Tempest Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Have just been out in the garden with Ollie while I was sorting the bins out and he had a wee and came back in with me Came upstairs on the PC and literally 30 seconds after coming in I heard Chris shouting in horror and Olls has pooped all over the rug in the lounge and all across the laminate In the five years I've had him he's NEVER once pooped indoors - what I'm even more worried about is the fact that we'd literally just come in from outside His poo was nice and firm so he's not got the runs or anything but I'm just in a complete panic as I know that the vet said that when his illness progresses he won't be able to control going to the toilet anymore and I'm just in tears now as I'm thinking maybe things are getting worse for him :mecry: I've been really worried about him all weekend as he's been having lots of head tremors and body judders and has been behaving oddly. He keeps constantly scratching at the back door every 5 mins or so in the evening and when I get up to let him out he just stands in the kitchen staring in to space like he doesn't know what he's meant to be doing His barking has got much worse of late too as once he starts it's like he goes into his own little world and doesn't stop I know it's only one poop indoors but I'm just really worried about what it might mean as it's never happened before in his whole life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemstone Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Poor Ollie and poor you They do worry us don't they Hopefully it was a one-off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Jules I know it's a different dog, different situation, but Sweetie started to have accidents in the house, which is something she had never done before either, except for one wee on her first night before I got used to her patterns. She didn't really bark but she did the staring into space and she started to get "stuck" in places and couldn't quite find her way out/around, even though we hadn't moved anything. I think her eyesight had deteriorated too. I don't know if you have heard of Aktivait but it's something our holistic vet recommended for her. I wish I had heard of it and started her on it sooner. We got ours from our usual vet, but there's some info here: http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page...products_id=238 Worth a look? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyMalc Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Lots and lots love sent to my favourite Refuge dog :wub: :wub: :wub: and a huge :GroupHug: to you for all your worries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruby1Nic Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 What a worry I don't have any advice. I hope it's just an isolated incident. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Ange have you got any idea what size/construction the Aktivait tablets are? I'm only asking as we've had to stop all the meds Richard gave us as I couldn't get Ollie to take the capsules any more. I tried sprinkling the powder on his food but he wouldn't eat if there was meds mixed in with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacobean Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Have you tried hiding his meds in the middle of something like dairylea? Hoping it's a little wobble and his meds/activait help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Ange have you got any idea what size/construction the Aktivait tablets are? I'm only asking as we've had to stop all the meds Richard gave us as I couldn't get Ollie to take the capsules any more. I tried sprinkling the powder on his food but he wouldn't eat if there was meds mixed in with it Jules, it's a couple of years since I used them but I'm sure they are capsules that you open and sprinkle over the food Though what they would taste/smell of to a dog I'm not sure. I wonder if anyone on here who uses them, could send you one to try to see if Ollie will eat food with the Aktivait on? Is he just having dried food? If he had them mixed into some moist food/fish or something would he be more likely to take them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 If he had them mixed into some moist food/fish or something would he be more likely to take them? Unfortunately not - I tried Naturediet (well in fact all the wet foods really), sardines, chicken, gravy - pretty much everything really. If there was tablets/powder on his food he wouldn't eat. Thankfully the steroids he has each morning are teeny tiny so he has them in a piece of cheese but capsules were a no go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel n Hardy Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 What a worry I don't have any advice. I hope it's just an isolated incident. x me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie Claire Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Hi I don't know the history of Ollie as have just seen this thread but our vet prescribed Vivitonin for our old dog, Roxy, as it aids with confusion. She was barking a lot and staring into space as well. We had a bit of a nightmare trying to get her to take her pills as well and we tried peanut butter which went down a treat. We put her pill in a small dollup of it and she loved it (not too much as it is quite rich and gave her the runs once when we gave her too much) Once once she realised that a pill was in it it was too sticky for her to spit out! for Ollie and you, I know its horrible when your loved pet is not well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Pate is the preferred method in the house of merle - the dogs practically take my fingers off for it, even with a tablet inside, so might be worth trying for Ollie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 It sounds in some respects similar to CDRM. It's sad to watch them gradually deteriorate and sadly, in the end, there is a limit to what you can really do. There are however some things that might help slow the condition I found that feeding chicken & pasta rather than some of the commercial foods helped Joyce not to have so many accidents in the house. Wrapping any tablets in chicken also usually saw them eaten with ease. In the later stages, if necessary you may also be able to "express" / manage the toileting problem if you have the stomach to do so. Some believe that vitamin C & vitamin B help delaty the progress of CDRM / the immune system aspect of the condition. Hydrotherapy may delay muscle wastage. I'm not sure exactly what Ollies diagnosis is / whether these might be applicable at all? It may also be worth you having a look at http://www.vetspecialists.co.uk/06_Animal_...xamination.html Best of luck with your fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Some believe that vitamin C & vitamin B help delaty the progress of CDRM / the immune system aspect of the condition. Hydrotherapy may delay muscle wastage. I'm not sure exactly what Ollies diagnosis is / whether these might be applicable at all? Sorry only just catching up with this. Ian - what Ollie has is v. similar to CDRM and could even be CDRM really - without an MRI (which we don't want to put him through) we don't really know exactly Ollie had previously been to hydro for around 18 months but we stopped him swimming a couple of months ago as it was just exhausting him really and as he's panting so much on the steroids we found his breathing difficult in the pool and felt it was too much for him It's difficult with the tablets isn't it? He's fine taking small tablets like the steroids but a lot of the herbal tablets seem to come in large capsules and he just won't take them no matter what I cover/wrap them in and we felt that getting him eating was more important that covering the food in pills/powders which seemed to put him off eating. He's definately losing weight despite eating quite well at the momemnt as I can feel his spine now when I stroke him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 He's definately losing weight despite eating quite well at the momemnt as I can feel his spine now when I stroke him Jules, sorry if you're already doing this, but have you tried feeding him smaller amounts, but more often? Sweetie started losing weight and she was not overweight to begin with, so I started splitting her food up into four meals a day, which meant she had less to try to eat in one go and which did help her. I also used to add a spoon of olive oil to some of her meals, to help encourage her to eat/give her some condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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