The Everything Pet Thread
Posted by biodancer on Jul 04, 2008 · Member since Jul 2007 · 978 posts
I wanted to start this thread to be all about our pets. Ask questions, help answer questions, tell a funny story about something your cat/dog/ferret/bird/rat, etc did, update everyone on your pet's health, tell us about a new pet, vent, grieve, laugh, etc. I know I'll be posting here a lot and I hope you'll join me!
:)>>> :)>>> :)>>> :)>>>
We just got our first foster kitty! The rescue dropped him off last night. He is staying in the basement for now until he gets settled in. The family that had him gave him up because he was too active and didn't get along with their older cat. He is a little over a year old, orange and his name is PJ. We are hoping that once he gets comfortable here he will be a good playmate for Murray. If so, we may adopt him ourselves. I'll post a picture once he comes out from the blanket he has been hiding under :)
lb, what's the update?
bd, that's awesome! I can't wait for pictures.
Remember how I was talking about Olen's flea/tick/heartworm med., and how it made him pee a ton last month? Well, I was pretty sure it was just too large of a dose for him (he's at the low end of the weight range), so I put on a little more than 3/4 of the tube for this month, and now he's peeing less than normal! I mean, I think he's totally fine, it's just a strange occurrence. Maybe his kidneys are just super sensitive to it, and are trying to balance it out. He's still drinking normally, just retaining more of it, I guess. Weird! I'll take it over gallons of pee every 2 hours, any day.
We left him at my parents' house over the weekend for an Easter trip (he wasn't allowed as a house guest), and it was so sad! He did fine, and he was a good boy, but I hate leaving him. He was sooooooooooo excited to see us. My parents couldn't believe it! My dad also couldn't believe his poop size. hehe
<3
We have to leave Oliver at my parents' house to travel down to my marathon this weekend, and I am so sad we're going to be apart. I've asked my parents to come to the marathon on Sunday and bring him to watch and then we can take him home with us. We haven't been apart before, and I'm sad! :(
AC: my parents are also amazed at the size of Oliver's poop. I keep telling them it's because he's a healthy vegan boy. I think they're going to at least consider feeding their dog a vegan food now. Win!
I'm so glad Olen is a fruit dog! (we like to sing, "fruittt dogggg, fruit doggggg, live in the world of a lil fruit dog" (you know, to the tune of the old Nick. show, CatDog)
He loves pretty much all fruits, and gets so excited at the sound of a banana peel snapping open. <3
Nope, ours is Nature's Recipe Veg Formula - smells like straight up garlic!
Ohhh. Olen loves his Natural Balance, but I might look for that ^ sometime. (I thought dogs weren't supposed to have garlic, though!)
*Insects are animals.
(sorry, I wanted out of that thread)
I don't know about the garlic, but I know they aren't supposed to have onions - and I tend to drop onions on a daily basis and the dogs run for them (as usual) and I yell "NO Onion! You will die!" and they scatter - sometimes I yell that when its chocolate too, but I always say onion because they know what that means....
Nope, ours is Nature's Recipe Veg Formula - smells like straight up garlic!
Ohhh. Olen loves his Natural Balance, but I might look for that ^ sometime. (I thought dogs weren't supposed to have garlic, though!)
*Insects are animals.
(sorry, I wanted out of that thread)
I don't know about the garlic, but I know they aren't supposed to have onions - and I tend to drop onions on a daily basis and the dogs run for them (as usual) and I yell "NO Onion! You will die!" and they scatter - sometimes I yell that when its chocolate too, but I always say onion because they know what that means....
:lol: They are like, agghhhhh onion.
It seems like it's one of those "in moderation" things.
oooh, so this is where the sane part of that convo went. I'll copy what I posted:
Yeah, garlic can cause hemolytic anemia in both dogs and cats, though onions are usually the worst offender (and cats seem to be most sensitive to both). One of the compounds in garlic causes precipitation of hemoglobin in the red blood cells, which makes them non-functional/destroyed or taken out of circulation by the immune system. Supposedly garlic does not actually offer much protection from fleas, but there are loads of people who swear it works.
I figure if a dog is doing well on a garlic supplement or garlicky food and is otherwise healthy, energetic, and has a normal CBC, then whatever. If they start being lethargic or change in any way, then it might be worth getting a CBC and RBC morphology at the vet.
It's not just the natural food either... if you check out the generic foods at the store, pretty much all of them have some sort of garlic flavor, though I guess it might not be enough to change anything. It's too bad they can't treat the garlic with something to change its harmful property, because if I recall correctly both the "smelly" part of it that supposedly repels fleas is the same thing that causes the anemia - the sulfur-containing compounds. =/
Okay, so my vet also said that my dog shouldn't have soy, wheat, or corn. I did some reading online, and it said that these are common allergens for dogs and can cause reactions. Oliver's food has soy in it, but if he is symptom-free and happy and seems healthy, should I be concerned with these things? I also like to give him little tidbits of tofu--it makes him so happy. Does this sound like something I should stop? What do you guys think?
(P.S. My vet isn't the most progressive in the world, and she was really freaked out when I wanted to put Oliver on a vegan diet. After reading some things online and talking to VW about it, I went for it, kind of against her wishes.)
I don't think it matters too much if he doesn't have an allergy. Regarding corn, though, a lot of people don't like this being in pet food because of its higher glycemic index and because it's obviously a lower quality filler.
these places have some bits about corn as an ingredient:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/article.aspx?id=3395
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts
on the note of allergens, though, beef is also a significant one among dogs. i find it weird that many people out there seem so concerned about wheat and corn, but not beef, considering it to be more "natural" and "quality" probably just because it's meat.
regarding that last website, the author obviously prefers a more meat-based diet, but has this on veg*n foods:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=vegetarian_vegan
(has specific brands and comments)
*but* the author does not appear to be a veterinarian, more like a vet tech who has taken some nutrition courses. some of the things she states i have learned differently - e.g., she says that protein should be at least 23%, but this is really more like the minimum for cats, whereas for dogs it's about 18%. Her ideas about protein intake/quality don't really account for combining proteins in vegetarian food. So, yeah, grain of salt.
I'm going to read the links later today. Thanks so much! I think what frustrates me a little about the corn/soy issue is that I'm not giving him super refined, super processed and chemical-laden soy and corn. I'm giving him fresh or frozen organic corn kernels and organic tofu bits. I think there needs to be a distinction between the crap they put into dog food that has some semblance to corn/soy and the ACTUAL FOOD. (and perhaps those articles will! :))
Thanks again!
We just went on a walk, and along the trail there are wild strawberries, mullberries, and blackberries galore. We were eating them as fast as we could pick them, and the dogs were snatching them off the ground and out of our hands. It was so cute. We were all stained purple around our mouths by the time we got done!
My dogs favorite food is apples and then next is peanut butter. Seriously though, he can eat a ton of apples. It's so cute too. He'll play around with the apple at first and then lay there and peel and eat the skin and then go at the rest.
He used to eat a lot of oranges at one point but I had read somewhere that they weren't good for dogs so I stopped that.
Olives LOVES peanut butter, and he smells it when we get it out and comes over and jumps all over us. I even made up a treat recipe for him with peanut butter and nutritional yeast, his favorite things.
I've always wanted to make my dog homemade buiscuits but I'm afraid he wouldn't eat it, he's super picky! We hide Devons pill medication in a scoop of peanut butter and give it to him so he gets peanut butter twice a day, each day! He's such a spoiled dog :)>>>
It's good to hear she's alright, blueheeler. When I read the first sentence I was worried about head trauma.
Here's a maybe less pathetic picture of him.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2637079947_c5739d2866_m.jpg
cute cat how to price new as I have it then I would be loved it, kiss it every day, take care of it carefully
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you can get a prescription for acepromazine to give to her before the car ride; it's a sedative and anti-emetic, so whether motion sickness or anxiety, it should help.
My parents give their Boston terrier half of an over-the-counter Bonine before car rides. It knocks him out a little bit, but he doesn't throw up every time. (As an aside, Buddy doesn't throw up when he rides with me or Z. Only my parents. Not to brag).
:( Poor Olen.
We were playing ball this morning at our usual field, and after we'd been playing for a while, I threw it toward this pavilion that's there. He ran under it to get the ball, and slammed into one of the large beams. :'( He immediately stopped, then limped, then rolled over in the grass. I felt his legs, and nothing seemed to be hurting him especially. He got up and limped. I put him on his leash, and kept him really slow. I tried to carry him for a while, but I had other stuff to carry. He stopped limping toward the end, and he seems fine now. He's not limping, and is jumping up on the couch as normal, and acting normally. It must have just stunned/hurt him, and he might be sore. Poor baby.
awww, poor Olen!
Jonah often knocks his head into things, like the coffee table and the back door, and acts funny for a few minutes, but then goes back to normal....but he's been known to play it up for attention (ie the bee sting incident)
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