Dogs vs. Cats

It’s the age old debate. Which is better, a dog or a cat? Usually I would say that “Dogs Rule, Cats Drool” but the truth is I admire anyone who lovingly takes care of an animal.

I think in most cases owning a pet like a cat or dog shows that a person is unselfish and nurturing (not saying that those without pets are selfish and ungiving).

I prefer dogs myself but throughout my life I have taken in many cats and found them good homes. I think it is just a personal preference. Either way, it is unconditional love waiting for you every time you come home or in the case of my dogs,  just waking up in the morning gets you showered with affection like you had been gone for days.

What I think is adorable is when a dog and cat curl up and sleep together. My friend’s Rottweiler curls up with the cat every night. Unusual, but adorable!

A Good Dog Bed??

My dog is 8 or 9 years old and is an Old English Mastiff. Although she is small for her breed she still is a big dog and very lazy. She sleeps about 22 hours a day going from one room of the house to another. I used to have a futon for her to lay on but I had to get rid of it. Lately she has been laying on the floor but I know it must be hard on her aging hips.

What I need is a good dog bed that will help with her painful hips and can be washed from time to time. Does anyone have any suggestions?

My dog Frasier has allergies

My dog Frasier (Beagle/Foxhound) has slight allergies in the summer. When they get bad he get what I call “inside out sneezes”. You know, the goofy sounding sneezing that sound so serious. Usually, I give him a Benedryl and they go away. My vet has said he can have up to two Benedryl pills (I believe they are 15 mg each) but I find that only one is necessary. It makes him really drowsey.

I wonder if there is a doggy Clariton? I can’t imagine if he had allergies all the time and needed medicine. Benedryl makes him to sleepy to have all the time. Once or twice in the last seven years his paws have swollen and hurt him too from the allergies. This happens very rarely but I just thought I would mention it just in case this has happened to someone else’s dog.

Home Insurance & Dog bites

About 4 years ago I wanted to put a deck in my backyard and fix my roof so I called around for local contractors to get bids. Out of all the bids/quotes I received only one business came to my house in person to hand deliver the bid. This impressed me.

As I let the man into my house my dog lunged forward and bit him in the hand. Little did I know that my dog was very sick, running a fever and ultimately dying of kidney failure. The contractor said he would just go home and pour whiskey on it. He was no sissy. He could handle it.

The next day I get a call from the contractor. He is standing in front of the police station telling me that if I don’t give him thousands of dollars he is going to go in and report my dog and have it put to sleep for biting him.

I am devastated and I don’t know the dog bite laws. I just know I will do anything to not have my dog destroyed. Little did I know that whenever a person goes to a hospital with a dog bite there is automatically a police report filed which had already been done in this case.

The contractor continues to harass me by telephone until I call a lawyer and my home insurance company. Although it was not a vicious bite, the contractor misses some work so he was awarded damages from my insurance company. I never wanted to know how much since this obviously was not a good person trying to blackmail me.

Without home insurance that covered the dog bite who knows how much I would have gone into debt. You never think you are going to need your insurance but for the few times in life when you do it is a definite relief.

Get a 2nd Opinion

About 4 years ago I lost my dog Bella (a black lab mix) to kidney disease. She was only 8 1/2 years old. It nearly broke my heart for she was my first dog on my own.

About two years before her death I had noticed that she had been drinking excessive amounts of water. I had taken her to the vet and they did kidney tests. They had said her kidney levels were slightly off  but they could not decipher if anything  was wrong with her. The excessive drinking went away and life went back to normal.

Two years later her kidneys were failing and I had to put her down. Why didn’t I get a second opinion? I had gone to the most respected vet in my local town. He worked with the university and was also a pet surgeon. Surely, he would not have missed anything right?

Who knows if a second opinion would have panned out in this situation. I will never know. I do think it is important to get a second opinion in any situation you feel it necessary though, with human or animal sickness. Doctors and Vets are only human. They can make mistakes and have different opinions and diagnosiss.

It is up to us to give our animals the best care possible.

Yappy Hour

I thought I had seen it all when I walked into my local liquor store to buy a bottle of wine for quests and I see a flyer about “Yappy Hour” http://www.cityhallpetgifts.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=45. It is happy hour with beer for people and beer for dogs. Yes, that’s right. I said, beer for your dogs. They now make dog beer. To have beer tasting for people is one thing but to be able to bring your dog and have them partake. I love it! This is a great country!

Moosey gets sick

Recently my dog Moosey started showing symptoms that she did not feel good. These symptoms were:

1. excessive drinking
2. accidents in the house (no doubt caused by the excessive drinking)
3. lethargy (which is pretty hard to see when you have an Old English Mastiff)
4. loss of appetite (unless it was something scrumptious like meat or soft dog food)

So, I take her into the vet. They test a urine sample and tell me it has sugar in it and she is most likely diabetic.  They will do another test  and the vet explains that I will have to give Moosey shots of insulin everyday etc. When they test the blood sugar level it is normal so, no diabetes.

Next, they take a  blood sample for a kidney test telling me that it could be kidney disease. Moosey’s kidney’s test fine. Without x-rays and other evasive procedures they can not tell me what is wrong with Moosey so I suggest that we wait and see how the antibiotics do.

The first 10 days of antibiotics go by and no change. I am very worried that something is seriously wrong here. The vet decides to try a second round of antibiotics. After a few days into the second round of antibiotics Moosey starts to feel better and everything clears up. It would appear that she had a severe bladder infection. I am not sure if this is the end of this but I am glad we waited and let the drugs work instead of putting Moosey (who is highly nervous) through any unnecessary tests. Unfortunately, it is too late for my carpet

Leptosporosis

Recently I saw an article from a local vetenary clinic regarding Leptosporosis. It said that leptosporosis is a worldwide disease seen in many animals. It is caused by the bacteria Leptospira Interrogans. There are many strains of Leptospira with the most common ones being part of the distemper vaccine your dog receives. Leptosporosis can cause severe debilitating disease to your pet. The bacteria is mainly found in areas of standing water. It is also contagious to the human population with the most common infections coming in people who are involved with water activities or spend time in the outdoors.

This is one of the many reasons to have your dog vaccinated every year. It is expensive, especially if you have a large dog or multiple dogs (since the medicines cost go by weight of the dog) but it is worth it not to have your dog catch a disease like Leptosporosis and spread it to you or your family.

October is Adopt a Dog Month

I was reading on Dogster that October is adopt a dog month so for anyone who is thinking about getting a dog this is the time. My dog Moosey is adopted and so was my previous dog Bella. Adopting can be very rewarding. There are thousands of dogs that get euthanised each year in the kennels just because they can not find loving homes and there is no longer room for them. It takes a bit longer to bond with a shelter dog and there may be some insecurities that never go away for the dog if they were abandoned but when you do bond with them they will be forever grateful.  If you are thinking about adopting see the Permanent Adoption Check-list: Top 10 Things To Know from Dogster.

Frasier Likes Chocolate

A couple of Christmas’s ago my immediate co-workers and I did a secret santa. I pulled the name of a girl that sat just a couple desks away. I was going to have the most creatvie gifts and be the best secret santa. One of the gifts I bought for her was a snowman figure that you could put candy inside his stomach which was clear to see through. So, I decide to fill the snowman’s stomach with hershey kisses (an entire bag). I wrap the snowman and put it in a holiday bag on my kitchen counter.

The next day I come home from work and the snowman is on the ground, unwrapped and all the hersey kisses are gone, wrappers and all. My Beagle/Foxhound named Frasier has swiped the gift off the countertops and has eaten the entire bag of hersey kisses.

I panic because I know dogs are not suppose to have chocolate and Frasier has eaten THE WHOLE BAG. The vet assures me that a dog would have to eat 1 oz. of chocolate for every pound of their weight in order for there to be a deadly reaction. She tells me that more than likely they will just pass through his system but if not, come in and they will x-ray his belly.

I decide to take Frasier to daycare while I am at work so he has someone to watch him the next day. When I go to pick him up at the end of the day I hear one of the caretakers say ” some dog is pooping little green and red wrappers with white tags on them”. I had to laugh!