Have your pets started acting different?

Firstly, I can relate to how much you love your dogs. I'd die for my two canine brothers without hesitation. Our souls are bound to each other.

Our water is fluoridated in Ireland but I'm fortunate enough to have a well. At the risk of offending you but purely in the interest of your animal friends, please, please, please stop feeding them fluoridated water. It's beyond me how you love them so much and yet knowingly poison and lobotomize them. It's not good enough and you know it. I really can't get my head around this. How are you even justifying this to yourself?

Whether or not this is the primary root of your issue is another story.

If you truly love your dogs, consider not killing them through malnutrition as the majority of folk do. Dogs can live up to 27 years on a vegan diet of rice, lentils and organic vegetables:

www.greenspun.com...

You need to start rejecting the conventional wisdom and ask yourself is lifespan or taste more important. I'm saying this as one dog lover to another and not as a vegan. Your own diet is your business.

More here: www.vegandognutritionassociation.com...

reply to post by quest4info
I have 3 cats that were all basically nuts to begin with when they were brought into the family (all were feral cats). Cats and dogs, depending on breeds, all have medical problems peculilar to their breed that have to be watched for, though they may not develop. Then there are general health issues caused by change of diet, living conditions and the like.

One thing that comes to mind is if you use a flea/tick spray or ointment on your pets. If so, have you changed brands recently and are you applying the proper amounts? Two of my cats became lethargic after switching brands of ointment but returned to their crazy selves after the treatment wore off. Hopefully, your vet will be able to pick up on what's ailing them.

Here's hoping that your pets have a long and happy life with you and bring much joy into your life.

Pets are a mirror to our inner selves. When have your pets started showing these symptoms exactly? You said there has been stress around the house in the last 6 months, and also that your business is going down and your wife is unemployed. It seems you are in a potential "catalyst" for change scenario.

Some questions to possibly ask yourself: Are you harboring old ways of thinking and belief systems that do not serve you anymore? Do you feel powerless at the events and circumstances that are surrounding you at the moment? Are there some feelings that you are repressing within you that is not being let out? Has some part of you within become complacent or given up?

It is possible that many of these feelings are subconscious and are now rising up.

Also look into feeding your pets organic virgin coconut oil. It "smothers" parasites, and will make their coats shiny, fix skin issues and give them energy. Great for humans too.

you said you had a few sawmills in the area.

Do any of them produce treated lumber power poles or railroad ties.
railroad ties and power pole contain creosote and pesticides and some of the older ones have dioxin in them.
This is why you you never use them for firewood.

Is the water you now use coming from anywhere near these sawmills as many of these chemicals can get into the ground water.

There is also a chance you pets have picked up a parasite of some type that is new to the area.

Any of your neighbors having problems with there pets.

reply to post by quest4info


Maybe it's in their water bowl?

I like to use metal and ceramic dog bowls. No plastics. I am always trying to get rid of all the plastics in my kitchen, because of the toxins they leach out into foods. Plastics also have estrogen in them. I need to stay away from extra estrogen. Maybe the soft plastic toys are bothering your pets, I would switch to natural products.

I like to use metal and ceramic dog bowls. No plastics. I am always trying to get rid of all the plastics in my kitchen, because of the toxins they leach out into foods. Plastics also have estrogen in them. I need to stay away from extra estrogen. Maybe the soft plastic toys are bothering your pets, I would switch to natural products.

This might seem pretty weird but where I live (and it's summer) we have perfectly good and natural healthy looking trees in full green leaf...until a month ago I noticed the odd brunch & leaves near the top of trees are dead. Strange as it seems but true. I did some checking and could only figure out two possible causes, some sort of virus (usually bacterial virus/disease affect a whole plant or tree) or there is something in the rain. If whatever it is is in the rain that too would affect grass, shrubs and the like. Pets do tend to eat or chew on grass as does our livestock which would in turn affect our meat and dairy as would our fresh produce - both that also goes in to making pet food.

I too have noticed small but suttle changes in our pets; our little dog barely even barks like she used to and our cat has become spooked to a degree. Our property is difficult for anyone to get up to so no strangers have been on our property for a very long time.

I don't have any answers...

My 4-year-old female cat used to eat Purina Cat Chow (I believe that's what it's called...came in a royal blue bag).

One day, I asked my girlfriend to pick up a bag of cat food when she was out grocery shopping. She accidentally grabbed the off-brand that's a buck or so cheaper.

When my cat would eat the off-brand food, I started to notice that she would eat a larger amount than the Purina brand, and she would seem more satisfied after eating and have more energy/pep than usual.

I bought a bag of the Purina food just to make sure that I wasn't overanalyzing things, and lo and behold, with the Purina brand, it was as if she would munch on it a little bit, go take a nap, and then munch on it a little bit more; almost as if she were addicted to it.

From that point on I have been buying the cheaper, off-brand cat food. My cat now eats 2 or 3 big meals throughout a 24 hour period rather than a 6 or 7 snack sized portions. She has much more energy than before, and has even lost a little bit of weight.

I truly think that major pet food companies put something in their food to make animals lethargic and maybe even a little bit addicted to their product. I also noticed that with the major brand, I was buying cat food a lot more often as well.

Maybe it's just the conspiracy theorist in me. I'm not doing a very good job explaining all of the details of my little study--I've been up all night and I'm a little scatterbrained--but I thought I'd add my two cents!

There's no indication where you are, Quest, WRT heartworm risk or not, but if they are on Ivermectin HW preventative (Heartgard, Iverhart), you might consider switching to Milbemycin (Interceptor. Or if you're outside the US, I think Safeheart might be &/ or is lower dose). It's a rare vet who will acknowledge this openly, but animals who are sensitive to it are a lot more common than people think & it can develop with age because they lose the protein needed to "shed" it. My youngest & oldest had issues summer & fall of 2009 & sure enough, that was it. (We almost lost the youngest, it got so bad). It took 51 (I think) & 34 days, respectively, for them to start turning around. You can dose "off label" (less than the recommended) & every 40/ 45 days, but it is hard to keep up with that schedule. B-naturals newsletter was where I got my info re how much/ when. (this is geared to dogs, but I bet there is a similar forum for cats).
My dogs have been on a roll for about 2 months, but it's in a good way- really active/ interactive & ultra playful (most of them are pretty lazy & didn't grow up together. All but 2 of my males & 2 females get along, but only 2 of the males really ever played together. EVerybody's playing with everybody now- even my 13 yr old & my blind girl- who *don't* get along). And they're all seriously into food!
We also went to the 3 year protocol on all their vacs this year (some US states still require rabies yearly)- I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. A lot of people- even vets, are going to individual vacs (rather than the combos) as much as they can; to reduce reactions.
It could be the cold weather...or all of the above. (or the reverse if Y'All are colder/ warmer than usual)

I hope your furkids get better!! It's so hard to see them feeling bad.
ps Our internist vet said that distilled water is the best thing for them (I was afraid he'd reprimand me).

ETA: Anned reminded me! There is some kind of fungal infection common but largely unknown in sandy or dusty areas. I'll go look for the email & post about it.

reply to post by quest4info


My three hairy children are fine. My G. Shephard is getting old though.

reply to post by quest4info


Nice to see so many people who care enough to reply to your OP. The only thing I can think of that's not been mentioned yet: are there any large electrical power lines running overhead or near your property? Or perhaps an electrified railroad track next to you? Living in close proximity to a strong constant electromagnetic field has been found to cause drowsiness & lethargy, with additional possible health issues still being debated AFAIK.
I bring this up because you said that you had been feeling lethargic lately, along with your pets.

As a sidebar, dry cat food with a heavy ash content can cause urinary tract infections in cats, as the ash crystals can irritate the lining of the urethra, causing it to become infected. Years ago, 3 out of 4 cats my ex & I lived with developed urinary tract infections. The vet suggested comparing ash content in the ingredients labels among several brands of dry food I was comfortable about feeding them, & switching to the one with the lowest percentage of ash content (or ideally, with no ash listed). I did this, & there were no more UTI's for those cats for the rest of their lives.

I hope you can figure out what's causing the changes you mentioned; if you keep looking, ruling out possible causes, eventually I'm sure you'll find out what's behind them. I live with 2 cats who are like my kids, so I can definitely relate to your concern.
Good Luck!

reply to post by quest4info


Get your dog checked out, this is probably a bigger problem with his system then anything else. My dogs are fine have been, no changes, the neighborhood dogs all seem fine as well.

this may sound a little out there, but have you noticed any of the small one engine planes flying over your neighborhood a lot more lately?


it has been suggested that they have x-ray backscatter technology mounted to them, and they have been flying over entire neighboorhoods radiating homes.

i have no idea if this is true, however i have noticed many more low fliers in my area, always the same ones.

a guy on the radio was talking about these little strips you can buy and rub on your skin, and it changes a certain color if youve been recently exposed to radiation. maybe these could at the very least help narrow it down?

The fungal infection I mentioned before is Valley Fever & is common in the desert SW (US). The symptoms are fever, lethargy, coughing & lack of appetite. More info here

www.examiner.com...

I'm here in the heartland. I have cats, dogs, horses, ponies, llamas, and cows. No changes at all. I keep a close eye on them because I know that animals are very sensitive. There has been a decline, however, in the native bird, bat, and insect populations, particularly over the last 3 years.

Oh, I almost forgot. I have a mini-donkey. He's very smart and super-sensitive. He is just as adorable as ever

They added flouride to the water? that is on the top of the list of active ingredients in rat poison.

reply to post by quest4info


Yeah I noticed a massive difference.

My kids are barking, literally barking at me and my dog has started reciting entire works of Plato in Greek. Last week I caught the cat drinking milk.... form the carton and then the gold fish drowned after my chickens sexually assaulted a fox with 6 legs and 17 eyes. I thought it was only me noticing these differences thanks god it’s not because now I have someone who will believe my story about a pack of cows robbing a bank last week.

PS all of the above is untrue and your kids shear the same genes and life together thats probably why they get the same illnesses.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Rescue dogs are the best!

I'll tell you the story of our Lab/Akita mix.
It's kind of a new behavior...But he is my wife's personal diagnostician.
My wife has some blood clotting issues, they often start in her legs.
DVT's they call them. More than once a piece of clot broke off, and went to her lungs..an embolism.
She could have died. Many people do. My wife has survived 3.

We noticed something though. When her leg would become painful...Our big guy would put his nose right up against her leg. Not where the pain was, but in another location. We just thought he was sensing her pain, and being nice to her..
However...The pain got so unbearable, we went to emergency...Sure enough an ultrasound scan revealed the deep clot. Right where our dog was putting his nose. He smelled the blood maybe?

A few months later, he did it again...This time she wasn't in as much pain...But we scheduled with an imaging center then next day. Again..his nose was right on the money. Exact spot...We got it early, and avoided a potential embolism.

This happened one more time, and he was right on the money again. Coincidence? I dunno.

But this is what closed the deal for me. She was having similar pains..in the same locations as before.
But Leo the dog, could not have cared less...We went to the imaging center again, just in case.
This time, it was just a surface bruise..with no Deep Vein Thrombosis...Leo was right!

He's a special critter in our house.

Last thing I want to do is derail this thread, but would love it if you started a thread on this topic! I have a cat that is a "healer", would love to write about it and read about others stories....

My dogs have always been lazy. But, they still bark at the mailman who comes everyday between 11 and 3. No matter, without fail ... they always bark.

So, no. I've not noticed anything unusual from my pets. Other than they seem a but more needy lately. Wanting to be petted. But, I attribute this to "replacement syndrom", whereas I'm started playing with my 14-month old a lot more. They seen this and crave equal attention. So, they come up and nudge my arm or sit beside my chair looking at me.

That's the only difference I've seen in my pets recently.

We've always fed them the same food. Iam's mature dog food (magenta bag).