ILuvAmstaffs

Thanks Dan. I will give the cotton balls a try. I have just been putting a thin surgical glove on so my finger nails don't scratch him & rubbing it around in there. He's used to me cleaning his ears with tissues, we've actually come a long way from where he was to get him used to that, but now that the ear is sore he's not so keen. I will google the Pau D'arco & the Grap Fruit seed extract to see where I can get them. Might as well throw it all with his usual supps & see if it helps. If the drops don't help, do you think sedating him & flushing the ear would help? I'm reluctant to have him sedated to check it out if the treatment is likely to be the same anyway, though if it needs to be done I might get the full overhaul of teeth cleaning as well.

She said a small amount of rod shaped bacteria, but if he wasn't shaking his head she wouldn't think that it was suss. He let her use a cotton ball, but as soon as I put the drops on my finger he smells it & doesn't like me doing it. Though I have managed to smear some in there last night & this morning. Aside from that he seems in good health, his skin is good & he's not itching. The drops are quite thick yellowish colour and come in a small bottle with a thin flexible nozzle. eta she said definately no yeast.

I noticed Diesel was shaking his head about a week or so ago & have been checking his ears for mites, infection or even a bad smell, but found nothing. So we took him to the vet last night & she managed to get a swab, but he hates his ears touched with anything other than hands (an ongoing issue from his ED treatment is that he gets scared is he sees someone approaching with something in their hands) & the vet said his ears are very clean, but she did find a small amount of bacteria consistent with infection though she also thought it was only an equal amount that she would find elsewhere on his body. She also said that his ears didn't look inflamed & it could be just a skin irritation on his whole body that was making his ears itchy & thus causing him to shake his head. She gave us the choice of trying to rub drops into his ears using the tip of my finger for a few days to see if it is any better or coming back on the weekend to sedate him & have a good look, but end result would be that we needed to use the drops anyway. So I am giving the drops a go & will go back next week if there is no improvement, but I am unsure if smearing a bit of the drops inside his ear will suffice. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to whether there are any herbal remedies that may calm him enough to let me put the actual drops in his ears (I know, a long shot) or any additives I can add to his food that will help fight the infection. He is already on Ester C for his skin & arthritis.

Oh no. So sorry to hear of Dukes passing.

Rowland Reserve at Bayview might be a good place for you to try her swimming.

Just out of interest, what supps are you using? I have found my boy does best on a glucosamine, msm, chondrioton mix with ester c on top of that. You could try these guys as I have heard good reports about them in regards to pain management. http://www.naturalvet.com.au/ourpractice.html

Thats what I do. I wash Diesel then let him out so OH can dry him while I then have a shower myself. Easy! And though he hated it to start with, lots of treats later he now walks staright into the shower when I call him.

So sorry to be reading this. Hugs from all of us & big sloppy kisses from Diesel.

I agree with this. My boys orthopaedic surgeon told us it's the overall calorie intake that speeds up growth, not the protein. She wasn't a big fan of most puppy kibbles and believed pups should be off this asap.

My advise at this stage would be to only bring your dog as close to other dogs as he feels comfortable & slowly decrease the distance. I would not be forcing him to stand his ground as it may teach him to react to the other dog as he cant get away. For now it might be better to walk him where he can see other dogs, but if a strange dog is approaching you can cross the road etc. If your in Sydney & would like to meet up with another friendly amstaff, let me know. Maybe we could meet up & just take them for a walk together. :D

The lead came with the harness as far as I know. I think I paid $50 for the lot last year, but that may have been discounted because of the course I was doing with them.

Diesel has the harmony harness as well. It's been an invaluable training tool for us. We bought ours through an instructor we were doing a course with. If you email her, I am pretty sure she is hppy to supply the harnesses. Contact details Edited to add that we have had no problems with chaffing as the harness is quite soft I was told that if the harness fits correctly (snug) it will not chaff & so far that has been true for us. Diesel in his harness:

Thanks for the replies. I found a pet store out west that sells fresh beef mince, no preservatives & it comes from their own cows, but just don't have enough freezer space to buy the big bags of it. Puggy Pug, I feed bones as well (chicken necks, chicken carcasses, brisket bones etc) but I use the mince to mix his arthritis supps into each night. I usually give him either chicken, turkey or lamb mince (on alternate nights) and occasionally beef. I just thought this might be an option for the occassions that I use the beef, but no dramas if I have to keep using the human grade stuff.

Has anyone tried this? I usually feed Diesel human grade meat but saw this in Woolies today & thought I could mix it in with his usual mince to bulk it out a bit. Im also thinking that it contains game meats & offal that it might add some more vitamins to his diet. Has anyone had good or bad experiences with this? http://www.vippetfoods.com.au/dogfood/minc...+Pet+Mince/1kg/

Diesel burps all the time, usually after eating or if he's been excited & doing the heavy breathing thing. I thought it was normal...

I ordered from Pet Care Shop last Friday & my order arrived on Tuesday. You can also pay with paypal. http://petcareshop.com.au/

Diesel had the 3 year C3 shot. The vet told me that al shots last 3 years, but most brands recommend yearly, so the vets give yearly boosters so they don' have to take responsibility should anything happen. The shot they used had been changed from yearly booster recommendation to 3 yearly, so they were happy to abide by this so long as it follows the manufacturers recommendations. I didn't get the C5 upgrade as Diesel has had it before & became quite ill after it had been administered. Was very lethargic & wimpering for approx 2 days after.

Just checked the Both Ends of the Leash website & they recommend 2 vets on the Northern Beaches. http://www.bothendsoftheleash.org/puppy.htm

So sorry for your loss. RIP gorgeous girl. :cool:

I'd wait a few days if it did not seem to be causing any issues, but if it was not going down at all I would be getting it looked at & a needle aspiration done.... but I like others, I tend to be a bit of a panic merchant as well when something is wrong with my boy.

What a sad day for all involved. RIP Rowdy, Wednesday & chicken. Any news on whether the carers dogs are ok?

Diesel is currently on Flexicose & ester c, which has been amazing... except that now the cold weather has hit we are having days where he is quite lame... so I am more looking for something I can do ontop of what he is already getting as opposed to totally changing. I might talk to the vet & see if we can get some kind of oral sedative for him before he has the shot just to lessen the negative impact.

Hi all, Diesel has been doing so well on his supps (flexicose & ester c) but since the cold weather has hit, I have noticed that he can be quite lame some days. I have been thinking about taking him for another course of cartrophen shots now that the cold has hit, but the first couple of courses didn't seem to help much (the last course was only 3 months after his op for ED, so he was still healing) & after having so many needles he has now developed an aversion to needles (which I am working on). What I am wondering is if there is any point in trying another course now that he is fully healed? If it wasn't for the aversion to needles, I would not hesitate, but in doing this we may be undoing any progress we have made... Opinions would be most welcome.

ED is a polygenic condition... so a dog & a bitch with good scores can throw pups with ED.... though if they have bad scores, obviously the risk is higher. As for the other pups being "healthy", that might not necessarily be the case because some dogs with ED don't show physical signs of lameness until they are much older. As has already been said, the elbow score of the pup isn't necessary relevant to the treatment... I wouldn't have a dog operated on just due to a bad score, they would need to be showing physical signs of discomfort. Also, I was under the impression that a dog needs to be 12months+ to give an accurate hip/elbow score so not really sure why they would be scoring the pups so young?

Thanks Ash. I'm always dropping in & keeping a look out for ED threads. I know how hard it was trying to find info when we were going through the diagnosis with Diesel.