I call that the "Everything Must Have A Name" rule. None of this "poultry fat" stuff - gotta tell me if it's chicken or duck or whatever. Just "animal fat"? Run away screaming. On the "meal" issue... if your pet food contains fish meal, make sure it is specified as "ethoxyquin-free". Not that the entire pet food in total is ethoxyquin-free, but that that particular ingredient is. (Pet food manufacturers are not required by law to tell you what may have been added to an ingredient before it comes into their possession if they don't want to, so all kinds of preservatives, contaminants and such can be in there. They just have to tell you what THEY do to it.) By US law, fish meal not intended for human consumption must be preserved with ethoxyquin. A very few processors have been granted waivers to produce fish meal preserved with something other than ethoxyquin and usually it's trumpeted loud and clear as a marketing point when a pet food manufacturer uses ethoxyquin-free fish meal - Wellness is one of them, and it took some digging but Natura Pet Products (Innova, EVO, California Natural, Healthwise, and Karma Organic) is on board there too. "Digest" must be avoided at all costs even if it does have a species name although more often than not it's just on there as "animal digest". It's gods-only-know-what waste material chemically or enzymatically broken down - predigested - into a slurry in order to convert it into supposedly-bioavailable protein that a less-than-scrupulous pet food manufacturer can use to raise the "crude protein" content on the label. Not only does the animal usually get little actual nutritional value out of the substance but what can legally go into "animal digest" is gruesome to say the least - there is no control over quality, source, or contamination. I do have to nitpick just a little bit though - by-products are not necessarily always bad, but it's a case of Know Thy Manufacturer. See, people go on and on about by-products being whatever junk swept up off the factory floor when by legal definition it is just the stuff that isn't "striated muscle" (either skeletal muscles, diaphragm, or heart): "lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, stomachs and intestines freed of their contents" and specifically excludes "hair, horns, teeth and hoofs". If you've got a food company that gets that material fresh and handles it properly so it doesn't spoil, it's very good stuff. C'mon, people eat kidneys, brains, liver, blood (usually made into sausage - black pudding being a famous variety), stomachs (tripe), and intestines ("chitlins" and sausage casings), and many of the frozen-raw-diet manufacturers are all over the stuff. A hot trend in natural pet food is "green tripe", which is cow stomach without the contents removed, just ground up semi-digested grass and all. (The smell of it will clear a house though. Whoooo-eeee!) So really it's more a question of knowing your manufacturer than avoiding an entire class of ingredient. Many of the better pet-food manufacturers are avoiding brains entirely these days though, because of worries about BSE.

I am sooo sorry for what you and your dog are going through. I've lost two animals to cancer in the last 6 mos and have had a malignant tumor removed from the leg of another one a couple of months ago. Cancer is frequently mis- or undiagnosed. We want to believe that these things are obvious and easily identified, but that's often not the case. What you need now is information, and that's what the oncologist will provide. You need to know the prognosis and the treatment/management options so that you can make an informed decision about how to proceed from here. In addition to your local vet and oncologist, I recommend seeking a second opinion from another oncologist to help insure that you are acquiring as much information about your options as possible When my animals were diagnosed, I contacted the Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center. They offer free telephone consults with a veterinary oncologist. You can email or fax copies of all of your dog's lab and pathology reports (and xrays or other tests, if you have them) to the center so that the oncologist has an opportunity to review your dog's records before the consult. The more information and test results you can provide beforehand, the more relevant and helpful the consult. If you decide to do this, make sure you write down all of your questions so that you don't forget to ask anything during the call. I will provide a link to the cancer center below. You have my deepest sympathy. I know what it's like to think you're fixing one problem, only to find out that it wasn't what you thought it was, but was, tragically, much worse. Take a deep breath. Take several. Try to get a sound night's sleep so that you can approach this with a fresh focus in the morning. You have some tough decisions ahead. Take care, Laurie Here is a link that might be useful: CSU Animal Cancer Center consult services

Prostatic hyperplasia is probably the best diagnosis you could get! Here's an odd case where it's better that he hasn't been already neutered, because when neutered dogs get prostatic disease it is usually cancer and usually pretty darn bad. Neutering him will cure the problem and it is pretty easy unless he is cryptorchid. It will still be surgery, not to make light of the situation, but if it makes you feel any better I adopted an 8 year old grossly obese Rottie last year after she was spayed by a 3rd year vet student- no complications. She was completely recovered 12 hours later, and spaying is MUCH worse than a neuter. Your guy will probably bounce back in no time! Removing the prostate is extremely difficult and is WAY invasive, especially compared to neutering. The hyperplasia is caused by testosterone, so if you remove the source of testosterone (ie the testicles) then the prostate will return to normal size. If your dog has other issues that are making his quality of life bad, than I can certainly see why you'd hesitate at neutering him. But if this is his only problem, neutering him will cure it he won't have other problems related to this any longer.

I suggest allowing the floor to completely dry, and if the odor is still there then contact a store that specializes in hardwood floors and ask the best way to treat your floor. You could damage the floors even more if the wrong cleaning products are used. If she has urinated in the area several times then the subfloors may have absorbed the odor.....hopefully that hasn't happened. Do hope she's feeling better.....did she have a UTI?