Loving my Oldies

Number one: you are not a bad mum. :) Far from it. Number two: see another specialist. Number three: "free" check up at any sort of show even for humans are done to lead the person to take further action which won't be free What breed is your dog? Luxating patella is one of the most over diagnosed and over treated conditions for dogs. Be 100% sure your dog needs surgery before having it. Once you are cut, you can't be uncut. Yes, there are dogs who need surgery. Many have it who don't need it. Vets like to scare people into having it by saying their dog will have arthritis.

OMG, Hazy, I thought I was just envious when you told us about the Templestowe walk. I am now raging raging jealous :rofl: Fancy meeting and spending time with all those lovely DOLers. :thumbsup: I can't get over the difference between Stan and Feather. Feather always looks big in K's photos LOL. What a wonderful time for you all. I am really happy for you.

Boronia, Danny is supposed to be on low fat foods. I know heart is a muscle, but what about fat content? With chicken I imagine it would be not worth worrying aboutl? This morning sure has been a lot better than the past few with only one large throw about 3/4 hour after his first med of carafate. Unfortunately, it contained a lot of bile and some of the food he'd had at about 8.30pm last night. Something that came to me last night and I will be discussing this with my vet this morning is that, because I discovered that he would eat a reasonably sized meal of kibble late at night, I was making a practice of this as I cleaned up before going to bed. I was also doing this in an attempt to keep his weight stable. I stay up very late and so this meal could be as late as 11pm or midnight and shortly after that we'd be off to bed. Also because of his throwing up, he was missing a few doses of Cisapride and I think these two things might have had a contributing factor to his throwing up in the morning. But then ....... until yesterday and this morning, there wasn't food from the previous evening in his throw-ups. I am changing my routine to see if it helps, that is going to bed earlier, getting up earlier and making sure, despite how he is feeling, he gets all his meds. Even if he throws up afterwards, some must be getting through . One of the problems with Danny now is that I can't move that he doesn't follow me . He can be absolutely dead to the world, but the second he knows I am not in the same room, he is up looking for me. Lots to consider and take action on today.

Thanks, cavNrott. I'm just hanging out to give him the last of his meds and then to bed. Will update tomorrow morning.

Well my little boy is home having spent the day being spoilt and watching very intently everything that happened around him. Vet says, "He is very clingy." That's my boy. Looking at the xrays taken in October and then today, you would believe that Danny was vastly, hugely improved. So why is he throwing up so much? We just don't know. He definitely doesn't have megaesaphagus which has been suggested by a dear DOLer who read all through my other thread and this one in an effort to understand the problems and to help. So grateful - Andrea. The vet took urine sample too because of his drinking, but there was absolutely nothing to show that his intake was above normal. Also he has bloods done twice in the past few months and there is nothing obvious showing up there. So both the mystery and the medicine regime will stay the same although the Ranitidine (Zantac) has been changed to Famotidine. This latter will be compounded in liquid form and just the tiniest amount is needed, so that will be a relief. The Ranitidine tastes really horrible and Danny was having to endure this three times a day. I've had Famotidine in tablet form for a few days and, up until this morning, I have been able to give that to him in some "plastic" cheesy spread which they all like so all get a little bit when Danny has his meds LOL. This is given only twice a day so that is a relief for Danny: two little bits of cheesy spread instead of three syringes full of horrible tasting liquid can't be all bad. He is a tired old fellow this evening and his dinner, despite my entreaties for him eat something sustaining and nutritious, consisted of some icecream. Everything crossed that his "morning sickness" won't appear tomorrow and he has a better day.

Well for me to offer advice on feeding is a bit rich :laugh: :laugh: but I have one dog, the only one ever, who would eat until he bursts. I bought him a little slow feeder which really does slow him down. I know your problems isn't gulping the food down, but my thinking is that maybe the design of a slow feeder would prevent your little dog from pushing the food around.

Great video, Hazy - and such a super place for walking. I think I'm envious.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Danny is at the vets and we will see what, if anything, further xrays show. :( He is such a little old man now. I had to park about a hundred yards away from the vets as their car park and street parking were full. We toddled along at a crawl and he obviously was a bit confused, but the funny thing is that he did a #2 on the footpath and it was fine and always has been through all of this. VM, one of the meds Danny has been on from pretty well the beginning is Cisapride. I have it compounded, beef flavour, at the chemist. I also have the tablets (incorrect from SASH ) which he has been getting for the past few days because I was late in getting the repeat to the chemist - takes a couple of days.

Did I say yes to being friends :laugh: I hope so. I've had a few requests of late from people I don't know obviously taken with my wit and sparkling personality LOL. We are off to the vet now, because Danny was violently ill some time before 5am which was the time I woke to find him standing on the side of the bed wanting to be lifted down. I did this and found he'd been ill everywhere :( I was so pleased with the amount of food he had eaten through the evening - but it was all brought up. :cry: Poor little man, he is exhausted. I've been texting the vet and he's asked me to bring Danny down so they can take more xrays. He doesn't think it is the medication.

No no, don't apologise. I am just upset that I may have been giving him a medicine that makes him sick when it is supposed to stop him being sick. :( Just so hard to know what to do. He is like two dogs: morning dog and afternoon/evening dog. He is 16; I just want the time we have left to be better than this for him. :cry:

That makes me so upset, cavNrott. It must be affecting Danny the same way :cry: I'll talk to the vet again tomorrow.

Such a beautiful boy and a great little trooper sailing through his big op!!

I don't know about these, Sunrij, but will definitely investigate, thank you. I have to be careful and check anything out because he is on four different medications - all of which are supposed to work in with each other, but don't seem to be doing the job.

For those who might have read my thread about Danny and his reflux problems, you will know that nausea and throwing up continue to be a big problem. Worse than ever, actually, and in the past couple of months he has lost 500grams. In the past week, most mornings have seen him regurgitate up to seven times in the first few hours of being up. Not vomitting, just mouth open and out it comes and he regurgitates most of his morning medications. I have tried medicating twice a day (it should be three times), but whether twice or thrice, the throwing up doesn't seem to change much. Some really bad days and some not so really bad. Never a day without throwing up. From mid afternoon is a very different story and he is bright, takes his meds and most evenings has a decent sized meal. And for those whose first response would be for me to go to the vet ------ we practically live there and we are now trying another medication in the Zantac-type suite to try to help the nausea. However, it just occurred to me while contemplating another morning of 5 throws, that maybe a morning sickness type medication might work for him. I know totally different reasons for the nausea, but I am desperate. Unfortunately, he does have a hiatus hernia as well, so he has mechanical problems as well, with not only has the nausea to deal with, but the hernia also. Just thinking aloud and wondering whether anyone else has been through this. My vet, despite a few decades of practice, has never come across such an intransigent problem.

Whether it is nust [sic - lol] or nuts, I guess it is up to the person and whether he can afford them. :laugh: :laugh: They don't appeal to me, but each to his or her own.

Beautiful. Too hard to step into for my elderly little babies, but I love them.

Oh no! Tell you friend not to hold back and get his name in now, just to be on the safe side. If the pound knows there is a knowledgeable person in the wings, they may persuade the other people to look at another more suitable dog.

Poor darling. It must be so horribly horribly confusing for them. At least she is in foster and not in a pound

I'm glad the owner is working for the dog. Both breeds can be wonderful so hopefully those traits will be the dominant ones. Little anecdote. Many years ago, I was a volunteer dog walker at a small Sydney pound. A young couple joined the walkers and would bring their gorgeous and very large Malamute. One time we had a little puppy - I can't remember the breed but a largish breed - who was so sweet and playful and the Malamute was just amazing with the puppy: lying down on the ground to get to puppy's level, playing ever so gently, but allowing the puppy to go all out.

Just a bit TOO subtle for me. But beautiful colouring.

I was tempted to package up some of the "composted" poo and send it back to them but.. eh. I think they have some bullsh*tty disclaimer on their website about clay based soils not providing the "best" of conditions for it to work. Now, we just use poo to fill in the holes that FF Jelly digs for us. For some reason, those filled in holes never smell FF Jelly has probably aerated them beautifully :laugh: :laugh:

I hope you related your experience to the company, Maddy? As I say, these contraptions are just a way of getting people parted from their money.

I'm a pooxpert :laugh: :laugh:

Another reason for me to move south. I am sure Tammy will find loving arms very quickly.

Malamute X Ridgeback . Some people need to be very severely chastised.