I'm thinking this is good news, Chaz! The bulbs are still firm... the one obviously has enough energy to push out flowers... the other one is still alive and firm... there is still the possibility that the one with the growing scape is trying to reproduce before dying, but I doubt it... I would think if they were going to die, they'd be growing offsets like crazy!

I'm no expert, but I think the prognosis is good! I think both bulbs may just be ok... and injecting them might have saved their lives... at any rate, we now know that Neem can be injected into the heart of a bulb without killing it, and it may even help get rid of narcissus fly larvae that would otherwise eat the poor bulb from the inside out!

Chaz, there's nothing to injecting humans or animals with needles... I've been IMing and SubQing dogs and other animals with injectable drugs and other preparations for years! It's sometimes difficult to inject a squirming dog with a thick medication, such as an antibiotic... it needs to be done quickly, but the quicker you push the plunger, the hotter the needle gets, and in the end, you wind up stinging the dog a bit... I think the biggest mistake people make is hitting a muscle when the medication needs to be injected under the skin, subcutaneously, and the resulting lump infects... I've seen horrible scars from drainage tubes and the minor surgery required to remove the lump of scar tissue and infection... dogs tend to remove their own stitches before they should come out!

Anyway... I hope the end result with your bulbs is new growth and flowers... only time will tell if the injections truly worked, but it would appear so at this time!

Dear Jodi, I know you're an expert with dogs so I wish to ask for your help.
We keep dogs all the time at our home. We normally have German shepherd as well as other Vietnamese types of dogs. The German shepherds would some time get a lump in their ears and then eventually when the lump was treated, the dogs' ears wouldn't stick out any more, instead, their ears would droop! The vets here said that once the dogs got that, it'd be impossible to cure.
At present, we have one very healthy 2-year-old German shepherd. I don't want this to happen to Ben (the dog's name). Could you advice how to prevent this.
Many many thanks.

Xuan

Sorry, folks, for this is quite nothing related to amaryllis!

Xuan,

We're all one big hippi family here right! LOL you are always welcome to work other questions in a topic as far as I'm concerned.

Xuan --

That's an aural ("aural" means ear) hematoma -- a small sack of blood. They usually happen either from dog fights, or if the dog has been scratching its ears or shaking its head. They often scratch or shake when they have allergies or parasites (fleas or ear mites), or other ear infections. So a good way to prevent the aural hematomas is by preventing and/or treating the allergies and/or parasites and/or infections BEFORE they get bad enough to lead to a lot of scratching and/or head shakig.

What causes the lump? I'm not familiar with what you describe...

I would say that to prevent ruining the stature of the dogs' ears, the lumps must be prevented, whatever they are... I've seen Shepherds and Dobermans with taped ears to keep them erect... perhaps taping the ears how you want them to stand at the time the lumps are treated may help? I'm not sure...

Bulldogs have floppy ears, and are working dogs... ears that aren't perfect are not deducted points in a show ring... Buldogs are allowed floppy ears, scars, missing teeth, and other imperfections acquired in the line of duty, while working. These are not considered bad things...

Since I'm not very familiar with the lumps you describe, I'm not sure what to tell you, except for taping the ears, and preventing the lumps... I wish I could help, Xuan!

I am very curious to know what the lumps are and what causes them... this information may help me to help you with the ears...

Xuan, I was breeding German Shepards and (black and brown) Dobermanns when I was younger. I have never encountered the problem you are talking about, so I assume that it must be some local parasite, or infection that might irritate your dogs' ears that can cause this problem. If you are saying this is happening quite often with you, talking to a vet might be help. He might have encountered a lot of cases like this, and he might have figured out the cause and the cure already.

Xuan - I have a friend that breeds Rhodesian Ridgebacks, and she has the ear problems you describe with her dogs... the lumps of infection, fluid or blood are caused by the dog either shaking its head vigorously or scratching due to the irritating presence of a certain mite that originated with this year's locust hatching... preventing the mites from setting up housekeeping in the dogs' ears will help keep them from getting the lumps in the long run. Boosting the dogs' immune system through diet and vitamins will also help to a certain extent. Choosing a feed that's low in preservatives and fillers and high in what a dog needs will help. You can buy children's chewable every day vitamins and give them to your dog. I find them better than most vitamins made for dogs.

Making sure your dog's diet includes a good dose of glucosamine chondroitin will help build and maintain strong cartilige in the ears, thus helping them to stay erect. You can buy glucosamine chondroitin for humans and break the pills in half to give your dog.

From what my husband tells me, there are ear supports made of firm foam available that are shaped like the dogs ear... you simply trim away the excess ear fur on the inside of the ear and peel and stick these foam ear supports right to the ear. They will need to be replaced every couple of weeks until the dogs ears are healed into that position. If you can't find these ear supports online or from your vet, you can cut pieces of something similar to use, such as Dr. Scholl's foam shoe inserts or anything made of a rather firm, thin foam. My husband says you should be able to find the ear supports made specifically for dogs like German Shepherds and Dobermans right online.

Google it, and I bet you can find ear support kits you can purchase!

As a footnote, the mites in question are not usually found in great numbers in my area, but have only just come into great numbers by the hatching of certain locusts or cicadas that carry these mites. The locusts or cicadas have been dormant for several years and only just hatched this past summer. Not only have the mites become an ear problem, they've also become an allergy problem, and several people and other dog breeds in this area have been affected, breaking out in a red itchy rash that doesn't want to go away on its own.

Thank you, Amazindirt, for bringing the aural hematoma to my attention... I didn't even think of it because my breed of dog seldom has this problem... at least, I've never seen an aural hematoma in any of my bulldogs... I'm sort of a stickler for maintaining clean ears due to the fact that I had one bulldog that just had the worst time with ear mites. Her ears needed constant cleaning to keep them clean and mite-free! For the most part, though, our bulldogs don't seem to have a problem with mite infestations.

Hope all this information helps, Xuan!

Thank you everyone for the great info re aural hematoma. I believe this is what my dog suffers: parasites! Luckily, we have been giving our 2 dogs with parasite treatment regularly. Hopefully Ben won't get this ugly infection that can ruin his ears.

Xuan

Love GW forums so much. You can always get help from people everywhere :-)

I love dogs with floppy ears...

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Great picture, Maria! Very stately!

Why can't I get my girls to sit nice for a photo or two?! I get out the camera and one hides while the other one acts like a maniac! I can't get good photos of either girl, and Hux runs around like a dog with ADD, too! Is there some secret to taking good dog pictures?!

They want to force every pet owner to spay and neuter their pets after 4 months of age... I am a responsible pet owner. I don't want to do this to my dog! Stupid ignorant politicians... This is not the way to control the homeless pet population. Homeless pets are not from well established indoor pets... They are from stray dogs and cats most of the time... I'm afraid I will be fined big time and several times... Responsible pet ownership does not start with spaying and neutering...

Buddy as you can see is a Golden Retriever. He would do anything for his master. He is very loving, obedient, no bad temper whatsoever and still goofy at 8 years old. Unfortunately he is a hunting dog. So when he is on the loose, the birds, rabbits, squirrels and other small wildlife better hide.

Here is Buddy when told to "sit".
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And a bored Buddy chewing on rocks.
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What a lovely dog! And what a grin on his face!!! I had forgotten the rock chewing...my first Gordon Setter did that, and I Have the new puppy coming this spring!

Soultan - you are 100% correct! Controlling pet population begins with human responsibility! We have never once, not ever, in over 25 years, had an accidental breeding! Why? Because we are responsible, and we constantly supervise our animals and keep them contained. We don't produce "pet quality" seconds, we cull that which does not meet our standards! We don't breed to stuff our pockets, we breed to better or maintain what we have. We produce about 1 litter every few years, and every one of the proposed pups are sold before they are even conceived!

We do not believe that spaying or neutering is healthy for a dog or cat, because the same hormone loss occurs in them as would in a woman that was devoid of female parts, or a man that was devoid of certain parts, for that matter. Women have synthetic options to balance what a hysterectomy would take away... dogs and cats don't have the same options! We believe in responsible ownership, not spaying or neutering!

Killing animals might sound cruel, but I would lay down good money that about 80% of all dog breeds either being produced or languishing in shelters are genetic nightmares that shouldn't even be alive! As much as I don't want the government to interfere in an area that they have no knowledge of, I think some sort of breeder regulation should be enacted to control the number of ignorant idiots that think they are good breeders, and call themselves such!

If breeders and owners were responsible and knowledgeable, there would be no need for shelters and rescue organizations! This is a subject that I feel very strongly about... but I'll stop now before I wind up insulting someone that might think otherwise...

Maria... Buddy looks like a wonderful companion! So happy, and you can just see the intelligence in his eyes!