kenDOL

Further tests indicate B cell lymphoma which is apparently more receptive to treatment. Vet has recommended possible clinical trial - fingers crossed she's eligible!

Sincere thanks for your responses. We're waiting for the additional test results and I want to organise a specialist appointment to really get our heads around her condition. SASH is on my shortlist. Thanks again.

My mother's 9 year old corgi received pathology results today, stating 'probably lymphoma'. The first signs were a soft lump in her abdomen and bruising. My mother is beside herself and was talking about euthanising the dog tomorrow. While I persuaded her to give the vet the go-ahead for the lab to run more tests, she thinks it's of no use. I'm just trying to ascertain what stage it's at, whether the dog is in pain and what quality of life can be expected. Any suggestions/experiences welcomed.

Here's an update on the staffy and other animals https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-30/disabled-dogs-new-homes-after-raid-storybook-farm-brisbane/11056074

https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-sunday-times/20190113/283412012856762

Just in case you haven't heard of this competition: http://www.artandabout.com.au/australian-life-photography-competition/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=fb_AL_Bne-Syd-Melb-Adl&utm_campaign=AA_2017-18

Great news, thanks for the update.

Apologies if the following has already been posted - http://www.executivestyle.com.au/a-dogs-life-tula-the-rescue-dog-is-a-better-photographer-than-you-gp54g9 Tula is a pretty talented photographer. Her Instagram account is better than yours, probably. It's definitely better than mine. This all seems fairly impressive to me, because Tula is a dog. The four-year-old rescue dog is the photographer behind Canine Happy Hour, which features pictures of dogs at dog parks, from the perspective of a dog. You can find her on Instagram and on Twitter. Facebook too, naturally. The brains of the operation (no offence, Tula) are the dog's owners, the Kixmoeller family of White Bear Lake, just outside the US city of Minneapolis. "I've always loved photography, and I've always loved dogs," 17-year-old Susie Kixmoeller says. "So when we started taking Tula to the dog park about a year ago, I'd go along and I'd see how interesting the interactions between the dogs are, like how they play together and all that stuff. "And so I started to try and get pictures of that, on my own camera. But the thing about when they are playing together is that if I get close enough to actually capture it well, they're going to stop playing ,and they're going to look at me because I'm too close to them." It's a dog's life But, Susie thought, if Tula wore the camera, then she could capture those interactions, and the photos would be from her point of view. So Tula was fitted with a GoPro. "And the pictures have been really great," Susie says. "One of the reasons that she takes photos well, we think, is that she doesn't really love the rough-and-tumble play, she's more ... she likes puppy play," says Susie's dad, Ken Kixmoeller. "Even though she's four-and-a-half years old, she likes to play with puppies, and the way puppies do, she's not very rough-and-tumble, so when the other dogs are rough-and-tumbling, she sits and watches them." After the account started, Susie's sister, who thought the pictures deserved more shine, posted about it on BuzzFeed, Ken says. It's grown from there; you can find stories about Tula in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, for example, and the Daily Mail. "It's definitely taken on a life of its own," Ken says, when asked how long the family would keep the account going. "We're suddenly with thousands of followers. Picking that picture gets a little more pressure-filled - you know, we don't want to disappoint our crew." Pup-arazzo Speaking of which, here's how that process works: Tula stays at the dog park for about an hour, the Kixmoellers say. The GoPro, attached to Tula's harness, takes rapid-fire pictures in time-lapse mode. In total, they collect about 7200 images, which the family then combs through to curate the accounts. "Well, often times when we're looking through them, honestly what happens is we'll come across a picture and start laughing, you know?" Ken says. "And that's probably the one." "I mean, it's pretty quick to narrow it down to the ones that would work," Susie says, "because there's a lot of pictures of just the ground or the sky or the trees or something . . . but normally I can find one that just has a special something that makes it stand out." Tula has nearly 7000 Instagram followers now, and Susie says the goal is 10,000, which she says she thinks is "pretty doable." In the meantime, Tula has become a bit of a local dog park celebrity, and the family is thinking about turning the photos into a book. "I just thought it would be fun to see what happened," Susie says. "I for sure didn't expect anything this big." WASHINGTON POST .

This business apparently hires traps and is based in Prospect. http://feral.biz/cage-traps/

My boy Louie gets intermittent head tremors which vary from 30 seconds to two minutes. He responds well to treats - they seem to snap him out of them.

Many thanks for your suggestions and well wishes. I'm sure B will come around - it's just surreal to be out of favour after all these years, particularly when the other two haven't skipped a beat.

I returned home yesterday after almost a month in hospital. Two of my three dogs were excited to see me but the third (B) didn't seem to recognise me. B came from the pound in 2006 aged approx 2 years old and has always had a few quirks, ie she's very wary of strangers and thrives on routine. Mum looked after the dogs at my place while I was away. While she previously didn't visit for a couple of months at a time, B never forgot her. Things haven't improved overnight - while curious, B is still very wary of me. Has anyone experienced something similar?

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/news/l...rs/2130635.aspx KEEPING pets and their owners together is a specialty of Bendigo Animal Welfare and Community Services, president Debbie Edwards says. A new grant from the Bendigo Uniting Care Outreach Board, Ms Edwards says, will help organisation to reduce the number of pets being surrendered by their owners. “It will help us support our community support programs in providing assistance to disadvantaged pet owners,” she said. “If we can keep people from surrendering their pets by covering the cost of keeping their pets, the better it is. It’s about keeping the pet and the person together.” Ms Edwards said the organisation provided assistance to help cover veterinary bills and emergency accommodation for pets. “It can be anything from minor care such as vaccines to minor procedures like desexing,” she said. “In some cases we can help to the extent of live-saving operations, (like) major dental work to help a pet.” Ms Edwards said that after the January floods Bendigo Animal Welfare and Community Services had provided emergency accommodation for pets whose owners were getting back on their feet. “This is the second year that Outreach have helped us out. We expect this time because we’ve been given a bigger grant we’ll be able to help even more people.”

http://www.agedcareguide.com.au/news.asp?newsid=5473 People nearing the ends of their lives can turn to hospice care for comfort when there is no cure. And now, pet owners can get the same kind of palliative care for their dying companion animals. The American pet hospice service in Greater Cleveland, Rainbow Bridge Pet Hospice, offers in-home care for senior and dying dogs and cats. "Euthanasia used to be the only way to end a pet's suffering," says local veterinarian, Gretchen Kocher. "Today, as with humans, pet hospice provides care, comfort and compassion for cats and dogs when they cannot be cured." Pet hospice spares pets and their guardians from stressful trips to veterinary clinics and lengthy hospitalizations. Dr Kocher teaches pet owners how to give injections or test a diabetic pet's blood sugar levels. Dr Kocher teamed with veterinarian Sharmyn Clark of Mobile Veterinary Care to offer hospice care, which includes pain management, nutritional supplements, orthopedic beds, heating devices, massages and medications. She also helps grieving families decide when to put a pet to sleep. The hospice is named after an emotional poem about pets crossing the Rainbow Bridge when they die, then playing on the other side as they wait to be reunited with their guardians. "We recognize that many belief systems exist within families concerning their pets' care and euthanasia," Dr Kocher said. "We believe whatever decision is made by the owner is always the correct decision."

http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters...9-1225887538529

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/13/cat.d...onality/?hpt=C2 How are dog people and cat people different? By Elizabeth Landau, CNN January 13, 2010 8:59 a.m. EST (CNN) -- Do you rejoice at the sound of barking but cower at a meow? Or do you look at a cat and feel an instant sibling-style connection? With the proliferation of Web sites cultivating photos and videos of animals doing cute things, it's easier than ever to get your daily fix of the pet variety you have, or wish you had. Ever wonder what your preference for cats or dogs says about you? A team of researchers led by psychologist Sam Gosling at the University of Texas at Austin wanted to find out. They posted a questionnaire online as part of a larger study about personality called the Gosling-Potter Internet Personality Project. About 4,500 participants answered questions that measured their personality inclinations in five areas: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These five dimensions have been shown in previous research to encompass most personality traits. They also indicated whether they considered themselves cat people, dog people, both or neither. It turns out that the "dog people" -- based on how people identified themselves, not on what animals they actually own -- tend to be more social and outgoing, whereas "cat people" tend to be more neurotic but "open," which means creative, philosophical, or nontraditional in this context. Dog people scored significantly higher on extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness measures, and lower on neuroticism and openness than cat people, the survey found. The effect persisted regardless of gender of the respondent. "Once you know the findings, it kind of falls into place," Gosling said. "You think, 'of course, agreeableness and extraversion -- dogs are companionable, they hang out, they like to be with you, they like your company, whereas cats like it for as long as they want it, and then they're off." But this foray into your deeper pet subconscious isn't the final word, Gosling says -- after all, if the findings had been reversed, they would also make sense to some people. These are, of course, generalizations and don't apply to every individual. "It means that if you knew nothing else about them, that would be your best guess," he said. The findings do make sense to 12-year-old Naveen Rajur, a "loving dog boy" in Andover, Massachusetts, who considers dog people to be outgoing and active. He also agrees about the agreeableness and conscientiousness of dog people because they "always have to want to take care of the dog and always kind of be by its side." Fabian Bonasera of Norcross, Georgia, who must give away his two cats soon because he and his wife and son are moving to Iceland, said the cat findings are about half-true of himself -- he considers himself laid-back and easy-going rather than neurotic, but the "openness" does resonate with him. "They just like something a little more soft, more gentle," he said of cat people. "They're good pets, they're more independent, they do their own thing." Cat rescue volunteer Eddye Sheffield, of Gadsden, Alabama, said she's seen all kinds of cat owners, and can't pin down personality traits that apply to all cat people. Outsiders might label Sheffield herself a "crazy cat lady" because she has 11 cats, she said, but she doesn't view herself that way. "All of them are rescued cats and they need a place to go, and I had room, that's how I ended up with that many," she said. Owning that many has also gotten her more involved in rescue efforts, which has put her into more contact with other people, not less (score one for extraversion). Veterinarian David Bessler, senior emergency clinician at NYC Veterinary Specialists in New York City, said he was a dog person growing up, but that owning a cat has "converted " him. It hasn't changed his personality, but he can imagine that dog people and cat people have personality differences. "To love cats, you have to be able to love things for themselves; they have their own life, they aren't necessarily dependent on you," he said. "Your dog kind of lives for you." Participants in Gosling's study were recruited to the study through search engines, portal sites, voluntary mailing lists, and word of mouth from other visitors. The study will appear in the journal Anthrozoos in September 2010. The findings are useful for identifying the right pet for a particular person, and for pet therapies, Gosling said. Is it that people choose pets that are like them, or that pets change people over time? Research has not come to a conclusion on this question, experts say. Beyond personality characteristics, people may have physical features in common with the animals they like or own. A study by University of British Columbia psychologist Stanley Coren found that women with long hair liked Springer spaniels and beagles, which have long ears, and women with short hair liked the short-eared basenjis and huskies. A study by Michael Roy and Nicholas Christenfeld found that participants could match photographs of owners to their purebred dogs about 67 percent of the time, based on appearance alone. Results suggested that the owners selected dogs that looked like themselves and did not grow to look like the dogs over time, as there was no relationship between how long the people had lived with the animals and how similar they looked. Both of those studies are mentioned in an upcoming book called "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why it is So Hard to Think Straight About Animals" by Hal Herzog, professor of psychology at Western Carolina University. Herzog told CNN there are plenty of reasons why a cat person would own a dog, or vice versa: allergies as well as other lifestyle factors, such as space for the animal, come into play. Herzog and his wife consider themselves dog people, but own a cat, Tilly, because they can easily leave her alone when they go away for the weekend. Although he appreciates cats, he does not feel that owning one has changed his personality. But, Tilly is fairly social for a cat, he said, which may have something to do with how she was raised. Empty-nesters such as Herzog and his wife, as well as retirees, are among those increasing pet ownership in America, he said. About 37 percent of American households have dogs and 32 percent have cats, but the cat population (82 million) is significantly higher than the dog population (72 million), said Herzog, citing 2007 data from the American Veterinary Medical Association. That's because people tend to own multiple cats, as they are more amenable to many people's lifestyles, he said. People tend to gravitate toward the animals they were raised with, Herzog said. Cat owners tend to be raised in cat families, and dog owners tend to be raised in dog families. In fact, one study found the animal you like is the one your grandparents lived with, he said. The field of anthrozoology, the study of how animals and people relate to one another, only recently took off, Herzog said. "I think our interactions with animals shed a lot of light on larger issues in human psychology," he said. "With pets it's things like attachment and why we're altruistic toward other creatures, especially creatures that we're not genetically related to."

Thanks redarachnid I think you hit the nail on the head, particularly being winter. While I'm sure they were thorough, it did make me nervous!

I visited my vet this weekend and was overwhelmed by a putrid stench. When I asked the staff if they had just had a parvo case, they advised a dog had been brought in earlier with blood in its faeces and been euthanased. I realise it must be a fairly regular occurrence for a vet surgery but was shocked by the stench even though the place had been disinfected. I'm curious to learn if most vet-grade disinfectants are able to get rid of or mask this smell, as well as what the standard protocol for disease control is in such instances.

Driving home early this evening, I noticed a group of people standing on the roadside and a man on the road leaning over something. Realising it was a dog, I stopped and ran back. The man had been walking his dog on leash on the other side of the road when the blue heeler apparently raced across the road towards them. While the man said the car that hit the dog had no chance of avoiding him, it didn't stop either. He advised that someone had rung the police and the RSPCA. The dog was in a bad way, unconscious but still shallow breathing, and the man was trying to protect it from oncoming traffic but didn't want to move it for fear of causing further injury. As it was virtually dark in peak hour traffic and I wasn't confident the police or RSPCA would get there in time, I suggested we use his sweatshirt as a stretcher. Just as we got the dog in my car, the police arrived. One looked at the dog on the back seat and asked what I was doing while the other shone his torch on my number plate. I explained the dog was in critical condition and I intended taking it to my vet. They seemed unsure so I suggested they could follow me to the vet if they wished. They declined and I drove the 10 minutes to the vet. Sadly, the dog didn't make it. The vet was great, scanned him and made a note of the microchip and said he'd contact the register to see if they could notify the owners. I rang the man to let him know the outcome and that I'd return his sweatshirt tomorrow. He wasn't surprised but said he didn't have the heart to leave him there while he was still breathing. While I dont believe I did the wrong thing, the police's reaction unnerved me. Is there a protocol I should have followed, ie should the dog have been left on the road until the police arrived?

My foster had a severe reaction to catgut sutures when she was desexed last year - http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...c=81741&hl= The good news is that my vet no longer uses catgut.

Sincere thanks for your messages. Maggie was a grand girl and I guess it was only fitting that she had a Bing Crosby exit, enjoying life to the fullest to the end. It's tough for those she left behind, particularly Henry. Mags showed him the ropes and helped build his confidence when he came from the pound two years ago and he's always looked to her for guidance. I really don't know what mixture of breeds Maggie was Jenny. She was a big, solid, deep-chested girl with the sweetest temperament, most often described as a mastiffx.

Thanks Mjosa, I'm trying to take comfort in the fact that she didn't suffer too long and passed on in my friend's arms in the park she loved.

I'm devastated to report that my beautiful girl, Maggie Moo, died suddenly today. Maggie and Henry were enjoying a late afternoon walk with a dear friend of mine, when Maggie collapsed. Despite everyone's best efforts, including a wonderful family whose house backs on to the park, Maggie couldn't be revived and slipped away within minutes. I raced from work to my vet and had the opportunity to spend some time with my dear departed girl. Given the timeframe and her colouring, we believe she had a cardiac arrest. Jacqueline rescued Maggie in 2002 and, while her history was unknown, felt Maggie had probably had a litter with every season. Her teats never recovered fully and earned her her affectionate nickname. Thank you for entrusting Maggie to me Jacqueline. While she's been taken too soon and so suddenly, she had a huge impact on me, my family, friends and of course Henry, and we'll treasure our many fond memories. kendall