Question
Charlie
Good Evening,
My boyfriend and I recently rescued a Cocker Spaniel he's about 1.5 years old. His name is Charlie. He is very active, social and lovable. We have had him for about a month and a half. I honestly don't know what we would do without him so I am trying to learn everything I can about his breed to make sure he is well taken care of and provided for beyond just love, devotion and his beloved toys!
Neither of us are new to being dog owners; we both have had many dogs of many different breeds and sizes but are both new to Cocker Spaniels which is as I understand a special needs and sometimes high maintenance breed. He is on Pedigree chicken and rice but after reading previous posts and looking at the ingredients label i will be looking into a better brand. However like a previous poster we cannot afford Eurkaba, Iams nor Science Diet or any of the other higher end brands.
In the past few weeks he has been randomly throwing up; sometimes it is food that has been digested, stomach bile, and this morning we woke up to a brownish colored vomit on the floor with a stomach bile odor. The only sign we get is the heaving sound he makes before he vomits, he doesn't act as if he isn't feeling well. He is just his normal self which is sticking to us like Velcro lol. When i clean up the vomit i try to see if i can tell what was ingested to tell what was the culprit but have had no luck. He is fed twice a day morning and night of 1.5 c of food we do this b/c we were worried about him overeating and that being a cause of his vomiting. But when he is fed it seems that he is still hungry he licks the crumbs off the bottom of the bowl. He doesn't seem to be an over eater though. He will leave food in his bowl and he is the only dog in the home so there is no competition for food. I do not want to under nor over feed him. He has not gained any weight. I have been watching that carefully. We believe it could be the treats so we are stopping these particular ones since they are a brownish color, we had not given him any in a few days. Since the vomiting seemed to stop for a little bit we are hoping that is they are the culprit and my boyfriend did mention that he gave Charlie a few treats while working with him yesterday. But this was the first time i have seen this color vomit and this much so I am worried that it is something else and not just something as simple as food. He was tested for worms at the shelter and the tests came back negative. The first week we had him he had loose stools not diarehea but just loose. When we spoke to the volunteer that approved the adoption she advised us it could just be nerves but she did give us some powder to treat the worms. His stools became regular so we did not treat him b/c we didn't want to mess up his stomach. I read that the vomiting could be a worm I believe but I am afraid to give him the powder and mess up his stomach further. You mention carrots as a treat and I will pick some up for him as soon as possible. But he loves his rawhides that we will give him on occasionally which is maybe once a week and they are just the strips are they bad for them? As for his potty habits he has a solid stool and i believe healthy urination. We have not taken him to our vet yet because we have the vet records from the shelter and he is up to date on all of his shots. But we have both agreed that if we are not able to identify the culprit of the vomiting we will be taking him to see the vet soon. Please do not take this as me trying to take your advice as i would my own local vet. I understand this is just advice, but I wanted to ask you questions b/c you seem to have such a history and knowledge of the breed. So here are my other questions:
What besides carrots are a good treat specifically for dogs that we can give him? My boyfriend is a firm believer in not feeding dogs "people food", while I do not agree. I do not know how Charlie would handle people food if he is vomiting this much.
Is there anything that will help with breath along with brushing his teeth that is a treat also?
What shampoos are good for Cocker Spaniels? Should I stick with brands that have oatmeal in them because they are less abrasive for their sensitive skin?
I know that Cocker Spaniels have sensitive stomachs so vomiting will happen occasionally but not often and especially if something new is tried that it does not agree with them. But when should an owner of a Cocker Spaniel worry and get to a vet immediately? Besides the obvious signs of emergency such as discomfort, bleeding, bloating, pain, etc.
I also checked out the Zymox that you suggested for their ears. Did you mean for a person to by the cleaner and the drops with hydrocortisone? Is there anything else that you recommend for just keeping their ears clean before infection starts especially when giving a bath?
Do you recommend any books about the breed? I know those can be very helpful. But there are so many out there.
I know this is long but I wanted to get all my questions out there so you would hopefully be able to answer them to your best ability in one fell swoop lol. I'm sure I will think of more later. I want to thank you ahead of time for your time, patience and expertise. I really appreciate it! Hope I provided enough detail for you I'm pretty sure I gave you too much info lol. But I tend to ramble. Ok i'm gonna stop and wait for your response.
Thanks again,
Worried owner
AnswerNormally I'll answer questions via the Experts site but we have quite a bit to talk about :)
so I'd like you to send me this email personally at DeeBeck7765@aol.com.
Nutrition is key and although a premium food might seem more expensive, you actually feed less of it AND a healthy dog avoids vet visits.
So send me your email and we'll tackle one thing at a time.
I do suggest feeding Charlie a bedtime snack which may help this regurgitation issue. And feeding him at least twice a day. But we'll talk about all of this and it'll be faster and easier to do that personally.
Delores
PROBLEM COCKER SPANIEL
Question
JAXON
Jaxon is a year old male neutered
Nervous/depressed cocker spaniel
QuestionSophie
QUESTION: Hi! Sorry if this is a
Aggressive 9 yr old female Cocker
QuestionQUESTION: We have had our 9 yr old cocker since
crying and food.
Questionbaby teagan
QUESTION: what is best to fe
