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It's not really normal, no, but I doubt it's anything to worry about...I've never heard of that being a symptom of a medical problem. She's probably a bit senile.
Make that a lot senile. Thanks.
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Forget your Mr Fritz pw?

What possible reason could there be for a Labrador Retriever to lose all of the hair in only one of his front armpits?
Allergies can manifest themselves in weird ways. It could be a minor hotspot. Maybe an insect bite that caused a reaction. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
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Make that a lot senile. Thanks.
Then it won't mind if you declaw it.After all, cats have been known to sit on the chests of babies and suck their life force out of them.I saw a documentary about it once, or a movie, one of those.
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Allergies can manifest themselves in weird ways. It could be a minor hotspot. Maybe an insect bite that caused a reaction. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
He does seem to be very allergic for some reason, he sheds like crazy and likes to chew his feet with a passion. We've tried switching up his food a couple of times, but nothing seems to make any real difference.
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How do you cut a cat's nails if unlike SB's lucid senile cats, yours is young and when you have one paw in your grasp her other paws are ripping your stomach and I swear I see intestines now?None of the vets I know around me will declaw a cat after 1 year old. We didn't get Cordy(our cat who gutted me) declawed because no vet would when we got her when she was about 1. Probably the nicest thing we did for her and our new ikea couch is a big fan as well, NOT. That's a good question, what are some things we can do to get her not to continue to ruin ikea rugs (we have gone through 2 already) and the new couch? We have tried the squirt bottle, big deal, she thinks it is a game. We have tried the NO-Scratch spray, has garlic and stuff in it that is supposed to make her want nothing to do with nothing and that works as well as dousing the rug in catnip spray.We also have bought her about 3 scratching pads of different sizes and shapes and she will usually do that first then go to the couch and the rug.Any ideas would be much appreciated.

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He does seem to be very allergic for some reason, he sheds like crazy and likes to chew his feet with a passion. We've tried switching up his food a couple of times, but nothing seems to make any real difference.
Unfortunately, allergies are fairly common in labs and can be a huge pain in the ass. The shedding is normal, but the feet chewing and hair loss are good signs of allergies to...something. Do the symptoms seem to be seasonal? What kind of foods have you tried? Food trials due to possible allergies can be more intense than most people know. Have you tried any medications?I'm not saying you should definitely be medicating your otherwise healthy young lab, it's just something to think about in case the symptoms get to a point where you think he's really uncomfortable all the time.
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How do you cut a cat's nails if unlike SB's lucid senile cats, yours is young and when you have one paw in your grasp her other paws are ripping your stomach and I swear I see intestines now?
You get someone to hold her...safest way is to have your assistant hold her on her side by the scruff. It's easiest if the assistant's forearm (of the hand holding her scruff) is on the table, stabilizing her back so she can't squirm around.
That's a good question, what are some things we can do to get her not to continue to ruin ikea rugs (we have gone through 2 already) and the new couch? We have tried the squirt bottle, big deal, she thinks it is a game. We have tried the NO-Scratch spray, has garlic and stuff in it that is supposed to make her want nothing to do with nothing and that works as well as dousing the rug in catnip spray.We also have bought her about 3 scratching pads of different sizes and shapes and she will usually do that first then go to the couch and the rug.
Have you tried scratching posts, or just pads?You could use soft paws...they work really well, but are a pain to apply.
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Unfortunately, allergies are fairly common in labs and can be a huge pain in the ass. The shedding is normal, but the feet chewing and hair loss are good signs of allergies to...something. Do the symptoms seem to be seasonal? What kind of foods have you tried? Food trials due to possible allergies can be more intense than most people know. Have you tried any medications?I'm not saying you should definitely be medicating your otherwise healthy young lab, it's just something to think about in case the symptoms get to a point where you think he's really uncomfortable all the time.
We had him on Beneful when I moved in with my wife three years ago, then I read an article that said it's basically the worst dog food in existence so we switched both dogs to alternating green bag and red bag Iams (red would be the lamb and rice formula, we switched back and forth a few times to see if there was a difference, there wasn't). Now the dogs are on Premium Edge Chicken Rice and Vegetables, they seem to enjoy the food but the allergies persist. He also has horrible ear infection issues but I know that's a breed problem, we try to stay on top of it.We haven't medicated him thusfar, because just finding out what he's allergic to will be a long, expensive process.
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You get someone to hold her...safest way is to have your assistant hold her on her side by the scruff. It's easiest if the assistant's forearm (of the hand holding her scruff) is on the table, stabilizing her back so she can't squirm around.Have you tried scratching posts, or just pads?You could use soft paws...they work really well, but are a pain to apply.
Yeah she has a scratching post too. She is just incorrigible.Soft paws are cool, I want to get a bunch of different colors but as you say they look like a pain to apply but if it saves $800 worth of furniture I guess it is one way to go.
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We had him on Beneful when I moved in with my wife three years ago, then I read an article that said it's basically the worst dog food in existence so we switched both dogs to alternating green bag and red bag Iams (red would be the lamb and rice formula, we switched back and forth a few times to see if there was a difference, there wasn't). Now the dogs are on Premium Edge Chicken Rice and Vegetables, they seem to enjoy the food but the allergies persist. He also has horrible ear infection issues but I know that's a breed problem, we try to stay on top of it.
In order to really help with a food allergy, the vast majority of the time you have to put a dog on limited ingredient prescription food. Unfortunately, it's kind of expensive to do so. Venison & Potato, Duck & Green Pea, etc. There's also something called ZD and ZD Ultra, which is the ultimate allergen free food. To do a food trial you have to use one of these foods for at least 4-6 weeks and feed him nothing else...not even treats.
We haven't medicated him thusfar, because just finding out what he's allergic to will be a long, expensive process.
You don't have to find out exactly what he's allergic to in order to medicate...any vet that tells you that is just trying to sell you on a ridiculously expensive allergy panel. It can be treated symptomatically without a definitive diagnosis.
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In order to really help with a food allergy, the vast majority of the time you have to put a dog on limited ingredient prescription food. Unfortunately, it's kind of expensive to do so. Venison & Potato, Duck & Green Pea, etc. There's also something called ZD and ZD Ultra, which is the ultimate allergen free food. To do a food trial you have to use one of these foods for at least 4-6 weeks and feed him nothing else...not even treats.You don't have to find out exactly what he's allergic to in order to medicate...any vet that tells you that is just trying to sell you on a ridiculously expensive allergy panel. It can be treated symptomatically without a definitive diagnosis.
Is that the stuff that's made out of kangaroo meat or whatever? Our vet tried to sell us on some kind of allergen free food that cost like $80 for an 8 pound bag...he's a 100 pound black lab, we'd go through 5 of those bags a month, minimum. I think he'd rather be itchy than not get his treats in the morning, to be honest.
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Pet threads should always have pics of pets imoThe first couch she ruined...PhDC2007040.jpg
I had that exact same couch. It's long gone -- I think the fabric was really pretty thin and cheesy for something that gets as much wear as a sofa.Here's my cat pic -- our adorable younger cat Peanut. She's eight now, but this is from when we rescued her as a 10-day-old kitten. We bottle-fed her for two months and had to massage her tummy to get her to poop, so she's really our baby, and extremely human-identified.PeanutsBabyPicture.jpg
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Is that the stuff that's made out of kangaroo meat or whatever? Our vet tried to sell us on some kind of allergen free food that cost like $80 for an 8 pound bag...he's a 100 pound black lab, we'd go through 5 of those bags a month, minimum.
I don't think so, he was probably trying to get you to use a limited ingredient food, which is usually simply one protein source and one carb source. Again, I don't think you should worry too much and start spending all kinds of money (plus the stress on him being medicated) until you think he's really uncomfortable.
I think he'd rather be itchy than not get his treats in the morning, to be honest.
Sounds like a good lab.
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I don't think so, he was probably trying to get you to use a limited ingredient food, which is usually simply one protein source and one carb source. Again, I don't think you should worry too much and start spending all kinds of money (plus the stress on him being medicated) until you think he's really uncomfortable.
I don't think he's terribly uncomfortable, except when his ears get really bad. If he was in agony we'd certainly do something about it, I guess I was just wondering if there's a simple, commonly known fix for dog allergies that our vet isn't telling us about in the interest of $$$.
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Ok I have an honest question about this. We basically almost never cut our dogs' nails because I am afraid I am cutting flesh off their feet... the nails are totally black and there is no way whatsoever to tell where the nail ends and the quick begins. How the hell are you supposed to do this??
My vet showed me a good way.For the front paws have the dog sit. raise the paws up backward so the pads are facing up. It's much easier to see the quick unless the nails are dirty. For the back paws have the dog stand up. Do the same thing raising the paw up backward.We let out lab run around on the concrete pool deck quite a bit during the summer. It shaves the nails down so we don't have to cut them.And when we used these clippers she freaked out.TrimmerDogGuillotine.jpgWhen we switched to this kind she was much better about the whole ordeal.nail_trimmer.jpgOurs has a small plate on the back so the nail can't get too deep.
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That's always tough, even for people that do it every day. There's no easy answer...you just take a little off until you can see a small circle in the middle of the nail, which means the quick is getting close. One thing you can do is just take off the hooked part of the nail...if you look under it you can kind of see where the straight nail ends and it starts to curve. I do recommend at least trying to cut them, since the quick grows along with the nail. The longer you let it go, the harder they'll be to trim. And the first few times you do it only take a tiny bit off and give them plenty of treats so it'll be a good experience. Do that once a week or so until they're comfortable enough to let you start to really shave some off.
Our cat hates me because of nail clipping time. Hates. Me.
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Ok I have an honest question about this. We basically almost never cut our dogs' nails because I am afraid I am cutting flesh off their feet... the nails are totally black and there is no way whatsoever to tell where the nail ends and the quick begins. How the hell are you supposed to do this??
Same problem - we just run the dog on concrete and hope that trims down the nail enough. Also, our dog doesn't like us to touch his paws - he had a broken foot when he was young so maybe that has something to do with it.
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I guess I was just wondering if there's a simple, commonly known fix for dog allergies that our vet isn't telling us about in the interest of $$$.
Nope. When they get really bad it's easy to put them on a short term run of steroids (pred), which is fairly inexpensive, but that's just for flare-ups and is in no way a "fix", plus it's not good for them to be on steroids too often.If you're afraid that your vet isn't fixing your dog's allergies because he wants to convince you to spend more money, you need to find a new vet.
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Same problem - we just run the dog on concrete and hope that trims down the nail enough. Also, our dog doesn't like us to touch his paws - he had a broken foot when he was young so maybe that has something to do with it.
Around here plenty of animal hospitals will do a quick nail trim for $15-$20...do that once a month and you won't have to worry about it anymore.
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My vet showed me a good way.For the front paws have the dog sit. raise the paws up backward so the pads are facing up. It's much easier to see the quick unless the nails are dirty. For the back paws have the dog stand up. Do the same thing raising the paw up backward.We let out lab run around on the concrete pool deck quite a bit during the summer. It shaves the nails down so we don't have to cut them.And when we used these clippers she freaked out.[picture]When we switched to this kind she was much better about the whole ordeal.[picture]Ours has a small plate on the back so the nail can't get too deep.
My post wasn't really a joke.
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