Updates: Boarding and More Fleas!

I haven’t updated in a while…which in this case is ALWAYS a good thing! But thought I should because some things have happened that are blog-worthy! No seizures though, THANK GOD!

It’s been 78 days since Topaz’s last seizure. You’ll have to trust me, I haven’t found a good ticker yet. I need to look again. I do have an app on my phone that has the countdown and actually one right next to it with the moon cycle too, just for comparison.

Since my last update my husband and I have vacationed to and returned from Walt Disney World! We were gone for 10 days and had to board the dogs. Because Topaz is epileptic, the dogs are raw fed and the stress of being boarded could potentially trigger a seizure, AND we’ve never boarded them before…we had to call kennels/boarding places, explain the situation and see if they would take our dogs. Shots or the lack of shots in Topaz’s case were also an issue.

So, after about 10 phone calls we finally decided to send them to “Siesta Canine Camp” a kennel in Farmington Hills, MI. The owners live on the property, which was a definite plus and they weren’t too expensive…AND they were willing to deal with giving meds and the raw food. My husband went and toured the kennel and talked with the owner and we booked them for the trip!

With that out of the way, we continued to plan for our trip and pack and everything. My husband called the kennel to see how they wanted us to package the food and good thing he did because we never would have known that they had new owners! Ugh! So I was pretty confident about it and now they have new owners. It was too late to make any changes, so we just got the dogs ready and dropped them off.

I was pretty leery because the woman there was leery of the food/medication situation. She wanted to give Topaz the medication to ensure he got it, we told her this was pretty close to impossible with Topaz, but we just told her to do whatever they were comfortable with doing.

I expected to be upset when we dropped them off but I really wasn’t. I think I was just stressed and ready to go on vacation and they seemed to be in good hands…plus they went into the kennel well. And so we left them there…for 10 days…MY BABIES!!

We called and checked up on them and they were doing great! We’ve never kenneled them before but we would DEFINITELY go back there. They were changing their name to something else, and are getting a website together and everything so as soon as they do I will be putting them on this site. I’d recommend them to anyone. It was a great experience and after a couple calls we realized that the pups were in good hands and that’s all we can ask for!

Plus, Topaz made it through being kenneled and us being gone SEIZURE FREE! And that, in itself, it awesome!

Of course, when we got home we noticed all animals were itching and I found a flea on one of the cats…so we got some more Advantage and put that on the zoo and we seem to be flea free once again. We may need another application to be completely rid of those little buggers, but we’re on top of it!

So those are the updates. Topaz is still a crazy boy and everything is going well at our house!

Food Changes & Back on Meds

Antibiotic meds that is…I started getting nervous because I didn’t really see any change with the Apis, so I started him back on the Keflex and we added the Amoxicillin on 7/2 at night. We gave the Apis a good 24 hours. I should have probably given it 48, but I felt so bad because his face was so swollen and I wanted him to get some relief.

We’ve been on giving him the pills and the swelling has actually gone down a bit.

I just hope we can keep it that way and he hangs tight till surgery day. Then i can worry about that…ugh.

12 more days till surgery day.

Ok…so food changes:

Topaz hasn’t been taking his pills well in the usual breakfast mix (Oma’s Pride Turkey Mix, Oma’s Pride 5-Way Veggie mix, & canned pumpkin). He doesn’t really like canned pumpkin and will spit it out onto the floor, so we really try not to give him spoonfuls with the least amount of pumpkin as possible…not always possible though.

Since he NEEDS to take his meds (PB, KBr) we needed to figure something else out. We got a little 2# (I think it is) container of Oma’s Pride beef mix thinking that maybe that would make a difference, which it definitely has.

This morning, he ate his breakfast super slow…again, i am thinking too much pumpkin…so we decided to shake things up a bit and my husband bought the Oma’s Pride chicken mix instead of the turkey. And we still got the 5-way veg, although we do also have a 3-way veg that I’ll have to use too.

So those are the recent changes. Hopefully the swelling will continue to go down and all will be well. We’re keeping a good eye on it.

On a different note, today 7/4 is the day that Topaz told the pet psychic he’d like us to celebrate his birthday, so we’re going to do so tomorrow with some yöghund frozen yogurt for dogs. We got him and Onyx the Organic Banana and Peanut Butter flavor.

Organic Banana & Peanut Butter
Our Organic Banana & Peanut Butter recipe features potassium rich bananas, which are also a great source of the prebiotic inulin, along with peanuts for flavor and antioxidants. And of course, its primary ingredient is organic, low fat yogurt with live and active cultures, complete with all the benefits of probiotics.

I’m sure they will love it! I’m going to try to get my hands on some party hats and see if we can get a photo! LOL I’ll post it if I do!!

Raisins & Spice Oatmeal and The Topaz (Raisin / Grape Toxicity)

Today while my husband drove me to work, Mr. Topaz decided to help himself to a box of dry Quaker Raisins and Spice Oatmeal.

I was busy first thing when I got to work and when I got back to my desk I had 2 missed calls and a couple of missed txt messages from the hubbs saying that Topaz got into the oatmeal, which, mind you, was on the counter.

I knew he had bought 2 kinds…Apples and Cinnamon and Raisins and Spice. I asked which kind and said a small prayer that it was the Apple kind. He said apple…I asked are you sure. He went to check.

Nope…Raisins and Spice.

So I told him to call the vet immediately!

Raisins are HIGHLY toxic to dogs!!!! they can die within 48 hours of eating them. ONE, yes ONE, raisin can kill a 10 lbs dog!

Grapes/Raisin Toxicity & Dogs – Wiki
About.com - Vet Question
ASPCA - Grape & Raisin Toxicity in Dogs
Snopes - Dogs & Raisins
ASPCA - The Wrath of Grapes

If you click on the links above, or Google “raisin toxicity in dogs” you’ll find plenty of information about how grapes and raisins are bad and lethal for dogs.

Anyway, back to Topaz…so the vet says to either bring him in or watch him. Well, no way I’m taking that risk and just watch him…so my husband takes him in.

They said on the phone they were going to pump his stomach, but I believe then ended up giving him something to induce vomiting.

He threw up there until no more raisins came up, so hopefully he got rid of them all. The next 24 to 48 hours are crucial. We’ll keep an eye on him for sure.

He’s acting like nothing happened…and whew! he has some wicked GAS!! omg!!! Yuck!

Other than that and a bit of diarrhea, he seems to be fine.

Needless to say, he will have to be locked up again when we are not going to be home. This was basically the last straw and something that we shouldn’t have risked with him. It was just a matter of time before he got into something that could seriously hurt him…and this could have seriously hurt him.

I am going to up his PB tonight and hopefully he will remain seizure free after this. We’ll see, I don’t think there’s anything in the oatmeal besides the raisins that can really hurt him…other than he’s been on a no grain diet for a long time.

Never a dull moment with this dog, I swear~!~

No new seizures...just some thoughts..RAW Diet??

My husband and I volunteer on a regular basis at a local animal shelter. This weekend was the grand opening of the pet store that's located inside the shelter building. The pet store is called "The Pet Beastro" and they sell holistic, natural and raw pet foods and treats as well as some quality toys, collars, and beds. On Sunday I sat in on a talk about pet food nutrition. Now I know that since all of the pet food recalls last year and earlier this year, I for one, have been paying more attention to what is in the food I'm feeding our animals.

The dogs have been getting Canidae and the cats, unfortunately, are still getting a mixture of the crap that you buy at the grocery store. I have one cat, the little female, here that will NOT eat premium foods...however, we may just buy a bag of it...replace the junk in the feeder and not give her a choice BUT to eat the premium food. I think we're going to do that this week and see how it goes. I want to feed them all the best we can.

Ok, so this brings me to the little seminar/talk I sat through and the whole RAW diet thing.

It was really interesting...i mean what she was saying made sense and I really have to wonder if it would help Topaz. We're just about out of dry food, so we're due to buy some more. The 40lb bag of Canidae lasted us just about a month...a few days shy is how it will come out. But we free feed, so I don't know who's been eating what and if we fed at certain times, certain amounts I am sure that it probably would have lasted a little bit longer.

Anyway...so now we have to buy food this week. I am seriously considering giving raw a try. I never ever in my life thought I'd say that, but it doesn't seem as awful as it all sounds. I mean it's gross sounding to me and it will probably take me some time to get used to the whole fact that I am feeding my dogs raw meat, but I think we're going to give it a month and see how it goes.

I am worried about Topaz with his meds and the seizures and everything and unfortunately the internet is not the best place to get information about all of that because you do get such differing opinions and everything. I almost need to just stop reading the net, think about it, get my questions answered and go from there. I'd be better off.

And I do have a TON of questions: How to get a dog that gulps and doesn't chew to chew the bones? What about vitamin supplements? Do we need to go cold turkey and just jump into it? Will there be side effects to look for? What about Topaz and his medication, what effect will the food change have on him? How do I know how much 8 ounces is? Do I need a scale? What about veggies and fruits? Will this make them sick in the beginning?...and well, the list goes on and on!!

So... I will need to chat a bit with the Pet Beastro lady and see what she says. And well, we may be venturing into the scary world of RAW food. I don't know yet...I have a few days to figure it out.

Here are some links:
http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet_specific.shtml
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

Here's a site that talks about what is in pet food:
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Processing.htm

The jury is still out on this one. I don't know what to think about it all.

Later...H