westiemum

Yep I'm with you Westielover - my guys including my new foster are doing fabulously on a barf diet - they love it, I love it and its cheap!!!. I too fail to see how kibble/dry food - particularly on its own - can ever supply all the other goodies you list that doggies need. I understand even the premium brands have a lot of carb filler in them. I haven't seen any literature/research on this but I also wonder about the moisture content in doggie diets - raw food diets contain plenty of moisture - dry food diets don't - and I have wondered whether there is a connection between a sole dry food diet and kidney disease in dogs who don't drink enough to compensate. So flame suit donned but before all you dry feeders jump down my throat, this is just a thought and something I think is worth discussing - each to their own. Cheers, Westiemum

My bets on yummy 'grass snacking'! Cheers Westiemum

Hi BB, Thanks very much for the link and the ebay info. This just might be the solution to my nail clipping and tripping probs. And the level of detail on the site on how to go about it is phenomenal and really helpful - photos and all!!! Thanks again. Cheers, Westsiemum

Hi PW, Please can you tell me a bit more about a dremel?? What are they and where do you get them? My westies have black nails which makes it well nigh impossible to tell where the nail quick is - so everyone - me, vets, groomers - always clip them on the conservative side - I consequently have a trio of westies tripping around on wooden floors!! I'm wondering if a dremel might be the answer for these black nails?? Cheers Westiemum Thanks - from a pharmacy? Pet stores will stock it. If you use a dremel to grind down nails, it's not nearly so bad if you accidently go too far.

Good for you Sticks!! You won't regret it - and he'll be much more cruisy (if thats possible for a lab!!). In case it helps, I booked my last two for desexing in on a Friday - that way I had the weekend to keep a close eye on their recovery - and in both cases (one male recently and a female six months ago - so a much more exyensive op) they both went very well - bit quiet for 24 hours (loved their time on the lounge with me and the blankies) and then they bounced back like nothing had happened. Hope you can keep cool - its terrible here too - 41,5 yesterday and the hottest overnight Dec temp on record last night - we all here had a very restless night, even with the aircon!!! So Happy (much cooler) New Year to you too!!! Cheers, Westiemum :rolleyes:

Yep absolutely - get 'em off - and the sooner the better. I've just desexed my 2 year old foster less than a week after he arrived - and he's as adolescent and gorgeous as ever from a personality point of view but even after two weeks his behaviour has improved - now he's the perfect inside dog - and I'm sure he doesn't even miss them!! Cheers, Westiemum

I think I'd die of exhaustion!! ;)

Thanks Leema, Yes I've seen people use clickers very successfully at basic obedience - will definitely have a look. Cheers, Westiemum

Thanks tons TSD, Yes its getting better - despite the exuberance of the naughty adolescent!! (All of us oldies around here are definitely not used to such OTT energy... all the time!!). Cheers, Westiemum

Hi newnewf, My foster boy was desexed last Firday adn apart from keeping the wound clean and dry I haven't confined him or doen anythign special and he's been fine. I sometimes think we overdo it a bit 'cos the vets err on the side of caution - I find most puppy dogs who are in good health are pretty robust and bounce back well after surgery - particularly with a bit of extra TLC!! Cheers, Westiemum

Thanks so much Andoria - yes he is a real cutie - and he becomes more and more delightful each day - and no he's not going to be a FF... no... absolutely not... no FFs here... not at all... Cheers, Westiemum

And to you too Tony. You're on my list of DOLers whose posts I make a point of reading - and learning something everytime Thanks and all the best for a wonderful Christmas and New Year for you too - and here's hoping the dream of all of us of no need for rescue any more comes true. Westiemum and the menagerie!

Thanks tons BC - that's really helpful. And what a cutie Alfie is!! Will give it a go. Cheers, Westiemum

Hi Everyone, Meet Eddie!! As some of you probably already know Eddie is my new little foster who arrived rather unexpectedly last Friday night. He is a delightful adolescent westie who turns 2 on Christmas day next week and has been severely neglected. He is underweight with poor skin, completely untrained and a coat like straw - all of which I'm dealing with. He is responding well to some TLC, boundary setting and basic training and good tucker and has learnt to sit on command and is learning to stay already. He was desexed, chipped, wormed and vaccinated last Friday (poor boy!) before he came to me and has had his first dose of Advocate this morning. So overall its been a really successful few days - with the one exception that in the last day or two and and today in particular he has started showing far too much interest in Mark the cat, getting close to him and then barking at him. Mark has smacked him across the nose once or twice and we've had some yelping and hissing but this little fellow doesn't seem to get the message and persists in getting too close to him. What usually happens is he sits close quietly but intently to Mark, but it finally gets the better of him and he gets too close, barks and a skirmish ensues. - its almost like he wants to make friends but he doesn't quite have the manners to do it!! (Mark and the other two westies get on very well together - sitting close, brushing past each other happily and even sleeping next to each other occasionally). This afternoon we had a concentrated effort at stopping Eddie getting too close to Mark - each time Eddie got into the wardrobe where Mark was hiding (a usual spot for him so not unusual) I picked him up, put him outside, waited for him to stop barking then let him in when he was quiet, made him sit and stay and gave him a tiny treat. He then went straight back to the bedroom to look for Mark in the wardrobe again! So I repeated the procedure again 3 or 4 times. But by this point Mark was getting frightened so in the end I closed the door to the bedroom to keep them separate and give Mark a break. Apart from this I can't really think of what else to do. (I don't want to smack him - I'd rather positively and negatively reinforce rather than punish him for any psychologists out there). Apart from this Eddie is a very well behaved little man - eg he sleeps the night through on a rug beside my bed already, inconsistently comes when called, is starting to travel well in the car, sits consistently and is starting to stay - all in 5 days!! Please can I have some other advice on how to teach Eddie to respect Mark the cat??? Or is this unrealistic? : I also don't want my other westies to 'unlearn' how well they get on with Mark (after all he was here first!!). Thanks for your help. Cheers, Westiemum

Yep he sure is ! And he's a really fast learner and is rapidly learning that Mark the cat is out of bounds!! Cheers, Westiemum

Hi There, This vet is in Adelaide and has a great reputation. http://www.holisticvetonline.com/hvc/ Unfortunately I don't know about Brisbane but maybe you could call this guy and see if he can recommend someone locally for you? Just a thought. Hope it helps. Cheers, Westiemum

We've thought about this but I'm just not sure it's a viable option for our family. We are remote and meat etc is expensive and some things are not easily available. We've been talking to our breeder about this as she is raising this litter on an all natural diet and we've come to the conclusion that going the commercial route will work again for us - but we are still considering and searching, nothing's set in stone or forever! I guess I'm not understanding how everyone is figuring out how much dry dog food is the minimum to provide complete daily nutrition. I get substituting veggies and the like to keep bulk and reduce calories, but I don't want to reduce the dry so much that she isn't getting what she needs. Absolutely understand - some of the barf websites and recipes can look very daunting and time-consuming. I had the same 'time poor' problem - so what I devised with my vet was a variation - It takes about 5 minutes to feed my whole menagerie in the morning (including the cat!) and about 10 minutes at night - The pooches get meat and cut-up veggies ( whatever is safe for doggies and on special) or frozen black and gold mixed veggies. I know you said meat was expensive where you are - can you get roo anywhere at a reasonable price - its ideal for dieting doggies as its very lean. I also add in the occasional cans of sardines, mackeral (home brand), a slop of yoghurt, eggs and a bone once a week or so. I buy veggies in bulk from from the market when I can (a dollar a bag) and the same with meat. I usually use the commercial barf patties but they might not be available in your area - but they make life really simple - assuming I remember to get them out of the freezer!!! As to the dry food for nutrition issue, Poodle Wrangler is absolutely correct - as usual!! That advice is really sound - if you have to choose between nutrition or weight loss - choose weight loss every time - sometimes you have to be 'cruel to be kind' - and the weight loss has made such a difference to my boy - he's pain free and bouncing around like an 8 year old puppy!!! You might like to have a look at a couple of recent threads as well - one of mine 'coat advice please' - everyone's been so helpful there and there's some really helpful discussion on allergic itchy dogs. And the other one is titled 'arthritis' - but has some helpful supplement info as well for different approaches. So good luck - hope it goes really well for you - I know how confusing it can be trying to find the solutions that work for you and your dogs - and we aren't all the same. Would love to hear how you get on. Cheers, Westiemum Ps How about sending darling husband out for a walk with pooch with a bag of tiny carrot pieces as training treats!!

Hi Sidoney, Yep kja - Sidoneys right - my guys love raw carrot - Sometimes just given striaght out of the fridge whole or cut up for variety - and that's their treat - apart from the occasional KraMar Supa Naturals dried chicken breast strips - they don't have any nasties in them and are very low in fat - 2% - from Woolies (haven't seen them anywhere else) - only down-side is they are a bit expensive. But they are the only ones I've found where I'm confident they don't have any c*ap in them. I'm guessing they are simply slow-roasted chicken breast, dried out in the oven over a long period of time at a low temperature - so I think you could probably make something similar yourself, through a bit of trial and error if you wanted to - although I haven't tried it - yet!! As to the dry food, my vet says that most of them, even the so called 'low calorie' stuff is still too high calorie for some older, over weight dogs. He believes there are some dogs (not all) who will never lose weight effectively on dry food and my boy is one of them. (And like most vets he sells the stuff so is really doing himself out of business by saying so!!) I had terrible trouble getting my porky westies weight down until in utter frustration and with vet agreement and supervision I took him off all regular commercial dog food and switched him to a barf diet with very carefully controlled portions.. As in humans, I believe this is the key to long-term successful weight loss and control (The studies show it clearly in humans and I can't see why it would be any different in pooches). This regime has been so successful that the vet now recommends my diet to his other porky pooches!! (As I've said he's a 'weight nazi' in the nicest possible way - and I'm really grateful that he is!). So, as much as people find dry food quick and convenient, once you get into the habit of feeding a barf diet I'll be surprised if you ever want to switch back. And the bonus is that I find it much cheaper than premium commercial food and my guys wolf it down!! Anyway - sorry - I know that's probably not what you were wanting to hear - but its certainly worked for us. Hope it helps. Cheers, Westiemum

Hi Doggroooma, Thanks for the EPO shampoo tip - the wonderful woman who sells the stuff rang me last night and spent a long time with me devising a bathing (including foot baths!) regime for all three of my westies (boy am I going to be busy!). She rang in response to my email over the weekend and went to a lot of trouble to explain how it all works and what she would recommend - particularly for Eddie and my little girl. So given we are in the lead up to Christmas chaos period I'm hoping it will all arrive next week. So I'm hopeful that the combination of the barf diet and the EPO shampoo (vet grade) and supplement will go a long way towards helping Eddie. Anyway will let you know how we go. Thansk tons for the suggestion. First-time-puppy-owner, you might like to look at this website to see if you think it might help your itchy pooch too - and if you email them describing your problem I'm sure they will be able to help out too - have a look at the testimonials part of the website - very impressive - Lucy is a more severe case of a similar looking thing to my Eddie. http://www.groomersproducts.com.au/index.htm And Westielover - thanks tons for your call - helped enormously!! Will return the favour soon!! Thanks everyone for your help - you really are a wonderful, generous bunch!! Cheers, Westiemum Ed to correct web address

Hi JnC, The commercial barf patties easily last two months and they don't contain any nasties (preservatives etc)... I've had them in the freezer that long as back-ups. So as long as they are really well frozen and don't freeze and unfreeze then freeze again before use IMO they should be fine. Hope that helps, Cheers, Westiemum Ed for clarity

Yep second that - and it has active ingredients you are looking for and is specially formulated for dogs (odourless and well-absorbed). Can't recommend it or greyhound products direct highly enough. Cheers, Westiemum

And here's a photo of his coat to give you an idea of what I've been talking about... click on it to get a much better look... it's like straw and he has no undercoat... poor little guy... and you can see that his rump end is very discoloured (brownish) and you can see his red skin through his coat towards his back end... but its improving on a daily basis... Cheers, Westiemum

Hi Everyone, As promised here are a couple of photos of my gorgeous foster, Eddie... Cheers, Westiemum

Thanks settrlvr - will keep that in mind about the beef - they usually have the roo anyway as its the leanest of them all and helps me keep my two's weight down!!! Hi Westielover - great to hear - will look forward to your call. Cheers, Westiemum

Hi Spanner, Just thought I'd add my two bobs worth - Miranda's earlier post on feeding raw and her latest post on worming are both spot on - suggest you give them a try. A couple of questions? As well as wondering what your vet's diagnosis was - what breed is your dog and have you been back to the breeder for support and ideas?? Sick so soon after you got him sounds a bit suss to me and I think the breeder should be helping you out.. As to diet - my two westies who are prone to weight gain and skin problems are not allowed any commercial non-barf dog food - I've become a weight nazi (at the encouragement of my vet who's one too!!!) and find their skin is sooo much better when I don't feed them any of the cr*p thats in most commercial non-barf food - even most of the premium brands. They are fed Home Brand sardines, mackeral, (once a week) and a cup full of veggies, chicken necks, bones, the bought barf patties (I think these things are a god-send) and some raw meat once or twice a week. And once you get in the habit of feeding this way its easy - frozen chicken necks in the morning ( frozen slows them down and stops them hoovering them) with Joint Guard, and then protein and veggies at night (fresh veggies on special or from the market - a dollar a bag or frozen mixed Black and Gold). I must admit although I haven't found any research or literature on it, I worry about a solely dry food diet for dogs - it doesn't have any moisture in it (needed for kidney health) and has lots of fillers and I wonder if that has any long-term detrimental effects. And barf is sooo much cheaper than commercial premium dry food - I feed two dogs 14 meals (or really 7 snacks and 7 meals) for about 12.00 a week - and my vet bills have plummeted as well cos my guys do so well on it! All it takes is a bit of organisation ( eg freezing chicken necks individually) and about ten minutes at night and five minutes in the morning (including feeding the cat!) - and once you get in the habit its really easy and no big deal - and its something you could involve your kids in to teach them about good nutrition for dogs as well (just a thought). Anyway I hope that helps. Much luck to you. Have a consistent go and I think you might be pleasantly surprised... Best, Westiemum Ed cos I saw you have a GSP...