revamp

Rocky doesn't seem too concerned about flies, but he's scared to death of a flyswatter. He runs off and then statues with the "thousand mile stare"

Poor guy. If the vet says everything is in good shape, there's not much you can do. You can't stick cotton up his nose, and if the vet would have cauterized with silver nitrate (assuming they could even see/access where the blood was coming from) that would have hurt like the dickens. The only think I could think of is to sedate the poor boy so he sleeps, but then I don't know how wise that is after a head injury. Basically, I am no help but you have my sympathy.

I'm glad you kept an eye on things and took her in when you knew things weren't right. That being said, she's fine now and will continue to be fine. Don't "poor baby" her, or she might just start believing she's a poor baby. You're far more traumatized by everything than she is. She's young and healthy, and again is fine.

yeah, that boy is sure gonna have some poops! Pancreatitis would be a concern of mine as well. I have a butter bandit in my house, but it's my not-a-grey that's the culprit.

In regards to asking you to lift the dog to the table and asking you to keep the dog at the table... When I worked at a vet hospital, we never asked the owner to lift and/or restrain their dog. Further, we didn't allow them to lift/restrain their own dog for liability reasons (that and even though the owner always thinks they can hold their scared and snippy dog, the Vet and other techs are going to feel much better that the person who is doing the restraining actually knows what they are doing). We would *never* leave a dog of any size on an exam table without a staff member responsible for keeping the dog on the table. That was straight out negligent and dangerous. A big dog is a handful to keep on a table, and a little dog can quickly jump for it and break legs.

It seems counter intuitive for a dog that you want to put weight on, but you might try feeding slightly less than you're feeding currently to see if that makes a difference. I found success with firmer, less volume poos when cutting back on Rocky's food, then when I saw an improvement I gradually increased the food volume slightly as tolerated.

Lol at auto correct. "panache" lol

Just an update that poops are better than they have ever been. Improvement seems to have continued as time has gone on. I'm definitely staying with the green bag. My other (non-grey) is also doing well on it, although he used to poo only twice a day ever, and now sometimes goes 3x a day. There has been no noticeable impact to fur softness/shine and still no issues with dog breath, etc.

Young dogs have faster metabolisms. I wouldn't be too concerned that he's skinny because I believe that he will, in fact, fill out as he gets a little older...but if he still has spine and hips showing I would try and up his caloric intake more. My 3yo 72lb boy eats 4 measured cups of good quality food a day, plus a dentastix and a half dozen small dog biscuits. I would think your younger and bigger boy would need a good deal more than that.

I wouldn't even bat an eye. What makes you think the small piece of cake she got would be harmful to her?

My beloved, perfect, wonderful, beautiful, sensitive girl whom I lost 4 years ago at almost 15 years old was a pit bull. When I was ready to begin thinking about getting a new dog, I immediately looked at other pit bulls. But then, even though I never meant to, I was always comparing them to her which I didn't want to do. I broadened my search to any adult or senior dog of medium or larger size and saw some greyhounds in my search results. I did some research, met some dogs, and the rest is history--I ended up with a big, black, goofy boy who is pretty much entirely opposite of my sweet girl (specially in her last few years) and I still couldn't be happier. Could I have adopted another pit and been happy? I'm sure I could have. But my personal choice was to widen my search criteria and take my time finding the right *personality* for me and my family--no matter the breed, and this worked out for me. There is no right or wrong answer, and although there are some characteristics that dogs of the same breed share, this is more a large generalization than anything. Dogs are individuals and need to be measured and judged as such. I am so sorry for your loss, but know that if the time comes where you feel you want to bring another dog into your home that no matter which way you go it will be a wonderful and healing time.

http://www.iams.com/dog-food/iams-proactive-health-adult-minichunks Iams proactive health

I'm sorry to hear this. The thing is, your adoption group is made up of dog people. Not just dog people, but grey people. Not *just* grey people, but people who are operating a rescue. They will believe that your boy is perfect now that he was removed from your house/environment because that is what they want to believe. It is easier for them to think you were to blame in some way (intentional or unintentional) than to believe that the hound is unpredictably and dangerously violent because something is chemically/physically, possibly irreparably wrong with the dog. Try not to take it personally, although I can't imagine taking it in any other way in your position. See if you can contact another group.

I would suggest not driving yourself. There is also no need to pick up the ashes immediately. Take some time if you need to. Homer is in your heart and your memories, not at the vet. ETA--I would even suggest possibly having the friend run in and retrieve the ashes. When I collected by beloved heart dog's ashes, I thought I had it all together, but then the sympathetic and knowing expressions and the hushed voices the veterinary staff treated me to did me in. I appreciate that they felt bad and empathized with me, but it just made me realize my loss all that more strongly.

Thanks for the advice. He finally calmed down enough to lie down around 9:30 last night, so approx. 4.5 hours after being dosed. He certainly did had a paradoxical reaction, and I'll be calling the vet to see if there is something else we can try. I saw a veterinary article online that suggests Clonidine when dogs have had paradoxical reactions to alprazolam. Bad news is the thunder is in full effect this morning, but I didnt want to give him another doze of alprazolam so he's just shaking in his kennel.

Rocky is hyper hyper hyper and, as my grandma would say, "full of piss and vinegar". How long lasting are the effects of xanax? He won't stop pacing, whining, barking at me and grabbing at things. I tried to walk him and he was an overly-excited bucking, pulling, bronco the whole time. Sigh...

Dang it....had large storm cells heading this way--scheduled to start thundering by 7pm (100% chance of heavy precipitation), so gave rocky 2mg of xanax at 5pm. Now it's pm and I check the weather to see how far away it is, and the weather (in the last hour) suddenly said their is NO chance of precipitation and the storm (which was the entire size of WI) has disappeared! Now I have a 75lb goofy stumbling dog who is feeling frisky and running and falling everywhere. He's so happy and I am just laughing my ass off, but now I am going to have to leash him or kennel him to keep him from crashing into something or breaking a leg. Stupid weather.

Still doing well on the green bag, and this week had another negative fecal. I bought the big 47lb bag at Sams for I think $38. They only had mini-chunks, though, and I had been buying the regular sized chunks. I doubt my dogs will care one way or another, though.

I bought a jar of these to help Annie Bella with her anxiety on car rides. One "cookie" worked great for her. Her anxiety was decreased by 80 to 90 percent and it didn't matter if she was already a bit anxious, which she gets when she senses I'm planning a car ride. The thing about Xanax (and maybe other drugs but I've only used Xanax) is that it has to be given in advance of the anxiety-producing event or else the nervousness the dog feels overwhelms the calming effects of the drug. Well, I went and placed an order. Won't hurt to have on hand and there have been a couple strong recommendations for them now.

Received a Rx for 2mg alprazolam (xanax) as needed administered 2-3hrs prior to storms. We're supposed to have more storms tues-thurs of this upcoming week, so we'll see if we need it and if so, how well it helps.

I found that thread about the biscuits:

I've tried reading to Rocky (Selections from Whitman's Leaves of Grass as well as Shakespeare's Sonnets) but it didn't make any difference. I haven't tried singing, but I don't think that would be very soothing to anyone...lol

I read on one thread somewhere about calming cookies that someone was using for their dogs. Can anyone remember what those were or can find that thread?

So, like pretty much everyone else in the US, we've been in a severe drought. Well, last night we got our first measurable rain in the area in what seemed like forever, but we got it in the form of 4 inches in 10 hours with LOTS of thunder all. night. long. Rocky didn't sleep, and spent the entire night panting wildly, shaking severely, with eyes fully dilated and drooling all over himself and everything else. Thundershirt? No help. Rescue remedy? No help. Benedryl? No help. I felt powerless and awful that there was nothing I could do to help him. I simply crated him, covered his crate with a blanket, and turned on a whitenoise machine that I bought for him and let him ride out the storm...it was the best that I could do. As soon as the vet opened, I put in a call for meds. The vet wasn't in yet and I had to go to work, but it sounds like they will have *something* for me to pick up today after work. I would assume Xanax. The good news is, there are no more storms in the forecast for the next few days, and the way this summer has gone there may not be any more storms for all I know. But I do know that I don't want Rocky feeling like that again if there's something I can do to help (medications). Rocky is 73 lbs and is otherwise young and healthy. What type of dosage would you expect and does anyone have any experiences to share regarding treatment for thunderphobia?