westiemum

While not a dog story, its another example of illegal dumping - this time of dead horses being investigated. Allegedly some horses have racing marks and appear to have been shot. Link here

Good idea B - thanks - I think I already have some somewhere - I'll see how he goes on it.

Thanks so much everyone for your good wishes. OK - HRH has just had his second serve of Maggie Beers scrambled eggs and loved it. He was definitely hungry. So I'll give him his final serve in an hour or two. Then he'll have had the equivalent of a 4 egg serve of scrambled eggs. I'm about to stoke up the slow cooker and cook a duck bone broth. I couldn't get turkey and Sarah can't eat chicken without getting very itchy. So duck it is - and I'll skim the fat. Mac could really do with the calories anyway - he's got a bit thin of late. For dinner I'll cut him up some finely diced chicken and put it in some gravy. The good thing is he seems to be holding down his food today whereas yesterday he threw absolutely everything up. Thanks very much everyone - you're help has been just amazing. Now off to try out this slow cooker... will report back later...

Thanks all. DBS yes that makes absolute sense - while he's OK with water still I want to try and make a thicker broth using turkey meat and bones so my other two can also enjoy it - poor old Sarebear and Andy are being a bit neglected at the moment. i hope your birth mother is doing OK - I was a Speech Pathologist in a previous life and swallowing patients were part of my daily work - its amazing how much we take swallowing for granted until something goes wrong. When Mac first had his laryngeal tie-back I didn't know what to do to help his post-surgery so I just did what i would do for a human swallowing patient - and it worked! And thank you for the reminder about no mixed consistencies - I'd forgotten that!

Thanks VM very much - I think we are at the stage that Mac can have anything he likes!!! Thanks so much for those ideas - really helpful as I'm not thinking very clearly at the moment. I have some lactose free milk - I'll try him on some in an hour or so after I'm confident he's keep his calorie laden brekky down. Ice-cream is an excellent idea - i'll get some for him when iI go out later and get the bone broth ingredients - that would be good for the other two as well. And yep he could have oils - what do you mean by a slurry?

Thanks Y - he is just fabulous!!! We'll wait impatiently for the next instalment!!

Rather than clog up the Dear... thread, given the vet mentioned the words palliative care yesterday I thought this was the best place to post about Mac's last days - however many they might be - and hopefully it won't upset anyone here. There have been times before when I thought we were at the end and he's rallied and carried on. The difference this time is his turning up his nose at food which he has never done before and is so unlike my foodaholic little man. He appears to have rallied a bit this morning - he's steadier on his feet, but is still very wobbly and is circling, is walking around, took himself out for a wee this morning, has had a poo and thoroughly enjoyed a small serve of Maggie Beers Scrambled Egg (plenty of egg, butter, cream and a little salt! ) having turned his nose up at his regular breakfast! Earlier this morning he had his pills in blue cheese - his favourite! Now I'm just waiting to see if he keeps it all down. Yes I know its a risk but I'm at the point where getting anything into him is critical. Getting some calories into him seems to be the highest priority now given he hasn't kept a meal down since Friday night. So I'd be very grateful for any meal ideas for a palliative care dog with swallowing/oesophageal dysfunction?

Ronin looks like he's having such a good time! And look at the audience behind - such a brilliant public education side effect! Now about those school holidays!! Please tell Tigger's Mum its no excuse!! School holidays are over-rated anyway! The Tigger and Ronin Fan Club is feeling very very deprived!!

OI! Yonjuro!! Its been over a week since the last video!! Whats going on??? Lift your game... please!!

Fantastic Hazy. What a brilliant idea, brilliant video and gorgeous dogs - greys are such graceful movers compared with the chunky westies around here!!

:love: :love:Happy Birthday Stan!!! What a fantastic party!! And such gorgeous doggies! Gotta get me a grey one day!!!

Actually I take your point. I have a dog mate door which even old Maccles manages to haul himself through with his wonky back legs - but all mine are smaller and older and don't race through it - so its standing up pretty well.

Hooley Dooley! Great looking door - shocking price!! I'd want it jewel encrusted for that!!

Yeah I agree - I'd talk to the vet and say you prefer it off - if you do.

Yep thats the way to do it DDD!

Great photo - they all look so happy and smily! And Tigger and Ronin still together - those two really are peas in a pod!!

Thanks for the tip Brookestar - I'll ask the vet for a script next time I'm there. I paid $33 for 100 capsules last time I was there and compared with the Loxicom it was dirt cheap. But $9.00 would be even better!

^^^^^ what Gruffy said . I have two elderly westies and a younger one and they all have saliva stains around the muzzle to varying degrees. I've never found a solution either so I just live with it! I think it shows how much they enjoy their food! My girl also had badly saliva stained paws from who knows what. She constantly licked them. But interestingly since I've been back in the new/old house, the licking is much much less - I've taken all chicken out of her diet and she has different grass in the backyard, no ivy and seems less stressed. So I'd also be looking at those things too.

thanks.. will discuss the Gabapentin as well. DD is very sweet the matacam really really messes with his digestive tract causing terrible Dire Rear.. and dire it is..literally all over the place last time.. he was mortified. Thank the Dog Gods for Ikea and their wonderful washable covers... H The Gabapentin is well worth looking into - after the specialist suggested it for Mac one of my regular vets looked into it for his old dog and I hear it's worked well for him too. Sorry to hear the loxicom doesn't work for you - I'm finding it pretty good for Mac. Hope you can find something else that helps. I'm coming to the conclusion that if you can keep their pain and inflammation under control old dogs can lead full, high quality lives. ????

And a puppy at heart and in your heart too. - just love the oldies.

Pain relief in the oldies can be a real balancing act and a trade-off. I wasn't happy with Macs pain control so while we were with the internal medicine specialist for other things we discussed it. Mac had been prescribed Loxicom (metacam) as an anti- inflammatory and for pain control three to four times a week ( as apparently long term use can affect the kidneys). The specialist said its effects only lasted 24 hours so what we were doing was essentially giving him a good day followed by a bad day and then a good day and so on. Not good. So we decided at his age ( just 15 ) that it was better to give him quality of life and control the pain and inflammation of his arthritis and give him a dose of the Loxicom daily in the morning, despite the kidney risk. I also make sure he has plenty of water mixed in with each meal and his kidneys so far are fine. He still pees pale, in good quantity like a trooper!! His last blood panel was very good for such an elderly dog. He then has Gabapentin at night. Mac has had Tramadol post-surgically - but it doesn't work long enough for it to be effective here for longer-term pain relief. I know that seems like a huge amount if pain relief but I've found its made a huge difference to him - he's still a very spritely old man - as long as he gets his meds. If he doesn't it does make a difference to him and he struggles. Hope that helps. ETA: Oh and the good thing about the Gabapentin is its an oldie but a goodie - and its relatively cheap!!

You can achieve the same result much more simply and cheaply using a hole digger from Bunnings ( about $75 last time I looked ) and compost. Found this on the net but this is what I did until the demolition team moved to pull the house down and it worked well. No smell or nasties. And after I deposited the poo I just put a layer of compost over the top . When I filled that hole I just moved onto the next one. Hope it helps. So does post-hole composting.In post hole composting, the material to be composted is put so deep down that u can even put in pet poo, weeds and weed seeds and most invasives. No garden weeds, weed seeds, or plant matter have propagated from this method as of yet. I've used it on dog and cat poo, thistles, kudzu, loosestrife, etc. just fine. But I wouldn't use any of the truly serious pest plants. No bamboo, no poison ivy or devils walking stick, no Comfrey or mature Rumex crispus (curly dock), no bindweed, no deep rooted plant that is known to grow from root cuttings. Using an auger posthole digger, go down until below topsoil, fill hole about half full with ditch lilies, kitchen compost, dryer lint, bones and/or scales from animals you ate, random garden wastes, prunings, pet fur, human hair, maybe a little manure (or pet poo)- anything organically non dangerous to plants and animals. Then fill hole with topsoil and tamp. Becomes a worm paradise, even breaks up hardpan and significantly improves soil in time. When u finally reach the last place u haven't dug a posthole, the first location will probably be composted entirely. U can also pre-dig a series of holes ahead of time to be ready for the next batch of compost materials (such as ditch lilies) to be dropped in. The top of the compost material deposit should always be over a foot down from the surface. This is simple and easy. Method courtesy of Folian Don1942, who with his almost 70 years of gardening has had strong motivation and plenty of time to find such solutions. :)

I would like to place an Adoption bid for this fine specimen please..... he can bring the hooman foot too. :rofl: Oi oi oi VM - get in line - I've already staked my claim for the bootiful Ronin!! No other huski will do!!!

And again dog besotted. That seems a lot to me so I'd check with the vet. There might be reasons your Denny is on a higher dose.