lcringo

I don't recall Brookie having said anything about the length, other than that it was shorter than previous haircuts. Brookie probably realised after she got the dog back how matted she really was, and I'm sure she'll be more careful in the future. It's hard for some owners to realise that their puppies' soft and easy to care for hair has gotten more difficult to keep knot-free, and I think you are being needlessly rude to Brookie who only came onto this site for advice about her dog's behaviour. Who knows how matted the poor pup was, too? If the groomer was junior enough to not check for her blade heat, or make sure she didn't cut any skin, then who's to say she didn't use a blade totally inappropriate for the dog's condition? I would say the blame lies totally in the groomer's supervisor, and not Brookie or even the vet necessarily! If you were a vet and hired a professional groomer, wouldn't you expect them to train their Juniors in a professional manner? Brookie has probably stopped checking this thread as it's turned into an argument about horrible groomers, vets, etc. Not because she's been abusive and can't stand to face up to it! Chill a little, people!

This won't help you to find a vet in your area, but I used to live in Canada and the vet I saw there was a holistic vet; I never had my dog vaccinated and when I had him titred at about a year, his immunity was through the roof - his parvo immunity was higher than any of the other 30-odd dogs she had titred at that time, and both parvo and distemper were way higher than my friend's dog, which had recieved every single vaccine his vet could pump into him (3 puppy shots and yearly bosters); at 7 years his titre was lower than the recommended 'safe' zone. Now thinking back I think I would have vaccinated my puppy a couple times to be safe, as the fact that his immunity was so high meant he had been introduced to the diseases, and fortunately was healthy enough to have mounted an effective immune response without getting sick... My friend's dog was the opposite, and I couldn't decide whether he shouldn't vaccinate him again, since obviously the vaccines weren't doing anything, or if he SHOULD vaccinate him yearly since obviously he needed the yearly boost to pump his system up to the level it was... Anyways the point of that is, titreing your dog is a great way to moniter his immune system, and decide whether a vaccine is necessary or not. After that I titred my dog yearly, and if his levels had dropped below 'safe' would have known to vaccinate him. I think that's the best way to go, that way your dog's protected, but not getting unnecessary vaccines. Because of the cost of sending bloods off to be titred, my vet would hold "titre clinics" over a weekend or whatever, and then send off all the bloods together - most of her cost was the actual shipping, etc. and if we got our titres done then, the cost was about 50$/dog - something you might want to suggest to your vet, especially if you guys can get enough people together to guarantee 20 clients or whatever minimum. My vet would also travel to other towns nearby once a year to offer them the same service, since noone else in the area was offering titres as an option. You may be able to convince your vet that this would be a good business opportunity for him/her, as they could gain a lot of clients by offering a service only available through them, especially if they advertised the "titre clinics" as my vet did. ETA - the cost may have also been less if the lab she sent the bloods off to offered a group discount, I'm not sure...

There is a blood test that vets can do to test for the tiny heartworm larvae that are in the blood stream, and it's pretty effective. The reason you shouldn't give heartworm pills to dogs that haven't been tested is that if they do have heartworm, the worms can be really large, and once killed can clump together in the heart and in large blood vessels, blocking blood flow and killing your dog... Yikes!!! You're pretty safe not treating your dog if there is no heartworm in the area, but remember that even if you don't travel, a dog with heartworm could travel into your area - and if a mosquito sucks up the larvae, it can then pass them to your dog... A slim chance, but it is possible - to be 100% certain you should treat your dog. That said, you could forego treatment and probably not have a problem, it's just a risk you have to decide if you're willing to take. As far as I know, most vets will treat dogs under 6 months without tests; even if they have been infected the worms shouldn't have gotten large enough to cause a problem with treatment at that point. Dogs older than that should be tested prior to treatment. According to some notes I have, Darwin has the biggest risk of heartworm, followed by Townsville, Brisbane, then Sidney. It is also now present in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and common along the Murray River and in Murrumbidgee irrigation areas - I don't even know where that is, but there you go! It doesn't mention other areas; your best bet would be to ask around at different vets and se what their experience says.

Have you tried adding some rice or pasta to her diet? Especially rice is supposed to be good, as it's straight energy and easily digestible.

This is such a neat trick!!! What a good idea!