Ollie's health UPDATE got confused!!!

[Oliver21508]

Hey

Took Ollie to the park and met the unfriendly staff I talked about a little while ago on here:

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=58226.0

Well, met it again today, for the first time since that thread, so not for 2 months. We were the only ones in the park and they were both off lead. The dog started playing rough and running after Ollie with his mouth gapping open. He grabbed onto Ollie's ears and pulled him alone. Ollie was trying to bite the dog's muzzle to make him let go, but he couldn't. Then the dog ran into Ollie into his abdomen and then ran into his head. He pushed into Ollie at such force that Ollie started bleeding from his mouth. I sat with Ollie until it stopped bleeding, which was about 4-5 minutes. Ollie wasn't distressed, but I'm sure it was either the force of the running dog caused a burst blood vessel, or Ollie bit his lip or tongue when he was hit. We separated then, but as usual I didn't say anything. I don't want that dog to ever come near me and Ollie again. It doesn't know how to play nicely, just pushing its weight around. The owner is useless, she kept saying her dog didn't do it, and that it doesn't bite.  Of course it does, she sees how it grabs hold of Ollie's ears. If the staffy did the same thing to a child, it'll be put down, but because it's another dog, it's fine.  She has no control of the dog, it causes havoc in the park, stealing balls, chasing dogs etc. Ollie seems fine in himself, and eating fine. Should I look out for anything, or do anything?

And also Ollie's lost more weight, I can easily feel his ribs now, and when he has his haircut next week, I'm betting we could see his ribs (I can feel that easily). His collar has also got really loose, could only fit two fingers in it a few weeks ago, now you can fit four fingers in. We have decided to mix Go-Cat food in with his normal food to get him eating more, which has worked. If he keeps on decreasing, we'll have to get a vet to see him. It seems I'm being punished for giving him too much exercise, when every other dog seems to be obese and not receiving enough. 

[Beth]

I bet what happened is Ollie bit his tongue, Jarvis has done it numerous times, and it looks bad, but it fine really., i wouldn't worry or do anything.

With regards to his weight, i'd be very interested to see a photo once he's clipped, as i doubt very much that it's a problem. I can vaguely see Jarvis' ribs and spine but they aren't sticking out so he's fine. i would absolutely NOT give him go-cat, not only is it made for cats ( ) but it's also a really rubbish quality food. If you're that worried about his weight give him some tripe.

[Oliver21508]

The Go-Cat was just to try to see if he would eat his normal food with something added. We'll get some tripe.

[bibathediva]

Staffies do play quite rough  and it can seem to some people as aggression when it is just how they play  Lola can come out of the woods with blood coming from her mouth as she has bit her own tonuge in the excitment of finding a squirel  so mouth injuries are fairly easy to do and he proberbly bit his own tongue 
Agree with Beth cat food is not made for dogs and i wouldnt feed it on a regular basis...there are plenty of good wet food that are made for dogs that might encourage him to eat more

[Nicola]

I agree with what the others have said about Ollie's experience with the Staffy, I hope his tongue is ok, it's pretty common for them to bite it or even catch it on things, it bleeds easily but usually heals quickly.

Regarding him losing weight, is he eating normally? I'm not sure how old Ollie is but I know he's quite young - dogs often go through a skinny, lanky stage as adolescents but if he's still in the growing stage then you need to ensure you keep upping his food quantities as he grows. Don't give him cat food, it's not suitable for dogs, they like it but cats have different nutritional requirements to dogs and cat food is very high in protein. If he's being picky regarding what you're feeding him you could try changing him or adding something to it (tripe is good for putting a bit of condition on them), but not cat food! As you've said he seems ok in himself and he's eating ok though it's probably as simple as him just not taking in enough calories to balance out what he's burning off so you need to increase his portions a bit. In the winter when my dogs are working and burning off a lot of calories I up their food rations accordingly; it's nothing to do with you being 'punished', if a dog is receiving a lot of exercise or starts to get more exercise than normal then they will burn off more calories and lose weight so you need to compensate for that in their feeding if you want to maintain their weight. Unless he's really ribby with protruding bones I wouldn't worry too much though, he sounds like he's fairly fit and healthy  

[Sarah.H]

Re the weight, when I was struggling with Millie I mixed a bit of puppy dry food in with her kibble as it has a higher oil content. What do you feed him?

[Oliver21508]

Ok, thanks guys for easing my mind about his little incident.

He has two meals of 125g of Hills Adult food. So 250g per day. However, sometimes he only eats one bowl, not both, so some days he only has 125g of food per day, sometimes 250g. He does have a lot of exercise, I'll see how he looks once he's cut, cos it's hard to see his condition with his fur. I think I'll add some tripe to his food for a while to see how he goes with it. We wanted to keep him on just dry food from the start, but he doesn't seem too interested to be honest. He'd eat tons of wet food if we fed him that. What dog foods are best for active dogs?

He's 1 year, and nearly 1 month.

[wilfsaunty]

Bitten tongues can be a nightmare in as much as they almost always look a lot worse than they are.  And because they usually happen when the dogs have been running round like loonies, are hot and their blood pressure is up, plus the blood mixes with their saliva it can look like a mad axe murderer has been at work.    I run my dog with my friends Shepherds and one or other of them is always biting their own tongue when they are playing hard and grabbing for toys.

As long as Ollie has lots of energy (and it sounds like he does  ) I wouldn't worry too much about his weight.  You're not being punished - just pat yourself on the back for having a fit, healthy, lean dog who'll be less prone to joint problems, diabetes, heart problems later on in life.  

And as for the staffie - they always seem to play like staffies... hard.    Some dogs can cope with it, some dogs can't - though that doesn't excuse the owner for not being able to control her dog.  Ollie from what you described seems to cope reasonably well but if you don't like it just avoid him.  There are a few dogs I will avoid when I'm out for various reasons.  Lifes too short, particularly if you dont' have to bump into them every day.

Edit to add:  250g sounds like a lot of food - though some dogs do eat and burn off more than others.  It may be that Ollie isn't eating both meals every day because he's just not hungry.  You're lucky that he'll regulate himself - one of mine would eat until she burst. 

[Oliver21508]

He really does regulate his food, if he feels he doesn't need it, he won't eat it. He'll never be obese that's for sure (from excess food).

The amount of blood did shock me loads, and frighten me loads. I'll avoid that staffy, thankfully I don't see it often, haven't seen it for the last 2 months.

[wilfsaunty]

He really does regulate his food, if he feels he doesn't need it, he won't eat it. He'll never be obese that's for sure (from excess food).

I wish that I could do that. 

[Jeanette]

Ok, thanks guys for easing my mind about his little incident.

He has two meals of 125g of Hills Adult food. So 250g per day. However, sometimes he only eats one bowl, not both, so some days he only has 125g of food per day, sometimes 250g. He does have a lot of exercise, I'll see how he looks once he's cut, cos it's hard to see his condition with his fur. I think I'll add some tripe to his food for a while to see how he goes with it. We wanted to keep him on just dry food from the start, but he doesn't seem too interested to be honest. He'd eat tons of wet food if we fed him that. What dog foods are best for active dogs?

He's 1 year, and nearly 1 month.

Laura, I think he's not interested in that amount of food as its far too much so hes only eating what he needs and so theres no need to add anymore food.   250g is a huge amount of Hills food for a cocker of his weight and hes probably only lost the weight as you've increased his off lead from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, surely he should be on half that amount  .   If he'd had 30 minutes of off lead earlier on then he probably wouldn't have put on as much weight as he went upto iyswim and hes now losing that extra fat he put on through not having enought off-lead exercise.

What does he weight now?   

Mine only has 100g of food per day but thats right for her size as she isn't fat or thin.   

And I'd try to avoid the staffie if I was you, they really can play rough and doesn't sound like the woman has any control     Hope his tongue is OK 

[6thSense]

I can completely understand your worry about the staffy, but it does sound like it is just playing even if it is a bit to roughly and really the owner should not have it off lead around other dogs unless she can control it better. I'm sure it doesn't mean any harm poor thing. I blame the owner entirely. Mine went through a lanky stage so I wouldn't necessarily worry to much about the weight thing, but have you had him checked by the vet as my Chinese Crested lost weight extremely rapidly and it turned out to be a thyroid problem. He is now on meds and gaining weight well. He has never been a fantastic eater, but we have recently put him onto Royal Canin like our others and he eats it like he hasn't eaten for weeks. Another thing is do you wet the food as this can make it more appetising. We also give ours Tripe and they LOVE it. 

[bracken]

I would not worry about his weight the last photo you posted of Ollie he looked fine  mine all vary from 9kg (she is tiny only 9" tall ) to 16 kg

As for the staffie if you see him coming I would put your dog on the lead and head the other way fast 

Enjoy your dog try not to worry unless he is obese and he's not (from the photo's)

Jo 

[Oliver21508]

Thanks. We don't wet the food, it's completely dry. We might try it and see if he likes it. on the packet, it says he should have roughly half of what he has (170g per day), but parents think that's too little. I'll try to persuade them again to get him to the right amount. How do i know when it's the right amount?

A couple of weeks ago, he was 13kg, will just weigh him now.

[PennyB]

Wilf was a really skinny boy at Ollie's age - if they're quite active as well they can be.