libby-at-home

That's what I do as well, divy up the largest size of Advantage. With 3 cats and one dog, the largest pkg lasts me a full year...course we don't have a flea problem here in the winter. Our vet sells us the largest package, and I think it is the same price as the small pkg.But when we've been short on money, I've bought the cheap flea drops from Wal-Mart. It doesn't work as well, but you just have to use more. As far as I know,we don't have heartworms here in the Pacific NorthWest, thankfully! But please still think about the possibility that there may be some diet related cause..Sophie gets sores on her lower back just like that whenever I feed her completely on Purina One. And it can take awile for it to show up. I switched to 1/2 Iams or Innova, 1/2 homemade( a mixture of raw egg, cottage cheese, and plain yogurt with some lean chicken thrown in) and her back cleared up.Where I purchase the Innova from, the owner said that it costs the same $ per day to feed cheap or to feed the quality food. 1 1/2 cups per day of quality vs 3-4 cups per day of cheap. He says it works out to about 15 cents per day no matter what...I haven't figured it out myself though.....

Is there any chance that this could be caused by diet? Sophie gets skin problems whenever I feed her kibble that has a lot of grain products in it. Her hot spots don't seem to be connected to fleas as I use Advantage pretty regularly during the flea season.

When I was pregnant and had morning sickness, a midwife told me to put powdered ginger into empty gelatin capsuls from the health food store and take them. That did seem to help a lot.You could put grated fresh ginger into the capsules as well. I am sure you can purchase the capsules online somewhere....they come in several different sizes.

updated diagnosis for Sophie! the Vet did a hands on exam, and re-examined the previous xrays of her left front shoulder. He feels like the muscle tore away from the shoulder, along with a small piece/chip of bone. Now that the hematoma has shrunk, we can feel the muscle lump. Rather than attempt another surgery ( and another $2000)which has only a 20% chance of success, he wants to see if the muscle will heal and re-attach/regrow on its own. If there isn't a dramatic change by Thanksgiving, then we wil re-evaluate. Sophie needs to be kept very quiet, with slow walks so there can be healing. Caroline- Bellingham Vet Critical Care has a canine hydro-therapy pool!! We may begin to use it once we have some more healing.

well..... the vets assistent took out the staples on Friday. Sophie had popped one staple, so there is about a 1" opening that is healing from the inside out. The rest of the wound looks great.She is still on two antibiotics. The vet wants to see her again on Monday and maybe diagnose the shoulder which is still extremely sore/lame. She seems to have a really hard time moving slowly, but once she limbers up a bit, it seems to do a little better.She is mostly quite reluctant to move from behind the couch except for potty, time to eat, and if someone comes to the door, in which case she comes out like a roaring fury. I have taken her her favorite park a few times, where we fly kites. She seemed to perk up a little then-pricking up her ears etc. instead of acting so depressed. One thing I am really worried about is the emotional impact this whole thing has had on her. She just isn't the same dog at all. She had a very sensitive and shy nature from when we got her at 7 wks, and had a problem with separation anxiety,and submissive peeing which things we have been able to work with very well and we had helped her to really come out of her shell. She was pretty well able to function normally in every instance. She was such a happy dog, and had become so confident and responsive. She had been able to over come many fears through taking Agility classes.But now it is like she had never progressed at all x 10.I am really worried. Will she ever be the old Sophie??? Can dogs have a nervous breakdown?? Will she ever be able to emotionally recover from this??? I guess it is back to square one with the positive training methods, which is ok for me and the rest of the family, I just feel SO SORRY for her.... Should I alow her to stay camped out behind the couch, or should I insist that she comes out and interact with the family? When I call her to come out she just looks at me and then looks away, which is simply a direct refusal. Usally I never allow her to do that, but gently and quietly insist she does what I ask her. Should I do that still??

I was REALLY hoping you were still around, AKdogdoc....thanks for the info. We are heading over to the vet in about 45 min, so now at least I can have a better idea what he is telling me. As for the opposable thumb, well, I think it is only us lesser species who need them. HaHa Actually we had just purchased two days before an older Suburban that has a very loose/easy opening door handle, which we really hadn't even noticed. Now I guess I'm going to go over all our vehicles and house doors and check out what each situation is, though Sophie usually knows her boundries very well...

Thanks for the good wishes. On the Sunday night- early monday morning before we found her, I had gotten into such a horrible state of mind from worry and knowing that she was terrified I could hardly function at all. There was one sighting early Monday and we went there and called until I got a bad nosebleed....Thankfully she was found an hour later...heading for a HUGE park/wooded area. It doesn't seem like her shoulder locks, she has even been jogging around a tiny little. I don't think it gives her a lot of pain. It just did this clicking sound. I know at first they mentioned that the bundle of nerves in the shoulder could have been damaged, which they said would mean amputation, but I'm pretty sure we are past that point now.. And yes, I am about to get a seat belt harness for her. She has severe crate anxiety.

hi all...I haven't been around here for a few years, but anyway... My border collie/aussie, Sophie, has been in a terrible car accident. She opened the truck door when my husband was in the hardware store on a busy Saturday, and when she couldn't find him in the shop, got scared when an employee tried to grab her, and ran out a different door..she was lost for two days, during which time we searched almost all the time we weren't sleeping etc. It was the worst nightmare I have experienced in a while... She got hit by a car, and the humane society picked her up, phoned us, and took her to the vet. That was two weeks ago now... She has a collapsed lung, that is slowly stabilizing, a HUGE gash on her hip (40 staples to close) a massive hematoma on her chest that has just opened up in a small area and is starting to drain a little, and a serious shoulder problem(which is what I am hoping to get some advice on)...She spent 4 days at the original vet, and then we moved her to an excellent Critical care vet who saved her life. She was there another three days, and now she has been slowly recovering at home. She was on intravenous anti-biotics, had a couple of pain patches, now at home liquid pain killers( actually finished for a few days now) , and two anti-biotics. I am feeding her a high protein diet supplemented with a canine vitamin 2x per day along with a 1/2 c yogurt with live cultures. Her staples come out on Friday. The vet said she might have a torn muscle in the front shoulder but he didn't think anything there was broken. Yesterday I lifted her down from the bed and I heard her shoulder make a clicking noise. The swelling has pretty well all gone down now, so thats why I figure this is just showing up now. Today I have very gently moved the leg and shoulder and it sticks and makes a clicking noise. There seems to be no muscle tone in the shoulder compared to the other one. She doesn't whine at all when I do this, though I have only tried it twice very carefully. She does hobble around quite well during the day to go out in the yard with me for potty breaks. Her staples come out on Friday, and so will be talking to the vet then, but I'm wondering.... Does anyone have any insight on what might be wrong with her shoulder?? I'd appreciate any advice. And Yes, my husband and I have had some pretty serious talks about him forgetting to lock the truck door...but I figure all the checks he is writing to the vet will speak loudest of all.... thanks in advance...

hey even us pet owners can buy a chuck-it and get the dog running!! Sophie was feeling a little tubby so I cut back on her carbs, and feed her more protein.She acts like she is starving now, so I feel a little bad. But she has free access to quality kibble so I figure she maybe just got a little spoiled. She is 32 lbs and 19"

Sophie and my next door BC both LOVE playing in the hose. We have all sorts of games we play. Since they both like games with "rules" I make sure I play that way.Sophie will play until she is sopping, and mind you, it's cold water too.Why the negative reaction to a nice warm shower is beyond me. Though Sophie does get the zoomies after a bath, then it is into sulk mode for a few hours. She will go and hide under or behind someones legs if I call her, won't play with me.And if she gets outside, will go hide under a bush until she feels she has punished me enough.

My husband has a client who is the manager of a chocolate factory. He came by today, and the enticing scent of chocolate came along too. Sophie just lay at his feet smelling and snuffeling his shoes and the bottom of his pants!She thinks that she LOVES chocolate, and we have to be very carefull to keep it away from her.I occasionally let her play with an empty chocolate wrapper as she seems to enjoy it so much...poor thing. Can you imagine a life without chocolate??

I was worried ithat I had missed Sophies heat as well, and then a Portugese Water dog bitch in heat visited for a little bit, and two days later Sophie started up...I think I've heard about that before, that bitches can have that effect on each other...

Get him neutered?

Sophie loves sweets as well, and if a candy wrapper gets dropped she plays with it and chews it until I get it from her. Especially chocolate wrappers!! Could you make up a special doggie cookie using something like Splenda or molassas, using whole wheat flour? Does she like cut-up apples or bananas?What about a peanut butter and honey on whole wheat bread cut into tiny pieces? (Can dogs have honey?)It seems like there should be some healthy sweet alternatives.

so my question is, is S/A a problem brought on by a pup being raised in unstable conditions and/or being passed from owner to owner, or is it an actual brain chemistry problem from poor breeding?