was getting horrible gas over the past few weeks. I stopped feeding her homemade treats (mine and others) and she went back to normal, which is minimal gas. She seems to be helped by a generous spoonful of yogurt am & pm. We feed Earthborn Holistic Adult Vantage. Intersetingly, there wasn't anything in the treats that I made that she doesn't get already, either in Kongs, current treats or current kibble One thing I learned recently - a listing of protein meal first is apparently better than just the protein. This is because the meal contains much less water, which in the regular protein is cooked out, making the percentage of that protein less after being cooked. For example, if the first ingredient is chicken, the kibble actually has less chicken than if chicken meal was listed first. I know there are many people here who know more about feeding than I do, but this seemed to make sense to me. Yes, I know that meal isn't necessarily using the prime parts of the animal.

I was thinking the same thing. Bella would cough and hack so we switched to a smaller size kibble and add a couple of cups of water. I don't take the time to let it soften, but with the water she just laps it up and doesn't have choking/coughing issues. No chewing happening at all.

I just received my second order. I had to bump up the delivery because we had increased our daily feeding and so I was going to run out. I changed our order from being delivered this week to last week and it was shipped the same day! With taxes and shipping (I hadn't locked in the free shipping) the food we order is about $4 more than the local store where we were purchasing, but we were having so many problems getting it from our local store that the $4 is worth it. I wasn't sure that the newest order would get to us in time so I went into the local store and bought a tiny bag to tide us over ($16 for 6 lbs - yikes!). The manager mentioned that she had the large bags in stock again and my response was "thanks, but since we couldn't count on being able to get the large bags every 5-6 weeks, we're now ordering online with automatic delivery". I shared the pricing, and she didn't have much to say to either comment. I'd given the local store a lot of notice that we were going to stop buying there if they couldn't keep a supply of our food, so after 3 visits where we weren't able to buy the large bags (although they did give us two 15-lb bags for the same price as one 30-lb) and clearly stating that we would be happy to commit to a regular, automatic schedule of buying the food every 5-6 weeks if they had it, I gave up. Really, really happy with PetFlow's service!!

Jen, thank you for sharing your journey with Neyla with all of us. It's never easy, but it also sounds as though you have hit the time where you know that she needs to go and hopefully can find some peace in that, if not comfort. My heart goes out to you and your beautiful girl.

Bella was interested in something on top of my dresser last night (still can't figure out what it was) so put her front paws up and scratched the heck out of it. Other than that - she refuses to sleep in at all. She flies off the bed if a foot moves even close to her direction. Even from a sound sleep. Of course this abrupt motion usually causes DH and I to wake up. Her sleeping on the bed priviledges are limited now. There is fine black hair everywhere. I thought she didn't shed much, but somehow I'm finding hairs in the kitchen (where she doesn't go), the bathroom (which she avoids at all costs because it's the bath location) and in some cookies I baked yesterday :blink I adore her, don't mind the messes and broken/damaged things (heck, that's like living with DH before Bella), but every now and then.....

Bella was sent some sardines from her secret santas. I can't stand the smell (can't eat cooked tuna, canned or other, for the same reason) so she got all 3 in the tin one night. She loved, loved, LOVED them - so much so that I got a kiss after dinner and she's not a kissy girl. As I do open them, though, she'll get the whole tin since I wouldn't be able to deal with the smell of the open container in the fridge. Yes, I could put them in tupperware but not going to.

Aw, he's GORGEOUS! Look at all those spots - soooo cute!