LizzytheWolf wrote:After a very long stay in the hospital, I was allowed to go home today and Justin was so excited.
Chess isn't doing too well, she's chewing her front paws a lot and ripping out her nails. She's bleeding a lot and whines whenever she walks on a hard surface.
I tried bandaging her paws and making an EC but she always finds a way out of them.
Word from the new friend I made over summer break is that Xaida's old owners got her back and now it's even worse. Friend sent me a video he took of how she got loose, she has no ID and they let her run around in other people's yards until someone returns her.
that with Chess ..with chewing front paws..is this something new?
anyways ...you need to go with Chess to the vet...(when vet did not already checked her, even for warts at the bottom of the paws and the claws are healthy)
then you may need something else, heavy medication cant always help or make it more bad , make her life more interesting...bether interestin training, change things that stress her...
abnormal behaviour is stereotypical behaviors, i.e. repetitive and apparently purposeless motor behaviors. Examples of stereotypical behaviours include pacing, self-injury, route tracing and excessive self-grooming. These behaviors are associated with stress and lack of Stimulation (when animal is healthy!!). Many who keep animals in captivity attempt to prevent or decrease stereotypical behavior by introducing stimuli, a process known as environmental enrichment.
A type of abnormal behavior shown in captive animals is self-injurious behavior (SIB).
Self-injurious behavior indicates any activity that involves biting, scratching, hitting, hair plucking, or eye poke that may result in injuring oneself.[ Although its reported incidence is low, self-injurious behavior is observed across a range of primate species, especially when they experience social isolation in infancy. Self-bite involves biting one’s own body—typically the arms, legs, shoulders, or genitals. Threat bite involves biting one’s own body—typically the hand, wrist, or forearm—while staring at the observer, conspecific, or mirror in a threatening manner. Self-hit involves striking oneself on any part of the body. Eye poking is a behavior (widely observed in primates) that presses the knuckle or finger into the orbital space above the eye socket. Hair plucking is a jerking motion applied to one’s own hair with hands or teeth, resulting in its excessive removal.
The proximal causes of self-injurious behavior have been widely studied in captive primates; either social or nonsocial factors can trigger this type of behavior. Social factors include changes in group composition, stress, separation from the group, approaches by or aggression from members of other groups, conspecific male individuals nearby, separation from females, and removal from the group. Social isolation, particularly disruptions of early mother-rearing experiences...or cant get Babys even when they feel Need , is an important risk factor.Studies have suggested that, although mother-reared rhesus macaques still exhibit some self-injurious behaviors, nursery-reared rhesus macaques are much more likely to self-abuse than mother-reared ones. Nonsocial factors include the presence of a small cut, a wound or irritant, cold weather, human contact, and frequent visitors
In dogs, canine obsessive-compulsive disorder can lead to self-inflicted injuries, for example canine lick granuloma.
Studies suggest that many abnormal captive behaviors, including self-injurious behavior, can be successfully treated by pair housing. Pair housing provides a previously single-housed animal with a same-sex social partner; this method is especially effective with primates, but also dog in Kennels or farm animal.. which are widely known to be social animals. Social companionship provided by pair housing encourages social interaction, thus reducing abnormal and anxiety-related behavior in captive animals as well as increasing their locomotion.
Behavioral enrichment :
(closely related to environmental enrichment) is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being. The goal of environmental enrichment is to improve or maintain an animal's physical and psychological health by increasing the range or number of species-specific behaviors, increasing positive utilization of the captive environment, preventing or reducing the frequency of abnormal behaviors such as stereotypies, and increasing the individual's ability to cope with the challenges of captivity. The purpose of behavioral enrichment is to improve the overall welfare of animals in captivity and create a habitat similar to what they would experience in their wild environment.
For each animal in captivity, a goal oriented plan is outlined and created to meet the needs of that animal specifically. Many different factors are included in making an enrichment outline including the needs of the species, their desired behaviors, an individual history, and the animal's current habitat. This plan is then put into action and changed based on the response and changing needs of the animal.
A variety of enrichment techniques are used to create desired outcomes similar to an animals individual and species' history. Each of the techniques used are intended to stimulate the animal's senses similarly to how they would be activated in the wild. Provided enrichment may be seen in the form of auditory, olfactory, habitat factors, food, research projects, training, and objects
yes all this can help with Dogs too!!^^
i hope your dog is back to normal soon! and that it only was a scatch or thorn or tick that did bother her^^