SallyDog

I have a border collie Kelpie cross who is now at least 18 years old but could be up to 20 years of age (she came from the pound 17.5yrs ago). She is almost blind and almost deaf (though I call it selective hearing) cause if you squeak a toy she will appear, ...............but slowly. She has some arthritis in her back legs but is still able to get in an out of our dog hatch OK and has no incontinence. Recently I took her to the vet because she hangs her head to one side and they said she need her ears cleaned, so they put her under a light aneasetic and cleaned her ears. She did not handle the anaesetic well, infact it took her more than 4 days to recover from what is probably the minimal level dose and I thought at one stage she was going to die. Now my problem, the other day I found a lump near the corner of her mouth, it is about the size of a pea and not affecting her in any wayat this stage (she is eating fine), but it has come up quickly. Do I let it run its course and have her put down when the time is right or Do I put her through and operation to have it removed as it has just appeared. I'm finding this decision tough cause I love her to bits but dont want her to suffer.

Has something recently changed in your local area. I have a Kelpie X (which is petrified of thunderstorms) that I walk near the beach every morning, about 3 months ago she started to go in a panic every time I took her for a walk she would bolt and I would have trouble catching her she was in a mad panic. It got so bad that I contemplated giving up the walks, until I discovered that they were doing some significant building renovations two streets away. The dog was petrified of the noise of pnuematic nail guns. The renos have finished and my dog is now happy. We also had a terrier dog when I was younger that hated storms, when we went to our uncles holiday house the dog would be fine until the next door neighbours turned up and then the dog acted as if there was a constant thunderstorm. We discovered it wasnt the neighbours, but there wire gazebo door which made a click that the dog thought was a firecracker. We changed the clip on their door and had a happy dog Just because you cannot hear it your dog can hear things that they find scarey, so have a look in your neighbourhood, something may have changed that is causing distress it may not be the answer but it is worth a try and a look.

Imy, I don't have grey's but recently adopted a kelpie X that was slightly overweight (weighed 21kg instead of around 18kg) . So I put her on a diet in the following way. I first worked out the food and excercise balance that the dog needed on ususal food (This was where the dog did not put on weight and did not lose weight) using meat and dry food combination. I then substituted the normal dry food (I use Hills) for the lite variety (Dog was getting about 1.5 cup of dry food and 350gm meat and vegetable mix a day). There was some minor change in weight over 4 weeks but it was very minor. (The other food my dog gets is a piece of cheese when my other dog gets her tablet and a slice of wholemeal bread nothing on it, these are considered her treats) To get weight loss I then started to reduce gradually over a 4 week period the dry kibble back to only a cup a day and the meat vege mix went from a 80:20 mix to about a 60:40 mix. The dog over 6 weeks has lost 1.25kg (they cant lose a 1kg a week like humans). If the dog has done extra exercise that is not usual then she gets a treat of some dried liver pieces otherwise she gets carrot sticks. When we first got her she was constantly begging for food with those beautiful eyes of hers, but she wasn't really hungry I think it was just habit, she still begs for food but nowhere near as much as she realises that we don't eat outside our normal meals (I wish I could say the same for myself ) Give it a try, your dogs will be better for it and in the long run so will your wallet, as overfeeding them just costs you money.

I'll second jesomil's request. If anyone knows vets in Victoria who do titre testing could they please add this to the thread, I am sure there are alot of us interested in this and I am sure the vets won't mind the business, it may encourage more to offer the service. I am particularily looking for one in either Melb metro or gippsland region. Also interested in price but not essential

They were both C4 vaccinations and no they were not given heartworm shots as well, both were on monthly heartworm preps.

I have had two friends who over the last 6 months have taken their dogs for their annual vaccinations and the dogs have had severe allergic reactions to them. One dog was 11 yo the other was 7 yo and they have had vaccinations all their lives without problems. The 11yo died 2 months later and never really recovered from the ordeal. The 7yo is still alive but not doing really well. These people go to different vets hence it is not associated with the vet clinic. The 11yo pom that died the vet believes that their was probably something wrong with the vaccination. Reading the thread here about the bc pup with probs that had only recently had its vaccs I'm starting to get concerned on the quality of vacc available. Are the incidents of probs with annual vaccinations high, what are your experiences.

They are around the Foster area and very occassionally travel to Melbourne

When my parents moved to Gippsland in Victoria their new vet said they no longer needed to give their dog heartworm treatment as there have been no cases of heartworm in the area and that he does not sell much heartworm treatment. They continued to give their dog the heartworm treatment until she passed away during the year of cancer at 16.5yo. They are now getting a new dog an are unsure of whether to give heartworm treatment or not. Any advice?

My dog had something like this many years ago. We found that it was an allergy to some of the plants in our backyard. At different times of the year some plants produce allergen that become more reactive on the dogs exposed skin (mainly underside). You may find that your dog is coming into contact with something similar (it could also be when you are out walking) Try restricting your dog to paved footpaths for a while and keeping away from your plants. By the way we also found that once she had the rash that heat made it significantly worse so don't let the dog sit infront of the heater and cook itself like mine use to do.