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Wishing you all the best for Sophies apt tomorrow will be thinking of you both and hoping you have some positive news.

CavNrott, I hope Sophie has brightened up a little. Its hard isnt it when they have an off day or 2, you cant help but worry a little more and you try not to project any of your worry or sad feeling onto them but our furkids are little sponges, they know, no matter how hard we hide how we are feeling. If they were not so perceptive we would not have the same bond would we. But they make us stronger too by just being themselves and she will be feeling all of your love and devotion this makes her even stronger still. You have said a few times 'this is about Sophie, not me' My friend it is about you too, you girls are a team. Allow yourself to feel everything. Dont bottle everything up. Express how you are feeling to us here if you feel comfortable doing that, many of us have been through this and even if we havnt we still all understand love and devotion to our dogs. It can just be good to let things out sometimes. You girls take care of each other ok! And big hugs to you both.

Hi CavNrott, just popping in to see how your beautiful girl Sophie is doing. I see from your last post you say she is doing ok, that is good to hear. I dont comment here very often but you and Sophie as with all the sick dogs and their owners are always in my thoughts. I have told several people I know about you and Sophie and the marvellous partnership you both have, even my own vets who by the way wish there were so many more owners that are pro-active about their dogs care and treatment as you are. Take care.

Pandii Im very so for you and your familys (skin and fur) loss. Keeto is at peace now running free at the bridge and in good company.

CavNrott its truly is wonderful to hear how well Sophie is doing because of the fantastic way you are looking after her.

CavNrott you could perhaps invent some new games to play with Sophie at home for a little gentle stimulation if she isnt up to running and fetch. A game Ive played with mine is you get a heap of containers and hide yummy treats under a few of them and get the dog to sniff it out and by tipping the container over when they sniff it they get the reward. Or you could teach her a couple of new tricks for fun and this might help you a little too by giving you a little escape mentally from remembering medication routines etc and we all get that happy feeling when we teach our furkids a new trick and she will feel this from you too not just your sadness.

CavNrott, you are doing great under the circumstances. You are doing exactly what Sophie needs, loving her, caring for her, she knows there is something wrong and you dont even need to cry for her to feel your emotions. If you do have a cry well that is no biggy, let her have a fuss and that way she knows she is still capable of giving you comfort too. Hugs to you and Sophie.

Hi TB, how is Atlas doing at present? Can I suggest you get some slippery elm tablets from the health food shop or chemist, this will put a protective coating on his gastric mucosa. You can give it 3 times a day before meals. The one I have used also has licorice in it and this helps with nausea. It can be a vicious cycle sometimes when they wont keep anything down, the empty stomach and gastric acids end up causing more nausea and so on. I can honestly say that the slippery elm is fantastic stuff. It was when I started giving my boy this after a really bad bug that had him hospitalised for a week on a drip and vomiting blood in the end because he was so unwell and had vomitted that much his gastric lining was raw and becoming ulcerated, the vets ended up letting him come home even though he was only keeping water down as a bare minimum because the big boof was getting extremely depressed and we were hoping at least in his own enviroment he might pick up a bit, he continued to go down hill until Allerzeit suggested the slippery elm to me and it was a big turning point. I would suggest you give it a go today and if still no improvement still take him to the vets as planned. Good luck and I hope he improves soon.

ZednQ, Im so sorry for your loss, my thoughts are with you at this heartbreaking time. Angels are always among us here on earth, they come at a time when we need them most and bring us such happiness and joy,but sadly heaven must take them back before we are ever ready to say goodbye. Your boy Zed was one of those angels but now he has his wings and will be forever with you, not even heavan can take his spirit that is etched in your heart forever. CavNrott, hoping that your apt goes well today, will be thinking of you. Sending you lots of love and strength for you and your precious girl.

Digisol, thankyou for giving us this warning about your dogs bad reaction. I hope you dont feel that anyone has given you too much a hard time here, I think people were just a little confused by the dosage etc. I admit I am one of the confused ones but you obviously care a great deal about your dog and have had a huge shock and a terrible experience with this particular drug but I hope you stick around here on dogzonline it can be a very supportive forum with a wealth of knowledge and some other very caring owners. I also hope your staffy is doing well now and recovering nicely.

I am not commenting on the worthyness of any of the medications mentioned, but....the ONLY thing that does not make sense is the idea of giving any injection with a volume of 50mls. That sort of volume is just not administered to a dog normally. The degree of tissue expansion it would cause is massive. There would have been a lump the size of a lemon where it was given and absorption of all that fliud and the drug would take some time. Perhaps the OP got 50mls and 50milograms mixed up?????

Just popping in to send hugs and love to all our sick ones and their families. Wolfgirl, its nice to hear you say that Pearl has some spirit back.

CavNrott and Sophie, ZednQ and Zed, Dogsforall and Bonnie, Staffylov and Ollie, Wolfgirl and Pearl I hope you are all having a comfortable and restful day today and the days and weeks to come are full of smiles and special moments. Big hugs to each and everyone of you from me and the furclan and kisses especially from Miss Taran, she has spent the last week helping the entire family feel better following a yucky virus that worked its way round the whole family and trust me her kisses are so special and really do make you feel better, she also sends snuggly cuddles too cause they work wonders as well. Bluepoppy, Taran sends a special little batch of kisses and snuggles to you as well.

CavNrott I read that Sophie has some gastric bleeding, have you considered adding some Zantac (ranitidine) to her regiment. I suggest it because when Artan was very sick some time back with a nasty gastric bug and was on nothing but an IV for days his gastric lining became extremely eroded and he was vomitting blood even after he came home and this nearly caused him to go back into the vet hospital but with approval of my vets I gave him zantac AND slippery elm and this worked wonders. It is available over the counter at your chemists and is safe for dogs (many studies have been done on its effectiveness and safeness for animals) and this may help your girl if it is not contraindicated with her current meds.

BP, Jeff and Diesel sending you my warmest thoughts of Love and support. Your Beautiful Princess will be with you all forever in your hearts and you will have many wonderful happy memories of her. Thankyou for sharing your journey with her with all of us. Rest peacfully sweet Kiesha.

BP sounds like you all had a really rough day and night. I hope Kiesha ended up settling after your last post and i hope the meds you got are really helping her. You know I never seem to feel like I can find the right words to tell all of you with sick kids how much I really admire how much you are all willing to do for them and the care you are taking of them, and everything I type sounds lame but having been thru it myself I really do understand all the emotions and feelings. Sending lots of love to you all from me and the family.

Thankyou so much CavNrott for your update on Sophie. It is so wonderful to hear that she is comfortable and having good quality of life. Thanks again for posting the updates, I know it must be very hard for you and BP to post here sometimes and putting it down in writting can be difficult and emotional but it is really appreciated and I hope you are gaining some strength from all of our warm thoughts and words of support that can help you be stronger for your special rotts.

Just popping in to deliver special hugs to our sick kids and their mums

When my Rotty Tara had bone cancer we used codeine phosphate for her pain and this was fantastic for her. It was me who suggested its use to the vets because Im a nurse and have seen it be very good for humans bone pain be it a fracture or bone mets due to cancer. It is also an opiate and so some vets may be cautious about dispensing it but mine had no hesitation and as I said it worked really well for her in conjuction with an anti-inflammatory med.

I have hardly been on DOL of late and the only times I've popped in was to check for updates of our sick dogs, so this new sub-forum IMO is a great idea, Thanks Troy and those that suggested it. I love that everyone is being so supportive and it is helping all the rotts mums and dads cope a little better and not feel so alone with their heartache and grief. To CavNrott, BP, and ZednQ I send you all warmth and kindness, positive thoughts and understanding for what you are going thru. I have no words that can truly make you feel less sad except to say I understand how you and your families are feeling. Be strong for them. RnB, big hugs to you too on the loss of Tyson, Im very sorry to hear this and please pass on my sympathies to Tysons owners too.

Tilly, i am so sorry to hear your boy is so unwell. :D Enjoy the time that you have with him and give him a big hug from me.

I kept the neutralisation concept in mind for my new young rotty pup but figured I probably couldnt do it 100% but have used the concept to some degree. They all have seperate time, seperate training but are also allowed to play with supervision. I will also often call her to me in the middle of her playing with my big rotty boy or playing with the kids and reward her with a toy or a food treat. She has reliably done this since 10 weeks once she learnt the command and will start with proofing it outside the home once she gets a bit older. We attended puppy pre-school with her too but un-intentionally this served to be more of a neutralisation experience for her than socialisation, she chose to pay attention to me and observe more of what was going on rather than join in on the playing. She was far from scared of the other pups and did have a little play at times over the 3 weeks but she chose to watch me instead probably hoping for more rewards from doing that than what the other pups had to offer. K9, would you say that makes her more pack driven than say the other pups were?? I must say i much prefer her to be this way as she will also be a working girl like her big brother. By teaching her to focus on me earlier than i did him I can see already that it will be easier in some areas.

Just came across this thread and read it all Sending big hugs to you and your family. She is at peace and pain free and will live on in your hearts.

Our sch club and another club had a week with a german trainer by the name of Alex Beyer and I think he also did some stuff with the gsd people, it was really great to have someone with other views, techniques and ideas and he did some great work with a few peoples dogs that had been having a few issues prior to that.

Cute puppy Myszka. "You would have to come and see an IPO club for yourself and watch the dogs, and form your own opinion if it is dangerous or not. But until you have seen it, don't assume anything" Well said RealityBites If more people came and watched us train in all weather conditions, till late at night and went out tracking in the freezing cold winter mornings and saw the level of commitment that is required to undertake this sport and the unbelievable bond it creates between dog and handler then they might not be so quick to judge.