Fun FurBaby Thread, Anyone?

[donna723]

You have to be pretty careful what you feed Bostons and not just because of the gas. They can also be very prone to allergies and related skin problems. Of my three, Katy can (and does) eat almost anything. Ragan is the Allergy Queen, and Trace, with his sensitive stomach, is my little puker. But a few years ago I switched them to a high quality grain free food and most of their problems have disappeared. Ragan no longer has skin problems from her many allergies and Trace hasn't had any more tummy troubles for a very long time. They get Taste of the Wild grain free dry food, the buffalo and venison variety which they love. It also comes in lamb, poultry, and fish-based varieties but mine won't touch the fish. You just can't find a good dog food in the grocery stores - you just can't! It all has corn in it, a very common allergen in dogs that is used as a cheap filler. No nutritional value at all. I have to drive 20 miles to Tractor Supply to buy their food and it's a little more expensive but it's worth every last penny!

 

[Lil]

They can also be very prone to allergies and related skin problems.

Ours take two zyrtek a day, each, and even then Suzie gets ear infections caused by allergies. They do the paw licking too. The vet hasn't pinpointed what it is, but told us to quit giving certain types of treats. She said the biggest culprits she knows of for allergies is pupperoni and milk bones.

 

[GoingNorth]

Well, you shouldn't feed pupperoni or milk bones because they are nutritionally worthless.

The biggest allergens are corn and soy of any kind. Try getting the furkid onto a grain-free, byproduct free, meat based diet and see if the situation improves.

Treats can be things like baby carrots, sweet potatoes, "jerky" for dogs (made in USA of USA ingredients ONLY) freeze-dried liver (in pet stores), cubes of chicken or turkey or beef. Pork is safe.

Raw bones are good, including poultry. Bones only splinter when cooked. Only feed bones under supervision and make sure you feed the right size bones and not overly fatty bones. On days when you give a nice big meaty bone, that suffices for the day's food.

 

[donna723]

You have to be very. VERY careful about what treats you give too. There have been instances where treats were manufactured in China with tainted ingredients that sickened and killed dogs. And I found out that it is legal for the manufacturers to label foods and treats as "Manufactured in USA" even if the ingredients are imported from China! As long as they are produced in the USA, even if all the ingredients are imported, it's legal for them to label them as "Made in USA".

 

[GoingNorth]

That's why I wrote, "made in USA of USA ingredients".

I actually buy the freeze-dried lamb liver treats for my CATS. They're nothing but lamb liver, and once broken up into smaller bits, make wonderful cat treats that both my kids love.

Squeaky also gets bits of raw meat of various kinds as she really likes that. Thomas won't eat much of anything other than dry cat food and crunchy cat treats.

Squeaky pretty much eats anything, including pastry, which is rather weird as supposedly cats can't taste sweet. They also lack the digestive enzymes to break down carbs, which why keeping cats on grain free diets is so important.

A healthy dog with normal gut flora can digest some grains, but they should not make up more than a small percentage of its diet.

 

[GoingNorth]

I should correct myself. Much of the lamb used in pet food, like most of the lamb sourced for people to eat, comes from New Zealand.

This is a good thing as New Zealand's purity/health laws when it comes to meat (and other food products) are MUCH stricter than ours here in the US.

Watch yourself on Taste of the Wild. It was bought out by Diamond and is made in their plants now. Diamond has had a LOT of recalls due to bacterial contamination of their dry foods.

Also, when i was feeding TOTW to my cat, Gryphon, who was violently allergic to corn, got into the cat food and nearly immediately broke out in hives which turned to running sores. Classic reaction to corn.

There is apparently some cross contamination. Not much as my cats never reacted to their being grain traces in the food, but enough to set off an allergic reaction in a dog allergic to corn.

 

[Lil]

Well, this is supposed to be a "fun" furbaby thread...but I have to report that I had sad news today about my little man. Took him to the vet to follow up on the eye ulcer from a week ago Sunday. The good news was...no surgery. The bad news...no surgery because it will do no good. Since October, he has developed cataracts. The vet said they now believe that instead of (or in addition to) endothelial degeneration of the cornea, which causes the edema of the cornea, he has progressive retinal atrophy. That condition causes poor vision in bad lighting and also can cause recurring and rapidly growing cataracts.

But cause is really unimportant. He is not a candidate for cataract removal even if they would not rapidly recur. The vet said that his corneas are in bad shape from the edema and the chances of complications and infections are too great. He said there was simply no way he could ethically perform surgery on Mac. He will, eventually, be totally blind.

For now he's blind in the left eye. That's the one he had the ulcer in twice now. The vet thinks this last was not caused by the edema, but that he walked into something or perhaps didn't blink quickly enough or something; that it's an injury as opposed to a bubble from the eye condition.

On the up side, he will have some time. It will happen as the cataract gets worse on his good eye. So he has a bit of time to adjust (and so do we). A blind dog will be a challenge I suppose. He's barely middle aged for a Boston - 10 or so. We have many years left with him and will do our best to make them good ones.

 

[New Leaf]

Oh so sorry Lil.

You will have to get him a seeing eye cat......
An Unbreakable Furry Bond | The Secret Life of Cats

(((HUGS)))
leafy

 

[GoingNorth]

Sorry to hear this, Lil. Blind dogs and cats do very well in familiar surroundings.

If you have to move, or even rearrange/get new furniture, etc., take him around on a leash and show him where everything is. Let him sniff, etc. Do this a few times a day for week or two (depends on the dog) and he should do fine.

husband's GSD, Hanni, was stone-blind the last two years of her life and very visually impaired for a year before that. Her issue was age-related cataracts and she went blind at 12.

We didn't even know she was blind until the vet told us. She'd gone blind gradually and had adapted as her vision got worse and worse.

In the meantime, she was really missing Schutzhund play, especially attack work, and there was no way she could jump to hit the sleeve, and couldn't see it to boot.

I called the club president and he said, Bring her down, we'll figure something out.

So, we got down to the club. There was the agitator in his padded suit and face mask, and on his bite sleeve, were oodles of little bells.

Hanni was able to find the agitator by sound, and then zeroed in on him by scent.

When husband released her, she made a hobbling run at the agitator, and as she closed, he dropped to his knees and held the sleeve out, jingling the bells again.

Hanni hit the sleeve like a ton of bricks, the agitator let her pull it off, and Hanni made a very stiff triumphant circle of the club grounds with the (jingly) bite sleeve in her mouth.

Over the next couple of years, the folks at the GSD club spent a lot of time modifying various exercise so that the "Old Lady" could still participate in Schutzhund.

One advantage that Hanni had is that she was bonded to one of our Maine Coons, a cat called Mouse, whom Hanni had literally raised from the time he was 8 weeks old. In the house or yard, Mouse put himself in charge of escorting Hanni from place to place and making sure she didn't hurt herself.

Alone, she would find a wall or fence, and either tip her tail out sideways to touch the wall or fence, or if in close quarters, stick an ear out sideways and use that.

Lil, is your boy bonded to your female? If they are bonded, she'll help him out. One thing I'd recommend is to get some of those "baby protector" plastic thingies you put over edges and corners so he doesn't hurt himself banging into things just starting out.

 

[donna723]

They do help each other out!, My cousin had two dogs, brothers from the same litter. One of them got diabetes and although treated, he quickly became totally blind. He adapted pretty well to finding his way around the house. But he was terrified outside. They had a patio and a big fenced yard full of trees but he wouldn't get off the patio. He'd go right to the edge of the patio, then sit down there and cry because he was afraid to get off in to the grass. And then his brother would come back and get him! They would lean against each other and his brother would lead him all around the yard walking shoulder to shoulder. Cutest thing I've ever seen! They're a lot smarter and a lot more resilient than we give them credit for.

 

[Lil]

Over the next couple of years, the folks at the GSD club spent a lot of time modifying various exercise so that the "Old Lady" could still participate in Schutzhund.

Oh my this was one of the sweetest things I've ever read! I can just imagine the dog with the jingle bell sleeve being so proud. What a great bunch of people to do that for her!

Lil, is your boy bonded to your female? If they are bonded, she'll help him out.

Oh my goodness YES! Those two are practically inseparable. We got them from the same litter at 8 weeks old. We crate trained them together (the slept thru the night on night #2 and never woke us again) and they were crated together until they got old enough that they'd get grumpy if one stepped on the other in the night. lol Their crates now are side by side, so they still sleep "together" with just the mesh separating them. He grooms her all the time. (Strangely, she seldom grooms him...she gets all the baths, usually in my lap. Yuck.) When one is gone for any period of time the other is so sad. Yesterday Jabber stayed home and put her in her crate so he could get some housework done without her under foot...he said that lasted about 45 minutes before she started howling. They were SO happy when we got home. I told Jabber that unless we lose them both on the same day, we'll be doing away with our "no dogs in bed" rule, because the "widow" will just be devastated.

My worry now is that progressive retinal atrophy is genetic and they are littermates. But Suzie has had none of Mac's vision problems to date. They are very different dogs. He's tall and thin and she's short and stout. She's had ear infections from allergies he hasn't. She has a number of skin conditions he doesn't have. We haven't had her to the ophthalmologist, but her "primary" vet has told me she looked like she had the beginnings of a cataract in one eye and what looked like an old injury to the other, though Suzie's vision seems fine...I guess think 20/60 instead of 20/20. Not great, but far from blind and her eyes are clear and bright still, no cloudiness. So basically, we'll keep a close eye on her and if her vision starts to go from cataracts, we test then for PRA and if that's clear then her vision can be saved.

For now, we'll be keeping the house picked up and well-lit. His vision in his good eye is bad in the twilight and dark. We always keep him leashed outside...we may have to consider finding our coupler and taking them for walks coupled together, rather than separately, so they get used to walking side by side; she tends to follow behind him. A friend of mine has said he kept e-collar "cone" on his blind dog all the time so he couldn't smack his face on stuff, but that seems kind of mean. He hates that collar so much! We do plan on moving in the next year or so. Hopefully we'll do that while he still has some vision.

We'll get by. People adjust to blindness after all, and we don't hear and smell as good as dogs do. I'm sure he will adjust too.

 

[Lil]

They do help each other out!, My cousin had two dogs, brothers from the same litter. One of them got diabetes and although treated, he quickly became totally blind. He adapted pretty well to finding his way around the house. But he was terrified outside. They had a patio and a big fenced yard full of trees but he wouldn't get off the patio. He'd go right to the edge of the patio, then sit down there and cry because he was afraid to get off in to the grass. And then his brother would come back and get him! They would lean against each other and his brother would lead him all around the yard walking shoulder to shoulder. Cutest thing I've ever seen! They're a lot smarter and a lot more resilient than we give them credit for.

This gives me a whole lot of hope. Thanks!

 

[Lil]

we don't hear and smell as good as dogs do.

Correction: I do smell better than my dogs do...I just don't smell as well.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I have always loved to read dog stories, and I like it even better if they are true stories. So I've read lots of stories about blind dogs. One thing you can do that will help for when he has no vision (maybe after you move) is to have a standard "route" for taking a walk - same route, same direction. He can learn to identify landmarks by smell, which means later when he can't see, he will still be familiar with the "route".

 

[GoingNorth]

I wouldn't resort to the e-collar as a full time thing. It'd be very stressful for your little guy.

Better to pad/protect the corners and edges he could hurt himself on if he bumped into them. You can find that sort of stuff in baby stores. Babies R Us probably has the best prices if you are nearby. Amazon also carries a good selection.

One thing I would do is get set of "doggles" for him to wear when outdoors to protect the "Good eye" from being injured, or becoming inflamed from dust, etc. Best place to get themi s from Amazon.

The other thing is that he is going to bang into things. Dogs and cats have very sturdy skulls, the dogs much more so than the cats.

The other day ol' man Thomas had the rowdies and was zooming all over the apartment. He missed a turn into the hallway and slammed full-speed, head first into the wall. All he did was pick himself up, shake his heaq a couple of times, and he was right back to playing.

Assuming you have your dog's breeder's contact info, I'd let her know that two pups out of one litter had PRA, and that both the dog and the b!tch need to be screened for it as soon as possible. It's common in several breeds of dog,still common because breeders are too lazy/afraid to screen their puppies before sales and don't want to spent the money repeatedly screening their breeding shock yearly.

 

[Lil]

One thing I would do is get set of "doggles" for him to wear when outdoors to protect the "Good eye" from being injured, or becoming inflamed from dust, etc. Best place to get themi s from Amazon.

We've actually discussed this. Getting him to wear them might be an adventure in themselves, but especially if we take him for walks or if he's in a fenced yard with lots of trees and shrubs and such, that would be a good idea.

Assuming you have your dog's breeder's contact info, I'd let her know that two pups out of one litter had PRA, and that both the dog and the b!tch need to be screened for it as soon as possible.

Yeah...if I knew then what I know now...the breeder was not a puppy mill, she clearly cared for her dogs, but she had a lot of them. I'd call her a "hobby breeder" at best. We wouldn't go to someone like that now. I don't know if I could even find her again. Not sure where their papers are and I don't remember the name.

Suzie, to my knowledge, does NOT have PRA. Fingers firmly crossed that is the case and she'll be okay.

 

[donna723]

Another reason for getting them the Doggles is that they just look so stinkin' cute in them!

 

[GoingNorth]

Hanni died years before Doggles were invented, but she wore German Army issued working dog goggles when practicing urban rescue. They protected her eyes from dust and fumes