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Post by suds on Aug 22, 2008 10:22:54 GMT -5
Ok we lost our beloved Stinky 2 months ago my Mom took it very hard ,she still cry's when you mention her name ( female pitbull mix,we had for 13 great years) ..she fixated on a stray dog that she would se roaming around at her work . she would sneek left overs from dinner and put it in a trash can as well as treats for the stray to eat it. She works on a campus that houses and take's care of special needs people , The campus been trying for a few months to capture the poor dog last week my Mom was complaining she has not seen the stray for a while now and was worried,so I called the SPCA and found out she was there. So I took my Mom out to see her , She is a pitbull /terrer mix about 5 years old , sweetest thing and very well mannered I took her for a nice long walk as well cat tested her , there where a few young kids there to that she let pet her with no problems ( we have a cat and a pool so we have lots of children over all the time), So I told my Mom she can take her if she wants to .It's all she had to hear and rite away started the paper work and stuff , e are getting her tommorrow they spayed her yesterday. she was loose for at least 3 months that we know of . we think she was dropped off and abandoned and been scavaging for a long time was of cource full of flee's and ticks , they did check her for worms , deflee her gave her the required shots, !. her back leg is deformed Looks like she was hit by a car and it heeled with out being set properly , I wil take her to my vet next week and have it checked and of cource what ever he recomends to do to fix it ,possible have to rebreak and set it . 1. Because of her age I am concerned about arthritouse setting in . What natural treats can i give her that will help offset it ? I have read in a few post about chicken feet are there any others things I can try to ? 2. because she has been exposed for so long to masquitoe's and other eliments I am concerned about heart warms she "has been tested " and will be tested by my vet again but are there symptoms I can look for ? 3. any other concernes I should bring up to my vet when I take her there ? ( fecal sample will be taked to check for other parresites) She has alot of scars and will need alot of love and attention I feel bad for her . But i know she will be spoiled beyond reason here. also my Mom thinks i am crazy for switching the ferrets over to raw , But with out knowing it she basicaly has always fed Stinky and Puma (cat) a more natural diet , we never bought kibble , always did have canned food incase we went away and friends had to feed them , she always cooked there foods ( liver , chicken ,boiled steak and bones) they actually ate better then I did most times lol. The only problem i had was she would always put pasta or rice in with there food it took me many years to convince her they dont need it , so now she just accasionaly will put it in there food and I always when I can would sneeek in raw meats for treats . But I am the crazy one for wanting the ferrets to eat meat go figuere lol .
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Post by tsslilsis on Aug 22, 2008 11:54:45 GMT -5
5 years old is young for arthritis to set in. Usually happens around age 13 (Osteoarthritis anyway). Unless the dog is overweight of course. My dog Bo was twice his suggested weight when he was rescued, and he has arthritis at only 7-8 years old (We've had him for a month). You can start now by trying to prevent it. Giving chicken feet and fish oil is a good start. What has helped Bo out most of all is dried, powdered Yucca. www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=0&cat=1448&articleid=1365 Bo wouldn't really even use his leg before we started giving it to him, and now he is just fine. We also just recently started giving our dogs acupressure at home which helps tons with arthritis. I can give you a link to that if you like. Dogs don't always show symptoms of heart worm. It depends on how advanced it is. A couple signs are coughing and tiring easily. There are other things that can cause that though and that is why it is always best to get a vets opinion. You are smart for getting her tested a second time. You said she gave boiled meats and bones? Never ever give cooked bones!!!!!!! Not boiled, broiled, seared, no cooking at all!!! Not for dogs, cats, ferrets or any other animal. Some pressure cook bone in meats and feed it that way because the bone is soft but IMO what is the point if you can give it raw.. The cooking destroys the goodness of the meat anyway. -~Ketlin
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Post by suds on Aug 22, 2008 14:00:52 GMT -5
Thanks Ketlim for the info , Stinky started getting arthritis around 9 years old our vet said he see's it alot in pitbuls at younger ages , because of the trama to her leg already I want to try and give her what ever I can to help her joints as much as possible as naturaly as we can, with stinky I did not know any better and she was treated with consquin and other commercail joint treats which IMO gave her the trouble with her stomache that adventualy we had to put her down for .
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Post by velvetfuzzbutt on Aug 23, 2008 8:54:56 GMT -5
please be sure to moniter her with the kids as she is still a new dog and neither of you know how much she will take. Most kids aren't gentle, polite and don't hesitate to jump, scream, pinch and run. I took in a dachshund, and he was heartworm positive. we didn't know until we had him just how bad it was. He was nonstop hacking, coughing and while he would sleep a lot he would get up and limp around just to be with you. he was adopted by a city shelter worker and he died shortly after- even though he ha some treatments it was WAY too late. The biggest thing you can do for you dog is get her checked again (like you plan) and then on a preventative. Its also recomended to have them checked yearly, especially if you live in a high risk area. A huge thing you can do for her joints is keep her at a HEALTHY weight, don't let her get overweight or fat. Congrats- where are the photos??
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Post by suds on Aug 24, 2008 8:25:55 GMT -5
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Post by velvetfuzzbutt on Aug 24, 2008 21:05:53 GMT -5
what a pretty girl! She looks like an American bulldog. She is a very lucky girl, I KNOW she appreciates your mum coming to see her!
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Post by Heather on Aug 24, 2008 22:56:13 GMT -5
Don't feel bad about the kennel cough....she probably would have got it even if she had been given the vaccine....her immune system will be severly compromised and being suddenly placed in a shelter situation and the added stress probably made her more suseptible. A lot of dogs who get the vaccine quite often get the disease. Bordetella....is the vaccine. It's the bane of shelters because even if you vaccinate a good number of the dogs will get it. She's a beautiful girl. It's good that she's got a good home ciao
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Post by suds on Aug 25, 2008 10:15:40 GMT -5
Thanks for you support . I have delt with dogs from the SPCA many many times with training and awarness projects I held at the firehouse which has become a great success for getting many dogs adopted , But I never had went to the site or delt with them directly befor I avoided it like the plague I have to soft of a heart and want to take them all home to hug and squeese! and trust me its not easy being there and not taking home more !1 I bite my toung and try keeping my eyes shut each time I was mainly mad because they waited until we went to pick her up to tell us about the kennel cough , When a curtesy call would have avoided many things . But 1 good thing is after talking to the director they are now going over and reforming there training and protocals to try and avoid such things She happened to call me about a unrelated thing over the weekend talk about timeing lol.
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Post by Heather on Aug 25, 2008 13:05:20 GMT -5
Communication....it's one of the things a lot of those organizations are really poor about. The other thing might have been, that they may have been afraid you wouldn't take her which maybe why they put off telling you. I know that sounds really shallow and you wouldn't do it but you have to have heard some of the excuses I've heard when picking up furkids. I know where you're coming from about walking into those places. All those sad little faces, I went in there once to drop off some food after my old cat passed on. Guess what...I walked out with another cat...that had not been my intent...there was a cat who had been hit by a car...he was gimpy...no longer a kitten...just a plain black kitty that couldn't sit properly because of a gimpy leg made by his surgeries (he had a shattered pelvis and fractured femur so they pinned him together) The director said that he was a poor candidate for adoption because of this and would probably spend the rest of his life in the shelter (no kill) I couldn't leave him, could I I'm a sap, I know it. Good luck with your new puppy, I'm sure if nothing else she will be well loved ciao
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Post by velvetfuzzbutt on Aug 25, 2008 13:22:14 GMT -5
the dallas SPCA got smart and put all the puppies in open pens- do you know how dangerous that is? we went in and went back the next day and adopted a pup. because we could hold them, and not 'bother' shelter workers we fell in love. LOL irociclly he had many issues after getting home, kennel cough, pneumonia, ring worm, and other issues he even lost the enamel on his teeth. I think they could be better about phone calls, they actually have staff just for phones and paper work. Our small rescue has many fosters and most have full-time jobs, and large numbers of animals so sometimes it takes a bit longer to 'get through'. Did your mom decide on "Shirley"? I am really looking forward to photos of her at home, at peace, and truely happy.
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Post by suds on Aug 25, 2008 16:14:30 GMT -5
Heather I am a sap why I let mom go by herself to visit lol but glad you rescued the poor little cat Velvet Shirly was the name the shelter gave her I am sure we will change it once we get to know her.If mom has her way she will be name lue lue I cant wait to se her here to i honestly miss coming home to a happy tail wagging dog and fighting over the couch! The SPCA keeps all the kittens up front they are the first thing you see when you enter kittens are way to cute but then they become stuborn cats lol ( dont let Puma hear i said that!)
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Post by suds on Sept 6, 2008 17:53:16 GMT -5
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Post by velvetfuzzbutt on Sept 6, 2008 18:32:59 GMT -5
she has such nice markings on her! It looks like she is wearing a brindle shirt or something. Eli may be shy but she looks like she is happy and smiling in the first shot.
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Post by suds on Sept 13, 2008 6:09:09 GMT -5
we had to put her down yesterday Sunday she was not looking good had the runs so I took her to my vet , they put a IV in her and did many many test all her levels was bad with kidney's being the worse , so they kept her Monday she seemed to start bounce back then Tuesday she got very lathergic again , so they did another round of blood test and found she had advance lime desease and her kideny's where in bad shape so we tried to treat her with lots of antibotics with IV ( she still is at the vets) , so yesterday they did another round of test instead of all the levels going down they went up her kideny's where defently faily her heart was also starting to shows bad signs from the stress our vet said that it was very doubtful we could save her even with meds they seemed to have no positive effect the poor girl w2as just way to sick so we decided to just let her go in peace , We are all devistated we wanted so much to ive this poor girl a loveing home . My vet is great I have to say he did everything possible the vet bill with boarding , meds and test where over $1200 , he felt so bad for my mom after looseing Stinky and now this problem with poor Eli he just charged us $700 to recoup cost for lab test and meds as well as cremation service .. even though money was never the issue but its great that he did this it means alot . thanks alot for every ones support .
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Post by charmantpapillon on Sept 13, 2008 6:17:10 GMT -5
I'm sorry for yur loss but you did give her a loving home for a little while so im sure she knew she was loved in the end. to go from a stray to a lap dog is a lucky thing not all animals get that lucky and im sure she aprreciated it.
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