stormie

Yes and he has adequate protection :) It's the same for every dog. A dog who is vaccinated annually could walk parvo into a clinic, as could someone coming in off the street to purchase something. My point was more that as a dog who has had his puppy vaccines, he has shown to have adequate protection several years later. The WSAVA even make mention that vaccines quite possibly last a lifetime. My dog does not have any contact with consulting patients and never enters the hospital but he does walk through the waiting room of a morning when we arrives in the mornings.

That's funny. My dog comes to work (vet) and has since he was a puppy. His last vaccine was at 16weeks and (touch wood) he's never contracted anything. Annual vaccines are outdated. Most of the vaccine companies recognise this and MOST now have 3 yearly vaccines available. With the guidelines available from the AVA and WSAVA there is no reason clinics should still be pushing annual vaccines. If a dog does not seroconvert a vaccine, then it likely never will and vaccinating annually will not improve that. We need to be aiming to vaccinate more dogs/puppies, not less dogs more often!

I don't understand why so many vets go blank at the suggestion of titre testing. All the regular pathology labs we have ever used offer it and there are a couple of very well known vaccine companies who also now have in house titre testing which they regularly come to talk to us about. We have stuck with VetPath in WA to keep costs down and when we just do the two tests, Parvo and Dist, results are generally back within a couple of days. The reports I have seen all look pretty self explanatory so I'm not sure how the results could ever be difficult to read. I also don't understand the boarding issue. The Vet clinic up the road from us refuses to board dogs who have had a 3 yearly C3, despite it being the registered vaccine. Thankfully we haven't had too many issues with kennels only taking intranasals. We follow the WSAVA guidelines for vaccines for both dogs and cats. We have the information from the Vaccine Guidlines Group readily available for people who want more information. But basically we do 3 puppy shots, then another one a year after. Then it's 3 yearly after that or titre testing. Kennel Cough for those who regularly go boarding. Cats are the same. People are often surprised we do 3 yearly vaccines for cats despite not having a registered triennial vaccine but the evidence is documented that annual vacc's just aren't necessary so why do it? Clients seem happy though and most still return for regular check-ups - probably because they believe we're actually just wanting to do what's best rather than keep our pockets lined.

:D

I think this is where they make a lot of their profit. If you compare the prices online there is a big difference - sometimes three times the price through the vet. Or even more! I recently paid $25 for 200mls of liquid paraffin, in the supermarket it is $3.15! & $15 for an enema, at the the chemist the same one's are $15 for a box of 12! Live and learn I guess. Just on this, I can't speak for all things, but I have occasionally ordered human medications through our Veterinary Wholesaler and I actually pay more cost price than I would if I actually went to a chemist. So it's not always about a huge mark-up. And with all things, online prices will always be lower due to a huge reduction in overheads. I've compared online things like parasite treatments as well as prescription medication and generally these places are selling stuff for only about $3-5 more than what we can buy it at. Most profit is made through services, eg consults, surgery etc :)

I'm not a vet but have worked with several. I believe that $75k figure to be correct, but not the starting salary. I remember the newer grads starting off on the $40k mark and moving up from there. This was about 7 years ago though so may have changed a little.

Beautiful!! I love the first one - perfect lighting! I have a couple like that I took of Orbee using the Autumn leaves for backgrounds.

I just love the colours of Autumn. A friend took this photo at our polo club recently. It looks stunning when the leaves turn brown

Take Your Dog To Work And Let It Eat the Pigs Ears Day :D (Orbee comes every day but Fridays are pigs ear days :laugh: )

Makes me sad hearing all these stories about vets making it difficult. It was so simple for us to set up a VetPath account and they supple us with all the packing, canisters etc for the courier company. It's not that much harder than sending bloods off to our regular lab really. And it's so much cheaper for the client sending direct to WA too.

The Vet Surgeons Board most certainly take complaints very seriously and are known for being more about the clients than the Vets :)

Just referred to tumours in general. Out of those though, they say that about 50% will be malignant.

I got these stats on Mammary cancer from a Repro course I did recently... Desexing: before the first heat results in a 0.05% lifetime risk of developing mammary cancer. After 1 heat = 8% lifetime risk After 2 heats = 25% lifetime risk After 3 heats = 50% lifetime risk After 4 heats = greater than 75% lifetime risk

Ethanol is a commonly used treatment (I believe one of only two). Helps stop the antifreeze being metabolised and then destroying the kidneys.

Caz I am so sorry for what you are going through. I cannot imagine what you could possibly be feeling right now. Like everyone I am so sickened to here what happened to Buddy and I cannot comprehend how this could happen. You're in my thoughts

Today if a cat comes into your yard and your dog kills it, it's bad luck and the owner can do nothing as cats are not allowed to wander just like dogs. I also would say nothing, how do you know what the neighbour might do to your dog as payback. This is incorrect in NSW. Cats are legally allowed to wander and there is no offense for them entering your yard. However the OP's situation would not be considered an attack in NSW as the legislation specifically states that there is no offense committed if the incident occurs as the result of a person or animal entering the property without permission. Where in the Companion Animals Act 1998 does it say cats are legally allowed to wander - it doesn't. You might want to read section 31 Nuisance cats as this is exactly the problem the OP has. As I said if a cat enters your property and your dog kills it, it's just bad luck. Also cats are required by law to wear a collar with an Identification tag at all times, but how many cat owners do this. We have had visits from our local council explaining to our clinic staff the regulations regarding cats. They told us that there are no laws regarding roaming cats like there are dogs and subsequently people technically aren't allowed to pick up cats they perceive to be roaming strays. The only circumstances where someone can collect and hand in a cat as a stray is if it's a threat to the person and/or their pets. This isn't to say a dog owner is responsible if a neighbours cat enters their property, but according to our council rangers, cats CAN legally wander.

Yep, my Dane has Atopy - quite bad unfortunately too. We couldn't do the skin prick tests as he was too bad to go without any medication for the 12week with-holding period required. Instead, we did two different blood tests, the SPOT test and the Heska ALLERCEPT test. We then did desensitising injections which unfortunately didn't work for us. He has a bit of a hard time with them and came out in hives so his doses had to be further diluted. We use cortisone (pred) but I use one called Niralone, which is a combination of cortisone with an antihistamine, which helps to keep the cortisone amounts down to a minimum. My boy is about 60kg and I find myself giving him 10mg of pred at a time - usually every few days - when he gets bad. I also use Cyclosporine (Atopica) but I get it from a compounding pharmacy for cost price (work in a clinic) but it still costs a bomb and probably doesn't work as well as the true Atopica does. So the combination of the two mean the cortisone is kept to a minimum. If you could possibly afford to try Atopica, it's worth it. Some dogs can get by on as low as two doses/week, though some, like mine, need it daily. In saying this though, he still scratches. But its not severe itching. Yes, cortisone can have long term side effects. But this is not a given and many dogs live long, normal lives on it. Lots of people use is as it's cost effective and provides relief. A lot of people critisize it's use but in many cases it really is the only thing that will stop the itching and IMO, quality of life is more important than quantity :) I'd rather give my boy a potentially shorter life thats comfortable rather than a longer one of constant suffering. As you can see from my boy, if managed properly, you can get by on really low doses. Whilst it is used as an immune suppressant, that only really occurs when you get up to doses from 1mg/kg and up. If you can get by on 0.5mg/kg or less every second day, this is better. Also, a slightly higher dose every second day is better than a lesser dose every day. The side effects of Cyclosporine are much more benign. It is an immune suppressant but after 2+ years of use, Orbit's not been sick from anything. His gums get a little swollen and he's got a few more warts here and there (immune suppression) but that's about it. Other things you can try to give some relief are things like Alpha Keri Oil which help to replenish the skins moisture and help create a bit of a skin barrier to allergens. I apply it and leave it for a few hours then gently wash it off. I also avoid any shampoos which can be drying, such as Malaseb and use as gentle ones as possible. REgularly bathing helps us too. We can't use fish oils as unfortunately Orbee's allergic to fish. But there are some omega oils like Megaderm which I don't believe use animal oils, so can be ok to try. We also tried the Essential 6 Spot On to try improve his skin barrier but unfortunately he reacted to all the plant oils/extracts used and broke out in terrible hives. Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me with any more questions you have about how we manage :)

Any vet really should be able to do it - as far as I know all the major vet pathology labs offer the testing. The difference will be in pricing though. If the path lab forwards the bloods onto another lab for testing, they will add their own fee on top of the other labs testing fee, if that makes sense.

If the product isn't mixed inside, how come there are no directions to mix/shake the tube before applying? Obviously when you open and apply a tube, you're not applying 100% of the liquid - some remains inside, coating the plastic. So how can you be certain that half the active ingredient isn't left behind coating the plastic of the tube?

So they're reformulating their food to coincide with that consumers want, ie better quality ingredients, ( http://www.petfoodindustry.com/46926.html ) but yet adding that to it? How bizarre eta: reading the patent, it sounds to me more like the concept is to preserve the quality of the vitamins/minerals/pre and probiotics etc so that they are actually still active when they enter the digestive system. I guess they'll claim that these vital things can degenerate once exposed to air, so giving them a protective film ensures they make to the digestive system and do their job.

Orbee sometimes gets a bit 'excited' when we're in the pool together, resulting in some hardcore scratches

The people you should make your complaint to would be the Vet Surgeons Board. Your avatar says you're in Qld - here's the link to the complaints section of the Qld Board :) http://www.vsb.qld.gov.au/complaints.html

Our Hills Food rep was quite shocked when I told her I fed raw and tried to convince me how dangerous it was, risking bacterial contamination etc. She said they'd done studies and shown that dogs can shed the bacteria in their faeces. I've been feeding Orbee this wayf or 5 years and I'm still alive :laugh: Won't be changing any time soon either!

not sure, I will check sydney uni though... sash can be a little dear...vets in general are becoming very dear! cost me $136 last night for a check up and steroid cream, times like this i wish i lived out west!! EDIT: Just booked it in Camden.... sydney is to expensive Ouch!! I hope it was magical steroid cream!! Another +1 for Linda here too.

A good way to pick adult paralysis ticks is by looking at their legs. Adult P ticks have their legs coming out from one place, where as bush ticks and cattle ticks have the legs coming out at different points down their body. Also, the first and fourth legs on a P tick are a darker, more red colour than its middle two legs.