Dogs. Earlier this week I had the fire ant episode with Willa and a trip to the vet Monday. I spent 3 hours in the Emergency Vet office yesterday. The office is the only 24/7 vet office between Charleston and Brunswick and we are lucky to have it. Abby was limping around favoring her right front leg. I believe she injured her foot ratting or mousing in a lumber pile behind the house. Fortunately it was soft tissue. She'll be riding the pines until week's end. Good thing I have Willa. We'll be going out this a.m. Saturday night after coming in the from the woods, Abby ate a half pound of fudge. Chocolate can be dangerous for dogs; I gave her a tablespoon of Hydrogen Peroxide with some heavy cream and she launched a brick sized wad of dog food and chocolate within 15 minutes. Good to know that combo works on dogs as an emetic. Yesterday I was supposed to be at the dove field at 1 pm. Because I was at the vet's office until 115, I was scrambling to load up my truck with dove stool, shells, etc. (Story is getting to be a variation of "my dogs ate my homework".) I usually take time to make sure everything is packed. An hour and a half late, I drove up to the field, 30 minutes from home, went to grab my dove stool. It wasn't in the truck. It was sitting on the porch 30 minutes away. No one else I know shoots a 16 so I headed home hoping no one saw me drive up and leave. Billy called last night to see what happened as he saw me drive up and leave. I asked him what was a better excuse: 1) I crapped my pants or 2) I forgot my dove stool with ammo inside of it. He thought it was a tie, so I told him to pick one. I think he's still laughing. Abby's much better this morning but she is on injured reserve until later in the week. Weather looks rainy later this week so she'll get a good rest. Are Willa and Abby worth the trouble and expense? You betcha. Merry Christmas.

Life with dogs can be exciting. Glad Abby's okay.

Eating lots of cheese may help. Bowel control............... not fire ant bites.

Merry Christmas, buddy.

SRH

A few months ago I saw a post on another forum about a first aid kit for dogs. I ordered working dog kit at the link below and supplemented it with several packs of anti-clot gel, more vet wrap, more clotting gauze, extra Benadryl tablets, a small bottle of sterile saline solution sold for contact lens wear, an Israeli Combat Compression bandage and a digital thermometer. I repacked it in this German Bread Bag with a rubberized liner. It had two holes in the bottom for drainage (I guess) which I covered with Gorilla Tape inside. I bought the bag from an Ebay store. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018ONRL2E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s02?ie=UTF8&th=1
The same kit is more than adequate for humans. I need to add band aids to complete the kit for people.

First aid kit for dogs! The same kit as for people with one very helpful addition a roll of plastic Electrical insulation tape, It sticks well to fur and its self totally water proof in the medium term making a good tight dressing. On occasions I have used it on my self especially when that pink elastic human sticky tape gives up the ghost in the wet and rain.

You, too, Stan. Gil

Gil hunts woodcock down here in hog country. The possibility of having to stop serious bleeding due to contact with GA ivory is very real, for man or dog.

Good idea, Gil. I like that bag. Looks like it would make a good duck hunting bag for walk-in holes. I'm going to look into them closer.

SRH

After my turkey dog got his shoulder layed open by Constantine wire at Ft.Campbell I added a surgical staper to my dog kit...never had to use it.

Gil I'd add a good pair of round nose dog scissers and a pair of hemastats and small pliers. My New york buddy has needed the pliers several times to remove porcupine quills.

I have watched as a friend stapled his catch dog's chest closed after a really big boar laid it open with his tusks. It was mostly bulldog, and my friend got him up on the tailgate of the pickup and he stood there, with no anesthetic of any kind, and let his owner staple up that gash. He never flinched once. I cannot comprehend a bulldog's threshold of pain, but I can tell you it is far, far above mine.

BTW, the boar got the worst end of the deal. He destroyed no more of my irrigated corn after that well deserved set-to.

SRH

This is a dog first aid kit I worked out with my vet. Mostly its for keeping a field trial dog working. There are a few other items I would add when hunting, the number one being a good Leatherman. Sorry the formatting is so poor.

PET FIRST AID KIT

PRE TRAVEL PREPARATION:
Tick/flea prevention: BRAVECTO – please provide Revolution topically
OR Nexgard chewable
Heartworm: Heartgard chewable (if going to a heartworm endemic area)

KIT:
Personal safety: Soft tie strap/rope or old pair of panty hose to create a make shift muzzle
Latex gloves
Penlight or flashlight
Eye medication: BNP ointment – 2-3 times daily (stronger than polysporin ophthalmic)
Naphcon ophthalmic for allergic conjunctivitis – 2 times daily
Saline rinse
Please provide
Ear medication: Otomax - 2 times daily
Please provide
Routine ear cleaning solution
Q-tips
Antiinflammatory: Metacam (Meloxicam) once daily as per weight of dog
OR Dermaxx (Deracoxib) once daily as per weight of dog
Please provide Dermaxx
Thermometer (rectal or ear – rectal is more accurate)
Allergic reactions: Reactine (Cetirizine) 5-20mg depending on weight of dog ONCE daily
Please provide
OR Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) 25mg 1-2 capsules per dog depending on weight of animal
*** When purchasing antihistamines, ensure there are no ADDITIONAL ingredients added such as decongestants or cough suppressants. Only ONE ingredient should be in active ingredient list.
Thorn/quill removal Tweezer
Needle nose pliers
Collapsible bowl for washing
18-20 gauge needle(s)
Bleeding: Tourniquet
Wounds: Chlorhexidine, betadine or benzoyl peroxide shampoos
Polysporin for skin or hibitane ointment
Non stick gauze pads (Telfa pads)
4X4 gauze squares
Vetrap – please provide
Kling and soft padding
Sticky bandage such as Liteplast, Elastoplast or equivalent
Adhesive tape
Alcohol wipes in foil packs
Scissors
Torn toe nails Quik-stop or equivalent for bleeding toenails or small wounds
Nail clippers
Emetic: Try 1st Hyrdogen peroxide 3% to induce vomiting for non-caustic poisons or small foreign bodies. ~5-10mL/pet. Take for a short walk. Repeat in 10 minutes if no response.
Try 2nd 1-3 tsp in warm water given via syringe (5-10 mL syringe)
Dehydration: Plenty of water
Hypothermia: Blanket (eg foil blanket for heat retension)
Hypoglycemia: Corn syrup, pancake syrup or honey
Lameness: Ace/Tensor bandage for swelling support
Cold pack kits (acute swelling) or heat pack kits (chronic swelling or arthritis)
Splint eg tent poles/newspaper
Diarrhea: Pepto chewables
Metronidazole 250mg tablets ½-2 tablets twice daily depending on size
FORBID probiotic sachets
Please provide
Vomiting: Pepcid A/C 10mg tablets – 1-3 tablets 1-2 times daily depending of weight OR
Zantac 75 – 1 tablet 1-2 times daily

Unbelievable.

SRH

Frank, I see your post. Thanks. The kit I have came with the sterile stapler and pliers designed to remove them. It pretty much has the emergency supplies detailed by Tamid. I need to add a specific gauge needle and learn how to do a tracheotomy on a choking dog. My neighbors are vets and I'll ask them for instruction and a needle. We don't have porcupines, but I have a leatherman that would work in those cases. Frank, Abby went from 60 to 0 when she ran into concertina wire at Ft. Stewart two years ago. Troops are supposed to remove it from the field after leaving the areas. Fortunately both she and Willa wear Kevlar bay vests designed for hog chase dogs and the vest stopped the wire from cutting her up. hardcorehogdogs.com is where I got them. Great vests. Forget ballistic nylon as protection; Kevlar is tops. Both Abby and Willa are depicted in the vests in the Favorite Gun/Hunt thread a few pages back from our hunt on Dec. 8. My first encounter with hogs was when Abby was a year old chasing woodcock in thick, tall cane. She was baying hogs and surprisingly broke off the chase when I called. I was in thick cane and had gone to a knee to leash her and get her out of there. My gun was on the ground when the sow broke through the cane in a charge. She was under 10 yards when I saw her. I stood up and ran at her hollering with my arms in the air. She spun on her heels and went the other way. She must have have piglets with her. I didn't have time to think to pick up my gun and shoot. It happened that fast. Stan knows where that was.
Because of high water, we have had two close hog calls this year. Both times with Floyd's dog, Sadie. She was pointing into a brier hell. I couldn't get to her. Floyd went in from the other side. Sadie was pointing a huge boar, 5 yards away, slipping through the briers. Why he didn't bolt, no one knows why. Floyd had to drag Sadie off point. This was two weeks ago. Last week, Sadie was baying a hog. She drove the hog, close to his heels, between Floyd and I. Floyd was able to call Sadie off the chase. Both of us were digging in our pockets to load and shoot, but we didn't have to and Sadie was too close at the time. I'm not good on estimating weight, but he was taller than Sadie, a Britt, and as wide as he was tall with a long snout, barrel chest and narrow waist. It would have been ugly had he turned and fought. I keep e-collars on my dogs just in case they don't break off a chase. Abby is bad about baying them, but comes when I whistle. I've heard from Oklahoma hog hunters that their hogs have more Eurasian strain than our ferals where I hunt. Our hogs are bad enough, but the Eurasian are meaner and dog killers. Annually, bird hunters will lose dogs to them. Merry Christmas. Gil

That may well be true about the hogs in OK, Gil. But, one thing for sure, the hogs here will hurt you under the right conditions. One of my dove shooting buddies was cut up badly by a hog he wounded with a .243. Cut an artery in one arm and he nearly bled out before getting the bleeding under control. He killed the hog while lying on his back, with the hog popping his tusks over him, and blood spurting out of his arm.

SRH.

I recall reading about the incident on Old Town in Jefferson Co. His medical training save him. A buddy borrowed a hog dog from a friend and took him back to him dead as a door nail after being killed by a hog. They are bad news. Gil

Tamid I got lost after about line 4...

I've always heard that if you just give a dog heart worm medicine and he has heart worms the medicine could kill him.

One thing you might add if hunting in snake country is injectable vitamin C for snake bites...or vitamin C tablets to make a paste with and pour it down the dogs throat.

Trust me it works...my buddy in Brunswick Ga's dog got hit on the muzzle by a Rattler called me and I got to googling...Snake bites in dogs and I came across the vitamin C deal...he said the dogs muzzle and part of its head swelled beyond belief...all he could find was vitamin C tablets made a slurry out of all the pills he had and poured it down the dogs throat next day the swelling was almost gone and his dog was close to normal.

They use this treatment in Australia....said if you gave the dog too much it just caused diahrea.

Google "vitamin C snake bites in dogs Australia"

Heart worm medicine doesn't prevent infestation, it just kills them in early stage before developing fully into adults. The dead larvae are small enough to pass through the pulmonary system without causing serious problems. A dog with full infestation of adult worms is at risk for the drug because once they develop into adult size, killing them will cause dead worms to pass through the pulmonary system like huge clots. I've heard of vitamin C therapy for snake bites. My vet recommends 2-3 Benadryl tablets per 20 lbs. dog weight to prevent swelling which can close the windpipe. Take off all collars as well. Not sure who brought up the vitamin C or heartworm issue, but I recall a bright flash of light and disorientation when I peeked. Smelled sulfur, too. Gil

Gill Tom I'd be afraid to go any where with you...

I'd probaly say some little something you didn't like and you'd get a little butt hurt and go to pouting..."I'm taking my wittle wed wagon and I'm going home".

Tell you what let your dog get bit by a Rattler and try the benedril..and let us know how it works out.

Me I'll be giving mine vitamin C.

Well, you can rely on the internet if you want to and I'll stick with my vet's advice. If you read it on the internet it has to be true. Both of my dogs have gone through snake breaking more than once with live rattlers, moccasins and copperheads. Avoiding them getting bit is the best medicine. I don't hunt them on balmy winter days, especially afternoons. Known more than one dog killed by a snake in the winter around here. Another vet I know spent over $3500 out of his own pocket on his dog trying to keep it alive and he lost it anyway. Around here, snakes, especially diamondbacks, will come out of their holes in the dead of winter and sun near their burrows. Damn, Frank. Crushed me again, I was hoping to hear more corn pone wisdom from you between carols. Gil

Maybe you misspoke...I bet you meant bright sunny days.

Snakes are only active when their body temp reaches a certain point. In the winter up here it takes a sunny day to get them out....all the winter snakes I've seen were while quail hunting in January and February. They were all laying in full sun and still very lathargic.

There you go again. No, I don't think it's a lie. When I peeked at your report all I saw was "google Australia, etc." Didn't catch the Brunswick part about your buddy's dog. Dogs get bit by snakes and survive. Maybe the vitamin C worked or maybe the dog got better on its own. A buddy's deer tracking bloodhound got bit by a big rattler on the leg. He couldn't get it to a vet. The vet finally called him late at night and said to bring him by in the a.m. It was too late for antivenom. This is the same vet who lost a dog after spending $3500 out of pocket on his own. The dog's leg swelled and skin burst. By morning the swelling went down and was treated for infection by the vet. Dale didn't do a thing to his dog. The venom ran its course by early morning. If a dog is gonna get bit, make it a 14" snake rather than one 60" long. Some of us love our dogs and don't just treat them as livestock. What's it to you that folks go the extra mile for their dogs? Is it skin off your nose? I'd rather live with doing too much than having to live with doing too little. Bet you went the extra mile for Buster. If you didn't that says more about you than the dog. Now that you have mastered the edit function, consider using a spell check.

I went the extra mile for him...time he cut a two or three inch gash in his shoulder on Constantine wire I cleaned it up....cut the hair short tapped it up and stopped hunting until it healed.

That's good. I do the same for my dogs.

Ignoring me on one hand and quoting me on the other.

What's that say ?

Snakes may be lethargic in the winter, but that didn't stop a big Eastern from killing a friend's Boykin in February around here. Fifteen minutes from bite to dead. Nothing would have saved it. Friends found the snake in the same location on a fence row and dispatched it. It was a 5' edb as big around as a softball. Bright sunny days and balmy temps can get them moving. We've had days in the 80s during the winter here on the coast. Karl's dog was killed cleaning up after a pheasant toss in February a handful of years ago. It damn near killed him from grief. His wife located a rescue Boykin in TX, fully trained, whose owner died and his daughter couldn't take him. He drove non-stop to TX and returned home non-stop. He and I took our dogs 7 years ago to Alachua, FL, for snake break training. He was able to convince the vet, retired, to bring his snakes to the local gun club for the last few years where he'd put 50 or more dogs through the training on a Saturday. Dr. Bud had to sell his snakes after Florida enacted legislation requiring more secure housing of snakes beyond what Bud was will to spend and build. The legislation was in response to some nut's cobra getting loose in Miami. My older dog Abby was so conditioned to the training and refreshing that she wouldn't get out of the truck when she recognized the set up and Bud a year later, and successive years afterwards. Willa had one session and a refresher. The dogs had no trouble sensing the rattler and moccasin, but for some reason, none of the dogs sensed the 10" copperhead on the last session. Fortunately, they are the least venomous. A buddy's Jack Russell was bitten so many times by copperheads that his nickname was "Zipperhead". He didn't survive a big rattler.

Did you bother to read how the vitamin C treatment was discovered ?

Lucky for us we don't have the venomous snakes they have in Australia or South America yet...

There you go again. You are the one who said I had you on ignore, not me. I've never mentioned doing so. How many times are you going to say I have you on "ignore"? Maybe it says your feelings are hurt on Christmas morning. It seems to bug you that someone would have you on "ignore." How dare me and others placing you on ignore. I am so sorry that I have offended you. Or maybe it says I get to choose, not you, when I want to ignore you or not to ignore you. It's one of the benefits of living in America and a free society. Sometimes you have something to say constructive. Other times you are stalking and trashing folks taking pot shots and making snide remarks in your role as board's Slur Jockey. One never knows if you acting as Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde without looking. You would do better if you were more Jekyll than Hyde. Gil

Doesn't bug me one bit....

I love screwing with people that run and hide when their butt gets hurt a little...then want to peek and reply.

Like a childish game of peek a boo or hide and seek.

It's easy to see if someone has you on ignore just click their name and then click PM...here's you.

"UBB Message
This user is ignoring you. You cannot send them a message.


Please click back to return to the previous page."

I had no desire to PM you...just easy as pie to check and funny as heck to see you get butt hurt and ignore me.

I just ignored you now your internet life is a blank page....

Try and pm me now sucker.

Likes screwing with people who run and hide.
For all to see. His Christmas gift to the board. He finally admits his role on this forum. What a guy!

You're shooting blanks....but I admit I toggled and peeked.

You really think you can analyze me.

You wOOd be better off taking a really long look at yourself bud.

Lord, help us. He's fallen and can't get up. Gil

I always enjoy the stories from my Georgia friends I have never met. Just the dog and I this Christmas, so her company is welcome. She is happily engaged with a massive rawhide candy cane sent by my friend and shooting mentor.

Merry Christmas to all and their dogs, and may we be the men our dogs think we are.

Mike

Merry Christmas you're internet prowess is safe again....I took you off ignore.

I was told by a vet that if miss giving your dog heart worm medicine by more than 10 days you should have the dog tested for heart worms before giving the medication again.

I live in a heart worm area. For years I've given my dogs Ivomec injectable from Tractor Supply....

1/10 of a cc per 10 lbs of weight.

You do not inject it.

I draw it out of the bottle with a cc syringe then take off the needle and squirt it in their mouth.

A 35 dollar bottle will last a couple of years with two dogs...you'll pass the expiration date before you use it all.
Keep it refrigerated

It's a lot cheaper than Heart Guard or any other made up heart worm medicine

My buddy used it on his racing Greyhounds....even then I was skeptical.
My vet told me it's the very same ingredient and it gets all worms except tape worms.
Most vets won't tell you it's okay to use it...my vet is a hunter.

If you tell the guy at Tractor supply you want it for a dog they most likely won't sell it to you.

I've saw a couple of peoples dogs die from heart worms it's not a pretty sight.

Just wondering-- if Tractor supply stocks it, and your Vet recommends it for your animals, why would they refuse to sell it to you? Am I missing something here, Joseph?

It's a bovine medication for parasites. Floyd uses it in a solution with another substance to make it palatable for the dogs. He gets it from an old time vet. A buddy who runs a string of 17 Llewellins uses it, too.

A vet told me I'm not supposed to tell you to use it but it's the very same thing....he even gave me the hypodermic needle and marked it for me.

I heard ivomec was first used on horses...they later found out it would protect dogs from heart worms.

Like I said a buddy that had a grey hound kennel used ivomec on all his dogs....if its good enough for a pure bred racer it's good enough for your mutt of a hunting dog.

Here's a tid bit of information on grey hound breeding my buddy told me...I remarked to him boy you'd be set if you had a champion pair a greyhounds to breed from...his reply was that they learned years ago to never breed the same dogs more than once.

He told me they'd reach to the Champions brother or sister but never repeat breeded.

Speak of the devils:
Billy and friends ran into this medium sized diamondback hunting quail Saturday. With temps in the 60s he wasn't hugging ground near a hole basking, but buzzing away on a woods' road shoulder after another man got a little too close. A larger one was killed a few days before near the landowner's house on the same property. With night temps in the 60s and daytime highs in the mid 70s, I'm out of the woods with my dogs until a few days when winter temps roll back in.

Glad those two episodes turned out well, for the dogs and the people involved.

This warm weather has everything messed up. We just got home from several days of chasing ducks in eastern AR, and I saw the least ducks I have in over twenty years of hunting out there. We killed a few every day, but there's just no migratory ducks in the region......... all native birds. Word is that they are up in Illinois and other states up there where it's cooler. There's thousands of acres of beans and cotton unharvested in AR, same as here. I even saw peanuts still unharvested near Marianna. I doubt they will get harvested at all. It's not going to get significantly colder unless the rain fronts stop coming through every few days. It goes hand in hand.

SRH

A few years ago, some friends were hunting early released birds and killed a big diamondback. She had a undigested quail inside her. The snake was hanging out near a feeder.

Stan, just saw your photos of the Arkansas trip. Looked like a pretty good hunt to me. I am sure the grandsons loved it. Gil