National Day of Canine Gastrointestinal Upset and Pancreatitis is Nearly Upon us!

[Rhiannon12866]

Dr. Eric Barchas, DVM

The end of human dinner time tomorrow marks the start of a very dangerous period for the dogs of America.

People, exhausted and bloated, will retire to sofas and armchairs across the country. Dogs will devour unattended turkey carcasses, ransack garbage cans (compost bins in northern California), gobble up giblets, stuff themselves with stuffing, lap up gravy, pilfer pumpkin pie and help themselves to whatever leftovers they can get their paws on.

Dogs that engage in these sorts of activities aren’t bad dogs. They are simply doing what dogs do.

http://blogs.dogster.com/vet_blog_information_advice/national-day-of-canine-gastrointestinal-upset-and-pancreatitis-is-nearly-upon-us/

My vet said that the day after Thanksgiving is always his busiest day of the year... So don't let Fido or Fluffy overdo it, either... :hi:

[imdjh]

1. My dog would eat a whole turkey if given access. She's a good dog, but not rational when it comes...

... to food. I'm not the best daddy in the whole world, I do let her have the occasional McDonald's hamburger, but I do worry about the stomach bloat thing, and have no idea what spices are bad for dogs, so I assume that most spices and salt are bad for dogs.

[dflprincess]

35. I don't any dog is rational about food

I saw a show on Animal Planet where they said one of the few things dogs have retained from their wolf animals is the need to eat all they can whenever the opportunity presents itself. Makes sense for a wolf living in the wild, but a domestic canine just doesn't learn that there will be more food later.

[roguevalley]

46. we had a basset hound, Rosebud, that actually got up on a chair,

took the turkey and tried to carry it off. She also once took a whole stick of butter, laid down on my folks bed and licked it until it was gone.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. Thanks for the tip.

Most people food is not good for doggies.

[Doremus]

11. Oh pishposh. People food, prepared properly and not dripping in fats and sodium,

is good for people AND dogs.*

In fact, I would say it's FAR healthier for our furbabies than the toxic-waste-in-a-can food that uses animal byproducts, it's as least as healthy as human-grade pet foods and far more palatable than both.

The pet food industry has spent millions convincing us otherwise.




*caveats include
onions
garlic
grapes
sugarless gum
chocolate

[Hello_Kitty]

12. True, But, sadly, that does not describe a good deal of "people" food these days. eom

[Doremus]

15. True enough. Fido doesn't need fast food anymore than WE do.

A nice meatloaf with green beans and mashed taters

or some turkey slices with yams and spinach ... now that's another story!

[imdjh]

40. I thought garlic was good for dogs. Natural flea repellent.

[GMA]

3. Thank you--

We have four min pins, and we'll keep a close eye on all of them. Course, they're too little to reach any food not given to them, so they're pretty safe. Nice reminder, though!

[MadMaddie]

22. A friend of mine has a sister who has a small dog

who was industrious enough to figure out she could jump on the dining room chairs and then on to the table...

Well one night they were having polish sausage.....the humans got up to clean the table....the sly dog waited for her opening....

1. Humans left the table - check
2. Humans backs are to dog - check
3. Human left the chair pulled out - check
4. Humans still not looking - check
5. Jump on to chair - check
6. Jump on to table - check
7. Swallow one polish sausage - check
8. Second polish almost do.... oops humans are looking at me, now they are yelling, swallow what I can - check
9. Lying on back now on the couch, not sure why my stomach is bloated and I am so sleepy....

She was okay!! Had bit of an upset tummy which is to be expected...

Needless to say they were much more careful about keeping the chairs pushed in....she is much older now so she doesn't have her jumping legs anymore.

Just sayin...they can be sneaky!! My boy Max is allergic to chicken and turkey proteins so he doesn't get anything like that.

[Rhiannon12866]

41. Yikes! But I've had that chair problem, myself...

Jack's a small dog, too, and is a little mountain goat when it comes to climbing. When he was a puppy (not that he's changed much at age three), he had quite a taste for paper products. He ate a five dollar bill, raided the wastebasket (learned that from his much larger "brother"), and when I went out I had to make sure that the chair wasn't within jumping distance of my BF's computer desk, since he saw that as a great opportunity for "grazing" among the papers... And he has a sensitive tummy. x(

[Dennis Donovan]

4. I thought it was Native American Genocide Day?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7090507

:D

Recommended, of course...;)

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Huh?!

Somebody already dipping into the eggnog? :shrug:

Thanks! :hi:

[villager]

5. my sweet old Dalmatian rescue would go apeshit around any "untended" T'giving chow...

We've had to slim her down, since she was "sprung" from the pound! But she is *quite* fond of her snacks! ;-)

[Rhiannon12866]

9. I already have the same problem, too...

My pup's vet said that "he's not exactly obese," but he could stand to lose "a couple of pounds." And he's a toy breed... x( He begs for snacks, but I have a tough time getting him to eat his food. :-(

He's rescue, too. :-) :hi:

Jack :loveya:

[Dennis Donovan]

18. Cute dog - not so cute gut behind him...

:D

[Rhiannon12866]

25. Hey! He lost a pound!

That's a lot for such a little guy... And he's not fat, he's fluffy! ;)

[Dennis Donovan]

26. I was talking about the lump behind him....

:D

[Rhiannon12866]

28. Oh, that...

You can't see the whole thing. Something tells me that he misses that "lump" a whole lot more than that one pound, or anything else... We both do. ;)

[villager]

21. Aww... yay, Jack!

Good on you for rescuing him! ;-)

[Rhiannon12866]

27. Thanks, it's turned out to be a kind of mutual thing...

I can't imagine life without him. :loveya:

[villager]

29. our "beasts" do kind of rescue us too, yes?

;-)

[Rhiannon12866]

32. That's sure been true for me.

I've never gone out looking for a pet to adopt, but they seem to find me, anyway. And I've always been so very fortunate. A vet tech who used to work for me vet was helping to foster Jack, a pet shop rescue. She knew my other dog, Meneken, same unusual breed with an even sadder story (his elderly owner died. ;(), so she contacted me. The rest is history. :D

Jack's on the left... :-)

[MineralMan]

7. Yes, but, that said,

It really is OK to give doggy a small treat of turkey with no extras. If you keep the quantity down to about what you feed in the doggy dish at regular meals, no harm will come to the doggy. Just keep them away from the fatty crap like the gravy, etc.

Make it a treat, not an occasion for gorging, and doggy will be happy and just fine.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. And I'm as guilty as anybody, when it comes to that...

I can't resist those faces... I just have to remember not to overdo it, and keep the stuff that's bad for them out of harm's way. I'm told that turkey skin is particularly bad... x(

My little pup likes cooked veggies, too. :-)

[jgraz]

8. My dog went through pancreatitis once.

It was brutal. She almost died from the pain. :(

[Zoeisright]

13. My cat had it two years ago.

It was terrible - she was throwing up in the litterbox and just lying down on it. She was in the hospital for two days. She's fine now, but has to have steroids for the rest of her life.

[liberal N proud]

10. Not at our house this year

For the first time in 28 years, we are without a beloved dog.

The wife keeps saying she wants a dog. Fine, I would love a dog too but I know who will be doing the training. I am just not ready for that right now.

[MadMaddie]

43. Get an older dog that has been abandoned by his/her family!

Already trained and just waiting for a new family to pick them up!

One of them is waiting for you!!

[Rhiannon12866]

47. I agree. I adopt senior dogs from rescue

And have never regretted it, not once. Rescue pups come in all ages and breeds (or not). Try Petfinder... :hi:

http://www.petfinder.com/index.html

Both of my pups became homeless when their respective owners died. ;( And they became BFF... :-)

Meneken and Sheena :loveya:

[Cirque du So-What]

14. Good advice

You're not doing your animals any favors by allowing them to overindulge on the foods you like.

One of my dogs got quite ill several days after Thanksgiving one year. A couple of days after the Turkey Day meal, I scavenged the rest of the meat for turkey tetrazzini and took the carcass out to the trash, where it sat for a couple of days before it got picked up. Somehow the can got opened; she was too small to have overturned the can. She ate some of the bones and scraps of spoiled meat and became violently ill. It was touch-and-go for about three days, but she recovered at the vet's office.

On a more humorous note, I had an incident last year involving my cat. After it finished cooking, I set the roasting pan holding the turkey on a countertop and waited for it to cool before carving it. I'm very laid back about my cat's activities, and I hardly notice when one is on the countertop. It drives my wife crazy, but I argue that it's not worth having a cat if I have to police its activities 24/7. Anyway, I turned around and observed the cat licking the turkey, as nature intended. That barbed tongue is for stripping flesh from bone, yunno. That incident remained a secret between me, Sophie, and the turkey.

[maglatinavi]

23. ifffff!

I had been your guest I wouldn't have had a problem... I am vegeterian... did your guests get feline characteristics??? did they wind up meowing? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Rhiannon12866]

24. My dog got very sick at Christmas one year...

My mother left a gift bag containing a chocolate bar under the tree and my dog ate the whole thing. I came home to find only the wrapper, all over. I spent the rest of the night on the phone with ASPCA Poison Control, sent there by my local Animal Emergency Clinic. They have a record of all kinds of chocolate candy, and what it contains. I had to stay up all night and watch her. If she wasn't prone to seizures, I would have had to bring her in and they would have induced vomiting. She was fine, but it was a very scary and long night. ;(

As for my cat, I'd pick out some giblets from the stiffing and slip them to her. Nobody minded because nobody knew. ;)

[MadMaddie]

44. That is too funny!! Your cat is thinking she won't tell if you don't!!!

Bwa..haw..haw....:rofl:

[davsand]

16. An intro for the story of Jasper and the Dinner Rolls (long read but funny)

This one makes the rounds every year and it never fails to make me ROFL:



Those of you who have had animals will probably appreciate it more. It is a story that is hilarious in itself and the person that wrote it is a good writer and made the story even better.. Enjoy ...

We have a fox terrier by the name of Jasper. He came to us in the summer of 2001 from the fox terrier rescue program. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of adoption, imagine taking in a 10 year old child about whom you know nothing and committing to doing your best to be a good parent.

Like a child, the dog came with his own idiosyncrasies. He will only sleep on the bed, on top of the covers, nuzzled as close to my face as he can get without actually performing a French kiss on me.

Lest you think this is a bad case of “no discipline,” I should tell you that Perry and I tried every means to break him of this habit including locking him in a separate bedroom for several nights. The new door cost over $200, but I digress.

Five weeks ago we began remodeling our house. Although the cost of the project is downright obnoxious, it was 20 years overdue AND it got me out of cooking Thanksgiving for family, extended family, and a lot of friends that I like more than family most of the time.

I was assigned the task of preparing 124 of my famous yeast dinner rolls for the two Thanksgiving feasts we did attend.

I am still cursing the electrician for getting the new oven hooked up so quickly It was the only appliance in the whole darn house that worked, thus the assignment.

I made the decision to cook the rolls on Wednesday evening to reheat Thursday morning.. Since the kitchen was freshly painted, you can imagine the odor. Not wanting the rolls to smell like Sherwin Williams #586, I put the rolls on baking sheets and set them in the living room to rise for a few hours. Perry and I decided to go out to eat, returning in about an hour. The rolls were ready to go in the oven.

It was 8:30 PM. When I went to the living room to retrieve the pans and much to my shock one whole pan of 12 rolls was empty. I called out to Jasper and my worst nightmare became a reality. He literally wobbled over to me. He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. I swear even his cheeks were bloated.

I ran to the phone and called our vet. After a few seconds of uproarious laughter, he told me the dog would probably be OK, however, I needed to give him Pepto Bismol every 2 hours for the rest of the night.

God only knows why I thought a dog would like Pepto Bismol any more than my kids did when they were sick. Suffice it to say that by the time we went to bed the dog was black, white and pink. He was so bloated we had to lift him onto the bed for the night.

We arose at 7:30 and as we always do first thing; put the dog out to relieve himself. Well, the dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging the grass or headed 90 degrees in another direction.

He couldn't lift his leg to pee, so he would just walk and pee at the same time. When he ran down the small incline in our back yard he couldn't stop himself and nearly ended up running into the fence.

His pupils were dilated and he was as dizzy as a loon. I endured another few seconds of laughter from the vet (second call within 12 hours) before he explained that the yeast had fermented in his belly and that he was indeed drunk.

He assured me that, not unlike most binges we humans go through, it would wear off after about 4 or 5 hours and to keep giving him Pepto Bismol.

Afraid to leave him by himself in the house, Perry and I loaded him up and took him with us to my sister's house for the first Thanksgiving meal of the day.

My sister lives outside of Muskogee on a ranch, (10 to 15 minute drive). Rolls firmly secured in the trunk (124 less 12) and drunk dog leaning from the back seat onto the console of the car between Perry and me, we took off.

Now, I know you probably don't believe that dogs burp, but believe me when I say that after eating a tray of risen unbaked yeast rolls, DOGS WILL BURP. These burps were pure Old Charter. They would have matched or beat any smell in a drunk tank at the police station. But that's not the worst of it.

Now he was beginning to fart and they smelled like baked rolls. God strike me dead if I am not telling the truth! We endured this for the entire trip to Karen's, thankful she didn't live any further away than she did.

Once Jasper was firmly placed in my sister's garage with the door locked, we finally sat down to enjoy our first Thanksgiving meal of the day. The dog was the topic of conversation all morning long and everyone made trips to the garage to witness my drunken dog, each returning with a tale of Jasper's latest endeavor to walk without running into something. Of course, as the old adage goes, “what goes in must come out” and Jasper was no exception.

Granted, if it had been me that had eaten 12 risen, unbaked yeast rolls, you might as well have put a concrete block up my behind, but alas a dog's digestive system is quite different from yours or mine. I discovered this was a mixed blessing when we prepared to leave Karen's house. Having discovered his “packages” on the garage floor, we loaded him up in the car so we could hose down the floor.

This was another naive decision on our part. The blast of water from the hose hit the poop on the floor and the poop on the floor withstood the blast from the hose. It was like Portland cement beginning to set up and cure.

We finally tried to remove it with a shovel. I (obviously no one else was going to offer their services) had to get on my hands and knees with a coarse brush to get the remnants off of the floor. And as if this wasn't degrading enough, the darn dog in his drunken state had walked through the poop and left paw prints all over the garage floor that had to be brushed, too.

Well, by this time the dog was sobering up nicely so we took him home and dropped him off before we left for our second Thanksgiving dinner at Perry's sister's house.

I am happy to report that as of today (Monday) the dog is back to normal both in size and temperament. He has had a bath and is no longer tricolor. None the worse for wear, I presume. I am also happy to report that just this evening I found 2 risen unbaked yeast rolls hidden inside my closet door.

It appears he must have come to his senses after eating 10 of them, but decided hiding 2 of them for later would not be a bad idea. Now, I'm doing research on the computer about: “How to clean unbaked dough from the carpet.”

[PJPhreak]

42. BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

My furbaby has had a tender tummy all day,been cleaning up after him most of the morning. (He's feeling better now)

I needed that laugh...still have tears coming outta my eyes and my stomach is gonna be sore from laughing so hard!

Thanks!

[tonysam]

19. My kids will get a little bit of white meat from the turkey, and

that will be it for them.

[angrycarpenter]

20. This tiny little dog would eat herself to death if allowed.

Fortunately we keep a close eye on her. She will get a couple of bites and that is it.

[Rhiannon12866]

33. OMG! They don't come cuter than this...

She is adorable! And I'd think a couple of bites would be all she could hold... :loveya:

[angrycarpenter]

34. She is maybe 5 pounds but she eats like a horse.

I seriously do not know where she puts it. She is kind of hyper (natural chihuahua) so she burns fuel all day.

[MadMaddie]

45. OMG! What sweet devilish face!! I can see the mischief in her

eyes!

[TwilightGardener]

30. My dogs always get a scaled-down version of the meal--a little taste of everything.

Turkey, stuffing, taters, cranberry sauce, any spare rolls. They LOVE IT!!

[Doremus]

39. Mine too!

Turkey and fixins all around! :thumbsup:

Good and good for 'em too!

[kestrel91316]

31. Ahhhh, ka-ching, ka-ching! The sweet sound of money from those very

expensive cases of acute pancreatitis that will be filling the waiting rooms of veterinary hospitals across the nation......

Sigh. My feline patients don't GET holiday pancreatitis. It's a dog thing.

[emilyg]

36. Of course. Cats are smarter.

:hide:

[OnionPatch]

37. Every good composting Californian knows that meat does not go in the compost bin.

Or any sort of animal products. :hi:
(Generally this tends to make the compost pile much less attractive to dogs.)

[Berry Cool]

38. Those damn Bumpuses!!!!

[Rhiannon12866]

48. Turkey Pet Safety 101: Thanksgiving Food Your Pet Should Avoid

Got this in e-mail and thought I'd pass it on... Happy Thanksgiving to all the DU pet lovers out there... :hi:



Thanksgiving is a time of gathering, feasting till your hearts & waistline content, and last but not least hitting the snooze button for some Zzzz’s. With all the fixings of a Thanksgiving meal, and sad puppy eyes gazing at that prize drumstick you can be tempted to set out an extra place setting or share the turkey fare, scraps and leftovers with your furry family member . While your motives may be good, many of the foods you will be cooking on the big day are doggy no no's. In fact, some of your most beloved turkey fixings including grandma's famous cornbread stuffing secret family recipe, can be hazardous to your pets health and cause illness or even death. Here are a few foods that your dog should always avoid and why.

http://blogs.dogtime.com/pawlux-com-a-day-in-the-life-of-an-eco-dog/2009/11/turkey-pet-safety-101-thanksgiving-food-your-pet-should-avoid