Danois

PRS - the other thing to look at is a product called Thrive D which is digestive enzymes (from memory).

Sorry about little Holly - she was a pretty lucky bird to get to enjoy the sights of Australia!

Hi PRS - yes they can. I suspect that Angs had this - it can be an immune mediated condition and he had other immune mediated problems. He suffered loose stools and bad wind. I tried RC, EP and Euk. Finally got him on to Orijien (being grain free) and he started having consistent firm stools and the wind went away. Try the Orijien food. I got mine from www.petdeli.com.au - they have a sample size.

If you guys have dogs like play nice with puppies I might come along in about 4 weeks time (after pre-school finishes).

I was feeding 6-7 cups of Orijien a day to a 75kg dog!

Ok PS gurus - Can I call on your skills too? I took this photo of my new boy Baloo today and love it - taken with a basic Canon IXUS 80IS. I don't like the background - is there anything that can be done to remove it, blur it or put a different background in without making it look like a cut and paste job? Anyone want to have a go?

That's a lot of poo for one day! Especially on Orijien from my pst experiences. How much are you feeding pup a day?

I have called extensively on my policy for the best part of 15 months and I have never had one thing turned down other than some medication and that was because I had already claimed $1,200 worth of medication this policy period. I paid $470 odd for the policy for this year - I claimed $1,200 in meds, at least that in consults and more again in bloods etc - probably around $4,000 all up. No way would I have have got that value out of the $45 a month I paid in premiums if I had put it into an account.

Hi Kamuzz I got mine from GNC but have also seen it at chemists and those Vitamin stores. The other option is to use non-buffered Vit C tablets.

It is illegal in NSW to use an electric fence to confine a dog or cat (s16 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 1976 and s10 of the associated Regs). You can use a ping string type fence provided it is inside of another fence that the dog cannot pass through and is no higher than 1.5m of the ground.

I am just wondering if standing over him and then taking away when he is gulping too much is adding to the problem? That he is trying to eat quickly as he expects that the food will be taken away from him soon? I doubt that he would know that you are taking away his food because of his gulping. IMO you are creating a negative association and I would be trying other methods like spreading the food thinly or large stones.

This is not the best approach. When you come back inside you need to ignore the dog completely until he is calm, loses interest etc - you then call the dog to you and then give attention. The other way - the pats/ cuddles - teaches the dog to associate your return with attention/ excitement and therefore - they spend the time you are away anxious for that moment where they get that attention. I would suggest posting your question in the training topic as many of the experienced hands in there do not necessarily come into this thread.

The supposed rule for minmising bloat is no exercise at least an hour either side of food. Whether soaking kibble reduces the risk depends on which study you read - same with feeding from a height. As other posters have said - bloat is quite specific to certain breeds with the deep chests.

Thank you everyone for your wishes, thoughts and comments. They have all meant a lot to me and I perhaps had not appreciated how much of an impact Angs had had on other people. He was a pretty special boy. I feel at peace with my decision to give him his wings but the last couple of days have been rough - having to finalise paperwork for pet insurance including cancelling his policy, having to go to the vets for this and have just heard his ashes are back - not sure how I feel about that yet. I know he was a damn pain to the end as we had to find an alternative company as poor Wangs was too much of a boofalump (aka whale) for the usual cremation company! I believe Angs was sent to me for a reason and he was content he had fulfilled that purpose. Someone said to me that Angs had always had his wings - he had just kept them hidden for a short while. I know without him I would not have made some absolutely fantastic friends who have kept me together in the last week. In saying all of this - I miss him like crazy and the house feels so empty without him. Angs was to turn 2 on 6 November and I am thinking of spreading his ashes on this day. Thank you again.

Bet me to it stormie! I was going to suggest stormie could help - I hear Justin Wimpole there is terrific too - he recently helped out on Angs' treatment.

Urine can also be tested for certain elements too.

Angs had pancreatitis before he passed away and the signs were jaundice (esp in the whites of eyes), pale gums, bright yellow urine, listlessness etc and also confirmed by the blood levels. He did not have the vomitting. The treatment for him was fasting for 48 hours and on a drip in the vets and also anticbiotics. Only your vet can advise on the blood test now. http://www.vetstop.com.au/Info/Pancreatit.asp

Jey - if it is mild pancreatitis (which could have been confirmed with bloods) then I would be speaking to your vet about diet. After a dog develops pancreatitis diet is critical and you need to become the food police. Why did the vet think pancreatitis?

I never wanted to ever have to post in here. Angs passed away in my arms this evening. Stormie and dogslife were with me and him at the time. We had a quiet chat and then it was time for him to go to sleep which he did very peacefully. He had seemed to improve this morning but the blood tests had too much bad news in them for it to be in his interests to continue to fight on. It seems his immune system was just hell bent on attacking him and the pancreatitis was just too much on top of that. Stormie has been phenomenal - as has SuperVet. Angs - I am glad that you are free from pain but you are leaving a very large hole in my heart. Run free and look for Shade, he will be waiting for you at the Bridge.

Yes pred is used as in some cancer cases and is not an alternative to chemo - it is a 'chemo' drug and would be used in conjunction with other drugs. However its other main (and more common) use is with immune based conditions. If a dog's conditin is linked to its immune system then this is the drug - an anti-histamine will not do the job. Just because a side effect occurs in people does not mean it occurs in dogs - it is hard to find anything which details psychoses in dogs from cortisone. It should also be remembered that the main side effects from cortisone come from long term use - not just a week on it.

Dose of prednisolone/ cortisone/ macrolone tends to be 1-2mg/kg of body weight over 12 hours. I currently have a 75kg dog currently on 160mg a day. Most dogs tend to be a bit perkier on cortisone. You should have also been told that there will be polydipsia/ polyuria when on cortisone (ie excessive thirst/ urinating) so you need to make sure there is plenty of water around. Some dogs will also experience an increased appetite. What is the cortisone for? Benny made an excellent point - DO NOT under any circumstances play around/ alter/ stop the cortisone except on your vets advice. Cortisone MUST be tapered off slowly. Another thing to be careful of - keep pup at home and away from parks, other dogs etc - cortisone suppresses the immune system and thus the dog may be more prone to infections etc

Hi - sorry to hear about the problems. You will still be able to get insurance for your pup - it will just exclude any pre-existing conditions so will note a heart murmur in the policy schedule. Any other unrelated treatment will be covered for the life of the policy.

Isn't a raw diet high in protein by its very nature?? It is also interesting to cross reference this post to the poll on Orijien in this same thread. Okay - its not a huge sample group but only 1 out of 14 people have said that their dog's behaviour has changed since going on to Orijien.

In conjunction with feeding raw, my 13.6kg bag has lasted 4 weeks! Milo's (cat) 2.5kg bag lasted just a few days short! His coat (being mid-long hair) is so nice and soft and shiny.

Each policy will be specific for the industry but I would say that your policy has that clause as you are diretly handling the animals and the damage relates to what you are doing - say there is a burn to the dog, or it breaks a leg as it falls off the table. They may have a clause to a similar effect but someone putting their dog into day care would have signed the waiver saying all risk, no responsibility and waiving any rights. A business would do this as a) they would have to pay the excess on claims and b) more claims = higher premium = higher cost of running business = higher fees = customers unhappy at paying higher fees. 1. I have looked over a number of application forms and many of them require you to indemnify the organisation against any medical costs caused by a dog attack - ie you will claim from the offending dogs owner and not the organisation. It may be different if there was a failure to adequately supervise or carry out behaviour tests prior to admission. All the forms I read had acknowledgements from clients to sign noting that there were inherent risks in having dogs in a cage free environment. I doubt a snake bite would be covered as that would be a freak accident over which the facility had no control. Ingested poison could be included if it was caused by the organisation's negligence - ie leaving it about.