We took Beau to the vet this afternoon. We are going to try a different vet than we used for our last dog. I wasn’t totally happy with their care, so we are trying a place called “All Creature Great and Small” – I love that name! There are 4 vets, and we have a very nice female vet for Beau. He did pretty well and got a fairly good report.
It took a while, but they finally tracked down his records from when he was at the shelter (penal farm) and in foster care. It appears that he’s younger than we thought (which explains a lot!). The records said 21 months, but our new vet thought he was even younger than that, maybe a little over a year old. He does have a lot of puppy in him, and he has trouble focusing, so that would help explain that!
They are also a little concerned about his weight. He weighed 45 pounds, and the vet said she expects him to weigh about 60 or 65 when he’s bigger and healthier. As expected, they were not happy with the food we were feeding him. The foster family had warned us he was really picky, and didn’t have much appetite at all. They also said he had been eating Purina dry food mixed with Alpo canned food. The vet’s office, predictably, didn’t want us to feed him Alpo (especially) and Purina (although not as bad as Alpo). They sent us home with some samples of Hill Science Diet dry food. She really thought he would like it, and even opened a pack and tried to get him to eat some from her hand. He wouldn’t touch it! The vet seemed really surprised. I think it’s going to be an uphill struggle to get him to eat. I know I’m in for a battle with Tim over buying him expensive food. Tim is NOT a big believer in the brand names of dog food. We fed our last dog the Walmart brand of Old Roy and he thought that was just fine. He was semi ok with going to Alpo/Purina but he is probably going to fight me on getting Science Diet or Eukanuba as the vet recommended. Anyway, my whole focus right now is to get him to eat. As they said at the vet’s office, we need to find something he likes, a good quality food that has nutrition in it, something with a lot of protein in it and get him fattened up a little.
He has a great coat, and they all said how beautiful he was 
He had to get a rabies shot. We were told he was “up to date” on all his shots, but apparently the penal farm had given him shots and they can’t give out rabies shots, for whatever reason. So, he’s covered now. They were concerned that he has recently been treated for heart-worms. The foster family never mentioned that, just that he was on heart-worm medicine. She asked how much exercise we were getting him, and after we mentioned he was walking 2 or 4 miles a day, she recommended that we stop that for a while. She wants us to restrict his activity for another 2-3 weeks, in case he has recently been treated for heart-worms. So, we’ll have to ease up on the walking for a while. She said we could take him on shorter walks, but try to limit them to one mile or less. Tim’s not too happy about that either!
I had thought he might have ear mites and so they cleaned his ears out really good. The vet said they were red and infected looking, but after they took a culture and ran a test, we found out it was not ear mites. He apparently has a yeast infection in his ears! She said this, along with his licking and messing with his paws all the time, are both indications of food allergies. Which is very odd to me, but I will be glad to take her word for it. Anyway, they gave us some drops to put in his ears, twice a day, for two weeks to clear that up. Then we bought a bottle of ear rinse to use a few times a month to keep his ears healthy.
We have to go back in a few months for more shots… his records indicated he got his first shots in Jan or Feb of this year, not April as we were led to believe. Hopefully by then, he’ll be looking a lot better and have a little meat on his bones. I just want him to be happy and healthy, and know how much we love him and want to give him a good home. I hope he figures it out soon 😀
Yeah that makes sense that he is younger than you first thought. You & Tim can still go for 2+ miles walks, just leave the dog at home! He’ll be fine and you can get him out for a short walk around the block by yourself every day. You’ll still spend time with Beau & Tim that way, and then in a few weeks he can go with you again. It’ll pass fast.
Casey is a picky eater too. he wouldn’t touch Iams, Eukanuba or Science Diet. He eats Purina Beneful. my philosophy was that eating *no* food was not as good as eating some “less expensive store bought” food.
Oh bless his little heart. I will just tell you, when we got Gyvers on a bit better food, I noticed a big decrease in his pooping. Our vet said it was because the better food didn’t have so much filler in it (i.e. corn by-products, etc.) So that’s been a benefit for us. We were using Nutro Lamb & Rice but recently switched to Purina One Lamb & Rice and he likes it waaaaay better, and we’re happy wtih the ingredients too. But he still has days he won’t touch his food.
Well I hope Beau gets interested in his food soon! He’ll be joining you on walks before you know it. Naaah, he’ll be walking you guys!
What did your vet say about peanut butter? I’ve been known to mix a spoonful in with some of Vader’s food or put it in his Kong and let him eat it that way. Vader has his own jar of peanut butter that no one else can touch! High protein and he seems to like the texture.
It’s terrible that Beau’s walking is restricted. We were told to limit Vader’s walking as a puppy to help save his hips. So, knowing that Beau is younger I’m sure that will help his too.
Cher ate lamb and rice cause she was allergic too. quality food is best. Try dog cookies/treats and make it fun……..have you tried that?
Good quality food definitely makes a difference. When Seamore ate the cheap food it made him have bad gas and he had really bad problems with digesting it. When we switched to the Science Diet all of that cleared up within days. The serving size was smaller, but he seemed more satisfied. What Dianne was saying about the pooping situation was true with Seamore too….he didn’t poop as much! That’s a big plus in my book!
Very interesting. It seems like you had a lot of surprises on this visit, but I’m glad the vet was thorough enough to check everything and make sure everything was done right and up to date.
Add A Comment