Dog Troubles

[finchly]

Gosh I’ll just post them together.

Due to family (the same old issues, addiction doesn’t die it just gets worse), some other problems, and my 2 dogs’ problems I am really depressed. Here’s what is up with the dogs.

Piper is going to be 10 in May. She’s diabetic, had cataract surgery at age 4, can’t see very well now, bad knees —- severe luxation of the patella. Which they can’t operate on due to her other issues.

So the other day I started grooming her and she had these big open wounds, like 6 of ‘em. That’s a lot on a tiny Maltese! Hubby thinks it is bird bites but no bird was loose except Angel, who hates the dogs coming near her. She gives an alarm call if one gets near her perch, and she’s fully flighted. I feel sure she’d just fly away, not attack. And Piper can hardly see what’s in front of her, she isn’t going after anything.

So then we thought one of the 2 other dogs but Cricket you’ll read about shortly. Baxter, my kid’s dog, I just can’t see him doing it. There is a doggie door going out to the yard so perhaps a rabbit or rat?? I don’t know. I just can’t imagine. There are fruit rats here, up north we called them wharf rats. I feel they are mean. Hubby thinks I’m being ridiculous.

Meantime, Cricket had started limping. She has a severe skin issue we CANNOT SEEM TO CURE (2 yr so far) so when hubby took her to vet he asked about the legs/ shoulders. We got “oh, it could be a ligament,” yadda yadda. And her skin hurts. But it’s been hurting for ages right? So he asked for an x-ray. She has severe hip displaysia in both hips! She’s just turning 4 years old!!!

I did call her breeder but she just said the parents had good hips. They’ve given her pain meds, which is helping some. Anyone had a dog with this? I assume her life will be shorter than what we imagined?


Cricket



Piper

 

[sunnysmom]

Sorry you're having such a tough time. Your dogs are adorable.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I'm so sorry Tanya This must be so scary.

From what I can gather from google, a dog with hip dysplasia can often live a good long life still, it's just something they'll have to manage. I think a good high-quality dog bed would probably be a good idea, we got one of these for Tink when she was diagnosed with arthritis. It seemed to help a lot, she could sleep comfortably and have her joints supported. The Big Barker beds are meant for big dogs but they make one for dogs under 50lbs too. They're super high-quality, I think Roxie's bed is actually more comfy than mine lol. And there's a 10-year no-flatten guarentee on it too, which is cool.

It's good that she's on a pain medicine. With both pups, has the vet suggested a joint supplement? I know our vet put Tink on one when she turned 9 and it seemed to help her, maybe it would be of some use to Cricket and Piper?

 

[finchly]

Thanks @taxidermynerd , this is good information. And you already did my dog bed research for me! Good job!

She did suggest a joint supplement, for Cricket I think. No reason why I couldn’t try it on both. We gave it to a previous dog, Noelle. It seems safe enough.

I still don’t know what bit Piper. Hubby says if it was a snake there’s be pairs of bites. But there was a young rat snake on the porch, a really small one. Wonder if that could have been it? No I guess not - These were bigger round holes, single holes bigger than a pencil. The one on her back you could see a ligament or something. Then there is one on her chest, 2 on her neck, and 2 more on her lower back.

 

[Monaco]

Can you show me pictures of the wounds?

 

[finchly]

Can you show me pictures of the wounds?

This is 3 different ones. Sorry for the picture quality. She was struggling and i need more arms.

 

[Monaco]

It's tough to tell with them already scabbed, but the little flakes and shorter hairs are giving me a dermatitis or fungal infection vibe. Are they deep?

 

[aooratrix]

Hip dysplasia is a spectrum, so it really depends where she falls on the spectrum OFA rates hips at poor, fair, good, and excellent Displasia is almost often genetic, and for your dog to have it that young certainly suggests that your breeder HAS had HD in her lines That's just too severe, IMO

From the shape you describe, it sounds like a larger mammal with conical teeth got her, not a rat or a snake. My money's on a larger dog I'd clean them out with peroxide and watch for infection

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Sorry about Piper and Cricket ( Piper... you itty bitty cutie you!) and Cricket... so pretty!

 

[Monaco]

Bites are definitely a possibility. To break skin you will see some matching marks for the upper and lower tooth. It will often look like a bigger mouth, but the skin is usually pinched together, so the distance would be halved to find the culprit.

 

[Monaco]

Also, I'm sorry for the stress of this. I totally empathize with you.

 

[tka]

One of my shelties had luxating patellas. For the last years of her life she was on a vet-prescribed daily joint supplement which did help. I can't remember the name because it was years ago, but I do remember that they were special "palatable" tablets and Katie, bless her, would gulp them down like they were any other kind of treat.

 

[finchly]

It's tough to tell with them already scabbed, but the little flakes and shorter hairs are giving me a dermatitis or fungal infection vibe. Are they deep?

They were! Like 1/4”. You’re good, Kelly - she tends to get dermatitis. I have a suspicion that she and Cricket trade it back and forth. Cricket’s is more fungal, terrible in her ears, plus she loses hair... we give her a bath with medicated shampoo every 4th day. Her upkeep is killing us both.

Hip dysplasia is a spectrum, so it really depends where she falls on the spectrum OFA rates hips at poor, fair, good, and excellent Displasia is almost often genetic, and for your dog to have it that young certainly suggests that your breeder HAS had HD in her lines That's just too severe, IMO

From the shape you describe, it sounds like a larger mammal with conical teeth got her, not a rat or a snake. My money's on a larger dog I'd clean them out with peroxide and watch for infection

She says the male was ‘good’ and the female ‘excellent.’ She also has never had these skin issues in any other dog except my dog (yeah right). She owns 8 or 9, shows extensively, and cranks out about 4 or more litters per year. It really makes me sad to think of all those people going through this heartbreak.

OK - if it is a larger dog, it has got to be Cricket or, more likely, Baxter. I can see his little teeth being responsible for this. Although he is such a chicken heart. Low man on the totem pole.

Bites are definitely a possibility. To break skin you will see some matching marks for the upper and lower tooth. It will often look like a bigger mouth, but the skin is usually pinched together, so the distance would be halved to find the culprit.

Baxter. see above.

One of my shelties had luxating patellas. For the last years of her life she was on a vet-prescribed daily joint supplement which did help. I can't remember the name because it was years ago, but I do remember that they were special "palatable" tablets and Katie, bless her, would gulp them down like they were any other kind of treat.

Poor Piper sits and waits for her insulin shot after she eats. And once her thyroid pill fell out of her mouth, and she picked it up and ate it! You can’t find a better dog. Hopefully these will taste really good, like a treat. I’ll search around.

Here’s Bax.

 

[taxidermynerd]

One of my shelties had luxating patellas. For the last years of her life she was on a vet-prescribed daily joint supplement which did help. I can't remember the name because it was years ago, but I do remember that they were special "palatable" tablets and Katie, bless her, would gulp them down like they were any other kind of treat.

My Tink was on a similar thing, I believe hers was Dasuqin. They were chewable but Tink didn't care about that, in order for her to take them we had to wrap them in chicken (wouldn't take them any other way).

 

[Monaco]

What a heart sinking thing, both skin issues and bite issues. I'm going to pm you Mr Theo's protocol when his skin was so bad. I'm in the middle of something, so remind me if you don't see a message by tomorrow evening.

 

[finchly]

What a heart sinking thing, both skin issues and bite issues. I'm going to pm you Mr Theo's protocol when his skin was so bad. I'm in the middle of something, so remind me if you don't see a message by tomorrow evening.

Great! Thank you.

 

[Ankou]

I'm so sorry, what a sad (hips and health) and bizarre (bite wounds!?) set of issues. I can't imagine multiple open wounds being caused by a bird attack, I think hubby is the one being ridiculous. I would also suspect a scuffle with another dog or wild animal, or even some kind of skin condition.

My rottie mix brothers (who were also medical train wrecks) were on Adequan injections for arthritis, spinal stenosis, and minor hip dysplasia. The difference it made in their mobility and quality of life was incredible, it helped them tremendously. I can't recall how often they were getting the shots however, since they passed in 2010 and 2015. (Gabapentin too, though it didn't have as obvious of a benefit as the injections.) I was able to give them the shot myself at home and I would hope its inexpensive for a smaller dog.
The only time I had to deal with skin issues in a dog it was immune and thyroid related, I assume though if this has been ongoing for 2 years your vet has done bloodwork?

Poor little Finchly pack! I hope things improve for them soon.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I'm so sorry, what a sad (hips and health) and bizarre (bite wounds!?) set of issues. I can't imagine multiple open wounds being caused by a bird attack, I think hubby is the one being ridiculous. I would also suspect a scuffle with another dog or wild animal, or even some kind of skin condition.

My rottie mix brothers (who were also medical train wrecks) were on Adequan injections for arthritis, spinal stenosis, and minor hip dysplasia. The difference it made in their mobility and quality of life was incredible, it helped them tremendously. I can't recall how often they were getting the shots however, since they passed in 2010 and 2015. (Gabapentin too, though it didn't have as obvious of a benefit as the injections.) I was able to give them the shot myself at home and I would hope its inexpensive for a smaller dog.
The only time I had to deal with skin issues in a dog it was immune and thyroid related, I assume though if this has been ongoing for 2 years your vet has done bloodwork?

Poor little Finchly pack! I hope things improve for them soon.

I've heard rotts tend to be pretty prone to hip dysplasia, I wonder exactly how common that is? Roxie is my 3rd rott (plus my dad had one before that) and we've never had a rott with hip dysplasia, fortunately.

My dad's first rott, Boots, lived to be 15 but was only 55lbs.
My childhood rott, Ginger, was only 8 when she passed, she had cancer twice and had awful cataracts. Although she was big, about 125lbs.
Tink, my previous rott, lived to be almost 11, she had what we suspect was brain cancer and didn't last long after the initial event. She was about average size, 100lbs in her prime but went down to 80 as she got older. She also had real bad arthritis and inflammation in her rear hocks.

Roxie is currently 1 year almost 8 months, and she just broke 100lbs a week or so ago. She's had calcium deposits on her elbow removed and she had pancreatitis once, but luckily no other issues so far.

Gabapentin was what our at-the-time vet prescribed Tink after she started having seizures. It helped a lot for a few days but stopped working quickly. But I think that was because she was just beyond help, at that point.

 

[Pyropus]

Is your dog registrered with the kennel club, if so you can always check registrations there, unfortunately there are some breeders who will breed on the dogs without HD in lines who has it, that way it may seem they are free if you check the lines straigth back, check the siblings and offspring that hasnt been breed on.

Also some birds like magpies and other crow birds are something to watch out for.

 

[Lady Jane]

From my job with the Purina company and learning about dog foods i do know two ingredients to help skin problems. One is vitamin E and the other is salmon. Purina makes a line called Focus and in that group is sensitive skin and stomach. Check with your vet of course.