➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Kiki]

I have to apologize for this comment I made yesterday. I’ve done some thinking on this and realized that my opinions on this subject are mostly based on extremist narratives that I’m sure we’ve all seen in the media.
I’m a huge advocate for doing your own research and thinking with your own brain instead of someone else’s, and I failed here.

I just had a long conversation with my animal nutrition professor about the state of animal processing in North America and I feel pretty bad for buying into a false narrative.
I won’t type out the whole conversation, and I still have certain opinions and have some research to do, but as usual there are two sides to every story.

Anyway. I’m sure no one really cares, but I had to clear my conscience..
.. thanks.

I care and I want to hear/see your stuff.

 

[Kiki]

Okay. I have news!

The last two weeks...

Ruger has had swelled lymph nodes across his entire body. The swelling was increasing at an exponential rate, and so my heart started sinking...that it had to be cancer, and then he started to stop eating which is not like him and his drinking went through the roof. He was emptying 2 water bowls every hour. Mastiffs are genetically prone to getting lymphoma and all of his symptoms mimicked what I had read through several research articles and medical pages.

No vets wanted to see him since he doesn’t like people. We finally managed to get him scheduled with one but this was 2 weeks after the initial swelling and he was having trouble breathing. I was preparing myself for the worst (and by preparing I mean I was sobbing every night and forcing myself to talk about it in public so that way I could not be so sad).

His vet appointment was yesterday. Ruger was so perfect. He had one accident (peed on the floor) when a couple barged into the vet clinic even though they could clearly see Ruger was right by the door. During the exam, which was done in the back room on the weight scale, we pulled blood (a hind leg since they didn’t want to be near his head lol) and he didn’t even cry out even after they blew a vein.


Tests...
At the vet office, we had the 4DX test done. Ruger came back heartworm positive which was something I hadn’t even considered, and my heart stalled.. I was in the set mindset that he now had heartworm AND lymphoma. He was put on 14 pills a day. (5 antibiotic and 2 steroids twice a day)

Bloodwork was sent to an outside lab and we just got the results back 20 minutes ago. Kidney and liver levels were tested as well as a CBC for the WBC.

Results are...
Kidney and liver levels were perfect!

The vet told us that 30k WBC was high infection, and anything from 60k and above was likely cancer...
His WBC was 23k!!!

The vet said that she isn’t worried that it’s cancer, and to update them in 4 days if the swollen lymph nodes aren’t going down.


TLDR: Ruger our mastiff was thought to have lymphoma due to symptoms, he has heartworm instead and vet isn’t concerned about it being cancer.

Great!
What medicines do they use to treat for heartworms?

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I hope he gets better soon!

Thank you!

Great!
What medicines do they use to treat for heartworms?

He has a month of being on Doxycycline, and he has to have Heartgard (ivermectin and pyrantel in the form of pamoate salt) to kill any potential circulating larvae eggs.
Then he’ll have to get a series of injections (melarsomine) on days 60, 90, and 91.

Then he’ll be on monthly preventative (Heartgard or it’s generic equivalent) for the rest of his life.

 

[Tesumph]

Actually I buy meat from Farmers because I want my meat to have a good life. That's also why I raise what I can so they have a good life.

I agree with you. Always support local farmers.
We more discussed the end of their life, not how they are raised. We also didn’t get into poultry or swine, just cattle.

I care and I want to hear/see your stuff.

We talked for a long time about the stigma against agriculture in the US. Skewed studies, false narratives in the media, misunderstandings about farmers, etc.. it was a long talk.
She asked if I’d ever been to a processing facility and I said no. She said they’re not the torture chambers we’re led to believe.. it is very calm and respectful. You’re not even allowed to talk loudly so you don’t spook the cows.
There’s still a lot more to the story but I just wanted to apologize for potentially spreading false information (if I did at all).

 

[Tesumph]

Okay. I have news!

The last two weeks...

Ruger has had swelled lymph nodes across his entire body. The swelling was increasing at an exponential rate, and so my heart started sinking...that it had to be cancer, and then he started to stop eating which is not like him and his drinking went through the roof. He was emptying 2 water bowls every hour. Mastiffs are genetically prone to getting lymphoma and all of his symptoms mimicked what I had read through several research articles and medical pages.

No vets wanted to see him since he doesn’t like people. We finally managed to get him scheduled with one but this was 2 weeks after the initial swelling and he was having trouble breathing. I was preparing myself for the worst (and by preparing I mean I was sobbing every night and forcing myself to talk about it in public so that way I could not be so sad).

His vet appointment was yesterday. Ruger was so perfect. He had one accident (peed on the floor) when a couple barged into the vet clinic even though they could clearly see Ruger was right by the door. During the exam, which was done in the back room on the weight scale, we pulled blood (a hind leg since they didn’t want to be near his head lol) and he didn’t even cry out even after they blew a vein.


Tests...
At the vet office, we had the 4DX test done. Ruger came back heartworm positive which was something I hadn’t even considered, and my heart stalled.. I was in the set mindset that he now had heartworm AND lymphoma. He was put on 14 pills a day. (5 antibiotic and 2 steroids twice a day)

Bloodwork was sent to an outside lab and we just got the results back 20 minutes ago. Kidney and liver levels were tested as well as a CBC for the WBC.

Results are...
Kidney and liver levels were perfect!

The vet told us that 30k WBC was high infection, and anything from 60k and above was likely cancer...
His WBC was 23k!!!

The vet said that she isn’t worried that it’s cancer, and to update them in 4 days if the swollen lymph nodes aren’t going down.


TLDR: Ruger our mastiff was thought to have lymphoma due to symptoms, he has heartworm instead and vet isn’t concerned about it being cancer.

That’s so good to hear. Cancer is my worst nightmare too.
I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled about being on bedrest for awhile, huh? I hope his treatment goes smoothly.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

That’s so good to hear. Cancer is my worst nightmare too.
I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled about being on bedrest for awhile, huh? I hope his treatment goes smoothly.

Oh definitely, he is loving being stuck inside and being lazy, instead of running at the horses or playing with the bulldogs.
He’s pretty weak as it is, but the prednisone has made him much more active. He got scrambled eggs this morning so he could take his medicines and he was the happiest thing.

I could be imagining things, but his lymph nodes already feel significantly smaller! Especially around his throat.

 

[dpenning]

Thank you!



He has a month of being on Doxycycline, and he has to have Heartgard (ivermectin and pyrantel in the form of pamoate salt) to kill any potential circulating larvae eggs.
Then he’ll have to get a series of injections (melarsomine) on days 60, 90, and 91.

Then he’ll be on monthly preventative (Heartgard or it’s generic equivalent) for the rest of his life.

Great that it wasn’t cancer but bummer about the heart worms . Did they go over all the resting requirements during treatment? They need to be kept quiet after the injections for sure,don’t know bout the antibiotics phase. Although he may not feel well enough to be real excitable. Was he on heart guard before? I’ll admit I’m not militant about the date and may be a few days late sometimes . I’d hate to think it is that sensitive.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Great that it wasn’t cancer but bummer about the heart worms . Did they go over all the resting requirements during treatment? They need to be kept quiet after the injections for sure,don’t know bout the antibiotics phase. Although he may not feel well enough to be real excitable. Was he on heart guard before? I’ll admit I’m not militant about the date and may be a few days late sometimes . I’d hate to think it is that sensitive.

He was not on a preventative, which is entirely our fault. We know his resting requirements.
The preventative can be taken 30 days after the original date and still be effective, so no need to worry about being a few days late.

 

[Kiki]

He was not on a preventative, which is entirely our fault. We know his resting requirements.
The preventative can be taken 30 days after the original date and still be effective, so no need to worry about being a few days late.

Are the bulldogs on a preventative?
Do they now have to be tested to see if they test positive too?
I don't know how heartworms work.

 

[ShrekDawg]

@littleprairieheartsfarm so glad it’s not cancer!!