Mike's Doghouse

Wednesday, Mike and I went back to the vet’s office. I took pictures this time of his “artwork” on the floor (see the bottom of this post). I also took in a urine sample again. After a brief discussion, it was decided to do another urinalysis and to do a blood work up. I would get a call the next day about the results.

Thursday, Dr. Knepshield called. The blood work up was normal. Kidney function, liver function, everything was normal. Good. But the urinalysis showed a lot of white blood cells. Not good. Some male dogs have raised white cell counts basically because, well, they like to play with their penises. This creates slight irritation that shows up in the urine samples. Gross, but, there you have it. What she wanted to do was have us bring Mike in the next morning and, after getting his bladder full, they’d remove urine directly from the bladder, bypassing the urethra. Ouch!

This morning, we took Mike in at about 10am. She said it would take only a few hours so we did some errands. Eventually, I was exhausted from a headache so we went home. We didn’t hear anything until after 2pm. Mike’s bladder was not co-operating. Dr. Knepshield felt his abdomen when he got there at 10. His bladder was very empty so they put him in a small crate and gave him a big bowl of water. She figured she’d check on him in two hours. At 11:30, she went to check on him and was told it was too late. They said they were watching him and he had simply stood up and peed a river. Refill the water bowl and try to catch him again. But he did it again. And again. They took him out of the crate hoping he’d show a little better sign he had to go but I think that failed, too. Finally, when they called at 2ish, they had him with a partially full bladder and an ultrasound. They needed permission to knock him out so they could do the delicate work of extracting urine from the bladder. It was several more hours before we heard back.

The sample they had was very diluted from all the water he had drank but had no white blood cells. So they sent off the remaining sample to get a culture grown from it. Not that she expects to find anything, but that the experts she will consult with will ask if it was done. And that is where we are now. She’s going to do some research and consult some canine urologists while we wait for the culture to grow. The reason for all this is that she was greatly impressed with the amount of pee Mike can produce. And how he seems to have very little control over it the fuller his bladder is. She was also impressed with our patience and humor with him. I get the feeling he was cute, adorable, but very frustrating to them all today.

My headache was exploding at that point so Lorna went to get him. She said the entire staff seemed to know him and got down on the floor to play as he was leaving. And during their mid-day lull, David, one of the long time techs there, had taken Mike out of his crate to play for a while and Mike was running all over the hospital. What is it about this pup that pulls people to him? What is it about him that makes him so damn adorable?

We have to wait until at least Tuesday before we know anything. One possibility, and I think there are only two at this point, is that they will do a dye test to see how his plumbing is arranged. There might be some sort of problem somewhere. The second possibility is that this is all in Mike’s wee head. That somehow it is a psychological problem, not physical. And even if there is a physical reason, we may still need to deal with the psychology of it, to teach him how to pay more attention to his body.

Mike’s largest art piece to date. It covers about 3′ x 8′ of floor in the living room. Starting with the bottom image, Mike stood up from where he was laying and headed toward the door. Almost there, he started to pee. He then walked away from the puddle to finish his walk toward the door where he then tried to tell us he had to go out.

I think we’ve crossed over a hurdle. There are two reasons why.

Mike’s been on antibiotics for a (possible) infection. Today was his last dose. He went from making multiple small puddles to making single big ones. And today is the second day in a row we’ve not had any (major) accidents. We are still keeping the water up but once we have a few more days in a row accident free, I’ll start putting the water back within reach again. I think the infection has cleared up and Mike is now more capable of understanding what his body is telling him.

The second reason is we think Mike just wants to go out into the dog lot like everyone else. I don’t think he liked going out front, alone, while everyone else got to be off the leash and running around. A few days ago, I took him out the front door. Then, after he’d urinated, we came back in, went through the house to the back door, and went outside with everyone else. Almost every time, he and Sam would go charging across the dog lot and after a minute or less, Mike would stop, wander around for a few seconds, and poop. During the day, he and I still go out the front door except for the first time in the morning, we all go out the back. He gets to burn off energy (after being in his crate for several hours) which prompts him to do his business outside. Then, after dinner, Lorna takes them all out the back again.

We were supposed to see an animal behaviorist Friday but there was a scheduling error. We need to reschedule but we’re debating about whether we need to or not. We probably will, just to get some more input into how to best handle Mike’s late-blooming potty manners.

Regardless, we need to finish repairs on the back dog-ramp so that I feel safer going out there. The top part is safe enough but the second part is steeper and quite “interesting” to use. It kills my knees which is why I only go out there once with him. We decided to not use the front gate because we want to keep separate the “this is for play” and “this is for doing your business”. Mike has to be supervised outside not only to reinforce the behavior we want (doing his business outside) but also because the little snot eats sticks, wood, and mushrooms.

Yesterday, Mike returned to the vet’s as we try to figure out if his urine function is normal. The problem is Mike pees a lot. An awful lot. House training has been difficult. We’re now keeping the water on the other side of the gate where Mike can’t get to it. He gets all he wants 3 times a day and still he pees far too frequently. When he first went to our vet shortly after we got him, his urine was very diluted and had white blood cells. Meaning he was not concentrating his urine and he had an infection somewhere. He was on an antibiotic for a while. We took in another sample and this time the urine was properly concentrated and the white blood cells were gone. But the problem has persisted.

Mike is an interesting boy, medically. He got a rough start in life but recovered nicely. However, he can’t help but be effected by that, even though he was just a few weeks old when rescued. We humans can only try to understand just how that will manifest, if it will at all. This basically is polite talk for “it’s in his head”, or as the vet put it, is psychogenic. Mike may not have a grasp on what his body is trying to tell him (like when he needs to pee or poop).

The vet called today with some more ideas and thoughts based on her research and the input from others. Aside from the psychogenic, there are several possible scenarios. The good news is that the urine is concentrated and that rules out several diseases. Diabetes insipidus was topmost on our minds because we had a dog with it and their behaviors are very similar. But that was ruled out, thank the doggess! Strangely enough, the topmost possibility is E. coli. I found this in an Google search:

Bladder infections most commonly involve bacteria that are already normal
residents on (or in) the dog or cat. The most common infectious agent is
Escherichia coli (E. coli) which is present in almost half of urinary
tract infections in dogs and cats. This bacteria is a normal inhabitant of
the gastrointestinal tract but it does not belong in the urinary tract. It
is very good at invading the urinary tract if given any opportunity at all,
though. So any fecal contamination of the vulva or prepuce can lead to an
infection. Due to anatomy, this is more common in females than in males
(infection occurs more often).

It is very hard to clear up a bacterial infection when there are persistent
crystals or stones in the bladder, since these serve as a place for
bacteria to hide, as well as irritating the bladder and urethra, making it
easier for the bacteria to invade tissues.

(source)

The interesting thing about this is that there were crystals in the urine sample we took in yesterday.

The second possibility is Leptospirosis. Prevention of this type of bacterial infection is now included in vaccines so it is unlikely to be the culprit. However, because of the way it effects the kidneys, it is on the list. The website quoted above also has a section on Leptospirosis.

Treatment for both of these bacterial infections would be the same – a high dose of an antibiotic. The vet and I decided this is what we would do: we would start him on the antibiotic for a week starting tomorrow (we can’t get there to pick it up until morning) and continue withholding the water for a few more days. We will reintroduce the water and see how his peeing goes. If it improves even the slightest bit, we will continue the antibiotic for another 3 weeks.

We could take in another sample and have a culture grown to see what type of bacteria it is. However, almost any type of bacteria we would find would be treated with the same antibiotic unless it is a weird one or one that responds better with another type of antibiotic. We are opting to not do this basically because of time. We can’t get it to them until tomorrow and it would take 72hrs to get a proper growth. So that would be Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday before we’d get any answers. Meanwhile, if we start the antibiotic tomorrow, we’ll know by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest, if it is making any difference.

Mike is a smart boy. Too smart to not have learned house training already. He knows the ring the bells to go out (“out” also includes going out to eat sticks and leaves). He has learned a lot from both the Puppy Class (we had our second one last night) and from our regular training here at home. So he’s not a stupid dog. It is this ability to learn that contradicts the urinary problem and makes it more of a physical thing than a mental one.

Oh! Almost forgot to tell you his weight! Mike is now 31.8 lbs! Double what he was a month ago! Big boy!

Mike is one tricky pup.

House training is still on going with some great progress and still very little progress.

I purchased an elastic dog collar that has 4 huge bells on it. The pet supply store had them on sale from leftover Xmas stuff. I can’t imagine putting this on a dog as the noise is way loud. Anyway, I was going to take off the bells and hang one or two on the door but they make enough noise as a group that I can’t miss it. I even hear it all the way in the kitchen!

When we go out, we shake the bells and say something along the lines of “do you need to go outside?” “ready to go outside?”. The idea is that when he needs to go, he will ring the bells. He can’t reach them without standing with his front paws on the door. He’s managed to take it off the doorknob twice but usually just nudges it with his nose. He has already learned that ringing the bells and/or whining gets him outside. Big step considering we’ve not worked on “touch it” yet!

However (with Mike, it seems there’s always a “however”), what he wants is to go outside and eat sticks, walnut shells, pecan shells, leaves, dirt, bark, packing peanuts (long story), and almost anything else he can find. He loves to hunt down and carry huge floppy gross mushrooms, too.

We’ve stopped the long walks and instead stand in one place with him limited to with about 5-8′ of that spot. He must do his business there or back inside we go. If I know he needs to do his business but he’s too interested in the other stuff, we go back inside and he goes into his crate. 20 minutes later, we go back outside. Eventually, he will either do his business outside or I get impatient and we go back in where he promptly poops in the living room.

As with any dog training, most mistakes are the handler’s fault. Mike doesn’t have accidents, I do.

And while we are on the subject of Mike’s weirdness, here’s another for you. Mike will chew on anything made of any material. He will even chew on my chair. He’s pulled out some cosmetic tubing ends, roughed up an adjustment knob, and he has left his mark on the metal frame. The below image is the frame above the rear wheel. That’s tooth marks on the metal.

link to bigger image

Mike’s still not house trained. We’ve spent the past 4 days catering to his bladder and bowels and still he pees in the house.

We blocked off the living room so he would be confined to the one room.
We take him out every 2hrs or less.
We take him out at the pause after a play session with Sam.
We take him out after eating.
We praise like mad when he does something outside.
We took his poop and the paper towels from pee clean up outside to show him this is where he’s supposed to do it.

Still, pee in the house. He can be outside, pee, come in, five minutes later, he pees again. We find multiple puddles.

I’m taking him to the vet to see if there’s not something going on physically. Elena and I are thinking diabetes or perhaps another infection.

Meanwhile, we start Puppy Class on Thursday.

Our holiday this year was rather subdued. We’ve spent so much money on sick critters and sick vehicles, that Santa thought it best to skip our house for now. But we were promised a new refrigerator soon so perhaps all is not lost. At least it wasn’t coal!

The dogs got gifts from Mary at Asheville Pet Supply. A stuffed gorilla with a Santa hat, a tough stuffed tree, a loooong stuffed dog, and some treats. Sam, our Catahoula, thinks all toys exist to be destroyed. That’s how he believes they were meant to be played with. We keep all stuffed toys up and give them out whenever he has something else to do. He even will destroy Kongs! Anyway, we’d gotten him and Mike some Nylabones to gnaw on and he’d chewed off about half while Mike’s doesn’t even have dents. So while the others played with the stuffed toys, we gave Sam his bone.

Casey just wanted to investigate everything, she didn’t want to play. PopCorn is pouting (see pic below) because we had to put the helmet on her. Joella played with the gorilla for a while until she discovered Mike’s Nylabone. Mike traded with her and all was happy.

I watched Mike for a while to make sure he didn’t start pulling anything off (it’s a small toy) and saw that Sam had a lot more off his bone. Later, I saw no pieces around and figured he’d eaten them. We took the stub away, shook out the blanket, and found no pieces. Sam usually doesn’t eat the pieces but there’s a first time for everything.

Then yesterday, I found them. In two piles of vomit from Mike. Yep, the little snot ate them. I checked him over and we fed him a light dinner to keep his tummy happy. We are fairly certain there’s not more pieces inside him. They were all huge and I don’t think they would have made it out the other end without doing some damage. We went through the other toys and wound up throwing away the fleece tug. Sam had decided, after several weeks of actually playing vs destroying, that it was time to kill it. Now knowing that Mike just might eat the pieces, we had to toss that. The stuffed toys are out of anyone’s reach. After all the wollering Mike did to the gorilla, it wasn’t missing a single bit of fuzz! (Jo still has a stuffed toy I got her nearly 8 yrs ago so maybe it’s a Rottie thing?)

Mike is eating fine today, no more hurling.

I was able to not only look at Mike’s teeth, but to also get some images of them. The trick is to catch ‘im while he’s sleeping.

In the first image, those two slightly larger bottom teeth might be new adult teeth but I don’t think they are. I checked back at the Donnerberg Rottweiler site but it’s still hard to tell.

The second photo clearly shows the baby canine tooth.

We go to the vet’s this afternoon to pick up Popcorn and to give them Mike’s urine sample (we weren’t able to catch it yesterday). No fecal sample yet since he and Sam keep wanting to go outside to play.

You can see larger views of the teeth photos over at Mike’s photo gallery in the “Growing Up Big” album.

So, if you remember from a previous post, Mike’s age is in question. It is possible he is younger than we thought. Normally, this isn’t a big deal, but if he is younger than previously assumed, he rec’d his rabies vaccine too soon and it will need to be repeated. I don’t know if other vaccinations will also need to be redone.

Tonight, while waiting for something to download, I did a search for images of puppy and adult teeth. Not for the squeamish! I managed to find an excellent set of images and explanations on, get this, a Rottweiler site!

Donnerberg Rottweilers in California has a great page of teeth info. The photos are great and include puppy teeth, adult teeth, and various stages in between. These photos will help me to keep an eye on Mike’s teeth. I looked at them this afternoon and I don’t see that much of a difference since last week at the vet’s.

In the morning, I have to collect a urine sample and during the day, collect a fecal sample. Oh goody. Oh joy. In the afternoon, we take another of our dogs, PopCorn, in to the vet’s to get two masses removed from her foot. She’s had a mass from this foot removed before and we knew it would grow back. It did, and brought a friend. PopCorn just had a cancerous tumor (and her spleen) removed two weeks ago. It is a slow-growing cancer, extremely rare, and since this means she’ll be with us at least another year or two, we figure it would be best to make her comfortable. When we take her in (she gets carsick so we always take her in the day before), we’ll give them Mike’s contribution to our growing bill there.

Mike went to the vet yesterday! There’s some weird stuff going on but nothing to be too concerned about yet. He’s on an antibiotic and a dewormer. Thursday I am to collect and take in a urine sample and a fecal sample. Oh, the things we do for our dogs!

Mike may be younger than the original vet paperwork says. He should be getting his first adult teeth this week if he is the age it says. If not, then he is younger and some vaccines may need to be repeated. This is no one’s fault, and could be simply the wrong date was entered into the computer. There were 8 puppies in that litter, at least one other slightly older puppy, and an emaciated adult dog and I’m sure the vet’s office was busy taking care of them vs making sure dates were absolutely correct.

We discussed nutrition. Large breed puppies should not be on puppy food for very long. It can cause them to grow too fast which can create problems such as Panosteitis. This is what Joella had. Some pet food companies have come out with different puppy food for different types or breeds. Mike was getting Iam’s “Smart Puppy” but we switched him to Wellness’s “Just for Puppy”. There are great debates about the role puppy food’s protein content and Panosteitis. Our vet recommended a food less than 26% protein, preferably less than 24%. Our adult dogs now eat Taste of the Wild, a high protein dog food. We started using it to combat Joella’s lethal gas problem. Prior to TotW, our dogs got Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato. We love Wellness’ products and the quality of the ingredients (they don’t do animal by-products). In a week or two, we’ll switch him to the Wellness Adult Fish and Sweet Potato.

For reference (minimum protein):
Taste of the Wild

High Prairie Canine Formula has 32%

Iams

ProActive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed has 26%
ProActive Health Smart Puppy has 28%

Wellness

Super 5 Mix Just for Puppy has 28%
Super 5 Mix Large Breed Puppy Health has 26%
Adult Whitefish and Sweet Potato has 22%

Not long after Mike was rescued, his tail was amputated due to infection and injury. He has an odd habit of growling at then chewing the stub. This happens at least once a day. He did not like the vet messing with the tip of it. It is possible that there is some nerve damage due to the infection and injury. Normal docking of tails does rarely causes this and is done when the pups are just a few days old. When he is neutered in a few months, and if the tail is still bothering him, they will check the tip for possible scar tissue or otherwise compromised nerve. It is quite possible Mike is just being a weird puppy and there is nothing wrong.

Mike was microchipped, too. The vet’s office uses the HomeAgain microchip. This will ensure so that if we are ever separated, he will be able to come home again (pun intended). See my previous post on emergencies.

Mike weighed just 14.5 lbs. He is in a growth spurt and his body is using slightly more than it is taking in. I am feeding him a lunch and we are increasing his morning and evening meal amounts. He should start gaining weight once the internal parasites are gone. Right now he has just two activity levels: all out and full stop.

The vet’s staff all loved Mike. They knew I had been looking for puppy and were looking forward to meeting him.

Winter is here in the U.S. South. We’ve already had several snows and a long drawn out cold “snap”. Hurricane season is over just as blizzard season begins. There are things any pet owner should have on hand for emergencies either season can bring.

One of the few good things brought about by Hurricane Katrina and Rita is that groups finally realized the lengths people will go to in order to keep their pets safe. Many humans and pets died because there was no where to go together. Animal shelters were overwhelmed by the number of dropoffs. As a result of this and more, disaster assistance groups have now changed their policies to include pets.

There are things you need to have on hand for emergencies. There are so many different kinds (medical emergency, weather emergency, toxic spill, etc) that it would seem a fully prepared kit would weigh more than the dog! You should have first aid kit on hand just because cuts happen regularly. An evacuation kit would be for if you had to leave the home. While you are getting the dog kits together, make one for yourselves, too!

Lists of stuff to have in a kit:

CanisMajor has a list of the basics to keep on hand in your dog first aid kit.

PetEducation.com, part of Drs. Foster and Smith, has another, more comprehensive list for the kit. They also have a list of stuff to have for an evacuation kit.

The Humane Society also has a list for a first aid kit as well as a disaster/evacuation kit and advice.

American Red Cross has a section dedicated to Animal Safety. This includes the suggestions for a pet first aid kit. (Also make sure you know about the “Preparedness Information for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities“)

The American Veterinarian Medical Association has a section on evacuation and first aid.

Already prepared kits/books:

The Humane Society’s Pet First Aid book
Outdoor Safety has several different human and canine first aid kits (be sure to read why the company exists)
Cabela’s has 3 Sporting Dog first aid kits

Some simple things you can do:

Get the basics together and remember where it is. Hang it with the leashes (make sure you have a leash or carrying crate for each animal) and leave it there. Check it once a year or so to ensure nothing has gone beyond its expiration date.
Microchip your pets. If you get separated, you can be re-connected when it is safe. Make sure one of the contact persons is away from your region so that in the case of a weather emergency, there is someone who can be reached.
Read up on preparedness. Get ideas and then follow through on them. Being prepared is the best thing you can do for yourselves and for your furkids.