[Kristen Cabe]

...to have blood drawn for the IgA Deficiency study I enrolled him in. The study required that I collect four fecal samples, at specific intervals, and have the vet draw 5mL of blood to be sent to Texas A & M University, which is conducting the study. Jak hasn't shown any indications that he has an immunoglobulin A deficiency, but that didn't matter.

"The purpose of [the] study is to investigate whether IgA deficiency in German shepherds is an inherited condition and whether a genetic marker for its early detection can be developed."

They sent me the box I was to send the samples back to them in, collection tubes, and cold packs, and already had the return label filled out (they paid for all the shipping costs). My vet didn't even charge me to draw the blood, which was nice of her. I'll know the results within a few weeks, hopefully.


Except for being his normal, extremely vocal self, Jak did just fine! Didn't mind being stuck at all, and just loved on everyone, as usual. He did have to be muzzled when they took him back, though, because they have like, a half dozen or so cats that roam the office and he still thinks kitties are things to play with. The office cats are not dog smart, and will just walk right up to dogs, so they muzzled Jakkers just to be sure he didn't bite them if they got too close. He didn't like that at ALL; he hates anything being across his nose. I don't think vet offices should have office cats that just roam all over the place like that, but whatever. I also got some acepromazine, which is a tranquilizer, to help with teaching him to leave MY cats alone at home. He does alright, but he still focuses on them way too much (think Border Collie staredown), and if I don't snap him out of that quickly enough, he'll pounce at them when they move. I'm hoping the ace will just calm him down a little so he isn't quite so wound up, and can just get used to them being near him. Keep your fingers crossed!!

 

[Nancy Jocoy]

Now that is an approach I had not thought about........

Is this commonly done? What other approaches have you tried?

Have you tried Lou Castles crittering technique with the ecollar.

 

[Al Curbow]

Kristen, am i understanding your post correctly, that you're drugging your dog to teach him not to focus on cats? :? ,
AL

 

[Kristen Cabe]

No, not exactly. I'm drugging the dog to help him learn not to focus on the cats. I'm not zonking him out completely; I'm only giving him enough to calm him down a bit so he doesn't get so wound up about them. It was suggested to me by Bob Scott awhile back. The tranq's use will be simply to alleviate some of the stress.

How do you do Lou's crittering technique inside the house?

So far, I've been keeping him on leash with the prong collar when I let the cats have access to upstairs. Only one of my cats will even come upstairs when Jak's in the house. Once Jak notices the cat is there, I verbally correct him for watching the cat, followed up with a prong correction if he doesn't look away. Again, I'm talking border collie staredown, followed by a pounce towards the cat if he comes close enough. I'm trying to catch him at the beginning of what would be the staredown, so it doesn't escalate. He is only being playful; he's not aggressive towards the cats at all. He's just viewing them as another thing to play with.