SoL

Oh no. Not Benny-boy. Run hard and run free handsome man. Never forgotten, always loved. I'm sorry Jacki, big virtual hugs for you and the rest of the family. Em

To be honest I would stay away from a completely raw diet at this stage - chicken mince, though providing a higher fat content, would lack quite a few other essentials, and rice doesn't have that much value other than a filler to fight appetite. Is this all that the pup will be weaned onto? Or is there something else in there as well? Secondly, to the thought of supplementing at this early stage, I would suggest that a really good dry puppy food will not need supplementing. Personally (and the more you ask around the more answers you will get to the 'which food' question) I like Advance, especially Rehydratable for puppies and all of my puppies have been weaned on this as well as quality mince and all have done extremely well in terms of weight and energy. You can also look at adding natural yogurt to the pup's food to assist gut flora do its job. Whichever food you decide on, do it slowly over at least a week to avoid the risk of tummy upset. Good luck and have fun.

Do you realise ellz I'm hanging on to your last paragraph for grim death now! Her waist has thickened, her teats have enlarged, especially at the back, she's a sook anyway so that hasn't changed so I'm really hoping they were just hiding.

damn, that's what I was afraid of

Yep, he prescribed Otomax, after plugging her ear with an antibacterial paste as well. Just as an aside - he u/s'd my girl, she was 29 days yesterday but we couldn't see anything and he said that it was too early so to come back next week. I thought you could see pups at 4 weeks gestation? It's got me worried as I am really wanting this litter.

Hi guys My girl Sunny is hopefully preggers, however, she also has an ear infection. She seems quite susceptible to them. I've been cleaning her ears regularly to keep further infection at bay and it's worked - up til now. So I'm taking her to the vets tonight but I'm worried that the antibiotics he surely will want to prescribe will affect the (hopefully there) sprogs (I'm hoping he'll agree to an u/s today to confirm). Do a/bs pose a threat to unborn pups? I get the feeling they will. What would be the alternative? Ta muchly Em

run, run as fast as you can .... The litter as a whole should be of the best quality, consistent prices throughout regardless of sex or colour (the only possible difference for show potential). If she's made you think twice, then think twice and go with your gut. There are good ethical breeders of Staffords, you just have to look a little harder and be prepared to answer (and ask) a lot of questions.

No, it covers all intestinals, including hydatid. If one dog had worms then you would treat all dogs (plus yourself) so yes it would seem likely that your other dogs should show the same symptoms (have they lost weight at all????). Other than that, the first things springing to mind are teeth problems or gastro problems. How old is he? Maybe as an interim add yoghurt or some kind of probiotics to his diet. Either way, get him back to the vet asap.

I was going to suggest worming too. Try another worming product if you've used Sentinel regularly - Drontal is good.

Hey BigDaz Obviously you've ruled out the very simple: something stuck in paw, nails not clipped, nail bed infected, swelling of joints etc. If the vet has suggested an xray or ultrasound then I reckon that would be the most logical move. I wouldn't go near a chiro unless and until you have a positive diagnosis from the vet. Good luck

You can't beat the Rehydratable for litters. Great stuff.

I'm sorry to hear this Jacki. RIP Houndee.

I'm very sorry. Run free little man

Must admit I've never heard of it! ETA: if it's just pure meat, then it can't be that bad. If it's not 100% meat then you'd have to check what and how much filler is added.

We've kind of evolved with what we're feeding our dogs ... at first it was what our mentor recommended then the boys decided to be fussy little barstewards so we tried nearly every food on the market. They settled on Supercoat but, ages ago, I found that they looked less healthy, their output matched their input and they'd lost their gleen. So the search began. We'd always fed raw as well as dry and we continue to do that. However, it has taken me a long time to be satisfied with the quality of dry food matched with price. I feel that the dry we give them now is a great base upon which raw is added along with the odd supplement of Livamol or Vitameal and fish. I just don't think an all raw diet satisfies absolutely every single nutritional need that they have, especialy when it comes to trace minerals, cal:phos ratios etc. On the other hand, I don't believe in just feeding them kibble. So in my view they get the best of both worlds and they look pretty good to me :D.

All of my dogs love the leftover veggies from our meals but I do have one girl who LOVES banana! Strange girl LOL

Optimum is a good mid-range food - my dogs have done very well on it. Unfortunately many stockists now don't carry the large bags so I'm having to buy Advance and spin it out with a raw mix I make myself.

I am so sorry for your loss, he seemed a lovely boy. His parting from this life was too soon but he came into your life for a reason, if only to be able to meet again in another life. Am thinking of you in this tough time. Em

mmmmm yummy ;) I haven't been able to stomach the heads ever since I managed to stick my finger in an eye - wasn't looking and stupidly assumed the bag of necks was just that!

Trigene, that's the stuff - well done pomquest

We use the strongest bleach we can buy all around the yards and runs, diluted at around 30% about once every couple of months and intermittently we scrub the runs with disinfectant and wash the dogs bedding in disinfectant as well. Just make sure that the bleach has a good full sunny day in which to dry and get rid of some smell before letting the dogs go near it. Same with their bedding - they might not like the smell. There's something else you can get from teh vets - can't remember the name - it's green! But that's hugely expensive.

Hi guys Just wondering what you all do to get your showponies in the best condition for show. Sunny is 14 months now and I'm upping the ante on her exercise to try and build up her muscles. At the moment she gets walked about 3-4kms per day, more on the weekend, plus the games of ball for sprinting. She also gets rope pulls but I'm just wondering if there's anything else I could be doing, especially for strength training. I've tried looking for tyres for her to drag but they all now come with metal bands. I wasn't fussed before as I don't believe in overworking juvenile dogs but now I want her in the best shape possible for the show ring and especially coming up to her maiden litter. Oh yeah, she gets plenty of protein and carbs in her diet as well.

I use Livamol. It intensifies teh colour as well but thereagain I've got shortcoated dogs and I don't know whether you'd need to bring out the big guns for longer or thicker coated dogs.

Sounds like he really does need an antihistamine. Phenergan is good and we have used one tablet on Chester when he was having quite a bad reaction to something. Obviously that is an emergency measure and I would recommend an injection from the vet as the first course of action. However, it is always good to have some tablets on hand, just in case.

Ahhhh can't find it anywhere!!!! The only health food shop in our local centre has closed down, none of the supermarkets sell the organic stuff and the pharmacies just look at me as if I've grown another head! This is very frustrating! Does anywhere sell the good stuff online?