Anne

My Cali died at age 15, she hadn't had anything but rabies since she was about 4. She hadn't even had a rabies for about 5 years. All my dogs got a rabies shot about 4 or 5 years ago when we moved here to Arizona. They haven't had shots since they were adopted, or in the case of my poodle, since he was 2. They are all seniors now, no one here under 10 and none of them will ever get another shot of any kind as far as immunizations go. Thankfully out here my vet doesn't push shots at all and won't even encourage a rabies shot for old dogs and the county doesn't seem to keep up on things like this. In many/some states you can get a wavier for rabies shots for geriatric dogs and cats. If the county were to keep up on things here, that is what I would do.

Not going to be long before the average person won't be able to afford to have pets, then only the rich will have pets. I think it's kind of sad, I know it's not cheap to become a vet nor to set up a practice, but just like human health care, it's going to become out of reach for many of us.

Poor girl, she's been through the mill. I bet she heals up quicker than you think! Her sore on her foot will be fine in a few days and the bruising should go away pretty soon, thankfully she's young and should be healthy. Great incision on her leg! Did she come with the bruising or did it happen during surgery?

I remember her struggle. And the pictures of that wonderful head of hair she had. She was a lady and one who loved her hounds, big and small. I think of her often along with some of the other members we've lost over the years.

I'm so very sorry Tara. Another one of the 'originals' that were here when I joined many many years ago is now gone. My sweet Cali went to the bridge about 2 weeks ago and I'm sure she was there to greet him. Godspeed Cougar.

I picked up her ashes today, so she's home. Thank you everyone for your kind words, it means so much.

I'm so very sorry.

I'm so sorry to hear about Poodle, I hope he's doing better and is up and at em very soon. My poodle sends his good thoughts too.

I'm very sad. Dave was a really great guy and loved his hounds and his family. Dave will be missed.

I've ordered drugs from here many times, great folks and good shipping. http://www.inhousepharmacy.com/digestive/entocort.html not really cheap so to say, but better than what you've been quoted.

I'm so sorry.

Awe, poor baby, hope it heals quickly! I think my Lulu is the only hound I've ever had who has perfect, never been bitten ears! My Sweet Cali has only about 1/3 of one of her ears, it was that way when she came to me, adn I'm betting she'd tell Echo that it will give her character now!!

WAIT!!!!!!!!!! There's good-eating turds?????? apparently...b/c some don't 'em vomit We've had some masterful poo eaters in our pack over the years. Our old guy Grandpa, toothless as he was, never met a yard brownie he didn't want to eat. When he got older and had laryngeal paralysis we absolutely couldn't muzzle him. I remember once yelling: "Grandpa! Quit eating sh*t and get your fuzzy old @$$ back inside!" I realized if our neighbors were within earshot they must have had a moment Yup, I'd have loved to see your neighbors faces if they heard that one Heather! I am often very happy that the house next to me is empty as I tell my girls to 'walk away from the poop' and come into the house! Or that they don't see me racing down the ramp to 'intervene' in the poop eating behaviour! Of all the behaviours of all the dogs in all the world, the poop eating is the one I wish someone would come up with a cure for!

yeah, I'd feed, but I'd add rice to her food to help make her poo more normal. AND I'd buy that one a nice stool cup to go on her muzzle. I have 2 poop eaters and they do not go into the yard without their muzzles and stool cups on them unless I am RIGHT next to them. It only takes a blink of an eye to snarf up a turd. I so wish dogs wouldn't do this.

When my Phantom had osteo, I gave him enough pain meds to make him comfy. Towards the end I gave more than the "max" novox dose and more than the "max" tramadol as well. I wasn't worried about labs or anything but pain relief. He did better with more meds. But it was only about 5 weeks from first limp until the end. I'm so very sorry you have to go through this, it's hard, very hard.

Katsu Lady aka Miss Cali Lou January 17, 1995 – January 29, 2010 Cali was indeed a Lady, and looked like a girl, you never called her a him. She came to me when she was 6 and I fostered her for a few days before I officially adopted her. She was my Alpha girl until her death. She ruled the house with an iron paw, often being the play police. She loved people, all people, kids, adults, didn’t matter to her. She was my greyhound smiler, she’d pull her lips back and give the biggest grins! Her back legs began to get weak a few years ago, but she kept right on running and playing. As time passed, they would occasionally collapse on her but she’d persist and get right back up and keep on going. But in the last few months it was becoming more and more obvious that her back legs just weren’t working very well anymore. Even the ramp was giving her fits. And in the last few days she was having a lot of trouble getting up and staying up. Today we stopped at Mickey D’s on the way to the vet and she ate two cheeseburgers and an order of fries. Then to the vet. She left softly and quietly in the most peaceful way with me telling her what a wonderful girl she was and how much I’d miss her and how very much I loved her. She was in the back of my SUV with the warm sun on her precious face. I miss her so much already. I was so lucky to have this girl in my life. It was one year ago yesterday that my Phantom left this earth. I’m sure that he was there to greet Miss Cali when she arrived at the bridge.

My 15 year old Cali has been on generic rimadyl (it's called Novox) for 2 years now with no problems at all. I paid 100$ for a bottle of 180 caps of 100 mg strength. I broke the tab into the dose that she needed so that I got way more than 180 doses out of it. Got mine at FosterSmith as well. My vet has no problem giving me scripts, nor did my vet in Ohio. If a vet doesn't understand that I cannot afford big bucks on a monthly basis, then I would change vets.

Happened to me twice, two different dogs. Thankfully I was able to make them vomit it up and there were no lasting effects, once was ibuprofin and once it was thyroid pills. Dogs do the strangest things! I keep all meds WAY up in the cupboards now. I still carry advil in my purse and I make sure it's zipped at all times.

The greyhound kennels have been using the ivermectin for years as have many of my friends who have greyhounds and other dogs! A vial of ivermectin will last you for YEARS and costs about 50$. Most folks put the dose on a piece of bread, top with peanut butter and down the hatch it goes! I bought my ivermectin at the local feed store, it was 25$ and with all my dogs, it lasts for about 4 years, store in the fridge. You can also dose them monthly with pyrantel to get the same stuff that heartgard has in it! AND a whole lot cheaper!

In the winter the temp in my house is between 60 and 70 at night and during the day it's usually up to 75, but I don't use heat during the day because it just naturally gets up to 70-75 and occasionally 80 here in Az. In the summer I keep the temp about 75-80ish or 85ish. My hounds adjust well to all those temps!

Such good news for Spartan and his new owner!

My old gal Cali had this 'toenail' that appeared to be embedded into the pad of her foot. Now while Cali is terrified of a dremel or the toenail clippers, her nails were not that bad, they just weren't even close! I pulled on it and it did not come out and yet she seemed to have no pain at all. Talked to my groomer the next day and went to look at it while I was on the phone... it wasn't there, there was NO hole in any of her foot pads. Did some more research and found out that dogs can get 'horny growths' and that they can resemble toenails. Several weeks later, there was another growth out of one of her pads, looked just like a toenail again, and again it disapeared quickly. Then she got one on her forehead and I called her my little unicorn. That one disapeared quickly too and it too looked like a toenail or a horn growing out of her forehead. Sooooo, I suspect that perhaps this might be what you found.

Oh, sounds great, I sent in a request, I'm closer, but too many dogs to get away! Thanks for posting this!

You are correct! My arsenal of drugs is amazing!!! Glue is always good too, and I have my own skin stapler as well. My vet is good about giving me what I need because I live in the middle of no where and vet care is not always available!

I agree with everything said here. I adopted a boy with horrible teeth, he was about 5. He'd been in and out of a number of homes. I tried for over 6 months to save his teeth, brushed 2 or 3 times a day etc and so forth.... didn't work. He lost 26 teeth his first dental. Took him about a day to recover. I fed my dogs raw back then and I did have to grind his bones, but it never made a difference in him except for the better. Bad teeth can really cause problems. Was very easy to keep what few teeth he had left clean and in good shape! And the pictures I have of him laying around the house with his tongue hanging out are too cute! Oh, and when I had to go back to feeding kibble, he did fine with it as long as it was small nuggets, I never had to soak it or give him special canned food because of his teeth. I have had no experience with corns, so can't help you with that one. Best of luck!