I love all my animals dearly, but sometimes I just feel overwhelmed. Especially by the dogs, it seems. Well, of course, I was overwhelmed by the girls when they got old & sick.

We have been fighting environmental allergies for a while now. It started several weeks ago when Chester suddenly started scratching himself so badly he gave himself a hot spot. I wasn’t sure if that was what it was, of course, having never seen one, so off we went to the vet (did I mention we’d just been there 2 days ago for a wellness check?).

Yup, a hot spot. I specifically asked about fleas, since I don’t use a flea preventative, and he’s never had fleas. But the vet said the area he was scratching (his stomach) wasn’t the are you’d see fleas on. She gave me an antihistamine and a topical steroid cream. I used the antihistamine, but not the steroid — I used an aloe gel I had instead. And I started adding a tea of nettles and lemon balm to their food.

The hot spot healed quickly, and while they were still scratching, there was no no hot spots and it seemed to get better.

Until a couple of days ago. All of the sudden, he was really scratching again. No new hot spots, but he was driving me (not to mention himself) crazy, even waking me up at 3 am with his scratching. Then this afternoon I saw a new hotspot near the base of his tail — which would indicate fleas — and I saw some fleas.

So I called the vet, and ran over there to pick up some frontline. This is the first time in twenty-three years I’ve had to treat an animal for fleas! The last time was when we gave Cleo a flea bath (not fun at all). I’ve had Chester for a year and a half, and this is most definitely the first time I’ve seen a flea on him.

Did I mention that I’m getting ready to go out of town and my plate is already overflowing? Running out to get the flea meds was the last thing I needed to do today. Not to mention the washing of the pet bedding. But they’re going to be boarded tomorrow, so it’s not as if I could put it off.

Supposedly, fleas only attack animals with a poor immune system. Which is what I don’t get; I am already jumping through all sorts of hoops trying to make sure they’re as healthy as can be, including making their food. Yet it seems as though I keep facing a never-ending array of health problems with Chester. I love him to death, but I also fear he’s going to be the death of me. I feel so overwhelmed sometimes.

The interesting thing is that I’ve heard from a lot of people that this season the environmental allergies have been terrible, and dogs who have never been bothered by it before are having troubles. And when I was at the vet, mentioning to the receptionist that I’ve never had to give them flea medicine before, she mentioned that I was about the tenth customer who’d said that today.

Hopefully I’ll come back somewhat refreshed from my time away, and to non-scratching dogs. Hopefully the house won’t be full of fleas by the time I get back. I was already going to try to wash the sheets tomorrow and vacuum, but now it looks like a necessity . . . yet I still have so much to do.

And why, I wonder, do the cats seem to be having no problems? So far? Knock on wood!

Technorati Tags: environmental allergies, hot spot, frontline

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Making the decision of when it’s time to put an animal to sleep is absolutely one of the worst decisions of your life. Almost everyone who has to make the decision feels very guilty afterwards, always wondering if there was something more they could have done. I know, I have been there twice — and with four animals, obviously, I will be there again.

Too many people, however, assume that nothing can be done, and do not want to “torture” their animals with treatment. They come to this decision, often, without consulting a vet, or joining a mailing list to discuss treatment with others going through the same thing.

And that’s sad. Veterinary medicine has made so many advances. Most animals are more resilient than we give them credit for. On one of the forums I frequent, recently, when a poster’s cat went blind suddenly (it had had mild kidney disease for a while), the poster just assumed that was it, and didn’t want to go to the vet and “torture” her cat by treating it.

Many people urged her to go to the vet. She did. Although they do not know why the cat went blind (high blood pressure is usually the culprit — and treatable — but not in this case), one reason it wasn’t eating well was because it had a urinary tract infection. Simple fix: medication, and the cat is already doing better.

Your vet has vast experience in judging whether or not an animal is in pain, and can also help by viewing your case dispassionately (we are so often blinded by our closeness to our animals).

No matter how dire things lo0k, please consult with your vet. Maybe things are as bad as your think, but so often there is hope. Many animals suffer in silence because their humans just assume nothing can be done for them, or that they will not tolerate treatment.

Technorati Tags: put an animal to sleep, vet

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On a cat forum I frequent there was a recent discussion on how to take a long trip with your cat. The person stated that they thought “cages” were cruel, and that her cat has traveled sitting in her lap.

I asked her to please reconsider. Although it was over 20 years ago, I still vividly remember the time I took Cleo to the vet as a kitten — and she crawled underneath the brake pedal. No one was hurt, but it’s surprising that I didn’t have a heart attack! I learned my lesson.

The poster replied that the cat would be on a harness, attached to a seatbelt, in the back seat. That does, at least, keep the cat contained and away from airbags. The poster was quite surprised that several people asked her to crate her cat in a car, which the poster considered to be cruel.

Both the boys and Chester are crated in the car. I have bought a harness for Chester, but I haven’t yet used it. Chester loves to go in the car. He gets extremely excited the minute I lift his crate up from the hallway. I never had to train him to go in the crate at all — in fact, I have to train him to stop from going into the crate immediately! I guess it only took a few trips of going to fun places to get him to like his crate.

“Dog and Kennel Magazine” writes that:

an unsecured 60 pound dog could hit a window, backseat or another passenger with a force of 1,200 pounds in a 30 mile-per-hour collision.

“Dog First Aid 101″ writes:

Technorati Tags: harness

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Chester has been surprisingly good about the amount of time he must spend in his crate. Of course, it’s still early days and we have over a month to go yet.

The hardest time is usually first thing in the mornings. He has so much energy, and no outlet for it! I take him out early to potty, and usually I put him on a chair as I’m grabbing his leash, poop bags, etc. This morning he jumped off the chair.

One day I had him on the couch with me, sitting right next to me, leashed. He still managed to jump off the couch when the garbage truck drove by.

He doesn’t get a whole lot of chances like that. I’m afraid he’s going to damage his trachea, though, because even though I tell him to go slow, he’s still trying to run. He is always on a leash in the house, unless he’s closed in the bedroom and we’re doing some training.

Here are a few of the things I’m doing to try to make his recovery easier:

1. He never spends more than two hours at a time in his crate.
2. We go out every two hours, even though I know he doesn’t have to go that often. It gives him a chance to stretch his legs. I do not bring him immediately back into the house after he does his business.
3. I train him in his crate before closing the door.
4. I also train him outside his crate. Yesterday, in one session, I managed to shape him into going into a soft carrier. It started out as an exercise in creativity (he’s still not very good at offering behaviors, but we’re working on that). I would click and treat every time he put his head in the carrier, but he didn’t want to go all the way in, because of the e-collar, I think, so I ended up by luring him in by throwing the treat to the back of the crate after he stuck his head in.

   This morning he ran right and, and in fact laid down and stayed in the carrier for a while. If we ever travel by plane, this is most likely the carrier we would use.

5. I try to vary the behaviors we work on each day, so he’s not getting bored constantly working on the same thing. We’ve been working on wait at doors, touching my hand or a target stick, putting his head down when he does a down, kissing on cue.
6. He is getting chews in his crate. Merrick makes some great chews, and some of them last quite a while. Plus they have free shipping! I also vary which chew I give him each day.
7. I use Rescue Remedy, which you can get at most health food stores or stores like Whole Foods, quite a bit. You can put it in their drinking water, or rub it on their ears (which is what I do). It’s one of those subtle things, but I really do believe it’s been helping.

Technorati Tags: crate, trachea, behaviors

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It isn’t quite true that one year in a cat’s life equals seven years in a human’s life. Just like human babies, kittens go through a variety of life stages as they age into adult cats and beyond.

A cat in the first year of its life, which according to “The Special Needs of the Senior Cat” is equivalent to sixteen human years, is a kitten.

Although technically not a kitten after that first year, most cats still display kitten-like behavior, and begin to settle down around age two.

Kittens usually have a strong desire to be with you. It’s not at all uncommon for them to try to climb you as if you were a cat tree just to be with you. Although it’s a good idea to discourage this behavior, because having a fifteen pound cat climb you isn’t so pleasant.

As they become adolescents, usually a bit before age one, just like human adolescents they begin to test their boundaries more — and to become rather aloof and independent. Just like your kid no longer wants to kiss or hug you because it isn’t cool, your former snuggle bunny may take to curling up far away from you.

The good news is that they usually begin to get snuggly again somewhere around the age of four or five. Even if they weren’t very snuggly as kittens, you may all of the sudden find your cat in your lap until you’re way past uncomfortable.

At age seven, cats are usually considered to be seniors. That’s just two years away for the boys! Hard to believe. Hopefully, you won’t see a lot of changes in your senior cat, other than perhaps sleeping longer. The boys used to love to lay out in the kennel through the heat of the summer, but now it seems they prefer the air conditioning. Somedays I really don’t think they move from about 9 am until maybe 3 or 4 pm. I want to come back as my cats!

I couldn’t really find much info, but I believe there’s a distinction between senior cats and geriatric cats. Cats are usually considered geriatric around age thirteen or so. This is whey a lot of illnesses common to older cats rear their ugly head: kidney disease, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes. It is definitely the time to monitor your cat closely and get twice yearly, thorough wellness checks.

Technorati Tags: life stages, kitten, adolescents, senior cat, geriatric cats

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Now that I have your attention . . . FBO stands for foreign butt objects. Yes, this post gets a little graphic (not literally) — fair warning.

Animals eat weird things, and what goes in must come out. Yesterday Simba had what looked like a long piece of mulch sticking out of his butt. Now, if you ever see yarn or floss or anything at all stringlike sticking out of your animals’ butt, do not try to pull it out; doing so can lead to serious internal damage, and possible surgery — or worse. I’m not kidding.

Although this obviously was something Simba ate outside, and it wasn’t stringlike at all, I still wasn’t about to pull it. Eventually I ended up with him on his side on the bathroom counter, scissors in hand. Like an extremely bad mommy, I still don’t have safety scissors, even after Gizmo’s encounter with the evil plastic grocery bag.

Simba was not at all happy with my messing around “down there”, but he tolerated it well (that is to say, I got off without any scratch or bite marks). Maybe he realized eventually that I was trying to help him. I cut the FBO off as close to his butt as possible, and he eventually got rid of the rest on his own. The things we do for our animals.

If you ever need to get up close and personal with an animal because they’ve got something nasty stuck to or sticking out of them, your best bet is to get them in a small enclosed room such as a bathroom. That way even if they get away from you, they’re not going far. Elevating them often helps calm them, too.

Technorati Tags: yarn, floss, scissors, safety scissors

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I swear I am just at my wit’s end with what to feed this dog. I have tried just about everything: raw food, freeze dried raw food, canned food, cooked food. I’ve been feeding my cats raw food for almost 5 years with very good results. I fed my geriatric cat, who had kidney disease, raw and freeze dried raw food (mostly), with very good results.

While it sounds as though I’m constantly changing food, I don’t.

Yet it seems that all Chester has is problems. He’s had bacterial overgrowth in his stool twice, causing diarrhea. He has anal gland problems. Today, out of the blue, he started scooting (which usually means his anal glands need to be expressed), and scooting a lot. We were just at the vet last week; and a week before that.

I admit it, I’m getting really tired of going to the vet. I know that I’m feeding him good food. Maybe it’s just not the right food, but what the heck is?

He always has tons of energy, his coat is wonderfully soft, his teeth (other than his underbite) are very good.

I know that the first year is a lot of searching for what works, but Chester has become a full time job! Literally. I feel badly that the boys don’t get as much attention as I’d like to give them.

I’m certainly able to give them more attention than when Chester first came, but they’re not going to parks for walks with me, or out to dinner with me, or to obedience class with me.

Still, Gizmo is definitely getting more relaxed around Chester (relaxed does not equal likes, though). Today he got up from his bed, walked past Chester in his bed, and then plopped down on the floor just a foot away from Chester. No hissing at all.

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I dropped my husband off at the airport this morning at 7 am. He’ll be on a business trip for 10 days; out of the country all together. I have so not been looking forward to this.

Yes, I know it’s been a very long time since updates. Unfortunately, I’ve been sidelined by the mother of all colds.

Anyway, we drove over to the hike and bike trail after dropping hubby off. I couldn’t park in my usual place, as something was going on, but since it was still so early I was able to get a spot further down.

Chester was quite good on his walk. I had to dig through my fanny pack for a while to find my hat, and he just sat at my feet waiting — even though I hadn’t asked him to sit at all.

He did try to pull toward every dog we met. He sat when I asked him to, but obviously I haven’t been working hard enough on nice greetings with dogs (or humans) while on leash.

Then it was on to the farmer’s market. He met lots of dogs there, too — big ones, little ones, friendly and not-so-friendly. He met lots of humans, too — young & old. It’s a great place to socialize your puppy.

By the time we got home, he was tuckered out, and ready for his nap. These days he’ll mostly nap from about 11 am until somewhere between 3 and 5 pm, as long as he gets his walk in the morning.

We did get an earlier start with our day, so he started to stretch and move off his bed and up my body around 3 pm. Then he just sort of collapsed across my body, which was very cute. No photos, alas, DH took our small digital camera with him. We have an older one that works just fine, but you definitely can’t fit it in a pocket.

We took a small walk to get the mail. It was the hottest time of the day, naturally, and it’s very warm here right now, so Chester wasn’t real enthusiastic about being outside. But I’ve found he needs an afternoon walk, too, if he’s going to be a good puppy.

We went outside for about 45 minutes after dinner, then he got his kong in his crate while I fed the cats.

The last time my husband was gone for an extended business trip was about 4 months ago, only about a week and a half after we got Chester. Big difference! Chester didn’t know any commands then, he didn’t like kongs yet, he hated being confined in a crate, and despite taking him out 12 times or so a day, he was still having accidents.

I was afraid he’d be restless during the night, as my husband stays up later than I do. We went out about 9:30 pm (late for me!), but he went into his crate & settled right down. I didn’t hear from him again until I took him out of his crate the next morning.

He has been having some problems with pooping in the house recently. This week we know it’s due to bacterial overgrowth in his digestive system, as I took him to the vet when he developed mild diarrhea that didn’t clear up after a day. This is the second time he’s had this in 2 months.

Luckily he responds very well to flagyl, an antibiotic, so I’m finally getting some sleep (had to get up several times in the night with him for most of the week). I want to take him to another vet, one who is more holistically-minded, to see if we can get to the bottom of this. My vet made a few diet suggestions, but didn’t really say much more than that. I want to try to get to the bottom of why this is happening, rather than just treating the symptom.

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It isn’t abnormal for cats, even cats that are bosom buddies, to hiss and growl at each other when one — or both — have been to the vet.

Puss went to the vet on a regular basis (she was elderly and had kidney disease). The boys never hissed at her. Now Chester also goes to the vet fairly frequently (although after he’s neutered, he should be good for about 6 months barring health problems); they don’t hiss at him, either.

I have always taken them to the vet together, and never had any problem with them. When they were small, I took them in the same carrier. I always took two carriers with me, just in case they decided they didn’t want to get back into the carrier together.

As they got older, they no longer wanted to be in the carrier together, so I began taking them in separate carriers.

However, as I mentioned last week, the boys had their first dentals.

When I got them home, they acted normal, although their eyes were still quite dilated. Simba, however, began growling and hissing at Gizmo. I put a little Rescue Remedy on both of them, and he immediately stopped.

One theory about why cats hiss at other cats that have been to the vet is that they smell of the vet. So putting something on them that makes them smell similar is helpful. Some people also report success with vanilla in these incidences.

Since they were both at the vet, though, it didn’t seem to me that smell would be the cause. When I was talking to a friend about it, he mentioned that his vet had told him that cats are usually somewhat disoriented after anesthesia, and that did seem a better explanation.

“Anesthesia in Cats” has a lot of interesting information on the effects of anesthesia.

Gizmo seemd a bit standoffish to me, but was back to normal the next day. Simba was just immediately a lovebug, head butting me and purring up a storm.

Pawprints and Purrs, Inc. has a good article on what to expect “Before and after surgery and dentistry“.

I really didn’t know much about animals, the illnesses they could get, or the warning signs in the first half of my life. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss. I’ve had to learn a great deal in the last five years. My husband gets annoyed with me sometimes when I mention that something he’s observed could be a sign of this or that different health problem. But I’m a firm believer that knowledge is power.

To increase your knowledge of the effects of anesthesia for cats, and what questions you should ask if your cat needs anesthesia for a procedure, “Understanding Anesthesia for Cats” is a good place to start.

Technorati Tags: cats, hiss, vet, dentals, growling, Rescue Remedy, vanilla, disoriented, anesthesia, effects of anesthesia

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I mentioned a little while ago that the boys were scheduled for their first dental. Today is the day. I need all the good vibes I can get. I know that dentals are routine, but in my 20 years of companion animal “ownership”, these are my first animals to get dentals.

I felt like such a traitor this morning. The boys are trained to go into the carriers, and actually enjoy hanging out in them, so getting them in the carrier was no problem at all. Their first clue that this wasn’t a normal morning was when they weren’t allowed back out of their carriers. And then, of course, there was the dreaded car ride. The yowling.

Simba managed to pee in the carrier, something he’s never done before. Guess he just really needed to go. And Gizmo, yet again, bloodied his nose by banging it against the wire grate in the front of the carrier.

According to Pets Need Dental Care, Too Website:

Without proper dental care, 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age three.

The boys are almost five, actually, and this is their first dental. But I do brush their teeth.

Brush their teeth, you say? Most people never even think about brushing their animals teeth. It really isn’t that hard, with the proper tools:

• Some people have success using:

  • Their finger
  • Their finger wrapped with gauze
  • A finger tip brush
  • A toothbrush made for animals

  I use a toothbrush made for animals.

• Enzymatic toothpaste. Supposedly it will help tartar buildup just by being on their teeth, but obviously some brushing motion is more beneficial. I use CET poultry flavor. They love the taste; in fact, both Chester and Simba are happy to go back for seconds.

• Patience, and lots of it! Start off slowly. Just let them lick the toothpaste off at first. As they get used to having your finger or a toothbrush in their mouth, gently begin to move it around. Work up to longer and longer times.

And remember, periodontal disease, left untreated, can cause bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Once the bacteria is in the blood, it can attack the heart, liver, and/or kidneys.

Even with all that tooth brushing, your pets may need cleanings at regular intervals. The good news is that many vets are offering a discount because it’s national pet dental health month. My vet didn’t, unfortunately, but I got offers from other vets I’ve gone to over the years for 10% and 20% off dentals during the month of February.

Don’t wait — make an appointment today.

Technorati Tags: dental, brushing their animals teeth, Enzymatic toothpaste, periodontal disease, national pet dental health month

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