goldens

My golden retriever, KayCee had no problems with her puppy shots. She had no problems with her first set of annual vax. Hwever, the next year, with her 2ed set of annual vax that was a different story. We were the last ones in that Good Friday. Not been home long and she started acting strange--running around with tail between legs sitting for a few mintes, runnig again. Well, it turns out her tummy was one huge fire engine red hive, she hives all over over body, she looked like she pencils erasers under the skin on her nose. Her ears were just one large hive, all red on inside. Her eyes were swollen almost shut. And she had a temp of 106.9, which is very, very dangerous. I called my vets answring service and why they paged him, i gave her benadryl capsuls, wrapped her in wet towel and we poured cool (not col) water over the towel. My vet's wife called and said he was on the way to hospital, just mile from us, and get KayCee there fast. When we got there he alread had injetions reacdy. We stayed til her temp dropped. On her file cover he wrote in huge leters RABIES ONLY and said that was the only vax she was to get frm then on, tho he was pretty sure it was the lepto she had reacted to. Ever after I gae her benadryl before taking her in for her rabies vax. We did have an outbreak of distemper 3 years after her reaction and I opted to get her a booster. Gave her benadryl, took her in early in the morning, she got her vax and they put her in IC to keep an eye on her for several hours. And that is my experince with reaction to regular vax. Of couse this doesn't not include my losing my one golden to reation to ProHeart6 injection, which is not a vaccine.

My vet does the same as Sehpherdpower's vet But I also have a blood panel done every year. Early one I have what I call a "geriatric panel" done to get a base for furture tests. Also, no later than 4 Ihave chest x-ray to get picture of hear and lungs. Then after that, it is the usual hands on physcal and a blood panel, but not quit as in depth. Then about 8 I start with the geriatric panels again. It was thru one of these geriatric blood panels before a dental that we found our 10 year old golden had very lw thyroid. He did not show any symptoms and we and our vet were stunned. But meds brougt it back to normal, and even so, a year laer, they had to be increased by 50%. Also thru the early chst x-ray we found our one golden girl had an enlarged heart chamber. There was no indication of this til we sAw the pictures. So I always encourage to get an early full blood pael done for a base on down the line, and the chest x-ray done early. It will not have to e repeated for a long time unless a problem does arise. As to cost, thr no wa to compare cost as I am inTexas.

My first thought was diabetes. We have a couple of goldens on one of the forums I belong to that has it---as do I sadly. And before meds, i drank gallos of water a day.

Our golden retriever duck dog had this happen. First time our son came in from hunting and Scooter's tail was hanging straight down I accused Ron of shuting it in his truck door (our dogs were NEVER allowed to ride in the back of the truck, always inside) o stepping on it in the duck blind. He swore he didn't do either. The tail didn't seem to hurt Scooter at all. But I learned of the "cold tail" and figured that was what it was. It did happen a few times, but it was always after he had been the cold water retrieving downed ducks.

She belongs to several forum I belong to but does very limited posting. Most of her posts concern vaccinations She and others are leading to a fight to get it standard all over the US that rabies be given every 3 years instead of every year since the makers state the vaccine is good for 3 years. I do not know if she has a bunch of letters, degrees, etc, or just on a mission to get smething wrng set right. But most of us totally believe as she does about vaccines. They are needed, but htere is such a a thing is over doing. Our state of Texas has make the law dogs must be vaccinated every 3 years for rabies. HOWEVER in ther "wisdom" they also said each county and each city can make it's own laws about tht. The city over rides the county, the county over rides state. At the moment, both my small town and the county say every year. My vet is so against it as he says the vax are good for 3 years. Say the town said every 3 years and the county said every year and of course the states does say every 3 years. Living here in the townm I would only need to vaccinate against rabies every 3 years (city over rides county), but those a couple of blocks away out of city limits would have to vaccinate every year (county over rides state.) This is a situation my brother lives in He is barely in city limits where the ruling is every 3 yearsm, so only has his dogs every 3 years. Coule doors down are out of city limts and the county says every year so they have to have it done every yr. Jus a matter of 50 yards and dogs getvaccinated for rabies totally different. My vet said many vets do not want to give up that visit/vaccination/MONEY every year and fight to keep the vax every year. He is against it saying dogs do not need it. She is working on getting it even all over the states instead of his mix and mach within miles or even feet of each other.

Gee. I had never wondered why you got 12 month, and got 6 month. If the 12 month is safer, why not here? One thing, here, we have the animal division of the Food and Drug Admistration watching, keeping records etc and the John Q. Public can get copies of everthing. They are the ones that had it pulled the first time it was out. The data showed it was killing to many dogs causing to many reactions. It is my understanding---from Aussies that came to Ameican forums, animal health forms, etc, looking for answers that down there Fort Dodge does the investigating, record keeping and there is no pubic records that can be gotten. Perhaps many mamy more reactions/deaths are going on down there than is known about because Fort Dodge keeps things under wraps. One thing, Fort Dodge did try to pull a sneaky here, got the CVA vetr that stirred things up release from her job, but investigation proved it was bogus charges and some of our senators are demanding actions against them. All this can befound at http://www.dogsadverereactions.com, which was started be a lady that almot lost her pug to PH6 and this gal KNOWS how to get stuff thru our Freedom of Information Act. I was able to get the governemtn report on Hunter thru theFOI. Aslo about the read the300 pge trnscrip of when they tried to get it back on the market.

Hi. I just realized I had read this story on another forum a little while ago, the dogforum.com. Use to be called i-dog when I joined over 5 years ago. And I checked and see you are also in the states. Sounds like your guy hs a rough time. Hope he continues to approve. I can tell you this, lots of dogs with autoimmune hemolytic anemia have spleen removed and there is no problem afterwards. In those cases, the spleen rmoval is what saves their lives because the spleen is killing to many red cells way to fast. As to the pumpkin, the canned PLAIN pumpkin is what is used, not the kind tht already has spices, etc, in it. Good luci.

This is the press release from last summer when ProHeart was allowed back on the market here in the states. Several things are important about it. First, the vets actaully hae to regstar and take classes about it before they are allowed to purchase it. It is the FIRST animal med to ever be allowed on the market under risk claus (it is the first animal med to ever be pulled here in the states also) One othe thing, when it was pulled from the market onSept. 3, 2004, they started at once trying to get it back and a hearing was set up on Jan. 31, 2005 with a 15 CVA memeber panel. It was open to the pubic and I know (via e--mail, phone ) who went and told the story of what appened to their dog. There were 3 from Texas, including a vet) and many, many of us who could not attened were asked to sent in our story a coupe of weeks before hand. Each panel member was given a copy of ever story--Was told there ws a big stack of them for each membe, who read them before the meeting. Fort Dodge, naturally said their product was safe, was not causing all these ractions.deaths. And they gave Austalia where very few reactions or deaths were reported and theSR 12 was THREE times the dosage of the PH6. When asked if reactions/deaths were investigated the same way there, Dr. Rami Cobb, DVM said yes. That is not true according to many Aussie that came to American health forums and other groups looking for answers. Down there Fort Dodge investigates and decides if their product was at fault or not. Here, everything is reported to te CVA which is the animal deivsion of the Food and Drug Adminstrtion, and THEY, not Fort Dodge compiles all the data and decides. And in the case of ProHeart6, they found plenty of evidence that it was causing thousdans of reactions. The entire 300 page transcript can be found at http://www.dogsadversereactions.com According to Dr. Victori Hampshire, DVM who took the reports and recorded the data, only 10 to15 % of allreactions are reported and te over 6000 reactions and over 600 deaths were only the tip. Was more like 60,000 reactions, 6,000 deaths. And my Hunter was one of them. His information to the FDA including his entire medical record of every vaccination and when, his check ups, etc. Of course, just having turned 4, and having never been sick, there was not much except for the paes of his AIHA and liver damage, his treatment, his necropsy. Most I talked to ha sent the same information about their dogs in as well, so they had a real picture of the dogs BEFORE proheart6. v I hae no idea of the 12 month is different or not--accroding to Dr. RamiCobb of Fort Dodge it si the same, only 3 times stronger. and iseems if it is to release over 12 insead of 6 months, other stuff could possibily have to be added to stretch the time release out. But I don't know. I just know what it did here in Americ, and what it did in Canada (there it can only be given to dogs who can not take any other forum of heartworm preventative And apparently many dogs down under also seuffered bad eactions/deaths. Here is the UPI press release WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a limited return of ProHeart 6, a reformulated heartworm prevention drug for dogs. The drug -- produced by Ford Dodge Animal Health of Overland Park, Kan., a part of the Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. -- had been withdrawn because of serious, life-threatening reactions, including loss of appetite, lethargy; vomiting and seizures, followed in some cases by death. The FDA said it is allowing the reformulated ProHeart 6 (moxidectin) Sustained Release Injectable for Dogs to be sold under a risk minimization and restricted distribution program designed to provide for safe, appropriate use of the product, while minimizing risk to dogs. "This is the first veterinary drug to be marketed under a risk minimization and restricted distribution program," said Dr. Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. "Numerous drugs for use in people have been successfully marketed under similar programs." The FDA said the risk minimization and restricted distribution program requires veterinarians who wish to purchase ProHeart 6 to register with the company and participate in an Internet training program prior to obtaining the product.

Man, I KNOW exactly how your feel about Fort Dodge. It was their ProHeart6 that killed my just turned 4 year old golden retriever back on Oct. 16, 2003. While that crap was causing severe reations and deaths here, they were denying it was their product. Here reactions and deaths are reported to the animal devision of the Food and Drug Adminstration and records are kept. Well, they noticed the HUGE numbers of reactions and deaths and had the Fort odge pull ProHeart6 from the market on Sept. 3, 2004, just abut 10 1/2 months after Hunter's death. In the 3 years it had been on the market it had caused more reactions and deaths than all the other heartworm preventatives combined--and some of the monthly had been out as long as 12 years, the daily for over 25 years. They still denyed it was their product that had caused all the reactions and deaths and tried to get it back onthe market, but at the FDA hearing Jan. 31, 2005, they could not prove it was safe and denyed re-entry until it had been studied and researched. Finally last summer, after being of for amost 4 years, it was allowed back on but with a ton f warnings on the lable uch as to not give it within a month of any vaccination, not to give it to sick or underweight dogs, use with care when giving it to a dog with any allergy incuding food allergies, etc etc. Also vets had to take class via the computer before they could purchase it from the company. Meanwhile, Fort Dodge claims it has been reformulated and the "residue suspected of causing some reactions the first time out has been removed." But remember it was not their product that killed or cause so many reactions before. One lady on an all breed forum I belong to actually takes her dog to one vet for some things, to another for others as she refuses to allow her dogs to get any Fort Dodge product. My vet refers to Fort Dodge as "the company you don't like" and never by name. By the way, they pay about half of Hunter's $2300 bill for the week he was in ICU getting tons of meds, transfusions, blood work once or twice a day, round the lock IV, etc. In other areas, the bill would have been over $5000. I don't thik your dogs get near as many vax as ours do. I ca't remember what all is in the "big one" but I know among the vax they get distemper, parvo, rabies, lepto, lymes, crona (or something like that) Hlatitus, kennelcough (twice a year)I thi there are a couple more stuck in there. And they hae just come out with a "tartar prevention"vax to prevent tartar build up on the dogs teeth. NO THANKS.

Honey, 75 pound golden retriever mix, gets kibble and home cooked. Her kibble is Taste of the Wild, a grain free kibble. I comes in 3 varietes-bison & venison, duck and fowl, and fish. She likes the High Prairie (bison) best. She gets 1 cup of this dry in the morning. At night she gets 3/4 cup of it and 1/2 cup of the stew I amke for her--or canned fih (or fresh if I have had luck fishing). The stew I make consists of 5 pounds of chicken thights, about 3 pounds of chicken necks, about 1 1/2 pounds of beef liver or chicken gizzards cut up, 2-3 cutup sweet potatoes, a couple of chopped apples, a pound of frozen green beans, and sometimes some yellow or green squash. I put it all in my slow cooker and add water, but not enough to cover. Cover and bring to boil. reduce heat and cook on low 24 hours. She gets some that night and I save out enough for 4-5 more nights The ret is put into freezer bags, enough for 4-5 meals each and frozen. When she finsihes off the jar that I kept out (9n ref of course), sh gets fish for the next 3 nights, then a bag is taken out of freezer and when finished, back to fish again for 3 days. She will not touch anything raw.

Sending many good thoughts your way. Recently one of the ladies on one of my golden retriever forums went thru this twice in just days with her golden, Daisy and surgery had to be done both times. The 2ed time Daisy was in such bad shape Jo Ellen was thinking of letting her go. But she urned around and is doing great. One thing, Daisy loves to fish''she can stand in shallow water in their litle private lake and actaullyu catch small fish. And she loves to swim. However, the vet just told Jo Ellen to keep Daisy ou of the water as she does swallow lot of water doing boh of those activities. Her stomach was actuallyu "tacked" in place, but the vet is worried there was damage from bloat twice wihin days (and it had happeed once before) and he thinks a lot of water could cause problems. Also, there was a study done at the University of Florida on bloat and it appears it can actually run in a family of dogs. One lady who raises Saint Bernards (I think it was that breed) actaully lost a grandfather, a father, and a son to bloat and she fully believes it is in that line.

I have never given mine raw fish but have baked tons of flounder, spotted sea trout, mackeral, whiting, etc for them. I can't fish much any more, so do feed canned salmon or mackeral a couple of times a week. At this moment I have a pot of "doggy stew" cookng in slow cooker--5 pounds of chicken thighs, 1 1/2 pounds of chicken gizzards cut up, 3 sweet potatoes sliced thin, a apples chopped and pound of frozen green bens. I often added yellow or green squash. Before losing Buck 2 years ago and KayCee a year ago, I had to make this about every 2 weks. Now, I only make it for Honey every 56 weeks or so I do it in the slow cooker for 24 hours, and she gets some that night, and i put eough enough in jar in ref. for 4-5 nights Then I freeze the rest in freezer bags, enough in each one to last 4 nights. When one s finished, she gets canned fish for 2-3 night, and then I thaw another bag out and repeat. She gets about 3/4 cup of dry kibble in mornings, then another 3/4 cup plus 1/2 cup of the strew or fish at night. She is a 70 pound golden retriever mix.

My golden retriever, Buck, had to have 2 removed in his last 3 years. Neither were cancer. But with goldens being prone to cancer, I was really worried til the histopath report came back. Good luck.

Many on the golden retrieve forums I belong to here in the states give deer antlers to their dogs. It cleans teeth as well as keeping them entertianed. Last week one of the goldens had to have surgery to remove the squeaker from a squeak toy he had demolished---then swollened the squeaker. You are right to be concerned about the destroyed toys.

It is good that you know for sure and a line of acton has been taken. I hope he is back to normal very soon.

My golden retriever, KayCee was allergic to live oak and pine pollen, Bermuda grass, mold spores and fleas and would some times end up with ear infection. A word of warning here about ear infections. It if gets in deep it can case what is called a VERTIGO EPISODE. My KayCee only ever had one and I thought she was having a seizure. She went to get up and dumped forward to the left and kinda lay there her mouth working, her head pulling to the left. I was still in my night short and I raced to bedroom to get dressed to get her to vet. She got up to follow andwas staggering to the left and bumped into the wall on left side of hall and went down again. I was terrified and hen I got her to my vet jut a mile away, they were more concerned about me than her because she was ating pretty normal and i was standing there crying, hair going in ever direcion no shoes. It had only been 8 months since I lost her littermate brother to AIHA and was sure I was going to lose her also. But as I described how she acted, my vet said he was pretty sure it was a vertigo episode due to inner ear infection, checked her out, and sure enough, she had an ear infection. She had a couple more infections in her life (lost her lat May to cancer) but never another vertigo episode.

My golden retriever, Buck, developed vision prolblems abut the time he turned 11. My vet said his eyeballs wre healhy, just "old." his depth perception went bad and a leaf could blow by him and he would jump amd let out a yelp tho it never touched him. He also misjudged distance for getting on bed, etc. And his nigh vision was bad enough he would not go out alone at night to do his business. He had his own bedroom and i left drapes open on side so neghbor's outside light would shine in and make light for him. Our walls are white, but doors are dark. I kept his bedroom door open til he went to be at night. One night for some reason it was closed and I did not have the hall light on and he went trotting down the hall (he always went ahead and got on the bed and waitd for his night time treat) and bless his heart, he ran right into the door. He could not tell it was closed, guess he thought the darkness was the room It was after that that i kept tha side drape open so the room would be some lite up, and made sure the door was not shut. We did make sure that things were not left out of place or moved around even tho he could see shapes, etc. That big always brave dog had become fearful of things and we just wanted to make thinkgs easy for him. By the way, when he was on leash being walked, even at nigh, he was his old self. We believe he felt that as long as he was "connected" to us, he was safe. Hoping for the bet for you little guy.

Gee, thanks a million. It also works for making posts. I can see this as i typel. I wish I had known about this long ago. Problem with fingers is I don't always it space bar hard enough to space words or keys hard enough for letters to print and my typing looks like Martian language! That is why I like to be able to read as I type, can correct my typos. I mentioned that I can not read the newspaper without using magnifying glass and that tends to me a little dizzy. Knowing this secret to making print larger, I can pull up the paper and be able to read it on line. I just can't thank you enough for this informtion.,

I certainly hope it is nothing. My old Golden Retriever had lumps rmoved from his gums twice, but neither thruned out to be cancer.

Thanks for the idea. Never thought about doing that. I have belonged to the other forums i belong to for over 5 years--already had arthritis but not vision problems, so they have been long with me all the way and understand and know why i type in caps. funny thing, some rfeply to to my posts in caps. now myh family & friends send me e-mails and make posts on faimly page either in caps, larger letters, bold tyupe (I can se dark pring better also) or combo. yes, t is furstrating not to be able to work cross word puzzles anymore, put togehter jig saw puzzles, read newspaper or magazines without maganifyig glass, so I rarely read very much, not be able to read a lot of stuff on the TV, etc, not brablr to hunt shark teeth on the beach. Thank the good Lord I can tie on fish hoks by feel as I can not see the eye. Have also had to give up sewing unless smon is around to thread needle for me. But i my Honey girl does not mind. she loves me no matter what. That is the great thing about dogs isn't it.

Thanks Erny. Yes, exactly so. My vet knows me pretty well now, and thankfully is prepared to put up with my paranoia. I'll quite often start a consult with "I'm probably wasting your time, but ......) I know what you mean about being a little paranoid. Ask any member of theAIHA forum and they will tell you they watch their dogs like a hawk. Always checking gums to make sure they are real pink, worrying if the dog sleeps a few minutes more this day than than usual, refused to at the full meal, meal. I would look at the gums of my other dogs and think "Gee, Honey's gums do not look as pink as KayCee's" and get all upset. I am not quite as bad now, but i swear, I paid for about 1/2 of my vets clinci with my visits. If one of mine sneezed twice or limped two steps, i had him/her in. AIHA is such a horrible disease a roller coaster ride as descrbd on the AIHA forum. One day the dog is doing well, the next day he has crashed and is in grave condition. And since there is no cure only remissin, you can not let down your guard for one second. Also, all whose dogs are in remission have refused to allow their dogs to have another vax. Many believe it was a vax that brought it on.

I am sorry. I only use them so I can read as I type so I can try to see my typos and correct them. See, i have rheum,atoid arthritis and my fingers do not work great, so i do make lots of typos as sometimes my fingers do not hit the keys hard enough to print or the space bar hard enough to space but my main problem is vision. I am legally blind in left eye and not great vision in right eye---diabetes. plus I have cataracts. In order to read what I am typing ow, my face has to be about 12 inc hes from the screen and wih the way my creen is positioed from the key board due to the type desk I have, I have tp lean way o the right to see it, yet my hands and arms have to go left to type When I type a post here, the print is just so small and light I have such a hard time reading. I can get close to the screen to read posts, just have so much trouble typing and reading one at the same time. I have had lazer surgery on left eye--that did not work. I had injection under the eyeball---that did not work. Fioanlly in Nov. I had injection straight into eyeball and that has helped the vision in my left eye a little. I can not read the newspaper except for titles without a magnifying glass, nor can I read magazines, etc. I use to love to read and have books given to me that I have not been able to read---I did not tell people how bad my vision was for a good while. I also had to give up putting jigsw puzzles together. He wanted to work on my left eye alone since it was the worst, in case something went wrong and i totally lost vision in the eye worked on. I have no idea when he will okay cataract surgery. He wants to get all the swelling and leakage in the eyeballs stopped before cataract surgery. I did not mean to appear to be yellng, just wanted to try to correct my typos.

Yes, she does a wonderful job. Many of us that lost a dog, or almost lost one, are still in contact after all this time and Laurryn works hard keeping everything up to date. The only way people find out about these things is when someone is willing to work hard and get the informaition out. I am justthankful we have the Freedom Of Information act so she can getthat stuff right from our government.

Oh yeah, I know about the sr12. Many from down there came to groups like doghealth2 looking for answers when they lost their dog after the injection. First one I had contact was actually a guy from Sydney who almost lost his Maltese, his "best mate" as he called the little guy. Here, vets and dog owners reported the reaction or death directly to the FDA. You send in copies of the complete records of the dog. We that had necropsy done also sent that report along also. The FDA vets compile the records and when they see patterns of several hundred dogs developing AIHA or gastric problems etc (healthy dogs pre Porhear6 injections or whatever drug) then they investigate and will tell the maker to add those as adverse reactions to the warning label. In the case of ProHeart6, AIHA was added to the 2ed label change, death was added to the 3rd and last before the FDA had them pull it. Proheart6 was the VERY FIRST ANIMAL MEDICATION/DRUG TO EVER BE PULLED FROM THE MARKET. It was pulled Sept. 3, 2004 and on Jan. 31, 2005 there was a big hearing about beinging it bac onto the market. Several of the ones I have been in contact all these years attened, and hundreds of us who could not attend sent our dog/dogs stories ahead of tim and of the 15 member FDA panel got copies of our stories. The one there got to tell their stories. The maker showed up loaded with their people who all told how great it was, etc, I have read the entire 300 page transscript. It can be found at http://www.dogsadversereactions.com According to that transcript, D. Rami Cobb of Fort Dodge said the dosage used in the Proheart SR 12 was 3 times the strenght of that used in ProHeart 6. But they did not have reports of reations and deaths from down there. When asked if any reports were investigated the same way, she said yes. But according to theguy in Sydney and many others, that is not so. Down there you report to the governemnt and they in turn turn it over to the mnufacture to investigate.....whivh in my opinion is like letting the fox investigate the henhouse raid. The government agency does not investigate. Here our governemnt agency the FDA does investigate. Where our dose is spread out (time release) over 6 months, your triple dose is time released over 12 months. Oh, for the record, several batches that hit the market a couple of months before hunter got his fatal dose was recalled due to the time release part not working properly. That is all we could find out Do not know if they wre all releasing at once, not releasing at all, releasing at the wrongtime. This can also be found at the above listed site. Laurryn gets lost of copies of letters, orders, etc, with the Freedom Of Information Act. I do know any many dogs had no problem with it, but when more diein 3 years from it than from all others combined, some which had been out 25 years, it just does not seem logica to me to use it when all others are much safer.

AIHA CAN COME ON GRADUALY OR RAPID, APPARENTLY. ON THE MORNING OF OCT. 9, 2003, I WAS CHECKING TEETH TO SEE IF ANY DENTALS WERE NEEDED, ETC, AND I SAW HUNTER'S GUMS WERE PALE. MY FIRST THOUGHT WA HOOK WORMS. I HAD SEEN PALE GUMS WITH HOOK WORMS IN PUPPIES BACK WHEN I WAS A KID....IN THE STONE AGE. I CALLED AND MADE AN APPOINTMENT TO GET HIM IN TO SEE THE VET LATER THAT MORNING. A SHORT TIME LATER I WAS ON THE PATIO AND HE "WENT" JUST OFF THE PATIO INSTEAD OF AT THE BACK FENCE AND I NOTED HIS URINE WAS RUSTY COLORED BEFORE GOING TO THE VET I TOOK HIM FOR A SHORT WALK AND GOT A URINE SAMPLE. WHEN WE GOT TO THE VETS, HIS TEMP WAS A LITTLE OVER 103---NORMAL BEING ABOUT 101 FOR HIM. HE HAD ALSO LOST 9 POUNDS SINCE THE INJECTION EVEN THO HE HAD EATEN NORMAL HE WAS LONG, TALL, AND HAD SUCH LNG FUR, THICK UNDERCOAT, THE WEIGHT LOSS WAS NOT REALY NOTICEABLE. HIS HCT WAS 20, NORMAL FOR HIM WAS 53. HE HAD NEVER HAD A SICK DAY SINCE WE GOT HIM AT 8 WEEKS OF AGE. HE WAS THE FIRST ONE OF MY 4 TO GET THE PROHEART6 AND IT ENDED UP KILLING HIM. IT SEEMS LIKE MOST OF THOSE OPN THE AIHA FORUM ANDTHE ONES ON MY MULTIPLE OTHER FORUMS DID NOT NOTICE ANYTHING WRONG UNTIL THEIR DOG JUST COLLAPSED. IN HIND SIGHT SOME OF US NOTED LITTLE THINGS THAT DID NOT MEAN MUCH ALONE. LIKE HUNTER HAD TRIED HIS ENTIRE LIFE TO CATCHSQUIRRELS THE WAY OUR OLDER GOLDEN BUCK DID. BUT HE NEVER MANAGED AS HE ALWAYS TORE ACROSS THE YARD BEFORE THE SQUIRREL GOT DOWN TO THE GROUND. HOWEVER FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF WEEKS HAD NOTICED HE SAT ON THE PATIO WATCHING THE SQUIRRELS RATHER THAN RUNNING TO THE TREE WHEN HE SAW THEM AND I FIGURED HE HAD LEARNED FROM BUCK HOW TO STALK THEM. ALSO HE WOULD BRING HIS BALL FOR US TO THROW, BUT IF ONE OF THE OTHER DOGS GOT A FASTER TAKE OFF, HE DID NOT GO AFTER IT. HIS LITTERMATE SISTER HAD ALWAYS DONE THIS AND WE THOUGHT HE HAD LEARNED FROM HER THAT FIRST OFF THE BLOCK GETS THE BALL. LATER WE REALIZED THAT THE AIHA HAD SET IN AND WAS STARTING TO TAKE IT'S TOLL. ONE IN COLORADO TOOK ALL 3 OF HER DOGS I OR PROHEART6 NJECTION THE SAME DAY AND TO MONTS LATER ONE WAS DEAD OF AIHA, ONE OF LIVER DAMAGE, AND 6 1/2 YEARS LATER HER 3RD IS STILL ON MEDS. THE ONE THAT DVELOED THE AIHA JUST COLLAPSED ONE DAY. I THINK IT WAS 3 DAYS LATER SHE DIED IN ICU. JEAN SAID IN HND SIGHT SHE REALIZED TASHA HAD SHOWED SIGNS OF A PROBLEM, BUT LIKE US SHE DID NOT PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER. TASHA ALWAYS FOLLOWED HER UP AND DOWN TO HER STUDY IN THE BASEMENTM BUT FOR A WEEK OR SO HAD JUST STAYED IN BASEMENT WHEN JEAN WOULD GO UPSTEARS. SHE THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE IT WAS COOLER IN BASEMENT, BUT LATER REALIZED TASHA DID NOT HAVE THE ENERGY TO GO UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS SEVERAL TIMES A DAY. WITH SO MANY OF US IT WAS JUST LITTLE THINGS THAT ALONE DID NOT MEAN A THING BUT PUT TOGETHER FORMED A PICTURE, MUCH LIE PUTING A JOG SAW PUZZLE TOGETHER. PROHEART6 WAS PULLED FROM THE MARKET HERE SEPT. 3, 2004,A LITTLE MORE THAN 10 MONTHS AFTER HUNTER'S DEATH BECAUSE OF THEHIGH RATE OF DEATHS AND ADVERSE REACTIONS. IT KILLED MORE DOGS IN THE 3 YEARS IT WAS ON THE MARKET THAN ALL OTHERS COMBINED AND SOME HAD BEEN OUT 25 YEARS. IT WAS ALLOWED BACK LAST SUMMER, BUT WITH A TON OF WARNNGS ON THE LABEL, LIKE NOT TO GIVE WITHIN A MONTH OF ANY VACCINATION, BE GIVEN CAREFULLY TO DOGS WITH ALLERGIES, EVEN FOOD ALLERGIES. NOT TO BE GIVEN TO DOGS THAT ARE UNDERWEIGT OR ILL, USED CREFULLY WITH DOGS OVER 7, ETC, ETC. THEY SAY IT HAS BEEN REFORMULATED AND THE "RESIDUE SUSPECTED OF CAUSING SOME REACTIONS LAST TIME HAS BEEN REMOVED." YET LAST TIME THEY SWORE UP AND DOWN THEIR PRODUCT WAS NOT CAUSING ALL THESE REACTIONS AND DEATHSS, BUT OUR FDA, UPON GETTING SO MANY REPORTS OF THE REACTIONS AND DEATHS DID NOT AGREE WITH THEM. OH, ALSO, THE VETS NOW HAVE TO"TAKE A CLASS" ON THE NET BEFOE THEY CAN GET PRHEART6 FROM FROT DODGE. IT SCARES ME TO THINK THAT THE PROHEART12 USED DOWN THERE IS 3 TIMES THE STRENGH AS THE PROHEART6 HERE. AND THAT IS THEIR OWN WORDS IN THE MEETING TO TRY TO GET IT BACK ON THE MARKET ON JAN. 31, 2005. THE FDA TURNED THEM DOWN AND TOLD THEM MORE RESEARCH WAS NEEDED. IT IS BACK NOW WITH ALL THE WARNINGS AND I DON'T KNOW A SINGLE PERSON IN PERSON OR ON ANY OF AMERICAN DOG FORUM WHO WLL USE IT. IT IS NOT ADVERTISED ONTV LIKE IT WAS THE FIRST TIME EITHER. OH, BY THE WAY, THE FDA HAD THEM MAKE 3 LAEL CHANGE THE FIRST TIME IT WAS OUT. THE 2ED ONE INCLUDED AIHA AS AN ADVERSE REACTION AND THE 3RD CHANGE WAS MADE THE DAY MY HUNTER GOT HIS FATAL INJECTION...AN DEATH WAS ADDED TAT TIME. HERE IN SO MANY STATES WE HAVE NO CHOICE. WE HAVE MOSQUITOES YEAR ROUND AND WE HAVE TO GIVE THE HEARTWORM PROTECTION YEAR AROUND. IN SOME OF THE NOTRHERN STATES WHERE THEY DO REALLY HAVE WINTER, MANY ELECT NOT TO GIVE IT DURING THE WINTER. HERE ON THE TEXAS COAST I HAVE NO CHOICE. HOWEVER I GO EASY ON THE FLEA/TICK STUFF AND I AVOID AS MANY VACCINES AS POSSIBLE. AND THE ONES I D USE ARE SPACED OUT AND MANY ARE GIVEN EVERY 3 YERS INSTEAD OF EVERY YEAR. UNLESS YOU HAVE HAD A DOG WITH AIHA YOU CAN NOT IMAGINE HOW HORRIBLE (AND EXPENISIVE DISEASE IT IS. SME AN NOT AFFORD TO KEEP PAYING FOR THE HIGH DOLLAR DRUGS, THE TRANSFUSIONS (MY HUNTER HAD 2 TRANSFUSIONS OF 2 UNTIS OF BLOOD EACH TIME IN THE 8 DAYS IN ICU BECAUSE HIS SPLEEN WAS KILLING ALL HIS RED CELLS THIS IS MY HUNTER AND MY OLDEST SON.