[mhvonalmen8908]

Doppler has recently started to do this weird thing when he eats. Virga just dives into her bowl and scarfs her food, but Doppler has to be told like 20 times to 'go get it' (we make them both wait until we say to eat). Then he'll stand at his bowl and dart his head really quick into his bowl, grab a couple of pieces of food, drop them onto the carpet and then eat the food. It's very frustrating because Virga gets done with her food and tries to check his bowl out and he growls at her. It's an every day occurrence in our house and it's getting quite old.

Now to Virga, she started limping early yesterday and it got progressively worse as the day went on. She tries to play like normal with Doppler but her leg won't support her whole weight. So she mopes around all day. I've been carrying her down the stairs and lifting her down from furniture so she won't jar it anymore. She eats, drinks, and uses the bathroom like normal. But she holds her foot up while she's sitting. I've felt her entire leg from her shoulder down to the tips of her nails. I've manipulated all of her joints with no sound from her at all. I've checked all of her pads and nothing. I'm at the end of my rope with it for right now. So she's going to the vet this afternoon.

Sorry for the long post just wanted to rant. My husband is deployed overseas so it's just me here dealing with this.

 

[Esther]

careful w that leg girl.

 

[duder]

For the food, Randolph does the same thing. Scarfs down his food and immediately tries to eat Mortimers. Morty takes his time and also does the thing where he picks a few bits and drops them in the floor.

What I did to remedy this, was to grab a few pieces out of Randolphs food and held them in my hand. Once he was done I got his attention with the bits in my hand and started tossing them one at a time down the hallway for him to find until Mort is done eating.

After a few times doing this, Randolph pays no attention to Mortimer's food. As soon as he is done eating, he walks down the hall and waits for me to toss food his way.

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

Thanks Esther. Hopefully the vet will have some advice for us. And duder that's a great idea but luckily Doppler usually just has to growl at her and she'll back off and wait for him to finish. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

 

[Annie714]

Keep us posted on little Virga's leg...or is it Virga's little leg? At any rate, hope it's nothing major.

As for the food thing, Annie scarfs hers down and little Zoey has no teeth so it takes her longer. Zoey will let Annie eat anything outside of her bowl, but she will let Annie know by growling that her snout is not to actually enter the bowl until she has walked away. I leave it alone, figure they have their own hierarchy and it's none of my business so long as no one gets hurt.

 

[Esther]

we liked the part on annies blog about waiting for zoey to finish... i believe, "Miss Piggy," was the term. haha

 

[Annie714]

LOL yes Esther...Miss Piggy was indeed the term

But shhh...Annie is a delicate flower who can't know that nickname

 

[Esther]

that's ok.
they call me "ralph" on accounta i puke a lot.

 

[Wworm]

Hiya Doppler & Virga's Mum,

Yeah, maybe what Duder is saying could work. My teacher Mrs. C hand-feeds her dogs all their meals in training sessions. (ie. using their meals for treat rewards...) Another thought... what about feeding them separately? either separate times or separate spaces perhaps... i seem to think they don't have crates, otherwise would say to try feeding in crates w/door closed. i get my yummy but messy bones in a locked crate and don't mind it because it's soooo tasty

poor Virga's leg-- please keep us posted on what happens. can't quite tell but you mentioned lifting her off furniture... i have to use doggie stairs going up and esp down from couch and bed. my person hopes it will reduce the chance of getting back/leg problems... so maybe doggie stairs..? esp since Virga's full basset (may not matter as much for Doppler since he's got long legs...)

we'd be interested in what people think of this behavior of Doppler's-- the wienie dog before me did that all the time. every time people came home, he'd grab a mouthful of dry food and run from the kitchen to the middle of the living room, and drop it, then eat piece by piece. He also did that at the end of each of his meals... what interesting behavior (but annoying here 'cause it also affects Virga..)

sorry you have to deal w/this alone human cousin is deployed overseas too.. thank you for all the sacrifices you and your husband make...

--Worm

 

[houndmomma]

What you’re describing reminds me of the way Flash eats. (or use to) She’s always been a finicky eater. For her first three years my husband use to spoon feed her. That is, till I finally put my food down because we couldn’t ever plan anything around dinner time because really, who could we ask to feed our kids and then tell them they had to spoon feed them. They would think we we’re crazier than they already do.

Anyway, getting her to eat by herself was quite a challenge – one of the things she liked to do was flipping her bowl across the room, then she would eat the food off the floor. I finally was able to find a kind of tray that was weighted and too flat to the ground for her to flip. But she does exactly what your guy is doing; she’ll lay there and stare it for what seems like forever – I don’t know how many times a night, every night I have to tell her to eat, then she’ll finally start eating one little chuck at a time. When she’s done it’s a hoot – she comes running over so happy with a “look what I did mom look” and I have to tell her how proud I am of her.

I hate to say, it’s been like that for as long as I can remember until just recently when she got sick – and she’s now back to being spoon feed. We have an L shape counter in our kitchen –I feed Lucy on one side and Flash on the side that we eat at. Lucy has just learned, don’t come near Flash when she’s having her stare down with her food.

I hope for her leg you find out what’s wrong soon and it’s a quick easy fix for whatever it is.

Here is a photo of Flash doing her stare down on the tray I mentioned -

Jen~

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

Just got back from the vet's. He manipulated her leg and foot all kinds of different directions with no sound from Virga. No indication at all that she was hurting. He mentioned pano and another orthopedic condition I don't remember the name of. He said both conditions were common in basset hounds. But he put her on strict crate rest and pain killers for about 5 days. If she's still limping by then, the vet wants her back in for X-rays. We've moved her kennel into the living room so she doesn't feel left out. I don't know who is going to go craziest, Dopper, Virga, or me!

Thank you Worm. It's hard dealing with him being gone but he's in a much safer place than most of our boys and girls that deploy go to. And I'll talk to my husband about the stairs. The way our furniture is set up she would just need one set to get on the couch and the love seat. No one but the dogs use the love seat anyway.

 

[Wworm]

that's ok.
they call me "ralph" on accounta i puke a lot.

Estha, do ya still have the puking problem? I fuhgot until now when I thoughtta ya. I used to puke too in the mornings, and the vet's office suggested something over-the-counter like Pepcid or Tums or something... can't remember exactly what, so please ask your vet for which is ok for dogs. Agree w/Boomah that you may need more snacks yum, i'm getting hungry again talking about this. When i had more snacks, i stopped puking and never needed to try the medicine... have you tried any yet???

Flashie-- i like your new avatar nice look

Virga-- glad your vet couldn't find anything wrong. hope you continue to feel bettah.

--Worm

 

[SophieB]

Why don't you feed them in different rooms... or one in the kitchen and the other outside in the hall?

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

I do feed them in separate rooms. But Virga wolfs her food down and Doppler, with the slow way he's been eating recently, takes longer. It's not really a huge problem but occasionally she forgets that she's supposed to wait for him to be done. That's when the growling starts. But he only has to do it once for her to back off. It's just a little thing that's driving me a little bonkers.

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

Well...Virga's days of crate rest are over! She's so excited to be free from her crate. She's not limping at all now. I'm going to start trying to keep her calmer so it doesn't happen again.

 

[Annie714]

Alright Virga! Glad to hear she is feeling better

 

[Wworm]

yay, Virga!... freeDOM...!!! show us some pics of what you do with it
--your pal, Worm