Postings by Rocket

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Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Tue Apr 2, '13 4:35pm PST  My 12-year old Eskie mix is on diuretics for her heart disease and unfortunately it causes her to have accidents at times, especially when she's sleeping so she ends up getting pee on her side and leg. I don't want to keep giving her baths all the time so I'd like to find a waterless shampoo or something like that that I can use just to clean the area that needs cleaning and that doesn't cause any discomfort to her. Does anyone know of a product or maybe even something homemade that I could use, preferably something that isn't very expensive? Thanks my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Thu Oct 18, '12 2:11pm PST  I've got a package of gizzards and chicken hearts and I wanted to cook it up for my dogs. I'm wondering if it would be okay to make dinner for the dogs using the gizzards and hearts as the meat source? If so does anyone have a recipe I could use or some suggestions for how to cook it and what else to add to it for a palatable and at least somewhat balanced meal. Thanks my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Food & Nutrition > I finally found a food my sick dog will eat!!! (Evanger's)

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Mon Oct 8, '12 11:18am PST  My 12-year old Eskie mix has congestive heart failure and the meds she's on affects her appetite. I've had a hell of a time getting food in her the past few weeks. Dry food is out of the question. She won't touch it. She would eat canned food but only a few bites at a time and only from a spoon. She would not eat from her bowl. I tried a bunch of different canned foods - everything from junk like Alpo to foods that cost $3/can. Someone here suggested I make satin balls for her so I did that but, to my surprise, she refused that too. She did finally eat it after I cooked the satin balls but I still had to coax her. A few days ago I got a couple of cans of Evanger's Dog Food expecting the same result as usual. But I was pleasantly surprised - she loved it! Not only did she eat it from a bowl, she finished it and even ate more of it later that day. I'm thrilled! My other dog who is not sick but an extremely picky eater also loved it. It's a pretty different dog food than what you usually get. Many of the different flavors just contain big pieces of meat and some vegetables in juice. It looks like something you'd make at home. What you see is what you get. You don't have to look at the ingredients to know what's in it. Some flavors have organ meat in them (one can I bought had a big piece of tripe which my dogs weren't able to chew). Just the kind of nasty stuff dogs love. Some of the flavors are more traditional pate style though. I highly recommend this food if your dog is a picky eater. Some of the flavors are not nutritionally complete and is indicated for supplemental and intermittent feeding only but for a few days they're just fine. There are nutritionally complete versions too. It's not cheap but it's no more expensive than other premium foods. I'm so happy to have found a food Rocket likes and the fact that Toshi likes it too is a great bonus. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Food & Nutrition > What's a good supplement for dog that is not eating enough?

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Fri Sep 28, '12 11:41am PST  My 12-year old American Eskimo mix has congestive heart failure and is on several medications which seems to effect her appetite. I'm having a very hard time getting her to eat and usually can't get her to eat enough. I'm going to have to get her a good supplement that will provide both nutrients and calories. It's easier to get her to eat straight meat but that doesn't have everything she needs so I'm hoping to find a supplement that will provide her the majority of what she needs nutritionally so that I can feed her what she likes. I'd prefer to find a supplement in pill form if possible. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good supplement that may work for us? Thanks my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Home Prepared Food & Recipes > Is there any good, tasty but cheap food I can make at home for two senior dogs?

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Fri Sep 21, '12 10:02pm PST  My 12-year old has been having some pretty serious health problems lately and is on several medications which seems to affect her appetite. Normally she eats anything. Whether or not it's edible isn't that important as long as it smells good. She'd even get excited about broccoli. Now, however, she won't even eat ground beef and rice. We've been through several different foods the past few weeks. It started with a more palatable kibble - from Natural Balance to Science Diet which she normally loves. That worked for a few days. After that I moved to canned food - Solid Gold with tripe which she would normally kill for. But that only worked for a couple of days. I ended up having to sit on the floor and spoon feed her to get her to eat (oddly enough she'd eat this way but not directly from the bowl). We tried some other canned foods without much luck. A few days ago I decided to try boiled ground beef and rice and that was a big hit. She inhaled it and so did my other dog who was born a picky eater. By today, however, she has grown bored with this too and only ate half of her dinner. It's not that she wasn't hungry because she gladly ate chicken from the table later and finally, to get something in her, I tried giving her some canned cat food and that went down just fine. I think what I'm going to have to do is to rotate foods, maybe find a few different recipes. I think I'll be most successful with homemade food but unfortunately I can't afford to keep getting them ground beef all the time so I need an affordable version that is healthy and tastes good. Maybe mix different sources of protein, like some ground beef and some liver or even gizzards or something else nasty that dogs love. I could really use some good, affordable recipes. My dogs are 10 and 12 and the 12-year old has congestive heart failure so if someone has a recipe that is good for that that would be great. I'd greatly appreciate any ideas. Thanks. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Sat Sep 15, '12 12:23pm PST  Thanks so much everyone for the prayers and well wishes. It must have worked. So far Rocket is doing much better. She's not 100% and most likely she never will be but she's almost back to normal. She's back to chasing the cats out of the livingroom, barking at the mailman and just being her usual bratty self and I'm loving it. As far as I'm concerned she can behave as badly as she wants. I'm just so happy that she's feeling better. You guys won't believe how happy I am that my Rocket is here with me and not suffering anymore. The past week was one of the worst of my life. I've never been such a wreck. I couldn't eat or sleep without sleeping pills and I just couldn't relax. Every time I looked at Rocket and how she was breathing it literally hurt my heart. But now she's up and alert, giving mommy kisses and is wanting belly rubs. She's on some pretty high doses of three medications and that's definitely helping. She was taking Enalapril which is the standard med for CHF but I believe that her rapid breathing was at least partly caused by it. It started just a few hours after she had her first dose and I don't think that was a coincidence. So on Tuesday the vet finally agreed to switch her to Benazapril instead and the rapid breathing went away. She still has some breathing issues when she lays in certain positions but it's not how it was. She's also coughing a bit and that's probably not going to go away but we can reduce the frequency of the coughing by making sure she doesn't get excited or allow her to walk down the stairs by herself and stuff like that. One thing that does worry me a bit is that her appetite is not good. She passes on treats and isn't interested in foods she normally likes. I've got several different kinds of canned food and she eats okay when I give her the "junk food" ones like canned Iams. For some reason she prefers to be spoon fed instead of eating straight from the bowl so that's what we've been doing and that's fine with me. As long as she's eating enough I'm happy and although I would prefer that she ate a better quality food than Iams I'm content as long as she eats at all. We're still going to the cardiologist at Purdue University for an echocardiogram in a week and I'm hoping that the cardiologist will be able to tell exactly what is going wrong in her heart so that she can get treatment tailored to that condition and hopefully that will prolong her life. I'm cautiously optimistic. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Dog Health > Enlarged heart and trouble breathing. Anything more I can do to help her?

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Sat Sep 8, '12 12:15pm PST  Thanks everyone. Rocket just got worse and worse last night and after a while she wouldn't walk or even move. I freaked out and rushed her to the ER and she's still there now. She had gotten a bit better by the time we got there but it was still bad. Her lungs were filled with fluid and that's what's causing her to have trouble breathing an coughing. The vet at the ER wanted to admit her for 24 hours and treat her aggressively so that's what we did. It cost over $900 but I'll worry about that later. I want Rocket to get the best treatment she can get. I hated to have to leave her there because she's never been in the hospital or boarded so sitting in a cage without mommy is new to her. The vet called me this morning though and told me she was doing much, much better and had eaten well. She was sleeping restfully which she hasn't in a couple of days since this crap started. I'm going to pick her up at six if all goes well. I'm even more annoyed with the vet at my vet office now though. I don't think she listened to me or understood how sick Rocket was. She told me to call her back next week when the reason I called was because Rocket was having problems then. I should have spoke up and let her know that I want something done and waiting isn't acceptable. Of course Rocket was better in the afternoon when I talked to her but I should have realized that it wasn't going to get better. I just wonder if I had seen another vet on Wednesday and talked to another vet yesterday she could have gotten the aggressive IV treatment earlier and not at the tune of 900 bucks at the ER. But at least Rocket is better and that's what counts. She will have new meds when I pick her up and I hope that will help too. Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers for my baby girl my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Dog Health > How to get rid of Fleas temporarily?

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Fri Sep 7, '12 8:35pm PST  Why not get a generic Frontline? They should work the same and is much cheaper. I saw a 3-pack for $19 in the store the other day. Vets will often sell individual doses too. A flea shampoo will reduce the infestation temporarily though if getting a better treatment isn't an option. You could also see about getting a dose of Capstar which will kill fleas for 24 hours and works very well. A dose of Capstar is much cheaper than frontline. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Dog Health > Enlarged heart and trouble breathing. Anything more I can do to help her?

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Fri Sep 7, '12 7:57pm PST  Yeah, the vet called me back and told me to take her off the Enalapril in case that is what is causing the problem. I really hope it gets better but if it doesn't I don't know what I'll do. I asked about trying a bronchodilator but the vet wanted to wait a few days. I said okay but I really regret that now. I don't think the vet understood how hard it is for Rocket to breathe. In fact I should have asked to talk to another vet. There are seven vets in the office and most are good but I don't like this one. I've had some bad experience with her in the past. She didn't know the difference between FIV and FIP and I think a vet should. I'm so worried about Rocket and I just have a feeling that this is not going to end well. I always thought Rocket was going to live to be at least 17 but she's not even 12. I don't think I can stand losing her. She's my firstborn. Please send some get well vibes our way. I want to keep my baby! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Rocket Miss Boss     Barked: Fri Sep 7, '12 2:13pm PST  My poor Rocket is still not doing any better and still has trouble breathing. It's so hard to watch her suffer and not be able to do anything. The worst part is the sleep. She's so uncomfortable and can only sleep for short periods of time. I'm really wondering if this could be a side effect of the medication because it started just a few hours after she took the first dose of Enalapril. On Tuesday she was doing okay except for the cough and we even took a long walk. But about 5-6 hours after she took the first dose of Enalapril she started the short, labored breaths and couldn't sleep. Breathing problems is a symptom of heart disease but it is also a side effect of Enalapril. I don't know if it's just a coincident that it started after taking the first dose or not. I wonder if maybe it would be best to take her off it for a few days and see what happens. I'm waiting for the vet to call me back so I can ask. Does anyone have any experience with Enalapril? Apparently an enlarged heart is not a disease in itself but it's a consequence of a number of different diseases. To treat it correctly you have to know the cause. I have an appointment on the 17th for an echocardiogram so I hope they can get an idea of what's going on. I'm going to take her down to Purdue University for it. It's a 2.5 hour drive but it's close to $300 cheaper than the cardiologists around here. I don't really have the $280 it will cost at Purdue either but I have ten days to come up with it. I just want to get Rocket's breathing better now though. She can't continue to have it like this. Any ideas on how to help the breathing? my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

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