BRUVIC

Gosh. I'm stunned. Don't EVER even consider doing this to your beautiful bitch and her babies. Please!

This is so beautifully and perfectly written and expressed. Well done, befitting each and every one of our 'oldies', God bless them all and I hope and pray your deal old man has a really good number more of happy and pain free days to share with you xx

It's our company :-) We sell the RT100 which the vets tell us is the same scanner they have purchased from a large drug company for in the vicinity of 400 dollars. We sell it currently for $199 PLUS GST and POSTAGE.

www.microproductsaustralia.com

Sorry, just missed your post that you have ordered elsewhere. Hope the price was competitive. We also have an agent in Qld.

OOPS .. make that www.microproductsaustralia.com!!

We sell them through our business. Website address is: microproductsaustralia.com.au for $199.00 plus $11.00 postage. If you're interested, go to the website, you can email us once you have done a direct deposit to the bank account and we will put your scanner in the mail the very next day in an express post bag. Cheers, Vicki & Bruce Knight

I've heard of a breeder taking puppies WELL under 16 weeks (to decide which male to run on) to a veterinary teaching institution (where the radiology 'toys' are 2nd to none) to see if pups have retained teste/s and exactly where it/they are situated at that point in time in the abdomen. So obviously, it CAN be done on the right machine ... I think said pups were around the 8 weeks of age mark from memory.

Certainly in my breed (GSD's) it's forbidden NOT to use anaesthesia for x-raying hips, so be sure to check the rules and regs.

Does this contravene the new regulations re breeding (line-breeding) which came into force as at July 2011 I believe?

Three years ago, one of my girls began to develop a blinding temperature that eventually developed into 'black' mastitis and my very experienced repro vet got me to take her to him daily to check the affected mammary gland, until he could see the point where it was going to rupture (going in earlier carries the risk of it still rupturing at it's 'chosen point' if the vets pick the wrong spot to open) .. then he went into that 'black' point under anaesthesia and cleaned it out .. I have to say watching him scoop out necrotic tissue from my beautiful girl nearly made me vomit .. I was close to fainting, and eventually had to hold up the furniture in the operating theatre LOL and I've watched bloat surgery and caesareans no problem. Anyway, I took her home on AB etc and every day I had to push the tip of the product we are all more used to using for ears .. Epiotic ... and squirt it inside and massage it around and out several times .. my brave girl tolerated this extremely well and whilst she looked like she had a bullet hole for a while, she recovered without any further problem. I just held my hand over the hole whilst the pups fed (standing up by then) and weaned her quickly from them, but she hated that .. so I probably wouldn't force that issue again .. she got quite agitated and depressed. One of the sons from this litter went on to win Baby Dog at a National. And his sister was in the top ten in her class too. Big classes I might add at our Breed Nationals (GSD).

ANKC needs to catch up to the new suggested protocol to alter their rules and regs on this. Perhaps it's in progress?

In Australia there are only two officiallly recognised schemes and they are: GSDCA Hip and Elbow Scheme and the AVA Hip and Elbow Scheme. Both schemes use recognised Radiologists. Both the radiologists that the GSDCA use (Prof Wyburn and Dr Lavelle) also assess for the AVA Scheme. The system for assessing hips in Australia is 'numerical' in as much as each hip is scored between 0 and 56 ... 0 being the 'best'. Dogs assessed overseas are usually graded from 'normal' through to 'still acceptable' or 'noch zugelassen', hence the differentiation in wording between Australian bred and Imported dogs. Obviously, the recognised scheme for Australian bred dogs is either of the above. Imported dogs' gradings, as stated in the survey, must be deemed to be 'acceptable for breeding' in their country of origin. All radiologists use an international system for grading elbows. For the record, German Shepherd Dog Council requirement to achieve the "A" Stamp for hips requires a score of 8 or less on either hip. The proposed L.R.L. (Litter Registration Limitation) in this survey is NOT intended to alter the requirements of the GSDCA. The purpose of the survey is to ensure that all German Shepherd Dogs meet at LEAST the L.R.L. requirement. Trust this assists in your understanding of 'control schemes'.

Born in a whelping box located in one of the spare rooms inside our 4 bedroom home. The floor was tiled for this purpose. When the pups begin to 'escape', they remain in the same room on bedding until approx 4 weeks of age but will continue to be bought back in to the whelping room at night until approx 5 - 6 weeks of age, usually dependent upon the size of the litter. Its a gradual progression which has worked very well for temperament and safety and health for the babies and mother bitch.

Allowing her to have that first season DEFINITELY helps!! Because when the vulva swells during the season, it pops out and tends to remain in a better position from then on. I have two young females (sisters!!) who have both had their first season over the past few months and their vulvas are sitting MUCH better now. :-)

NOT UR AVERAGE BEAR?

Totally agree with ur breeder and Turkey Trip ... even if urs or ANY dog of a breed where HD goes 'with the territory', DOES have a degree a hip dysplayia (and most do, unless they are scored 0/0, which VERY few are!!), said dog, if kept lean and mean and fit ... sand work and swimming the best ... the dog can live a VERY good life even on a lousy set of hips ... WITHOUT surgical intervention!! I'd be cranky with a vet that is doing all this stuff with a BABY too!! This is maximum growth stage and they should be left alone to GROW and develop ... they are like a gawky teenage boy at this age and all ligamententation is looser than normal to allow for the upward growth, so OF COURSE they are LOOSE. Not ur fault as a caring owner, but no-one knows the breed like the breeder!! I am not a Lab breeder, but as a GSD breeder, we have similar scenarios.

BTW, Hannah ... someone mentioned starting these babies on solids, and rightly so, once their eyes are open you can do it ... I did with my dirty dozen!! It was messy, time consuming and a right pain in the butt, but they came along in leaps and bounds once they learned how to 'eat' in decent quantities, I used the formula I was feeding them to soak the biscuits and make it sloppy so it was a gradual process from ALL formula to SOME formula mixed with soaked biscuits. Little and often is the key to steadily raising them successfully. Good luck.

On another note, and I'm not in favour of constant 'changing' formulas in these already compromised babies, but I just pretty much hand raised a litter of 12 GSD's ... their mother's milk was limited in supply and lousy in quality and I did it with Wombaroo on my vet's recommendation and they did very well on it. And mine is that experienced Repro vet in Perth mentioned so often, so the experience at that clinic is pretty much second to none. Might be handy for future reference. Unlike you tho u poor darling, mine didn't get any infection ... even the one I tried to kill by getting formula in her lungs!! Big strong bitch she is now!! I feel for you and wish you and ur babies only the best.

Put simply ... Protexin is to put 'good bacteria' back into the gut ... most AB's kill both bad and GOOD bacteria, hence AB destroying what Protexin has, if that makes sense. Protexin CAN however be used with some AB's apparently, but someone more in the know that I would be able to shed more light on that.

uhhhh .... try $1305 minimum for a dog in Aussie Quarantine!!

You should all read the 'latest' vaccination protocol as released by the AVA in June 09 - http://ava.informz.net/ava/data/images/doc...inal-june09.pdf