Ask the Veterinarian!

[Franciselle]

Lovable_Sinner

Franciselle

I was wondering if you had any advice on keeping dogs cool. I've been helping to pet/house sit this past week for a bunch of animals (two dogs, three cats, five horses, and a bunch of chickens) while their owners are on vacation. The dogs spend most of their time indoors while their owners are home. However, while the owners have been on vacation, the dogs are kept in a kennel outside during the day since no one can come by at midday.

I go over in the evening to feed the animals and to give the dogs a chance to stretch out their legs. (Someone else handles the mornings.) I have to bring the dogs indoors to feed them, and I usually leave them inside in the AC for a couple of hours to cool down a bit. Temperatures lately have been in the 90's. I was wondering if leaving them in the AC for a while does more harm than good. Is there anything else I can do to make sure they stay as cool as possible? They do have shade throughout the day, and I make sure they always have fresh, clean water. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A few hours of AC shouldn't do any harm, my family's dogs spend all day inside with the AC in summer (virtually essential here in Australia!). Shade and water should be enough, but if you are concerned, you could give them a hose down in the heat of the day (I work in a boarding kennel on my summer break and if any of the dogs seem to be particularly susceptible to the heat we administer regular cool showers!) alternatively plastic baby pools with a couple of inches of water are great (my Greyhound adores her pool and would even lie in it in winter if she had the chance!). If you are going to try the pool though, I would supervise to start with just in case. If you are feeling particularly creative, ice blocks with treats frozen inside can be fun too!

I'm sure Xana will have some good suggestions for keeping dogs cool too!

Thank you very much for the suggestions. This should be wonderful help for the dogs. biggrin

[Xana44]

Anonymousx19

Thank you so much for your help. The bleeding stopped after a short while and the wound's slowly healing. The only problem is she's now very fond of her new hiding spot; when i try to put neosporin on her she darts away. She won't be like, scared from now on because of this, will she? sad

Once she heals she should go back to normal. Hiding while she is recovering from an injury is a natural and instinctive response. Call her to you and be sure to give her a treat or some affection before trying to handle the wound. And if it is just too painful for you to touch, just look at it and make sure it is not getting infected. Do not let yourself be injured or the dog get too stressed.

I am unsure if she will always be wary around the other dog; it is hard to say.

Just encourage her to be as outgoing as possible in a positive way, rewarding with treats and affection.

[Xana44]

Lovable_Sinner

I'm sure Xana will have some good suggestions for keeping dogs cool too!

Nope, Lovable Sinner is all over it! Shade and lots of water are the rule. Her suggestions are great. I would have said exactly the same things.

[Xana44]

I got to do one of my least favorite surgeries today. An enucleation. Basically removing an eye.

This poor kitty had had a severe eye infection that had caused a large corneal ulcer. We had cured the infection and the ulcer had healed, but it caused a weak spot in the eye. Unfortunately, the weak spot in the eye ruptured after an accident.

So the eye had to be removed. And eye stuff grosses me out. And the surgery is difficult. And some really gross stuff happened during the surgery which I will not mention here.

Ah, the joys of being a vet.

[Xana44]

I have had a death in the family and may have another coming up (if anyone is reading this, please pray or whatever for my cousin, Craig). So my presence on the internet may be spotty for the next week or so, I will try to check this thread as often as I can.

[AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug]

I will most definately pray for Craig. Good luck.

Now I need your help. We got a dog. Her name is Sif...and we took her with us to our friends house tonight when we were going to have family night. They have three dogs, one is apparently aggresive, and the other has a stage 4, almost stage 5, heart murmur, and the last one is a puppy. Mugsy is the aggressive/possive one, and he was let out to go to the bathroom and such, and took a bone outside with him...and to make the really long story short, Sif got hold of the bone, Mugsy got mad, and now Sif has a puncture wound on the left side of her face, and a puncture wound on the back of her neck. And one on the inside of her right leg, but what I am really worried about is the tear on her leg. It is only the skin, it is about two inches long, but you can see the muscle, and my parents have opted not to go to the vet, because our friend is a vet technician, and said that as long as we keep it clean it should be ok. But we still might want to go and get an antibiotic. As soon as I can, I will put pics of her leg up, so you can see. I feel it could go with stiches, and we have the rght stuff to do it, but my mom says she will be fine. She isn' favoring it, and she is walking fine on it, she even lays on it(which we are trying to keep her off of it). The area around it was shaved, and it has been cleaned three or four times tonight, I was wondering if there was any particular sign other than bleeding that we might want to keep an eye out for, just in case we need to take her to the vet. She is about 11 weeks old, growing fast, and I don't want this to be something that we do wrong, and she become unable to walk.
Sorry for writing so much, I just figured you might want as much info as possible.

[AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug]

Here are some pictures of it...I will take some every day to monitor it, but it already looks better.

[Xana44]

AdmiralAdama - The wound does look pretty good and clean. Yeah, stitches or staples would be ideal, but we don't live in an ideal world. You want to watch Sif for redness or swelling at the wound site, any green, yellow, or malodorous discharge, signs of pain increasing, or lethargy.

If she will let you, get a digital thermometer at a pharmacy (just a regular one) and take her temperature daily. Take the temp. rectally. The normal temperature of a dog is 101-102.5 F.

Wash the site regularly with mild soap and water. Apply an antibiotic ointment (like neosporin). Try to keep her from licking.

She should do well if it is does not get infected. Keep me informed!

[AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug]

I will, thank you, we are going to get a cone from Wal-Mart to put on her in these coming days, she is trying to lick it, and we want it to heal. Out neighbor who gave her to us gave us some puppy antibiotic liquid, kind of like hydrogen peroxide and said we could use that on her, mostly we just flush it with water every 5-6 hours. To keep any dirt out of it.
Also, she isn't showing any signs of stiffness, but it took a bit to coax her to eat and drink today. She would only take it from my hand, even the water, is this normal for something like this?

[Xana44]

AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug

I will, thank you, we are going to get a cone from Wal-Mart to put on her in these coming days, she is trying to lick it, and we want it to heal. Out neighbor who gave her to us gave us some puppy antibiotic liquid, kind of like hydrogen peroxide and said we could use that on her, mostly we just flush it with water every 5-6 hours. To keep any dirt out of it.
Also, she isn't showing any signs of stiffness, but it took a bit to coax her to eat and drink today. She would only take it from my hand, even the water, is this normal for something like this?

The flushing is very good.

I guess I am not really surprised that she is not wanting to eat well. Dog bites cause a lot of trauma besides just the holes, so she is likely sore. But she is likely liking the attention. She looks like a husky? They are a bit of the Drama queens.

[AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug]

She is pure bred, and her wound has gotten worse. It started getting puffy late yesteerday afternoon and oozing blood, so we are taking her to he vet today to getit stiched. She won't leave it alone. Also, she is trying to eat the cat's food, is this because we aren't feeding her enough? Or is she just trying to be a pain?

My second cat, she looks like she could be a feral, or part feral cat, anyways, the other night, she attacked us as we came in, and I picked her up to keep her from getting to my two younger siblings, and she arched her back, growled and hissed before going for my throat, and if I hadn't had quick enough reactions, she would have gotten to it. Our vet recommends putting her down. She has been acting like this for a month or so, and we are slowly coming to terms with it, but is there any other possible action? Or do we just do what we need to to protect us and her?

[Xana44]

AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug

She is pure bred, and her wound has gotten worse. It started getting puffy late yesteerday afternoon and oozing blood, so we are taking her to he vet today to getit stiched. She won't leave it alone. Also, she is trying to eat the cat's food, is this because we aren't feeding her enough? Or is she just trying to be a pain?

My second cat, she looks like she could be a feral, or part feral cat, anyways, the other night, she attacked us as we came in, and I picked her up to keep her from getting to my two younger siblings, and she arched her back, growled and hissed before going for my throat, and if I hadn't had quick enough reactions, she would have gotten to it. Our vet recommends putting her down. She has been acting like this for a month or so, and we are slowly coming to terms with it, but is there any other possible action? Or do we just do what we need to to protect us and her?

I am sorry that your puppy ended up having to go to the vet. sad

Dogs like to eat cat food because it is much higher in protein and fat than dog food. So it is just yummier. You can try increasing her intake a little, if she seems hungry even after she eats all her own food, but likely she is just doing what dogs do.

Feral cat question: Very difficult. I guess I would tell you to seriously consider putting her down. How old is she? If she is quite young, her behavior may change, if she is older (over six months or so) she is more likely to keep on her current path. Most feral cats are just scared, and avoid people rather than attacking them. This is extremely odd behavior. I am a big softie, so it is hard for me to just out and say put her down, but that is most likely the right thing to do.

[Xana44]

Hey, everyone! I have a favor to ask.

Could everyone vote for my clinic St. Julian's Cat Care in a local news competition?

I would greatly appreciate it.

If you don't feel comfortable doing something like that, no hard feelings.

Here is the site:

http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/contests/4-the-best/4739/pets/veterinarians


Thank you very much!!

[AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug]

Xana44

AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug

She is pure bred, and her wound has gotten worse. It started getting puffy late yesteerday afternoon and oozing blood, so we are taking her to he vet today to getit stiched. She won't leave it alone. Also, she is trying to eat the cat's food, is this because we aren't feeding her enough? Or is she just trying to be a pain?

My second cat, she looks like she could be a feral, or part feral cat, anyways, the other night, she attacked us as we came in, and I picked her up to keep her from getting to my two younger siblings, and she arched her back, growled and hissed before going for my throat, and if I hadn't had quick enough reactions, she would have gotten to it. Our vet recommends putting her down. She has been acting like this for a month or so, and we are slowly coming to terms with it, but is there any other possible action? Or do we just do what we need to to protect us and her?

I am sorry that your puppy ended up having to go to the vet. sad

Dogs like to eat cat food because it is much higher in protein and fat than dog food. So it is just yummier. You can try increasing her intake a little, if she seems hungry even after she eats all her own food, but likely she is just doing what dogs do.

Feral cat question: Very difficult. I guess I would tell you to seriously consider putting her down. How old is she? If she is quite young, her behavior may change, if she is older (over six months or so) she is more likely to keep on her current path. Most feral cats are just scared, and avoid people rather than attacking them. This is extremely odd behavior. I am a big softie, so it is hard for me to just out and say put her down, but that is most likely the right thing to do.

She is over a year, probably about a year and a half. Our vet thinks it would be best, because she was raised by people, us actually, from about three weeks old, and now she i swiping and guttural growling at us, ad like I said, she has attacked my neck. I almost got clawed from collar bone to chin the other night. She attacked our other cat this morning without warning, and they went at it, which doesn't usually happen, he usually just lets her go for it, then bats her away. So my mother has opted to go on saturday.

[Xana44]

AdmiralAdamaismyanti-drug

She is over a year, probably about a year and a half. Our vet thinks it would be best, because she was raised by people, us actually, from about three weeks old, and now she i swiping and guttural growling at us, ad like I said, she has attacked my neck. I almost got clawed from collar bone to chin the other night. She attacked our other cat this morning without warning, and they went at it, which doesn't usually happen, he usually just lets her go for it, then bats her away. So my mother has opted to go on saturday.

I am really sorry to hear that, but it is likely the right thing to do. That is strange behavior. Especially for a hand raised cat. She should not be attacking housemates (both human and feline) like that. There is obviously something wrong in her mind. And if you have an uncontrollable disease, either in the body or the mind, often the best thing to do is to help the animal by giving her release.

I will be thinking of your family in their hard times Saturday.