For puppies, children and us older folk stairs can be a challenge!
Someone posted the following on the Care2 blogsite.
Enjoy!
Oh, nearly forgot! If you live in a home with stairs then be careful!
Category: Dogs
Visiting the Vet – More on Ruby
A need to re-check Ruby.
On Tuesday the Visiting the Vet post was about our Ruby. As was explained in the early part of that post:
Back on the 11th August Jean and I took Ruby into Lincoln Road Vet because there was blood in her urine. Ruby is one of our six dogs that we have at home. Ruby is the last of the Mexican ex-rescue dogs and is an eleven-year old Sharpei mix.
Dr Jim thought that Ruby had a straightforward Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) and that a course of antibiotic would fix that.
All of that was reported in my previous post and, indeed, it did look as though it was all resolved.
Then on Tuesday night we discovered a pee in the house that had blood in it. Repeated yesterday. Although we hadn’t caught Ruby in the act, so to speak, we were pretty sure that it was her with the blood in her urine (again).
So yesterday morning back we went to Lincoln Road Vet Clinic to be seen by Dr. Jim.
Jim and his assistant, Cianna, first took Ruby through to a lab at the back of the clinic to take an X-ray and draw some of Ruby’s urine directly from her bladder.
That urine was going to be cultured by Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass for that was the only reliable way of seeing what might be the cause of the infection. A quick web search found more information about a urine culture:
A urine culture is a test to find germs (such as bacteria) in the urine that can cause an infection. Urine in the bladder is normally sterile. This means it does not contain any bacteria or other organisms (such as fungi). But bacteria can enter the urethra and cause a urinary tract infection (UTI).
A sample of urine is added to a substance that promotes the growth of germs. If no germs grow, the culture is negative. If germs grow, the culture is positive. The type of germ may be identified using a microscope or chemical tests. Sometimes other tests are done to find the right medicine for treating the infection. This is called sensitivity testing.
In no time at all the images from the X-ray were available to be viewed.
Jim was delighted to report that there was no sign of stones or a tumor. Ruby is an eleven-year old dog and what Jim did see on the X-ray was ‘bridging’ along parts of Ruby’s spine. The technical term for this is spondylosis and, again, a quick web search found more:
Spondylosis in dogs, also called spondylosis deformans, is a degenerative condition that usually occurs most along the spine in older dogs. There, degenerative disks cause bone spurs to develop. These bone spurs can form bridges from one vertebrae to the next, limiting flexibility and range of motion.
Most cases of spondylosis require minor pain relief, and dogs can live out healthy, comfortable lives with this condition.
It’s not a very good image but here is an enlargement of that first X-ray picture (or rather my photograph of same) showing that bridging.
Jim offered some general information regarding idiopathic cystitis that is more commonly seen in female cats but can also be seen in dogs. In cats the cause is more likely to be stress but in dogs the more likely cause is an infection; as in a UTI. In both cats and dogs the signs are frequent peeing but cats are more likely to incur some pain when urinating compared to dogs.
Back to Ruby.
The second X-ray image (below) did nothing to change Jim’s mind that Ruby might have a UTI that requires a change of antibiotic to accurately combat the infection.
While waiting for the results of the urine culture, Jim recommended putting Ruby on a second course of Amoxicillin.
When we get those results I will add the details to this post.
Tanja Brandt
I promised you more background information.
You will all recall that when we were ‘enjoying’ the chaos of having new flooring installed in three of our rooms I posted over a number of days a selection of wonderful, incredible photographs taken by Tanja Brandt. Here is one of those photos.
We were all utterly enthralled by them and wanted to know more about Tanja.
But Tanja is German and her website and blogsite are, not surprisingly, in German. However, a good friend of mine from times past, Chris Snuggs, who is fluent in German (and French) came to the rescue when I asked for a favour of an English translation.
I sent Chris the link to Tanja’s ‘About Me’ page and here is what Chris emailed me yesterday.
Paul
At this URL: https://www.ingoundelse.de/%C3%BCber-mich/
…. she introduces herself with two short texts followed by a list of publications and/or photographic events and awards etc.
I have done a translation of the two elements of her introduction but not attempted to translate the list that follows.
I am assuming that if you want to write an introduction to her you can take her words according to my translation and reformulate them in your own words.
If you want a proper translation of her own words then I think I would need to work on it a bit more. The difficulty there is that if I translate her words directly it will not sound great in English; to get her meaning across in good English I would have to be a bit more free with the phrasing.
I hope that makes sense.
Made sense to me! Wonderful sense!
Here are those translations with the original German in blockquotes and the English translation by Chris topped and tailed with Tanja’s photographs:
Über mich …
Verlasse dich auf dein Herz – es schlug schon, bevor du denken konntest ……. gibt es nicht so viel zu erzählen. Meine große Leidenschaft, seit ich in Windeln krabbeln kann, sind Tiere.
Tiere im Allgemeinen – vor allem auch Greifvögel und Raubkatzen – und Hunde im Speziellen.
Ich glaube, ich spreche ihre Sprache.
Ein Leben ohne Tiere ist für mich schwer vorstellbar und wenn Jemand keine Tiere mag, dann wird er sich vermutlich nicht sehr lange bei mir aufhalten.
About me
Trust your heart; it was beating before you were capable of thought.
There’s not all that much to say. My greatest passion even since I was a baby are animals – all kinds of animals, above all birds of prey and big cats – and especially dogs.
I believe I speak their language!
For me a life without animals is difficult to imagine, and if someone doesn’t like animals, then he or she would probably not be around me for long.
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Fotografie ist meine Leidenschaft
Wie es begann?
Ich wollte schöne Fotos von meinen Tieren. Bzw überhaupt von Tieren. Fotos, die die Seele und den Charakter des jeweiligen Tieres widerspiegeln. Nicht einfach nur Fotos.
So kam mir der Gedanke, mit einer professionellen Kamera dürfte das kein Problem sein. Die Kamera wurde gekauft und es ging los – das Ergebnis war ernüchternd ….
Ich musste dann doch noch einige Workshops besuchen, um da zu sein, wo ich heute stehe.Kurse, Workshops, Webinare, Bücher, Austausch mit anderen Fotografen und viel üben. Und ich versuche jeden Tag, was dazu zu lernen und zu entdecken.
Aber allein das Technikverständnis macht es nicht aus, um die Seele der Tiere zu zeigen und die Arbeit mit den Tieren ist so wertvoll. Ich kann Tiere nur fotografieren, wenn sie sich wohlfühlen und mit Begeisterung mitmachen oder Wildtiere eben keine Angst vor mir haben.
Photography is my passion. How did it all begin?
I wanted to take beautiful photos of my animals, indeed, of all animals: photos which would reveal the soul and character of each animal – not just snaps …..
So I had the idea that all I needed was a professional camera. The camera was bought and off I went – the experience was chastening. I realized I needed training to get where I am now: went to workshops, on courses, internet lessons, books, exchanges with other photographers and lots more. And I still try every day to discover and learn something new.
But technique alone doesn’t suffice to lay bare the soul of a creature. Working with animals is so fulfilling, but I can only photograph them when they are at ease and enthusiastically join in the process, or if with wild animals when they are not afraid of me.
So many things make presenting this blog to you so very special for me. Then something comes along that takes it into the stratosphere of being special. That is Tanja Brandt. Tanja’s photographs and how she describes herself are stratospheric!
I am so pleased to have been granted permission by Tanja to share her photographs; something I never want to stop doing!
Visiting the Vet – Ruby’s UTI
This one is closer to home!
Back on the 11th August Jean and I took Ruby into Lincoln Road Vet because there was blood in her urine. Ruby is one of our six dogs that we have at home. Ruby is the last of the Mexican ex-rescue dogs and is an eleven-year old Sharpei mix.
Here she is staring up at me to the right of Oliver in the picture below .
Because of Ruby’s age and background and the fact that there was significant blood in her urine we were bracing ourselves for some bad news.
Once checked in it wasn’t too long a wait before we were shown in to Dr. Jim’s room.
There Jim took some urine for analysis and then started examining Ruby. Jim was worried that Ruby might have kidney stones.
However, and thankfully, the urine test revealed an infection, nothing worse! A urinary tract infection or UTI.
Therefore, the first move would be to start Ruby on a course of Amoxillin.
Jim explained that Amoxillin was an antibiotic that he thought would be good for Ruby and would quickly determine whether or not Ruby had a simple urinary tract infection (UTI) or if it was something more challenging (my words).
Wikipedia offers a good description of Amoxicillin, from which I offer the opening paragraph.
Amoxicillin, also spelled amoxycillin, is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections.[2] It is the first line treatment for middle ear infections. It may also be used for strep throat, pneumonia, skin infections, and urinary tract infections among others.[2] It is taken by mouth, or less commonly by injection.[2][3]
Maybe my initial reluctance to publish this Visiting the Vet post was down to me not wanting to do that before the results of the antibiotic treatment were clear.
Ergo, Jean and I are overjoyed to report that the Amoxicillin course did sort everything out and that Ruby is over her UTI and back to being her normal, healthy, happy self.
When Jim called us at home a week later he was just as pleased to hear the good news!
It’s in the language!
A comprehensive guide to the body language of our beautiful dogs.
Back in August 2016 I shared a post with you all from Vetstreet.com about interpreting the growls of a dog. It seemed to be liked by many of you.
Now fast forward to eleven days ago and an email that came in from Emma.
Dear Learning from Dogs Team,
My name’s Emma, a blogger at Hello Cute Pup.I have been reading your blog for some time, and I absolutely love what you have been doing! Your content inspires me on a daily basis, and I’m really in love with your website.
I’ve been thinking about how I could help add value to you and your blog and I would love to contribute a guest post on your site.
I was inspired to write this article after reading your great piece “Why Dogs Are Friendly”.
I promise that I will provide HIGH-quality content that you won’t find anywhere else.
As a pet parent myself, I’ve had tons of amazing experience that I could bring to your audience.
Here are some links to other pieces that I have written to give you an idea of the quality that I am bringing to the table.
Dog Express
http://www.dogexpress.in/how-to-choose-the-best-dog-food-for-pugs
Imagine Forest
http://www.imagineforest.com/blog/baileys-best-buddy/Safe and Healthy Life
http://www.safeandhealthylife.com/food-diet-for-dogs-the-ultimate-guide/
Let me know if you are interested. I already know your blogging style, plus I understand what your readers love as I am one.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers and have a good day!
Emma
Well you all know me sufficiently well to know that I couldn’t resist. Especially after seeing how nicely Emma had presented those pieces she linked to above.
Here is Emma’s article.
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A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Dog Body Language
Understanding your loved ones’ body language is always important. If you understand how your partner, sister, mother, or father acts when they feel a certain way, you can more accurately meet their emotional needs. This is the same as it is with the canine members of your family.
Understanding how your dog behaves when he or she feels certain things will help you bond, and help build trust, as well as make both you and your dog happier.
How do you decode dog behavior? There are a few ways, and a few certain body signals that your dog will give you that you should understand. Here are a few of them.
Play Bow
You may have noticed that when a dog is feeling frisky and energetic, he or she will bow their front end to the ground and push their rear end into the air. Typically, this means that the dog wants to play.
Tail Wagging
It’s a common belief that tail wagging means that a dog is happy. While this can be true, tail wagging can also mean a few other things.
- A tail that wags low can mean your dog is scared or unsure.
- A high and stiff tail wag can mean that your dog feels irritated, scared, or unsure. This kind of tail wagging can often lead to a dog becoming aggressive if pushed.
Freezing
Dogs often “freeze” when they are scared or guarding something like food, water, a toy, or their owner. This means that the dog will stop what he or she is doing and stand in one position without moving. When a dog is frozen, he or she is more likely to bite.
Rolling
When a dog rolls over, it usually means that he or she is submissive- but it’s important to pay attention to the dog’s whole body. If your dog’s tail and mouth are hanging loose, it can mean that he or she wants a belly rub or some attention. If the tail is tucked in or his or her mouth is stiff, it can mean that your dog is scared or nervous. Before you touch a dog who is rolled over, look for the signs of comfort.
Perked Ears
Chances are, if you own a dog, you’ve seen him or her with his ears perked up. This means that your dog is alert and attentive.
Tail Between Legs
When a dog tucks his or her tail between his legs, this is a classic sign of fear. Dogs who are scared, as a general rule of thumb, are prone to becoming aggressive in an attempt to protect themselves- so be careful when getting too close to a dog who is acting fearful.
Signs of stress
Like humans, dogs can become stressed. Stress in dogs can make them act in certain ways and exhibit specific body language. Some of the signs that mean that a dog is stressed are:
- Yawning in new situations
- Panting when it isn’t hot
- Licking their front paws as someone new approaches
- Licking of the lips despite not recently having eaten or drank
- Scratching
- Avoiding eye contact
- Shaking himself off after someone new touches him
- Highly audible exhales that can be accompanied by whining or avoiding eye contact
- Lying down and refusing to participate
Signs of fear
Dogs exhibit easy-to-read signs of fear. Some of these signs are:
- Drooling
- Pacing
- Tucking his tail while moving away from something
- Whining
- His or her feet start to sweat
- Growling and moving away
- Curling his or her lips and showing teeth
- Trying to hide
- Running away
Signs of Happiness
Along with taking up the play bow position, dogs offer us other physical signs that they are happy. These include:
- Energetic tail wagging
- Tail thumping on the floor or ground
- Lying in a relaxed, one paw tucked under, position
- Bumping or pressing against you
- Initiating physical contact
- Jumping up
- Smiling (yes, sometimes it really does look as if your dog smiles)
- Playful barking to get your attention
Although the above behaviors are common in most dogs, it’s important to remember that dogs have individual personalities – what one dog does in a situation, isn’t necessarily what another does in that same situation. For example, if your dog reacts well with some dog shampoo, another dog might hate it. This shampoo might make him panic and he could fear baths forever.
To truly understand what your dog’s body is trying to tell you, pay attention to how he or she acts. He may react in the ways that are listed above, or he may have his own unique way of expressing to you how he feels.
Context is also a key point to focus on when you’re trying to determine how your dog feels based on his body language. For example, if your dog is being cornered by another, bigger and more intimidating dog and he wags his tail, chances are that he isn’t happy. In this situation, he more than likely is gearing up for a fight or is feeling scared.
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My hopes are that Emma will be writing many more guest posts for this place.
Oh, want to know a little more about Emma?
Emma is the founder of HelloCutePup. As the owner of 3 dogs, Emma has had the pleasure of learning the ins and outs to becoming a pet owner. With years of experience working on training, at-home dog health care, and aesthetic maintenance, she has the real-world experience that every pet owner is looking for. She is an avid blogger who enjoys giving realistic tips and tricks to help dog owners understand their pet’s personalities and to help pets easily become a part of the family.
Fabulous!
Picture Parade Two Hundred and Nine
Just a few memories of the last week.
Our English guests, Mark and Debbie, who stayed with us after traveling to Warm Springs, South-East of Portland, Oregon, to view the eclipse took the following three photographs.
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Then you will love the next one. Sent in by Neil Kelly from Devon, England.
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And another beauty courtesy of Neil K.
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Back to the stars!
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Finally, back to Tanja Brandt whose most beautiful photographs will be gracing these Picture Parades in the future.
The wonderful love of a dog
Just enjoy!
We are chilling out for a couple of days giving our attention to Mark and Debbie who are staying with us. They came over to view the eclipse and I shall feature a few of Mark’s photographs for this coming Sunday’s Picture Parade.
(The following first seen over on the Care2 website)
Published on Aug 2, 2017This dog’s motherly instincts are so strong that she feels the need to help raise an abandoned litter of kittens. What a hero!
And not this is not a dog that is living in a loving home but a stray dog! Incredible creatures.
Giving us better lives!
Delighted to republish this for you all.
Marc who blogs at Healthy Pawz recently decided to follow this place. I went across to Healthy Pawz to leave my thanks for the follow, as I always try to do, and read a most wonderful post. Wanted to republish it here today.
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Pets Can Change Our Life For The Better
Posted on August 18, 2017
Pets have an amazing ability to change our lives for the better. They find that special place in our heart and latch on with incredible amounts of unconditional love. When we regularly give our pets undivided attention, we build a bond and connection that will last a lifetime.
Every moment we spend with our pets is an opportunity to observe them and learn more about their personality, nuances or needs. Notice the simple and basic things about your pet like when they are relaxed, comfortable, happy, anxious, etc., just as you would a child. Those moments of observation will teach you so much about the little being that wants nothing more than to provide you with unconditional love and attention.
Another great benefit to having a pet is that they can sometimes see in us what we cannot see in ourselves. We know about service pets that support people in different ways for sight, comfort, seizures, autism, etc. But, our own pets are also in tune to our needs and emotions. However, we are sometimes so rushed with life that we fail to recognize the great gift our pets are offering us (me included). We have a rescue kitten with one eye and in my opinion, she’s amazing. This little cat noticed inflections in my voice that indicated stress of some sort. For me it was business as usual, but for her it was climb on my chest and rub her little face against mine. After a few hundred times of this (exaggerated of course) I finally realized that she was trying to calm me down. And I learned to better recognize when I needed to take a step back with a deep breath throughout the day.
We live in a very fast paced, get it done kind of society. That kind of daily grind can strip away some of our compassion and empathy because we are so overwhelmed with other aspects of life that we may not notice when we are stuck in that vortex spinning around aimlessly. Whether we realize it or not our pets are a great conduit to restoring that which we need to sustain us in our human relationships. Compassion and empathy are easily understood, but not always easily lived out. Our pets are a daily reminder of this because they provide both compassion and empathy daily. Because of this, we have an opportunity to reciprocate compassion and empathy back to them and to those around us.
Whether you have a dog, cat, hamster, etc., pets can enhance our lives in so many ways. Carve out some daily time to spend with your furry loved one, observe them on their terms and take some time to reflect about how they are benefiting your life. Watch over time as your emotional intelligence evolves through this process.
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There is so much wise advice in that post!
Hard to highlight any particular sentence but this one spoke to me early on: “When we regularly give our pets undivided attention, we build a bond and connection that will last a lifetime.”
A connection that will last a lifetime!
Getting too old for this!
This wasn’t what I had planned for today ….
….. but I only managed to get my office back to some form of functionality late yesterday afternoon.
So some peeks into the last few days..
The installers arrived bright and early on Saturday morning.
But I guess one advantage of us starting to get used to the house being upside down, it having been like this since the 11th, was that the dogs were pretty relaxed about the whole affair.
Not quite sure that Jeannie and me were so cool about the chaos that had surrounded us for so many days now.
Then the picture below was the state of my office Sunday afternoon.
But the one great bonus was that the smoke in the air from nearby forest fires meant that yesterday’s sunrise was a very beautiful sight.
Hopefully, good people, back to more normal times tomorrow. (And the new floor does look great!)
Enhancing the life of our dogs!
We truly do want our dogs to live to a grand old age.
In recent posts I have included photographs of Cleo and Brandy. (As I will now do again!)
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However, one of the sad aspects of our bigger dogs is that their lifespan is usually shorter than our smaller dogs.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could live longer lives.
That is the reason that I didn’t hesitate for a moment in wanting to share an essay that was recently published on the Care2 site.
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Want Your Dog to Live to 30? Add This to Their Bowl
a Care2 favorite by Lisa Spector
About Lisa Follow Lisa at @throughadogsear
As I watched pet nutrition blogger Rodney Habib’s TedX video below, I found it simultaneously jaw-dropping and not surprising. After his dog, Sammie, was diagnosed with cancer, Habib went on a mission to find out why canine cancer is a growing epidemic. Currently, one out of every two dogs will be diagnosed with cancer at sometime in their life, mostly between age 6 and 12.
I have a 13-year-old Labrador. Admittedly, I’m obsessed with my awareness that he’s approaching the end of his life. But, what if he weren’t? What if he could live until he’s 30 like Maggie, the Kelpie, from Australia. Maggie was possibly the world’s oldest dog.
During Habib’s trek around the world, he spoke with researchers and scientists. He learned that dogs have a higher rate of cancer than any other mammal. In the ’70s, dogs lived to age 17; today the average life span is 11. Why?
Diabetes is up 900 percent in dogs in the last five years. Obesity is up 60 percent. While 10 percent of all cancer cases are genetic, 90 percent are the results of lifestyle and environmental influences, including stress, obesity, infection, sedentary lifestyle, toxins, pollution and most importantly diet.
Habib spoke with Norwegian scientist, Thomas Sandberg, who is conducting a 30-year-old study (the longest observational study to date). Sandberg is hoping to prove that poor quality food may cause cancer to develop in dogs and cats, mainly due to a compromised immune system.
Here’s the part of Rodney’s TedX Talk that was jaw-dropping for me: Research shows that dogs on a diet of dry commercial pet food fed leafy green vegetables at least three times a week were 90 percent less likely to develop cancer than dogs that weren’t. And dogs fed yellow/orange vegetables at least three times a week were 70 percent less likely to develop cancer.
I feed Sanchez and Gina organic kale, spinach, green beans and carrots, along with many fruits. Personally, I wasn’t surprised by the benefits, but by the research showing that just a little bit of produce added to kibble could have such a profound effect on canine health.
Thomas Sandberg has Great Danes, who typically live only six to eight years. In a 6-year study of 80 dogs fed a completely raw diet with low amounts of carbs, only one dog developed cancer.
Another study at Purdue University showed a 90 percent decrease risk of cancer when they added green leafy vegetables to a bowl of processed food three times a week.
Remember Maggie, the world’s oldest dog? In addition to a diet that included raw fed grass milk, she also self fasted some days. She lived on a dairy farm and exercised all day long, often getting in 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles ). Obesity is also now known to be a contributing factor to canine cancer, which is why exercising with your pet is so important.
We have dogs because we love them. We bring them into our human world and expect them to adjust. They do, because they want to please us. We expect them to follow our house rules, listen to the music we choose, build their life around our schedules, and accept the food we choose for them. But, what if we knew more and chose differently for them? How long would they live?
Do your pets eat green leafy veggies?
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Now if you have read down to this point but not yet watched Rodney Habib’s talk then …. STOP!
Go back and watch that talk!
Then you can truly appreciate the value of looking at the diets of our beautiful dogs!
Love to hear your thoughts on this!
Oh, and both Brandy and little Pedy are great vegetable eaters. But we will be following the recommendations of Rodney Habib and will share our findings with you all later on.
Learning from Dogs 