problem with my dog

[Ben]

I agree. Exhaust the available tests. Get other opinions. The vet we visit is very aggressive with analysis and more conservative with treatment.

[Sam]

Well, we promised our daughter a new puppy for her birthday, and for moving back home from UT Knoxville to attend University of Memphis (she will end up taking the dog with her to an apt. or house later when she moves out, again). As part of the purchase price, she gets the new dog shots and checkups for free for the 1st 3 visits, and to make sure the dog has no genetic defects or life-threatening illnesses - the dog as a 12 month guarantee of sorts. So the daughter is going to ask that vet about our dog and its symptoms and what he thinks we should do, and I am going to call the original vet to talk tomorrow afternoon. Since the poodle eats, sleeps, runs, plays and seems to urinate without wincing or pain (it just pees more) and since her urination in the house does not appear to have blood, I do not think it would hurt to wait a couple more weeks.

I read a link supplied in this thread and then linked from it, and they said some cystitis symptoms can be treated with aspirin and cranberry juice. I will have her ask the vet about that.

Sam

[Johnnie]

Your current dog is already being ousted by another dog who doesnt even live there yet.

J

[Gatorade]

her family is the type that might be inclined to take a dog to the woods, shoot it and be done.

Remind me never to cross your wife. I would sleep with one eye open after you retire.

I recently went through that with my cat. I had her for 16 years. She was a fiesty little cat when she was young. Then she mellowed out with age but the last year she had been looking old. Running up and down our two story house, but old. Then on a Thursday she was looking pretty bad and hadn't eaten from the night before. She was drinking water but not eating. She had done that a couple times before when we switched her food so I didn't think much of it and gave her some soft food mixed with the dry stuff. Friday was more of the same. Saturday as I was getting ready to leave for work she sat in one place and didn't move. I held her for a while and she didn't complain but wasn't moving much. I left for work arround 9 and my wife was taking her to the vet after they opened. She called me up arround 1 and the vet said her kidneys had shut down. They were probably not working right for about a year or so but we never knew it. He said he could give her something to help her for the next couple days but that it would just prolong things. He said if we took her home she would die shortly anyway. I hated having to tell my wife to put her down over the phone while customers were in the store. I hated having to put her through that. She was in pain and there was no chance for recovery. If there was anything else I could have done I would have done it. I left for work expecting to see my cat when I got back home. The next time I saw her I was taking her out back to bury her. You do what you think is right, but in my book unless there is pain and something that is incurable then you fight it.

[My father's razor]

Sam - it might be too late for your dog, but we have switched ours over to the BARF diet, Bones and Raw Food. We buy the food frozen from the pet store, we have a choice of chicken, lamb, goat, bison, beef etc. The animal is processed whole, without skin and hair, and probably without the head, but everything else, including bones, and stomach content. It is usually ground up either with vegetables, or, as our dog prefers, without. It is served raw, just thawed.

Our dog goes nuts over it, and we are presently boarding another dog at the moment, who now does not touch it's former food, kibble, but demolishes the raw food in 2 seconds flat.

The raw food is mostly absorbed by the dog, so it's stools become small and very hard, as they are mostly bones.

My understanding of the theory if the BARF diet, is that most processed and cooked foods for dogs, lack the important minerals, enzymes etc, that they would get in the wild. They would hunt, they are carnivors, and would eat the kill whole, including stomach content, etc.

All I can say is that our dog loves it, and if it keeps him out of the vets office, I am saving money and have a healthier, happier dog.

That said, it is sad to see our friend and companion in trouble. I have been through death a couple of times recently, as we adopt older dogs, and it is never easy. We have learned, however, to observe the animal, and, if we think it is in pain, we have to look at it from the animal's viewpoint. We have seen that the animal will tell us, it will not eat, not drink, and become listless - then you know it is time.

Best of luck - Hugh

[Sam]

Johnnie, the new dog was promised to my daughter way back in november or so, when she said she was going to come home to attend college. She wanted a yorkie and wanted to pick the dog out as the two other dogs were ostensibly for her, and yet she never actually picked either one. It just so happened that it coincided with the situation of our oldest poodle (we have a toy, the one that is having the problem, and a teacup that is 3).

Ill treat the dog and am inclined to run tests on it to see what it is or is not. It could be diabetes, cancer, bladder stones, or her kidney. I will talk to two vets and see the best course of action. Other than the staining of her coat, and the excessive urination, nothing visible as far as pain or whimpering or difficulty is noticed and I probably have seen this develop over a longer period of time than I know.

Sam

[clownjuggles]

Sam,

I put Shelby my best friend of 13 yrs to rest in 2003. She had a rapid progression of illness that had her experiancing strokes that took her feet and legs right out from her and left her shaking with no bladder control. Afterwards she would be confused and acting ashamed for what she saw had occured. She always had great pride in herself and held her head high with great dignity even in the worst circumstances. But it was embaressing for her. The strokes started off slowly maybe once every couple weeks, but eventually progressed to two, sometimes three a day. At this point I had talked to vets that I knew and trusted implicitly and they said that I could take her to University of Michigan for an MRI and cat scan but I would just be prolonging the inevitable. She wasn't able to have any dignity in her life, so I went to the vet and I went in with her and held her as they injected her with the potassium and she just looked back into my eyes happy to have people she loved around her. After a few moments she was gone.

I should say a couple things that I found comforting before and after I had to make my decision. Firstly, the ones we love never truely are gone. They live on in our dreams and memories and in stories and one day we will see them again. Secondly, Dogs are different from you and I. They have memories of the past and present, but not the future. So they have no fear or dread of death. They will remember the good times of the past and present but will remember pain and suffering as well. I would like to think that Shelby lived out her life with more memories of the good times than of the times she was ill.

I hope this helps. I wish you the best of luck with your friend and I hope you don't have to make any decisions for a long time if need be.

[Gatorade]

Dogs are different from you and I. They have memories of the past and present, but not the future. So they have no fear or dread of death.

I wish I could live like that sometimes.

[Sam]

I talked with the original vet. He feels very confident it is a golf ball sized bladder stone. Some can be dissolved with diet, but that size, rarely. He doubts she would get a kidney infection due to its size. She will urinate more frequently. I am inclined to led it ride. Now, if we did the testing, he would do more perhaps to see if there is lung cancer or other problems, but that runs $200 more and still the surgery is there. My daughter talked with another vet (the one who saw the new puppy) and he says that all sounds like what he would do and surmise at this point.

Sam

[Ben]

Dogs are different from you and I. They have memories of the past and present, but not the future. So they have no fear or dread of death.

I wish I could live like that sometimes.

Me too.

[AACJ]

Unfortunately when we had to put our 13 year old dog down last year, the vet didn't have answer as to what the problem was with her, even after spending 2500.00 on her. The poor thing just would not move, wouldn't eat and seemed tired, so we took her to the vet, where she remained until she passed.

I hated that we had to put her down, but it was late in the evening, we didn't know if she would make it thru the night, she seemed to be getting worse each day and we didn't want her to die in a sterile cage with no one that loved her around, so we came to the painful decision to do it then. My wife held her, sobbing and bawling the whole time, I did the injection with the help of the vet and I listened and felt her heart stop as I pushed the fluid in.

Turely one of the most awful days in my life, but also a relief I felt when I set her free from her pain, now it seems the pain has moved to our family with the loss of our dog.

[Johnnie]

Johnnie, the new dog was promised to my daughter way back in november or so, when she said she was going to come home to attend college. She wanted a yorkie and wanted to pick the dog out as the two other dogs were ostensibly for her, and yet she never actually picked either one. It just so happened that it coincided with the situation of our oldest poodle (we have a toy, the one that is having the problem, and a teacup that is 3).

Ill treat the dog and am inclined to run tests on it to see what it is or is not. It could be diabetes, cancer, bladder stones, or her kidney. I will talk to two vets and see the best course of action. Other than the staining of her coat, and the excessive urination, nothing visible as far as pain or whimpering or difficulty is noticed and I probably have seen this develop over a longer period of time than I know.

Sam

I was just messin with you Sam. I hope all works out with you dog(s).

J

[aircraft_electrician]

As someone who had 2 wonderful toy poodles for 18 years, I hope all works out for you and your small canine friend, and I hope it's a treatable condition. Definitely get a second opinion if your vet says he can't treat the dog.

One of my poodles developed epilepsy and started having seizures at about 13 years old; one vet told us just to put him down, but we found another vet willing to put him on medication to control the seizures, and he lived a good life for 5 more years. Finally the medication couldn't keep up with the disease, and we had to let him go. This was the same time that our other toy poodle(they both grew up together) lost both his hearing and his eyesight, and just couldn't get around anymore. He couldn't even find his own way to his food and water dishes, so we chose to let him go at the same time. That was one of the roughest days of my life. I lost 2 very good friends that day, but I know that they weren't in pain any longer.

Tom

[Bill Dodson]

How's your dog doing today, Sam? I've been thinking about you guys and praying for her.

Bill

[Sam]

she is in no pain, just pees a lot. no mess in the house overnight

the new pup is not eating, and threw up a bit. had gotten a kennel shot at the vet yesterday but as a precaution the 19 year old daughter got up at 7:30 and is taking her to the vet

thanks bill

sam

[Johnnie]

hey sam,

how long have you had the new dog? when we first brought our dog home she was quite nervous. she really didnt eat for 3 days. once she started getting comfortable around us she began to eat. we've had her for almost 2 years now and she howls for us to feed her. needless to say, she is comfortable now.

[Sam]

got her on the 10th, so she has spent now 2 nights with us

[clownjuggles]

Sam,

Don't forget that the new dog is also very nervous because with another dog in the house it is learning its place and will be nervous because of all the smells of your older gal define her territory already so your younger dog is in a new area.

[Sam]

Here are some pics of the new one. The new one is drinking but not eating, and the Doc said she may have a reaction to the shot she got, and an outside shot at Parvo. We are loading the water with Karo syrup, what they call Doggie Gatorade. This is Sassy:

[Johnnie]

She's a cute lilttle pup.