Oh J I will look that up...I'm not news watcher, good for the bad stuff but I do miss the good stuff when it happens

I guess it is vet week for many of us.
Pearl went to the vet today too. We were close to 2 months overdue for her annual check up & shots. All the HVAC & plumbing stuff we had going on is why we were overdue.

For those reading, even if they don't post but just lurk, I will explain the following:
When female dogs age, most especially those who have been spayed, the sphincter muscle weakens. The sphincter muscle controls the outflow of urine. When this muscle weakens with age then the dog will "leak" involuntarily especially when the dog is relaxed as in sleeping or just laying on their side while watching TV with you & in a very relaxed, mellow state of mind. This is really no different than human women who are post menopausal -- same thing happens with them. The hormones aren't there. So, with dogs, there is a fix for this. It is hormone replacement therapy and is literally estrogen. You give them the pill & it tightens the sphincter muscle & no more involuntary leaking.

Pearl is now 8.5 and she's just begun to present with mild leaking off & on. I've been stepping up her potty breaks which helps a lot in controlling this especially if you take them out to relieve themselves just prior to times you know when they regularly take a nap or are doing a "lazy" thing. But it's become time to address this with hormone replacement.

So the vet visit was also to address that situation. He felt her bladder & said the bladder wall was somewhat hard & a bit thick so wanted to do an X-ray just to make sure she had no stones in there. So back to X-ray she went. All was well. The X-ray showed no abnormalities either in the bladder or in her kidneys -- so no stones & nothing to worry about there.
I knew she had an ear infection in her left ear as well so wanted that addressed. They irrigated her ear & we got some drops that are sort of a 3 pronged approach as they are an antibiotic and anti fungal as well as for yeast infection. Although I always clip her nails myself, it was time to do it & they were very sweet & took care of that while they had her in the back doing the X-ray & ear irrigation. And she got her annual shots. Plus she got her blood drawn for the heart worm test. She's a healthy girl in great shape who also had a pretty big day at the vet while mommy had a pretty big bill to pay at the vet. So we were both a little worn out when we got home but for different reasons.

When my dogs get their shots I always take it easy with them for the rest of the day & don't do the usual exercise/play. I just try to keep them "chilled out" for about 24 hours. Sometimes if you do the normal play or physical exertions with them after shots, they can get sick & urp so we just take it easy.

Rita, I'm very glad Lily got taken care of & you got some answers as to the whole Lyme vaccination thing.

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flaflwrgrl said:I guess it is vet week for many of us.
Pearl went to the vet today too. We were close to 2 months overdue for her annual check up & shots. All the HVAC & plumbing stuff we had going on is why we were overdue.

For those reading, even if they don't post but just lurk, I will explain the following:
When female dogs age, most especially those who have been spayed, the sphincter muscle weakens. The sphincter muscle controls the outflow of urine. When this muscle weakens with age then the dog will "leak" involuntarily especially when the dog is relaxed as in sleeping or just laying on their side while watching TV with you & in a very relaxed, mellow state of mind. This is really no different than human women who are post menopausal -- same thing happens with them. The hormones aren't there. So, with dogs, there is a fix for this. It is hormone replacement therapy and is literally estrogen. You give them the pill & it tightens the sphincter muscle & no more involuntary leaking.

Pearl is now 8.5 and she's just begun to present with mild leaking off & on. I've been stepping up her potty breaks which helps a lot in controlling this especially if you take them out to relieve themselves just prior to times you know when they regularly take a nap or are doing a "lazy" thing. But it's become time to address this with hormone replacement.

So the vet visit was also to address that situation. He felt her bladder & said the bladder wall was somewhat hard & a bit thick so wanted to do an X-ray just to make sure she had no stones in there. So back to X-ray she went. All was well. The X-ray showed no abnormalities either in the bladder or in her kidneys -- so no stones & nothing to worry about there.
I knew she had an ear infection in her left ear as well so wanted that addressed. They irrigated her ear & we got some drops that are sort of a 3 pronged approach as they are an antibiotic and anti fungal as well as for yeast infection. Although I always clip her nails myself, it was time to do it & they were very sweet & took care of that while they had her in the back doing the X-ray & ear irrigation. And she got her annual shots. Plus she got her blood drawn for the heart worm test. She's a healthy girl in great shape who also had a pretty big day at the vet while mommy had a pretty big bill to pay at the vet. So we were both a little worn out when we got home but for different reasons.

When my dogs get their shots I always take it easy with them for the rest of the day & don't do the usual exercise/play. I just try to keep them "chilled out" for about 24 hours. Sometimes if you do the normal play or physical exertions with them after shots, they can get sick & urp so we just take it easy.

Rita, I'm very glad Lily got taken care of & you got some answers as to the whole Lyme vaccination thing.

Wow, must be vet day. Glad Pearl got everything taken care of and all is or soon will be well.

I didn't know that about the leaking on older female dogs. Well, I know they can all leak of they get really old bit don't consider 8.5 that old. Good to know there is something to be done to take care of the problem. Yup, Lily and Pearlie both probably needed their rest this evening as the vets visit is stressful for them. For me fortunately my vet bill was not so bad but I need to get a second shot in 3 weeks and then will be needing a blood titer done in the spring.

@luvsgrtdanes - the Dane weighed 143 lbs, the little girl around 60 lbs. She couldn't walk w/o the Great Dane. They went to school together; while she learned, he slept, next to her in class.
It was a real heart-warmer.

Ann, glad everything got addressed during your vet visit.

@greene - Plato had to wear one of those inverted cones, once he adapted to it, some of his coping behaviors were funny. It wasn't funny at first, really kind of sad; he adapted to it fairly fast. We all celebrated when it was removed. I'll have to dig up a couple pics.

I know Rita, I keep trying to remember how old Pepper was when she began taking estrogen. For the life of me I can't recall exactly but she was 8-10. No, 8 isn't old, especially for our little dogs, after all it's only middle age for them but that is the age when this can start happening.
When it started with Pepper, I had no idea about this & learned it from our vet at the time. Pepper was mostly an outside dog, only coming inside to sleep at night. I would go out on the front porch & find a little wet spot about the size of a quarter or half dollar. It was the most puzzling thing to me. These spots were always in Pepper's favorite places to lay & that's when I began to put 2+2 together & figured out it must be from Pepper. Then I talked to the vet about it and learned.

I found a video about the Great Dane & his girl.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/vide...

Look forward to seeing photos of Plato...always.

Oh, I knew there was something I forgot to mention. Yesterday I was driving with the dogs to the new house and while we were at a red light I grabbed the little nail clippers and made a game of trimming George's nails. Success! I managed to clip a tiny bit off of about 7 nails before the light turned to green. Guess George was being distracted by the traffic and couldn't focus on me and the clippers.

Edited to add:
That video of the little girl and the Great Dane is adorable. Thanks for sharing. Puts a smile on my face.

flaflwrgrl said:I know Rita, I keep trying to remember how old Pepper was when she began taking estrogen. For the life of me I can't recall exactly but she was 8-10. No, 8 isn't old, especially for our little dogs, after all it's only middle age for them but that is the age when this can start happening.
When it started with Pepper, I had no idea about this & learned it from our vet at the time. Pepper was mostly an outside dog, only coming inside to sleep at night. I would go out on the front porch & find a little wet spot about the size of a quarter or half dollar. It was the most puzzling thing to me. These spots were always in Pepper's favorite places to lay & that's when I began to put 2+2 together & figured out it must be from Pepper. Then I talked to the vet about it and learned.

Well, good to know. I do know my previous dogs never had any leaking problems ever.

greene said:Look forward to seeing photos of Plato...always.

Oh, I knew there was something I forgot to mention. Yesterday I was driving with the dogs to the new house and while we were at a red light I grabbed the little nail clippers and made a game of trimming George's nails. Success! I managed to clip a tiny bit off of about 7 nails before the light turned to green. Guess George was being distracted by the traffic and couldn't focus on me and the clippers.

Edited to add:
That video of the little girl and the Great Dane is adorable. Thanks for sharing. Puts a smile on my face.

Good for you making a game of it and getting his nails done.

Thanks Ann.

Here was Plato -


Happy, even under adverse conditions.




On the way to the vet for cone removal.

Rainbow said:Our kids are such characters! The Chi sisters were in the other room when I heard noises coming from there. So I raised my voice to be heard and demanded, "What's going on in there?" Essy immediately ran out of the room and went out into the patio, leaving Chichi to face the music!

They are just like human kids. They keep us

Yes they do.


Plato looks like he adjusted very well to the cone. J, did you call him a cone head? Sorry, that one was too good to resist.

Cool method Greene -- major distractions = pleasant nail clipping.

Ann, glad you got Pearl's issues addressed! My BIL's dog also takes meds for the bladder issues, although we never had a problem with the 2 "girls" that we had before the boy collies. (Like people, they are all different too!)

I agree with just letting them "chill" after the vet visits -- our dogs are usually exhausted from the drive back and forth to the vet, so no problem there; and the cats always have to stay inside for the rest of the day (and night), no matter how much they beg.

I've seen that Dane video on Facebook. I love it

Ann, yes we did, but only some times.

jmorth said:Thanks Ann.

Here was Plato -


Happy, even under adverse conditions.




On the way to the vet for cone removal.

Plato seems to have a very sunny disposition and be happy all of the time.

That's the truth Rita.
I like to describe him as exuberant...most of the time, almost too exuberant when people come over, only recently have we curbed his propensity to take flying jumps at outsiders who visit...now he mostly just runs circles around them...He likes to meet people and other pets on our walks, kids just adore him.

jmorth said:That's the truth Rita.
I like to describe him as exuberant...most of the time, almost too exuberant when people come over, only recently have we curbed his propensity to take flying jumps at outsiders who visit...now he mostly just runs circles around them...He likes to meet people and other pets on our walks, kids just adore him.

A joy to own such a nice dog.

He sounds just like our Shadow. He's now 12 and he hasn't slowed down a bit. He can walk miles without every tiring, and climbs rocks and cliffs by going straight up! He has boundless energy and is so agile. He loves every dog he meets, large or small.