DOG/OWNER MEDICAL APPROACH

[Sophinator]

I'm just curious how much your approach to medical care for your dog mirrors your approach to medical care for yourself. For instance, some people would run to their doctor for a hangnail. Are these people more likely to run to the vet because Fido seems a little under the weather? Meanwhile, other people wouldn't go to the doctor unless their finger was falling off. Are these people more likely to hold off taking Fido to the vet? And how does your approach toward treatment for yourself mirror what you'd be willing to go through for your dog?

 

The reason I ask is that I've noticed two trends in dog ownership (other than, of course, the people who just don't give a damn, the "it's just a dog" folks.) One group drags their hound to the vet for the least little ailment and thinks I'm an awful person because I don't pack Sophie up the minute she farts. The other group is more like me, taking a wait and see approach if the situation doesn't appear to be life threatening. And it does mirror my approach to my own health. If I fall and hurt my my wrist, I wait a couple of days to see if the pain and swelling go down. Usually does. On the other hand, if I fell and a broken bone were sticking out of my arm, I wouldn't wait to hit the emergency room. I'm also not a big fan of medication or (to me anyway) needless tests for myself. Immunization is different. Your dog have to have rabies shots by law. And it makes sense to me to protect a dog from parvo/distemper, etc. by routine shots. But I cope with my arthritis with over the counter meds. Or I just grin and bear it. And I would draw a line in the sand at certain cancer treatments--quality vs quantity of life. I'm more likely to try home treatment and home remedies for Sophie than haul out "the big guns." Other people would pull out all the stops for both themselves and their dogs.

 

Of course, I think it does matter if you're a first time dog owner and you have no basis for comparison. Just like you tend to freak out more with your first child than with the fifth one. By Kid Five, you've pretty much "been there/done that" and it takes a pretty serious accident/illness before you start to panic.

 

This is just an academic exercise, but it does have me wondering.

[Chesney's Girl]

I am from the wait and see thinking. I am that way with myself. I don't go to the doctor for colds nor do I take medication unless it is absolutely necessary. It's not that I am afraid of them or mind going, I just would prefer to let my body take care of itself. I take a minimal vet treatment with my dog too. I even will titer instead of continual yearly vaccinations. However, I do tend to err on the side of making sure Chesney and Tucker are better off medically if they get hurt than I am because I know my body and I know myself pretty well after playing sports and taking care of myself for peak performance, and they can't tell me what's wrong.

 

For instance, Chesney sliced open his chin last week, when I found it later that night, I cleaned it out and let it be for the night. I was a little worried that it really did need stitches but we waited until the next afternoon. It was still flapped open so I took him to a friend who shaved the fur and irrigated it, said there was not really a need for stitches at that point. It was in a peculiar spot, and had it been somewhere I could have maybe wrapped it to keep dirt out of it, I probably wouldn't have gone at all. Now, if it were me, I surely would have left it knowing that I wouldn't get dirt in it and I wouldn't get fur stuck in it, but since the medical needs were different for me or him, I opted to take him just to get looked at and taken care of if needed since we were working in the dirt this weekend and if it needed to be closed then so be it, which after it was shaved it ended up sticking back together while he was laying on it, I guess it just scabbed together.

 

Anyways, I tend to look at the severity and location of injury along with how the personality and attitude is of my dogs before I start to worry. A couple months ago Chesney had gotten a bad duck and was acting sick for over 24 hours so we were off to the vet, but I waited to see what would happen.

[sweet_ceana]

We are less likely to take ourselves to the doctor than our dogs. In fact, it took a night of dogs howling every time Chris would cough to get him to the Dr. to find out he had pneumonia. We try and handle everything we can by ourselves, but when I am not firmiliar with something, or the risk of waiting is too high (ie... one of our dogs ate a bottle of Rimydal, we were not sure which one, so both dogs got treated) they go to the vet. Certain things we can hadle, and other things like accidental OD's and kamikaze puppies ripping out their stitches we don't even think twice about.

[juliepoudrier]

I rarely go to the doctor myself, but am much more quick to take the dogs to the vet. I figure I'm the brains of the operation and I can generally tell if I'm really hurt or not, but my dog might not be able to do the same (that is, tell me if it's really hurt). With the dogs, whether they go to the vet depends on the dog and the apparent problem, but for example Pip was kicked in the face by a heifer over the weekend. I went ahead and had the vet check him yesterday because although I was fairly sure he was okay I obviously couldn't judge if there was internal injury to his eye. Lark blew a pad yesterday and I saw no reason to take her to the vet. But the day Lark jumped off the bed and couldn't stand up without help, we went to the vet immediately. For simple lamenesses and the like I don't rush off to the vet, but I guess in general I err on the side of caution when it comes to the animals, and not so much when it comes to me (the latter has gotten me in trouble in the past).

 

J.

[nancy]

I'm with Julie.

 

For myself, I decide when I can suck it up and cope. Unless things get really bad.

 

But with my pets, as I did with my kids, I'm way more likely to go for the medical expertize. Baby, dog, cat, and such cannot tell me whet the problem is. Only let me know that it really hurts.

 

Heck, the vet is a lot cheaper than my doctor. Would that we had socialized medicine. Then I might treat my self as well as I treat the pets!

[M.L.]

Interesting topic.

 

I think my approach to my dogs' health mirrors my own. Prevention is important for myself and the dogs. For us this means healthy diet, exercise, vitamins, filtered water, etc. I try to make sure we are all as healthy as we can be to help prevent disease. I don't like taking medication and I won't give it to the dogs unless it is absolutely necessary. I prefer homeopathic and holistic options for myself and the dogs. One of the vets that we go to is a holistic vet. I don't rush to the vet for the dogs unless it is an emergency. They do go in yearly for a check-up and I do the same for myself with my doctor. I don't get any vaccinations for the flu or anything else. I try to limit the vaccinations for my dogs as well. They get the required rabies vaccine and parvo/distemper every three years. I don't vaccinate them for anything else.

[juliepoudrier]

I think there's a big difference between disease and injury. My dogs are working dogs and are much more likely to be injured doing something than they are likely to catch a disease. I would say that my dogs are almost never at the vet for treatment of disease (except for those problems associated with old age, like CRF or heart disease), but they do go to the vet for injuries.

 

J.

[urge to herd]

I'm of the same mind as several others. I hate going to the doctor, had a nasty all out anaphylactic shock reaction to penicillin when I was 17 and hate taking medicine more than I hate going to the dr.

 

My dogs are stoic - I've mentioned more than once that Sami ran her paw pads to bloody hamburger without one wince, until she stopped dead and wouldn't move at all. Took her 2 weeks to walk without wincing after that. So, if one of them is acting off, I assume it's a bigger deal than they're letting on.

 

Their ages, as well as having recently lost Buzz to cancer, make me a little on the hypervigilant side. For minor limping or simple diarrhea, I take a wait and see attitude. For going off their feed or being unwilling to stand up - Shonie pinched a nerve in her hindquarters in August - it's right to the vet. Anything involving the eyes, right to the vet.

 

Ruth