Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[Imzadi83]

Over the past couple of weeks Mungo has been suffering with arthritis on and off, the supplements we’ve gotten for him still haven’t kicked in, although many dog walkers who’ve used them on their own dogs said they can take up to 1-2 months to fully take effect. The problem I’m having is that Mungo absolutely loves to play with tug toys, it’s rare to find him wanting to play with anything else, but we can no longer play as much with him due to the effect it would have on his joints. It seems he hasn’t yet understood that he’s not as capable as he used to be, as he still often acts like a puppy, running like a lunatic when he wants to, but later being in pain because of the stress it’s put on his joints. Is there anything outside of the supplements that might help with his pain? We’ve already put olive oil in his food which helped for a long time, but now that it’s worsening it doesn’t seem to be helping as much.

He may be at the point where you need to discuss pain meds with your vet. A holistic vet may be able to offer up med alternatives that help with pain if you can find one in your area. Acupuncture might be an option. Perhaps some therapeutic massage?

Besides that a self warming blanket or pet bed might be helpful. Also switching to an orthopedic bed. If it was my dog and I had the money I'd probably go for a Purple or BigBarker bed, but there are a lot out there at different price points.

Also if you could limit his exercise to things that are low impact, like walking and swimming, and prevent him from running around to the point you know he's going to be in pain, that might help. You may need to time him so you know how much he can stand and limit him accordingly.

There's also Back on Track, but I've never used them myself. https://backontrackproducts.com/product-category/dogs/

[i<3 wolves678]

Over the past couple of weeks Mungo has been suffering with arthritis on and off, the supplements we’ve gotten for him still haven’t kicked in, although many dog walkers who’ve used them on their own dogs said they can take up to 1-2 months to fully take effect. The problem I’m having is that Mungo absolutely loves to play with tug toys, it’s rare to find him wanting to play with anything else, but we can no longer play as much with him due to the effect it would have on his joints. It seems he hasn’t yet understood that he’s not as capable as he used to be, as he still often acts like a puppy, running like a lunatic when he wants to, but later being in pain because of the stress it’s put on his joints. Is there anything outside of the supplements that might help with his pain? We’ve already put olive oil in his food which helped for a long time, but now that it’s worsening it doesn’t seem to be helping as much.

He may be at the point where you need to discuss pain meds with your vet. A holistic vet may be able to offer up med alternatives that help with pain if you can find one in your area. Acupuncture might be an option. Perhaps some therapeutic massage?

Besides that a self warming blanket or pet bed might be helpful. Also switching to an orthopedic bed. If it was my dog and I had the money I'd probably go for a Purple or BigBarker bed, but there are a lot out there at different price points.

Also if you could limit his exercise to things that are low impact, like walking and swimming, and prevent him from running around to the point you know he's going to be in pain, that might help. You may need to time him so you know how much he can stand and limit him accordingly.

There's also Back on Track, but I've never used them myself. https://backontrackproducts.com/product-category/dogs/

Thank you for the advice, I think massage might be the right way to go in terms of what we can afford to do right now, and we’ve definitely been limiting his exercise and not letting him run off as much as he used to.

The other day I found something online about testing intelligence in dogs, whilst I highly doubt it’s an actual professional practice or anything, I thought it would be fun to try for the hell of it, and the results were basically exactly as I imagined- It involved getting two cups (not clear) or containers of any kind and letting the dog watch you place a treat beneath one, you then turn them around for a minute or so and turn them back (without moving the cups) and see which one they go to first. As expected, Mungo went for the correct cup every single time, but Midge on the other hand, didn’t quite seem to understand it in the slightest. She’d watch me put the treat in the cup, I’d turn her around, and then she’d just proceed to stare at me and paw at me; I’d redirect her attention to the cups again to which she immediately stuck her nose to the incorrect one, before I once more showed her the correct cup. Again, she went back to the other cup, before I finally gave up and just lifted the other cup to give her the treat. Instead of going straight for it, she just stared blankly. She’s certainly not the smartest dog in the world, but I guess that’s part of the reason I love her so much :’)

[ᴍᴀᴏᴄɪғᴇʀ]

So, the other day I posted about Ruby having a mammary tumour.
Well, yesterday she had surgery! Which, weirdly enough, I wasn't expecting. I took her into the vet for what I thought would only be a blood test to check how she would react to anaesthetic, but turns out that that's done just before surgery. So I went in expecting to wait at least a week to get blood results, and left without my dog. She went in at 8:30 and didn't come out until 16:00.
The vet warned me that the wound might be larger than I expected, and it is. The lump itself was only 2cm wide but they took out a massive area just to make sure that if it is malignant they removed as many cells as they could.
She's been quite lethargic, probably also due in part to having the cone since she bumps into things a lot with it on so she prefers to just not get up, and she's been eating quite a bit faster which is a bit odd, though the vet did say she's lost half a kilo since she was last in a couple months ago. She didn't say it was unusual, and she was meant to lose weight, but I don't like thinking that it's probably because she's been unwell.
At least she's fine now and the lump is gone, fingers crossed it stays gone.


_______________________________________________

Also, Ruby's Embark came back today (after getting an email yesterday saying it would take 2 weeks) and she has some things in her that I really wasn't expecting!: Staffordshire Bull Terrier, German Shepherd and Springer Spaniel. She's also majority Whippet, which makes sense in terms of her body shape, but I was thinking that came from being a terrier mix. The only thing we were spot on with was Bedlington, everything else seems a bit odd haha.
Among the supermutt they've said there could be Glen of Imaal Terrier, which out of all the breeds 'in her' looks the most like her-- except for their absurdly short legs haha.
You can see her Embark profile here

[oddball1234]

Guys its here!!! Killian's DNA test results are in!!! I was right on one part of my guesses lol! 5 breeds in total!

[.Middy.]

We took the crew to the park today to work on some confo with Bones and Omen and basic OB with the puppies. Octavia tagged along to play some disc too which she loved. Bones nailed some free stacks and I am super excited to step back in the ring with him at the end of next month! It will also be Omen’s first show which I am so excited for!


I also have the cutest little ACD in for training right now and it’s making me super tempted to eventually add a well bred ACD of my own to the family lol. She’s been working hard on basic OB and learning a lot!

[Blue_Aussie]

^ Awesome pictures! I love ACDs, they are so sweet!

[72027]

it happened. my childhood dog passed away a few weeks ago. ;;
she was almost 13 when she passed away, and sadly she was still young. she was still running around, no pain, she acted like she was still a few years old. but she was deaf and her eyesight was going so she didnt notice my brother's car pulling in to the driveway when she was sunbathing... he ran her over and my parents were right there and watched it happen. i was at work when this happened and they called me and i left work immediately. im glad i at least got to spend some time with her body at the emergency vet. then we got her cremated.

ill miss you Willow. <3 2008-2020

[Freyja's Drengr]

Getting ready to fly to our new home from Arizona to Maine on Monday. My family has 6 chihuahuas. 2 in each carriers.

[solos]

hey guys!!
here's my 2 youngest pups when they were puppies! they are now 1.5 years old!
blep is pluto!


pluto and loki <33 you can actually see one of their brothers' nose in the bottom corner

[Imzadi83]

So, the other day I posted about Ruby having a mammary tumour.
Well, yesterday she had surgery! Which, weirdly enough, I wasn't expecting. I took her into the vet for what I thought would only be a blood test to check how she would react to anaesthetic, but turns out that that's done just before surgery. So I went in expecting to wait at least a week to get blood results, and left without my dog. She went in at 8:30 and didn't come out until 16:00.
The vet warned me that the wound might be larger than I expected, and it is. The lump itself was only 2cm wide but they took out a massive area just to make sure that if it is malignant they removed as many cells as they could.
She's been quite lethargic, probably also due in part to having the cone since she bumps into things a lot with it on so she prefers to just not get up, and she's been eating quite a bit faster which is a bit odd, though the vet did say she's lost half a kilo since she was last in a couple months ago. She didn't say it was unusual, and she was meant to lose weight, but I don't like thinking that it's probably because she's been unwell.
At least she's fine now and the lump is gone, fingers crossed it stays gone.


_______________________________________________

Also, Ruby's Embark came back today (after getting an email yesterday saying it would take 2 weeks) and she has some things in her that I really wasn't expecting!: Staffordshire Bull Terrier, German Shepherd and Springer Spaniel. She's also majority Whippet, which makes sense in terms of her body shape, but I was thinking that came from being a terrier mix. The only thing we were spot on with was Bedlington, everything else seems a bit odd haha.
Among the supermutt they've said there could be Glen of Imaal Terrier, which out of all the breeds 'in her' looks the most like her-- except for their absurdly short legs haha.
You can see her Embark profile here

I'll keep my fingers crossed for Ruby. Glad the surgery went okay. What an interesting DNA panel!

Guys its here!!! Killian's DNA test results are in!!! I was right on one part of my guesses lol! 5 breeds in total

Cool, don't think I would've guessed the Dachashund.


@.Middy. - Beautiful photos! Love the purple tail she really knows how to rock those colors. And that little ACD pup is adorable.

it happened. my childhood dog passed away a few weeks ago. ;;
she was almost 13 when she passed away, and sadly she was still young. she was still running around, no pain, she acted like she was still a few years old. but she was deaf and her eyesight was going so she didnt notice my brother's car pulling in to the driveway when she was sunbathing... he ran her over and my parents were right there and watched it happen. i was at work when this happened and they called me and i left work immediately. im glad i at least got to spend some time with her body at the emergency vet. then we got her cremated.

ill miss you Willow. <3 2008-2020

My deepest condolences for your loss *hugs*

hey guys!!
here's my 2 youngest pups when they were puppies! they are now 1.5 years old!
blep is pluto!


pluto and loki <33 you can actually see one of their brothers' nose in the bottom corner

Aww, there so fluffy.