jelly

Ok, thanks. I'll try it out after this lot runs out. :)

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been around here! I had a quick scan of the board first, but apologies if this has benn asked a million times. My dog (Schipperke) had surgery to remove a bladder stone earlier in the week and the vet has advised us to feed him canned food until they get the results back as to what type of stone it was. She said it didn't really matter a great deal which type atm until the results come back in probably another two weeks (the stone's being sent to the US). I picked up a few cans of Nutro for now, but it's nearly 2x what I'd spend on his normal kibble, Royal Canin I might have the amount wrong atm, because we do feed him slightly less than advised of the dry, BUT... Does anyone have any suggestions of a good/high quality canned food that might be a bit cheaper? He's had Science Diet before, but his coat goes all dull when on it (which isn't the end of the world, I know but still!) He's also overweight, but we've got his weight down over a kilo in the last year, and I'm concerned he might put it back on.

I created the site leostory.org 3 years ago as a site dedicated to leo, which, for those of you who weren't around at the time, you can probably still read about if you do a search through the forums. I promised to continue to run the site for between 1 and 3 years. I am just letting anyone who remembers it or has linked it from their site know that I am shutting it down. It's an expense I can't afford and I havn't really had any site revisions to do in the last year or so. It had, at last glance 6100 hits since April 2007 when I put the counter up. The domain name runs out on the 21st and I have requested that the hosting account be closed, it may still be there for a bit longer, but will disappear within the next day or so. If anyone wants to buy the name or use any information off the site you're welcome to it, but as I said it should not be up there much longer. jelly

I have a Schipperke, they're about 7kgs or so. I'm not sure if you mean smaller than that. We give him raw chicken wings, ocassionally raw chicken necks. They eat the lot bones and all. I did try him on lamb I think but he seemed to have (a VERY mild) skin reaction to that, now we stick to chicken. We give him pigs ears as well. What kind of dog, or what size is s/he?

My sincerest condolences to Page's family and friends. My thoughts are with you.

I got him in a sit and because he's little sat right in front of him, held the croc about and inch or two above his nose wiggling it and dropped it when he went to grab it anyway, then big cuddles and "arn't you a clever boy" etc etc, then say a little back and started tossing it (maybe 4 inches). At first, yep they hit him but he understood pretty quickly, then moved further and further back slowly, then change to ball...

Well, I first taught Chiefy to catch a toy (rubber crocodile ), then a ball, now he obviously can catch treats too. edit: I get him to sit, back off with the stay signal then go "reeaady" (which signals him I'm going to throw it and expect him to catch) and then I go "catch" just as I throw it. Don't do the ready - catch thing with treats just the ball cause then he knows I want "catch" not "fetch" (or "go get it" as I taught him without thinking)

My boy's on Royal Canin he has the shiniest coat ever! He wouldn't eat it for a while there and we didn't realise 'til later that it was because his teeth were coming out (edit: loosing his baby teeth and getting adult teeth that is, not some mysterious tooth loss desease!), so he didn't want kibble. ANYWAY, we changed over to a tinned version of Science Diet and he loved that HOWEVER his coat went dull until a couple of weeks after we put him back on RC. Also he used to throw up the kibble version of SD. So... that's my experience of it lol

They might lose the weight quite quickly, some dogs do.

opps wrong thread

Just an observation, but it's good that people are saying WHAT their dog eats (brand, canned, kibble, barf, scraps etc) because I'd be feeding my dog a lot more if he was on a cheaper brand of kibble. I looked at the recommended amt on mine, it says 110g, but I look on some cheaper brands from the supermarket when we're after emergancy food and it's a lot more.

Our 3 yr old Schipperke boy gets 100g of Royal Canin kibble per day cut into 2 meals as the absolute min (Schips weigh around 7kgs). He also usually gets chicken wings during the week (but then 50g lesskibble for the day), the odd (and by odd I mean all the time ) treat and a tin of sardines every month (but we reduce his kibble to 50g for the day). eta: plus I think he steals some of Bowser's dog's food when we're not careful :D I know he nicks their bones Sorry Bowser he's naughty

Yes, that may be the dogs motivation at least in some cases, but this second part only reinforces what I think: Suggests to me that these are also generally people who arn't particularly resposible in any way. These are not people who researched and made a decision, rather people who just never got around to it and probably were never intending to. The reason I believe most missing dogs you see are entire is not so much because they are entire (although, yes this may mean the dog wishes to roam to a greater extent than a desexed animal). Rather that these owners who have left them entire and then lost them are not the type who would bother to do research... OR microchip, OR register, OR collar, OR make sure the yard is secure. When added up that says irresponsible to me. Desex my pet because it's the right thing to do? Yes, I did in my new situation. However, I'm not about to desex my pet if I feel it is the wrong or an unnessesary thing to do, and I am never going to be guilt tripped into it and nor should anyone else. I have had entire males before and never had a lost dog problem because they were secured properly as well as being registered etc. It's not an issue of simply "desex your dog", it's an issue of be "responsible for your dog" and that does not necessarily include desexing.

I only treat Chiefy "in season" he doesn't seem to get them in winter. I have to say with regard to Frontline when I use the top spot it only keeps them off for 2 weeks, while the spray tends to keep him flea free for a much longer period. This is just what I've found. Also if you have neighbours who don't treat their dog/s that might be causing a problem. We used to have neighbours who didn't treat their dogs and Chiefy had to be treated much more frequently.

Since I found out you can get a vasectomy on a dog I have wondered why this option isn't generally encouraged if it is really only a question of litters being born. Yes there are the other issues but I think mostly it's got to do with litters and then as Ci says they bring up those other things as supporting arguments for castration.