[HisNameIsHarley]

We found out today at the vet that Harley has Tracheitis. Poor little guy. That explains all his hacking and gagging. If you even rub on his throat he starts coughing all over again. So my vet is putting him on half a pill of Temaril P capsules twice a day for a week then 1/4 a capsule for the rest of the medicine. And besides his throat bothering him they also found that he has a heart murmur. They said that I really shouldn't be too worried about it but still he's my baby and I wondered if anyone has experienced this or knows anything about it. I know it's really common in people but I didn't know about dogs. She said that sometimes it goes away as they grow older. I guess we'll see. Another problem that we were hoping he would grow out of by now is he always eats anything and everything that fits into his mouth. It's so scary bc he does it all the time no matter what I do to pick up everything and I'm so petrified that one day he's going to swallow something that he won't be able to pass.. I just couldn't imagine it. She described to me the warning signs of when they get objects obstructed in their digestive tracts. Apparently he would stop eating, he would be really lethargic, unwilling to play or socialize and he would be vomiting even though he wouldn't be eating or drinking anything. And the result of that would obviously be surgery. How scary is that? I'm a real nervous momma so I'm worried out of my mind. She mentioned that some people who have dogs w/ an obcessive compulsive disorder of eating inanimate objects place face muzzles on them(the type that is mesh so their breathing isn't obstructed but so they can't eat the objects) but God knows it would break my heart if I had to muzzle my poor baby. And she also said that if I were to see him swallow something that I knew he needed to vomit back ASAP all I had to do was give him a tablespoon of peroxide! And he'll throw up right away. I couldn't believe that peroxide wouldn't hurt him(well except make him throw up of course) and she also told me I could offer him some of my Ferret-Lax I use for my ferret w/ his furballs to "help him along if needed". What do you guys think about all that? Gosh, that was a lot more than I meant to write! Sorry!

Harley Ryder