n0mad

I was able to talk to one of the vet techs I know that is very knowledgeable. Ceile has come up with a nasty fish smell that isn't related to her anal glands. The good thing is that she isn't showing any signs of being ill otherwise. The tech said to give her a sits bath or just a good washing with Epsom salts and see if that clears things up. She said it could just be something simple and to try the bath and call again on Monday and let them know if things have changed. I am also changing Ceile's food; apparently that can be a factor (got that from an internet search to reputable sites, not the clinic). I was thinking of feeding her something different anyway, she wasn't too thrilled with the last bag I opened. That's not a loss of appetite though, she'll scarf down almost anything else you offer her.

Ceile started cycling November 8th and after three weeks there was no discharge anymore. Everything was returning to normal pretty quickly and then on December 13th after she peed she had a two to three inch string of mucous dangling from her vulva. I took her to the vet the next day. She jumped out of the way when the tech was trying to get a urine sample but I told her that there should be enough for a sample if they wanted to get it with a catheter. As far as I know they didn't even try. The vet took a blood sample and told me that it was unlikely to be pyometra because "if a dog has that they are typically really sick". I reminded her that Ceile was really sick with mastitis just a short time ago and up until the day before hadn't acted any differently. She did the blood test and told me that she thought this was just a really long heat cycle and this would pass. Now, I haven't had much experience with dogs in heat, I typically get them spayed between 9 months and a year, but I find it hard to believe that a dog without a discharge suddenly gets a discharge. If there had been nothing else I would have let it go but yesterday she had a thick four inch string of mucous dangling again right after peeing. So my question is to those who have more experience in this area, is this normal or should I be finding another vet?

I keep hydrogen peroxide on hand as well. Ceile decided to chow down on mushrooms last year on a hike. My vet told me to check the expiration date as it will become less and less effective overtime requiring more to get them to vomit. A new bottle every so often is an inexpensive investment. Diane Allen: Yes it was her mammary but the vet thought maybe pyometra first even though there was no discharge. The thing that concerned her was that both pyometra and mastitis should have (normally) showed up long before now. We might never know the exact cause. There was also nothing able to be excreted from the teat. I did find one site that suggested it could have been both, starting as pyometra and spreading via the bloodstream, but when I tried to find it again afterward I couldn't locate it. She has one more week of meds to go and is back to normal - as normal as she gets. She decided the moon was very suspicious the other night and alerted the whole neighborhood to the danger after suddenly coming to the conclusion it was in cahoots with the street lights. Never a dull moment.

Thank you for your kind thoughts. She's almost back to normal. After the swelling began to go down she did get a wide red streak alongside the swollen gland, but this was after she was already on the mend. It may even have been due to the insane swelling that almost doubled the size of her one hind leg causing rubbing in the groin area. That freaked me out a little but the vet said it was normal enough, that it was just the lymph as things were being cleaned up in the mammary. He wasn't too worried as long as she kept showing signs of improvement and nothing turned black and hard. I was just to apply compresses. So cold on the leg, hot on the tummy (she liked that ) and she's back up and running with only a soft swelling a little smaller than a golf ball left.

Three days ago I noticed one of Ceile's mammary glands was a tiny bit swollen. She's due to start cycling soon so I thought I'd just keep an eye on it - that it was probably hormones. She was her usual crazy-busy self. We went for a long hike and, other than she was being picky at mealtime seemed normal; we coaxed her a little and she ate. The day before yesterday was the same. In the morning her mammary gland was the same and she was as lively as ever; even at 9:30 that night she was still trying to goad us into playing ball in the living room. We had company so when she disappeared at 10:00 we thought she had gone to bed but after 11:00 she hobbled back out. She was standing hunched a bit and was obviously hurting I felt her tummy and the mammary gland had swelled a bit more and was a little warm but not hot. I decided to take her to the vet in the morning. At 1 am she woke me up and begged to get into bed with me. I let her but she was having trouble getting comfortable. I propped her hind leg up with a rolled night shirt to prevent it from putting pressure on her groin and she slept a little. I spent the next hour and a half scouring the internet to help me decide what to do. Her skin wasn't discoloured or I would have called the vet right away. Kind of wishing I had but, thanks to covid, I am basically unemployed and couldn't afford to pay the double fee for an emergency visit if it wasn't a real emergency. Again, she was warm but not hot so I waited. At 3 am she vomited up her supper and was in too much pain to lie down. I helped her onto her side and held her hind leg so it couldn't touch her tummy at all. She was asleep in seconds and now I was really worried. I held her leg until she was asleep enough to let me prop it on the rolled nightshirt again. By now it was 4:30 and I was in no condition to drive the hour down winding lakeside roads. The mammary gland had swelled a little but wasn't huge or red or any thing so I prayed and turned off the light and went to sleep. At 7:30 when I woke up, Ceile had moved herself to her crate, which I thought was a good sign until she came staggering out with an obvious fever. Her groin was swollen to twice the size. I called the vet and told them I was on the way. They gave her antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and fluids. I got her there in time but the vet said to watch her closely. I've had my share of sick dogs but I've never seen an infection progress so fast. She is doing much better although I'm having to cook her meaty soups to get food and fluids into her and she's only eating small portions at a time; she's not out of the woods yet but I'm comforted by how quickly the antibiotics are working. I'm sharing this because it was so terrifying to see how fast she went from being a relentlessly busy 18 month old to being in peril. Nothing I read on the internet suggested how fast the infection could spread. Every single article I read suggested there would be discolouration by the time the infection got serious - there was, and still is none.

All went well for the first while. I love this dog! She learned in a few days with a complete amateur like me on chickens almost as much as my first collie learned in two weeks with a professional on sheep (not the trainer's fault, Darcy had drive just not a lot of talent). We now have a good start on our directions as well as 'look back' and 'get out', unfortunately that is where we are going to have to stop. The chickens have figured her out and now when she approaches they hurry off in all directions and simply refuse to come back. Ceile was going to force her will upon them but I thought that might prove fatal seeing as gentle isn't one of Ceile's attributes and the clacking of her teeth in their general direction could be heard quite a distance away. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Well, that was a good bit of fun! I had some small exercise pens available and corralled the chickens in there. They were too busy eating the grain I sprinkled in order to get them out of the garden and into the pen to worry about a dog so, at first, Ceile didn't think it was worth much of a look. I thought it was going to be a bust but I stuck a broom handle over the fence and stirred them up a bit. Once Ceile began to run around the outside things got a little more lively. I was so thankful for a little banty hen that was determined to keep as far away from Ceile as possible. Without her excitement I think Ceile would have given up but instead we got to a place where she was readily changing direction when I asked her to so, woohoo, a win. I will work on it again tomorrow. Hopefully the larger hens will be busy enough to keep Ceile happy to continue. Having the exercise pens was perfect, no teeth could reach the birds and I was able to let her know that biting at them was not acceptable without turning her off or putting the birds in danger. Gentle Lake, thank you for the encouragement. I was kind of nervous in giving this a go but I'm glad I did. Ceile is a very happy dog right now.

I was supposed to take Ceile to sheep and a good instructor in March but due to covid -19 we are stuck here at home with only chickens. She's keen to work and actually began gathering on her own ( she was supervised but not being commanded). This wasn't just following a chicken, she'd been doing that for three days and then decided they should all be together. I have done a bit of herding in the past but never started a dog although I know the theory and have watched numerous videos on starting dogs. I'm not sure the chickens are a good place to try and teach come bye and away though. If I could get those commands on her I'd be set for continuing. Just not sure that's possible without larger, hardier stock. Any suggestions would be welcome.

He's adorable!

Turns out Ceile is either allergic or highly sensitive to both corn and wheat. She's doing much better with time and probiotics and has gained a reasonable amount of weight. I can still see her ribs but at least the neighbours can't from their balcony so that's okay, lol. The photo is from our walk a couple of days ago.

He's beautiful. That's what all my other border collies looked like at that age. I used to call Darcy "Bean" because she was so thin; all tall and no width, lol. That's a nice weight. I used to tell people in my obedience classes to keep their dogs on the thinner side then scare them with the stats on hip dysplasia just for good measure. It worked for a lot of them, not all unfortunately. My aunt used to think that if her dog showed any kind of a tuck up it was starving to death. Instead her dogs always carried about an inch of fat over their tail head. Mom and I tried many times to explain but she just liked her dogs fat. This is Ceile at 8 months just before her weight plummeted. She's almost back to this which will make me very happy.

I know right! I hate getting stopped on the street and told how skinny my dog is. Most of the people are well meaning and good when I just tell them, "yah, we're working on that". Some I know would report me for abuse if they knew my name. Lovely world we live in. I had her on less food just after I wormed her thinking that would solve the problem but she had a sudden growth spurt and started eating everything, paper, hair off the floor and mushrooms to name a few! That was terrifying. That's when I boosted her food until we settled on what she's eating now. That's another thing, obviously puppies grow fast but she had some pretty crazy growth spurts. She would go to bed with a level topline and wake up with her butt an inch or two higher in the morning. I used to say she looked like that werewolf in Harry Potter she was so out of proportion. Lol. Anyway, sorry for being surly - have a lot on my plate right now. Happy news is Ceile and I will be starting herding training this month. A little stress relief for both of us.

Let's start with this. My pup NEVER has a distended abdomen after eating. My point in talking about the dachshunds (who were greedy little sneak thieves and not fed large doses of food on a regular basis) was to point out that a dog who was over eating to the point of getting diarrhea would almost certainly show physical signs of it, such as a distended belly. Again you can barely FEEL a difference between a full belly and an empty belly on my pup, let alone see one, ever! Skinny - this pup was, for a time through some major growth spurts, skeletal. No disrespect meant but I'm talking almost Auschwitz thin (just so you can have a picture of what I'm talking about). I got her to gain a little weight in spite of the on again off again diarrhea that she had, had since I brought her home at 10 weeks old but it wasn't easy. I went to the vet who treated her. She got much better but I still needed her to gain a few pounds; skeletal doesn't go away overnight. I don't believe it's normal for a dog who is supposedly getting too much food to be skeletal. Like you said, your dog got some extra cushioning going on when you overfed him. If I am supposedly feeding my dog so much that her belly can't contain it all then she should be a rolly polly sausage, not a bone rack. Next: If you read my last post, you would see that everything has basically settled down. Let me make this more clear. My dog appears to be getting better. She had other food with no ill effect - no gas, no diarrhea, no problem. Her irritated intestinal tract, it seems, was just needing an extra long time to calm itself. She is still eating 2 cups of food twice a day (good high quality food that I researched before giving her) and isn't having the issues that she was prior to her treatment with panacur. She is still thin but her ribs are a little less noticeable. I trust in a short time she will be a perfect weight. As for your older male dog eating less than my smaller, younger female allow me to explain how this works - not all dogs have the same metabolism. I have, with only short time spans in between, always had a multi dog household. I have raised and trained many dogs of several different breeds over the last 40 years and I can tell you that even litter mates will have different nutritional needs of the same food and require it to be measured accordingly to keep them at a healthy weight (that's healthy, not fat). My concern was that she was eating and NOT maintaining a healthy weight. Now, at 11 months, she has pretty much stopped her speedy upward growth which will make a difference. This will be another factor in why your older dog eats less - he is not growing! As for testing for giardia: Should she return to having stinky, smelly, diarrhea, I will look into it; that is why I took her to the vet in the first place. Until that time however, I will continue to provide her with probiotics and as much good healthy food as is needed to keep her the brilliant, gorgeous, trim speed demon she is.

We've had a ton of snow which means the place we used for her to relieve herself was constantly being cleared away and I've kept her out of the barnyard since last treating her for the giardia and worms. Now that the snow is melting we are able to use a different area for her to relieve herself and the grass is only just beginning to show around the buildings so I don't think that's it although I understand what you're saying and I understand it may still be a place of reinfection. I've gone back and looked at everything and in the meantime kept feeding her little bits of apple since that seems to not affect. I'm not convinced that a dog won't have an allergic reaction to things until after they are a year old. One of the reasons I changed her food the last time (besides the soft stools) was because she had begun scratching her ears and chewing at her paws. I changed food and that stopped. I waited a week or so and gave her a little of the old food (because I hate to throw things out if I don't have to) and she began scratching again. It contains corn and wheat. I have allergies and sensitivities to food and I know that if I eat a lovely piece of yeasty bread I have about fifteen minutes until I start sneezing and scratching my eyes out. Twice now, since changing her food, she has been given a Timbit (doughnut hole for those who don't know) and ended up scratching at her ears. Not necessarily proof but certainly suspicious. I also can't see that I was over feeding her with the two cups a feeding. I've had dachshunds who could eat more than that. They looked like footballs after consuming huge amounts of food but they never pooped themselves. Ceile eats a meal and you can't tell she's eaten anything at all; no round tummy, you can barely even feel it. I would think an overfull stomach would at least show a little. This last week I had some left over beef and tried giving her a bit of that for three days in a row. This time there was no reaction. I'm thinking her gut was just so irritated it's taking a long time to settle down and heal. At 11 months she's done most of her growing so if I can get a little bit of something else into her she should be able to maintain at least enough not to see her ribs. Otherwise she looks amazing and has an endless supply of energy so I'm going to try a little more beef and probiotics and see what happens. Thanks for all the help. It's good to be able to sort through all the thoughts and opinions born of other people's experience.

Thanks, I hadn't seen it. Gave it a read and actually feel better. My other young collies had heavier coats, Ceile is smooth coated. It's possible they were just as scary skinny and I just couldn't see it.

She's only just coming 11 months. She was wormed the day I picked her up at 10 weeks old. She had a belly full so I wormed her a second time after the right amount of days had passed. She was spending a lot of time at my mom's sampling chicken, duck and horse droppings but she was also having a terrible time with her food. I changed food, which helped but didn't clear it up. Because of all the dung she was tasting, I wormed her again when she started to drop weight rapidly and became almost skeletal. I fed her three times a day but had to measure it exact or she would end up just spraying the lawn with liquid. Soft and squishy she could hold on to, the other just ran out of her whether she was trying to go or not. I changed feed again and it got a little firmer, but I had to cut the kibble back. I started trying to add meat by itself. Small bites were okay, more than a treat though and we had a problem (but always gassy, that never changed). That's when i took her to the vet and got the panacur. Everything firmed up after that and most of the flatulence cleared up, but I still can't give her any extra meat. I can see her ribs. She plays hard and her coat is in good shape so it seems like she's doing okay nutritionally, it's just a matter of getting a bit more into her. She's a tiny little thing, 27lbs, but the max I can give her in dog food without upsetting her system is 4 cups a day. It's a good food too. She is eating twice as much as what my last adult collie ate and we are just barely maintaining. After the weekend when she plays with my parents Vizsla for hours, she always drops a little, thankfully we don't have many play times like that Monday to Thursday so her body has a chance to try and catch up. I thought, because of the worms and the panacur, that probiotics would help. They helped a little with the gas but she still gets the runs if I increase the feed. I still want to try a "better" probiotic just in case it just wasn't right or enough for her. I honestly expected the apple to soften things up but it had little to no effect that way, and it didn't give her gas. I count this as a good sign. I could change food again but I hate to do that so soon, especially when she's finally solid. And it's so hard to find a good food that isn't laden with legumes, potatoes and the like.

Thanks, that's kind of what I was thinking, just giving the kibble and the probiotics for awhile and hoping she didn't turn into a complete bone rack. I did slip her a few bites of apple the last day or two and so far so good, so you might be right, allergic to almost everything. That would be my luck, I don't think I've ever had just a normal dog.

Thank you, I went and looked that up and I think I'll give that a try.

I did this for my pom, basically he ate what I ate so I knew exactly what he was getting. He also only ate a 1/4 cup of pretty much anything so cooking for him was easy, lol. I would love to do this for Ceile but every time I give her a taste from my plate the kids start opening the doors and windows!

I don't know about her parents. Her Mom was imported from Ireland and Dad is still there. I never asked the breeder because of the litters I've know in the past. My pom's mom has a moderately sensitive tummy and his sister gets diarrhea from everything and yet he has literally eaten tinfoil (and so much more) with no ill effect. There is another type of probiotic that I can pick up. It's supposed to have a higher efficacy than others (or so the claim goes). I'll go check it out and see if it's worth the cost. Something else I wondered: If she has a sensitivity to one of the ingredients in her food, but not an actual allergy, then that might keep her belly in a state of potential turmoil without it showing up in other symptoms couldn't it? Bah! I hate to change her food again, it took so long to find a good one.

Yes. Lol, not much more to say. I gave the probiotics for awhile. I was considering trying again. About the only food that hasn't had a negative effect is pumpkin which was good because that is what we needed to keep things under control for a bit. I can give her freeze dried chicken in small amounts but that gets expensive really fast. She gets a little gassy with it but not to the extent the fresh chicken did. That's part of what is so frustrating. She has chicken, salmon and lamb and rice in her dog kibble. One would think that if she could have it in her kibble, it shouldn't create an issue giving a little bit fresh. I have given her tiny bits of carrot and other veggies and as long as it is only a very small amount and not every day, she's tolerable, just a little gassy. As soon as I try to make it a routine, everything gets ugly. I have always given my dogs people food with their kibble and tried to start her at 10 weeks but here we are at 11 months. At least she can have the kibble now without any issues so that's something. Maybe I should just be thankful and stop trying.

Ever since I brought Ceile home she's had tummy issues, as in you give her anything other than her dog food and she turns into a heinous gas bomber and potential poo cannon. We have wormed her a couple of times and when we couldn't get the diarrhea under control for a short time took her to the vet. He said it sounded like she had strongid resistant worms and possibly giardia and put her on panacur. That pretty much cleared up things up except... She is so stinking skinny and I have a time keeping weight on her. Three kibbles more than her measured amount produces squishy to liquid stool. I gave her a bit of ground beef hoping it would help but she started getting gas and loose stools again. I thought maybe an allergy so I switched to ground chicken. I gave it to Ceile only one time and when I got home from work my daughter said, "I threw up." I asked her why and she said that Ceile's poo smelled so bad that she threw up three times between picking it up and the walk to the dumpster. Later that evening I understood what she meant. She's not sick or lethargic, she's in good shape other than collie puppy thin. I just wish I could stop the horrendous reaction to anything not kibble. It would be nice to enhance her diet a little.

My first thought is there anything that would make him anxious but you said nothing has changed in how you do things. So how about: is there anything different with you? New stress? New smells? (Like a new job might have?) Two of my dogs got hyper protective of me when I was going through some stress at work. One of my dogs would get all worked up when i was playing a certain video game. It wasn't even a violent one but I guess I was giving off stress vibes because when I would purposely take deeper longer breaths during certain sequences she calmed down. I don't know, just a thought.

The only toys I leave my dogs alone with are nylabones and Kongs. Ceile likes the skinny tubular Kong that comes with the rope in it, but without the rope. I'm a little afraid to leave them with anything else after one of my dogs ate a piece out of something that was supposed to be safe and cost me a fortune in vet bills for surgery to save her life.

Sorry, it came out HUGE!