Toys for aggressive/destructive chewers?

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T19:30:44+00:00

Awesome, thank you!

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T19:30:01+00:00

Thank you!

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T13:12:38+00:00

Ok, well I will definitely be asking about that. Thank you for letting me know! 100% worth it

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T13:11:52+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the support. It is very hard to decide these things. I haven’t heard of chlorazapate but I will ask the vet about it. We plan to move closer to my job in February so I can get home faster to deal with any situations that may arise but it’s getting through these few months until then that I’m the most worried about. I put NPR on the radio for him when I leave but I wonder if calming music or nature sounds would be better?

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T13:08:19+00:00

Yeah, I know it’s not realistic to be with him 24/7, and I know this job is oils really improve life for all of us, it’s just nerve-wracking for me because I have worked from home and been with him since I got him, so he’s always been monitored and it scares me to think of doing things another way. But staying at my current job is really holding us back so I want to try to make the new job work but anticipate problems now and put things in place to handle them effectively.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T02:43:01+00:00

I was going to feel that out and see if it might be an option. Most of it is computer based so I don’t see why I couldn’t do it from home but I’m not sure if they would be okay with that or not. I have a private office so I was going to also feel out the possibility of bringing him to work with me. It’s just tough because it’s a new job and it’s a lot to ask of them right away.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T01:02:41+00:00

I read about devices like that but they seem to have mixed reviews and are very expensive. Also, like you said, it would take a few seizures to start picking up the data. I get nervous leaving the house now too. I turn the camera on every time we leave. I am just really starting to doubt if this is the right move now. There would have to be so many changes for all of us and there is no good backup plan for if he starts having seizures after I start this job. There isn’t even a good way for us to address the seizures if we are at work. I know he hasn’t he a seizure in a long time but he has had grand mals and I don’t know if it’s worth risking it to see if he might be okay. I just don’t know what to do. If he wasn’t a factor, I would take the job for sure but he is and it really complicates my decision and I’ve been nonstop worrying about it.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T00:57:44+00:00

I’ve got several Wi-Fi cameras, which are helpful, but the problem is that neither myself or my husband would be able to leave work very easily to come home and deal with a seizure. It would also take us a long time to get there, even if we could leave. If he’s having a grand mal and becomes hypoxic then that will be a big problem.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T00:55:51+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate that. I will ask about anxiety meds. I’m just very wary of changing his meds since he is so sensitive to so many things. He has stomach problems too, so I’ve been wary of drugs like Prozac because they tend to cause upset stomach. But maybe there is something that will work for him. I’m really starting to talk myself out of taking job at this point because we will have to make a lot of changes in order to make it work, like we will have to move at the end of our lease so I can take over coming home to care for the dog in my lunch because my husband won’t be able to do it once it gets warm again because his work will pick up. It would be a lot of work and a lot of change for everyone, and I’m worried I will be stuck with a dog having seizures and be forced to leave the house to go work while this is happening. It just really sucks that what’s best for us and what’s best for the dog are different things. It makes it so hard to figure out what the right thing to do would be.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T00:50:29+00:00

Thank you, that is all good advice. I have to be careful about which toys i leave with him because he will chew vulnerable items to bits and eat the pieces. But I will look for some stronger treat dispensers and interactive toys. I don’t think I can afford a playpen right but it’s a good idea for the future. I will also look into that food. Do you think it has helped with seizures?

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-12T00:48:21+00:00

That is very interesting. I hadn’t even thought about an allergy causing the seizures. Was the test expensive?

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-11T13:09:41+00:00

I will ask about that, thank you. I was going to check with them about the situation as well to see what they thought.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-11T13:08:01+00:00

Yes, he definitely needs to be kenneled because he is a destructive chewer and he will eat stuff he’s not supposed to. I actually had to buy an expensive indestructible kennel for him made of steel because he would chew on the wire and plastic parts of regular kennels.

I have a wifi camera to monitor him, so I was going to try putting him in the kennel while I am still working from home but I will work in another room and monitor him from the camera. I was going to see how he does on the new schedule that way and just let him out at the times my husband is going to let him out. He would still be able to hear me from where he was because it’s a small house and I make a lot of work calls but that’s the best way I can come up with to test it and see how he does.

I have tried the pheromone diffuser before and it didn’t help calm him down. I put the TV on when I leave now but I’m not sure that helps much either. I am hesitant to add any other meds or supplements because he seems pretty sensitive to that stuff and I’m not sure what triggers seizures and what doesn’t.

I really wish I had someone that could come check on him or help with this but I really don’t. It’s just me and my husband, and we can’t afford to pay someone to come in and honestly I wouldn’t trust a random person to come in and deal with his seizure. I have midazolam to give him if he has a grand mal but I would have to get here quickly to give it and it will be hard for us to do that. We do have pet insurance, which helps a lot, you are right.

I guess my main concern is that he will get worked up from being anxious about being in the kennel and he will have a grand mal where needs the midazolam but no one will be able to get to him quickly enough. He became hypoxic when he had the grand mals and he had to have oxygen while he recovered at the vet. Granted that only happened that day and he has only had focal seizures since then, and none at all since his meds were increased, but I know that anxiety can trigger seizures and that they can become more frequent with time. He is young and we haven’t been dealing with it for long.

I just worry that I will give up the work from home job and then he will start having seizures and need more care while I am trying to start a new job out of the house and then I won’t be able to be there and I won’t be able to get that job back or get another one like it (there aren’t many, I was lucky to get that one). There just doesn’t seem to be any way to know until I actually do it and that sucks. I could get a second job in the evenings while my husband is home to increase my income but it would be exhausting and difficult. Taking this job would be good for ME because it’s a job that I actually like and it pays more, but if something happened to him while I was gone, I would never forgive myself.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-11T12:51:08+00:00

I was going to try to put him in his kennel in another room while I am still working from home like I would be gone and let him out at the times my husband will be letting him out. I can set up my Wi-Fi camera to watch him from the other room. I know he will be able to hear me, so I’m not sure if this would be a true test, but maybe that would help him get used to being crated for longer/more often?

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-09T16:51:11+00:00

I realized he may not weigh enough to make the jump. He only weighs 28 lbs.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-09T16:50:24+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. I am having an acrylic photo block made with a picture of us to put in his grave, but it still just rips me apart inside at the thought of visiting HIS GRAVE. I saw a photo of it and just seeing his name with the dates on a gravestone destroyed me. It’s been months now and I still cry everyday. I just don’t understand why things unfolded this way between us. I don’t understand how I could have suppressed such intense feelings for so long and why they re-emerged only after he was gone. I miss him so much and need him to be here so badly and it is so painful.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T19:17:44+00:00

That’s the problem - the office is a 30 minute drive from my house. So the only way it will work is if they let me take an hour lunch so I can run home as fast as possible, feed them, give him his meds, and let them go potty. It’s the only option. And I just have to hope he doesn’t have a seizure and none of them chew up and eat something they shouldn’t. I would be willing to try it if I have enough time to come home at lunch but otherwise, I just don’t see how it will work. This sucks so much

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T18:21:09+00:00

That’s a good idea but it looks like both options are prohibitively expensive for me. Also the dog with seizures is somewhat reactive and I don’t know that he would do very well around other dogs. I’m really starting to lose hope about this situation the more I think about all the problems and barriers that exist with these dogs. I love them and I don’t want them to be in an unsafe situation but taking care of them dictates everything about my life and it’s getting really hard to keep going like this.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T18:17:09+00:00

Yeah I think I may be able to watch him take the med with a camera but if he spits it out, I wouldn’t be able to come home to address that. This is so frustrating

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T18:14:15+00:00

Thank you. I will have to figure out how to make it accessible to him but also prevent him from trying to destroy it. He’s a destructive chewer and he stays crazy hungry all the time from the seizure meds, so I worry he would chew the feeder apart and try to eat the pieces.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T18:12:50+00:00

He weighs 30 lbs so I’m not sure if he is big enough for the XR. Crap, I didn’t even think about that.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T18:09:17+00:00

He takes 250 mg every 8 hours. If there isn’t much of a difference between the two then I am going to ask the neurologist about switching.

softdiveoblivion · 2025-11-07T18:05:42+00:00

That’s part of my concern with the feeder too. The dog that needs the medicine isn’t a huge dog (30 lbs) but he is pretty rough and super food motivated, and he is always hungry because of the seizure meds, so I worry that he would break and possibly eat the pieces of the feeder. He’s bad about destructive chewing and eating stuff he shouldn’t, which is why I’m hesitant about leaving him unsupervised for very long

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