Some of these are minor others can be deadly. The biggest concern in the list is the first one below. If your large breed and deep chested dog begins to vomit water, food, paces and cannot eat or drink, run do not walk to the nearest hospital. I received a “free” Borzoi or Russian Wolfhound from a well-known breeder/judge who wanted to off-load a dog as I call it, so she could breed more. With my background in vet medicine I was lucky and noticed the symptoms immediately. Within 24 hours of my free dog to a good home we were in the emergency hospital at 1:00 am and a $2,500 emergency surgery.

Simply put this is were the stomach instead of being horizontal with the body just decides to take a nap and turn over on it’s side. The normal stomach has mucus, gas, food, enzymes and many other things going on inside in order to process food. With bloat, all the stuff in the stomach that makes it work and for reasons unknown stretches to an abnormal and twists size causing extreme pain. This also cuts off the blood supply to the organs the big one being the heart. There are many theories and people with dogs and deep chests know one basic rule. Never feed or water your dog immediately after a walk or before. Rarely does the basic stomach tube and stomach pump work and it requires immediate surgery. The usual procedure is to “tack” the stomach to one of the ribs holding it in place. This is a very life threatening situation so do not think it can recover on it’s own.

p.s. While at the hospital, ask if you can have a sedative along with your dog BEFORE they give you the bill.

Bladder Stone:

There are a few different types of these and theories on how and why they form but we don’t really care. What we care about is what to do about them and there are two options. In some cases they require surgery to remove. In other cases that is not necessary and a simple diet change can dissolve them. They can usually been seen on x-rays or ultrasound not always by feeling around. .

Demodectic Mange:

Sarcoptic Mange: Or the close enough related SCABIES YUCK: .

What more comical way to get this one than in vet school. Our college dorm had a run of this and there was no lab procedure in animals as nasty as thinking that under your skin there are creatures running around pooping under your skin. .

In dogs, the little heathens do not like fur so they pop a tent in the areas such as ear flaps, tummy, and any place where there is lack of fur. The dogs will also itch beyond belief and it is contagious. They burrow under the skin, lay eggs, hatch and repeat. Although this can be rather difficult to diagnosis it can be treated but it is really a gross pain in the butt. .

Bottom line, we don’t care what type of mange it is it is GROSS, those moving mite buggers breeding like bunnies.

Collapsing Trachea:

This is really a very big small dog issue and dogs that yank until they turn blue on a walk. The trachea is just another name for windpipe. It is made up of what would look like a bunch of little “C’s” of cartilage. Trachea’s collapse when that cartilage gets weak and it makes hard work of inhaling correctly. Not much can be done with this except cough suppressants and inhalers. Surgery MAY be beneficial but costly.

Fleas:

We all loathe these things! Colorado never had a very large flea issue. However, over the past 10 years these little buggers are becoming a big problem. Enough flea infestation in an animal can be deadly. On the normal things we see here in Colorado it can present many issues. Flea allergies, worms, the famous cat scratch fever and flea anemia. Since they live off drinking blood like vampires, the female will breed hordes of these eggs within 24-48 hours of “eating”. She will lay hundreds of eggs until she dies.

If your pet has fleas, make sure you use the least toxic shampoo available. Purchase the bombs and do your house, since they can live off a host for a period of time. You don’t need to bath your dog, have them lie on the carpet and have one of the heathen buggers jump right back on. Also do not forget to bomb your car and most importantly, READ THE DIRECTIONS! Many of these things require you to leave your house for a few hours.

(Note on author: The advantage of opinions is they cannot be wrong and they cannot be right. Consequently all written material is strictly my opinion based on over 30 years working with animals. I do not believe in “experts” for one finds out quickly that there is always someone who is smarter, better educated and a wider life experience. If I was an expert and knew everything I would opt to be dictator of the world, not working with animals. I do not believe in statistics since for every con argument there are equal pro arguments to challenge those statistics. Consequently rarely, if ever do I use them.)