OwnedBySummer

I use paw wax for Summer -- but it really doesn't last very long. I also use Show Foot but it's really sticky and also doesn't last all that long. I use these products for therapy dog visits when I don't know what kind of floors we'll run into. What I also do with Summer is take her everywhere I possibly can which has bare floors and walk her around and around and around. Treats are involved. Over time, she has greatly improved.

I have 5' and the bulk of it is behind 12' cedar hedges. For which I'm very thankful. The front span, with the gates, is currently exposed. If it was 4', I'm pretty sure my pup would be over it if there is something interesting on the other side. At the back, where there is also exposed 5' fence, we've built 7' latticework and are growing vines on it. Perhaps there is something you can do to increase the height of the fence where you are concerned? At our front, we will be zip-tying privacy lattice to the chainlink -- so although it will remain at 5', she won't be able to see through it so readily. Here's what I put across the back. Only part of the back, as there are some spruce trees up against it in places so we didn't need to have it continuous.

What does this stuff look like? I read about it on another thread. How long does 5 lb. last?

Phew! 2 1/2 cups is more in line with what I would think you'd be feeding than 5+ cups. I still find the cereal and milk thing very strange -- I've only ever heard of one other person feeding human cereal and that was an adopter in Australia. I'm very suspicious about the milk contributing to the problem --- here's an article which may interest you. Milk (lactose) can cause loose stools and gas As to breakfast, I feed 70 lb. Summer her kibble for breakfast (she only gets 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups but the calorie count may be totally different from yours, as could the actual size of the pieces), with the addition of a bit of hot water. At dinner, she gets a 374g can of moist dog food. So she still gets breakfast but it's more species appropriate. She gets a cookie (a small Milkbone) at bedtime. During the day, there's a couple of treats which happen, usually a dehydrated duck or chicken foot, maybe a dehydrated tendon, maybe even another Milkbone). But no more than a couple of cookies.

I'm assuming your pup doesn't have any internal parasites? So with that out of the way... Many dogs can't handle milk. I wouldn't personally feed milk to a dog, well, maybe just a tiny taste. Milk can cause diarrhea and could be your culprit. Not sure about the reason behind the human breakfast cereal? Corn is a controversial item for dogs and, although corn is in MY dog's kibble, I wouldn't add additional corn in the form of human cereal. Also, the 2nd ingredient in Kellogg's Corn Flakes is sugar. I googled "Winalot shapes", as we don't have those here and I didn't know what they are. Unless I have the wrong results, they are multi-colored and multi-shaped dog cookies. The ingredient list is kind of vague, being "Cereals, Meat and animal derivatives, Oils and fats, Derivatives of vegetable origin, Vegetables, Minerals". I would want to know what cereals, what meat and derivatives, what kinds of fats, etc. That's just a weird ingredient list to me. I couldn't find the calorie count, either. You did say you are feeding 15 of these every day -- that just sounds like an awful lot. If I was feeding my dog 15 dog cookies a day, I don't know if she'd have any caloric need for a kibble breakfast meal. Are they super tiny or something? When you add all these cereal-based cookies to the cornflakes and then whatever grains are in the kibble... it sounds like a lot of grains. In addition to the milk. All of which can cause diarrhea and gas. I tried to figure out how much kibble you are feeding, assuming that "600g complete" is kibble? -- 600g = 1.3 lbs. Normally, kibble is measured for feeding not by weight but by cups. I took out my kitchen scale and weighed Summer's food and determined, based on her kibble, that 600g is just over 5 cups. This isn't necessarily the same for YOUR kibble, though. The canned "400g dog food" is a can which is just slightly larger than the average North American dog food can. That's a lot of food for a 55 lb. girl, IMHO. Not being able to process and absorb all that food coming in one end... can just slide on out the other end. I have never fed a dog cod liver oil so I can't comment on that. I'm sure someone else will know!

Great, thank you!

I use Advantix and Heartguard.

I'm not a crate person but I don't see anything wrong with trying that. Suggestion for your kitties: Pull all your furniture a bit out from the walls -- so the cats can get behind if need be but the dog cannot follow.

I'm sorry to hear that Kasey is having some issues, poor baby, but very glad that he's improving! Racindog, would you give Fresh Factors to an adult dog (8 yo) with no symptoms? (she "clicks" going up stairs, is all, and has since I got her at 5 yo) As a preventive type of thing? I would love to preserve her joint health for as long as possible. Or would you recommend something else?

There's differing opinions on the raw diet. BUT the most important thing is if you cook them, to never feed him cooked bones.

That's wonderful! Congratulations on both the adoption and handsome Brady's birthday!

Summer had hooks and we treated with Drontal Plus. I don't remember the dosage/spacing but there were a couple of pills given a bunch of days apart (sorry, that's not incredibly helpful -- maybe a week or two apart? -- I just don't remember). Never had them come back. Hugs to your poor baby!

<sniff> That was a wonderful tribute, beautifully done. Farewell again, beautiful Treasure.

Besides having the pop-up pen, Summer's regular metal x-pen has a "sun screen" that I tie on top. This makes it impossible for her to jump out. Perhaps you might be interested in that? it's like a see-through tarp with grommets all around the edges. Mine was made by the company who made her crate.

I will tie Summer to a picnic table when we're camping, if I have to. I will put her harness on for this and only use a 6' leash. And I'm right around her. This situation only ever arises periodically and is because the campsite isn't fully set up. BlueCrab, if you can't find them cheaper on e-bay, you can get those popup x-pens from here: Designer Greyhound. You can order online or they vend at a variety of greyhound events and you could arrange a pickup -- this weekend, she's at The GEM Event in Michigan. And I know she'll be at Beach Bound Hounds in Myrtle Beach in September. If you contacted her, she could tell you others. Note that these popup x-pens are NOT suitable for all dogs -- my Summer never tries to get out but a dog could certainly determinedly chew their way out or even tear a hole in the mesh.

You can give him some green tripe the same day as the neck (like, the neck in the afternoon and the tripe with dinner). That should help. If you don't have the fresh stuff available, just used canned.

I can only wish that Summer would work for kibble, talk about easy and inexpensive! If Audrey is happy with that, go for it! Summer won't really ever work for food, although she WILL work for lovings. Not as convenient but certainly cheap. We did agility last summer and lovings was her reward. I have managed to convince her lately that dehydrated beef lung isn't too bad as a substitute, LOL. I like the dehydrated lung vs the dehydrated liver (or any other treat) as it's drier -- thus my little treat pouch never gets nasty and, on a therapy dog visit, I can have a resident feed Summer a piece and not worry about what may be left on their fingers. Both the lung and the liver break up into small training-size pieces quite easily.

Congrats on your new pup! You may find this article of interest. No Fear No Pain by Kathleen Gilley.

I never like bandaging for very long, with anything. Not sure how I'd handle your situation. I don't have narrow areas (all the doors that Summer goes through are double, either French doors or regular double doors) and I don't have any regular hallways in my house -- so when she has had happy tail (I believe we're at a count of 3 times now) it has been caused by outside factors, namely trees, and she can heal inside. Here's a link that I found useful for getting bandaging to stay on her tail. I found I could get the bandage to stay on even at a greyhound playdate! I would only bandage her for that and leave it unwrapped at home. Summer would be healed within a couple of days for two of her happy tail occurrences and for her worst occurrence it took about 1 1/2 weeks to heal. Grassmere happy tail.

No personal experience but all I've heard is good things about the Ruffwear Webmaster Harness.

OMG! Nooooo! Awww, Treasure.

I get my raw chicken feet from a local supplier of raw dog food, of which there are several companies around me. They come frozen. The raw duck feet I get from a local duck raising/slaughtering farm. Those I get fresh and then I freeze them in a single layer on cookie sheets, then put them in a bag in the freezer. And yup, I feed them whole, defrosted and just the way they are (i.e. toenails and all). If you don't have access to any sources like that, try an Asian market. Or a "small town" style of butcher may be able to oblige you. Oh, and no, they don't smell.

Put your photo in Photobucket, find the IMG Code, copy the code and then paste the code into this thread. I'm so sorry you're having such a scary time. I've heard of people feeding macaroni and cheese if you want to try a box of that. If she did love it, you could then progress to homemade and add some healthy stuff to it.

Here's one that I got from Greybookends on this forum. It's delicious! -- or, at least, that's what the canine population has told me, LOL. Bake at 325 degrees and line brownie pan with foil. 8x11 pan will work 1 box Jiffy cornmeal muffin mix 2 whole eggs (shells can be included) 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 pound chicken livers (or beef) Blend well in blender or food processor and bake at 325F for 25 - 27 minutes. Cool and peel off foil. Cut it up for brownies or leave whole to be a cake. For the icing, just mixed peanut butter and yogurt and spread it on the cake. Decorate with the mini marshmallows and trim with raw chicken & duck feet. Store in the refrigerator. Leftovers can be frozen. And here it is, all ready for Summer's 6th birthday:

Go for it! I ditched the crate as soon as I realized Summer didn't want or need it (some time in the first week). If he doesn't want or need it and is happy out of it, perhaps put it away. Not sure why you want to feed him in it?