Gomez the Norfolk

The pips in grapes can be poisonous to dogs, so avoid them Gomez eats watermelon, apples, oranges, bananas, peaches.... whetever fruit we have, he's there in a flash!

On another thread someone mentioned this product Tick Stop Apparently it makes the dog immune to tick paralysis? http://www.animaloptions.com.au/articles-a...s-back-out.html I can't find much info on it, does anyone use it? heard of it?

Well, all he is doing is sleeping,, shifting, and then going back to sleep, so hopefully he will shake it soon, and no more headaches...

Gomez has some type of upper-repiratory thing going on, he's on Vibravet as the vet is not sure if it's kennel cough or something else - apart from the cough he's also sneezing and snorting and his nose is a bit runny - I know when I have this kind of thing I always get a headache and sinus pain, do they get it also? He just looks so down and his eyes are sort of half open - poor guy, the only time he perks up is when it's food time or walkies...

Right, just got the Manuka honey, just in case - does it have any side effects, like funny poos or anything?

I took Gomez to the vet this morning for the same thing - he had been sneezing, snorting, coughing, sounds like he wanted to cough up a hairball or something - he has had this since he was little, but the episodes usually last about 5-10 seconds and they stop by distracting him or petting him - yesterday they started going for 2-3 minutes and couldn't stop - today it sounded more gurgly, so off to the vet we went - I was offered 3 possibilities: 1 - Kennel Cough apparently very easy to catch from any dog 2 - problem with the soft palate because he's had it since he was little, this could be a possibility, could be that it's too long and blocks his trachea sometimes, causing the difficulty breathing, but not deadly, just uncomfortable - long term solution, endoscopy to identify and then surgery to correct 3 - paralysis tick coughing and hard breathing are classic symptoms She checked him out thoroughly and he has no tick (I check him constantly anyway) but still, keep an eye out for other symptoms in case the tick is up his nose or up his bum and we can't see it... So, the end result was to give him a low dose of antibiotics just in case it is kennel cough and it develops into something else, but keep an eagle eye on him in case it is a paralysis tick and if he does get better with the medicien, then fine, if not, will have to look into the endoscopy and surgery... This morning after his coughing fit he ran around like a loony, ate his breakfast as normal and went for his morning walk, everything as normal, now he's sleeping and snoring, which he doesn't usually do, porr little guy... Hope this helps you a little with your guys and that everyone is feeling much better soon!

Hi, You say=== don't really want to feed her on only dry food. Do you have a reason for this? Good quality dry food, with a few chicken necks for her teeth, should be an excellent diet for a Chi.If you select a complete diet it will have everything in it the dog should need. Cheers That's debatable. Most of the dry foods that people call "quality" are imported from the US and although they all have their own packaging, the products are sourced from the same supplier. What is in the food is not written on the packet. Yes, even your top brands contain certtain things that I would never want my pet to consume. Fact: goodies found in dry foods - road kill (possums, other dogs and bits of cats, horse by products, etc.) Some actually go as far as using sawdust as a filler. or binder. for your little chi, feed her fresh REAL meat. It's not like you need a kilo/day, is it. If I can locate this article, I will add a link. Lucien's Mum - I beg to differ on your statement regarding dry foods - there is a huge variety in dry foods ranging from type of ingredients to quality of ingredients - to compare, have a look at the ingredients of Eagle Pack Holistic and the ingredients of Supercoat, or ifyou want to compare like for like, compare EPH to another American brand, Alpo, for example, or Pedigree - The ones with "road kill" and "sawdust" are the very low end of the dog food products, very cheap food, not super-premium - they don't even export those to Australia Eagle Pack, for example is fully accountable for their ingredients and have their own processing plant, which in turn uses their own ingredients provided by their own suppliers. Australian dry and wet foods also have the fillers you say American ones do, but they don't tend to be considered "quality" as you put it on either side of the world - The super premiums available her are Nutro, Eagle Pack, Natural Balance, Innova, none of those brands were included in the pet food recall of last year - Molly, I also would not use the VIP stuff, I know you say your previous dog did well on it, but there is better stuff available on the market these days, better quality ingredients and not so many fillers, so why not give your pup the advantage of the best possible start? The if it doesn't work well, you can work backwards - Have a read through this website: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/ it's a lot of information, but shows you how to read labels and how to avoid nasty ingredients - a little bit of research goes a long way... There are also a lot of very good threads regarding food in these forum alone, if you do a search, you will find a lot of good advice. In the end, you should feed your dog whatever it does well on, there is not one food that is perfect for every dog. Having said that, if you know your ingredients and become knowledgeable about reading labels and assessing ingredients, you can make a better decision of what you wantt o feed your dogs.

Oh who knows... he's such a loon sometimes - I'll be keeping an eye on it anyway - I keep putting stuff on his nose so he'll lick it and I can have a look... so mean, but it's the only way to check!

It's gone.... How odd....

That's great to hear, dogmad... did you find out what it was?

I just noticed Gomez has a little bright red spot on the underside of his tongue - I can see it when he licks his nose, he's a big nose-licker anyway... I called the vet and they say keep an eye on it until tomorrow if it's the same or bigger, bring him in... Still eating/drinking/playing normally. Has anyone else had this on their dogs?

nope just the organic and super-premium http://www.pookinuk.com.au/pet-products.asp?categoryID=67

Ziwipeak is grain free Both Innova EVO and California Naturals are grain free also, but only available at Pet's Paradise and it's affiliates Eagle Pack or Eagle Pack Holistic are not grain free

According to the North Shore Vet Hospital, ALL of them, they have even had dogs come in from the CBD with paralysis ticks

Exactly as above - Gomez's tummy did not handle the DVP so well, had runny poos for a while, so went back to Eagle Pack Holistic and all is perfect.

ground up hooves, tails, noses and other assorted bits and bobs that they don't have to specify, usually made up from parts that don't quite make it into the food chain, and probably have fallen on the floor, etc... Try the Eagle Pack tins also, or Ziwipeak, more recognizable ingredients!

I was allergic to Gomez also for the first couple of weeks, exactly like you describe - then it went away, completely. It must be something in their lil' teeth or lil' nails because I never get it anymore... I took an allergy tablet everyday (those 24 hour ones) for the time and that helped a lot - Can we see some pictures?

The only place in all of Melbourne that I found does stripping is Whoopsys a shop in Elwood. The groomer is English and did a really good job on Gomez...

Thanks Blossom, will have to compare side by side later...

Holy $%^$^$! Thanks for bringing that to my attention Blossom, we have RSPCA and I thought we were fully covered, I just re-read the policy and no tick paralysis... What is the other insurance you have that does cover it, please? Gomez has no breed related issues, so I might change over!

Gomez LOVES watermelon- but it does make him pee a lot, it's mostly water, so if they're inside, keep an eye on them!

Oh well... if we're showing off the lifejackets.... Here is Gomez in his Waggle one:

we got one for Gomez at www.waggle.com.au or a Marine Supply store

yep - we'll join in...

I so wish we had Canidae in Australia... apparently they keep trying but AQIS keeps putting up more and more red tape... maybe one day...