I'm still pretty upset...

[Ratboy]

I had to have knee surgery recently, and I had to board my dogs, so I took them to the place where I have boarded my dogs for the last 25 years. I had no problems previously, but the longest I left any of them there was about a week. It's Karnik Inn in Waterville, Ohio. I brought King and Molly in in perfect shape, King was about 52 pounds and Molly was about 55. Yes, they are "older dogs", but they aren't OLD.

They were in there for a little over a month. A friend of mine picked them up on Dec 22, and when they came in the house, I couldn't believe it! King looked pretty bad, his ribs were showing, and you could easily count his vertebra. I would say he lost 5 pounds or so, a lot in a dog that has no spare "meat" on him anyway. Then I saw Molly. She lost at least 7 pounds, probably more. She looked like one of those dogs on Animal Cops where it's been starved. She normally is very thin anyway, even though they have unlimited food, but not like she was when she came home! Her ribs were sticking out even worse than King's were, and her "waist" was so small I could cup it in my hand, and my hands are average sized! The food bowl I use holds about 2 pounds, and they had it all gone about an hour after they came home. They went through a 20 pound bag of food in a couple of days, along with about 2/3rds of a 8 pound box of biscuits. Needless to say, they didn't do anything much but sleep and eat for the first week. As of Yesterday, they are on the THIRD 20 pound bag of food, and the third box of biscuits, and Molly is just beginning to look like herself. Since she eats about 3X what King eats, it's taking her a while to fill out again. King looks like he never went to "The Gulag" at all now, I figure another week or so, and Molly will be ok too.

I called a week or so after they came home, and they seemed shocked, and claimed they were fed Bil-Jac twice a day. I asked her (One of the managers) how the hell they could have not noticed their condition when they got a bath, let alone just looking at them. Her answer was "Well, they are older dogs.." She actually seemed to think I would be bringing them back again. Not a chance. I hate to think what they would have looked like if I had left them another two weeks. Next place I board them, wherever it is, I will bring my own food in, and tell them to just keep the bowl full. If they do it, that would keep it from happening again. I get upset just thinking about it.

 

[Zoom]

How much play were they set up for? I know that at the boarding place I worked at, we had a number of dogs that always lost weight regardless...and we would double, sometimes even triple the amounts they were fed, adding in canned food, reducing play times...often times just the stress of being away from home, around a bunch of strange dogs and additional playtimes can strip the weight off quicker than one would think, especially the older ones.

I'm not excusing what your place did and how they apparently couldn't tell your kids were losing too much weight. I'm just saying. I'm glad they're gaining weight back and I would be giving very detailed instructions the next time they go in for boarding.

 

[Paige]

Some times stress can suck the weight right off an animal. For instance my mom's rescue mare that was transported. She was severely underweight to begin with all bones easily countable with and by the end of a 45 minute trailer ride she was beyond a skeleton.

 

[smkie]

First off i am sorry about your knee i hope the surgery went well. Secondly i am sorry about your dogs. THat is a crying shame and there could be a multitude of reasons but someone should have noticed, informed you if they were losing weight like that. Bumped up their calories, informed a vet, anything. .

 

[ACooper]

wow..........that is something like 15% of their body weight (give or take)

Ya, even if they WERE being fed regularly.......SOMEBODY should have informed you that it was happening

 

[Dizzy]

Not good Why didn't they call?!

I have always had dogs that have gone into kennels, and used to WORK in a boarding kennels, but I'd still be wary about leaving Bo in one......

Hope they are ok now

 

[FoxyWench]

i agree, while weightloss is normal for boarding dogs (stress ect) someone should have noticed how much weight was being lost and how quickly (thats realy not a long time)

 

[Ratboy]

This is a reply to everyone, just because I don't have a lot of time:

My mother or I, sometimes both of us called every two days or so , to check on them, and they always said, "Oh, they're fine!" They were eating and peeing and pooping, etc. I did have them set up for extra playtimes. I doubt if Molly did any "playing", that's not her thing, even when she's home, she hunts, but doesn't play much. King is another story, especially if there's a friendly dog around that tolerates his rough stuff. They told us he would stay out a long time, if they let him, and that to me meant he was having a good time.

I was looking at Molly this morning, and she's still looking bad, her ribs are still visible, and her spine is still showing a little. I just can't understand how they can take them in and out for playtime every day, and not see that Molly, if not King too, was getting to the point of something needing to be done. When bathtime came, seems like someone would have noticed it at that point.

From now on, anytime I board them, no matter where, I will leave food, and tell them to keep the bowl full all the time. Simple enough. I'm just glad I didn't stay another week like I thought about doing. I just wanted the hell out of there. The hours those places operate on alone are torture for me, a lifelong, from birth, night Owl. Not to mention I'm about as picky an eater as there is, and I ate a lot of plain burgers to substitute for all the disgusting stuff they served as a regular meal. Those disgusting things being anything with Cheese, Tomatoes, Poultry (Don't hate it, just don't understand it's appeal at all), Pork (Ham and Bacon are fine), most sauces, soups, gravies, salad dressings, Tuna, Salmon, Trout, ANYTHING related to Mayonnaise, Ranch Dressing, or Tartar sauce, the only thing on earth that ties with Tomatoes as the most disgusting foods, period. I hated Tomatoes before I could even really talk, I would throw anything with them in it across the room, spit it out, scream "NOOOO!", and cover my mouth, to keep from eating them. And yes, that includes Pizza and anything containing Tomatoes. Just the vomit-like smell of them alone disgusts me.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, and I will try to post a pic once my camera charges up.

 

[goldiefur]

I think maybe your dogs were just grieving. They were probably so upset to be away from you especially if they are just around you. That place should have **** well called you to let you know they were not eating! I just don't trust that the people working at these places care one way or another what happens to the dogs I have just heard to many horror stories. My dog is very attached to me and only me and when I am away he will NOT eat ANYTHING. So I know I can't leave him anywhere but it is really bad if he has to stay at the vet. The last time he was in they could not get him to eat anything and had to call me in to get him to eat. The best thing to do if you ever have to board is instead if possible just hire someone to stay at your house with them. I hope they are feeling better now. It is a **** shame that place did not call you and I also would not send my dogs back.

 

[misticaleclipse]

Shocking they did not call you, but most boarding places I know that are good strongly recommend you bring your own food. Switching a dog to an unknown food without any adjustment is usually not a good idea,
not to mention any place that feeds bill jac would not get my business.

 

[smkie]

I did a body sweep with every dog i ever cared for in every kennel. Right after i cleaned, right before i fed. THat is pretty standard care and if it isn't it ought to be. One kennel had a chart for each dog and if something was out of kilter it was to be noted. I would expect absolutely nothing less if someone else were caring for my dogs.

 

[Island dog]

This is a reply to everyone, just because I don't have a lot of time:

My mother or I, sometimes both of us called every two days or so , to check on them, and they always said, "Oh, they're fine!" They were eating and peeing and pooping, etc. I did have them set up for extra playtimes. I doubt if Molly did any "playing", that's not her thing, even when she's home, she hunts, but doesn't play much. King is another story, especially if there's a friendly dog around that tolerates his rough stuff. They told us he would stay out a long time, if they let him, and that to me meant he was having a good time.

I was looking at Molly this morning, and she's still looking bad, her ribs are still visible, and her spine is still showing a little. I just can't understand how they can take them in and out for playtime every day, and not see that Molly, if not King too, was getting to the point of something needing to be done. When bathtime came, seems like someone would have noticed it at that point.

From now on, anytime I board them, no matter where, I will leave food, and tell them to keep the bowl full all the time. Simple enough. I'm just glad I didn't stay another week like I thought about doing. I just wanted the hell out of there. The hours those places operate on alone are torture for me, a lifelong, from birth, night Owl. Not to mention I'm about as picky an eater as there is, and I ate a lot of plain burgers to substitute for all the disgusting stuff they served as a regular meal. Those disgusting things being anything with Cheese, Tomatoes, Poultry (Don't hate it, just don't understand it's appeal at all), Pork (Ham and Bacon are fine), most sauces, soups, gravies, salad dressings, Tuna, Salmon, Trout, ANYTHING related to Mayonnaise, Ranch Dressing, or Tartar sauce, the only thing on earth that ties with Tomatoes as the most disgusting foods, period. I hated Tomatoes before I could even really talk, I would throw anything with them in it across the room, spit it out, scream "NOOOO!", and cover my mouth, to keep from eating them. And yes, that includes Pizza and anything containing Tomatoes. Just the vomit-like smell of them alone disgusts me.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, and I will try to post a pic once my camera charges up.

Sounds like you probably lost weight too! Maybe your dogs are just as fussy as you are - good thing you're all back together.

 

[noludoru]

What's their normal food? If they were being fed whatever amount of Bil Jac that you normally feed them of a higher quality food, that would definitely explain the massive amounts of weight loss.

 

[Ratboy]

I think maybe your dogs were just grieving. They were probably so upset to be away from you especially if they are just around you. That place should have **** well called you to let you know they were not eating! I just don't trust that the people working at these places care one way or another what happens to the dogs I have just heard to many horror stories. My dog is very attached to me and only me and when I am away he will NOT eat ANYTHING. So I know I can't leave him anywhere but it is really bad if he has to stay at the vet. The last time he was in they could not get him to eat anything and had to call me in to get him to eat. The best thing to do if you ever have to board is instead if possible just hire someone to stay at your house with them. I hope they are feeling better now. It is a **** shame that place did not call you and I also would not send my dogs back.

I don't think that's it. Molly eats stuff at the vets' office, while in mid meltdown, shaking like a machine gun. King adjusts very quickly, and I don't see him refusing food more than a day or so. I think maybe King didn't eat a few meals, and Molly possibly grabbed his food up. Hiring someone to stay here is not really a possibility, to be realistic about it.

 

[Ratboy]

What's their normal food? If they were being fed whatever amount of Bil Jac that you normally feed them of a higher quality food, that would definitely explain the massive amounts of weight loss.

They eat California Natural Lamb and Rice, small bites. They only give them a pack (I don't know what it weighs) of Bil-Jac, twice a day. I don't think there would have been a problem if they had anything even approaching the amount of it that they normally eat. Molly normally would eat 3-4 times the amount of food they fed her, and stay on the skinny side, and King probably would eat maybe twice that. Molly eats about half as much as my all time eating machine, my old Beagle, Farfel, who ate so much from age 6 or so on, I ended up buying 50 pound bags of food all the time, and had a pot that you would boil corn in for a bowl. He wasn't an ounce overweight, and was a busy guy, but the food and yard mess that went through him was insane.

The new vet I took him to when he sliced his foot on a rock said, "Boy, he's really in great shape, what do you feed him?" When I told him, "Well, he eats two bowls (and I described the size of it) of food every day or so, and a bunch of dog busicuits, rawhides, and anything he can grab up from the table!" He was pushy as hell at the table. Anything close and he would move on it. He was 40 pounds and rock hard, not one of those little Beagles you see most of the time today. He got me tossed out of 2 apartments due to his "scrapping" with other dogs, but I was a mess when he dropped dead at just short of his 12th birthday.

 

[Ratboy]

Sounds like you probably lost weight too! Maybe your dogs are just as fussy as you are - good thing you're all back together.

King doesn't like Tomatoes, and really doesn't like cheese much either, the first dog I've ever had that doesn't. Last summer, a friend came over to help me move a couple things, and he brought his lunch, a Cheese and Pepperoni Pizza. He tried to give King a hunk of it, and he took it like it was radioactive, and was hurting his teeth. The look of disgust was obvious,and my friend had never seen it,and thought it was funny as hell. King did take a piece of Pepperoni though, if it's meat, he likes it. Molly grabbed up all the pizza and gobbled it down. If King even is remotely interested in whatever food is involved, Molly wouldn't have been able to do that, as she would have been getting the "evil eye" from King.

And I have lost weight, something I need to do, and the horrible food most meals had made it kind of easy. I did eat popcorn every night, the medicine I'm on makes going a long time without eating a bad idea. I also had Chinese food a couple times, and Arby's and burgers too. Most meals were a plain burger, apple, orange juice, iced tea, and sometimes a dessert.

 

[Ratboy]

First off i am sorry about your knee i hope the surgery went well. Secondly i am sorry about your dogs. THat is a crying shame and there could be a multitude of reasons but someone should have noticed, informed you if they were losing weight like that. Bumped up their calories, informed a vet, anything. .

All they had to do was call, or tell me or my mother when we called, and I would have had my friend bring out a bag of food and solved the problem. I think some people think older dogs are always fat or emaciated, and emaciated is ok. That reminds me, I gotta charge the camera and hope Molly will tolerate standing still for pics.