Loving my Oldies

This concoction used to work fine for me too, LG. Unfortunately, I cannot now accept as a given that Danny will eat it. With the conditions he needs his meds for, he often doesn't feel like eating. He still presents himself as eager and ready to eat, but I think that is just a habit of a lifetime. Same as racing to the side gate to go off walking and then putting the brakes on because he doesn't really want to go. I actually found what Woolies calls Chicken Strips the other day when I was contemplating a roast chicken as a pill disguiser. These were disgusting to my eyes, more bread crumbed coating than chicken, but the dogs loved them. Of course when I give Danny his meds, all the others want treats as well.

Righto. Demo called upon please. Is Devon mild?

All of the above brings about another question: How did I ever find time to work LOL? Of course, nearly 10 years ago when I involuntarily retired, my dogs and I were 10 years younger and didn't have a multitude of ailments. Have just come back from and vet with Danny and then a little bit of very necessary shopping (undercover parking so he was okay LOL). I bought some Philadelphia and smoked salmon spread. Greater love hath no mother yukk yukk. Even before I was a vegetarian, even the smell of smoked salmon turned my stomach. It took a while, but eventually all the meds were safely (I think) down the hatch. Okay - many many thanks for all the responses. He loves yoghurt and icecream, but would simply lick around the tablet. I haven't tried peanut paste because I can't be trusted with it. But if all else fails, I will be trying it. I've never liked the pushing down the throat because my dogs have always been littlies ie 6kg and under. I have been actually reduced to this a couple of times lately with Danny because it is so important that he gets all his meds. Once he gets the taste of the pill disguiser, he generally takes the rest of them from my hand. I have had to give meds via syringe before and have been thinking of doing that with the Carafate as that has to be either mixed into a paste or made into a slurry. This med is to line his tummy to stop any burning from reflux, so I will start to give that via syringe. From time to time, he is happy to lick this up when mixed into a paste with liver or chicken spread. Apparently it is quite sweet and obviously tastes okay to him. Confession time again: I didn't link the fact that he thinks he is getting something he loves, but then discovers the taste of a bitter pill. So that is definitely something to remember and a reason to alternate between food he loves hiding his pills. He is obviously an unhappy little chappy from time to time with his tummy problems, so I need to help him. Thank you all again. Oh. Just remembered the suggestion of a pill popper. Many years ago, I saw a vet give my cat a tablet like that. I didn't believe in magic until I saw that. :laugh:

Monday 27 October 2014 The following daily regime has all been superceded since Danny's tests and procedure at SASH on Tuesday 21 and Wedneday 22, but I've left it in in case it helps anyone else. Danny now gets all his medications in liquid form syringed, but getting him to eat is still a problem. Can't feed him anything with too much fat. Danny is a 15 years old Finiish Spitz cross. He has recently been diagnosed with oesophagitis and hiatus hernia. He has had a mild heart murmur for some time and has been on medication for that. His daily medication routine is as follows: AM: Eyedrops both eyes Aminyllin (heart) Losec Carafate Metomide MIdDAY: Carafate Metomide PM; Aminyllin Carafate Metomide Despite all this, Danny still picks at his food and giving him his medication is no mean feat. I have been through cat food, liver paste, chicken paste, cheese, roast chicken and on it goes. I don't have meaty treats on hand because I am a vegetarian, but more than happy to try whatever anyone suggests. I haven't given processed meats (cabanossi and the like) consideration because of their spices. Again, despite this medication regime, Danny throws up regularly and this morning, I found a throw up of undigested dinner. Because of this, I wonder how much of his medication is actually going down. I am making a veterinary appointment for today for another check up, but was wondering if anyone had something that never failed with tempting their dog's or dogs' appetites.

That sounds like my garage, PooMother which, as I said, is a furnace in summer and takes ages to cool down even at night. Check what sort of roof yours has; mine is some sort of corrugated metal.

A bit off topic, but take note of the temperature of your garage. Mines heats up like a furnace.

Where I was a volunteer walker, some dogs were called Marilyn Monroe dogs for this very reason LOL.

Ooooh!! I have changed someone's life :laugh: :laugh: I am doing much better in quartering pills now that I am using tweezers, thanks to Griff.

:eek: Great pix, Roova. Loved the "spikes" on one of the diver's vest. :laugh:

Well this might be seen as controversial and provocative, Starkehre, but I think one of the best things in terms of how Rottweilers are viewed was the banning of tail docking. There is no doubt that a soft and noticably wagging tail creates a better image and givesd a more obvious intent than a little hard to see knob albeit furiously trying to show how friendly its owner is. :laugh: :laugh: Again, an enduring image and tale (pun intended :o ) I've told often. In an off leash park (Hawthorn Parade Leichhardt), a large black and tan dog ambles into the midest of a dozen or more littlies and owners continue to enjoy themselves watching the dogs interact instead of fearfully racing around gathering up said littlies. Large black and tan was a Rottie but with the benefit of being able to show her amiability by having a tail.

OMG! That photo of her sitting there, so regal and majestic. The best thing that ever happened to me in terms of getting to know a bit about dogs was becoming a volunteer dog walker at a small pound. From someone who had never been within 100 metres of a Rottweiler or, in fact, many dogs and from my years of being a morning jogger, actually extremely wary, even afraid, I came to feel that you would be hard pressed to find a better dog than a well bred, well brought up Rottweiler. I still remember a female Rottie we had, I think her name was Shannon. We'd come back from our walk and were standing on the footpath chatting to a woman who'd approached us. The children were racing up and down the footpath passing Shannon within inches and she never batted an eyelid (and yes, we were watching carefully to ensure she was comfortable :D :D ).

Oh lordy. Gorgeous little Tiggy.

Congratulations, Starkehre. Seven is glorious to look at and obviously that goes through to her soul.

Good idea LOL. Definitely try to educate the owners about how these incidents happen and how they are completely not a dog's fault and try to get them to surrender the dog. These sorts of situations are very difficult because, as Dog Mad says, they will probably just go elsewhere. I know I was horrifed when my first vet told me about someone bringing in a litter of Rottie pups to have their tails docked. This was around about the time tail docking was in the news and people were lobbying for it to be made illegal. My vet did the docking because he believed it was better done under veterinary supervision and practices than the owner doing some shoddy backyard job. Difficult. But, if I were unable to talk the owner into surrendering the dog, I would not euthanise.

I'm always intrigued at these stories of dogs and their toys, particularly those where the dog is very very attached to a particular toy. Year in and year out a box of toys has sat on my deck and it is never looked at. IFrom time to time, I will tip it out, swish around the tug toys, gently roll the tennis balls, drag the socks around, and my dogs look [rolly eyes] at me as though: we always knew she was nuts. Very occasionaly when she was younger, Tamar would chase a tennis ball ...... once. She'd never bring it back and if I threw it, well I was trying to murder her wasn't I. Only on her terms. Strange creatures :laugh: :laugh:

Oh that is funny. His little security toy.

Lol Kirislin. All three how popular that would have been. Reminds me of the time a thousand years ago when all the Waters children (my brother, sister and me) won the fancy dress prizes for their age groups. Popular?? No wat.

One of the images in the Link from Mita looks exactly like a Chihuahua and makes me wonder if there has been some careful blending along the way. They look great little dogs.

What a cutie. I thought you were actually asking too, Kirislin. :laugh: :laugh: I have seen some tan and black Chi's who look like "teacup" Kelpies. But that little dog is just too too cute. :thumbsup:

That one sounds good DD. :laugh: :laugh: It doesn't take much to amuse me, BC Crazy. I had a great time this morning cutting up the day's tablets :o

I've bought a new one, similar action to the one in the picture, but has a rubbery (very fine) covering on the bottom which stops the pill from slipping.

Yes, all public places should be give and take, but so often this is not the case and the responsible people like Yonjuro will end up leaving and what is left is a rabble. Some dogs love placing chasey and some don't. From my own experiences and from many Off Leash threads on DOL, off leash parks do more harm than good because most people are not as responsible as Yonjuro. I cannot believe a trainer saying it is okay for little dogs to rush Ronin and say it is okay because Ronin is not reacting. So many trainers who shouldn't be let within a bull's roar of a dog. And for an owner to take a dog to an off leash park when that dog has had a hip operation - well, I'm lost for words.

Oh, I hadn't thought of using tweezers. It can be difficult to centre the pills. Thanks for that tip.

Most tablets given to dogs, Sarsaparilla, are the same as given to humans. Illnesses are very similar (hence the use of poor Beagles in laboratories :mad ), so I don't think the odd grain here or there would be harmful. However, as some dosages are very finely balanced, it is prudent to be careful. I've had a trawl through Google Images. OMG all sorts and all sizes LOL. Who'd have thought. One of Danny's tablets has to be cut into quarters and he has a quarter three times daily. I don't like to cut up a week's worth because if I don't get them cut cleanly or evenly, I worry that the dosages can be way out. Another is cut in half and another is cut in thirds. I have a daily print out of all the medications so I don't miss any :laugh: :laugh: - have to larf otherwise I'd cry.

I have to use my pill cutter everyday ---- not for me for the dogs which is why I've put the topic here LOL. I am off to the chemist later today to look at different sorts, because I haven't found one that I can really rely on to cut sharply and accurately. The one I currently use is like this one: