Postings by Vance CGC

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Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Wed Jun 12, '13 5:33pm PST  My thoughts on "what ifs" is that if the situation was that precarious to start with, it doesn't really matter what you did or didn't do. It was going to happen anyway. There's always that creeping "what if" with Belle, that maybe if we had rushed the air conditioning in that spring, the heat and humidity wouldn't have hit her so hard. The weather changed and her heart just gave out. But if it's that bad... Weather shouldn't kill you. Even if we had packed up and moved to a cool, dry climate, she would have had days, maybe a few weeks more. As it was, our vet admitted during one Q&A visit that he had thought she was going to die the prior spring. Accidents will happen. You can't stop living because something might happen. And in terms of low activity - I am actively against it. Dogs who do nothing for health reasons fall apart. Their muscles atrophy, they lose their stamina, some gain weight, and above all they get bored to death. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Tue Jun 11, '13 6:34pm PST  I don't know why people think it's ok to offer rude, unsolicited commentary on a complete stranger's dog. From day one, people gave me crap over Vance. He was tall and lean, built more like a Greyhound than a Husky, and chronically at least 5lb under ideal weight. At least when people are sneering at you with, "Jeez he's skinny, you should feed him more," you can usually come back with "Well I would, but I'd hate for him to end up like your lard @$$ dog!" Pointing out their rudeness doesn't always go well either, but I feel like I have to say something. Otherwise all you can do is commiserate. What I really don't understand is why people assume they know what's going on. If I see something unusual, I assume I don't know what's up. Vance had a failing liver, which impaired his ability to process thyroid hormones. His last year, he couldn't regulate his body temperature at all, so he wore a flannel-lined wool jacket if the temp dropped below 50 degrees. This was apparently mind-blowing, and made me some kind of insane dog lady with misplaced nurturing drives. Yes, I get it. It is wrong for a Husky to need a jacket. I am still painfully aware of how f-ed up it was that my Siberian Husky had to wear flannel and wool at temps that a Husky should be on restricted exercise for risk of heat exhaustion. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Siberian Husky > Newly Adopted Siberian Husky Issues

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Mon Jun 10, '13 2:03pm PST  1. This is normal, although not ideal. None of my dogs ate for a week or so after coming home. Huskies are notoriously difficult to rehome, and they are notoriously picky eaters. Many do not like, and do not do well on kibble. If you are open to raw, keep looking for sources. Buying a freezer helps immensely, as it enables you to buy in bulk. Online companies often have good deals. Sometimes local pet stores will cut you a discount if you buy in bulk. Plus you can clean out sale and going out of code meats at the grocery store. I find that while expensive compared to bottom of the line kibbles, the cost of raw for me is comparable to high-end kibbles and dramatically cheaper than canned diets. Given the benefits my dogs get from it, any extra costs are well worthwhile. If you need to feed kibble, soak it in warm water with add-ons that can not be picked out. Yogurt, cottage cheese, pumpkin, puree the chicken in water, low-sodium broth and so on. Get creative with it. They definitely enjoy variety. 2. It's difficult to say what this is without witnessing it. Dogs frequently give mixed signals. Huskies can absolutely purr. They can also get ticked off and take an attitude of "I don't want to move, so you stop and leave." Here's a photo-heavy blog on the subject: To Pet or Not To Pet She is a very chill dog, all she does is sleep when she is at home or lay on the porch. We go on hikes and to the dog park everyday and that is the only time I ever see her get excited. She sticks right by my side when we go hike or bike without the leash and listens very well. Unless theirs another husky involved... Yup. She's a new rescue. They all act like this. The stress of transitioning to a new life is completely exhausting. Since you're all they have at the moment and they're barely sure of that, they won't want you out of their sight. It does not last. 2 weeks to feel ok about her situation, 4 - 6 weeks to feel comfortable, 4 - 6 months to feel truly at home. Expect behavior changes - good and bad - at each milestone. In my experience, Huskies tend to fall on the longer end the spectrum. Vance was actually 9 months to feel truly at home. I don't let rescues off leash until they're settled. Any dog willing to blow you off over anything, should not be off leash. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Food & Nutrition > What do you think about Non-fat yogurt mixed with dry food instead of wet food?

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Wed May 22, '13 4:17pm PST  It will be as nutritionally balanced as the kibble you're feeding. It is not the same as canned food, though. The benefit of canned food over kibble isn't about nutrition. It's about a more appropriate moisture content, less processing, easier digestion, and cutting down on filler. Kibble must be at LEAST 40% filler, or it simply isn't kibble - think trying to bake without some sort of flour. Canned food doesn't NEED any fillers, even if many companies do include them. I do understand about the cost of cans. When I rescued Vance knowing he had digestive issues and could not eat kibble at all, I originally planned to feed primarily canned food with raw or homecooked as I could get it. Within a month I had ditched the canned idea entirely. When you can chose between feeding 4 to 6 cans of food a day at an average of $2 each, or 1 to 2lb of pork ribs at $2.29/lb... Not much of a choice. If your dog is healthy, it's not as much of an issue. Feeding good canned foods with high quality kibble is fine. The more less processed food you can work in, the better. Make your own add-ons to cut cost - lean leftovers of your own, meat you see on sale at the grocery store. Buying in bulk is always helpful too - a pallet of 24 cans is often dramatically cheaper than buying 24 individual cans. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Choosing the Right Dog > The Irish Wolfhound

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Fri May 17, '13 10:58am PST  I absolutely love Irish Wolfhounds! The reason I do not and will not own one is the short life span. It's not just that they don't live long, it's that they tend to have serious, expensive medical problems. Many I have known have had restrictions on activity, food, and climate. And on top of having generally expensive special needs, they are also extra, extra large so you're paying for that in extra high medication doses, anesthetic doses, complexity of surgery, etc, etc... Maybe after I make my first million. I think I could get over the potential heartbreak if I didn't have to constantly worry about whether I'd be able to afford to save them. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Mon May 13, '13 5:20pm PST  Better than AIing hundreds of bitches off a still living dog's sperm, then finding out a few years down the road he has epilepsy and eventually dies of cancer. I do know people with dogs of breeds that tend to have a lot of health problems who are (or have breeders who are) starting to freeze sperm to make sure a dog doesn't have some major problem pop up in old age (or in some cases, that the dog makes it to old age) before they pass his genes on. As long as the sperm is screened with the same care as living dogs should be and kept with care, I don't have many issues with it. I have seen bad things happen from deceased dog sperm, but they were more about the breeder than the fact that sperm was from a deceased dog. Thinking specifically of a couple cases where a dog was going to be bred come hell or high water because the deceased sire was too valuable to waste, even though the pups had major temperament issues and physical problems like early onset arthritis. This happens with living dogs and natural breedings all the time too, though my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Dog Health > Yorkie With Abnormal Liver Ultrasound

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Mon May 13, '13 6:56am PST  I personally would not do a liver biopsy on a 14-year-old, asymptomatic Yorkie. From your description, it also sounds like they have no target area with the biopsy, which is extremely significant. Aside from anesthesia risk, bleeding out is a huge concern. Livers are full of blood to begin with, and our ability to clot properly depends upon healthy liver function. If you do decide to biopsy, demand a clotting test first. You'll need a hospital staffed 24/7 because he will need to be admitted and watched for bleeding all night. Which enzymes are elevated are significant as well. If it's just the ALT... Well, you can elevate that with a night of heavy drinking and Tylenol for the hangover. It's not good, but it's not as bad as if all the liver enzymes are elevated. Anyway... I have been through this. Vance's ALT spiked when he was 8. Ultrasound showed an "abnormally bright, inflamed liver." Since it was only ALT, I decided to try changing his diet and adding liver-supporting supplements first. His ALT did lower, although it never returned to a normal range. His symptoms (bile vomiting mostly) subsided. About 6 months later he had an episode of Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis and ended up hospitalized for 3 days. His ALT was up again (as would anyone's who had just been through that) and since he was admitted anyway and I was afraid things were getting worse, I agreed to an ultrasound with biopsy. The ultrasound was exactly the same as the previous one, and the biopsy came back inconclusive. When I questioned this, the vet casually said, "Well, you know, we had no target area so we're just looking at a random 1/1,000,000th of his liver. We recommend trying a second biopsy." Since I didn't see what good looking at a random 2/1,000,000th of his liver would do, I refused and took him home. I did give him a course of GI and a course of liver-specific antibiotics after this. It was possible he had an infection in his liver. Antibiotics aren't that risky, so I was comfortable trying them just in case that was the problem. Turned out it wasn't, but at least we knew. A few vets wanted me to try steroids without diagnosis, but I refused since it was about a 50/50 shot of whether they would help some now with complications down the road, or straight out kill him. The best thing I did for him was changing his diet and supplements. Milk thistle is the go-to for ailing livers. Make sure you're buying a quality supplement, as processing does matter! You can also try adding SAM-E (cheapest at WalMart) which is exactly what the Denosyl vets prescribe is - SAM-E and milk thistle. He was also on probiotics and amino acids to help digestion, because the easier it is to digest the less the liver has to work. In terms of diet, we went all home cooked. Everything was ground or pureed (easy digestion) and the meat was as low fat as possible. If lean meat was too expensive, I would buy 80/20 and drain it well, then blot it with paper towels. I fed as much fish as I could afford (even canned mackerel is ok). I fed 40 - 60% fiber, which is too much for a healthy dog, but in Vance's case it coated his stomach against the bile he was overproducing and helped absorb some of it. Later on he needed antacids too. If homecooking isn't an option for you, look for canned foods that fit the low fat with fiber criteria. Kibble is the worst thing you can give to a dog with GI, liver, spleen, pancreas or gallbladder issues. The trick with what you're going through is to just keep weighing the options against the risk and reward they come with. Get second opinions, from special-ists if possible. Monitor his condition - given our dead-end, I just did bloodwork every 6 months and ultrasounds if any values had spiked... Of course if he had any sort of episode I did both then. That should give you enough information to keep making the best choices for him. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Raw Food Diet > Dog with a weight problem

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Sun May 12, '13 6:49pm PST  The "So You're Interested In Feeding Raw..." topic is the place to start. What has the vet checked? Bowel issues can't be diagnosed with a general physical exam, which is what most people mean when they say a vet has "checked him over." I'd run a full blood panel and go from there. An abdominal ultrasound may be worthwhile. Going days without eating is not normal or healthy. There is something going on. The flip side of that is when you get into specific GI issues, oftentimes the only way to diagnose is to do a biopsy. Biopsies are invasive, expensive and dangerous - especially for Akitas, who tend to have clotting issues - and the diagnosis (if you get one) usually means management with diet and supplements. You can do that perfectly well without a diagnosis. But I would want to make sure there is nothing weird on bloodwork before assuming this is a GI issue. Does he have other symptoms? Diarrhea or constipation? Vomiting? Restlessness or anxiety? my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Siberian Husky > Food grabbing

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Thu May 9, '13 5:40pm PST  Your dog really should not be around children while they're eating, especially toddlers. Dogs are opportunistic, and will take food where they can get it. Kids are not tall enough, strong enough, bold enough, or coordinated enough to prevent a dog from taking their food. Children also tend to drop food or just give what they don't want to the dog, which further reinforces the behavior and could be dangerous for your dog, depending on what the kids are eating. AFTER you teach a strong "leave alone" and build it up to apply food that is not stationary on the floor, specifically food in moving hands, you could try allowing your dog to be present with eating children. BUT - he cannot be unsupervised. You literally must watch him constantly. Each new opportunity to take food requires a new "leave alone," and reinforcement from you either way. Building a solid "leave alone" takes a lot of time, and not letting your dog steal food in the meantime is a vital part of the process. You have to introduce "leave alone" situations where the food is moving, where the dog is moving, where both are moving, where it isn't food but an item to "leave alone..." Dogs don't generalize well so they need all those steps. In his prime, I could put Vance in a down/stay/leave it, put a hotdog on each paw, throw hot dogs and string cheese all around and in front of him, then recall him over the entire mess and he would leave it. It was really something, but it was a LOT of work! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Vance CGC You kids g'off- my lawn!     Barked: Sat Apr 6, '13 7:51pm PST  Where the heck did they get the wet food? If you didn't have it, they had to buy it and bring it in. That's really weird. I don't think you even need to be gradual about it. It was just two weeks. I'd go right back to feeding the way you always do. If they're really having diarrhea or other upset, go to a bland chicken & rice diet for a day or two to help them mend. Dogs can have some human anti-gas drugs, if they're really in pain. Check with your vet for types and dosing. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

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