New Dog, Some Questions!

[arealhuman]

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So, Rusty has been with us for just over 3 days now and seems to be settling in well. As I said in my "Meet Rusty" post, I'd have some questions to take advantage of your collective wisdom and experience, so here is the first salvo! Sorry, it's a long post:

1. Food Recommendations
What would you recommend and why? We were advised to keep him on chicken and rice for a few days, which we've done, although he won't eat the rice. We have started to introduce some wet food (Naturo, because we wanted to see how he'd react to it, he seemed to like it). I also tried a kibble (Step Up to Naturals) to see how he'd get on with that. He didn't like it. Both were chosen in small quantities.

Jimmy was previously on Gentle (recommended by the wonderful @JoanneF) until his illness seemed to make him more of a fussy eater. Happy to go back on that, although the introduction with kibble hasn't been great!

I'd also consider raw, never done it, and we tried Jimmy on an uncooked bone but it didn't go well so I'm wary of this.

Like everyone one here, I want the best food for my dog, the more natural and unprocessed the better!

2. Pet Insurance
Is Pet Plan still the provider of choice? With Jimmy, we had insurance through Sainsbury's, but at some point they put up the price considerably and dropped the level of cover due to his age so we cancelled it. No regrets, but it cost us a lot of money (a lot!) for his cancer treatment, but we would never have considered not paying for it.

3. Walking Distance
Rusty has been on a couple of "proper" walks now (all on-lead), he's really enjoying exploring and sniffing out his new environment He is about 1.5 years old, I'd say roughly 1-12Kg. We let him dictate the length and pace of the walks, although reign in him a bit when he's pulling. Should we be limiting the distance of his walks? I ask as he's our first younger dog, Jimmy was about 6 when we got him and deceptively strong. Obviously it's very hot at the moment, so we wouldn't take him out during peak temperatures (so far it's been 05.45 and 19.30, with access to the garden in-between).

4. Settling for Bed
Rusty flaps at bed time. He won't settle and pants, which think is due to heat levels. After an hour, he will pick a spot and settle there, and so far, usually sleeps through the night unless I disturb him (toilet visit!). I have tried a slow introduction to small, quiet fan to help cool him, but he's scared of it. Any suggestions to help him settle appreciated. That said, he fell asleep with his head stuffed nose first into my stomach last night (it's a fairly large pillow ), which was adorable.

5. Enrichment Games
All suggestions welcome. We have a few puzzle games which we have yet to introduce.

6. Itching
He seems to itch/nibble himself a fair amount. He has been treated for fleas and the like and we have no evidence of them or anything similar. No evidence of hot-spots. The rescue centre say it may be due to stress following his journey and his new environment, would be happy in anyone's insight.

7. Nodules
OK, this is the weirdest and most naïve question. Just below his ribcage he has two small nodules of skin, equally spaced either side of the centre of his underside. What are they? Are they nipples? He doesn't react when they're touched, they don't look sore or anything and are covered by fur. Can't remember anything on Jimmy. Sorry to sound so dumb!

OK, that's it, thanks to those who have read this far, I really appreciate it!

 

[JoanneF]

I stopped using Gentle. We had a bad batch, no need to go into detail, but it happened to be at the time I was at Crufts. I went to the Gentle stand and met the CEO who was really dismissive - she asked me to send a sample, because she couldn't believe any problems hadn't been picked up by their 'second to none' quality control measures. When I did, and sent a video showing the problem, she was more concerned about the possible bad publicity than the effect it might have had on my dog. She replaced the bag I had bought but no apology, it was the whole attitude that put me off - if she had apologised and been nicer about it, I might still be using it.

However, I'd picked up some samples of Platinum at Crufts and I've been using that ever since. I really like it. If you contact Platinum, they will post some samples out. I think dogs like it because if has a strong meaty smell.

For the insurance, I think most go up as the dogs get older but I'd ask for a quote for a dog of Rusty's age, and also for quotes for the same dog at 8, 10, 12 years old so you can make a comparison before getting locked into any.

With walking, I'd say a lot depends on how much exercise he has had recently. A person who has been restricted in exercise, for example after illness or injury, wouldn't start by going for a five mile hike. When it gets cooler, several short walks would probably be better than one longer one.

Bed time - have you thought of a cool mat for him? Maybe I'm overthinking things, but I wonder if historically, night time and sleeping wasn't safe for him, maybe in a little bit more time he will learn to be secure. Have you seen the three days, three weeks, three months message, that says it takes around three days for a rescue dog to decompress, three weeks to learn the routine, and three months to feel like they belong?

Enrichment - I'm going to be slightly out of step with normal thinking here and say I'd not use them at all for now. Because they generally involve having the dog solve puzzles or 'work' for his food, I don't think this is the right time for them. For now, I'd let him see that availability of food isn't dependent on him having to do anything.

Itching maybe is because of stress, or it might be the change of food or environment. You could use coconut oil on any particularly itchy spots, the advantage is that if he licks it off it helps even more! I'd wait for now and see how it progresses, if it continues maybe ask the vet for an antihistamine. If that stops it, you would know it was an allergy - just not what he is allergic to.

The nodules could be nipples. The fact there are two in the same position suggests it isn't something unusual or worrying.

 

[arealhuman]

Awesome again, @JoanneF! Yes, I remember your Gentle woes, and you sent me the video too. I will try some Platinum samples, thank you. To tide us over for a bit, we have bought some more Naturo which seems reasonable on All About Dog Food and he seems to like it.

Cool mat - yes, getting one. We had one for Jimmy but when we took it out this time last year, it had turned mouldy even though we kept it clean! Jimmy was OK with a fan though, so that resolved that problem. Yes, we have the three days/week/months info and totally agree with that. We were also told with Jimmy that him settling could take up to a year. Two years was more like it, bless him.

Thanks for the rest of your (as always) helpful advice. I do feel daft asking about those "nipples", they do look symmetrical but when he has his first health check I will double check.

Many thanks

 

[arealhuman]

I should add that he was obviously vet-checked prior to leaving and I'm sure they would have picked up anything of concern and perhaps prevented him from travel.

 

[JudyN]

Feeding: Have a read of our guide to raw feeding: Raw feeding

Walking distance: Once a dog has reached a year of age, I've read that (as in the early months) you can build up by 5 minutes per month. Of course, you don't know how far he walked in a day before then, and a lot also depends on whether it's all walk, walk, walk, or pootling with the odd run. So maybe start at an hour's pootling a couple of times a day (or what he seems to be happy with) and build up from there. Obviously take heat into account - some dogs really do struggle when the weather warms up.

Settling for bed: It's such early days, I'd say encourage him to settle (low-key praise when he settles down), but he'll probably sort himself out in a few days. And give him a choice of surfaces (even if he chooses to settle on the kitchen floor), as soft beds might be too hot and also possibly unfamiliar.

 

[arealhuman]

Thanks @JudyN - useful stuff. I do like all the supportive arguments about feeding raw, but there's just something somewhere in the recesses of my dull little mind that raises warning flags. I think for now, I will go with the food @JoanneF mentioned, and once he's settled a bit maybe revisit raw.

@JoanneF - I've ordered some sample, thanks. You may have pointed me in this direction before, the website seems familiar, especially the FSG bit. I take it you feed the dry food?

Cute act of the day - we got Rusty up on our bed earlier, he was in a mischievous mood. He has taken to rolling on his back, back legs in the air, front legs folded down, demanding a chest/belly rub. I did this a while ago, cradling his head and my arm around his body, and he fell asleep in my arms!

 

[JoanneF]

I take it you feed the dry food?

It's described as dry but it's actually semi-dry. You will see when you get it, but the pieces are softer than biscuity kibble.

 

[arealhuman]

So we're almost through the free samples of Platinum that arrived. Beef and potato went down best, I think. I'll order some of this and see how it goes.

I also want to look into raw as well. His poos are fairly soft, which I guess could be down to all the recent changes, but it seems that some raw food might help with that. Do I remember correctly that you feed Timber a raw chicken wing, or did I dream that up, @JoanneF?

We haven't gotten him a cool mat - he has access to cool tiled floors in two rooms but I don't think he's worked out lying there might be cooler for him so I don't think he'll sleep on a cool mat. Last night, he ended up on our bed. We have an oscillating fan for cooling and he seems OK with that.

Here he is teaching that pesky squirrel who's boss, after telling Blue Malcolm behind him who's in charge:

 

[arealhuman]

Updated to add: I see Platinum offer a trial package (wet and dry), so we'll start with that.

 

[JoanneF]

Do I remember correctly that you feed Timber a raw chicken wing, or did I dream that up, @JoanneF?

Yes, you remember correctly. Not so often now since he has discovered fish skin flatties, which give him a good chew, but still a wing from time to time!

 

[arealhuman]

Thanks @JoanneF. We used to give those to Jimmy too, will probably end up getting some for Rusty at some point.

 

[arealhuman]

So, an update on the Rusty one, with some questions thrown in! He still has soft poos, his latest one this morning was mostly liquid. He's been with us for one week and five days now, so I'm still thinking that this is down to his journey and change in circumstances (e.g. environment, food). That said his first couple of poos were more solid and better formed. As above, we have ordered some Platinum dog food, a trial box consisting of wet and dry foods and I'm hoping that will help things in this regard. At the moment he is being fed mostly chicken, we've stopped giving the wet food (Naturo) for now in case it's that that's causing problems. We've also had five or six instances of him being sick, too. None of this appears to have affected his behaviour - still has his appetite, keen for walks, etc.

Grass - he likes to eat it, we try and stop him as it could be this making him sick (I've searched and found some threads here, here and here). Is it OK to just let him much away? You can see in those threads I've linked there are a number of views.

In post number eight in my second link above, @JudyN links to Honey's Dog Food. On first glance, this looks like a company providing "ready made" raw meals for dogs, and this same glance appears to show these meals consist of meat, vegetables and ground bones. If I were to go the raw route, would this be a good place to start? I do worry about bones getting stuck inside dogs, I guess this wouldn't happen if they're ground or otherwise made smaller.

I hope that all makes sense - we have a routine vet check in just over an hour and I 'll be asking these, and more, questions then. Thanks for any responses

 

[Hemlock]

Let him eat the grass, even if it makes him puke - it's medicinal. You could try giving him some raw or lightly-cooked green vegetables to eat, which does the same thing. I found with mine that as long as they had enough green veggies, they weren't interested in grass eating except in Spring, where the new grass is extra delicious. They liked to graze on various herbs and wild plants too, such as goosegrass. A very few dogs will try and eat harmful greenery, so I'm told, but all the ones I've known have chosen healing herbs.

 

[JoanneF]

I wonder if the chicken might be part of the issue. Timber gets a runny bottom if he has too much chicken (and we prefer non-chicken dog food). Actual chicken is usually better than chicken in processed food, but you could also try him on poached fish. Another tip is to add a few bran flakes or similar to put more fibre in his diet.

 

[JudyN]

Yes, ready-made raw would be a good place to start, and Honey's is a good company. It won't benefit his teeth the way that whole bones would, but if it works well for you you could look at incorporating the occasional chicken wing later. (Or maybe lamb rib if it turns out chicken doesn't agree with him.)

 

[arealhuman]

Thanks once again everyone A couple of updates from my original post:

3. Walking Distance
Rusty's pads on his paws were pink when he arrived, now they're much darker. He has some fine cracks on them, actually more like the creases on the palm of your hand, and we're reassured to be told this is all normal.

6. Itching
The vet said this might be down to allergies and has prescribed a short course of tablets to see if this helps.

7. Nodules
You were right @JoanneF, they are nipples! Felt embarrassed asking, caused a few smirks!

The Platinum food arrived as we were leaving for the vet, good timing, so we'll start him on this tomorrow, probably.

 

[Flobo]

The nipples thing made me chuckle and reminded me that some people have been known to blow raspberries on their boy ferrets 'belly button'... it is absolutely not their belly button!

 

[JoanneF]

The nipples thing made me chuckle and reminded me that some people have been known to blow raspberries on their boy ferrets 'belly button'... it is absolutely not their belly button!

 

[JudyN]

*Snort*

 

[Hemlock]

I've had to explain that to a new ferret owner as well.........