The pickiness...

[LordRanger]

My little guy was so intent on refusing his prescription kidney diet food, he would rather starve. He lost weight down to a dangerous level, at which point I pretty much gave him whatever he wanted. His kidney disease progressed, and pretty soon he lost his appetite. Go figure. Believe it or not, pal, we humans really do know what we're doing. He was his own worst enemy.

[Marss]

Originally Posted by LordRanger

My little guy was so intent on refusing his prescription kidney diet food, he would rather starve. He lost weight down to a dangerous level, at which point I pretty much gave him whatever he wanted. His kidney disease progressed, and pretty soon he lost his appetite. Go figure. Believe it or not, pal, we humans really do know what we're doing. He was his own worst enemy.

That is so sad to read.. sorry to see you had a sick little one.

[Marss]

Originally Posted by desertangel

Hi,
I wanted to share my experience with my picky eater who passed away on March 9th (heartbroken) ... if I continued to try and feed her the food she didn't like we wound up in the vets office with pancreatitis. In her case, something in each of the different diets I had her on would end up disagreeing with her and we had to switch, so we kept switching over and over again for several years. We finally ended up on My Perfect Pet frozen whole food diet. Perhaps it was just kibble in general that bothered her so much. So she was on My Perfect Pet for 6 years. They have different formulas to chose from. She ended up with diffuse tumors in her liver and an enlarged heart, so enlarged it was collapsing her trachea. I was thinking about having a necropsy done so I could hopefully learn more about what plagued her digestion all her life, but in the end I just couldn't do it because at 15 years of age, I was too devastated by the loss.
Laura
PS. we also quit vaccinating her as there is some evidence of a link between IBD and vaccinations. I also quit giving her flea medicine in the last several months of her life. She pottied on artificial grass which is flea resitant. It was during this period that I noticed the most improvement in her stool.

That is heart breaking.. we love our little ones so much and it's difficult knowing things like this happens.

My husband is wanting to go away from Vaccines as well.
Having this little pup has really been making us think out of the box..
I'm studying the nutrition of homemade for him now..

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by Marss

That is heart breaking.. we love our little ones so much and it's difficult knowing things like this happens.

My husband is wanting to go away from Vaccines as well.
Having this little pup has really been making us think out of the box..
I'm studying the nutrition of homemade for him now..

I urge you to think long and hard about what can happen to a dog if you don't vaccinate. I only step away as they are older........

as to home cooking, that is great but must be properly balanced AND it is time consuming. I have done it and it takes a strong commitment from the owner.
You can get a free diet here, but must buy the supplements which are very important. Be very careful about people who are on the web and say they are nutritionists....if they are not certified in animal nutrition (acvn.org, I would urge you to walk away. Animal nutrition is not something you can guess at.....
anyway...here

www.balanceit.com

[LordRanger]

My dogs experience more side effects from the heartworm medicine than they do from the vaccines, by far. I will still do the heartworm meds, but only if she's looking healthy and there's nothing big planned for the next day or two.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by LordRanger

My dogs experience more side effects from the heartworm medicine than they do from the vaccines, by far. I will still do the heartworm meds, but only if she's looking healthy and there's nothing big planned for the next day or two.

I dont know what you have used but I've been giving Heartgard for more years than I care to count to a very large number of pups with zero side effects.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by desertangel

Hi,
I wanted to share my experience with my picky eater who passed away on March 9th (heartbroken) ... if I continued to try and feed her the food she didn't like we wound up in the vets office with pancreatitis. In her case, something in each of the different diets I had her on would end up disagreeing with her and we had to switch, so we kept switching over and over again for several years. We finally ended up on My Perfect Pet frozen whole food diet. Perhaps it was just kibble in general that bothered her so much. So she was on My Perfect Pet for 6 years. They have different formulas to chose from. She ended up with diffuse tumors in her liver and an enlarged heart, so enlarged it was collapsing her trachea. I was thinking about having a necropsy done so I could hopefully learn more about what plagued her digestion all her life, but in the end I just couldn't do it because at 15 years of age, I was too devastated by the loss.
Laura
PS. we also quit vaccinating her as there is some evidence of a link between IBD and vaccinations. I also quit giving her flea medicine in the last several months of her life. She pottied on artificial grass which is flea resitant. It was during this period that I noticed the most improvement in her stool.

Do you mind showing this evidence of a link between vaccines and IBD? I have absolutely never heard this and I had a dog with IBD.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Marss

That is heart breaking.. we love our little ones so much and it's difficult knowing things like this happens.

My husband is wanting to go away from Vaccines as well.
Having this little pup has really been making us think out of the box..
I'm studying the nutrition of homemade for him now..

Not vaccinating is dangerous. Most things we vaccinate against will kill him if he got them. Not to mention it is against the law to not vaccinate against rabies. There is absolutely nothing wrong with vaccines and they are actually why our pets live longer. Not giving vaccines is also not thinking outside of the box….. you should trust the vets that have years of schooling.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by LordRanger

My dogs experience more side effects from the heartworm medicine than they do from the vaccines, by far. I will still do the heartworm meds, but only if she's looking healthy and there's nothing big planned for the next day or two.

My dogs certainly have no side effects from taking their heartgard every month. If your dog is having some kind of side effects that are making them sick from heartworm medication then you need to talk to your vet about a different one because that is not normal.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by desertangel

Hi,
I wanted to share my experience with my picky eater who passed away on March 9th (heartbroken) ... if I continued to try and feed her the food she didn't like we wound up in the vets office with pancreatitis. In her case, something in each of the different diets I had her on would end up disagreeing with her and we had to switch, so we kept switching over and over again for several years. We finally ended up on My Perfect Pet frozen whole food diet. Perhaps it was just kibble in general that bothered her so much. So she was on My Perfect Pet for 6 years. They have different formulas to chose from. She ended up with diffuse tumors in her liver and an enlarged heart, so enlarged it was collapsing her trachea. I was thinking about having a necropsy done so I could hopefully learn more about what plagued her digestion all her life, but in the end I just couldn't do it because at 15 years of age, I was too devastated by the loss.
Laura
PS. we also quit vaccinating her as there is some evidence of a link between IBD and vaccinations. I also quit giving her flea medicine in the last several months of her life. She pottied on artificial grass which is flea resitant. It was during this period that I noticed the most improvement in her stool.

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Do you mind showing this evidence of a link between vaccines and IBD? I have absolutely never heard this and I had a dog with IBD.

I somehow missed that comment but certainly am not aware of any studies that indicated it. I would love to see this as well, please.

[LordRanger]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

My dogs certainly have no side effects from taking their heartgard every month. If your dog is having some kind of side effects that are making them sick from heartworm medication then you need to talk to your vet about a different one because that is not normal.

I give them the stuff that protects them from covid. LOL. They get a little lethargic the next day. I think part of it is that they are small dogs, and the dosage at the bottom end tends to be a bit large for them. I think the side effects are about equivalent to what I get if I get a flu shot.

[LordRanger]

.....

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by LordRanger

I give them the stuff that protects them from covid. LOL. They get a little lethargic the next day. I think part of it is that they are small dogs, and the dosage at the bottom end tends to be a bit large for them. I think the side effects are about equivalent to what I get if I get a flu shot.

Thats not a normal reaction and there are several you can try.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by LordRanger

I give them the stuff that protects them from covid. LOL. They get a little lethargic the next day. I think part of it is that they are small dogs, and the dosage at the bottom end tends to be a bit large for them. I think the side effects are about equivalent to what I get if I get a flu shot.

There is no *dosage* on Heartgard. But, of course, you haven't said which one you use. I don't know of any heartworm prevention that is *dosed* unless you are giving Ivermectin.

[LordRanger]

I'm speaking in generalities, since I have done multiple brands, from multiple vets in multiple states. And then you have things like Triheart. The boxes frequently come in small/medium/large dogs, and the small dogs it's usually "Small Dogs (<15 lbs)". Well, my Yorkie was less than half that. So a dose for a dog twice as large is going to be large for him. I'd like to cut the pill in half, but I was told not to because the drugs are a cocktail. The dog that I have left--not a Yorkie--weighs about 15 lbs, so the side effect is not so much. If you look up Ivermectin, lethargy is clearly a common side effect. I just lived with it.

They like the cocktails up in Canada and New York. The danger of Lyme exceeds the danger of Trifexis. My yorkie got Lyme, and I will never know whether it affected him permanently.