Garloch

Hi Roquen, Don't know just how much use this reply will be, but when my bitch is in heat, she is locked up safe, and thats always inside the puppy palace, completely seperate from my other animals. She has a "tray" that I clip puppy wee pads inside, and this is what she uses. I think it came from K-Mart and was about $15. Take out the wee pads, wash the plastic tray and start again! Not an indoor toilet as such - but it works for us. I've seen the indoor toilet advertised in mags and they are a plastic box lined with some fake grass (over a slightly raised closely meshed platform that a pup cant get a foot stuck in, and it must be very stable as a pup won't walk on anything wobbly). The idea is that any wee drains thru the plastic grass, the poo stays on top, and the whole lot is very easily washed and hygenic. About $300 was the price I saw, but if you are handy and have a hankering to go to Bunnings, you could make one fairly easily, as long as you can find a suitable height and sized plastic tray. I think I remember a thread fairly recently about toilets, so if you put "indoor toilet" into the search box, you might just get a thread pop up. Hope this helps, Goodluck with your search. Garloch

Good evening guys, A quick question please. My partner is over 6 feet tall, and I am quite tall and find that we both get a backache when grooming my dogs on the terrier table I have, as we are constantly bending over. And I need to be an octopus to hold the little blighters still, so........ I'd like to buy an adjustable height (above 85cms) terrier table, and a double-arm control frame with grooming nooses. Seem some brilliant ones in England, but the freight is a killer. Can you suggest any models, or suppliers (apart from Petnetwork and Liberty who both have them but not the heights I need) that I may be able to contact. Many thanks in advance. Garloch

Hi Rhi, I'm taking a slightly different tack here! Firstly, I'd be picking up every day. Mine never go in the same spot twice, and also hate the wet grass. Smell will seap into the concrete, and when they smell, they go, hence the repeat performances on the concrete near the door. "Delete" will take the smell away. Don't use amonia based products as this only encourages them. Your dogs poop will be proportionate to how much he eats. If you buy a supermarket brand of dogfood, they have more "fillers" in them, so the fillers just make their way out of the dog in the same amounts they went in. If you buy a premium complete dry dogfood, (Hills, Iaams, Ekanuba etc) they have more nutrition per meal, so the output is less, and the smell (whilst never pleasant) will be much more tolerable than if fed on canned foods. Now before you say - its too expensive, please bear in mind that your dog will require less food in the first place, as practically all of it will be digested and absorbed. It costs about 40 cents extra per day for a premium food from the vets, or stockfeeds place. When I switched from supermarket food to premium food, the output was halved!! A definite bonus in my book!

For my pups I use Interceptor spectrum tablets - they eat them straight up, and for my adult dogs I use Advocate spot-on treatment that includes Heartworm prevention. Make sure you get an all-wormer. The interceptor has a formulation for pups from 2 weeks of age. Loveabull is quite correct in the timings of worming for pups. Only difference is that my dogs dosages are monthly after 6 months of age. Check the labels on the worm tabs - they are all different. With tiny pups, you'll need to check the poo for worms - it'll be obvious if there are any. Tiny white lines. If they are infected (and this can happen in any house or kennel) then you'll need to worm them again as an extra dose. I think that all the reputable companies have toll-free helpline phone numbers printed on them. Don't be afraid to use them.

Hi happy/grl, How big was the toy, and how much do you think Akira may have eaten, and how old is the pup? Mine ate a stuffed toys ear before I noticed, and it was quite obvious when it passed thru. Pups generally chew everything into tiny bits and they pass thru and are evacuated quite easily. You'll need to keep an eye on the pup for any strange behaviour, something like he/she seems uncomfortable, and particularly if the pup gets bloated and passes nothing, its time for a quick trip to the vets. Just a quick tip, don't ever give them plastic toys (some are toxic), and if you give them stuffed toys please make sure that the plastic eyes and noses are cut out. They are attached to the toy with nasty metal locknuts. The spikes on the end of the hard plastic will rip their insides to shreds. Hope this helps.