LuvAPuppy

We deal with it all summer. It's worse around this time of year but they start in May at Memorial Day and they go non stop all summer long almost until snow falls. Bottle rockets and fire crackers mostly but now they're using those great big percussion shells that sound like I'd imagine Afghanistan or Iraq must sound on a daily basis. I've owned four dogs over my life time and the only one not petrified by storms or the shelling is the Great Dane. And while I understand that the law enforcement has better things to do then drive around neighborhoods and look for these people, they won't even respond unless you can report an exact location of the activity. I'd really like to see them doing neighborhood patrols during the really active times....

I feel this way a lot, and I just have ONE (multiple chronic illness)dog and ONE (blessedly healthy) cat. So very happy to see her home. Heart too.

Mousie's had all of them except the Immodium. 1/4 pepcid tab twice daily, 1/2 benadryl tab and I personally prefer Phazyme gels to Gas-X mostly just because I can puncture them and squirt.

No one got you the definition if it. HGE stands for Hemorrhagic gastro-enteritis. Literal terms: hemorrhagic is bleeding, actually profuse bleeding, gastro = stomach, entrails are the intestines, both small and large and -itis is inflammation. Basically means his GI system is so irritated that it's bleeding, in many cases, dangerously. Depending on how much blood in his poo you're seeing, he may not be in any immediate danger, but he does need something like Carafate to coat his innards and seal up the holes where he's bleeding. They usually put on Flagyl too which is an antibiotic/antiamoebic and in dogs has the added benefit of anti-inflammatory properties when used for GI upset. He may be just majorly stressed by the trip and the storms, but he does need seen.

That can actually be very handy. There will be occasions you want her to go be out of the way. We used to call it "place" as in go to your "place" that is out of my way. That said, continue to work with the same command and the leash in different locations and she will get it eventually....

I thought it looked like dreaming, unless he's not always asleep like that when he does it. When my Iggy does that, it's usually soon to be followed by running and barking until she wakes herself (and looks at me accusingly). I thought I saw his front feet move once towards the end, but I wasn't sure....

My vet recommended against it for the Dane because of those side effects. We took her in once every three weeks to a month for years. Never infected or impacted, just full. Adding extra fiber didn't really seem to help. then just all of a sudden for no apparent reason it was two months between, then even longer.

Um, well...unless Plavix has a different veterinary use then it does human use, it's sort of a blood thinner. Not exactly but it does prevent blood cells from clumping and causing vascular stroke. Do you have more info?

Here PetSmart carries it. They were out for a couple months at the times I was there so I finally ordered mine from Amazon. No report yet. I try to use it once per day (the spray) unfortunately, I don't always get it done. the label recommends twice per day. that may have happened once....

has he had cultures for giardia or clostridium? he could have a bacterial infection. 5 days of Flagyl doesn't seem like very long, most (human) infections require 7-10 days of antibiotics. He might need to be rechecked if he hasn't been already by the time you read this...

I can't believe it's been three years. We weren't connected other than GT acquaintances, but it just doesn't seem like three years...

it does look like a histiocytoma. it could also be a mast cell tumor. histio is generally benign while mast cell is not. when you see the vet have them do a needle aspirate and check it under the microscope. a histio does not need to be removed but a mast cell does, with very wide margins.

SAME! Even down to the Standard Poodle... Korky loved grapes of all colours and had them regularly and died of repeated strokes at age ..... 17 I think..... with only minimal age related kidney issues. Keep us posted!

Most obedience heeling takes place with the dog on the left. You do what you're most comfortable with. Tell him "heel" and start to walk,leading with the leg next to the dog(non verbal cue he's to follow you. If you want him to stay, lead with the leg NOT next to the dog - an advanced move). When he starts to lead you/drag you, turn around wordlessly and walk the other way. It doesn't have to be at all harsh, like jerking. Just catch him off guard. The concept is that he'll start to think you're crazy and have no direction so he'd better stick by you because you don't know what you're doing. You will spend quite a bit of time walking around in little circles because as soon as you start a new direction he will sprint past you and be in the lead again. Eventually he will get the idea to stay close. Praise and treat can help enforce when he does it right.

I didn't see it here, but I didn't look very hard. if it's a duplicate post, please delete FDA Advises Veterinarians of Recent Recall of Drug, Phenobarbitol Drug is Prescribed for Animals Extralabel March 10, 2011 The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has become aware of a human drug recall for Phenobarbital tablets. Phenobarbital is prescribed by veterinarians as an extralabel use for treating seizures in animals. On February 5, 2011, Qualitest Pharmaceuticals voluntarily recalled several lots of Phenobarbital 32.4 mg and Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen Tablets 10 mg/500 mg due to a label mix-up between the two drug products. Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen Tablets were incorrectly labeled as Phenobarbital tablets 32.4 mg. As a result of this mix-up, pets may unintentionally be given Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen tablets instead of the intended drug, Phenobarbital. CVM has recently received 3 serious adverse event reports involving dogs treated with Phenobarbital tablets manufactured by Qualitest Pharmaceuticals. One report cited two of the three affected lot numbers for the recalled product. The remaining two reports did not provide the lot numbers. Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen 10/500 is what is known as Vicodin or Lortab, and is used for pain relief for people, often post surgery. It is a very strong pain medication, and the amout of acetaminophen would be extraordinarily high for a dog. If you give Phenobarbital, please check your pills. And, pass along to others that use this medication. ETA: found some lot numbers and stuff off of a different web site The affected lots were distributed nationwide to retail and wholesale pharmacies between Sept. 21 and Dec. 29, 2010 and include: • Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen Tablets, USP 10mg / 500mg, NDC 0603-3888-20, 60 count, Lot Numbers T150G10B, T120J10E and T023M10A; and • Phenobarbital Tablets, USP 32.4 mg, NDC 0603-5166-32, 1000 count, Lot Numbers T150G10B, T120J10E and T023M10A. Consumer who purchased the affected lots should contact Qualitest at (800) 444-4011 for reimbursement.

If the report on the aspirate comes back as just a histio, I would not put him through surgery unless it's really in a bad enough place that he can't walk. A histio will resolve by it's self in 6 to 12 weeks, it's just a histamine reaction. Mast Cell is a much different story and will require deep excision with wide margins as they can be cancerous. He does sound like he could be hypothyroid, which is an easy fix.

For Kent I'm happy it was a fast and apparently painless passing and my thoughts and condolences are with your family and your pack

Ask for a manual differential to see if he's regenerating red cells. They can also look for parasites like hemobartonella on the cells if they can do it fresh. The parasites die and fall off of the cells after the sample is several hours old and they're harder to tell from stain residue.

Those don't look really outrageous to me, especially for his age. His kidneys are older. If you had him fasting, he could have been a slight dehydrated which would have have altered the kidney results. His Albumin and TP aren't alarmingly low either and I'm not sure I think they'd have been lowered that little bit by fasting. Checking the urine is a good idea and perhaps having those four tests redone in 6 months too. If he's beginning some sort of digestive malabsorption, finding it sooner over later is a good thing.

I would watch it for a few days doing what your vet recommended. if there's no change or it worsens, I'd have a needle aspirate done. it looks like a histiocytoma, which is usually very benign and resolves itself without treatment in 6-12 weeks. There is also the possibility it could be a mast cell tumor, which strongly resembles a histio, but can have a sinister outcome if not excised with very wide margins (like they might just amputate his little toe if that's what it turns out to be.)

probably excessive lipemia. Lipemia is fat in the blood and if it's too much, the machine can't test through it. We used a product called Lipoclear. We'd put a measured amount of the serum into a measured amount of Lipoclear, run the tests and then multiply the results by 1.2. Try to fast her for 8-10 hrs if you can before they redraw her.

With his appointment at 3pm, would that be a long enough fasting time from his 6am breakfast? Probably. Ideal is 12 hrs but we're not looking for cholesterol or triglycerides (although they do run them on animals and Schnauzers are genetically predisposed for some reason to elevations in both). That long of a fast should clear up the lipemia (that's essentially undigested fat in the blood) and give cleaner results. That is, as long as the sample doesn't get hemolyzed.... that's where the red blood cells explode and leak their innards in to the serum. That can happen in rough handling of the sample, like drawing blood into a syringe and then squirting it in to the blood tube. Hopefully, your techs are skilled enough they draw directly in to the blood tube. Oh, if he's stressed, and who isn't at the vet, his glucose might be high even fasting. He looks really great on paper and hopefully even better with a better blood sample!

This was posted to my IG board. I didn't notice it posted here even though the date is a few weeks old. Please delete if I'm the last to know!!

Because I was a lab tech, and because it's not my vet bill I'd fast him and redo the chemistry and CBC too. There's nothing frightening there IMO, although the bilirubin is doubly elevated along with slight elevations of some other liver enzymes. The enzymes can go up because of the lipemia, but IIRC, the bili's go down with lipemia....

Eight years ago when I got her, my IG was incredibly timid and afraid of everything. She still isn't normal but she's come along way. One of the things we had trouble with was going outside at bedtime. I worked evenings and nights at the time so bedtime was anywhere from Midnight to 6am depending on the amount of lab work we got in. I finally got her to go out and potty after dark by giving her some sort of cookie after she came in. To this day, if she goes potty and it's dark out, there had better be a cookie. Sometimes she likes to go out and stand on the patio in the dark and then she expects (and usually does not get) that blasted cookie!