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• #1227
Ditto our Bulldog ‘Benny’, he’s a Womble. The vet can feel the other one in his groin so less of a cancer risk but come 18m he’ll be saying bye bye to his knackers. He seems to go through phases of humping or not. You can always tell when he has a growth spurt (pardon the pun) as his temperament changes (barks at even more random stuff). 18m was the time we were told as by this point he should have stopped growing. But it’s not hard and fast, we’ll see in 4m I guess
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• #1228
Yep, sounds very similar, i'm hoping ours doesn't grow anymore, he is a 40kg lump who thinks he is a lapdog...
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• #1229
Well, it is done. Poor chap is very tender and looking at us as if to say "Why? Why would you do that?"
Not showing much interest in getting at the wound yet which is good.
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• #1230
Turns out he really likes a bit of snow.
3 Attachments
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• #1231
Has anyone experienced Old Dog Syndrome with their dog?
I have, since last Tuesday, for six days and it's made no better by the fact that he is 99% deaf and suffering cataracts in both eyes. Typically I didn't renew his insurance this year because they wanted £1300 for it. Every illness treated I was paying the first £95 plus 20% of the bill anyway so as he's approaching 15 we decided not to renew. He's generally been as fit as a flea and only suffered injuries due to charging about like a demented being after foxes and squirrels in the garden.
Anyway it's worth knowing about if you don't already- (Google) While old dog vestibular syndrome generally affects older dogs, it can occur in cats of any age. You'll know it when you see a sudden head tilt, loss of balance, falling or rolling to one side, circling, trouble walking and abnormal eye movement, often from side to side.It affected the old boy really badly and I thought his time was up but following a couple of jabs and a course of pills he's on the mend. He is still "crabbing" and wandering a bit if he's out in front on his lead and he got tripped over by some ground level bramble last night. If he shakes his head he topples over but apart from a quizzical head tilt and standing with his back legs a bit apart he looks a lot better than he did when it hit him.
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• #1232
Wow, sorry to hear he's going through that, poor old geezer, glad to hear he's on the mend.
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• #1233
Have you tried vivitonin? Wife’s previous husky had this condition and that medication fixed it really quickly.
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• #1234
@HatBeard, @dancing james. He's on vitofyllin which I've just googled. It contains propentofyllin as does vivotonin so sounds like the same shizzle. He is improving all the time. Thanks to both of you for your concern, it is much appreciated.
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• #1235
When we first got Benny he would often have small bouts of loose stools while we transitioned him to a different food to the one the breeder had him on (onto james wellbeloved lamb & rice puppy) but he improved a lot once he settled on it and only got upset stomach if he tried new treats or overindulged on the odd occasion.
I then switched him over to the James Welbeloved Turkey and rice as I felt the fattier lamb was causing his stool to soften through the day. we also got him a slow feeding bowl and were soaking his kibble for a minute or so before feeding to slow his digestion.
he did even better on this and we finally got to the point he was consistently doing chocolate brown playdough consistency turds 2-3 times a day which were the easiest thing to clear up after him.
then all of a sudden it all went to shit (literally) and he started getting yellow-ish looser stools again but even more frequently, this coincided with him becoming more adept at hunting every single disgusting morsel he could sneak without me seeing off the floors of the (disgusting) streets of central brighton so i became even more alert what he got his nose near and it would come and go. throughout though he was drinking plenty of water and was alert, energetic, good natured and showed no other signs of distress.
then it got to the point over christmas where a touch of added stress with lots more people around him saw him moving from loose stools into actual diarrhea territory and straining a lot more so we've moved him over to a bland diet of boiled chicken and white rice for the past few days but it's not helping as much as we thought yet. he's also not drinking enough water for my liking since we switched but i don't know if the water content in the rice is offsetting that.
part of the problem is knowing how much to feed him, everywhere mentions 2:1 ratio of rice to chicken but never how much he should be getting based on adult weight/current weight/age or any other useful metric.
he was on 50g x3 times a day plus <5 treats and a dentastix in the morning which saw him growing steadily and keeping a healthy weight. on making up his chicken and rice I was originally going to provide the same kind of portion size but it's just non-existent so he's on 80-100g three times a day but he's quite skinny at the moment. .
his anticipated adult weight is in the 10kg region I think and he's probably knocking around at about 6.5kg now.
anyone more knowledgeable in such matters able to weigh in with advice. obviously if it goes on much longer we'll have to defer to a vet for more serious intervention but he's been taking his worming tablets and is fully up on his shots so i'm still convinced it's just something nasty he ate that's working it's way out his system slowly slowed by the odd grim top up.
for now I just want to make sure he's not being over/under fed so we can settle his stomach without starving the poor chap or overloading his digestive system.
what say you hive mind?
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• #1236
My dogs do this now and again for neither rhyme nor reason. What we do, before the boiled chicken and rice, is starve for 24 hours. Then 2 or 3 little C&R meals spaced out over what would be the normal day. That way you're starting with a "clean slate" and introducing food gradually. If that doesn't work after a couple of days I'd suggest a vet.
Both our dogs are on Arden Grange Chicken and Rice and eat it dry but obviously free access to water etc. They each get a bit squirty from time to time but never the same time but it usually "blows over".
Be aware of the extra calories the chew sticks provide and adjust intake accordingly otherwise you'll get a chubster like we did.
Being in Brighton if you go for a walk on the beach there all sorts of tasty dead stuff washing up twice a day so that's something to watch for. -
• #1237
I know it's no help but for what it's worth I remember Otto going through a similar phase when he was a pup. Just an incredibly sensitive stomach. It was like he had the shits for weeks, or at least that is what it felt like.
At the time we thought we realised that it was his training treats and not his main food that seemed to give him the squirts. But tbh, who knows.
Are you sure his training treats aren't the problem? Some of them a super high fat... I'm any case maybe this is just a phase they go through while developing their adult iron constitutions.
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• #1238
thanks for the replies both, as is the case with most of this stuff I think we're doing the right thing it just takes someone else confirming that to you for peace of mind.
Are you sure his training treats aren't the problem?
yeah, when he gets a dodgy tummy we cut back on them altogether for a few days and no change.
All I know is I would rather not have to try and ineffectively scoop up puddle(s) of bright yellow'y orange liquid shit with a tiny biodegradable poop bag in the middle of the brighton pavilion gardens footpath during peak tourist hours, leaving a big smeared mess in my wake again if I had the choice.
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• #1239
Funnily enough, I had to try to pick up a puddle of dog diarrhoea not far from BPG a couple of years ago...I hear you!
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• #1240
BTW, Otto loves cockerpoos. His best friend is one. They play for hours. We should meet up with them at some point when we're back from Switzerland. Otto's good with pups too.
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• #1241
You could be describing our last 10 days with Marni. He started having loose stools but they would keep improving for a day and then back to being looser and looser before being pure explosive and watery. Chicken and rice seemed to do very little and after a vet visit today he’s on probiotics and a course of tablets for the next 6 days along side sensitivity wet food all from the vet. Hoping to see some improvement ASAP as we just feel so bad for the little man.
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• #1242
BTW, Otto loves cockerpoos. His best friend is one. They play for hours. We should meet up with them at some point when we're back from Switzerland. Otto's good with pups too.
sure, he's already done one round trip from brighton to mordor in a day with no issues whatsoever (except some adorable snoring with his head on my shoulders while he was asleep in my arms on the journey back) so he'd easily make it up to blackheath for a playdate. Just let me know when you're back and we'll figure out what fits with my comings and goings.
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• #1243
I was thinking of heading to Brighton tbh but either works.
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• #1244
that works too.
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• #1245
We had poo problems with our Benny at the start, we moved him over to a raw diet at 6 months old and since then he's been very good. Through trial and error we have realised that Fish does not agree with him but the red meats and chicken seem to work well. When out on a walk though i can guarantee that the first 2 poos will be solid but the last will be very loose. Also the quantity is greatly reduced, where as before you were picking up a handful, now its about the size of an adult thumb maybe thumb and finger. Not a lot of waste comes out the other end, which considering he eats 500 - 1kg of raw meat a day is quite staggering. He's also a fairly trim 26kgs
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• #1246
I can't really even consider a raw diet for him as it needs to be something my mum can deal with when she has him on her own. we've got a 15kg bin of kibble and a small digital scale to weigh it onto so it's as simple as can be.
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• #1247
Did it immediately follow the worming tablets you mentioned? Ours had a worming tablet over the Christmas period and I’m fairly sure that the speed of flow that ensued must be designed to dislodge any nasties because he was a nightmare to clean up after for a couple of days
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• #1248
it possibly exacerbated it but it was already in that realm before he took it.
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• #1249
Mrs upsidedown BVetMed Mrcvs says take him to the vets with a three day pooled stool sample- but then she would say that. Some types of intestinal parasite need a longer course of wormer.
If not wanting to go to the vets then you could try a different type of bland food - either royal canin sensitivity or gastrointestinal tinned food - both of which are balanced and will have feeding guidelines so can make sure he is having the right amount of food
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• #1250
+1 for the 24hr fast followed by chicken and rice then. Seems to do the job just as well as the probiotics for ours. Having said that, we always err on the side of the vets if he’s not looking happy
We leave our pooch at home because with both work full time. I do go home at lunch to take him for a walk though. So he has a good 3 hours of alone time each day.
He also gets a really long walk first thing in the morning and I leave his kong toy with food stuffed in it which he seems captivated by.