Kaleigh

I recently purchased an E-collar from my vet. My dog has a hot spot on his belly, right around his old incision from where he got neutered as a puppy about a year and a half ago. The first few days he wore it I was seeing improvement, it was starting to scab up and I was able to keep it dry/treated more effectively. Just the other day, my husband caught him pressing the collar against the couch in a way that he could bend the plastic and then reach around and chew/lick the sore. Now it's red and weepy again and he's chewed off a lot of the scabbing around the edges. I know it has to be itchy and uncomfortable, but he HAS to quit messing with it if it's going to get better! I'd hate to have to muzzle him, but I can't monitor him 24/7 to make sure he's not chewing around the collar while Im asleep or at work either. I have a feeling he's using the sides of his crate at nighttime to bend the collar and lick too.. What else can I do?

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/2075710801.html

I like the look of him. I've got a nice all around gaming horse already, but I'm looking for something with a little more handle to do some more extensive reining and calf roping with. Think he's worth taking a look at?

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/1923489431.html

We took her to the vet yesterday because she has been very ouchy, and she was diagnosed with a nail bed infection primarily in her front feet. I started her last night on 2 different antibiotics and have been soaking her feet in medicated shampoo/warm water. She's pretty sore, and she's a big girl so there's a lot of weight to be carried around on tender toes. What else can I do to make her more comfortable while we get this all cleared up?

So there's a boarder at the barn where I ride who's just brought one of his horses back from his cousin's place. He's a retired highway patrolman and was keeping this mare at his cousin's facility. Apparently their animals were being poisoned by someone (they're pretty sure they know who it is). They've come to the conclusion that it was most likely being put in the water, one horse died, their dog died, and many other horses that were once healthy and happy were sick and dropping weight like crazy. All of the horses have been moved from that property since.

Dancer is a 14hh SSH mare. She's been picking up weight slowly but surely in the few weeks she's been with us, but she's definitely not out of the woods yet. They think it was arsenic that was used to poison the animals, but I'm not entirely sure of the side effects. While shedding her out, we noticed a LOT of hair came off. Her right leg from below her hip down to her hock is bald, along with the better part of the underside of her belly, some of her left leg, the girth area, her elbows, and some of her face. We're wondering if this is a side effect of the poison or perhaps a fungus?

Does anyone know what it could be? We haven't ruled out any other poisons, but so far they think it could be arsenic. A necropsy was performed on the mare that died on the property, but so far they haven't got the toxicology results back from the lab.

I have a puppy who'll be 7 weeks old on the 30th. I've had him since the day he was born. His Mom is a Dobe/Rottie cross who was pregnant when we adopted her a few months back. According to the vet during his last visit, pup is half mastiff. Needless to say he's a big puppy. He didn't have any littermates, unfortunately. The other 3 born with him were stillborn and we almost lost Angel--she had a retained puppy in her uterus that required emergency surgery.

Well, now he's happy and healthy, we've been in the weaning process since about 5 weeks and things are going well--except he bites really, REALLY hard. He bit the hell out of my mother-in-law and drew a lot of blood and then a few days later drew blood from my father-in-law. He'll bite your face when you bend down or pick him up, he bites toes, ankles, fingers, what have you. He started growling a lot at 3 weeks and hasn't really stopped showing signs of aggression since. He gets along very well with our other dogs (mostly all chihuahuas), but I'm afraid that not having litter mates to play and learn with he may be getting too aggressive. I try to imitate what Mom does with her mouth and put my hand kind of around his head/neck area and gently but firmly push him away when he bites. He snarls and growls a lot, but generally he'll get the idea after a minute, but forgets and comes right back. I'm catching all kinds of hell for his behavior since he's my dog and I don't want him harming anyone anymore, but I don't want to get rid of him either and that's what I'll be facing. After all, he's only still a puppy and I know he doesn't know any better, but what can I do to curb this behavior? Everyone he's bitten is hellbent on saying he'll grow up to be this monstrous attack dog that's going to eat everyone's a$$es..well, not word for word, but they're convinced that since he's going to be so big, he's going to be some mean, uncontrollable animal that's going to bite everyone.

I just want what's best for my pup and for everyone who interacts with him.

Oh and pitiful as it sounds, I still haven't named him. He's a tawny/reddish color with floppy ears and a wrinkly face and loose folds of skin. We've been toying with Bear, Tonka, Diesel, Hank, Todd, Copper, and even Sasquatch haha. If ya'll have any name ideas please voice them!

Have ya'll used www.lensmarketplace.com before to purchase your contact lenses? Everything seems very legitimate, but you can never be too sure these days.

Ya'll might remember a couple of questions I've posted in recent weeks about a doberman/rottie cross named Angel that we adopted from the neglectful/abusive neighbor of a friend. We later found out she was pregnant--she had her puppies around the 8th or 9th of this month, 4 in all, 3 stillborn and 1 happy and healthy little boy! Well, upon return to the vet a few days afterward, we learned she had a retained puppy--oxytocin didn't help, so she had to have surgery. We went ahead and had her spayed at the same time--but yesterday I noticed on her blanket in her crate there was some clear dicharge-like fluid that had a pink tinge to it. I checked her out and aside from a little pinkish seepage from the bottom of her incision everything looked okay. Today when I let her out to use the bathroom I noticed a (from what I could tell) clear/whitish discharge around her vulva. I didn't see if it was the same pinkish-tinged discharge as was on her blanket because it was gone when she came back in. I'm going to call the vet about it tomorrow, but do you think it's something I need to worry about??

We adopted our sweet girl, Angel, just over a month ago from a friend of our family's neighbor. She's a 6 or 7 year old rottie/doberman cross and just the sweetest thing you ever saw. She came from a home where she was neglected and left outside on her own. She hadn't gotten any shots, and was not spayed. When we brought her to the vet for the first time we learned that she has heartworm disease (one of my other dogs JUST got treated for it and it cost me about $1000). Just 2 days ago our Angel gave birth to 4 puppies. Three of them were stillborn, one survived and is happy and healthy. We took her in for a check up today and upon receiving some x-rays, found out she has a retained puppy still in her uterus. She got a shot of oxytocin to try and encourage her to pass the puppy, but so far it's been to no avail and the vet said he'd be very surprised if it worked... She'll require surgery tomorrow morning in the form of a C-section that's going to cost another $1000...We simply cannot afford another $1000 vet bill. I'm already working overtime, trying to pay off my other vet bills along with $2000 in medical bills of my own from a barrel racing accident, and working on getting back to veterinary school this fall.

This dog deserves so much more than this. She deserves to live!! It's not fair that she should have to lose her life over MONEY. I do have CareCredit, however, I use it for all my veterinary services and have a long term payment plan worked out with it and a pretty extensive limit. I AM capable of footing the bill. But do you think it's worth the extra $1000 tacked on to the credit card balance I'm making payments on??

What would you do?! She'll need surgery tomorrow at 8:00am!

My 3 year old chihuahua, Moose, is undergoing heartworm treatment. I took him in Thursday morning and dropped him off. He'd already had his first shot a month ago, and the way they do it there is a month after the first round, he gets dropped off, receives a shot, stays over night, and gets the third and last shot the next day, so that's 2 deep intramuscular shots of Immiticide (Melarsomine) in the lumbar region over a period of only 24 hours. I couldn't pick him up yesterday afternoon because I had to work, so my soon to be mother-in-law went to get him for me.

At the first round of treatment they gave me enough doxycycline to last through both rounds of treatment after he came home, and I guess they thought they gave me enough pain killers for him to last both as well, but they only gave me enough for that first round of treatment, and they've been long gone. My mother-in-law didn't know that, and apparently neither did the vet, so now my pup is very sore and it's Saturday and the vet's not open.

Is there anything I can possibly do to ease some of the pain for him? I've heard of giving Tylenol or Aspirin to a dog, but even if that's possible, it just doesn't sound like a very good idea to me, especially when he's already at risk for complication with all of the drugs in his system killing away the parasites. I know he's real sore and it's going to be 2 days before I can get anything for him :(

Any suggestions would be great, but please, don't be rude.

What is the deepest amount of snow you've ever ridden in or been forced to ride through (maybe a big drift or something)? We don't get much snow at all here in Central NC, but Friday we got about 4 or 5 inches and then yesterday it sleeted NON stop so there's nothing but a layer of packed ice everywhere. My dog went out to relieve himself this morning and didn't even step through the snow, he just walked on top of it...Needless to say I won't be riding in the snow this time around, let alone going to work.

Anyways, I was just wondering, I know a lot of you living in different places get a lot of snow every winter. Do your horses like the snow?? How deep does it have to be before you won't ride anymore, assuming there's not a lot of ice? Doesn't snow get packed in and under their shoes really hard? I know a hoof pick would probably solve the problem, but do any of you put pads on your horses in the winter time? Seems like snow would get in the back part by the heel...

Sorry if any of this sounds silly, but I've grown up in Mississippi and North Carolina and usually neither gets more than 4-6 inches a year, and usually it's spread out into 1-3 different, very small snows. So I don't even know that much about driving in it, let alone riding :)

HONESTLY.

I've been working in the restaurant biz for years now as a server and to this day it still amazes me at how many people don't tip at all or leave an amount so small that it's insulting. I just got a new job a few weeks ago at a high end restaurant and out of about 10 restaurants I've worked at, I have never, EVER had so many people that don't tip me at all or leave me straight up change, nickels, dimes, pennies.. Like if you're bill is $80, and your server did a good job, don't leave them a crappy tip, because that's how we make our living. If you don't know what to leave them, ask for a pen and paper, and do the math yourself. 15%-18%.

I mean do people just not realize that we don't make any more than $2-$3 an hour? How much do you usually tip (when you've got a good server) when you go out to eat?

How hard is it to tip your server, honestly? If you can't afford it or don't want to tip out for quality service, take your a$$ down to McDonald's because we don't want you in our restaurant.

So a few days ago we got a new addition to our household in the form of a huge, sweet adult female doberman named Angel...

I'm calling the vet tomorrow to see if they can't schedule us in there. My other dog was diagnosed with heartworms and has had all his evaluations, blood work-up, etc and is all set for his first round of treatment so I'm trying to get him in too.

Angel came from a friend of the family's neighbor, who I might add, is complete scum (not just because of this dog). We're told that she has been abused. She's got a large, soft lump about the size of a baseball right around where her body and hip meet, as well as two smaller, harder (one looks to be scarred/scabby), lumps right on her right flank behind the large lump. She's got an injury (looks to be a little older, but fairly recent), on her back left leg right above her foot. There is a big sore there that looks like it's been trying to heal up, but it's very swollen/raised around the area. She's not limping, but I'm still concerned (which is why she's going to the vet ASAP). She's got a few other smaller wounds around her other legs which are similar, and some of her "toes" appear to have been broken in the past. She's sensitive about having her feet messed with..I can only wonder what happened to her...

Whoever had her from a puppy obviously tried to cut her ears themselves and have done an absolutely horrible job. They're disfigured and the left ear has a very large lump, scar tissue I'm guessing. I'll get some pictures up of all of this tomorrow at some point. The guy's kid was caught by our neighbor (she watches him a lot, he's about 4 years old) with his finger in her anus. She immediately stopped him and he told her he did it all the time (there's something very wrong going on between father and son in that household--and we're trying to report his sorry a$$). The kid would also drag her around the yard by her tail (which is docked very short). We're told the kids dad knocked her around a lot, and God knows what else.

He took off to the mountains very recently and left Angel there by herself. She's always been left to roam freely around the yard (she's not spaid--yet-- and by the looks of it she's had some puppies before--I only hope she's not pregnant now). She's at a good weight, and sweet as could be. The ASPCA was called, they came out, and said that this a$$hole could very well spend up to 90 days in jail.

She also opens her mouth and shows her teeth like she's snarling every time she comes to you or you go up to her. She never growls or offers to bite, just "smiles" and asks for some

love. Is this some form of doggy greeting?

And I know I don't have pictures up yet, but what do you dog experts think about these hard lumps and scarred up wounds??

All I want is to give this sweet, sweet dog the loving home she's always deserved. Like I said I'll put some pictures up tomorrow and will have to see what the vet says about her. I just pray for her sake that it's nothing too serious...

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/1533181520.html

I just e-mailed the seller about the official breed, some photos of the dam and sire as well as some (hopefully) decent conformation shots. It drives me crazy when people cut off legs/hooves, take pictures at funny angles, etc.

I know she's not registered, but I'm not planning on doing any big showing or anything. Just trails and local barrel races and what not.

So I'm house sitting for my Mom today through Sunday, she's out of town with her boyfriend and I have to look after our elderly cat who requires medication 2x a day. I just got home from work, I'm exhausted, my boyfriend is at home, I'm spending this New Year's by myself and ALL I want is a glass of wine hahaha.

So I'm rummaging through every damn drawer in the kitchen, couldn't find the bottle opener, broke down and called my Mom and she took it with her for their champagne. We own no other bottle openers, sadly.

Is there any other way I can remove the cork?????

It was at the beginning of a book of mine that I just re-read. I love poetry, but I'm having trouble analyzing it. I'm assuming it's like she's wondering as to what will happen to her soul when her body dies? If someone could give me a little more insight that would be great :)

"Question"

by May Swenson

Body my house

my horse my hound

what will I do

when you are fallen

Where will I sleep

How will I ride

What will I hunt

Where can I go

without my mount

all eager and quick

How will I know

in thicket ahead

is danger or treasure

When Body my good

bright dog is dead

How will it be

to lie in the sky

without roof or door

and wind for an eye

with cloud for a shift

how will I hide?

I've been into horses my entire life, and I'm a huge animal lover my nature, but I've always wanted a bird ever since I was a little kid! They're so beautiful and fascinating. I've been doing a lottt of research and reading up, and I'm curious, what's a good fit for a first time bird owner? I'd LOVE to have a Scarlet Macaw or a Congo African Grey somewhere down the road, but they require a lot of knowledge and upkeep, and I know I need to start out small.

I'm not talking about a canary a finch, I want something I can really interact and spend time with outside of the cage. I have a lot of time to spend with them, so I'm looking for a bird that needs some good quality playtime and interaction :) Are cockatiels good starter birds? What about a green cheek conure? Any suggestions or info are more than welcome, but please, don't be rude. I'm not going to just jump into this, just like owning a horse, I know I need to be knowledgeable and well prepared I'm not ignorant or careless. So please, any help is appreciated!

I was just wondering, can a human catch a cold or virus from a horse? I know conjunctivitis (pink eye), Avian Flu, Mad Cow Disease, etc can be spread between different species, but what about other viruses?

I feel like CRAP this morning. I couldn't fall asleep till like 3am, and then I woke up around 6:30am when my boyfriend left for work and felt like tee-total hell. It feels like I've got a hangover, even though I never drink. Anyways so I've tried going back to sleep but I can't. My throat is scratchy, I've got this nasty acidic heartburn-like feeling, phlegmy crap in my chest, and some nausea.

I took 150mg of Ranitidine for an acid reducer, and ate a little something to see if it would help. Is it okay to take a Dramamine with that for nausea and to help me go back to sleep?

I just bought like 13 things from there and only paid $7.00!!! Not including the $6.95 shipping. I just Googled coupons for it and I ended up using a 50% off one :) This is my first time purchasing from E.L.F though I've heard a lot about it.

Anyone else get any of their cosmetic stuff from there? Do you like it? How long does shipping usually take (Continental US) for them?