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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 2:32 pm
thanks, yank. and thanks for the spirit of a dog, citrus. it's beautiful. when i looked up kennel cough again, it does say that a lot of dogs 'also develop a runny nose'. so i am hoping and praying that's all his runny nose is; not indicative of an even worse illness. his fever has been almost normal for a full week. maybe half a degree above 'normal' but being at the vet's can actually raise it a little (like a person's bp going up a little when they have 'white coat hypertension'. ) i really don't think it's valley fever. and i am really praying it's not distemper. with kennel cough, unless it goes into pneumonia, it's most treatable, just a long time where you worry and the poor little guy coughs a lot. i asked the doctor why he didn't listen to the lungs to see if it sounded like it was turning into pneumonia and he said there wasn't any need to do that. i feel like he was giving kendall a death sentence, because it felt like he'd already decided kendall has something more than kennel cough. he didn't even ask for a weight on the dog. i weighed him myself as we were leaving. he is down 5 pounds from when we got him 16 days ago. he eats three or four times a day, but not a lot at a time. he wags his tail and he smiles a lot. i can't tell if he's lethargic because i haven't had him long enough or ever completely well to see what his 'normal' activity is. and a lot of goldens are very calm. vito just slept a lot and let the kids use him for a pillow while watching tv. he camped and swam and mostly just 'hung out' his whole life! anyway, i sure would love to prove that vet's suspicions 'way off the mark'--and have my kendall back to whatever normal is for him! i know you all would just love on him if you could see how cute and sweet he is!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 2:44 pm
I didn't know dogs got Valley Fever, but it is actually pretty commonly found in Arizona. My friend who lived in Yuma and now lives in Tucson was thought to have it (and may actually have it) and there is a big center there to study it. That does seem to be a chronic condition though. Well, in humans.. I'll be praying for kennel cough for sure!! I agree with you on hating to get different vets each time..m it isn't so bad just going in for shots or something but when you are in the midst of something serious, you really want some continuity.. although I must say when Critter was so sick after I adopted her (I had a message on my machine saying "I just don't feel optimistic about her chances") at least a switch to the original older vet worked in her favor because he was like me and didn't want to give up and he was so joyous when finally she was able to EAT. I'm pulling for Kendall (and you..) he is clearly adorable. I have his picture on my computer and run across it most days. Hmm reading about the vet not asking for weight.. maybe you should see if one of the other vets would be more positive. I really think that helps. And it can't hurt. I know I'd love Kendall.
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Jimmer
Member
08-30-2000
| Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 3:28 pm
Kendall sounds like an absolutely lovely guy. And he is so lucky to have you. I'm wishing you both all the best.
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 8:54 am
Jasper, thanks for the additional pic of Oscar, he is so great! My daughter will be happy to see the new pics too! Citrus, The Spirit of a Dog is beautiful. Tabby, I am praying for Kendall to be healthy again. That is good that his cough is at least somewhat less...poor guy. I'm so glad you have him to give him comfort at this time for him. It would be so awful if he was still out there all alone. I hope you get results soon.
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Calamity
Member
10-18-2001
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 10:12 am
 Keeping Kendall in my thoughts and prayers Oscar and Emlee are so cute and thanks for posting The Spirit of a Dog.
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 11:00 am
I saw this great sign in front of the church in town: "Lord please help me to be the person my dog thinks that I am."
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 1:03 pm
wow, jasper. how true is that!? well, except for the times he thinks i'm trying to kill him by wiping his nose, stuffing pills down him and chasing him around with a thermometer. and he still wags his tail and smiles when he's forgiven me and sleeping at my feet. thank you, calamity. the lady at the shelter still doesn't know why my vet clinic won't give the dog what the shelter feels he needs. kendall slept from about midnight til 6:30 without coughing, but was pretty bad when he got up. if i can just keep him down, he's better. even standing up, he will start to cough. no results til monday. i hope this weekend goes okay. if he has something he isn't being treated for, it will be getting worse as we wait for the test results. every disease takes a different rx... kendall and i were supposed to go to the north house today but we are staying around until we get his results. dh will probably come home sunday for a day or two. he is just the cutest darn thing. i would love to see him well so i could see him at his best; he's pretty terrific even when he's sick!
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Saxywildcat
Member
05-30-2005
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 4:14 pm
Tabby, I'm still thinkin bout you and Kendall! And, as promised, here's my Mocha pics. It took longer than I wanted, but I get to add a great one that DH took of me and Mocha not too long ago.

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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 4:33 pm
what a snuggle-pup mocha is! and aha, the beanbag that goes with the earlier post! thanks for continuing to think of kendall! i told him and he wagged his tail at ya.
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Jimmer
Member
08-30-2000
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 4:49 pm
Wow! Now that is what I call a cute lap dog!!! Mocha looks like a sweetie! That is a lovely picture of the two of you.
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Watching2
Member
07-07-2001
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 10:06 pm
Wow Saxy! Mocha has really grown and she's as adorable as ever!! Tabby - I pray it is only Kennel Cough. Poor Kendall. He's had such a rough time of it, but he's so lucky he's got you who is giving him so much care. When we first got married we had 2 kittens and one gave the other distemper. We went in daily for fluid injections and this one day I had to rush the little one in who gave it to the other and it wasn't our normal vet who just happened to live next-door to my MIL. The other guy was a real JERK and I never wanted to see him again. He talked down to me and acted like I was over-reacting and it turned out I was right and we had to take the little sweetie to the after-hours vet to be put down. That vet was so nice and he saw right off just how anemic she was by her gums and the fact that she didn't clot from the fluid injection in the afternoon was another huge thing. I kept her to the last min. I thought I could give her a chance, but when she fell down on the floor meowing and couldn't move, I freaked out and said we had to go. I couldn't watch her die. That stupid vet said she had "gas" when I told her how she was crying after she ate a tiny bit of dry food. Gas my ass!! I've refused to see vets in certain practices and would only accept seeing a certain one or two, but when you go in on an emergency, there's not much you can. Sending warm thoughts and prayers for sweet Kendall.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Friday, February 24, 2006 - 11:19 pm
watching, how sad to have to put that little kitty down. i hate it when doctors or vets talk down to me, too. and this guy i saw really doesn't seem to care about how people care about their pets. when you love a pet, even if you've only had it for a short time, you want that pet to get better and live and you want someone who feels the same way you do about pets to give it care. i can't recall if i mentioned what this male vet and i had a problem over, so if i'm repeating myself, i apologize! when our male cat got a UTI from whiskas food, he got very sick. he had to be in the vets overnight for 3 nights. i went in 3 times a day and basically crawled into his cage to snuggle him. he smelled, he urinated all over everything, but it didn't matter. i didn't want him to forget me or think i had forgotten him. i think we spent about 900 dollars to save his life. even though he was on iv fluids, he really wasn't eating much, because he hated the CD they put him on. finally, he was eating if we mixed it with a little whiskas, which we were going to wean him of. well, about 3 days after we got him home, i noticed he hadn't had a bowel movement--not even a hidden one! he was good about using his litter box, except for when he got his UTI and he hated to sit in the sand, so he wanted to go on my sheets or comforter. the lady vet we saw at the time told us to watch for an impaction and to note if he didn't have a BM. i called the after hours line. it was a saturday night, maybe 6:30. this jerk doctor was on call for small animals. i called the number the recording gave me for his cell phone. he said, "what the hell's the problem?" and i said that i didn't know if it was a true emergency, but the cat hadn't had a BM since it was home and i knew no one would be at the vet's on sunday. he said, "call it now, mrs. c. is this an emergency or not? because you meet me at the office now or forget it. if you call me at 10:00 i will refuse to come out." i hung up on him and sat and cried and worried about my poor cat all night. sunday it had a BM and all was fine. but monday morning i called the vet's office and got my lady vet and told her what had happened. she told me i could have called her (she was on call for large animals, cows and horses and sheep) but i didn't know that. i thought i had to go with the on call person for small animals. anyway, she brought it up at their weekly staff meeting and the guy got written up (the lady was pretty near the head of the practice) and the office manager called me to apologize, etc. for 5 years i managed to avoid this guy and then a bunch of the vets left to run only their large animal practice and some new people bought the small animal practice. this one guy stayed. i knew when i saw him it could go either way; he would either go out of his way to be nice to me or he would take his 5 years of anger out on kendall by not giving a damn. well, i am praying to God that kendall and i can prove him wrong and that kendall does not have some horrible illness. the vet told me not to give the dog honey. not that it would hurt him, but it wouldn't help. well, guess what? if it won't hurt him and it might keep him from coughing a little ...kendall has had 2 doses of 2 teaspoons over the last 5 hours and it does seem to soothe his throat. he also enjoys the taste and for a little guy who has had to eat food that tastes like his crushed up meds for over a week, it's good to actually have a little untainted something! sometimes moms do know best 
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Slinkydog
Member
11-30-2005
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 7:26 am
Tabby, that vet sounds like a real ass. People like that shouldn't be vets. I've dealt with some vets through the years that were kind of like that, but probably not that bad. I'm lucky to have found a clinic here where the docs are really sweet. There are 3 of them. One is young, and two are probably in their sixties. The young one always comes in and says, "What's going on with this baby?" It tells you something when a vet always refers to your pet as "baby." One of the older ones does that sometimes, but is always sweet and caring even when he doesn't. He's the one that referred to my Alex as "a very senior citizen." The other older one is probably the least sweet of the three. Actually, I really did not care that much for him at first, but the more I've dealt with him the more I see that he does care - he's just got a different personality about it. Anyway, I'm glad you don't have to deal with that guy too much. If your regular vet is optimistic, she's probably right.
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Saxywildcat
Member
05-30-2005
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 7:54 am
I am lucky to have a wonderful small town vet here in Winfield. We have been going to Doc Johnson since before I remember. If it's a real quick visit, he sometimes doesn't even charge. Like when he diagnosed Bacon with breast cancer, he didn't charge. And it only cost $10 to put him down when I did. And he's reasonably priced as well I think. He has a nice little clinic just outside of town, right next to his house, so if there are emergencies, he just has to walk over. He's really great.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 10:22 am
Tabby, I don't know if there is a problem with honey.. I do know that you shouldn't give it to hummingbirds because the honey ferments when mixed with water in a feeder and can kill the little birds. But I've never heard that honey is bad for dogs .. and unless he can give you an actual reason, you need to do what you have to do to get those meds into Kendall, right? There is one vet in the practice where I go that Critter instantly disliked! It was so obvious the minute he appeared.. she liked the assistant guy and he had done more too her, taking temp and such, but the vet, no dice. And I didn't care for him either. But the office is actually open on the weekends for appointments, so that is good, and the other vets are good.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 10:36 am
i only read of one case where a dog was allergic to honey and it was stated to be 'very rare'. a lot of vets and breeders do advocate the use of honey to soothe the throat. of course, this is just maybe 4 times a day and not to replace their food! kendall is eating really well today. he has already eaten about 12 ounces of food in the last 2 hours. then he sat in the sunshine in the backyard for about an hour. the only thing i am not sure of the last 12 hours or so is his water consumption. for several days, he would drink several ounces at least 5 or 6 times over a 24 hour period. i am giving him fresh water every few hours, but not sure if the 'old' water has gone down much. no diarrhea, no vomiting, eyes actually look 'pink' rather than flaming red, his tail could be a sign-spinner for a new housing development! and he smiles all the time. i think it's so obvious because his mouth is outlined in black, but it's so adorable. he still has a mind of his own, though! if he doesn't want to come inside yet, he will just sit in the dirt and ignore us. kendall loves to be brushed and combed and he is looking pretty good considering he has coughed on his own paws for two weeks and we can't give him a bath until he's better or the weather warms up. he still won't let us near his face to wipe that darn crusty nose! when he slept the last two nights, though, he didn't gasp and snort for breath. he just had a tiny little normal snore, not like he had difficulty breathing through his crusty nostrils. he loves his plaid bed and he stood there going, 'huh?' today when he came inside and just saw the black pillow insert. he stood there until i got the cover out of the dryer and zipped it back on. now he's sleeping on it. i am really hoping this means kendall is getting better. i know with some illnesses, a dog seems to get better and then goes straight down hill, but i really don't think he has distemper. there should be some vomiting and diarrhea and loss of appetite and lethargy and fever....i think stopping the clavamox and making the vet double his baytril (even though he refused to rx zithro with it) has helped. the shelter people told me the strain that's running through our valley shelters will only respond to baytril and zithro. they wanted a combination of both, but at least i got double baytril. i know you are probably so sick of hearing me go on about kendall! i just can't help it because you are all so supportive and i know you want him to be healthy just like my family wishes. i hope to post some 'well' pics of the little guy soon.
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Citruscitygal
Member
08-07-2003
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 10:42 am
Dropping in quick to say I'm praying for Kendall. He was a lucky dog the day the Tabby family adopted him. I'm sorry that he is so sick, but it does sound like he's making progress - fever down and less coughing. In our area there was a lot of concern about the dog flu. The symptoms sound similar. The original panic is over but they are still telling us to stay away from unfamiliar dogs, including the dog park if you have an older dog. Keep us posted Tabby. I'm not at all tired of hearing the reports. I'll be waiting for good new on the test results. ETA: Loving the pics of everyone's beautiful furbabies
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 5:59 pm
today we got a sympathy card from the vets in town here who knew vito since he was a pup. i told them we had had to put vito down in redding. everyone in the office wrote a personal message and signed it, except for dr. s, the one i don't care for...i'm glad he didn't, because it wouldn't have seemed real. so we got two cards from two vet's offices. kendall has eaten 3 small containers of spoiled-dog frou-frou food and one full can of pedigree with beef chunks. i took him for a 1/2 block walk and he rolled in some tall grass, sneezed on my feet twice, smiled and winked and wagged his tail and walked back home. he really does have a sense of humor! funny, i just looked out the window and saw dr. s 'skate' by my house. i guess it was some type of skating. it was a metal thing with a tall handlebar, he was standing up and his feet were on two different angled 'scooter' or 'skateboard' type things. he was pushing right and left on the things and shooting forward. i have never seen such a weird toy in my life. looks like fun and good exercise, but stay off my block! lol
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 8:10 pm
Keep us posted Tabby! We're pulling for a "...happily ever after!"
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Slinkydog
Member
11-30-2005
| Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 7:34 am
Saxy, was that a picture of Sandy you slipped into Mocha's photo spread?
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Saxywildcat
Member
05-30-2005
| Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 8:19 am
Slinky, it was, but Mocha slipped into a picture of Sandy's! ;) Sandy looked just so cute 
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Supergranny
Member
02-03-2005
| Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 1:45 pm
This has been a hard thread for me to read. I am so sorry about Vito and hope Kendall gets better. I so enjoy everyones pictures and I am going to try to post one of my beloved Sophie. Right now she is sleeping in her basket along side of me. She sleeps alot now.

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Saxywildcat
Member
05-30-2005
| Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 3:17 pm
SG, Sophie is a beautiful dog. She looks so loving!
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Supergranny
Member
02-03-2005
| Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 4:22 pm
This is a funny one. Lucee aka Queen of Eternal Mischief has learned to get on a chair and look in the window.

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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, February 27, 2006 - 12:08 am
Such cute dogs and I like your red deck, too!
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