Lucy's first furminator experience
Lucy started dropping a few hairs here and there a couple of days ago so based on the praise the furminator has received on this forum, I thought I'd give it a try. I wasn't sure how Lucy was going to take to it because she *HATES* her wire brush, but as luck would have it, she *LOVED* it! I think she thought she was getting a massage. She sat perfectly still on my lap with her eyes squinting in that way they do when she's in a state of euphoria. Then, she laid down across my lap and I think even went to sleep she was so relaxed.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the aftermath and a few other random pictures just because they're cute!
And now for the cute ones:
I must have had something tasty on my foot:
Enjoy!
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Comments
Little licking monster! That is awesome she loves it. Niko is starting to tolerate it. You got a good amount of fur out.
BTW.................why is there a can of pumpkin on your table??
do you have a pumpkin monster too!
I bake pumpkin pies from scratch and when I am roasting the pumpkins Moto sits by the oven gazing longingly. Then when I puree them I am suddenly the brightest star in his universe.
Piglet had no interest until she saw Moto fiending now they both stalk me.
Moto also is obsessed with raw Kale. My little veggie fiend.
Lucy is too cute! I love the nose in the pantleg
Lucy is really cute... she looks like a sweetie.
Our dogs love pumpkin too! We used to mix it with their food every night - good source of fiber.
Hehehe. Lucy really likes pumpkin. I had it on the table because I bribed her with some as a treat when I started brushing her. She liked it so much that I'm not sure I even needed it. Lucy has some digestive issues. She's had them since before I got her. After seeing four different vets and spending more money than I care to admit (which of course is not covered by insurance because its a "pre-existing" condition), her current vet is fairly convinced its IBD. I don't want to put her through an intestinal biopsy to confirm the diagnosis if I can avoid it. So, careful diet which is limited to Royal Canin Venicon and Potato formula, canned pumpkin for extra fiber, and salt-free rice cakes as a treat is her treatment. She used to get canned pumpkin with every meal, but we wanted to figure out if the extra fiber or the novel protein diet was firming up her stool. Luckily its remained firm even after weening her off the canned pumpkin.
The last two pictures of her with her nose in my pant leg were taken when we went to visit my parents in New Jersey for the holidays. Lucy had been with another family in Florida for two months before returning to her "breeder" for 3 months before I got her at 7 months old. The first family she was with had a little boy that treated her really badly (like kicked her down a flight of stairs). Her "breeder" treated her pretty bad two. In fact, when I got her she was infected with hookworm and giardia and it took us months figure that out. Anyway, to make a long story short, we've bonded really closely but the long car ride I think made her worried that I was going to leave her in a new place. She was super clingy the whole time we were at my parents house. She barely left my side and if I left her behind she would sleep by the door waiting for me. Every opportunity she got she would snuggle up as close to me as possible. This is something she only does occasionally when were home in Atlanta.
So....an even longer story short, she is absolutely adorable and is a total sweat heart and yes, she loves pumpkin!
She is your pumpkin!
Love the "breeder" reference. Brad...You know breeder referred to here.
Im going to upload some video and pics of Lucy, Niko and another shiba friend today (hopefully). Lucy is a feisty little red devil! She waves with both paws in the air when she is excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cutest thing I have ever seen!
oh, man - that is so sad! Poor thing, I'm so glad she has you now.
Shit like that makes me so mad!
Have you tried feeding her grain free foods? What vet do you go to in ATL?
Yeah, it makes me really mad too. I mean really mad. But rants about how terrible breeders are should be saved for another time.
I have not tried feeding her grain free yet. I really wanted to give her one of the Wellness allergy formulas but my vet was adamant about Royal Canin. I've come to trust her so I decided to give it a try. She's doing infinitely better on it. It took all of a week after making the switch for her to be 85% better. She isn't 100% yet, but damn close. I'd like to try to give her Wellness at some point in the future, but she's already been on so many different diets in the past few months I think its best to wait a while longer.
Her normal vet is Dr. Fann at Paces Ferry. She is very cool. Very patient with me and explains everything with the kind of excruciating detail that I like. It took us a while to find her though.
Yea, a good vet is hard to find. A lot of vets push Royal and Science diet and all that... I agree tho, take it slow, if she is doing well on it wait a while before changing her diet - let her get used to things being stable in her life.
Moving forward tho, I would see how a grain free food does with her. Kaia came from a somewhat similar situation, she was abused and developed a pretty serious GI issue - we did the same thing - got her on a "prescription" diet and she did better - but not perfect. We slowly moved to an all RAW diet with her and Maui and they did great! I mean Kaia had a more stable GI on RAW than Maui did, and Maui NEVER has soft stool. Anyway, over time (and with the addition of 4 more dogs) we switched from mostly RAW to mostly Dry and some RAW (due to cost - Hilo would eat several pounds of RAW meat a day). We stick to grain-free foods now - we have found that Kaia's issues were allergies to grain, which is common in Shiba Inu and Akita Inu. She never has loose stool on grain-free foods.
Acidophilus pills might be able to help her digestive tract also. Trader Joe's sells good ones for a very reasonable price. She would probably need one pill a day. There are other probiotic formulas out there also to try. Well if you want too anyhow, the most important thing is that Lucy is comfortable and not having to deal with an upset stomach all the time.
Agreed. We did try a probiotic a while back. This was long before we switched her to a novel protein diet. Now, most days she does really well. Although its not uncommon for me to use her as a pillow and hear her tummy gurgling. Generally her stool stays pretty firm even if her tummy gurgles though so I'm not going to rock the boat at this point. Thanks for the suggestions!
Tummy gurgling isn't uncommon. A lot of people here know a good amount about food. If you didn't see my thread about the Whole Dog Journal, you should look it up. They sell back issues too. They do a lot of dog health articles, often including alternative methods that a regular vet might not mention, but they can/do work (more natural/homeopathic type stuff).
It took me awhile to figure out what Nemo can handle and what he can't. Foods with chicken as the main protien are a no go. Fish and beef he does excellent on. He can handle chicken treats though. Prozyme was a probiotic that did not work for him, didn't mix with his body chemistry. Yogurt worked for his GI tract, but gave him rashes (too much dairy I guess). Acidophilus pills work well for him, as does Standard Process' Enteric Support.
I wouldn't say Nemo has IBD, maybe just a few food allergies. Or things he just do well on if there is a lot of it in his diet. He can eat chicken treats, he just can't have chicken make up the bulk of his diet. Outside he often eats god knows what before I can get it out of his mouth. Rotten this or that and it never phases him. This last week he handled the feeding of "pup"cakes really well too, even though they contained a lot of things he usually does not get to eat.
I hope your vet is open minded to the research that you do into other feeding options. The only vet I have ever agreed with on feeding for my animals is a holistic vet that I have seen a couple of times for my cat. In my opinion some vets (ones I've been too) don't know anything about properly feeding a dog or cat. They just push the products of companies that pay them to have their stuff in their office. Can a vet who is pushing Hill's products really have a clue about pet food? In my opinion, no. However I don't really blame the vets for not knowing, they aren't required to take pet nutrition classes at school. Just like a general physician or family doctor, might not be the best source for info on a diet, you would want to go to a nutritionist. My experience with vets has been a lot of "well you could try Eukanuba" and then I just shake my head, but they are often good vets in other aspects.
I agree 100% with what Brandon is saying about vets and diets...
On that note, if you want a VERY good open-minded vet in Alpharetta / Roswell, Georgia area I can recommend one - she is great and very up-to-speed on foods. She also has a great deal of experience w/ Japanese breeds (thanx to our pack).
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Edited: I just want to make sure you know I am not pressuring you or anything - I don't want to come off as if I'm preaching or pushing an agenda. I understand you want to take it slow and wait - and I agree with it.
Moving forward, if the time comes and you want food and or vet info just let us know, you know where to find us.
Thanks to both of you guys, I do very much appreciate the input. I've always been the type to get and evaluate as much information as I can before making a decision so I will definitely be seeking advice from this forum when the time comes to make the next change. As far as food choices go, I'm sure my vet would be open to discussing other things if we had time to talk about them. Unfortunately, when we decided to go with Royal Lucy was doing very badly. She hadn't eaten in days and was vomiting constantly. I had done some quick research and identified Wellness as a possibility, but her Dr. was unfamiliar with it. Her words were something to the effect of: "I know for sure that Royal Canin uses separate processing facilities for their novel protein diets so we are assured there won't even be trace amounts of another protein in her diet." Its very likely that other brands do the same thing, but we had to act quickly for Lucy's sake.
Thank you again for the input. It helps to know that others have had success dealing with their puppy's digestive issues. Before things settled down, it was incredibly emotionally draining. Every time it looked like she was getting better, she would have another set back and I would go right back to worrying about her again. We're now going on a month and a half since her last soft stool episode of note and we're both a lot happier!
I agree with both Brandon and Brad. I never get food recommended by vets if it is sitting on their shelf. I have a hard time when I know that they are biased and are not actually looking for what is best for dogs. Also they have such little education on food and nutrition except what those paying them are telling them. That is my opinion. I usually go to sources that have nothing to gain out of telling me what could be or is best.
This is one of the best places to go to ask about food in my opinion because I think with us all we have seen it all! My girls have improved SO much...Niko is fat remember!
LOL
We cut back her food some and I think Chad is feeding her less treats. Im just grateful she really isnt fat. Just a little chunky....hehe. Doesnt help that Lucy and Sasha are in such great shape. We really noticed how "chunky" Niko was when you guys came over. She just needs to loose about 2 pounds.
I think she's just adorable the way she is! From what I've been told, having her loose weight is as easy as cutting back a little on her food and taking her for an extra few walks every week. Next time we get together I'm sure Lucy is going to be jealous of her feminine figure!
Sorry...I will try to get to it by this weekend????
Hsve a bad migraine and just got home...im lazy!
Dave - I just noticed, I have those same Guinness coasters! I freaking love Guinness! I don't drink very often, but when I do, I usually get Guinness.
(I'm 90% sure that's a Guinness coaster - if not just disregard this post)
Smithwicks > Guinness.
YEAH I SAID IT!
However those are the only two beers I can drink with out going "Wow this taste like ass". So I'm not much of a beer connoisseur.