Red Lumps In Your Labrador’s Eyes

Your Labrador’s eyes should be smooth, clear and bright, without any blemishes or bumps on the pristine surface. A red lump on the inside corner of the eye is definitely a problem - although not one you should panic about.

Dogs (as well as other pets like cats) have a unique structure called the third eyelid, a thin membrane that protrudes from the lower inside portion of the eye and swipes tears across the surface. Behind the third eyelid are tear and lymphatic glands. Periodically one of these glands may protrude over the top of the third eyelid, forming a red bulge. Vets call this condition cherry eye, and it can cause heavy tearing and frequent blinking.

Cherry eye usually occurs when tissues that hold the gland in place are weaker than they should be. It is quite common in young labradors, especially Saint Bernards, German shepherds. Great Danes, cocker spaniels, beagles, and some of the short-faced breeds. Red lumps can also be caused by problems with the third eyelid itself. The eyelid contains a “spine” of cartilage. If this cartilage is somewhat mis-formed - a condition that vets call eversion - it will stick out slightly and irritate the surface of the eye.

Both cherry eye and third-eyelid eversion are quite rare in older labradors. Cancers, however, do develop later in life and sometimes they cause an irritated-looking red lump somewhere in the eye.

Serious eye problems should always be treated by a vet, but sometimes you have to act quickly at home to protect your pet from further damage. If your dog gets cherry eye, for example, and for some reason you can’t get to a vet, you may have to readjust the popped out gland yourself.

It sounds scary, but it is often easy to do. Sliding the eyelids up over the “cherry” will usually cause the gland to pop back into place. Put your finger or thumb at the edge of the lower eyelid near the nose. Applying gentle pressure, slide both the outer and inner eyelids over the swelling. This only works if you do it the very same day it popped out. If the lump doesn’t pop back into place easily or if your Labrador seems to be in a lot of pain, give up right away and do your best to get to a vet. Sometimes putting the gland back in place will correct the problem for good. But in many cases, pets will need surgery to eliminate the underlying cause.

Read This List Of Possible Aging Problems If Your Labrador Is Getting Older

Foul Breath, Plaque, & Gingivitis: All of these are common in old age, especially if you have not taken care to keep your Labrador’s teeth clean throughout her life. Regular dental checkups may be necessary to ensure that any serious problems are quickly treated.

Skin Problems: Even small scratches may take a long time to heal as the elasticity of the skin diminishes. Tiny wart-like bumps may appear on the dog’s face and other parts of the Labrador’s body. Hair may more readily shed as the follicles become less active. None of these changes is cause for alarm unless it seems to get in the dog’s way. Scratching a bump, for example, may infect it, and it will then require attention.

Tumors & Cysts: Usually these are benign cysts and fatty tumors. As older dogs are more susceptible to cancer, however, you should always have any lump or growth checked by the veterinarian.

Heart Disease: An older Labrador’s heart often remains strong and healthy. As older dogs are prone to heart disease, however, do become aware of the symptoms of heart disease. Early detection can prevent unnecessary pain and premature death.

Shaky, Unsure Gait: Legs that are usually sturdy and agile may begin to shake with age. Your dog may have difficulty getting up after a long nap. The usual spring in her step is a little less pronounced. Due to a gradual weakening of the nerves and muscles in the legs, these changes are to be expected. If these changes seem unusually bothersome to your dog, or if your dog has had teeth infections, kidney illness, or other health problems that indicate arthritis, your dog’s age may have made him susceptible to arthritic disease.

Diminished Appetite: You may notice that your dog is eating less and losing weight. This is often a normal result of the aging process; the dog’s sense of smell and taste weakens, and she thus becomes less interested in food. A decrease in weight may also result from muscles becoming flabby once an older dog cuts back on her athletic activities.

Increased Water Intake: An older dog may need up to two to three times more water than a younger dog. This is because her kidneys do not function as well and need the water to maintain their efficiency. Other signs of kidney disease may also appear, since older dogs are vulnerable to this illness. Contact your veterinarian if you suspect your older dog may have a serious problem with this vital organ.

Constipation: In older labradors, constipation may be brought on by a loss of muscle tone in the bowel area, or, in older male dogs, by an enlargement of the prostate. Adding bran cereal, liver, or vegetables to the diet of an older dog who is constipated may provide the laxative effect needed to get rid of the problem.

Changes In Behavior: A Labrador who in her younger years loved to visit new places or who always became excited at changes will now suddenly become anxious and moody when anything upsets her daily routine. There is little you can do but be patient, and give your dog the care she needs in return for the years of companionship she has given you.

Rawhide Chews For Your Labrador

Giving rawhide chews to labradors is a very common snack that is also known to help strengthen their teeth and gums. But is it healthy? Can these chews actually be bad for our precious pets?

You’ll hear tales of all kinds; for example, that feeding labradors sugar will give them worms or that allowing them to stick their heads out the window of a moving car will cause blindness. The truth is that sugar causes obesity, not worms; and that dogs leaning out of cars don’t go blind, but they often do end up as roadkill.

Rawhide chews, on the other hand, are among the great inventions of the twentieth century. They are like pacifiers we gave our children when they were babies. Without rawhides, my dog’s would swallowed my children’s toys instead. The bottom line truth is that rawhides give chewing dogs a wholesome activity.

Puppy Mills: The Dark Secret Behind Labradors That Are Sold In Pet Stores

For at least four decades puppy mills have been one of the most shameful embarrassments of the dog world. Many AKC critics are particularly voiced that the organization hasn’t done more to attack the problem, arguably one of the most cruel and pervasive examples of animal abuse in the nation’s history yet the average pet shopping consumer does not realize this.

By Humane Society estimates, puppy mills are almost the exclusive suppliers of the approximately half-million puppies sold annually through America’s pet stores. There are an estimated 5000 puppy mills in the country. They are concentrated mostly in six midwestern states - Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Arkansas - referred to as “the puppy mill archipelago” by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). California is cracking down on puppy mills. Kansas, on the other hand, has made it a felony to sneak into a puppy mill and photograph or otherwise document its activities.

Pet store operators will tell you their labradors don’t come from puppy mills. The ASPCA estimates that only about ten percent of all pet store dogs are non-puppy-mill animals. Numerous investigations have documented the often barbaric conditions of these operations. puppy mill labradors are found being raised on wire, like chickens, or in cramped quarters, like veal. Dams and sires live their entire lives in cages and are bred nonstop from the time they are six months old until five or six years of age. When females have mothered themselves to exhaustion and their litter sizes drop, they are often killed. ASPCA reports that the mothers’ bodies are sometimes fed to the surviving puppy mill dogs. American Humane, another animal-welfare organization, reports that one puppy mill breeder fed dogs “the heads of slaughtered animals.” There are puppy millers who breed hundreds and even thousands of puppies a year.

Labrador puppies born in these operations are often shipped during infancy - at four weeks of age - in containers so tightly packed that suffocation is not uncommon; they are frequently poorly nourished and rarely given appropriate veterinary care. It is estimated that about a half-million puppy mill pups perish each year before they reach the pet store. Forget about such niceties as socialization and breeding away from hereditary disease. A May 1990 study by the California Assembly concluded that forty-eight percent of the puppies sold in the state’s pet stores were ill or carrying disease at the time they were purchased. The study also found that puppies imported from puppy mills outside California were three times more likely to have problems than puppies raised locally.

Protein: The Most Important Food Item You Can Feed Your Labrador

Protein is the most expensive ingredient in dog foods. Its source often determines the quality of the food. Animal sources are superior. Unfortunately, there’s not enough meat around to satisfy all the pet dogs in the world, so the producers substitute vegetable protein.

The difference between vegetable and animal protein? Vegetable is often harder to digest, and more of it has to be consumed to meet the Labrador’s needs. More food equals more stool. The best advice is to find a food that uses more animal protein than vegetable protein and requires smaller rations to meet the MDR.

More protein is not always better. High protein diets are used for show or working labradors. If your Labrador’s mellow or spends many hours alone, feeding a high protein diet will make her jittery and hyper. When reading the label, watch for key words like gluten meal and animal protein. These indicate animal protein sources. Words like corn, soy, and rice all tell you the protein is from vegetable sources.

Feeding Your Labrador: Are You Confused?

What daily quantity should a Labrador be fed? This question is no longer properly answered with the “pound of food per 50 pounds of body weight” foods are available today, so we must ask, “What kind of food?” Is it dry, semi-moist or canned? The best indicator is based on the dog’s output. In other words, the quantity should produce firm and well-formed feces. Any tendency of the stools to become loose indicates overfeeding in a healthy dog. Conversely, a stool so dry that it appears to have a chalky coating indicates underfeeding. The quantity fed should be increased or decreased by 10% in such cases.

In growing Labrador puppies, you should feed them for formed stools. Further, the number of feedings should be the same as the number of bowel movements per day. This attunes the input frequency with the metabolic rate of the pup. It also results in up to 6 feedings per day for some pups, usually only for a couple of weeks. Most owners agree that this feeding schedule is not quite as inconvenient as a Labrador puppy that is not house-trained.

Pregnant or lactating females with puppies require especially large quantities of high-quality protein. The old wives’ suggestion of “eating for two” tends to carry over into feeding of pregnant female dogs, who often eat for ten pups. The uninformed breeder often merely offers 2-4 times as much of the dog’s standard diet. The trouble with this practice is that the huge quantity of a commercial diet usually results in some degree of obesity if the female actually eats it.

This tendency toward obesity stems from the fact that many popular diets are usually significantly higher in carbohydrate than in protein. If the pregnant dog does not metabolize the vastly increased carbohydrate intake, she usually gets fat. This can lead to a number of problems, such as sick or stillborn pups, or prolonged labor.

Pregnant and lactating Labrador females (up to 4 weeks postpartum), as well as their pups, require increased amounts of a high-protein diet. It might be more sensible to meet this need by supplementing, rather than simply feeding them more of the usual diet. Addition of protein in the form of raw liver, cooked eggs, milk, dicalcium phosphate and an oil containing vitamins A and D, in addition to a daily general vitamin-mineral supplement, satisfies the special dietary requirements of mother and offspring, and avoids overfeeding with its possible side-effects of loose stools and obesity.

Fatal Labrador Issues: Gastric Dilatation & Gastric Torsion Complex

Gastric dilatation and Gastric torsion complex is a condition that may occur in any breed, at any age. Commonly known as bloat, this syndrome is most often encountered among large and deep-chested breeds. The complex results from the dog’s inability to pass food (or other ingesta) through the stomach into the lower intestines, or lack of capacity for emesis (vomiting) if torsion has occurred.

Initial clinical signs of gastric torsion can occur suddenly, normally a few hours after a meal. The dog may become restless, excessively salivate and have unproductive attempts at vomiting. As the abdomen distends, pain manifests. Reluctant to move, the dog may also refuse to lie down. As the case advances in severity, the onset of shock becomes evident with pale mucous membranes, a rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) and a weakened pulse. A dog with this condition is headed toward a rapid and painful death. This is a true veterinary emergency.

Dogs that have survived are prone to recurrence. Studies of gas present in afflicted labradors‘ stomachs indicate a primary cause to be accumulated swallowed air. Gulping eager eaters appear to swallow more air than finicky, picky eaters. Exercise shortly after eating has also been associated with gastric torsion. Other factors that may produce gastric torsion can be general anesthesia, abdominal surgery, traumatic injury, spinal injury, overeating, ingestion of foreign materials, whelping, vomiting and malignant tumors.

Recurrence of the torsion complex because of dietary indiscretion is inevitable unless faulty feeding practices are amended. The dog should be fed light brothy meals three to five times daily for approximately three days before establishing a more normal diet. Relatively soft foods should be offered no less than three times daily over the following few days. When “normal” feeding resumes, the dog should be fed at least twice daily, and in small quantities each time. Raising the food dish on a platform to a level of the lower chest is also recommended, helping to reduce air intake during feeding.

There are a few points that bear emphasis with gastric torsion. The time factor in discovery and treatment by a veterinarian is critical because the dog’s total collapse is imminent with this condition. An immediate diagnosis by a veterinarian is imperative to effect initiation of rapid treatment for survival. Delays in presentation, diagnosis and treatment must be avoided or the condition will prove fatal.

Once successfully treated, labradors can continue to lead normal healthy and productive lives providing daily concessions are made. Animals suffering an occurrence of this complex must lead as stress-free lives as possible. They should be fed several times daily throughout their lives. They should not be fed dry food alone: any kibble must be fed “wet.” Dry food that does not swell once water and meat are added to it is recommended. Certain labradors may, however, require a special diet that is available only through the veterinarian.

False Pregnancy: Understanding When Your Labrador Goes Through Pseudocyesis

Your female Labrador was in heat about two months ago, and now she’s behaving as if she were pregnant. Her breasts are somewhat enlarged and have a thin yellowish fluid or actual milk coming from them. She seems unusually nervous and excitable, can’t settle down, and may even try to make a “nest.” Finally you notice her carrying a shoe, toy, or other object around with her, much as she would a newborn Labrador puppy. But wait a minute! She hasn’t been near a male dog - she can’t be pregnant! And she isn’t. She is going through a false pregnancy.

When your female dog is in heat, a yellow body is formed in the ovary, whether or not conception has taken place. During pregnancy, this remains active and functional, secreting the hormone, progesterone, until whelping time. In the non-pregnant dog, this usually degenerates in about a month. For reasons still not well understood, the corpus deteriorates much slower in some females, and its prolonged presence is believed to trigger the false pregnancy. Symptoms can vary from being hardly noticeable, through all those mentioned in the previous paragraph, to severe painful engorgement of the breasts with milk freely flowing from them.

Pseudocyesis occurs at all ages from the first Labrador puppy heat on. It may happen only once and never recur, but in most cases, once started, it tends to recur about two months after each, or most, of the successive heat periods. This can be a special problem in the older dog. The additional stress it produces can result in vomiting, diarrhea, self-nursing, inflammation and infection of one or more breasts, and loss of appetite. Dogs with chronic kidney disease may be stressed enough to precipitate a uremic crisis and renal failure. Dogs with cardiac disease may develop potentially dangerous abnormal heart rhythms.

Mild to moderate cases will run their course in three to eight weeks, depending on how rapidly the corpus luteum degenerates, and require little treatment. The more severe cases will be helped by alternate hot and cold moist compresses on the swollen breasts to relieve the pain. Therapy with estrogens, testosterone, and progesterone injections have all been effective to varying degrees in terminating the false pregnancy. If fever or breast infection is present antibiotics will also be prescribed.

There is no hard evidence to prove it, but many veterinarians in companion animal practice are of the opinion that repeated false pregnancies, especially the severe ones, are likely to predispose your dog to the eventual development of pyometra, a serious and hazardous uterine infection. For that reason, your family veterinarian may recommend an ovariohysterectomy for your Labrador.

A Labrador’s Favorite Place: The Park (Part 2)

City parks have some wonderful challenges for training if you use your imagination.

For example, look and find an empty trash bin in the park, tip it over on its side and teach your Labrador pup to jump over it. Start a few feet from the trash bin and run toward it while holding the motivator close to his nose so he will follow it. When he approaches the bin, use the hand in collar technique (place your fingers between his neck and collar with your fingers pointing up), lift him forward and say “Hup,” as he climbs over the bin. After he has gone over the garbage bin, circle around and make him climb over from the other side and place him in a sit. Do this a few times so he is comfortable with this maneuver. With continued practice, he will eventually make a clean jump over the bin. Smaller or less agile labrador dogs will only be able to climb over it.

If he is shy about going over the bin, then place him on top of it so he will feel comfortable touching the garbage bin with his paws. With your right hand holding the motivator, lead him downward to come off the garbage bin. Repeat this pattern a few times to build his confidence level. After a few repetitions, your pup will feel comfortable climbing over the garbage bin.

Large boulder-like rocks can often be found in many parks. While walking your dog, teach him to jump on the rock. Again, you will need a motivator to get him to jump up there. Put him in a Sit-Stay or Stand-Stay position. This is a good exercise because it gives him a job to do - it keeps him from moving any further during a walk, especially through congested cross paths.

Park benches are also a great training tool. Teach your Labrador to jump over a bench using the same method as making him jump over a garbage bin. You can also teach him to crawl under a park bench. And you can train him to sit every time you approach a park bench with someone sitting on it. This teaches him not to pull toward strangers in the park.

A park is a good place to practice the hide and seek game with a whistle. Have your friend hold your puppy back while you run and hide behind a tree or some bushes and whistle for your Labrador. This exercise will get your puppy to pay more attention to you as he panics and tries to find you. This game is great because you are setting the foundation for him to come to you whenever you whistle. In all of these exercises, you are using the natural environment of the park as an agility course for your dog.

A Labrador’s Favorite Place: The Park (Part 1)

Parks are the most popular spots in the city for owners to take their labradors. It’s the one place where owners can let their labradors run loose and play with other dogs. Many dog owners like going to the parks because it gives them a chance to meet and chat with other dog owners. Most dog owners are amused by the fact that they remember the names of the different dogs but not the names of the owners.

Though I have no problem with dogs playing with each other in the parks, I do have a problem with owners who just congregate together and don’t play with their dogs. Dog owners often forget that they should be the main focus of their dog, not other dogs. The park is such a great environment to train a dog and owners who do no more than just stand together talking do their dogs a disservice. This also gives a Labrador a false sense of total freedom - your dog blocks you out while playing with other dogs.

You can alleviate this problem by occasionally whistling for your dog to come to you while standing with the other owners. When he comes to you, praise him and then let him play with the other dogs once again. By doing this, your dog learns that even though he is coming to your call, it doesn’t mean you are going to leash him and take him home. You don’t want your dog to associate coming to you with killing his good time. That is why owners have a hard time calling their dogs back to them in the park. Dogs know that the only time they are called by their owners is when it’s time to leave.

Instead of just standing there with the other owners, move quietly away from them and stand off to the side. When your dog looks for you among the group of owners, he will be alarmed that you are not there. You are preying on his sense of insecurity - he is going to panic as he looks for you. This is good - you want to be your Labrador’s main focus, not other dogs in the park. He will come to you full of excitement at having found you.

Another problem with groups of owners getting together in the park is that you can get some bad advice. When you get your dog, you will quickly discover how many owners act like experts about dogs, and you will get a lot of free advice. You will get all kinds of training and medical opinions - some of it good and some just a lot of old myths.

Labrador puppy owners need to understand the pack mentality of dogs. Any group of dogs playing in a park form a pack mentality within ten minutes of being together. Now if a puppy runs into the pack, the dynamic is thrown off balance and tension can easily develop. The dogs tower over the puppy to investigate. Some dogs don’t like puppies, especially if the puppy is hyper or cocky. There’s a good chance such pups can get bit. Pups also tend to get trampled on and can physically get hurt when playing with mature dogs. That is why I don’t like owners taking their Labrador puppies to parks to play with big dogs. puppies need to play with puppies in their own peer group. You wouldn’t let your five-year-old child play football with thirteen-year-old kids, so why have your pup play with mature dogs?