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Thread: Dog and cat owners please read

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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Dog and cat owners please read

    Recently we suffered the tragedy in losing our 7 year old pitbull. It has been very tough to cope with the loss of a loved member of our family, especially for our 5 year old who has never known life without his best bud. It is still very tough to talk about so I will spare the details for now

    The hardest part was being so helpless as well as how quickly it happened. Essentially we checked him into the er on a Thursday evening and by Saturday morning we got the call to come in and make the decision that no pet owner wants to have to make.

    We have really struggled with the fact that we just have no answers as to the cause. It was very tough to see a seemingly healthy, happy, active dog decline so rapidly with no clue of the cause.

    Searching for some sort of closure we have been scouring the web looking for some sort of insight into the what's, how's and why's. Much of what we read keeps coming back to the same thing. Diet. Knowing that pitbulls are prone to allergies we have always fed high quality dry food. Grain free, quality protein, etc (so we thought)

    We watched a Netflix documentary last night called "pet fooled." I would urge you all to watch it.

    Although I am sure not everyone will agree with the position of these veterinarians I am sure the one thing we can all agree upon is how alarming the lack of regulation there is in the pet food industry.

    I know how much we scrutinize the nutrition and ingredients of the food we feed our discus and we really should be doing the same with our other pets.

    I was astonished to find out that what is on the product packaging doesn't even have to be what's in the bag.

    I know how many animal lovers there are here so just hoping to give a little insight
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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    I must add I am not stating food as the cause. Could it have been? Possible. I just want to share the info as through our loss it has really opened our eyes.
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    Homesteader RogueDiscus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Wow Ryan, sorry to hear that. That's rough. My neighbor's golden lab went quickly like that a few years ago due to organ failure. They suspect she got in to something, perhaps a rat poison or something. She was there baby and it was a tough loss. We've lost one to a stroke, and another to old age that we had to let go when she couldn't take care of herself anymore.
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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by RogueDiscus View Post
    Wow Ryan, sorry to hear that. That's rough. My neighbor's golden lab went quickly like that a few years ago due to organ failure. They suspect she got in to something, perhaps a rat poison or something. She was there baby and it was a tough loss. We've lost one to a stroke, and another to old age that we had to let go when she couldn't take care of herself anymore.
    Thank you. It was quite difficult. The only theories were a potential kidney issue or undetected cancer.

    It's just tough to be so helpless for a pet you love
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    Registered Member Jenene's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    I am really sorry Ryan, I know that took awhile to be able to talk about.

    My heart goes out to you and your family. That sounds like an awful 3 days.

    I had no idea about the pet food. I guess I am not surprised though. I see that is something that people will need to get angry enough to get changed. It won't be easy though.

    One thing we learned the hard way was how toxic grapes are to some dogs. Some have no reaction while others will get violently ill. I was washing grapes and four fell to the floor. Our yellow lab Flynn, ate them before I could get them but had not remembered they could be toxic until later that night it hit me. He became violently ill and luckily threw them all up but it took him a few days to recover.

    I am wondering if there are a chosen few companies that list the actual ingredients of their products?
    Last edited by Jenene; 08-05-2017 at 07:54 AM.
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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Really sorry to hear this Ryan. Losing a beloved pet is never easy, they are family. My daughter turned me on to this website for doing research on dog foods. In case there is any interest here it is http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/. Here's a list of dog food recalls maintained by the same site http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/. This post almost sounds like one of those email scams
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    SimplyDiscus Sponsor and MVP Nov.2015 Disgirl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Sorry for the loss of your pet Ryan. I assume the same food issues are with cat foods too. I will do some reading. Our vet has told me that for cats, feeding wet foods is way better for them than dry. I feed wet and dry now. Do you have other dogs or cats? When you are ready your family will find another dog in need of you.
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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by Jenene View Post
    I am really sorry Ryan, I know that took awhile to be able to talk about.

    My heart goes out to you and your family. That sounds like an awful 3 days.

    I had no idea about the pet food. I guess I am not surprised though. I see that is something that people will need to get angry enough to get changed. It won't be easy though.

    One thing we learned the hard way was how toxic grapes are to some dogs. Some have no reaction while others will get violently ill. I was washing grapes and four fell to the floor. Our yellow lab Flynn, ate them before I could get them but had not remembered they could be toxic until later that night it hit me. He became violently ill and luckily threw them all up but it took him a few days to recover.

    I am wondering if there are a chosen few companies that list the actual ingredients of their products?
    Thanks Pal. Oh ya grapes are a big no no for dogs. They will cause renal failure.

    Quote Originally Posted by Disgirl View Post
    Sorry for the loss of your pet Ryan. I assume the same food issues are with cat foods too. I will do some reading. Our vet has told me that for cats, feeding wet foods is way better for them than dry. I feed wet and dry now. Do you have other dogs or cats? When you are ready your family will find another dog in need of you.
    Barb

    Hi Barb. We do had a frenchie pup that is now about 4 months. We have decided to put him on a raw diet. Well freeze dried not totally raw.

    I think one of the biggest prohibiting factors of raw diet is cost. For the frenchie it's manageable as he is only ten pounds and won't be any more than 30. For a large dog or people with multiple dogs it would be very costly.
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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat View Post
    Really sorry to hear this Ryan. Losing a beloved pet is never easy, they are family. My daughter turned me on to this website for doing research on dog foods. In case there is any interest here it is http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/. Here's a list of dog food recalls maintained by the same site http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/. This post almost sounds like one of those email scams
    Pat
    Thanks Pat. I believe the woman that created that site was part of the documentary.
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    Registered Member ssevasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Ryan I'm sorry for your loss. Early last year we almost lost one of our family Shih Tzu's named Delilah in a similar way. We noticed that she wasn't acting like her normal perky self so we brought her to the vet and when the vet opened her mouth her gums were totally white. The vet recommended an emergency blood transfusion that would have cost several thousand dollars and said even then that the prognosis wasn't very good. It turned out that something which is still unknown had caused her to become critically anemic. My family couldn't afford the blood transfusion and we didn't have the heart to put her down so the vet prescribed an oral steroid treatment and told us to come back in a week for additional blood work if she was still with us. During that week my mom spent several hours every single day feeding Delilah blended up home made chicken soup with a plastic syringe and basically forcing her to take it down. The vet told me on the phone that she was basically a goner but long story short my mom was able to bring her back from the brink and she's back to her normal perky self happier than ever. We thought that maybe one of our neighbors that we have a horrid relationship with may have poisoned her but now reading this thread has me thinking it may have been something in her dog food. Thanks for sharing.

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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by ssevasta View Post
    Ryan I'm sorry for your loss. Early last year we almost lost one of our family Shih Tzu's named Delilah in a similar way. We noticed that she wasn't acting like her normal perky self so we brought her to the vet and when the vet opened her mouth her gums were totally white. The vet recommended an emergency blood transfusion that would have cost several thousand dollars and said even then that the prognosis wasn't very good. It turned out that something which is still unknown had caused her to become critically anemic. My family couldn't afford the blood transfusion and we didn't have the heart to put her down so the vet prescribed an oral steroid treatment and told us to come back in a week for additional blood work if she was still with us. During that week my mom spent several hours every single day feeding Delilah blended up home made chicken soup with a plastic syringe and basically forcing her to take it down. The vet told me on the phone that she was basically a goner but long story short my mom was able to bring her back from the brink and she's back to her normal perky self happier than ever. We thought that maybe one of our neighbors that we have a horrid relationship with may have poisoned her but now reading this thread has me thinking it may have been something in her dog food. Thanks for sharing.
    Sorry to hear that but glad she came through. When we took our dog to the vet his gums were white as well. They thought maybe internal bleeding. He didn't have any thankfully but they still couldn't figure out the problem. Plasma treatment did help to stabilize him but didn't work too long.

    That's the other thing I would highly recommend to pet owners is pet insurance. It cost us nearly $4000 for the two days at the ER and there was nothing we could do for him. It's tough but for a loved pet you try to do everything you can

    Our biggest fear was that he would start to improve but need to stay in the er for extended period of time. Obviously we don't have unlimited funds to spend $2000/day
    Im not illiterate...only my phone's auto correct is

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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan925 View Post
    Thanks Pal. Oh ya grapes are a big no no for dogs. They will cause renal failure
    This is not true for all dogs. Some yes but my bull terrier and i would sit and eat grapes for hours.
    Raisin's are a whole other story they will cause renal failure in dogs. Science has not found the good reason as to why they affect dogs the way they do.

    Quick story my bulldog when he was 4mo. old. Well he some got my big tub of dark chocolate covered raisins off the counter got the lid off and went to town on them. I came up from the shower seen his look KNEW HE DID SOMETHING. Might as well of had a placard that said I'm in trouble. Well i found them 3/4 gone. I knew i had to act fast, grabbed a turkey baster filled with hydrogen peroxide gave him the works. I took him outside and 45 seconds later walla big pile of dark chocolate covered raisins. Most not even had begun to melt yet.

    Yep stick that in the memory banks need a quick puke hydrogen peroxide safe and gets it done.

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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by pitdogg2 View Post
    This is not true for all dogs. Some yes but my bull terrier and i would sit and eat grapes for hours.
    Raisin's are a whole other story they will cause renal failure in dogs. Science has not found the good reason as to why they affect dogs the way they do.

    Quick story my bulldog when he was 4mo. old. Well he some got my big tub of dark chocolate covered raisins off the counter got the lid off and went to town on them. I came up from the shower seen his look KNEW HE DID SOMETHING. Might as well of had a placard that said I'm in trouble. Well i found them 3/4 gone. I knew i had to act fast, grabbed a turkey baster filled with hydrogen peroxide gave him the works. I took him outside and 45 seconds later walla big pile of dark chocolate covered raisins. Most not even had begun to melt yet.

    Yep stick that in the memory banks need a quick puke hydrogen peroxide safe and gets it done.
    Wow that's a crazy story. That's some pretty quick thinking
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    Registered Member ssevasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan925 View Post
    Sorry to hear that but glad she came through. When we took our dog to the vet his gums were white as well. They thought maybe internal bleeding. He didn't have any thankfully but they still couldn't figure out the problem. Plasma treatment did help to stabilize him but didn't work too long.

    That's the other thing I would highly recommend to pet owners is pet insurance. It cost us nearly $4000 for the two days at the ER and there was nothing we could do for him. It's tough but for a loved pet you try to do everything you can

    Our biggest fear was that he would start to improve but need to stay in the er for extended period of time. Obviously we don't have unlimited funds to spend $2000/day
    Do you think it was the same thing that happened to both of our dogs then?

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    Default Re: Dog and cat owners please read

    I actually lost my apbt to an autoimmune reaction to vaccines. Had the adult booster for rabies, distemper, and parvo plus the vet decided to add lymes. 10 months later we gave up the fight as she ended up with encephalitis. We now space out the vaccines. Costs more but I no longer worry so much about vaccine reactions. We then almost lost our staffie to some sort of poisoning that was never determined. She almost went into organ failure, liver and kidneys both. Finally brought her from the brink with frozen yogurt of all things (she would neither eat nor drink at that stage). Unfortunately with dogs, they have a tendency to rapidly ingest anything they think smells good, whether or not it is good for them. I am sorry for your loss. It is amazing how these animals so quickly bury themselves in our hearts.

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