Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Sunday Discovery

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Yesterday we had an impromptu, hastily planned, small family gathering.

I knew the mental stimulation and the activity of people coming and going meant I could get away with a short walk for the pups.

Hubby was mowing the lawn and so that left me.  I thought it might be a good time to walk them individually.

It made sense to take Delilah first, honestly she can be very destructive when she’s ticked off.  I knew Sampson would just sit at the top of the stairs and pout while he waited for our return.

I put on her harness, clipped on the six-foot leash and off we went.

I’ve heard that a harness can make a dog with a tendency to pull, pull harder, but that is not the case with Delilah.  The harness actually helps her to stop pulling me.  While we’re walking if she starts to get too far ahead or the leash starts to get too tight I make a noise that sounds like, “ent.”

It is just enough of a verbal correction to make her slow down and back off the tension.

We went to the end of the street, turned around and came back.

I decided I’d try Sampson on the harness.  I put Delilah’s harness on him, made a couple of small adjustments and off we went.

Honestly, this was the most enjoyable leash walk I’ve had with Sampson since he was a puppy!  We had absolutely no pulling from him either and he too was corrected with a gentle “ent.”

As I approached our house at the end of our walk I thought, “Wow, I actually enjoy walking the dogs this way.”

What I discovered yesterday, as with any training tool if you are simply using the tool and not training the dog, you’re spinning your wheels.  The harness combined with a simple correction was more than enough to make our walk very enjoyable.

Do you have a dog that pulls?  Have you ever used a harness?  Would you use a harness?

My big dog walking by MY SIDE!! (Excuse the blurry, it was on my cell phone while we were walking.)

50 Things Your Vet Won’t Tell You

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In yesterday’s post I mentioned an article I had read in Reader’s Digest, 50 Things Your Vet Won’t Tell You. 

While some of the comments were basic, common sense advice, the following revelations actually made me seriously wonder, how would you know these things unless you asked?

1)  “A lot of veterinarians have told me matter-of-factly that they still don’t use painkillers for procedures that we know are painful. They think that dogs and cats don’t need it or that feeling pain after surgery is good because it keeps them from moving around too much. But research has shown that pets who are in less pain heal faster, sleep better, and don’t move around as much.”

Well you know how I reacted to this one as I actually questioned my vet about the procedure used for cleaning a pet’s teeth. 

My dogs love going to our vet’s office, they are super excited to be there and are happy to see everyone, if one of my dogs was afraid to go, I think I’d wonder if my vet was telling me everything I needed to know about how comfortable my pet was during certain procedures.

2)  “I’ll let you in on the secret of no-kill shelters: We had a contract with our local Humane Society that stated we’d euthanize the animals in their care that needed to be put down. One Sunday, they sent us 72 cats to put down. By the end, we were all emotionally devastated.”

Are they saying that the shelter presents themselves as no kill, because they aren’t the ones actually euthanizing the animals? 

The shelter can SAY we’re NO KILL because we aren’t the ones doing the killing?  Instead we’ll send the animals off to a local vet. 

That is downright wrong, as well as misrepresenting themselves, I imagine a Humane Society that is no kill gets more financial support from donors than another one that might have a higher kill rate.  I’d like to find out which Humane Society is doing this, and spill their dirty little secret.

3)  “Your vet may not have gotten into vet school! Vets who can’t get into traditional U.S. veterinary programs due to bad grades and poor test scores often go to for-profit schools in the Caribbean, where, basically, if you can pay the tuition, you get in.”

Seriously? So any Joe off the street with money can get a veterinarian degree?  I wonder what my vet will say in two weeks when I ask her where she went to school?

Pardon the interruption, I had to go to Expedia and book my trip to the Caribbean. Yes, very soon you shall be referring to me as Dr. Stone.  I wonder if they offer online classes?

4)  “No regulation says vets have to check certain lists before they euthanize an animal, and lots of vets still do convenience euthanasia for owners who prefer the easy way out. We see a lot of euthanasia in November and December, for example, just because people are getting ready for the holidays. I refuse to do it.”

This makes me sad.  First that people feel their pets are disposable and secondly that a veterinarian would euthanize a healthy animal.  I’m glad this vet does not practice in this manner.

There’s something fundamentally wrong with a society that thinks animals are disposable.

5)  “Unfortunately, I’ve had to work in low-cost clinics, and many of them are cutting corners to make a profit. Some places give half doses of vaccines instead of full doses, which is totally illegal and ineffective.”

OMD, so I already HATE the over-vaccinating that takes place in this country, but can you imagine thinking your pet is protected from Rabies or Distemper and finding out they weren’t properly vaccinated?

6)  “Home cooking for your pet is harder than you think. I once saw a dog who was fed a home-cooked diet of chicken breast and vegetables for a year, and his bones became so weak that his jaw broke. If you would like to cook for your pet, find a veterinary nutritionist who can help guide you, or check out balanceit.com.”

I would hope that anyone cooking at home for their pet, would do some research before proceeding, I felt bad that I waited to take Sampson to the vet for his ‘bruise’ I can only imagine the guilt associated with feeding your dog something which made their bones so weak they broke!

7)  “You can go to an online pharmacy and get the same exact drugs you would get from your vet for 10 to 20 percent off. But check first to make sure it’s certified as a Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site (VIPPS certified). Some vets will also match online prices—you just have to know to ask.”

8)  “A lot of pet medications are available at human pharmacies for lower prices than we charge. Walgreens even has a list of veterinary medicines for $4 per one-month dose. These are medicines that you would pay $20 or $30 for at your vet.”

The above two should be kept in mind.  Hello, my dog’s on the human drug Meloxicam!

9)  “If the plaque sprays and dental water additives actually worked, none of us would be telling you to brush your pet’s teeth.”

Personally I haven’t used either of these products, heck I’m so bad I don’t even brush their teeth (hey, I just got my dental kit from My Brown Newfies.)  But I do know people who swear by them, so this really makes me wonder, do these work, or is someone standing a little deep in something?

Did any of the nine items mentioned above shock or dismay you?  Are there any questions you will be asking your vet at the next visit?

And just because I can, here’s one of my favorite Sampson pictures.

 

This is Sampson in Emerald Isle, North Carolina in Sept of 2006. He had just turned two.

A Visit to the Vet

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When I posted about the rash on Sampson’s stomach, I asked you, “How do you handle it when your vet tells you something but your gut tells you something else?”

In your responses some of you said, find a new vet. 

While I am not opposed to finding a new vet (she’s the second one I’ve had with Sampson) I really do like and trust my vet.

As it turns out, my vet was right about the stomach rash not being a side-effect of the Meloxicam.  She was right and I was wrong.

Since I asked your opinion, I wanted to share with you the conversation I had with my vet during Sampson’s visit on Thursday night, which only reinforces to me, exactly WHY I love my vet so much.

After she diagnosed Sampson with a bacterial skin infection on his stomach, we discussed some other issues weighing on my mind.

I can smell her, she’s just on the other side of this door. Come in Dr. Soutter, come in!

 

 

I’ll allow you to do this, but you will give me rubbies after right? And cookies, I definitely need rubbies and cookies.

 

Meloxicam and it’s side-effects in dogs.

My vet says Meloxicam has different side-effects in humans than it has in dogs.

It has been used for over ten years in dogs, in countries all over the world; blistering is NOT a known side-effect. 

It is hard to get the correct dose of Rimadyl (another anti-inflammatory) in a dog Sampson’s size.  However, he is the perfect size for dosing with Meloxicam.

Dental Cleaning

I read an article in Reader’s Digest a few months back, it was called “50 Things Your Vet Won’t Tell You.”  I fully planned to write a post about it, but it just never seems to come together.  One of the things cited in the article said, many vets still perform procedures they know are painful without making your pet comfortable first.  Me being me, you can imagine that I freaked out. 

Sampson just turned eight, he’s getting to the age where dental cleanings are recommended. I wanted to be sure when the time came, that he would not be in any pain or discomfort.

She looked at his teeth and said he has relatively little tartar, but he does have the beginnings of gingivitis.  She would recommend a cleaning before it gets too out of control.  She’s having surgery on her shoulder at the end of the month, and will be out of commission for a few months. 

We agreed we will schedule his cleaning for spring.

I asked her about anesthesia and whether they put the dog out, proper pain medication etc.  I explained about the article I’d read.

She told me she knows of vets that simply hold a dog down and clean its teeth and she does not agree with it.  Her practice is on top of current recommended pain medications, she assured me he will be fully anesthetized and properly medicated for pain relief.

Vaccination

Sampson is due for his Leptospirosis at the end of the month.  The vet we saw two weeks ago said it would be fine to give him the vaccine a bit early.

Once we suspected he had an infection I decided I wouldn’t give him the vaccine if his immune system is compromised. 

I was fully prepared to do battle.

I told my vet, I don’t want to give him his Lepto vaccine if he’s fighting infection.

She said, I agree. Let’s have a recheck in two weeks, we can make a decision then.

I’m really in agreement with you, if you don’t mesh with your vet, if you aren’t comfortable with the answers or the service they are giving you, you should definitely find another vet.

But sometimes, sometimes they are right.

Oh and here’s a picture of Sampson’s tummy after a couple of days of using Aloe on it.

Poor little puppy.

 

I think it looks a little bit better.  What do you think?

 

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