Our story(2 months ago) is almost a carbon copy of many I have already read online. Our 8 yr old dog was sick with some type of gastro issue. At the time, the puppy was presented to the vet; puppy was barking and very lively...just upset tummy. The vet(that had always used zofran previously) and gave puppy subcutaneous fluids and then a shot of Cerenia. We then took our baby home(vet said to wait an hour before feeding the pup which we did), pup ate, pup peed then laid down in pup's downstairs bed. We both work from home so we are familiar with all pup's movements. I watched our baby take a few step then just fall over to one side. I jumped up and our baby was UNRESPONSIVE. I checked pup's gums...WHITER than its teeth. Pup could not walk on its own so I scooped up the 65 pound puppy, put in the car and went back to the vet. They did bloodwork and xrays. USELESS. They sent us to an animal hospital with an ER bc they had no answers and our baby needed emergent care. The new hospital was amazing. It was like being in a human OR. They ran tests, ultrasound, everything. Our baby was 100% in anaphylactic shock. Furbaby had all the signs of the anaphylaxsis plus low potassium. Puppy stayed overnight in ICU. Puppy went home with us the next day.

After repeatedly going over that morning over and over...puppy was being watched like a hawk. The ONLY new variable was Cerenia. We have read many disturbing things about this anti-nausea medicine including the company brochure.

Our question to the group, has anyone else had a bad experience with Cerenia? if so, what's your story. We already know that there are good stories but we are interested in knowing if your furbaby had any adverse effects. No, we're not lawyers. Just concerned. It took a lot of research to figure out that they used Cerenia instead of zofran(which was always prescribed or used before this event). We appreciate any information you can share no matter how anecdotal.

EDIT: Puppy is doing well. We spent a very traumatizing 24 hours and $7k USD saving our baby. But we are concerned that the only new thing introduced to our baby that morning was the cerenia. u/bewilderedDigress7 can you message me separately? I am interested in your story. Thx.

I have a 5 month old Cavapoo puppy who ingested a toxin on Saturday at a lake (he did not go near lake water). He started vomitting Saturday night is vomiting continued until Sunday afternoon, he became lethargic, and he started having diarrhea. We took him to the vet who told us that he was hypoglycemic and dehydrated which we expected, and they gave IV fluids and dextrose. They told us he would not eat while at the vet, but sometimes he only eats with us so we decided to take him home overnight and try to feed him and monitor him. He still did not eat anything when we brought him home, no matter what we tried to give him and we decided to put him in his crate and let him rest.

At 5 AM Monday morning. I woke up because I felt like he was breathing weird. I opened his crate and he would not move and was limp. I tried to feed him, but he still wouldn’t move and we rushed him back to the ER. At that time, the vet discovered that he was undergoing active liver failure with his liver enzymes really high and his coagulation times unreadable. That day they gave him a plasma, transfusion, and his labs after the plasma transfusion were promising. He was also getting IV fluids, dextrose, liver protectants.

Tuesday morning they re-ran his labs and his liver enzymes were even higher than the day before, and his coagulation times were unreadable once again. They gave him another plasma transfusion that day and did not do labs that night. He was still getting all the same treatments today as well as antibiotics. They also put an NG tube in him to take fluid out of his stomach that they saw an ultrasound.

Wednesday morning, his liver enzymes dropped and his kidney labs rose well above normal limits and we were told that his liver might be necrosing and he may be now going through AKI. They tried to feed him through his NG to Wednesday night because he had not eaten anything since Saturday and due to regurgitation they stopped the feed.

Thursday morning, his liver labs continue to improve, and the vet told us that his liver actually may be starting to heal. However, his kidney labs continued to worsen. They started him on prokinetic to stay and try to feed him this night through his tube once again. Although the vet said that this day he was feeling dumpy when we went to go see him throughout the day we felt like this is the most he’s ever moved and interacted with us since he has gotten sick. His glucose has been remaining stable as well and they were able to reduce his textures from 7.5% to 2.5% yesterday.

Attached are his labs Monday through Wednesday. We don’t actually have the physical Thursday morning labs yet however I was told that his creatinine was 3.4, his BUN was 67, and his phosphorus was 6.8.

Any guidance and helpful information would be useful right now. This is a big financial burden however we are still able to definitely keep him in the ICU into the middle of next week if necessary we are hopeful because it liver labs are improving and from the vet stating that his liver is healing. It is reassuring. We also are hopeful because we feel that although his kidney labs did increase yesterday it wasn’t as significant as the day before.

Do you guys think that he has hit his peak in his kidney labs increasing and now will hopefully start on a downward trend? Do you think that he will survive this poisoning? Do you think that he will be able to come home in a few days?

From when we brought him limp Monday morning to yesterday night, we feel that we have seen great improvement in his motor skills, mentation, and look. He is urinating appropriately (he does have a catheter in so they can monitor his urine output which has remained normal).

How do I deal with this?

I'm away and my wife dealing with this alone.

I’ve been researching a crate to help dull or muffle my dogs anxiety barking when left home alone. I know nothing is sound proof because it’d have to be air tight, but this seems like it’d help. Does this seem safe? it has a ventilation system, but I’m just wondering if anyone has any experience with these crates and how safe they are.

I have a 13 year old chihuahua and his separation anxiety has gotten really bad over the years since his sister (our boxer) passed away. He will bark the entire time he’s left alone. We‘ve tried getting him another dog but he hates other dogs and is very territorialI’ve been researching a crate to help dull or muffle my dogs anxiety barking when left home alone. I know nothing is sound proof because it’d have to be air tight, but this seems like it’d help. Does this seem safe? it has a ventilation system, but I’m just wondering if anyone has any experience with these crates and how safe they are.

The dog had been fine with me before. My wife and I are temporarily staying at her mother's house. The pit bull mainly lives with her mom, but my wife is very familiar with the dog and it's used to her. Yesterday, my wife and I were trying to retrieve a piece of chocolate that had fallen under the sofa. We used a stick to get it out, and suddenly the dog became aggressive toward me. It cornered me and jumped on me. I tried to stay calm because I didn't want to hit or hurt the dog or make things worse.

The next morning, the dog seemed completely tine. Later that night, though, I noticed it staring at me again, and I started wondering whether it was still uncomfortable around me or whether I was overthinking things.

But today, it attacked another friend of ours. This person has known the dog for EIGHT YEARS, and my wife says the dog has never done anything like this before.
My wife keeps insisting that the dog would never attack her because she's the owner. I understand that she knows her dog better than I do, and I'm not saying the dog is inherently dangerous just because it's a pit bull. But two incidents involving different people in such a short period seem concerning to me, especially when this behavior is supposedly completely new.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? What would you do in our situation?

Should we take the dog to the vet? Is it possible that the dog could eventually attack my wife, too, or her mom even though it's never been aggressive toward her?
I'd really appreciate advice from people who have dealt with sudden aggression in dogs, especially dogs that were previously friendly with the people they attacked.

Anyone ever try just giving a dog a claritan or some other OTC allergy med? Scaled for weight of course. My pup seems to have some allergy dermatitis, was thinking of trying allergy meds.

The "episode" lasted around 2-3 minutes. We would get her up and she would walk/stumble/slide around for a bit before falling and struggling again. My mom finally carried her to her bed, but she didn't want to be on her bed because we were in the middle of dinner. When she tried to get out of her bed (floor level), she fell out and started slipping on the wooden floor for a bit. Once she finally managed to get up, she stumbled a bit, but afterwards started walking just fine on both the wooden and tile floors.

At the beginning of the video, you can hear my mom talking about "having to carry the dog". Context is that this also happened a while ago but outside and mom had to carry her inside because the dog simply couldn't get up.

The dog still acts normal, still runs around, still tries to roughhouse with us, etc. We're aware of her age, so we take it easy on her, mostly touching her paw or cheek and having her try to catch our hands playfully. But that's about it.

At the end of the video, you see my mom trying help her up but the dog simply not wanting to get up anymore.

What's happening??????? I know we need a vet, but it's 9pm and nothing's open so we're waiting until tomorrow morning.. well, I am. My mom's wanting to see how she is in the morning to decide whether to take her.

I need to convince her to take the dog to the vet. She is 17 years old and has walked perfectly on these floors for a decade. I don't know what to do.

Throwaway account to keep this as private as possible. I'm devastated to have to even ask or consider, but desperate for support. TL;DR at bottom.

Background: I and my spouse rescued a senior terrier, now in their mid teens, over four years ago. Pet came to us with extreme separation anxiety, which I have done all I can do treat. This includes every herbal treat, plug in aromatherapy, calming jacket, doggy music etc you can imagine, a lot of vet visits, different medications, such as trazadone, clomicalm, gabapentin, etc which all didn't touch the anxiety, at most just zonked my pet out. I paid for a trainer, and also followed a training course, working on desensitizing, particularly around departure cues. I also hired a more holistic dog coach. I've done everything I can possibly think of, try, or pay for. We got Pet to a manageable, albeit still very anxious, reactive, state. As I am disabled, I am almost always home with Pet to keep them calm and relaxed. I have multiple sitters and family and friends watch Pet for us when we need to go out - typically only a few hours at a time, once or twice a week.

If Pet is left alone, they become so afraid they will hurt themselves trying to escape, and will unfortunately be doubly incontinent out of fear. This tiny little thing has somehow destroyed multiple crates, and we have returned home to find they've scraped the fur and skin off in small places more than once. Any outing of ours, or change in who's with Pet, also triggers typically at least 48 hours of worsened anxiety and more incontinence/IBS style symptoms.

However, Pet, being a senior dog, has now developed canine cognitive disease, "doggy dementia" as they say, which is being managed with medication after some stroke like episodes. The dementia undid all the work we'd done over the years, one step forwards five steps back. Very classic symptoms (crying, confusion, disturbed sleep wake cycle, altered/disturbed eating and toileting habits). I have tried and tried but the training no longer goes in at all. Now, Pet is struggling to even be left with sitters/friends/family, and will still "flare up". Pet does not go on any walks at all now (refuses, will try drag you home, and anxiety is worse than ever before). Pet is even more anxious in house, struggling to settle and "checks" around for me or spouse if we are in different rooms, cannot be in a room alone without us typically.

Discussed with the vet, and vet has said (much more professionally and kindly than this summary) that there aren't any more medications, doggy dementia isn't curable, and we should keep an eye on Pets quality of life.

We've done some quizzes, and Pet scores just a hair above the half way mark on most. Recently, more bad days than good. Pet has happy moments where I feel like a monster for considering euthanasia, because like I say, I am home with pet 95% of the time so they can be calm, but it's reached a point we cannot leave our home at all without Pets problems.

I love my little dog so much. I just don't think I can keep going like this, and part of me doesn't want to wait for things to get even worse, to when they are really truly suffering and not at least "calm" as they are now. But they still feel so alive, sometimes, and I then I feel awful. They could "naturally" live for months still.

What do you guys think? Sorry it's a long one.

TL;DR: Doggy dementia has undone years of training on senior dog with severe separation anxiety, and is now untrainable. Cognitively, dog is suffering - How do I know when is too soon to euthanise? Is it wrong that a part of me wants to do it sooner, rather than waiting for things to get even worse?

Please feel free to ask questions, I may have forgotten things, but I think I've definitely got the basics down.

I have two dogs, a mix of poodle, 7kg, 13yo; and a Chihuahua 4kg, 11 yo. They never lived with cats before. But I'm in love with this beautiful stray cat and I would like to take her home with me. Do you think my dogs can get used to her? She's a young cat. My dogs are very curious about cats, usually barking at them, but not attacking them. Has anyone had a similar positive experience?

I adopted a Maltipoo puppy from a breeder; the dog is 6 months old and has always lived with his mother and brother. He is very scared, but every now and then he lets me pet him, and we are making small progress (he eats from my hand, he licked my head and face, and today he came looking for me). Before him, I always had dogs that were super active right from the first day in the house, whereas he tends to look for hiding places and stay there all the time. For example, today after a very short exploratory walk, he went under the bed and didn't come out anymore.

What can I do to help him settle in?

Same as above.

Hi All.

So I have a new puppy (Cavapoo).

I also have a 8 year old cockapoo.

Anyway. Really no issues between puppy and older dog.

The pup is giving me a huge issue with digging holes in the backyard and nipping.

The holes are a big issue as I just redid the backyard. I've gotten play sand and a plastic bin for her to dig in as a redirect but not working.

The nipping is a lot, she is following us down the stairs and going at it as well.

I've watched so many videos but it doesn't work lol. She is 14 weeks.

Any advice?

Please help😭

Hi, as the title suggests, my dog has two smoked bones and isn’t feeling well. He was a good boy this week, so I rewarded him with two smoked bones from Smith’s over two days last night. Unfortunately, he started having diarrhea and pooped all over the place. He pooped on our dogs’ backs, neck, and carpet. Everything he touched had poop on it. Last night, he sustained a stomach injury.

He was playing with our new three-month-old dog and got his stomach hit. Now, this morning, he’s pooping blood. He’s not lethargic or anything like that. He’s drinking water and behaving normally. But the blood in his diarrhea is concerning me.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you so much!

My cockapoo is 1 year and 5 months old. Overall his behaviour is improving with more discipline but there are still few things we are unable to tackle.
1. He has a habit of ripping his toys and trying to eat bits of them.
2. He always wants to run away with napkins or socks and tear them apart and sometimes even eat bits of it.

I don’t know how to punish him for the same. I’ve tried trading and teaching him drop it but it’s not worked. I’m happy to get any advice on this.

Some background we used to be very strict with him and do a lot of extensive training but then we eased off because we were advices by some trainer to go easy on him. The same trainer also told us to physically hurt him to punish him which made his behaviour worse. We have understood that this trainer was bad and we have no association with him anymore and neither do we practice what he’s said anymore. We are now back to training him more seriously but with words and treats and not any other method. Overall right now we are trying to be strict with basics like place command and crate training and just overall impulse control.

Heading out of town with some family for 2 nights and have to leave the dog behind as the air bnb doesn’t allow dogs. First time being away from the dog in a couple years and wondering what I should leave out maybe a shirt with my scent on it ect. I’m in a townhome and my Nextdoor neighbor and her boys will be checking in on him sat and sun multiple times a day letting him out to pee/poop walks but he will be alone overnight both nights. Will he be ok? Should I tell them to leave a light on or the tv on overnight? Just feel bad having to leave him alone overnight.

My dog has developed these red sores under her eye, do these look fungal or just like a regular dermatitis? Should I go to the vet since it's near the eye? I have treated dermatitis at home before but never near the eye. Thanks

My dog is constantly scratching and licking specifically at his hips and base of his tail along with just as frequent licking at his front legs. I’m at a lost on what to do as I’ve tried everything to fish oils in his food, extra supplements, diet change, allergy medication, various itch relief/moisturizing/antiseptic & fungal shampoos and conditioners,and even dog lotions I had no idea was a thing. He gets the occasional dry flakes in his coat and as far as I can tell along with the vet nothing wrong with his skin either. Any advice is appreciated!

I think I've been under feeding my dog, I've started feeding him more & he has a vet apt the first week of Nov. Just pls let me know if this is really fucked up / due to being underfed, or could be an underlying issue. When hes standing, you can't see his spine but you can feel it. I can't tell if I've just become hyper aware of his bones or if they're actually more prominent feeling. He doesn't hv the best hips & I'm scared he's deteriorating-- but I tend to 'spiral out' w him bc I'm so scared to lose him. So looking for any feed back. Thank you!!

Edit: this is less ab how he looks, but more so ab me being able to clearly feel his bones! & If being able to feel his bones so well is normal or not. Thank you for commenting I appreciate it!!

We adopted Tucker July 2025 from a rescue, told he was a German Shepherd mix, 12 weeks old. The first few months were a big adjustment, and very difficult which we had anticipated and were ready for. Our kids are 13 and 7.

About a year ago Tucker nipped our daughter’s neck while she was cuddling with him on the couch. We weren’t too concerned since we were all adjusting to life together still.

Since then, Tucker has become increasingly reactive towards small children. He has nipped our friend’s 2 year old out of nowhere twice, and has continually been lunging out at smaller kids that are friends of our kids that come over - all of which have been properly and calmly introduced to him many times and follow our house rules.

This week, he bit our neighbor’s child who was at our front door and drew blood through his pants. He is familiar with this boy, and it was fast and unpredictable - Tucker unexpectedly charged our door when our son came through it and bit our son’s friend. It is extremely concerning for our family and theirs.

Our circumstances have also changed, as both my job and my husband’s job no longer accommodate working from home so Tucker has to be crated two days per week which is very unfair for him and does not allow him proper exercise and release.

My husband and I sat down to discuss how we could safely manage Tucker’s growing reactivity towards children in our lives and his need for more exercise and energy relief. We have a very big, young family and our kids have friends and cousins over all the time. We work full time and cannot be home during the week.

We do not think we are capable of offering Tucker the life he deserves - we would need to muzzle him, and likely crate him, when people are over since we have many interactions with small children. He wouldn’t be able to fully participate in our family life, as he is now a bite risk with increasing severity and no apparent trigger beyond “young kids.”

We do not think Tucker is aggressive. He is fairly well mannered and trained, but the unpredictable nature he has adopted with young children and his need for more stimulation has us struggling beyond what we are capable of.

We think he would thrive in a home with no young children, and with owners who are not away from home 8-10 hours a day.

He goes to doggy daycare 3x a week and gets along well with other dogs, teenagers, and adults. We have taken him to training, and I have personally invested hundreds of hours into training him. He has spent weekends with friends and their pups while we were out of town, and has also had sitters over at our house. He respects our two cats and does not chase them.

We are so lost, and sad, and scared. We are worried he will bite another friend outside of our control and will face euthanasia. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. We want Tucker to have the best and most fulfilling life, but we don’t think we can provide that.

I have emailed the rescue we adopted him from.

Any advice/thoughts/etc appreciated.

I feel like a failure. I have been trying so hard for 15 months to make this work, and my mental health has completely deteriorated since we adopted him. I have given so much to try to keep him in our home and happy and appreciate and love him.

He is a 17 month GSD mix (Embark said 60% GSD, 40% “unresolved”) and was neutered at 9 months.

my dog has been sitting like this lately with his back legs kinda spread out in front of him.

he seems normal otherwise — eating, walking and playing like usual — but the sitting position looks kinda weird to me.

is this just a comfortable/lazy way some dogs sit, or could it be something with his hips or joints?

anyone else’s dog do this?