DOG OWNERS BEWARE!

Aussie,

Poor thing .. you just get flamed from all sides don't you?

In addition to the K-1 go to the heath food store and get activated charcoal ... push it down their little throats and it will bring all the poison out of them in really icky ways. Then feed them acidopholis (sp?) and it will mitigate the poisons effects. This actually helped one of mine through Parvo.

God loves the little creatures!

Pamela.

"Poor thing .. you just get flamed from all sides don't you?"

What the heck are you trying to say?

Nothing, nothing at all .. you said earlier you didn't want to post 'cause you flamed. I was being nice for goodness sakes.

Thanks for the explanation, Pamela.

No, I don't fear being flamed. I just don't want this message to be lost. People's beloved pets may be in harm's way.

Aussie,
You have to calm down, bad things happen all the time. You seem like a very nice caring person that loves his dog. Not all people are good Stewart's for their animals. You have been on the island for a couple of years now and your dogie is fine. Don't let unfortunate incidents take over your sense of well being. I know you want to be proactive and not reactive and that's good. Animals get poisoned not only by bad guys but by neighbors as well. Keep doing what you have been doing the last couple of years and you and your best friend will be fine.

Many thanks, Lizard. I needed that.

And please don't let the rest of my message get lost -

Vitamin K works, it seems, on the blood and the toxins. Activated charcoal works on flushing the toxins out as well. Burnt toast works too but it easier to get the pooch to eat the charcoal in a pill.

Then the acidophils (sp?) helps soothe the system and also will flush out remaining toxins.

All are available at the health food stores.

Pamela

Hydrogen peroxide. Pour a bit down there throat and they will vomit foam which expels anything in the stomach. Then Vitamin K and charcoal.

4 tablespoons generally of hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. Good for if your dog gets into your chocolate, because most will have it in the house for cuts and scraps

First, thanks to everyone that provided valuable info for all pet owners.

OK, here’s the rest of it. My concern and alarm is that dogs may be intentionally being poisoned, homes are being broken into, and that the two may be connected. Five stories – one is a repeat…

Story 1 - A month or so ago, there were shots fired in my neighborhood on 2 different nights. I asked my neighbor about it. He was born and raised here. I consider him to be a credible source. He said that he thought they were just killing the dogs again. Incredulously I asked, "Killing the dogs?" He said, yes, that's what they do. If you've been targeted for a burglary, they'll come kill the dogs. All your stuff will be missing soon thereafter. He said that he’s seen that pattern here in the past.

Story 2 – When I told this story to a long time resident, she did one of those shrug/hand wave things and said, “We all know that.” I told her that I left my dog outside when I wasn’t home. She said, “You can’t do that. They’ll kill him.” She leaves her dogs inside the house whenever she leaves the house for 2 reasons. One, so that no one can poison her dogs. And two, so that the bad guys don’t know what they’re up against. Dogs inside the house sound like they’re 9 feet tall and want to eat you even if they’re harmless.

Story 3 – I spoke with a sweet Crucian lady yesterday. She lost her dog and her house was broken into on the same day. She said that 4 houses had recently been broken into in the neighborhood – some of them more than once. She said that she had spotted a pattern and that it was about to happen again. She called the police on several occasions. Sometimes they came. Sometimes they didn’t. She said she called the Governor’s Office twice pleading for help. The day before the robbery, a friend came to visit her and she was concerned because her dog wasn’t barking. Her dog always barked when someone approached the fence. Her dog wasn’t well and she took it to the vet. Later that day the dog was released and she took it home but the dog was still in trouble and she took it back to the vet. At 8AM the next morning, the vet called her and said her dog was dead. She had to go to work. When she return home from work, her house had been broken into for the third time. She said that they didn’t get much. Everything – all of her heirlooms passed down from her grandmother – all her electronics – everything had already been stolen from her in the first 2 break ins. She asked the vet if her dog had been poisoned. The vet said that only way to know for sure were tests that cost $1000. No tests were run.

Story 4 – When I spoke with my vet, I told them my concerns. The question I asked was, “Do you see a lot of cases where dogs have been poisoned. Their response was, “Yes, we see it all the time.” They told me that sometimes when people’s homes are broken into, the owners will bring their dogs in as a precaution to see if they’ve been poisoned. I asked what poison was used. They had not run any tests but they believed that rat poison was most likely. They flush out the dogs with K1. K1 is the antidote for rat poison.

Story 5 – I don’t think I’ll ever hear a worse story than this one – ever. This evening a lady told me that sometimes the bad guys come with a pitbull. They send their dog in to kill yours. She said it happened to a friend of hers quite a while ago.

I’m thinking about leaving my dog inside when I’m not home. Any ideas on how to keep him cool? If I button up the house, turn on the AC and the power goes out, the temperature inside the house will soar.

I’m tired. I’m numb. If anyone else shares these concerns, please post.

Keep your babies safe.

I have a room with a high powered fan on for our animals. You can also train your animals not to accept food from anyone unless you tell them it's ok with a certain word that you say. You could install some security cameras. Leave the television or talk radio on so it sounds like someone is in the house.

Great advice. Thanks dougtamjj. The problem with fans is the same problem as with AC - power outages. This house has a double roof - tin over concrete. It heats up fast with the doors closed.

I trained my dog to accept food from strangers. Where I moved from, lots of folks (including myself) always had dog treats on them to greet other people's dogs (with the owner's permission, of course). He's an ornery critter and training that new behavior would be difficult at best.

Aissie,
Install some designer security gates or bars on some of you windows for cross ventilation.

You're right Lizard. I thought about the power going out just as I clicked on post message. I also thought about that I have one dog that no matter how hard I tried would take food if I wasn't looking. lol. She's the fat one.

Thanks, Lizard. I've always thought that looking out through security bars would be terrible. Now, I'd install them in a heartbeat if they were within my budget. LOL...I've come to realize that I just didn't move here with enough money. Money may not be able to buy happiness but it sure can go a long way towards buying a sense of security.

Sorry aussie, I meant to reply to your post but I thought it was Lizard.

Tammy,
I have that way of getting in the way at times! LOL