Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

I am from the old school and for 50 years I have been blessed with very few health issues with me dogs.

However with all these medical issues with dogs now.

Anyone feel it would be wise at around one year old to give the dog a complete blood work up and then keep it as a base line for future blood work. Anything else you recommend?

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Registered: Aug 2014
Location: WI
Posts: 436

I am sure if you wanted to drop a grand, on test for your dog, you could find a vet that will take your money. I think they are going overboard on vet care , all the test they run, and the high charges. In the old days you just got yourself another dog. We call them easy keepers. My neighbor took the dog to a 24 hour emergency dog care center. 2000 dollar bill, just for a diagnosis . Still had to go to their regular vet afterward. My mother who is 88 years old, her terrier had a siezure. 3400 dollars later they found pills to take care of it. Back in the old days you could not afford to spend that kind of money on dogs. Alot of people could not afford it now.

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Registered: Aug 2014
Location: WI
Posts: 436

Responsible Breeders should not be breeding dogs that have health issues.

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I have my best hound now. Cricket out of Moonlight/Outlaw Mac by Feldmans Roxie,

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Registered: Sep 2007
Location: Glenmont,Ohio
Posts: 1185

Some good points made in the reply. I agree the breeding part is setting a lot of the issues up with genetics. With that said I feel the only way to accurately curb that would be to do general tests on all dogs before they are used for breeding (a similar test to what Bruce is talking about). If you test a dog for certain genetic markers and a couple X-rays at a young “healthy” stage of life you may see potential issues for later in life . Some other breeds and registries require health (and sometimes performance) tests on a dogs before they issue registration to any of the dogs. With all that said, how far do we go to become responsible breeders? I feel most folks only breed what they consider good stock to move forward with.

In my opinion I feel doing a general blood panel would be a good idea on a dog u value. Doing it every year would be a excellent program too. I don’t believe that most top hounds winning big events are a stranger to the vet clinic. These top performance athletes are in top health also .

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Registered: Jul 2021
Location: Tenn.
Posts: 278

Unless your rich youd better learn how to take care of most problems you'll have with a dog yourself.Forget about all these new diseases they come up with .They are for making money.Never heard of them 30 ,40 year ago and neither had the vets and my dogs lived as long then as they do today.

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

I have had dogs for 55 years and I have been the vet and caregiver and never lost one yet. However I think need more information and I think more preventive care is needed. Information can come from (in my opinion) blood testing to establish a base line. Then as the do ages. You can see ant change and catch things early.
I have issues come up with some hounds. However I feel many of the medications prescribed lead to a change in their ability to track. I also think we are missing the boat with tick issues with our dogs. We have our dogs on a lot of different things that kill ticks on the. But they have to get bitten by the tick for the tick to die. They get infected from that bite. I am starting to learn towards Parmethin and lightly spraying it on your dogs along with the preventive you use. On your clothes also. I have had a couple dogs close to being really good. But some stupid medical condition I should have caught early prevented it. I am 73 and fixing to load up and make another run at having a couple nice hounds. Just don't want the lack of baseline information on their health to slow me down.

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Registered: Jul 2021
Location: Tenn.
Posts: 278

Mr Conkey ,you've probably forgot more than I know about dogs.ha.Good luck with your dogs.
Permetherin works good.I have to spray em about every 2 or three weeks with what I'm using
But it works pretty good.I find dead tics on em so they still get bit.

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Good feedback George and thanks. Really sharing our knowledge can help us all understand many issues we all have. One thing that has bothered me is seeing a dog get old and see it have some lingering effect of a medical issue that perhaps the owner could have handled better.

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Registered: Feb 2005
Location:
Posts: 1745

U know Bruce .....when we know better we do better
When we was young we never thought about health issues...until something was wrong w/dog .
Then"if" we cared we would flip a vet bill.
Most of the time we would bite the bullet and pay the Dr
But really how xpensive is a CBC,. 2-3 hundred
I get blood work done on myself 4 times a year..... just to stay abreast of my health.
Makeing a last ditch attempt at competition hunting at ur age ....would be a wise investment per ur dog .
Jmo.
GOD Bless !

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