annette.tas

I haven't read the whole thread as I'm in a rush (will do later), but I think requiring pet stores to conduct their puppy/kitten sales like a rehoming/adoption would be an alternative to indiscriminate sales, and much more likely to be accepted by retail organisations or whoever needs to enforce it. Eg: pups/kittens to have min. first vacc + microchip, desexing voucher, printed medical history for each animal detailing treatments (worming, fleas, vet stuff), legal adoption contract that stipulates certain conditions such as 7 - 14 day grace period, and that the animal be offered/returned to the pet store at such time the owner can no longer keep/care for the animal. I think this would encourage people to respect the 'buying' process more, and put off a lot of idiots. It also challenges the pet stores to take a more active role in screening buyers (eg. they wouldnt want the animal returned after a week of being at the wrong home). These processes in themselves would put off many unscrupulous pet stores from selling puppies and kittens in the first place.

My local pet meat place has Beef NECKS regularly. The vertebrae are far too big even for my Rotty to chew, but there is LOADS of meat on them, and the spoinal cord is nice and springy which they love! Also scored a couple of wallaby frames the other day, and all 3 dogs enjoyed the legs, feet and all. Made for furry poo :D My Rotty likes to chomp & gulp, so his bones are generally frozen. Usually just Chicken Frames, but also the wallaby legs, frames and beef necks get a look-in

I use Four Paws Industrial Strength Stain & Odor Remover, as it's available easily for me at work. Expensive at around $19 a bottle, but it's very concentrated. I use it for spot cleaning, urine patches, and use it for general floor cleaning/mopping too. Hired a carpet cleaning machiney once and whacked some in there too. Use in rinse cycle for really manky dog bedding. One friend comments playfully on how my house "always smells of DOG". I tell her I'll remember that when she has a house and I can tell her how much it smells like children/farts/whatever People in general don't comment, as they know our pets are our family. If they do, they're told the same thing they're told if they have a problem with the pets saying hello to them: Don't like it, don't come in!

:p All the others are funny as heck, and although slightly OT, you win the prize so far!! Our Staffy as a puppy used to sleep in the bed with us (until she started teething ). She would stop breathing through the night, totally freaked me out!! Apparently it's normal! Got a rescue kitten at 4 weeks, she did it too. Something to do with litters sleeping in a pile and stimulating each other to breathe or something. Another OT one: I lost my ferret in the house once. Happened to bump into our old, old couch while I was zooming around looking for him. Jingle Jingle. WTF?! Little bugger had gotten tired after his war-dancing shennanigans and spotted the rip in the vinyl back of the couch. Great place to sleep!! Can definitely sympathise with the stuff in mouth thing - UGH. Is it wrong to muzzle your puppy? KIDDING!

:grouphug: :p :clap: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Must say I am LOVING this thread!!! Someone had a Griffon bruxellois at training yesterday, and having not seen one for a long, long time, I just stared, smiled and giggled at him - in a nice way of course! The owner was very good natured about it, and the little man was too. I just can't help smiling at unusual looking dogs - whether they be crosses or pure. Their happy little faces just make me want to giggle and cuddle them! xKALIx - Shishka is a stunning creature! I too would stare, and be curious about her heritage, but in a friendly way ;) Mim - Muddy is stunning!! Looks part fox to me ;) Leanne - "if I kick it up the bum will its face pop out" PMSL It's nasty, but I can't help laugh! Haven't heard that one before, will have to tell my Frenchy owner friend, she'll get a laugh out of it. And I love th bunny comment All the pictures posted so far - GORGEOUS animals!! Their 'quirks' are a bit part of their personality. And I'm sure people who bring their dogs into work (especially the Cresty owners) probably think I'm nuts when I bounce over to them with a treat in my hand and start cooing over their pets! Having had a Bull Terrier, Staffy's and a Rotty too, I'm used to the interesting comments about my 'vicious' dogs, and the wide berths. Every time there's an attack by a 'staffy' reported in the paper, Abby goes from getting loves and cuddles from strangers, to being avoided like a rotting corpse. My Rotty is tall and long, so people frequently ask me what he's crossed with. Sigh.

I've been given a bag from work to try on my lot. They're destroying a roo carcass as we speak, so it will be a day or two before I try the Rotations on them. I like Nutro, as it's made in Aus, and the one I've been getting (dark green bag) doesn't have corn in it, which my Rotty's guts do NOT like.

Both of mine get in the shower with either myself or my husband. One person washes, the other dries. They actually enjoy it! Getting Abby (the Staffy) out from under the water so you can wash yourself is almost impossible. I have washed Harry (Rotty) at the local pet wash once, and if I do it again will be taking my own shampoo - but for a quick, thorough, warm wash with a warm dryer, I was pretty happy with my $3 spend Videos on YouTube of Abby: and ETA: I LOVE the Dane in the shower!!!

Gotta love a good poop topic. Thanks for the link btw, although I was sadly (and strangely) disappointed by the lack of pictures! I encourage all my friends to check out their dogs poops. They think I'm nuts

My guess would be that there are natural salts in the meats she is eating?? I'm sure more knowledgable peopel can comment though

Reviving a month old thread, but I think it's a good one. Mornings in Tassie, especially in the Tamar Valley where I am can be interesting. After being back in the training game for a few months now, I've trained Harry (and Abby) in: Fog so thick you can barely see the adjacent class, Frost so thick you crunch every step, Drizzle, Rain, HEAVY Rain, Rain w/distant thunder, Warm sunny morning (not looking forward to those as they get hotter!) and probably everything else in between. Only thing I really hate training in is Wind - makes the dogs nuts and I hate it anyway. There's a nice porch outside one of the equipment sheds where the crazy few huddle together through the worst of the rain, dogs in tow. Good close-quarters socialising! As another poster said, it's good to train under distraction - we've even trained with the Million Paws Walk competitors coming through the middle! Harry (my Rott) will train in the rain without squinting at me now, next challenge is to get him to stop watching the agility class during his stays :rolleyes:

Well, he does get pulverised pumpkin in his meat mix as is, perhaps I'll try giving him a bit more (on top of the other stuff)? Cooked you say? I've also read (and been told) that pumpkin is good for discouraging corophagia? (wow, half way through my coffee, so I bet I spelled that wrong!) Seems to have helped stop my Staffy helping herself from the 'Rotty Soft Serve Machine' This weeks mix, I'm cutting the horse meat right back, and adding more minced frames (and an extra whole one, cos he loves them!). Also switching rolled oats for soaked barley, and adding more pumpkin. Will leave the rest as-is for now so I don't get his colon (? LOL) too confused! Great feedback folks!

Last post for me today. Spent an hour at the river with the doggies, then another two hours watching them wear themselves out more at a friends house! They are a hard baked biscuit, containing Wholegrain cereal and cereal by-products, meat and meat by-products (derived from beef and/or lamb and/or chicken), tallow, dicalcium phosphate, garlic powder, salt, natural flavouring, emulsifier, natural colour, preservatives and antioxidants. Link They're also known as 'Greyhound Blocks', and are available from a couple of different companys, but originally produced by 'Farrels'. Sorry for the confusion! Not ideal, but they don't contain corn (BIG no-no with my Rott), and are free from artificial rubbish. As Nekhbet suggested, I had planned to wean him off these as his big hairy body adjusts to the new diet. I'd considered this, as one of my cats grew up on VAN. Where I work also sells the Complete Mix (dry form) and Premium Choice (pre-soaked and mixed with roo meat & tripe - Mmmm!). I decided to go the homemade raw and natural route for a few reasons, which I will share with the class! Firstly, I didn't want to take him off one lot of food with loads of stuff in it he doesn't really need - yes, VAN is fantastic, but it still contains a lot of stuff I'd rather not be feeding my dog. Secondly, Why buy it when I can be more hands-on! I love the ritual of getting his fresh meat, crushing the veg, mixing it up and bagging it. Thirdly, cost. Why buy it when I can provide the same nutrients with a varied, healthy diet? I'm not saying that Phuds and VAN aren't great products - I know a lot of people who use them and have had wonderful success, they're just not for me. Good. I was running with that theory, but it's nice to have it backed up. Oh, and shame on your dogs for leaving the teeth!

Hi Stolzseinrotts! I actually added the oats to help bulk out the meat (like dry food), and for the extra nutrients. I will cut them out in the next mix and try barley instead (have that too! lol). Also, I was using rolled oats, if that makes a difference. I agree on the RMB front, but as I mentioned earlier have had a lot of trouble in the past with him throwing up bone. Bits of bone, finely ground bits, the full spectrum. Will try adding more minced chicken frames (can only get it minced finely enough from one supplier - same bone problem as whole bones otherwise). On a side note, will this pass also as he gets used to eating a more natural diet? Or am I bound to be cleaning up Rotty spew forever??!!! Agree on the trial and error, and I had a feeling I should be feeding more bone - but other than that, yay! Thanks again for all your advice

Hi Nekhbet, Thanks I'd totally forgotten about active cultures/probiotics in my panic - LOL The twice a day tip is also a good one - I'll start that today. Other critiques on his current diet overall are more than welcome - I'm always open to change.

Just a warning, this post is going to talk about poop - a lot and in great detail! It will also likely be long. I have recently (6 weeks ago) changed my adult male rotts diet. He had been on a diet of Pedigree Dry Food (yes, I know, I hate me too), with assorted 'table scraps' like raw and cooked veg, eggs & egg shell and some fresh meat, and the occasional naughty piece of wholegrain toast, with vegemite thankyou very much - but less than 10% of his overall daily intake. To maintain weight on this diet, he was eating a large saucepan FULL or pedigree a day, and doing about 4 human sized poos DAILY to go with it - first one or two were well formed and large, but soft in texture, then the following one very loose, and the third basically colored liquid with some solid matter. His anal glands were swollen and sore, and I was having to evacuate them regularly. Time to stop being lazy - I did some initial research and switched him to meat. I had tried feeding him RMB's in addition to his dry 'diet' in the past, which resulted in a lot of bone-filled vomit. Not cool. He now gets his frames frozen, and grinds down every last bit of them - no more puke! I initially switched him to raw meat and chicken frames only - 2 - 3 frames per week, the rest mostly chunky horse meat, some beef and even less mutton (I read somewhere that horse is much lower in fat than beef or mutton - similar to roo?). His coat improved within a couple of weeks, his breath improved, and he stopped nibbling his coat. He also stopped drinking as much - down by about half. His stools on the other hand didn't improve as I had hoped. Down to one very small solid stool a day (about cat-sized), but it would come out with a lot of liquid also. He ate this meat-only diet for about 3 weeks. More research. Over the course of a week, he now eats the following: 2 Kilograms of Diced Horse Meat - minimal fat 1 Kilogram of Beef and Mutton - can be a little fatty 400 grams organs - Kidney, Heart, Liver (Edited to add Organs) 300 grams crushed mixed veg & greens: pumpkin, carrot, zucchini, parsley, mint, red capsicum 3 eggs (with shells, plus a couple extra shells) 2 cans Sardines (in Olive Oil) 3 Chicken Frames 1/4 Cup Oats 5-6 4x2 Blocks (Farrals or other brand) - this was a recent addition in the last 10 days On the new 'recipe' above, his coat improved further, he has more energy, but he still has liquidy stools after his first solid one for the day (which is also accompanied by slop). They firmed up a little more after the addition of the 4x2's. Am I doing something wrong for his stools to still be this way? Am I missing something obvious? Help me gurus!!