My Dog is hurt

[Tstormwatcher]

One of my dogs hurt her shoulder this evening. I believe she just sprained it because when I move it around she makes a hurt face but doesn't yelp. is there and over the counter med. that I can give her to help her?

[Stephanie]

I would call the vet for advice on what to do. I don't recall seeing any kind of pain medications at pet stores and I wouldn't chance giving her part of an aspirin.

Maybe if you warmed up a hot water bottle or something and put it on her shoulder for a few minutes it may help her.

[alicia-w]

The same sort of thing happened with our dog a couple of weeks ago. I gave her a baby aspirin. I'm not recommending it, since I have no idea what the effects of aspirin are on a dog.

[Janice]

I would take your dog to a vet. I know you should never give a dog medication that people take. I know people with cats are not to give aspirin and other medication too. The vet may want to examine the dog first.

[Miss Mary]

I heard one Tylenol can kill a dog.

So ditto on getting expert Vet advice. While there are people meds dogs can take (Benadryl is one), I wouldn't give my dog anything unless my Vet says I can.

We were buying very expensive fish oil pills from him, for when Hope's coat was extremely dry one winter. She itched so much she ended up with a circle of missing fur and a nasty quarter sized sore. When the Vet Rx ran out I asked if I could just give her a fish oil pill from the drug store. Oh no, he said. If I wanted to save on his pricey meds, I could go to a health food store and buy refridgerated Flax-seed oil and give that to her in her dry food. She loves it! We're up to almost 2 tablespoons a day, and the Vet said in that form she can't overdose. Her coat by the way is soft, not dry and she itched less this past winter. I've also stopped bathing her once a month. It's more like once a season, 4 showers a year tops.

That's just one example. Our Vet is extremely hesitant to suggest I give our dog any people medication. I asked about the Benadryl once and he wanted to prescribe his own sedative. However I've read on many, many dog message boards, Benadryl is readily used to calm dogs down for car trips, fireworks and storms. I've never given it to her though. There's a tricky ratio - dosage per weight and since I've never needed to sedate her, I've refrained from doing so. I've been curious though, I wonder if we could give her 1 Benadryl and then we could leave her out and about with company (she goes ballistic for guests, never leaving them alone).

Good luck with your dog but I wouldn't medicate him with anything you have in the house. And I'd call your Vet.

Mary

[Tstormwatcher]

found this site while doing some research.http://kitchen.robbiehaf.com/PetHomeRemedies.html

She seems to be doing better today, but will keep an eye on her. Thanks for the replies.

[Lindaloo]

The same sort of thing happened with our dog a couple of weeks ago. I gave her a baby aspirin. I'm not recommending it, since I have no idea what the effects of aspirin are on a dog.

Half a baby aspirin is okay, except not recommended for puppies or cats. Aspirin will kill a cat.

Mary, the reason your vet does not recommend people meds is because he would be put out of business. The vet prices for meds are way higher than people meds (over the counter). He suggested that you NOT use people meds but then suggested HE give Hope a sedative at his much higher price. Benedryl would have been okay to give Hope in a small dose.

[Miss Mary]

Well, yeah I figured out part of that. Knowing he wanted the profit. Hope's fish oil bottle of 60 pills - something like $48! That's crazy. I can buy a bottle of liquid Flax Seed Oil for about $9 at the health food store. All we do it spour it over her food and stir it around. We also give her unsalted canned green beans, for filler and b/c she's on low fat/calorie dry food. A tip I read on a Golden Retriever board. She thinks she's getting people food and she is, but it's good for her. Vet sighed when I said that and said, well that's a healthy thing to do (green beans).

This Vet is good but he's expensive. Once I asked for a simple $8 nail trim. No need to see the Vet. And bam, he walked in the room, pretending to wonder why we were there. There went another $25. Now I just take her to kennel for nail trims but I tried them one more time, for an $8 nail trim, emphasizing several times - we DON'T need to see the Vet, don't let him come in the room! I imagine his office visit charge is more than $25 now too. Probably more like $30 or $35.

Sigh.....

Mary

[Lindaloo]

I now use the Flax Seed Oil for my adult Corgi. She would do the same thing as Hope. My vet would put her on prednosone. This medication caused her to get fat and I know is the cause of her spondylosis (paralysis). So, I started using the Seed Oil and BOOM she is slimming down (although too late) and the itching has stopped. Don't get me wrong, I love my vet but to a certain degree I know what is best for my animals. I have been through just about every illness one of them can have from horses right on down to my birds.

The pills for tape worms really BUGS me. They are like 15.00 a piece. Now they use this same pill in a horse vaccination and the cost is like 11.99 a shot. I do not get that, they can give it cheap for a 1200 pound horse, but not a 9 pound cat? When you have eleven cats that gets expensive. I do not have that problem unless I miss a month of flea treatment and trust me I have done that before!

[Tstormwatcher]

My mothers dog has the same itching and bad hair. She has been on all kinds of vet meds but nothing has helped. I will tell her about Flax Seed Oil and see if it helps. Her dog is very overwieght too.

[Lindaloo]

My mothers dog has the same itching and bad hair. She has been on all kinds of vet meds but nothing has helped. I will tell her about Flax Seed Oil and see if it helps. Her dog is very overwieght too.

What kind of dog? I used to be so skeptical and would use only what the vet recommended, not anymore.

[Miss Mary]

Tstormwatcher - I will tell you our dog was 15 pounds overweight one winter. When she developed the quarter sized sore, and a patch of fur missing. The vet looked at the condition of her skin and coat, extremely dry. Then he said she was overweight and I'd better her weight down. Asking what she was eating and more specifically, how much per day. Also, how much exercise she was getting. This was mid-January and that winter it was icy out and very cold. We were all hibernating but he scared me. Citing if she ever had a knee blow-out and need surgery, we'd be hauling this almost 90 lb. Golden to and from the backyard to do her business, using a rug or strong blanket, with 1 person at each end. He said he's seen too many dog owners allow their pets to get this heavy and then face surgery. However he said all of this, scared the you know what out of me. That's when I found a Golden Retriever board and we implemented the following:

1. Reduced her daily dry food by 1 cup and a half. She was getting 4 full cups a day, we went down to 3/4th cup at each feeding. He said I could go down to one feeding a day but she was used to a first morning one and one after we ate our dinner. I couldn't see giving up one full feeding so I split the food difference.

2. Switched her to a low calorie dry food (we use Purina).

3. Added drained canned no salt green beans (about 10-15 a meal). Occasionally no salt canned peas or carrots, but she mostly gets green beans.

4. Gave her the fish oil pill he prescribed. Later, 2 tsp. of Flax seed oil, now we're up to 2 Tablespoons a day. If you start this, go light at first. Stools could be watery until their system is used to it.

5. Played with a flashbeam light inside when it was too icy to go for walks. Now we have a laser tape measure that she chases all over the place. It's better than a walk!

6. Bought dog biscuits for little dogs and even broke those in half. She still got a treat but a much smaller one.

She lost 15 pounds when we did all of these things and she still has kept the weight off. She's about at 72 lbs and the Vet praised us, saying keep it up!

At first when I severely reduced her dry food amount, she'd stand there at her bowl and bark. We just had to walk away. That phase was like listening to a newborn cry itself to sleep (went thru that with our firstborn, after she was used to me rocking her to sleep). But in time the dog's stomach shrunk and she got used to the new amounts.

[Tstormwatcher]

My moms dog is a mix of BorderCollie, Springer Spanial and something else. My mom had knee surgury back in Sept. So I took her dog and ended up caring for it for almost 4 months. My wife and I were already walking our three dogs daily so we she joined us. She was unable to walk more than 1/4 mile without having to stop. very overwieght, skin in bad condition, lots of scratching. We gave her a good bath, stopped giving her the meds my mom gave us( had been on for 4 months with no results) and took her walking everyday. When we took her back 4 months later, her skin looked great, fur look great, no scratching and had lost a good 20 to 30 pounds. Now 3 months later, last time we visited my mom, she's back the way she was . I firmly believe that the exercise we gave her did her a world of good. My mom cannot walk her but she has some good neighborhood kids living near her and I suggested to her to ask them to walk the dog but she won't. I really feel bad for the dog. But there isn't much I can do.

[Miss Mary]

Tstormwatcher - tell your mom to use a flashlight and dim the lights. The dog goes crazy trying to catch it! That's better than nothing. We just choose a large area by our staircase that's carpeted and shine it back and forth, Hope wears herself out chasing it. Just a suggestion. We use the flashlight still but prefer the laser measuring tape. Ironically my husband was trying it out, measuring our family room at the time and the dog went nuts chasing the small red dot. Now we keep it out and use it when she can't get a walk in.

Mary

[Lindaloo]

Tstormwatcher - tell your mom to use a flashlight and dim the lights. The dog goes crazy trying to catch it! That's better than nothing. We just choose a large area by our staircase that's carpeted and shine it back and forth, Hope wears herself out chasing it. Just a suggestion. We use the flashlight still but prefer the laser measuring tape. Ironically my husband was trying it out, measuring our family room at the time and the dog went nuts chasing the small red dot. Now we keep it out and use it when she can't get a walk in.

Mary

Yep, lol. That always works. I have been through three or four. One of my horses likes it too.

[Miss Mary]

Just make sure the water bowl is full! After 15 minutes of chasing the beam, Hope is tired, worn out and very thirsty.

The other thing that's almost as good as a walk is when her best friend Tillie comes over. She's my neighbor's black lab. Tillie wanders on over and Hope goes nuts. Running circles in the yard. We just crack up. Tillie is so calm and Hope is the opposite - hyper. The two have been best friends for years. Tillie will actually walk up onto our deck and look in the backdoor for Hope. So cute. After they play a while and Hope's all tuckered out, I yell over to my neighbor - thanks, I didn't even have to walk Hope!

Mary

[Stephanie]

Tstormwatcher - tell your mom to use a flashlight and dim the lights. The dog goes crazy trying to catch it! That's better than nothing. We just choose a large area by our staircase that's carpeted and shine it back and forth, Hope wears herself out chasing it. Just a suggestion. We use the flashlight still but prefer the laser measuring tape. Ironically my husband was trying it out, measuring our family room at the time and the dog went nuts chasing the small red dot. Now we keep it out and use it when she can't get a walk in.

Mary

Yep, lol. That always works. I have been through three or four. One of my horses likes it too.

I've seen that for cats - but horses? That must be so funny!

[Tstormwatcher]

My 3 dogs show no interest in flashlight beams or laser beams. I will mention it to my mom though. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Lindaloo]

Tstormwatcher - tell your mom to use a flashlight and dim the lights. The dog goes crazy trying to catch it! That's better than nothing. We just choose a large area by our staircase that's carpeted and shine it back and forth, Hope wears herself out chasing it. Just a suggestion. We use the flashlight still but prefer the laser measuring tape. Ironically my husband was trying it out, measuring our family room at the time and the dog went nuts chasing the small red dot. Now we keep it out and use it when she can't get a walk in.

Mary

Yep, lol. That always works. I have been through three or four. One of my horses likes it too.

I've seen that for cats - but horses? That must be so funny!

I really need to get it on video. lol. No one else believed me either until they actually saw her doing it. Shows her teeth and everything. I have NO idea what she thinks it is. heehee.