I believe every dog has different dietary needs, so how do you determine which is the right food to feed a dog?
I’ve done a bit of trial and error on my own, but thought one of you may have guidelines on the subject. For example I have a book Eat Right Four Your Type – that states different blood type people require different diets.
Thanks, Vikki
I moved to Moscow from the U.S. last week and unfortunately on the night of arrival (Friday 22nd) my 10 year old dachshund, Riley, got a piece of rawhide stuck in his esophagus which ended up requiring surgery. The surgery took place on Monday. The surgeon pushed the rawhide down to the stomach and then opened the stomach to retrieve the raw hide. Riley was supposed to come home tonight, but his RBC, Hemoglobin, and Hematocrit levels have been dropping for last two days. Today the 29th, they were 3.2, 70, and 23 respectively. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a count on reticulocytes before the transfusion, but the vet said that even if he was producing RBC he wasn’t producing at a rate fast enough to catch up. They did ultrasound and xray to make sure there was no internal bleeding. And so, today they kept him to do a transfusion. I have been struggling with language barriers and am frustrated beyond belief…Half the time I am scared I am going to loose the little guy and half the time I am sure that they are just creating these tests and procedures to get more money out of me,
A little background on Riley… 2 years ago he was diagnosed with SARDS and lost 100% of his eye sight. Approximately one year before the SARDS, he had developed a severe gastro intestinal problem. He was loosing weight fast and couldn’t keep food down. We and vet feared he may have cancer. After putting a scope down into his gut, the vet described his stomach/intestines as hamburger meat and the intestine walls were thickened and unable to absorb nutrients. I can’t remember all of the discussions, but the vet said that there was an increased level of some type of bacteria that was causing the problem. It was assumed ( I don’t think we ever got a strong diagnosis) that he had a food allergy and the vet put him on Z/D ultra and 1/4 of a 250g Metronidazole tablet 2 times daily with food. This has managed his symptoms very well. We thought we had lost him and then he was back and doing great as long as we did not change his food and continue the metronidazole. He has had annual liver function tests since he went on the metronidazole 3 years ago. Then as I said one year after the gastro intestinal problems he goes blind, diagnosis SARDS.
Now after this latest catastrophe, I am trying to figure out what could be causing the anemia…if as the doctor thinks it is not due to bleeding.
Could it simply be an iron deficiency due to blood loss during the surgery?
Could it be stress or some other kind of delayed reaction to surgery due to blood loss?
I have heard that SARDS is associated with Cushing’s. Riley may have had some early symptoms. He was loosing hair, and he was always hungry (but since he was a puppy he was always hungry so I don’t count that one). Should we check further for Cushings? If he has Cushings could it have compromised his liver, which might have been helped along further by surgery?
The vet here in Moscow has been using intravenous metronidazole on Riley. Is that dangerous for his liver, since Riley has been on Metronidazole for three years?
Anything else we should consider?
Your help would be most appreciated.
Yours Truly
Worried Doggy Mommy
I have a question, we breed my dog on 11/12/09 and she would be 60 days today. I’m unsure if she is even pregnant.
Only thing I have noticed is she is larger now around her rib are,two days ago I checked her temp and it was 101.8 This morning I checked her temp and it was 100.2.
Does this mean she is pregnant and could be delivering anytime?
Please help.
Our dog is a rescue from Miami who has toxoplasmosos and erlicchie.
We need help with a way to help him.
Thank you,
Lucille
I live on a farm in Eastern Nebraska, we keep a group of cats to keep the mice down. They have contacted an upper respiratory infection.
I have been giving them Amoxicilian, it has helped some of them but they continue to have sneezing and runny noses.
I have lost some of them when I suspect their lungs fill up.
Is there a vaccine I can give them to cure this problem?
Thank you,
Norma
Hi……….. am the director of a small no kill animal shelter in Seneca,IL. We have a number of cats go through our care and we have been waiting for a recall like this.
We have not fed these foods to our shelter pets but have noticed a very high number of neurological cats this past year ranging from paralysis to seizures. Have not been able to find a cause or a relation. Many have come in this way, some have been with us for a time, some have never been here we just know the owners. To this point our vets are baffled.
I do have to say that longer than a year before any recalls were made the last time we went through the same thing with kidney failure in many cats. Many lives were lost then and again we had not fed the foods on the recall lists.
Brenda
Thanks for your alert – at the moment I have a question for you – my dog has scabies mites – what is the best otc or rx to give him? thanks for your reply –
Adele
Our 10 year old bouvier had surgery in late September to have a couple decayed teeth removed, a general teeth cleaning and two small lumps in her hind quarter removed (biopsy indicated they were calcified fat tissue). Post surgery she was fed soft food until her gums healed (canned food).
After 14 days I tried to get her back on her dried food and began by mixing it with soft (canned), but she ate very little and then after another week chose not to eat dog food at all.
During the offering of soft food and the reintroduction of dried food, I noticed that she would vomit a few hours after consumption.
After those few weeks of trying to find something she would eat and significant weight loss (20 lbs since surgery) she began to lose hair particularly on her elbows and no new growth was happening in the site of the surgery. I began to make her home made dog food, combo of boiled chicken, rice, oatmeal, carrots, broccoli of which she willingly ate and no experienced no vomiting after eating. She has been on this diet for about 6 weeks now and she has gained back some weight but the hair loss has progressed with patchiness on her sides.
She is easily stressed and she has been very needy since the surgery (wants to be with me all the time, follows me around the house).
I should mention that we have another dog in the home and she has a great coat and appetite.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sharon
My 14 year old kitty has been diagnosed with early stage renal failure.
The vet has prescribed several foods, none of which she will eat. She did eat a couple for a few days, but after that said “no way”. I got tiredof starving my cat.
She has always preferred fish based foods. I have checked the ingredients on several and compared them to the ones suggested by the vet. It seems that the most important thing is to stay away from dry foods, which all have a high concentration of Crude Protein. I have found several Friskies Buffet Indoor Cat foods that she really likes. They are similar to the prescription foods in the percentage of crude protein, but are all lower on fat content.
Are the Friskies OK for her? Isn’t the moisture content and percentage of crude protein the most important ingredients?
After being out for less than 2 hours today, I came home to find that
my older cat’s (Carlton’s) lower canine had been nearly knocked out
during an obvious tussle with my other, younger cat.
The tooth is sitting sideways (facing outward), but still attached
within the gum. It is obviously very loose and Carlton keeps shaking
his head and flicking his tongue against it because of the tooth’s
awkward position. He’s hungry and wants to eat, but can’t manage it
and sadly walks away. There has been no external bleeding, but the gum
line around the tooth is purple and slightly swollen.
I plan on contacting a veterinarian who specializes in dentistry in
the a.m. (of course this happened on a Sunday!) and am hoping the the
tooth can be saved via a root canal. BUT, will it be too late if I
wait until tomorrow.
Will the tooth have to be pulled out (if I wait too long)? I am hesitant to bring him to an emergency hospital tonight, since I would rather deal with a doctor who specializes in
dentistry.
Kathy
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