PETS Thread

[Weasel]

FINALLY got home to see my little pup Bonbon for the first time in two weeks. She was having a good first week but then I think she got all freaked out when my roommate took her home and I wasn't there for the last week. She bit one of my coworkers :/ but really it was just becuase she was having a weird time and she doesn't know the girl. I still feel bad about it. Bonnie just won't learn to like strangers, it really fucking sucks.

Anyways, Sookie is finally paying attention to me, she was clearly mad when I came home. Bonnie is all tuckered out. I missed bonnie's first birthday, but I figure I'll just celebrate the day I got her in september. Sookie turns 4 next month which sounds insane to me.

back to work tomorrow, and I'm not even mad because I missed all of my favorite work dogs!

[Merciel]

MAB <3 <3

Also!, things are in motion to get this little guy safe.



If all goes according to schedule, he'll arrive the first weekend in August, and will hopefully get the boot shortly thereafter.

Also also!, we're (probably) adding these two fatties to the menagerie in a couple of days.



Their names are Meg and Jo. I haven't decided if I'm keeping those names yet, but it doesn't really matter since they're guinea pigs and they will never learn their names and so I can arbitrarily rename them into forever.

They came out of a hoarder house and are now living in a foster home that has loads upon loads of other homeless pigs, so the foster was pretty ecstatic to unload these guys on us. An adult pair is not the easiest to place (most people want babies, and many people only want one), and that is a large part of why we're taking them.

[frito pie country]

FINALLY got home to see my little pup Bonbon for the first time in two weeks. She was having a good first week but then I think she got all freaked out when my roommate took her home and I wasn't there for the last week. She bit one of my coworkers :/ but really it was just becuase she was having a weird time and she doesn't know the girl. I still feel bad about it. Bonnie just won't learn to like strangers, it really fucking sucks.

Anyways, Sookie is finally paying attention to me, she was clearly mad when I came home. Bonnie is all tuckered out. I missed bonnie's first birthday, but I figure I'll just celebrate the day I got her in september. Sookie turns 4 next month which sounds insane to me.

back to work tomorrow, and I'm not even mad because I missed all of my favorite work dogs!

townes always cold shoulders me for a day when i leave and come back

also, what is this work dogs

i want one

[mr. wizard]

MAB <3 <3

Also!, things are in motion to get this little guy safe.



If all goes according to schedule, he'll arrive the first weekend in August, and will hopefully get the boot shortly thereafter.

Also also!, we're (probably) adding these two fatties to the menagerie in a couple of days.



Their names are Meg and Jo. I haven't decided if I'm keeping those names yet, but it doesn't really matter since they're guinea pigs and they will never learn their names and so I can arbitrarily rename them into forever.

They came out of a hoarder house and are now living in a foster home that has loads upon loads of other homeless pigs, so the foster was pretty ecstatic to unload these guys on us. An adult pair is not the easiest to place (most people want babies, and many people only want one), and that is a large part of why we're taking them.

ur doing good work here!

congrats!

[pierrot]

so i found a hot spot on colin's back today and brought him into the vet to get it looked at. i've never dealt with this problem and didnt really look it up because i was in a rush to get him looked @ before work. i basically ok'd everything the vet recommended (Sedation, examination of the area and treatment w/ cortisone (for his scratching) and an antibacterial) and they told me around $200.

now i'm reading about hot spots and it seems like a lot of trouble for the size of the spot (about a nickle). am i going to be paying too much?

regardless of that situation, i'm starting to worry about his allergies. wondering if i should switch him to a grain free diet, or maybe take him to a pet dermatologist to really pinpoint the cause. i dunno. paging merciel!!

[wintergreen]

looking forward to updates on eldwin!

[Merciel]

Sedation for a hot spot seems a little weird, but I'm not a vet.

Where exactly is it located? How long has it been there? Do you have any idea what might have caused it?

Do you know for sure that he has allergies, or is that just a maybe?

[beave]

[pierrot]

Sedation for a hot spot seems a little weird, but I'm not a vet.

Where exactly is it located? How long has it been there? Do you have any idea what might have caused it?

Do you know for sure that he has allergies, or is that just a maybe?

its above his left shoulder, like inbetween his shoulder and spine.


brought him home, he's scratching that spot nonstop now. i feel like scratching is just going to make it worse but the vet said its ok and that the hot spot should be gone in 7 days. my receipt says they gave him a hemostatic clip, but google tells me thats for neutering/spaying.

and yeah, i'm sure he has allergies. thought it was fleas, and he had them, but when we got rid of them he just kept scratching plus another vet (the one i shouldve gone to today if i had the time to drive there) told us that his ear canals had inflammation, which is a sign.

basically i just feel underinformed and helpless when it comes to easing colin's misery. he's been giving me the saddest looks ever since i got home. auhgal;jdk;a

[Dr. Norm Thagard]

Mah boy s getting so big! I'm proud that he treated his ball like a gentleman even though he thought about giving it a hump.

[Merciel]

Dude what the fuck your vet told you it was okay to let him keep scratching an open wound? Fire that vet, that is the most retarded thing I've heard all day.

[Merciel]

Here is how hot spots work:

-- your dog gets irritated by something. This could be flea bites, allergies, self-inflicted overgrooming from OCD, bad reaction to a topical anti-flea/tick ointment, a nip at the dog park that broke the skin and healed up itchy, a knot of moist hair rubbing against the skin, whatever. There are infinite possible causes.

-- your dog messes with the irritation and makes it worse.

-- licking and chewing enables bacteria to get into the skin and the wound becomes infected. Also the licking and scratching and chewing is keeping the hot spot moist (encouraging bacteria to breed) and is worsening the wound and preventing it from healing.

Treatment usually involves clipping or shaving away hair if that seems to be irritating the wound, then cleaning the wound and using an antibiotic to control the bacteria in there. You also have to keep the dog from scratching or chewing the wound as it heals, though, because otherwise you're just going to get the whole cycle all over again and new bacteria will be introduced and the wound will stay aggravated and it won't get better.

Ultimately you need to figure out what caused the underlying irritation and address that, though, and for that you need a (good) vet because that is way out of my area of expertise.

If it's a food allergy, the most common culprits are wheat, corn, chicken and beef. You can find limited-ingredient foods (or make them at home yourself, it's not that hard) and go through various elimination diets to narrow down the possible culprits, but this is a long and painstaking process because you have to keep your dog on each food for at least 6 to 8 weeks to see if the symptoms are abating, and if the dog gets a treat or sneaks a piece of garbage that could have one of the suspect ingredients, you have to start that part of the trial all over again.

Fortunately actual food allergies are very rare. Intolerances (where the dog has a bad reaction from eating lots of the ingredient all the time, but doesn't react to a single exposure to a small amount, which is what a true allergy would be) are more common but still not something I see that often.

[pierrot]

yeah i'm never going to this vet again. the whole process was incredibly unprofessional. the vet didnt even tell me about cortisone's side effects, thankfully i already know what to expect.
and i dont know how im going to keep him from scratching it, he's home alone 5+ hours a day and of course, when i'm sleeping.
i'm going to wait a few days and if he still seems upset i'll go to another vet.

oh yeah, the total bill was $250. $140 for anaesthesia!!!! shame on me, i guess.

[pierrot]

thanks for the info. he's been eating wheat and chicken since we got him and he's always scratched. i could start home cooking his meals. do you have any recommended recipes?

[Dr. Norm Thagard]

When cordelia gets itchy, i put a t-shirt on her. It works for her, and we wear the same size t-shirt.

[raskolnikov]

yeah, we got toddler size shirts for bella.

[Merciel]

You can give him Benadryl -- just regular 25 mg over-the-counter Benadryl -- to mitigate the itching. I don't know what else you're giving him, though, so if you have another medication that's supposed to alleviate itchiness then maybe just use that instead of double-dosing him. I don't know how big Colin is, but when I had the mange puppies I was giving them one Benadryl every 4 hours. They were about 7 pounds.

You can also put him in a wrap, like an old baby shirt or a Thundershirt or even just a securely wrapped Ace bandage that covers the spot and keeps him from getting at it. You might have to experiment with a few different things to see what stays on and what he seems able to tolerate.

If he's chewing at the wound (seems unlikely given the placement, but who knows), you can add a squirt of bitter apple spray to deter biting.

[pierrot]

tshirt is a great idea. we did some antihistamine for two months and didnt notice a change and kinda fell off since he hates pills. maybe it was just that brand that was shitty so ill give benadryl a shot.

[Merciel]

re: food -- simplest thing is to find a limited ingredient food that doesn't contain the suspect ingredients. Acana rolled out a line of these last year (I think -- it might have been introduced earlier but we only got it a year ago here) and a lot of other brands also have grain-free/limited ingredient formulations (those are not the same things, but it's worth reading the labels because one does often result in the other).

OR you can feed your dog a homemade diet. I don't have a strict recipe because I am of the opinion that variation over time is healthier and more interesting for the dog than eating the same thing every day. But generally I try to stick to a formulation of about 50-60% meat (including bones) + 5-10% organ meats + 25%-30% pureed fruits and vegetables (this is on the high side because Dog Mob gets a LOT of meat as training treats, so their actual food-in-the-bowl is adjusted a little) + eggs and oats and cottage cheese and whatnot to make up the rest.

I buy meat that is not more than 15% fat but otherwise I'll try lots of different things and buy different parts, so the proportion of bone varies. If I don't have meat with bones for some reason, I'll use crushed eggshells, but that doesn't happen often.

[pierrot]

haha, he couldnt really walk around in this but i found a doggie sweater my mom gave us to use instead

[Merciel]

we did some antihistamine for two months and didnt notice a change and kinda fell off since he hates pills. maybe it was just that brand that was shitty so ill give benadryl a shot.

Not everything works for every dog, so if antihistamines don't work for him then that's fine, scratch it off the list and try something else.

I feel like it's only a short-term aid anyway, or at least that's been my experience. It seemed to help the mange puppies for the first three or four days, but after that it didn't seem to do as much and I quit using it soon after, because it wasn't worth the hassle of jamming pills down their throats for so little improvement.

[dcm]

got myself a birthday present from the humane society yesterday:



his name is terry and he's a 2yo harrier mix. he basically looks like a huge beagle. he is FAT right now. once he drops like 15-20 lbs he will be gorgeous.

[buboclot]

my amazing 6 yr old cat is not well

been back and forth to the vet this month. she lost a bunch of weight (although appears to have gained a little back since the first visit), apparently has a heart murmur and is now having asthma-like attacks where she wheezes and gasps for air

vet watched a video i took from last night and was almost certain it was asthma (treatable) and unrelated to the heart murmur/weight loss. then x-rayed today and discovered fluid in her lungs. now thinks its probably something much worse and that all three are related. going back tomorrow for an ecco scan.

carried her home just blubbering uncontrollably on the street. just the worst fucking day. i cant live without this

[beave]

i will hug you forever

[Dr. Norm Thagard]

i will hug you forever

Yeah, blubbo, a group hug is in order

[Dr. Norm Thagard]

I mean buboclot, not blubbo. Hehe

[Dr. Norm Thagard]

got myself a birthday present from the humane society yesterday:



his name is terry and he's a 2yo harrier mix. he basically looks like a huge beagle. he is FAT right now. once he drops like 15-20 lbs he will be gorgeous.

This guy looks awesome. Are you keeping the name?

[mouse pad]

looks like a cool cat, buboclot. hope it works out all right.

[buboclot]

thanks for the good thoughts peeps. she's a great cat. a runt of the litter that ran into my house off the streets during a party in college. feral as fuccc. now shes most chill and so loving.

i'll share any good news.

[bluemovers]

so mrs. movers and i put a hold on this little guy at a nearby humane society. we were interested in him last week but someone else was adopting him. i guess she subsequently broke her hip and now cannot adopt him, so we called. hoping it all works out.