So good to hear that she's perking up. And funny about the pill pocket. Oh dear, wonder if they'll go on strike over the wet food?
Cooper is on Slow Down, Tilly is on Strike. We had to give them all kibble tonight, but they will get some canned tomorrow. If I went with the guidelines, it would cost $35 per day for canned food. Must be only for Chihuahuas.
Cooper is doing great, almost though most of her meds and doesn't seem to have any pain at all. Main thing is just keeping her reasonably calm. She has occasionally licked her incision, but only a little and it is pretty much healed now anyway. The funny thing she does is to take apart the pill pockets and separate out the pills. Then she eats the pocket, but after that, she still eats the pills, even the Amoxicillin and the Sucralfate. This is the dog that will gobble down biscuits, but if I give her a piece of Salami, she will take it over and play with it before she eats it. The Salami was supposed to be the high value treat, but it appears she likes Mrs. Hubbards assorted flavor biscuits better.
That is so funny about her eating the pill pocket and THEN the pill!!!! My Cooper (male) eats the pocket but leaves the pill! And then, your Cooper would rather have Mrs. Hubbards biscuits than salami.....you have a very unique Lab. Although must say my Cooper looooves Mrs.Hubbards biscuits....I buy the minis so I dont feel so guilty giving him treats! He gets two little ones before he goes to bed! So happy your Cooper is doing great after her surgery.
We buy the minis also. I don't understand the large size dog biscuits that so many companies make. It seems counter productive if you are using them for a treat or reward. I think Tilly prefers the Salami, but both of them will eat just about anything. I thought I had come up with a new pill strategy. Both Tilly and Cooper are very active catchers. They will seldom miss a treat that is tossed anywhere near them and usually gobble it right down. Last night I tried that with pill pockets, and it worked. Not so much this morning . She still ate the pill though.
Incredible that we both have gone the same way with tossing the pill pocket .... he loves to catch treats too......if he immediately swallows the pocket, he gets the pill....BUT if he happens to bite into the pocket, he spits out the pill. These dogs of ours are so smart!!! I DO finally get the pill in him but it does take ingenuity,doesn't it?I may put it into another pocket or into a soft treat....but there is no way I can force it into his mouth!!.....once he has clamped his teeth together there is no way I can wiggle a pill in!!!
Try baby food the kind comes in a jar and is squishy. Really dunk in the stuff soft cheese smoked salmon tinned sardine wrapped round the tablet is good too. I've had to give a lot of medication over the years. another thing I tried was throwing a treat like you do but wrapped in something like soft cheese that they can't bite and is sticky so they have to swallow it all
Shoving a pill in a piece of cheese has worked great for me too. But to be honest, I think Simba would eat the pill without any inducements.
When we had our first Lab, Ginger, she had something that required an antibiotic that really upset her stomach. After a few days she absolutely would not take it, no mater how we disguised it, or tried to shove it in her mouth. She was smarter than we were about it, and the Vet said it was OK that she did not get it. She was generally very compliant. She was diabetic for the last 4 years and had to have a couple of shots a day as well as a blood test stick in her lip when ever we thought she might be high or low. So far Cooper has taken everything with no major problems, and we are almost through all the meds now.
At what age should get you female spayed? We also have a boy and consider having him neutered. I hate the thought of it but we are responsible pet owners and do not want him getting out and getting another dog pregnant or for us to raise puppies.
When I give Fred and Annie a worming tablet I have 3 pieces of sausage. I do one dog at a time, 1 piece with the tablet in and the other two without. I hold all 3 pieces so the can see them and have them sit in front of me. I give them the one with the tablet in first, they are so intent to have the other pieces of sausage, that they swallow the first piece down quickly wanting the next piece. Works every time
The choice to spay or neuter your dog is a very personal one. Some people believe it is best that every dog should be done unless it is to be used for breeding, others believe they it should never be done unless there are welfare (generally medical) reasons for doing so. It's very easy to prevent unwanted pregnancies simply by being a responsible owner. Don't let your dog roam free - which you shouldn't anyway - and there will be no opportunity for puppies to be created by accident. I have litter mates, a male and a female. I decided that it would be best for our family to have my bitch spayed, and did so before her first season, at six and a half months. It's not "the right" way, but it's what we decided at the time. We have decided to leave our boy entire, because there is no good reason to have him done. If there were a good reason that was affecting his quality of life (so, either a medical reason or in-season bitches caused him to be miserable), then we would consider it, but (in the case of emotional issues) only after we had used chemical castration to determine whether it was appropriate to do so. Here's an article discussing castration: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/should-i-have-my-labrador-castrated/ And another discussing spaying: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/should-you-spay-your-dog-a-look-at-pros-and-cons/ As you will read, there is very little evidence either way to say what is the right thing to do, so all you can do is read the information that is available, and then make the choice based on that and your own circumstances. If you use pet services, such as day care, they may also refuse to take an entire dog over a certain age, so you should ask in order to take that into your decision making.
That would work for Tilly, but maybe not for Cooper. I often toss her the second treat but sometimes she will still put the first one down on the floor so she can examine it. Both dogs will eat Heartguard and Deramaxx or Carprofen without any pill pockets. Both are just on Heartguard now, so it really is not an issue.
Our county charges a lot more for a license for fertile dog than one that is spayed or neutered. If I weren't planning on breeding, I would spay a female, just to eliminate the possibility of unplanned puppies, and allow the dog to go with us on hikes etc any time. The one cycle that Cooper went through was pretty easy, but we still had to be very careful where we went. We did not have a real good idea when she would be fertile, so we erred on the side of caution. I've never neutered a male dog, but I haven't had one for 35 years. The kennel we use does not require it, and we have not used day care since we are both semi retired and work from home.
