1
Helpful Groups & Dogs in Need / Great Dane looking for Home in Canada
« on: November 28, 2006, 10:01:51 am »
Hi, Dane in need of GREAT home. Located in Alberta, Canada. For more information please send me a private message. Thanks
News:
Congratulations Dinty the Newf You look very handsome atop the site.
The BPO Calendar is now available for purchase. For more information, see the self-titled thread.
Looking for something interesting to read? Catch up on the latest doggy news in our BPO Blog.
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Pages: [1]
2
Great Dane Discussions / Phoebe Update #2 Grrrrrrrrr
« on: October 15, 2006, 10:19:29 am »
What frusteration! Phoebe had her stitches removed from her ankle this past Friday. Her ankle was looking so great. We were told not to keep wrapping it with vet wrap but to allow it to dry and expose it to air however to also cover it with some breathable fabric like a clean tube sock so that she could not lick it but so that it could get better. Well Friday night sometime through the night she chewed the sock off and chewed her ankle open. Saturday morning it was bac to the vet. While the scab is gone and her ankle looks worse it was not in need of stitches so we cleaned it, and I had to buy her a muzzle. We're now set back to a week of laid back activities, no licking the ankle and more antibiotics.
What frusteration. I never realized how difficult Lick Granuloma's can be, or how difficult recovery can be for big dogs. We're now nursing Phoebe like crazy, watching her like a hawk. I feel bad that she's in a muzzle but she needs it to heal. On a good note, Phoebe who dropped down to 80lb after the surgery has now put on 10lb and is up to 90lb. Thank goodness. She also has her spunk back which is awesome to see, but hard to control when we let her outside to go to the bathroom. She's on the week of laid back activities but she turns into a puppy outside. So she's now leash bound when going outside. I cannot wait until this has past for her. I am looking forward to walks and playing outside.
What frusteration. I never realized how difficult Lick Granuloma's can be, or how difficult recovery can be for big dogs. We're now nursing Phoebe like crazy, watching her like a hawk. I feel bad that she's in a muzzle but she needs it to heal. On a good note, Phoebe who dropped down to 80lb after the surgery has now put on 10lb and is up to 90lb. Thank goodness. She also has her spunk back which is awesome to see, but hard to control when we let her outside to go to the bathroom. She's on the week of laid back activities but she turns into a puppy outside. So she's now leash bound when going outside. I cannot wait until this has past for her. I am looking forward to walks and playing outside.
3
Great Dane Discussions / Phoebe Update
« on: October 05, 2006, 04:20:00 pm »
Well Phoebe went into the vet last night as I was concerned about the redness around her abdomin after the spay. I made the appointment with my usual vet, after concerns about the vet that did the spay/surgery. I was already feeling better and a little relieved that she was going in until 10 minutes before we had to leave and she tugged on the vet wrap on her ankle and pulled out two stitches. So we skipped waiting the 10 minutes and rushed on in. Phoebe's ankle was swollen and very red.
My vet was not as concerned about her abdomin, she had a fever, was shaking and whining, has lost 13lb since last week. She weighed 95lb before surgery and now she's down to 82lb. She stopped eating for basically a week. She's dehydrated...I was close to tears. See I had no idea she was doing so poorly. Since Phoebe has been with us all she does is lay around, she's not overly active and has never played with toys, so she was acting pretty much like herself minus the whining and redness. I was worried that the lack of eating was not good but the vet who had done the surgery assured me that she'd been through a lot and was likely still not feeling so hot and kept saying give it another day. So whatever I got sick of that and being the worried mom I am took her in to my vet.
He cleaned, drained and rebandaged her ankle, there was no need for stitches in the area where they came out. She does have an infection though now set (the other vet had used braided stitches) in so he gave us pain meds, antibiotics, anti inflamitory meds, a cream for her ankle that will help with the irritation and infection. He also sent us home with pill poppers to get the meds into her, and canned Gastro food. When we got home I got the meds into her using the pill poppers and then she ate a can of food (YAY).
Today Phoebe has again taken her meds, eaten a can and a half of the wet canned food plus a cup of Gastro kibble. She's stopped shaking and whining and she's drinking. YAY!! I'm already feeling better. Phoebe was supposed to go back in today for IV if she hadn't started eating and drinking but now that she's doing both she goes back in to see the vet again on Friday to see how she's doing and re-evaluate her then.
My vet was not as concerned about her abdomin, she had a fever, was shaking and whining, has lost 13lb since last week. She weighed 95lb before surgery and now she's down to 82lb. She stopped eating for basically a week. She's dehydrated...I was close to tears. See I had no idea she was doing so poorly. Since Phoebe has been with us all she does is lay around, she's not overly active and has never played with toys, so she was acting pretty much like herself minus the whining and redness. I was worried that the lack of eating was not good but the vet who had done the surgery assured me that she'd been through a lot and was likely still not feeling so hot and kept saying give it another day. So whatever I got sick of that and being the worried mom I am took her in to my vet.
He cleaned, drained and rebandaged her ankle, there was no need for stitches in the area where they came out. She does have an infection though now set (the other vet had used braided stitches) in so he gave us pain meds, antibiotics, anti inflamitory meds, a cream for her ankle that will help with the irritation and infection. He also sent us home with pill poppers to get the meds into her, and canned Gastro food. When we got home I got the meds into her using the pill poppers and then she ate a can of food (YAY).
Today Phoebe has again taken her meds, eaten a can and a half of the wet canned food plus a cup of Gastro kibble. She's stopped shaking and whining and she's drinking. YAY!! I'm already feeling better. Phoebe was supposed to go back in today for IV if she hadn't started eating and drinking but now that she's doing both she goes back in to see the vet again on Friday to see how she's doing and re-evaluate her then.
4
Medical Conditions & Diseases / Noxzema Cream on Spay Incision????
« on: October 04, 2006, 09:16:44 am »
I'm a little worried. Phoebe is going to see our usual vet tonight because the vet that did the spay/surgery just told me to put Noxzema cream on her incision where she had the spay. Noxzema>>
? I don't see how that would help her redness let alone anything. That cream stings/burns my skin when I purchased it in the past to use, I tried it once and it burned and dried out my skin. Has anyone heard of this? I'm worried. Hopefully my vet tonight will be able to tell me why she is red, why her ankle is leaking blood and why she is whining...
? I don't see how that would help her redness let alone anything. That cream stings/burns my skin when I purchased it in the past to use, I tried it once and it burned and dried out my skin. Has anyone heard of this? I'm worried. Hopefully my vet tonight will be able to tell me why she is red, why her ankle is leaking blood and why she is whining...5
Medical Conditions & Diseases / Whining/Spay
« on: October 04, 2006, 05:07:21 am »
Phoebe was spayed last Friday and had surgery on her ankle as well. Since then she's only eaten maybe a cup- a cup and a half of food which isn't much. She's whining a lot. Phoebe is deaf and I have no clue why she is whining?? Not that she could tell me otherwise but it's not like her to whine. Her ankle seems to be doing okay when we rebandage with clean wrappings and her tummy is pretty red. She's on antibiotics for a week but is it normal for females abdomines to get a little red? She licks but as soon as we notice we give her a tap and try distracting her. I'm so confused. The vet said she's healing well and looks good but with her not eating much at all, plus the redness and whining I'm a little concerned. Any thoughts?
6
Medical Conditions & Diseases / Anxiety Meds/St. John's Wort?
« on: September 30, 2006, 06:11:47 am »
Hi, our vet is planning on prescribing anxiety medication for our Dane Phoebe. I've heard of dogs being put on this medication but I haven't heard opinions or much about it. Does it work?
Phoebe just had surgery to fix Lick Granuloma on her front ankle due to her obsession with licking and chewing on herself. She also chews on her tail/nipples. *sighs* She's deaf, was rehomed to us in early August and has never had toys. I can't think that she's bored as I'm home all day with her and she's outside playing a fair bit. We bought toys to introduce to her with no luck, not even the stuffed kong worked.
Someone had mentioned that St. John's Wort can be given as a natural alternative to anxiety prescribed meds. Has anyone used this for their dog? If so how did you find it? Work well? How much did you give? How often? How did you feed it to them?
I want to find something to help Phoebe so that we can prevent further chewing of herself and surgery. Pain is no fun and it's hard to see her do this to herself.
I'd love to hear others personal expieriences with anxiety meds. with their dogs.
Thanks
Phoebe just had surgery to fix Lick Granuloma on her front ankle due to her obsession with licking and chewing on herself. She also chews on her tail/nipples. *sighs* She's deaf, was rehomed to us in early August and has never had toys. I can't think that she's bored as I'm home all day with her and she's outside playing a fair bit. We bought toys to introduce to her with no luck, not even the stuffed kong worked.
Someone had mentioned that St. John's Wort can be given as a natural alternative to anxiety prescribed meds. Has anyone used this for their dog? If so how did you find it? Work well? How much did you give? How often? How did you feed it to them?
I want to find something to help Phoebe so that we can prevent further chewing of herself and surgery. Pain is no fun and it's hard to see her do this to herself.
I'd love to hear others personal expieriences with anxiety meds. with their dogs.
Thanks
7
Great Dane Discussions / Anxiety Medication? Help!
« on: September 30, 2006, 05:17:53 am »
I have a question for anyone who has their dog on anxiety medication. It was suggested by our vet yesterday that we put Phoebe, our 2yr old Deaf Dane on anxiety meds. She went for her spay yesterday as well as surgery on her front ankle. The vet did xrays and it showed a very minor bone spur, however he said that the spur is not causing her to chew her leg as it's too minor and really wouldn't cause any pain or irritation. Before Phoebe came to us in August she had injured her front leg, cutting the ankle open on a broken deck at her previous home. The previous owner only ever used a topical spray and due to the laceration, and irritation caused by the wound healing, drying and itching Phoebe began to chew obsessivly at her ankle causing the wound to get worse each day. So it would appear that while she was nursing the would the chewing became a habit. When we had her seen in August the vet said it was likely either a bone spur beneath causing the pain, or an arthritic sist causing her aggravation, thus he said we needed to get beneath the wound and remove whatever was causing the irritation to solve the underlying cause. So now the xrays have been done showing that really there's nothing beneath causing pain or otherwise and said that because Phoebe chews at her tail, nipples and ankle that he feels very confident that she has anxiety issues and recommended we put her on an anxiety med.
We haven't started her yet on anything because he sent off a growth he removed from one nipple for biopsy as well as the large mass he removed from her injured ankle just to see if we were dealing with anything else...cancer I would guess.
Right now we're letting Phoebe recoup from the spay and take it easy while her ankle heals. She has numerous stitches on her ankle and it's wrapped to prevent her from chewing. We wrapped it in the past but she chewed the vet wrap off so hopefully she leaves it alone long enough to allow it to heal. For those who have dogs with anxiety and are on meds does it help? What meds are your dogs on? How do you get them to take the medicine?
I was told that St. John's Wort can be used as a natural alternative to vet prescribed medication, and works just as well. Has anyone used this for their dog, and does it work? If so how much do you give? How do you get them to take it?
I've been trying so despretly to make toys fun and get Phoebe playing with them to divert her obsession with chewing on herself but she's never played with toys. She does chew on bones but won't go out of her way to chew bones. We got her a Kong and filled it with frozen yogurt and peanut butter but she won't touch that. I'm stumped for ways to keep her from this form of self mutilation. Once her leg heals I figured we'd take her out for lengthy walks and tucker her out so that she's too tired to do much aside from snooze. I don't know what the answer is, and from having one pet parrot that plucks it's feathers due to anxiety (the parrot has been through homes before us as well), I know that anxiety problems can really be a lengthy battle.
Any advice, help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
We haven't started her yet on anything because he sent off a growth he removed from one nipple for biopsy as well as the large mass he removed from her injured ankle just to see if we were dealing with anything else...cancer I would guess.
Right now we're letting Phoebe recoup from the spay and take it easy while her ankle heals. She has numerous stitches on her ankle and it's wrapped to prevent her from chewing. We wrapped it in the past but she chewed the vet wrap off so hopefully she leaves it alone long enough to allow it to heal. For those who have dogs with anxiety and are on meds does it help? What meds are your dogs on? How do you get them to take the medicine?
I was told that St. John's Wort can be used as a natural alternative to vet prescribed medication, and works just as well. Has anyone used this for their dog, and does it work? If so how much do you give? How do you get them to take it?
I've been trying so despretly to make toys fun and get Phoebe playing with them to divert her obsession with chewing on herself but she's never played with toys. She does chew on bones but won't go out of her way to chew bones. We got her a Kong and filled it with frozen yogurt and peanut butter but she won't touch that. I'm stumped for ways to keep her from this form of self mutilation. Once her leg heals I figured we'd take her out for lengthy walks and tucker her out so that she's too tired to do much aside from snooze. I don't know what the answer is, and from having one pet parrot that plucks it's feathers due to anxiety (the parrot has been through homes before us as well), I know that anxiety problems can really be a lengthy battle.
Any advice, help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
8
Great Dane Discussions / Do your Dogs eat Grass?
« on: September 09, 2006, 09:40:14 am »
How many people find their dogs graze on grass? I have found that since Phoebe joined our home she's been grazing every other day on the grass in our backyard. Our Chihuahua does this once in a while but it's pretty rare for him. Phoebe on the other hand eats a fair amount of grass. I'm thinking it may be some dietary defficency? Or maybe something dogs do when their stomachs are upset? She had some runny poop last night and then this morning threw up grass first thing. We're starting very slowly in transitioning her to Go Natural Salmon & Oatmeal dog food from the Purina Weight Management the vet recommended. The Go Natural that we were told to try is supposed to be good for dogs with sensitive stomachs or any food allergies. I'm hoping that once she is fully onto the Go Natural that her stomach will settle from the loose poops and gas and that she will let up on the grass munching. I was just curious though as to why she might be eating grass.
9
Great Dane Discussions / How Many Canadian Danes owners & Location?
« on: September 08, 2006, 08:29:46 am »
I'm just wondering how many Great Dane owners are located in Canada and if so where? I've read about the meet and greets and play times and I would be interested to get out and meet other Dane owners near myself and Phoebe not only for socialization for Phoebe but also for myself so that I can learn more from other Dane owners.
I'm located in Calgary Alberta.
I'm located in Calgary Alberta.
10
Great Dane Discussions / Who Feeds Go Natural to their Danes-Opinions?
« on: September 07, 2006, 09:16:26 am »
I went in and sat down with a nutritionalist today for Phoebe. We went over her weight, size and the fact that she may have a sensitive stomach. The nutritionalist recommended 'Go Natural' Salmon & Oatmeal Formula, so we've purchased a small bag to slowly convert her. While it's higher then the 8% fat then our vet recommended (it's 12%), the nutritionalist said that because it's not a kibble based mainly on grains, corn ect. that the proteins balance out to equal good energy and that it will help her stomach, give her a much nicer coat, smaller poops since most of the food gets absorbed, less gas, and will help balance out and reduce the acidity in her urine which in effect will help our grass. There was more too but I can't recall it all. She said if this kibble doesn't agree then I might want to try Phoebe on a raw diet of which she would help me get Phoebe started on it. The benefits of raw sound really impressive, for my smaller dog and cat as well. I'll have to see what the future holds but for now we'll see how 'Go Natural' works for Phoebe. Any thoughts on this food?
11
Great Dane Discussions / New Owner would love Info
« on: September 05, 2006, 04:40:17 am »
Hi, I'm a new owner to a Deaf Harlequin or Merliquin, I'm not quite sure since I've been told both. Phoebe is almost 3yrs old and such a joy. We've had her for one month. I'm wondering what everyone feeds their Great Danes? Phoebe weighs 95lb. She's not huge like the American lines but is an average size so I've been told for a female. Phoebe does not play with toys, balls, stuffed animals or otherwise. She loves to chew bones though. I guess Phoebe has never played with toys, I'm not sure if this is part of being deaf or just what or if she was never given any. Has anyone ever expierenced this and if so did their Dane come around and start playing? We have purchased Phoebe a ton of toys and other things but she hasn't touched them. She's new to so much it would seem as we took her for her very first camping trip this past weekend. She seemed to enjoy it but was nervous which I could tell by the fact she stayed close to me and did a lot of leaning. I would love to hear advice or anything anyone can tell me about Great Danes that I might not know. We also have a Chihuahua so this is a huge difference for us.
Megan & Phoebe
Megan & Phoebe
Pages: [1]