krissy
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Posts posted by krissy
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He is not reluctant to leave the house or start out on the trails. He happily starts trotting down the trail, sniffing, peeing, doing all the usual things he does. It's somewhere between a few minutes and 15 minutes that he starts into this behaviour.
The puppy does occasionally get in his way, she does occasionally jump up and try to get him to play, however it is not during/after these events that he tries to turn around. Usually there is absolutely no interaction with the pup.
Doesn't seem to matter if the trail is a loop or not. Most trails we do are not simply one way and turn around and walk back down the exact same trail. So most of them are "loops" in some sense or another, though usually there is SOME part of the trail that is common both ways.
I'm sure he would like to hike with some other dogs but we really don't know anyone who actually walks their dogs, so Kili is it for doggie companions on the trails, at least until the summer when our friend moves home from school.
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No real advice, just curious since you got Truman at such a young age I would have expected he'd have a better sit. Kili has a (so far *knock on wood*) beautiful sit. Of course, Truman's also a huge, lanky greyhound whereas Kili is (again, so far) quite small. I do make it a habit though to really ask her to sit often to encourage her to do so, and she does sit a lot just on her own. Did Truman grow out of sitting or he just never really did even to begin with?
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What is your premium (pre-discount) if you don't mind my asking? And do you know if exam fees associated with accident or illness (not just wellness visits) are included in what they cover? What about "holistic" care like acupuncture, PT, etc.?
My premium is $92.25 a month (pre discount), plus tax. Coverage is unlimited for both accidents and illness (fyi, a fractured tooth is considered an "accident" and doesn't come out of your dental coverage). I have $600 coverage for dental coverage per year. And $350 a year for "special coverage" (alternative treatments, behavioural therapy, and medical devices). The deductible for the highest level of coverage is a little higher than the lower 3, so my deductible can be either $250 or $400 depending on what I want. For dogs older than 5 the deductibles are $400 or $550, and over 10 years they're $500 or $700.
There are also a couple of "special" things they cover. If you're hospitalized and have to board your pet somewhere they cover $1000 (per incident). They will cover $1000 if you have to cancel a trip due to a pet emergency (again, per incident). $1000 for lost pet advertising (per incident). $1000 for cremation/burial of your pet. And they make a $50 donation in your pet's name to an animal organization when your pet passes.
So far I'm pretty happy with the coverage. I'm enjoying the peace of mind that comes with having the coverage.
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NeylasMom - yes, he normally comes right to me. Sometimes even normally if I just call his name he might stop and just look back at me and then I'll actually use "come" and he comes running. I think that started because I started just calling his name but not wanting him to move when I was taking photographs. But right now even if I ask him to "come" he doesn't want to.
We did try a different trail today. Completely different conservation park. Same problem. And this was with Deramaxx on board and I put boots on him to begin with but he kept trying to shake them off and we almost lost one completely so I took them off. They're too expensive to be losing. So I'm still not sure what the issue is. Seems like pain is somewhat ruled out. His feet could be cold but he won't tolerate his boots on a hike where he can do as he pleases, and he really isn't showing any signs of his feet being cold like he normally would.
He could be wary of something, but if I leash him up he walks along good as pie, doesn't try to turn around, doesn't balk.
No idea what's up with him. It's all very strange.
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Hoping things will be ok! Can I ask what insurance you went with?
Our hospital works with Pet Secure. They actually do have pretty good plans, and because I work at the clinic I get a discount which was the ultimate deciding factor. But I am quite happy with them regardless. They pay 80%. There's a $100 deductible once a year (no matter how many claims are submitted, you just pay $100 on the first one). I took the highest level of insurance so there is no limit to what they will pay for both accidents and illness, and you also get $450 for wellness that you can use as you please for vaccines, heartworm, deworming, bloodwork, etc. There's also coverage for dental cleanings.
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Hope you can get some answers!
Thanks. Not sure if I want "answers" or not. That could be bad. Part of me is hoping for "no answer" and that the longer course of antibiotics I have her on right now will do the trick. Of course, the alternative is the scope finds nothing and we still have problems. That would be the worst.
If anyone needs a gentle push to get pet insurance... this would be it. In 13 weeks she will have racked up something like $3000 in medical bills. Thank goodness I took the highest level of insurance on this one!
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[sigh] The saga with Kili's medical issues continues. Never thought I'd be going back to vet school so soon after graduating, but we're headed back next Monday for a consult so she can have a urinary tract scoping to make sure there are no anatomic abnormalities that are causing her recurrent infections. Next Monday is the consult. I've asked them to defer her scope (if we decide to do that) until the following Monday since I can't drive 2.5 hours each way two days in a row, and I definitely want to be there to follow her around and I want to see her scope (for my own learning as a new grad and for personal curiosity) as well as keep an eye on what they're doing with her anesthetic protocol. They're going to hate me!
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I'd have the vet prescribe an antibiotic for 10 days and see if it stops before I went nuts thinking this is a housebreaking issue.
UTIs are pretty rare in male dogs and if his urinalysis came back normal then I'm not sure how many vets would prescribe antibiotics. We overuse them as it is. If it's really a concern I'd pay for a urine culture collected in a sterile manner by the vet (i.e. not a free flow that you collect at home). If the culture comes back negative you have your definitive that he doesn't have a UTI.
I recently had a patient who came in for a neuter and at his post surgical exam a week later the owner complained that he was having accidents multiple times a day in the house. Checked his urine and it was normal. Gave her some advice about dealing with a possible behavioural cause. Called her back a few weeks later and there were no further problems. Dogs do sometimes go backwards with house training. If medical is ruled out (UTI, kidney issues, incontinence) then I'd put him back in a crate and see if he can "magically" hold it for 8 hours again.
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I don't think it's the cold, at least not exclusively. The first time he did this was in late October. It wasn't even cold enough for a coat yet. The next two times were last week when it was admittedly quite cold and I figured he was just cold. Today was above 0 degrees; he started the walk with TWO layers and was panting so badly within 5 minutes and wanting to turn back that I removed his coat (leaving a sweater on him). He does have boots but his feet aren't cold when he does this. When his feet get cold he lifts them and then progresses to 3 legged hobbling until I dust them off with my gloves, then he lifts the other one. He has boots for really cold evening walks in town that I could try on him for hiking but I think we'll just end up losing them since he dislikes them.
Yes, his eyes are not the best however they are better than when I got him 2 winters ago and he had no issues at that time going for hikes in the snow. So I can see him not seeing as well as Kili, but not any worse than his usual which he is used to. All other indications of his vision suggest there has been no change/deterioration. It is a possibility but he gets around fine on our hikes and on leashed walks. There is no change in his ophthalmic exam this year versus last year. He has Doggles for when he hangs out with me at Ultimate tournaments (the all day UV exposure isn't good for his pannus) so I can try those on him to decrease snow glare (they're tinted lenses)... but again I think he'll just take them off on a hike as he's not a huge fan.
He honestly does not seem concerned or anxious. I have seen him like that when there's been something he's afraid of (gun shots, livestock). I know what he looks like when he's afraid. This is entirely different. This is like a "I just want to go back to the car now". I'm mostly wondering if people have noticed this sort of... disinterest (?) in their older hounds. I wonder too if it's jealousy over the new puppy. Also not sure if the increased frequency of walks is bumming him out. We've always hiked as often as possible, but that's historically been a few times a week. With the puppy, off leash hikes are the best way to tire her out so we go almost every day if I can get away for long enough at lunch time. Usually I swing by the house and pick up Summit on the way and we all hike for about 30-45 minutes. On the weekends we go for 60-90 minutes. So we've definitely been hiking more frequently, but those weekday hikes are really quite short, and considering our morning walks are shortened because Kili can't walk as fast, and we often don't do evening walks anymore... I can't believe that a short hike every day is an issue for him.
Honestly, I'm baffled.
So I guess on our next hike I will try him with his Doggles, boots, and pre-medicate him the night before with Deramaxx and see if there's any improvement.
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Back to the crate.
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Not liking a much-loved hike is probably arthritis coming on up. Feed those Pedigree Joint Care chew sticks for a week and you should see an improvement. If it works get the actual supplements and add fish oil.
On the other hand when my Borzoi Misha refused a hike she always loved it was more serious... kidney disease had surfaced and she would have been feeling yukky and not at all in the mood.
It would be a good idea anyway at that age, if only to set a baseline for for future care, to have the vet do basic blood tesst including Kidney and Liver fucntion. That way you treat what's needed to be treated and don't get into expensive and often futile second-guessing everything.
He's on J/D which is a joint diet and he gets Deramaxx on an as needed basis. Bloodwork in June was normal. I am his vet so I'd like to think I'd notice if something major was going on medically. Of course, he can be super stoic so maybe not.
Maybe his eyesight? Maybe he can't see as well and it's making him nervous?He has pannus which is treated. He does have iris atrophy so he can't constrict his pupils which I know makes it hard to focus (from having my own eyes dilated in the past). However, that's nothing new summer or winter.
My feeling is that he can smell something that you can't. Maybe those bears are hibernating close by. Or maybe coyotes (if you have them). But something that he can smell or sense that you cannot.It's possible. I find it hard to believe that the bears hibernating would make him more nervous than in the summer when they are actually active and wandering around. I think we'd be far more likely to run into them or have him smell/sense them during the summer. And it's not at any particular spot that he gets nervous which might make sense if there was a bear den nearby. The first time was way in the back of the park near the beach. The next time was actually on the main road (which is closed in winter). And today was on a completely different trail. And we've been on all these trails multiple times the last couple of weeks and he has been exhibiting this behaviour in different places each time and passing places he was previously having issues with.
In the spring when we walked a different trail he was getting really nervous. But then I could tell that he was nervous about something. This is more just like "I want to go back to the car". Back in the spring I first thought coyotes. Then one day I caught sight of the livestock and realized he was afraid of cows! But there's definitely no cows in this park.
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Recently Summit has been exhibiting some strange behaviour on hikes. The first time it happened in the fall I passed it off as a one off or that he really did sense something I didn't. The next few times were last week when it was quite cold and I figured he was just being a wuss (but I did still find it a little odd), but after today something is clearly up since it was above 0C.
What happens is we get to the conservation area and I let the dogs out of the truck. We go walking down the trail for anywhere from 2-10 minutes with no problem. He's sniffing things, trotting along, Kili is dashing back and forth like a nutcase. Then suddenly he just decides he's done and he wants to turn back. He will literally turn around and start walking back the other way down the trail. If I call him he stops and looks back at me and depending on the day might then try to continue walking back to the car until I call him again. On less severe days he'll come running back to me and we will continue walking for a little while until he again decides he wants to go back. I knew he wasn't cold today. It was 1 degree Celcius and both dogs were wearing a double layer. The puppy was not cold (and she's ALWAYS cold) and he was actually panting. I took off his coat and just left his sweater on. Seemed to help at first.
When we get to a point where I decide to turn around, or when we get to the end of our loop he runs down the trail. Not at full speed, sort of a lope. But definitely faster than during the rest of the hike. He WILL stop when he gets very far ahead and look back and wait for me to catch up a bit but without fail he will then start running down the trail again. He's in a BIG hurry to get back to the truck.
The first time this happened was back in the fall. We were still on the cusp of bear season so at first I was concerned that he sensed wildlife of some sort and that I ought to listen to him. But nothing came of it. Now the bears are definitely all hibernating. And we're talking about a conservation that does see a lot of people, and we only have black bears here so I don't think that's the issue.
Summit and I have ALWAYS gone for winter hikes. This is our first winter in this town, but back in Guelph we always walked trails in the winter and never had this happen. And we walked these trails extensively throughout the summer so it's not like they are new.
As I see it there are 3 things that have changed recently. We moved (in May). We brought Kili home (mid October). And it turned into winter (really about 3 weeks ago). Summit is also going to be 8 in May, so it's not like he's an old man but I do kind of wonder if any of this has to do with him getting older.
Thoughts?
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Kili was 8 weeks old when I brought her home. Summit is 7.5 and has been with us for 2 years. He loves other greys and has always been overly tolerant of puppies. However I think he realized this one was staying because he was much less tolerant than expected (which is a good thing). At first he was a bit mopey about her and he certainly does still get jealous because she takes up do much time, but I've never been worried about him hurting her. In the beginning he told her off A LOT. And he is terrifying when he does it. You'd think he was going to kill her, but now that she has learned the rules he rarely needs to tell her off. In fact he even plays bitey face with her now.
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I used a human toe bandage (sponge tube basically) and then taped and bandaged around that. Worked pretty well.
What I can see being good about this posted method was I found that any time Summit shook himself he reinjured the tail.
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I feed kibble but I occasionally will give turkey necks as a treat. I learned with Summit though to never feed them defrosted. The first one he had he didn't even chew, he just tried to swallow it down whole, gagging the whole time. There were no ill effects but it freaked me out. But if I feed them frozen he actually has to chew it, so that is how we do it now. I let them sit on the counter for about 10 minutes so they're not rock hard and then I give them to him. He loves them but I haven't really been able to find them here since we moved.
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When I drove a car I had a backseat hammock so Summit couldn't fall into the foot wells. Could he have become a projectile and come through between the driver and passenger seats? Probably.
Now I have a truck and I LOVE it. Not only is it a safer vehicle in general (except for the higher roll over risk...) but the dogs are down on the floor. Other than the first couple of minutes when we start driving they are laying down. I think their risk is much reduced riding back there than in my previous vehicle. Right now the puppy is still small enough that she mostly rides in a crate in the backseat anyway.
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Partly it depends on what the consequences of him doing damage are. For us we always, always crate a new dog because we rent. Any damage would be a HUGE problem for us.
Now putting aside damage and emotional trauma to yourself if you were to come home to find things destroyed... think about the consequences to your dog. For me, the health and safety of my dogs is something that I have control over, and having a dog ingest something that could require lifesaving surgery is just not worth my feeling guilty about crating (not that I do, I love crates). Personally I would feel way more guilty about my dog being in a position where he could die than I do about using a crate. It is important to protect your dog from your house as well as your house from your dog until you know him well enough. Summit was crated for about 3 months after we got him. He was a bounce and had been loose with his former owners for about 2 years. But no way I was taking chances on a new dog. After 3 months he graduated to being gated in our bedroom for the rest of the year and a half that we lived in that apartment. Part of that was just that he really only spent time in that one room anyway. Now that we've moved to a new house he has full reign of the house.
New puppy on the other hand. In a crate the majority of the day. If I'm not standing over top of her playing or training, she's in her crate. She probably spends close to 18 hours in her crate when everything is said and done. I feel no guilt. It keeps her safe. It keeps our house safe. And it keeps my mental health safe!
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If she was a cat zapper your cat would already be dead. It's understandable that she doesn't want to have her feet sniffed by a cat while she is sleeping. With time as the cat gets used to her s/he will probably stop sniffing at her while she's sleeping. You can help your kitty out by trying to make comfortable/safe situations with an awake Jovie. So if Jovie doesn't mind you sitting on her bed with her while she's awake you could do that and then encourage your cat to come over. S/he should feel safer since you are there to control the situation. And Jovie will be awake so she shouldn't feel the need to growl at the cat (unless she is space aggressive as opposed to sleep aggressive).
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I don't want her too big for agility!
Truman is over 80 pounds, and he somehow managed to walk on the beam (milkcrate height) in our last training class! Albeit, very clumsily, but he made it happen!
Yes, but I want her to be competitive so she needs to be closer to 60 lbs. When they get too big they get clumsy! Summit is pretty good on the equipment but he does have trouble with his hind end sometimes and he's 75 lbs.
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I hear you. Lilly has good poop but she is THE. PICKIEST. EATER. EVER. I hold my breath every meal wondering if she's going to eat or not. My ex-racers snarf up their food in about 2 minutes. They'll eat just about whatever I put in their bowl.
She's NOT little either. At 14 1/2 months she weighs 74 (probably more by now) pounds and is almost 35 inches at the shoulder. With all of that, her chest is super skinny and I can span it with the palm of my hand. She's got loooong legs, long tail, long neck, long body, long everthing. I keep waiting for her to start putting some bulk on - then maybe she'll eat better!
Thank goodness I do not have this issue with my pup. The second week I had her she quit eating for about 4 days. Lost weight. Then started eating again and is a totally ravenous beast all the time now. It's great.
Except she needs to slow down her growing. I sure hope she's going to be about 60lbs. I don't want her too big for agility! -
May not be ideal but you may need to consider feeding different foods to different dogs? The more individuals you have the lower the chances are of being able to feed one food.
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Hmmm... interesting. What's her personality like in general? And what do you do with her?
My pup is only 14 weeks right now but every day I work on handling her feet, looking in her mouth, in her ears, her eyes, squeezing her belly, etc. I also play with her on her bed. Hug her to me, put her in my lap, lay over top of her. All while giving treats every few seconds to reinforce her tolerance. I also make weird noises and sometimes scary faces. It's of course best to start as young as possible, but if you haven't been doing these things I'd start introducing them and rewarding her for accepting.
My pup is very confident and outgoing though. Not much phases her, at least so far. We've been doing TONNES of socialization. I'm hoping we will never have an issue with growling.
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Kili came to me from the breeder on Purina ProPlan Puppy. I switched her to Medical Intestinal Puppy because I got a free bag from work (it was about to expire), then switched to Medical Development. Now I'm switching to Hill's Healthy Advantage Puppy because I'm hoping the food was the reason why she has been SOOO thirsty (I doubt it though). Tonight she has BAD gas. I'm hoping it's all the extra treats she had today for training and not the new food because otherwise we'll have to switch back.
Poops have always been pretty good though regardless of what I feed. I wouldn't call them FIRM, but they are certainly formed and can be picked up easily.
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In theory it is best to keep the name short, 1-2 syllables. I don't think they have a harder time learning longer names, and it's not exactly a disadvantage to training except that you have a longer word to get out before the command. That's a problem in a situation where speed is important... agility and maybe obedience at times. My biggest concern is that I'd my dog is about to run into the street I want to get the name out as quickly as possible, so a short name is better.
Both my dogs have short, distinct names that are easy (to me) to get out in a hurry.
Cooked Eggs And Pet Insurance
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
It depends on the company. PetSecure who we use has the same premiums regardless of age. Summit costs me exactly the same as Kili (Summit is almost 8, Kili is 5 months), the difference is in the deductibles. Kili's deductible is about $200 less than Summit. However, if I didn't have insurance I'd have to pay that and MORE anyway, so I don't mind.
Can't speak for companies in the States. As I said, we use Pet Secure and are quite happy with them. You can see my thread "Kili going for urinary scope" for full details of our policy.
Honestly, I highly recommend pet insurance. I'd rather pay a known amount every month and only have to pay a few hundred dollars unexpectedly than have to pay a couple thousand unexpectedly. And you never know. Kili is going for a scope next week and the quote for that is $2000. She's already racked up probably close to $1000. And I'm a vet. As far as I'm concerned, if vets need pet insurance to pay for their medical needs everyone needs pet insurance! My boss had to put down a dog many years ago (a greyhound actually) after it was hit by a car (freak accident... they happen!) and they couldn't afford the medical bills.