First of all, hello all, it's been a while since I posted on here.

I took Kavik to to the vet yesterday for having blood in his stool, causing his poop to not be quite diarrhea, but tar-like in look and consistency. He was and still is acting normal despite trying to go to the bathroom after already pooping a good amount. The vet said he has unusually high levels of a good bacteria that is inflaming his intestines, and the vet said it's all caused by stress.  

I can't think of what could be stressing him out. He's a little over a year and a half and he hasn't had this medical problem before. I dropped him off at daycare everyday for a month prior to this happening. Now I take him once a week since I have time to be with him most of the day again. He has some separation anxieties when left completely alone. He's usually not horribly destructive, though the other day I left him alone for a few hours, did not put him in his kennel, and he tore the paint off my closed bedroom door to try and get inside. Probably because I am usually in there, just not with the door shut.

My questions are, what do you think is ultimately causing his stress and how do you think I could calm him down? My only thought is to try filling a frozen kong to keep his mind off stressors. And, what are home remedies I could try if this happens again?

The vet gave me a two week plan of a probiotic pill with a fiber powder to sprinkle over special low fat food. (He's being a baby and cries at me while circling the bowl, not wanting to eat the new food because he doesn't like it, though he eventually eats it. lol).  The prescription drugs and food are fairly expensive and I would like to know if anyone has experienced this and/or knows of alternatives for cheaper but equally effective treatment.

How long do you leave him home alone?

mbarnard0429 wrote:

How long do you leave him home alone?

It varies depending on class schedules each semester, often times by day. Right now he is not being left alone for more than 4 hours at a time.

First off can you doggy proof your room so you can leave the door open, all animals hate closed doors, makes them curious as to what's on the other side or for those that have separation anxiety, think you are ignoring them. I'm also a big believer of leaving something with them that smells like you, t-shirt, flannel, etc. Leaving a kong or in my case a rmb(raw meaty bone), will take him about a half hour to an hour to consume.

Daycare gave him lots of socialization and exercise, so tiring him out is a must. Being a student I understand you don't have a ton of time, also being in Texas(where if you don't mind me asking since I am too), gives little cool weather to exercise. Try walking prior to 9 am or after 8 pm, the earlier and later the better. A good example, we took a 3 mile walk last night at 8:30 pm, it was still 89 degrees out, take water with you, if you can go off leash great if not get a long leash, so you can stop and recall him back to you, gives him extra exercise, but low impact. We can walk off leash and Miya ends up walking closer to 6 miles to my 3, because I stop and call her back. She slept like a baby last night. After our walk, she took a dip in her kiddie pool and she was a calm husky the rest of the night. Try doing this before you leave him alone.

As far as home remedies for the belly, never heard of good bacteria being bad, however, I do give my girl vanilla greek yogurt, about 2-3 tablespoons 3 times a week, in essence it is probiotics, and opposite days I give her 3 tablespoons of pure pumpkin(not the pie kind) for added fiber, and randomly give her an egg. This can be mixed into his food or fed separately. Forgot to mention, check the labels for sugar content, my store brand yogurt and pumpkin are way lower in sugar than the national brands.
And btw, he is a very handsome boy.
I'm curious what others may say. I wish you luck.

MiyasMomma wrote:

First off can you doggy proof your room so you can leave the door open, all animals hate closed doors, makes them curious as to what's on the other side or for those that have separation anxiety, think you are ignoring them. I'm also a big believer of leaving something with them that smells like you, t-shirt, flannel, etc. Leaving a kong or in my case a rmb(raw meaty bone), will take him about a half hour to an hour to consume.

Daycare gave him lots of socialization and exercise, so tiring him out is a must. Being a student I understand you don't have a ton of time, also being in Texas(where if you don't mind me asking since I am too), gives little cool weather to exercise. Try walking prior to 9 am or after 8 pm, the earlier and later the better. A good example, we took a 3 mile walk last night at 8:30 pm, it was still 89 degrees out, take water with you, if you can go off leash great if not get a long leash, so you can stop and recall him back to you, gives him extra exercise, but low impact. We can walk off leash and Miya ends up walking closer to 6 miles to my 3, because I stop and call her back. She slept like a baby last night. After our walk, she took a dip in her kiddie pool and she was a calm husky the rest of the night. Try doing this before you leave him alone.

As far as home remedies for the belly, never heard of good bacteria being bad, however, I do give my girl vanilla greek yogurt, about 2-3 tablespoons 3 times a week, in essence it is probiotics, and opposite days I give her 3 tablespoons of pure pumpkin(not the pie kind) for added fiber, and randomly give her an egg. This can be mixed into his food or fed separately. Forgot to mention, check the labels for sugar content, my store brand yogurt and pumpkin are way lower in sugar than the national brands.
And btw, he is a very handsome boy.
I'm curious what others may say. I wish you luck.

I can doggy proof the room though I'm thinking he's not ready to be left alone out of his kennel. I'll try leaving a shirt or some other item of mine in there. Funny thing is I thought he grew out of his separation anxiety. He doesn't cry and carry on when I leave anymore. The only other oddity is when I come home he never greets me all happy like. He stays laying down until I open his kennel. If he's loose, he gets up when I open the door and goes to lay in his bed then stares at me like he thinks he's done something wrong, even when he hasn't.

I live in the south east where's it's been 100F everyday. I don't trust him off leash and I can only do at least an hour walk in the morning. It's not safe around here at night. I need better alternatives for indoor play like games or something tiring that's not just tug-of-war and fetch. I don't have anywhere to put a kiddie pool which is a shame, he loves water. There's a river nearby but with me not trusting him off leash, I don't know how letting him play in it would work.

The bacteria itself isn't bad, but when there's too much of a certain kind, it causes problems. It's a bit like trying to balance the P.H. in a salt water fish tank. Too much or too little doesn't let the intestines work properly. The vet said his stress caused him to flush a certain good bacteria and accumulate too much of another good bacteria. Yogurt sounds like a good idea, I haven't tried that before. I already give him an egg every now and then and I usually hold back on pumpkin because it's like injecting laxatives and he poops like no tomorrow.

Thank you! He is a handsome boy and a super sweet husky.

I can certainly feel your pain. We live near Abilene, near or above a 100, everyday last few weeks. Miya will be 2 in November and we have left her alone in the house with the cat once for 2.5 hours, the only destruction was the blankets on the bed were messed up. We walked her a few miles, held off on food and fed her and gave her a bone right before we left.

I suggested a long leash, 25 feet, or even 50 feet if they sell that much, since off leash will not work. With longer leash, I was hoping you could tire him more by having him go to the end, you stop call him back resume walk, let him go to end, call him back, etc. it will tire him more. In doors, come up with puzzle games, perhaps training more with him. Do you have room in your house where you can do more activities with him? He gets bored with tugs and fetch as much as you do. Miya taught us games, we play push, she holds something in her mouth and we push her around, kind of like wrestling, if she drops whatever is in her mouth we give her a command, like sit, etc., or we toss whatever and have her fetch, you stay in a sitting position so you are at her level. You're constantly changing things up and it does tire her out. I imagine in her mind it's like playing with another dog, it gives her a challenge, since she doesn't know what's going to happen next. The item can be anything, we use a small tugs, it's to keep her from using her mouth on us. It's a little strange, but she did really teach us this, we just incorporated the commands so it became educational too.

You mentioned that you let him out and he pulled the paint off your door, only reason why I suggested doggy proofing your room. Miya has severe separation anxiety, we used to call her "Hurricane Miya" everything in her path would be destroyed, I stopped working because of this, and I have worked with her to the point of trusting her that one time. Might I add that she ate the bottom half of our bedroom door frame, because my husband told her it was bed time, and she wasn't ready for bed, she did this almost silently, I kept thinking she was giving herself a bath, noticed it and told her it was mine. Has never done it again, but we also don't enforce bed time until I turn off all lights.

One other thing I do, say if I'm going to the mail box, is to talk to her in a calm, soft voice, I tell her I'll be right back, to wait, and be a good girl. I do this because she would howl and scream at the top of her lungs." lay in his bed then stares at me like he thinks he's done something wrong, even when he hasn't." Miya does this too, haven't a clue why, but reassuring him may be helpful, to let him know you will be back.

As far as playing in water, if you had a long leash you both, perhaps, could play in it? Lastly do you have any dog parks around, so he can socialize and play with other dogs? If not how about going for a ride if you have a vehicle, or take him to a dog friendly place and walk him around, our local Tractor Supply allows dogs on leash, Petsmart does too.

I'm happy to help, at least give you ideas.
Renee

I could try putting him on a long leash around the river. I think I have one buried somewhere that is 15 ft I was using for recall training. It was the longest leash I could find. I have a couple puzzle games for dogs that I hide his food in. I taught him names for some of his toys so I make a game of telling him to retrieve objects and I give him treats or play tug-of-war with the brought toy as a reward. He hasn't taught me any games he particularly likes besides an obsession with tug-of-war, keep away, and mouthing my hand when I initiate play as if rough housing with a dog (he doesn't bite down mouth. It's more like a gaping whale batting my hand with its jaws.) Miya sounds hilarious with her push game. All good suggestions though.

Kavik is selective about what he destroys and he's always been good about not being destructive. The door is the first real thing he's 'destroyed' that wasn't his and I can see why he would go for it. I was still surprised by it because I have left him loose before with that door shut and he never touched it.

Miya sounds like a little pest, lol. I usually don't have to say anything to put Kavik in his kennel. He usually goes in there when he sees me putting things into my backpack. Other times, when I say the magic word, he throws a tantrum by rolling over on the floor. When I pick him up he growls and carries on like he used to when he was tiny and hated being held.

I'll try the soothing voice bit and come up with a consistent 'I'll be back' word. I usually give him a treat when he goes into the kennel by himself and pat him on the head. He doesn't ever scream bloody murder anymore, he's always quiet as soon as he's situated and I'm about to leave. Though I can see on his face that he has the 'worried look'. I think he's more prone to being the quiet type when stressing, like a person mulling over worries that churn in their gut like a bag of rocks.

There's a little dog park I take him to, but I have the problem with the heat and no one is ever around there early or late in the day. One plus is I often catch my neighbors walking their dogs and Kavik will play with them for a couple minutes.

Your suggestions helped me come up with a few ideas. Thank you for the help.