Answering your searches

Well I have had quite a few, from lemon water to ice cubes. Ice,ice water or chilled water is bad. Do not do it. Their systems are so similar to ours, but their digestive system will not allow. Causes bloat which is similar to colic. Denamarin and Denosyl? Both are the same. I would not double up without the advice of your vet. Both are a combination of SamE and milk thistle. Whereas milk thistle is completely safe in high amounts, I can't speak to SamE. It can cause nausea and diarrhea in some dogs. You can give them additional Milk thistle with vitamin B (full range, make sure it has a good dose of B12), vitamin C and E. The B, C and E enhance the effects of the milk thistle. Lemons? Never! Dogs don't deal well with acidic vegetables or fruits. Give them berries, steer clear of apples and grapes. Grapes are like chocolate and apples can cause severe allegic reactions in some dogs. I gave Macey homemade apple treats once. Her muzzle swelled up and her lips scabbed. Bailey had no problem. But I researched it later and dogs do have a problem with apples. Some more than others clearly. Does cortizone make a bladder weak? You better believe it! Use it only in small dosages. Look at my posts on flea and tick control. I had to put my dog down because of cortizone. Had to take a train from Virginia to do it. I wasn't about to put Natasha down without being by her side. Still hurts! I took her to the mountains for a last hurrah. Then I had to take her in and put her to sleep. Tasha was on cortizone most of the year. I do think that the advances in dog food have helped dogs with allergies, which is what cortizone is primarily used for. I still shudder when I walk into someone's home and see a bag of Beneful or Alpo. I had this conversation with my neighbor a few days ago. She asked me why I thought it was a bad food. Well first it is a corn based food. I could eat corn for the rest of my life and sustain myself. But I probably wouldn't be healthy. Food coloring is my second issue. It is entirely for us, the consumer, I guarantee you your dog could care less. A little food 101. Meat weighs more than grain. The ingredients are listed by weight.If you aren't seeing meat or meal as two of the three on the top of the list, steer clear. If corn is on the top of the list run, don't walk, away. You would be better off feeding your dogs table scraps. One thing I think does work is vitamin E. I give my guys 400 IU once daily. Started that when Macy got sick. Their coats are gorgeous and the shedding has reduced as well. Normally I need a U haul and Stanley Steamer to get all the hair out of here. They never blew their coats this spring. They thinned out, that's to be expected. But what used to be a giant heap of hair has reduced to something vastly more managable. The dander is better too. Not to mention the dandruff or ecxema. Macy was a flaky girl. No longer!

Answers to some recent questions posted on google

"Do dogs like ice water?" Yes they do but steer clear. Ice water can cause severe stomach cramps, better known as bloat, which can kill a dog. "How long can a cat take denamarin?" Good question and I will research that. To the best of my knowledge, there are no significant side effects. Stay tuned though. "Long term use of cortisone?" Not just no but Hell NO! After the immediate issue is in hand try to get them on every other day treatment. If the treatment is recommended for longer than a month, you need to find an alternate solution! "How long can a dog last in ice water?" Too many parameters to make one conclusive statement. Health, size, fat ratio and coat all play a role. Let's say as a generality, they last longer than we do but are less likely to make it to safety without help. I am thinking of the ice mountains the Great Lakes make as I write this. Friend's dog slid off and it took four men and a rope to get the dog to safety. The dog would have never survived left to it's own devices. "Can you cut up denamarin." The answer is not can you, but should you. You can get a pill cutter which will slice it nicely. You should partner with your vet if you think the dosage needs to be reduced. Took Macy off denamarin in May, but it was very helpful in her early treatment. I waited till the blood tests were back to normal. "Flea medication for a dog with liver disease?" Wouldn't recommend it or for any other dogs that clean as a normal behavior. There are plenty of alternatives. Dawn is the best flea killing bath soap I know of. Soap the muzzle and anal extremities first. Reason being that the fleas will run for cover. They will run in the eye sockets, nose, mouth and anal cavity to ride out the bath. But if you have already soaped those areas, they will probably die. Use your hands and watch the eyes. Short term prevention; vinegar, oils as follows; lavender, cedar, cinnamon, clove are all good. Mix them up with water in a spray bottle and go crazy. Use it on the dog, the furniture and the carpet. Must be applied every couple of days, but it works. Heartworm prevention is not recommended either. Use a small capful of white or cider vinegar in your dogs water. If they won't drink it try a half dropper of black walnut tincture and wormwood tincture in their water, pending on the size of the dog. This is based on three dogs, one 70 and two 50. I will explain in my next post, but it works! "Early vaccinations for aggressive dogs?" Well sorry, I have no stats for that, but I think early vaccinations are important to any dog. By aggressive do you mean the dog already is or has the potential based on character or breed? Vaccines do take a dog or cat out for a few days. They don't feel 100%, They might be more reactive just after a vaccination, but that is the only reason I can think of.

Dogs and ice/ice water: Dog owners be warned!!!

It's a hot day and in an effort to keep your dog cool you give them ice to chew or put some cubes in their bowl. Sounds logical yes? NO!!! Ice, ice water or very cold water can cause severe muscle spasms that result in bloat. Please read the following letter. Very important especially with the extreme heat we have experienced this summer. Hello Everyone, I am writing this in hopes that some may learn from what I just went through. We went to the Steel Valley Cluster this past weekend. After showing we went back to our site,set up and got the dogs in their crates to cool off. After being back about 30 minutes, I noticed Baran was low on water. I took a hand full of ice from my cooler and put it in his bucket with more water…. We all then started to get all the dogs Ex’ed and food ready for them. After checking the dogs and thinking they were cooled off enough we fed everyone. As we were walking around picking out the feed dishes from the crates, one of my friends stated that Baran seamed like he was choking. I went over and check on him and he was dry heaving and was real drooly. I got him out of the crate to check him over I noticed he had not eaten, he was in some distress. I checked him over from head to toe and did not notice anything. I walked him around for about a minute, when I noticed that he was starting to bloat. I did everything I was taught to do in this case. I was not able to get him to burp, and we gave him Phasezime. We jumped on the golf cart and took him down to the Show vet, to find out that he did not have a bloat kit, He referred us to the clinic that was to be on call, but we found out that the clinic was closed. After finding another clinic that was open, we rushed Baran to that one. We called ahead and let them know that we were on our way. They were set up and waiting on us and had Baran stablilized quickly. After Baran was stable and out of distress, we transported Baran to AVREC were he went into surgery to make sure no damage was done to any of his vital organs. I am very happy to say that Baran is doing great, there was no damage to any vital organs and he still loves his food. In surgery the doctor found that Baran’s stomach was in its normal anatomic position. The Doctor and I went over the events of what happened up to the point of Baran’s bloating. When I told him about the ice water, he asked why I gave him ice water and have I always done this. I told him my history behind this practice and his reply was “You have been very lucky for the past 15 years!” The ice water I gave Baran cause violent muscle spasms in his stomach which caused the bloating. Even though I figured his temp was down enough to feed and give him this ice water his internal temp was still high. Dr. Vogf stated that giving dogs ice to chew or ice water is a big NO NO!! There should be not reason for them to have ice/ice water. Normal water (room Temperature), or cooling with cold towels on the inner thigh. This is the best way to help cool a dog. I felt the need to share this with everyone, in the hopes that some may learn from what I went through. I do not wish this on anyone. Baran is home now and doing fine. He does not like the fact that he has to be walked on lead in the yard to keep him from running. He hates not being able to go out and rough house it with the others, but is doing great. So please if you do use ice and ice water, be aware of what could happen. Morgan and His Angels More about bloat Bloat is the second leading killer of dogs after cancer. A dog with a bloating stomach has a short time to live without emergency veterinary intervention. Below are some useful links to learn more about this deadly condition. Thepetcenter.com Globalspan.net Mar Vista Vet