spottydog

He's obviously gained some weight, I don't see any ribs hanging out anymore. I think he looks great! (My two cents worth!) Some hounds are just obsessed with food...And he's a very handsome dude.

Good thoughts from Calgary. All the best.

Good wishes comin' at cha!

Hi - why Panasonic? I like my Canon S95, which can be as simple or complex as you want in a point and shoot camera.

Wow Deb, that looks horrific. All Alberta dogs are pretty pent up right now because of our gawdawful temperatures - 30C, that's 12 below F for the Americans: no wonder they exploded out to see you. I hope he heals up quickly!

How lucky you were to have her even though she left too early. A lovely tribute.

Thank you for the lovely tribute. What a lovely hound.

Large abdomen and muscle wasting.

I feed raw fish all the time as a topping on kibble, although mostly it's been frozen. I don't filet, I don't gut; the bones and offal are supposed to be good for them. I cut it up and hand feed it to them after I have "primed the pump" with some other food. I buy fish heads too. Little smelts are like potato chips to them. I would definately feed them the trout, just cut it up into bite size pieces, right across the backbone.

I wonder if a repaired tooth would be able to stand up to stresses normally placed on it, being the big "cruncher" in the back?

"As long as the sheltie doesn't destroy your house, I would leave her if she can't behave at your parents. Life isn't always "fair" in the dog world. Or, maybe your boyfriend can take her or be at home with her whlie you are off with Glider. Glider shouldn't be in a prison because the sheltie isn't trained properly.

How do you do the heimlich for greyhounds? I've had to do it twice for people already. Be good to know for the hounds. I'm so glad you were able to pop out the cookie! It's horrifying how often they seem to be choking on their kibble etc.

It's a very hard thing. My condolences.

I wouldn't think it's anxiety either. If it's just an occasional thing, I wouldn't be concerned. If it's every day, there might be a stomach problem. We had a lab cross that puked up yellow bile very frequently when her stomach was empty, ie usually right before her meal. Our vet couldn't find anything wrong with her, but at some point was treated for an unrelated condition and was given a certain antibiotic, and the vomiting stopped, just like that. We wonder if she didn't have an ulcer, as we now know in people, ulcers are often (not sure always?) have a relationship to bacteria. We mentioned it to our vet, who had never heard of treating the stomach upset by antibiotics. However, that was our experience.

We make the road trip from Calgary to Vancouver annually, which is a twelve hour grind, and we just stop and feed at dinner time, with no adverse affects. An empty stomach is more likely to lead to barfing in our experience, but every dog is different!

I've transitioned from straight raw to 1 3/4 cups kibble with a topping of raw at each meal. He gets chicken with bones, usually a small piece of liver or other organ or ground beef that has organ meat in it (the butcher calls it pet trim). Occasionally, when I'm unorganized he gets the expensive professional raw patties. I don't sweat the details dailly. If I'm out of liver, I'll give him some the next day. Same with bones. I mix and match organs and haven't had any repercussions. He's not overly fussy about kidney and neither am I. I have to cook it and hand feed it to him at the end of the meal. I started him on raw as we had appetite issues and diarrea, but now he's eating like a pig and I found a kibble he can tolerate. He enjoys the raw so much that I will probably keep him on it partially. I am no long term expert, however.

Beautifully written.

Somewhat similar experience here too. I've had my boy for three years and tried many many kibble brands to settle his bowels. Some he was good on for quite a few months, then he would get the trots again, or refuse to eat it. We went raw which we do not enjoy feeding, $$$ and storage issues. The freezer has more stuff for him than us. (Sometimes we eat stuff I bought for him - nice chicken legs or cheap roasts!) Anyway, we've got him back on mostly kibble , Nutro Sensitive Stomach but with a nice big topping of raw. Keeps his appetite up, stools pretty good and cleans his teeth. I believe in the Power of Raw!

We're in the same boat as you. We had to switch to raw, which works, but is $$$ and a pain. I have managed to get him on Natural Choice sensitive stomach one cup twice a day with raw toppings. I'm attempting to increase the kibble quotient, and now we have "soft serve"...Try any of the sensitive stomach stuff, non prescription. I have a whole huge bag of Costco languishing in the basement...tried so many things...sigh...

We also had geriatric vestibular disease in our lab/shep cross - she was 12 or 13. It's quite common in shepherd type dogs. She had it on both sides, which evened out the head tilt she was left with after the first bout. It is really scary when is occurs, what with the eyes rolling back and forth and the inability to stand. The recovery took months but there was quite abit of improvement in the first few days. You may need a sling or towel to help with the instability in the back end. We found she never did recover 100%, perhaps because she was so elderly and had it on both sides, and was always susceptable to gravity when walking .on slopes. As I understand it, it is an injury to the mechanism concerned with balance in the inner ear, mostly from unknown causes, and is permanent. The brain then adapts to the lack of balance sensing equipment in the ear. We also found that it helped with her recovery after a month or two to walk on uneven ground - carefully supervised - to stimulate her brain. Best of luck with her, have patience, and I'm sure she will be back to her usual activities in a few weeks.

My boy collected soiled socks (bad housekeeping!) and took them into his crate when we first got him. The behavior went away quite quickly.

My guy will also spit out some dog cookies that other people have given him at events. We buy bulk cookies, little bone shaped things, called Liv'r' crunch at an independant shop. They are very popular in our house. He sits for them!

As done by a certified dog dentist, it was $1000 with xrays etc, but no extractions, in Calgary. But then, we pay more for just about everything, not that I'm complaining. (One of the priviliges of being Canadian...)

I'm very sorry that you lost your little girl.

No expert here, but I use a squirt gun, ( cuz it's smaller) for the rare discipline issues with my grey that have arisen. I wouldn't add a treat, it is confusing. It's just for assuaging your guilt! Do you ignore her and refuse eye contact with her when she is in that state? I think that's a good idea too. Best of luck. I have just adopted a 100 lb lab pyrenees cross that is doing it too, so I feel your pain...