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Positive thoughts.... and Pets

HUGS!!! Hope you find out what's ailing him. Hope he gets better soon!!!
 
Yes, they definitely are like family. I lost my Cupcake at 7 years old, very quickly from liver failure. No reason at all why it happened. After she died, I started reading up on dog foods, and I had her on one of the worse ones!!!! I really believe that the dog food killed her. PLEASE check your dog food and research it!!! I hope they will be able to resolve Benson's problems and that it turns out to be a very easy fix. They are our children!!
 
Oh dear, I don't like hearing about wee furbabies being sick.

We once had a teacup poodle that was snatched and ran off with by a doberman pinscher. We thought she was not going to make it, but she did! She was fine, except she decided that the hallway carpet was a much better place to go pee than outside. LOL Wet socks in the AM were NOT fun. Also, that same dog wiggled out of my arms and fell to a concrete step. She survived that as well.

Every other dog my family owned lived long lives in spite of a intermittent health problems. I pray this is the case for little Benson!
 
Oh Jen!! Sorry to hear about your fur baby. :(

We had a German Shepherd with a heart murmur. The Vet wanted us to do an ultrasound or something before we got him neutered to see how bad it was. He called me in to tell me that there was a serious problem and to make an emergency appointment that day for the UC Davis Vet Hospital. And if they didn't have an appointment, to tell them we were bringing him up anyway.

Yikes! We took him up there (about 70 miles from home) and they discovered he essentially had a hole in his heart and in was in heart failure. They inserted a device into his heart through a vein in his leg to repair it. He was on a ton of heart medications too. Poor puppy. We got him when he was 9 months old. Surgery was a little after a year old. He died when he was three. I found him one night in the back yard. I think his heart just went out. He was a cool dog.
 
Oh my goodness, guys! I'm so sorry I missed this earlier! Thank you so much @Karen for posting! (I'm excited to leave tomorrow!) I've been so in and out, between school things, dog things, dog appointments, driving all over the place for doctors, tests, food, and prescriptions.... I'm spinning in circles!

Benson is home. He was at the hospital for a few days. All of his tests showed everything was good, endoscopy was pink and healthy - good. None of them really showed anything wrong - frustrating! We talked to the doctor again - his biopsy's came back that he could have a food allergy, but that his intestines are inflamed. He talked about Inflammatory Bowel Disease in dogs, but was not 100% sure. So, he opted that we try a special fish and potato diet. This was a good thing - as we had experience in this, our old dog had food allergies too. Since we were planning our vacation, I did talk the doctor into prescribing the nausea meds, so when he went to the dog sitter he wouldn't be throwing up.

Well, we started the F&P diet (without nausea meds) and he was still throwing up after a few days. Ugh. We called again. Vet says he wants to keep the diet, and we will start steroid/Prednisone treatment. For the first few days we are also giving nausea meds. He will have both meds for 7 days, and then just the Prednisone. The vet thinks the inflammation of the intestines needs to be "fixed" before we can see if this food is working. Last night, he didn't throw up, but had an accident. So... it's not one thing, it's now another, lol! I think that is just a side effect of the steroids - more drinking water, means more often peeing. Hopefully, that we can work around.

Fingers crossed it all settles down, and this diet helps... then we can wean off the steroids!

Thank you all for your thoughts and positivity - it is so heartwarming that I have this little community of love available for support!
 
Aw! I hope that diet helps Benson! I know how much our pets mean to us... Our sweet poochie, Max, passed away last October and we still miss him so much! They are truly part of our families...

Have a great vacation and praying for Benson! <3
 
@jk703
Jenn as you know I lost my two fur babies last fall. It was so hard on me. BUT they were older. Our Sokee had an congestive heart and was on medication for a long time. When she started to have issues with swelling in her abdomen and needed to go onto medicine for that also we were told to go to a sodium free diet to help with that. WELL we had many issues with finding a dog food that would work for her so I made her food from scratch and that helped for a while, I would boil a whole chicken then take all the meat off and then cook all the veggies and rice in the broth. After that I would grind it all together in our Kitchen Aid mixer, grinder attachment. scoop them in serving sizes onto a cookie sheet on wax paper and freeze, when frozen place in bags. THIS really helped to do once ever few weeks then it isn't a job your doing all the time.
Just so you know, being on a soft diet you will need to brush their teeth OR at least give hard treats to help their teeth get cleaned.
It would be awesome if you can find a hard food for Benson. I agree with Jan, in finding a quality dog food. Do you have a independently owned pet store near you? The one we used here she was a huge animal lover so she only carried what she knew was the best in her store.
 
Man...poor guy (and mama)! I hope you are able to get his diet and allergies all straightened out.
Enjoy your vacay, too!
 
@jk703 Hope you have a great vacation! Glad to hear y'all are still exploring options for Benson's tummy. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers - that you will be able to go off and enjoy yourself and not worry!
 
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