westiemum

Hi All, As most of you know , I don't know a lot about puppies... adult rescues are my thing. But friends are hoping that a new mini Schnauzer puppy will join their family sometime in January. They would like to crate train puppy fairly quickly as the pup will be going on lengthy 4wd trips with them - the first probably when pup is about six months old. Like the idea of a soft crate that is collapsible for the back of the 4wd. And should it have covers over any side windows? Also crate training suggestions and suggestions for a 4w driving puppy? TIA

Happy gotcha day Ziggy. Good save you beautiful boy! love that tail...

Lucky lucky pup to be going to a family who care so much about doing things right! Enjoy today and meeting your new little man - hope it all goes really well for you.

DDD I so feel for you - but I promise it does get better. I was without a car all last week (the fuel pump went and needed two lots of parts from Melbourne). Severe dent in finances. And Maccles has been Ill again and wet the bed - twice. And Sarah's poo is still runny despite another 2k in vet fees all up . And a goat elimination diet. And it seemed everything I touched last week went pear-shaped. It was one of those weeks. So I know how you feel but it does get better.

I use an inner city daycare for the westies - they are open 7am to 6.20 pm (ish) and offer half days as well. They offer a range of rates and the casual rate is $46 for a full day. It might seem expensive but it's very convenient (and that means the world to me) and the time and fuel to get to an outer suburbs boarding place would negate any savings in my case. Hope that helps.

Yep some people are completely brainless. Peak hour, Adelaide, man with lab crosses Greenhill Road across 6 lanes of traffic - OFF-LEAD . Completely clueless and no thought for grief of the poor person who hits the dog.

Thanks everyone - really appreciated. Yep Stitch I know what you mean - I thought I was being a good owner giving varied proteins and now I have to find one Sarah hasn't had - she's had roo Jules and probably too regularly for it be effective as an elimination protein so I think it will have to be goat. Will let you know how I get on.

Boy - 'while the cats away' you lot. OK - the good news is that her bile thing-a-me test came back normal. But boy is her poo still smelly! So the Specialist now wants to try her on an elimination diet - and the only protein we can think of that she hasn't been exposed to is goat!! So Adelaide DOLers, if anyone knows where to buy goat meat in cooey of the CBD or Crafers please can you let me know? He said if it becomes obvious that it's not diet related we can go to bowel biopsies etc but we are a long way from that yet. So goat it is. Just hope she'll eat it or I'm stuffed!!!

Picked Sarebear up this evening after she had been barking the house down at Anzac Highway - she'd clearly had enough and wanted to come home! Now have to wait on the results of the blood tests. Not sure how long that will take - but fingers and paws crossed.

You are most welcome :) I know some people poo-poo holistic vets but I wonder if there is a good one near you that you can get a diet opinion from. I think they specialise more in diet than traditional vets? Which is all very nice but do they specialise in diets for an everchanging disease? That, as I said before, is the problem with homemade diets. They have to change as the values change. I would have though someone who specialises in diet - whomever this yes, is would be able to modify the diet according to the progress of the disease? Based on your reasoning, please tell me how a static product like K/D copes with an ever-changing condition. I haven't poo-pood KD I am simply offering suggestions. It sounds like jaybeece is certainly capable of doing the required research and also more than capable of discounting any suggestions I have made. Yes, she is. :laugh: nuff said hey? But seriously, you brought up an interesting question but seem to be contradicting yourself - how does the branded food you recommend account for an ever-changing condition? Thats a genuinely good question...

2 years a go my dog was diagnosed with a liver shunt. She was given 6 months to live. She wouldn't eat anything and was a very poorly dog. I had tried every super premium and raw diets. I put her on Hills K/D & L/D. I was fairly OMG about the products as I was a food snob. 2 years later my dog is still here, eats her crappy Hills food with gusto and is doing really well. It taught me to be more open minded about food and that the best food for a dog is the one it does well on. Commenting like you have in this thread is not helpful to anyone. Jules I have a feeling that a similar lesson is about to come my way - my Sarah is in having tests as we speak - and I suspect she's going to need some significant diet changes which as a raw feeder won't be easy for me or her - she hates dry food and looks really peeved whom the odd occasions she gets it. But if it means I have my happy beautiful girl around a bit longer then thaw what we'll do...

Thanks all - first bridged crossed and its good news - ultrasound is clear. Next step is a bile test of some sort... stay tuned!

Thank you all - the Sarebear is fasting pretty much ahead of her ultrasound tomorrow so not the happiest camper - but she's curled up in the crook of my back at the moment so seems comfortable enough. Thanks for your prayers and good wishes - will post again after I get back from the vet in the morning.

Thanks Sheena - to be honest we'll probably never know - this condition could have been underlying all the time and she still had a separate dose of food poisoning (given Mac was also sick) or they may have been related - not sure. Anyway the vet is more concerned about her severe weight loss - the chiro vet commented that she had lost a lot of weight the last time she saw him which was 27 June - so she was already thin over 8 weeks ago. I've been feeding her more since his comments so I was really shocked to discover she's lost almost 2 kgs in weight lower than her normal weight this afternoon. Whenever I picked her up I felt she was still her usual weight - which just goes to show how wrong you can be. The vet was very guarded - wants a lot more information so I'll see the Specialist in the morning, she'll have an ultra sound and we'll do more bloods and see where that lands us. She's questioning liver and pancreas. So thanks all - I really appreciate your support - just quietly I'm really worried about my baby girl. But we'll see tomorrow.

Thanks all. I forgot to add her poo has turned off white so that might not be a good sign. Anyway I'm in the waiting room at Anzac Highway so will let you know how we get on.

Hi All, Sarah (13 year old westie) had a routine blood panel back in June which showed a few acanthocytes but nothing of concern - she's due for a re-test in a fortnight. Otherwise the panel was normal. Recently she's started chronic intermittent vomiting - particularly overnight, hours after her evening meal. Not sure at this point if the blood results are connected or not or a coincidence. Last time it happened was about 8 days ago and it happened again last night hours after her evening meal of chicken and rice. Mac had the same meal and hasn't vomited which makes me think it wasn't the chicken or rice. She started vomiting at midnight and she vomited about 5 times between midnight and 2.15 am. During this period she was very very restless, pacing and in and out of the door to outside. She was very good and let me know and I let her out to vomit. The first vomit she brought up all of her dinner and the next time seems to have been dry retching. She then settled and slept through uneventfully to about 6 .30 this morning when she vomited again. She's quiet but interested in goings on, wagging her tail, preferring my bed (but thats not unusual!), still hungry with good appetite but she has lost weight without major change in her diet (until the recent chicken and rice of the time before last night's vomiting episode). Yes I'll get her to the vet - and my fave vet is on today at Anzac Highway Emergency so despite the cost I think I'll head straight there. I'll admit I'm worried she's brewing something nasty. But in the meantime any ideas and suggestions? Particularly what I can give her to eat that she might keep down as she's hungry and looking for food and I don't want her to lose any more weight? It really concerned me when she brought up all her chicken and rice last night. And BTW does the type of rice or chicken (breast, thighs) make any difference? Last night she had thighs and Basmati. She has an appointment at the chiro vet for a back alignment on Thursday (first available) - she's walking a bit hunched but has been doing that for a little while (Chiro vet has been on holidays and I couldn't get an appointment until next week). TIA ETA - And she's just pray bowed...

I sent a back seat buddy from my old car which was too big for my new car to NSW from SA - cost about $25 from memory.

OK - just had a very good discussion with VIP - I must say I was impressed with their open and straight forward approach to this - they've taken all the details and their Compliance Manager will investigate and get back to me. Will let you know how I get on. In the meantime, Mac and Sarah have fully recovered and he kept his Cispride/Zantac compounded medication down last night and they both kept their dinner down last night (raw only - didn't feed dry food) and his chicken wing this morning - so all good. Very much hoping this was an odd 'off' bag.

Hi Everyone - the bag is a 3 kg bag of the Wild game with Sweet Potato, with a best before date of 07/01/2016 and the number C 22157. Suggest people check their bags. I'm waiting to hear from VIP and will be disappointed if I don't. We'll see...

Yep will do Sheena - I'm moving house (again!) today - long story - so realistically I'll get to post it tomorrow. I put the opened bag in a a plastic bag ready for tomorrow and now I can't find it - temporarily! But I will!

thank you all - yes they are all much better but its been a rough couple of days - i'll take it into work with me on Monday as thats when i expect I'll hear from them.

Hi All, Putting this here for a wider audience... Thursday night I opened a new bag of VIP Nature's Goodness Grain Free Wild Game with Sweet Potato - its a great product which my guys have done well on on the very rare occasions I use dry food. I noticed it looked very dark but didn't think anything of it. However about 9.45 pm Mac threw up - all over my bed!! Then Sarah threw up and Mac threw up again, then Sarah again. - clearly taking it in turns. Andy, who had the same meal - wet dry and veg - seemed unaffected. Anyway about 11 pm I piled them all into the car and headed to the Emergency vet. Thank goodness my fav vet was on. While we were waiting, I was holding Mac and he poo'd in the waiting room. It just came out of his bottom anf feel to the floor. He then started really shivering badly and then he threw up again all over the waiting room floor - I had no idea so much stuff could come out of a little dog!!. Anyway he improved almost instantly - and by the time we finally saw the vet he was looking better, had stopped shivering and was pottering around the consult room. Sarah seemed quiet but OK. Anyway Mac's hydration and temp were normal and so was Sarah's. The vet felt it probably was the dry food but of course wouldn't stake her life on it - could have been the veg but felt it was more likely the dry food. So we went home, Mac was sick twice more at 3.15 am and 6 am, I got about 3 hours sleep and then I took them all down to their Grandma's for the day on Friday morning. She followed vet instructions and gave them a small meal of chicken and rice but they both threw it up again so she just concentrated on making sure they were hydrated and I tried again with a small meal of chicken and rice later on Friday night which at last stayed down. They've all had nothing but chicken and rice today and its all stayed down. I've left a message for VIP to call me - and I don't want to panic people as I think its seriously good food and bad things can happen to good food. And if there is a problem it might be further up the distribution chain - eg transport or the supermarket. But anyway, it probably pays for anyone in Adelaide to be careful if you've bought this dry food in the last week - and particularly if you've bought a 3 kg bag it at Woolies at the Arkaba and it looks very dark.. Two miserable dogs, a relatively sleepless night and $300 dollars at the vet later...I knew there was a reason I was a raw feeder

Yeah Spikey slippery for an old dog isn't good - one accident and vet fees and you're well behind financially - and particularly one who likes to move around the back seat - mine are lazy logs and love snoozing - although occasionally Mac likes to try and drive. The old king sheet is a better idea - could you tie the 4 corners around the headrests?? Will be very interested in what ever solution you land on.

Declaration: backseat buddy user here at least four tines a week. So sorry to be a naysayer but one word Spikey - yuck! It looks slippery and hot (and very ugly! ) . If the dog is only in the car once or twice a year then wouldn't a comfy cotton blanket from Big W cover the seat and do the job? For me comfort in the car for the westies is important - they travel better and often snooze. Or alternatively aren't there some cheap check ones which cover the footwell from the car shops around the same price? Anyway, like I said sorry to rain on your parade but they look really uncomfortable to me - for the dog.

I have a rectangular medium sized 'Dog Mate' at the house-sit which will follow me to the new house - I find it works really well as it has a strip on the bottom which gently keeps it closed but it's not too heavy or too difficult for a really old disabled dog like Mac who is very unsteady to use. Personally, I'm wary of doors which require significant pushing to open or close or make a lot of noise - can be hard to train them to use.