Aspen the Yorkie

Maybe you think that spaying or neutering your dog are the most common reasons for surgery…and maybe they are.  But dogs need surgery for some of the strangest things as well.

Some dogs eat just about anything, and sometimes the things they eat cannot be passed through the digestive system, and cause intestinal blockages, and need removal.

I am a small dog, and admit that I do eat some very strange things…I like licking the bottom of my owners shoes, or eating small things while out on the deck…a good reason to make sure all our dogs immunizations are up to date and making sure we’re getting our heartworm pills.

Anyway, strange things removed from a dogs intestines are usually in larger dogs who have bigger mouths than mine, and can include:

• Socks – This is a big one, and if you are missing a sock and have a dog that likes playing with your socks, and your dog is vomiting, you may need to consider this possibility….you should keep dirty socks in the laundry and out of reach.
• Stones – yes, we are known to eat rocks and even sticks when we’re outside, for some odd reason.  Keep an eye on us, if you can, when we’re outdoors, and if you keep us penned outside, make sure there isn’t anything around that we could eat when your not looking.  (And make sure we have shade and water in the summer and a warm place to go in the winter!)
• Undies – Sounds disgusting, doesn’t it?  Some dogs are kind of disgusting to humans because we find smelly socks and smelly underwear is appealing. Sorry if you have a sensitive stomach, this is just something you should know if you own a dog.  Don’t leave those things lying around on the floor…they belong where you put your dirty laundry.
• Dog Toys – including balls that we like to play with

There are many other things surgically removed from dogs, you can do your homework searching online….we just write this to make you aware that even though we’re cute, we don’t think like you, and dogs can eat strangest and sometimes the most disgusting things!

Since a dog vomiting is sometimes a symptom of blockage, we thought we’d include this video about reasons why dogs vomit.

As a Yorkie, I can tell you having Pancreatitis is not fun…it hurts…and it’s kept me from wanting to blog for a long time, but I’m feeling great now, back to pestering my owner regularly, and now she appreciates it because it means I’m feeling good>:-)<

I am hoping that I went through might help other Yorkie friends out there.

Over the years, I’ve been getting (sorry, this is yucky) diarrhea a lot easier than I used to depending upon what I eat.  So my owner has been doing all kinds of things to take things out of my diet, and carefully add new things, very gradually, that’s what you have to do when you’re changing foods with a Yorkie.

One day a month or so ago, I got really bad, and we went to the Vet.  We’ve done that before, but this time, the did a blood test for Pancreatitis, and I came up as having it.  There are really no medications for this, but they did treat it in almost the same way as they did a year ago in January, 2009, and then we just had to watch and see.

Here’s some things my owner did wrong (I forgive her) and what the doctor had us do:

• My owner gave me Chicken Livers the night before, you would think that wouldn’t bother me, but it’s very rich and high in cholesterol.  When I was younger, I could handle more foods than I can now.
• The next day I had VERY yellow diarrhea, and was throwing up, also yellow, and walked around with my back kind of hunched and head down because it hurt inside. So we made an appointment with the Veterinarian.  So important if you think something serious is wrong.
• The vet gave me subcutaneous (I think that’s the word) fluids, they put a lot of water just under my skin with a needle to help with dehydration since….
• I wasn’t allowed to drink or eat anything for 24 hours!!!  But it wasn’t that bad, I wasn’t feeling well at all so not very hungry, and if I did eat was in pain.
• I was given 1/4 of a 10mg Pepcid A/C tablet on an empty stomach in the afternoon a 1/2-1 hours before when I would have had my dinner, then every 24 hours for a week before my evening meal. The veterinarian had us add another week on because I still wasn’t quite right after a week. After finding that to be a battle (I hate taking pills), and after I had started eating again, my owner added it to just a tiny bit of chicken breast so I wouldn’t notice it, then gave me the rest of my meal later.
• I had to eat several small meals a day of white rice (or I like Gerber’s baby flaked rice…just about a tablespoon mixed in with the cut up chicken with a little water added) and chicken breast, morning, mid morning, noon, mid afternoon, and dinner time, about 2 tablespoons of food each time until I got better.

I finally did get better, then there was the quest to find the right food for me, that’s another story that we’ll share with you in our next post.

It’s good to feel good again!

With a little help from my owner, I’ve opened a little store so you can shop for things JUST for your Yorkie or Yorkies, or things for Yorkshire Terriers and other small dogs.  You’ll find just about anything you need and more, even things that you can give to people who love yorkies.

Right now we have the following departments:

• Small Dog Toys
• Small Dog Food (and Snacks)
• Small Dog Grooming & Pharmacy
• Yorkie Gifts for People
• Small Dog Beds, Cloths and Misc.

It was a lot of fun putting the store together, and we hope you’ll visit by clicking here, or the link to the right of this post in the margin.

I haven’t talked about any dog ailments in a while, so thought we’d take a look at what some people call “bloat” or your veterinarian might call it “Gastric Torsion”. It is a scary condition if it isn’t treated early, as it can be life-threatening.

What happens is that the stomach in the dogs digestive system turns in a way that makes it hard for food to to move on through, so it becomes full of food, bloated because of the food decay, and ultimately, unfortunately, can lead to death (what an important but depressing post to have to write).

This is a condition that bigger dogs are inclined to get, if you are one of the following, you may want to get your owner, well, your owner is probably reading this to you, anyway, you may want to get your owners to learn more about this so you can prevent it:

1. Big sized Poodle
2. Labrador Retriever
3. Saint Bernard
4. Gordon Setter
5. Great Dane
6. Doberman Pinscher
7. English Sheepdog
8. Irish Setter

I think you get the idea, it’s large dogs with large chest cavaties that are more inclined to suffer from this condition.

What are some of the symptoms?

1. Drooling more than usual
2. Signs of pain in the abdomen
3. Trying to vomit, but not producing anything or producing foamy mucous material
4. Not wanting to play like usual, lying around curled up instead.
5. Later when the stomach becomes more bloated, more discomfort and more danger
6. Hard abdomen to the touch where it is usually soft to the touch

Dogs vomit for many reasons, yorkies can spit up foamy yellow “stuff” which isn’t uncommon, especially in the morning before eating because their stomachs are empty, and bigger dogs who play outside and aren’t watched are good at finding things to eat that make them sick, but if you suspect something more, it is ALWAYS best to have your pet checked by your veterinarian.  It may not be as serious as you think, but if it is, at least you will have support and guidance from your Vet.

Treatment:  Very basically, releasing the dangerous pressure and surgery are usually the treatment for this.  Do a search on this condition, you can use the search feature on this site, to find more information about this condition on the web.

Prevention:  Sometimes you can prevent this by not feeding one large meal a day, but feeding a few smaller meals…when you eat your three meals, give your dog a 3rd of what he/she should eat in a day, too.

When you change to a new food, it is ALWAYS a good idea to do it gradually for many reasons, mixing new food with old and gradually changing over.  Are you buying a dog?  See if any of it’s “ancestors” have had the condition.

Take good care of your pets, as animals who are taken care of by you, we depend on you for that.