stormie

I missed out

I'll check our Caninsulin price for you tomorrow

The jugular vein is much easier and quicker to get blood from than the leg.

Think this was for me? Riverstone area or Pennant Hills

I got some sheep tongues with Orbit's last meat order and he turned his nose up at it! I snuck a couple into his mince mix though and he's eaten them, but as yet won't eat them on their own. They were only $1 for a 1kg packet and I've still got about 3 full ones left if anyone in Sydney wants them to try for their dogs??

I bought this up at work today to get my boss' view on this. He believed that there was no negative effects associated with feeding extra protein like that in conjunction with dry food to an adult dog. Dogs need protein and apparently there is no evidence to suggest feeding high levels can lead to kidney problems like once thought.

Well we looked up everything we could think of to try and find a condition which does this and found nothing. So I guess maybe he's a little special? I thought maybe long term cortisone but yet Meh's boy has been on cortisone for the same amount of time and possibly even at slightly higher doses and his is still normal, so no idea!! But yeah as you said, it's not like we look at the penis of every dog that comes in so maybe it's not that abnormal but we just don't notice?

Ok I just took a better shot.. I'll put it up... sorry for the hijack So when you pull back Orbit's sheath, this is all there is... and even then I had to put some pressure on the os penis to push it forward to get that much visible.

I have no idea what that would look like (you up to taking a photo? lol) but I can't help thinking it might describe Mandela's. It is more a bony looking thin thing with a bit of tissue covering it. So, you don't use it, you lose it? lol Well, it's nothing either of us have ever seen before. But in saying that, its not like we look at every dogs penis that comes in either. It is just that Orbit's comes out when he sits on my knee and one day I caught a glimpse and realised it looked way different to how it used to! Further investigation revealed he has no penis I do have a photo but not sure if it would gross people out? How about I pm it to you...

I would have thought it be not that normal for a desexed male to be doing this. In saying that though, I do know of one young dog who every morning sneaks off for some self action. But beware, because if it comes out, there's the possibility it can get stuck. If he gets the all clear from the vet, I'd be discouraging it. Erny that's pretty funny about your dogs' penis. Orbit is a bit odd, in that over time, his penis appears to have, well, almost disappeared. It started off normal, but now when you pull back the sheath, pretty much all you see is his os penis bone covered in some tissue and his urethra. There's still a little bit of tissue there and he can still get a bit of an erection, but it's no where near what it used to be. No idea of the cause and can't find any information on 'vanishing penises' so I guess he's a bit unique. And I guess my boss is right when he says that it's one thing he has no use for, so it's sort of ok for it to disappear!

Enzyplex is probably the most commonly used for pancreatic unsufficiency but I think there's also pancreatic enzymes derived from pigs? Though I remember SV looking that up once when someone on DOL told us the porcine one was better and we found no evidence to suggest that. I used to use them myself - just used to get them from an online health food store type thing.

I have a chart here from my Emergency Medicine course which indicates the dose of milk chocolate for a 10kg dog to cause serious illness and/or death is roughly 560-1120g. So from that, I would assume your dog will be ok, but if it's only just happened and you can get to a vet within the next half an hour, I'd still probably go and have them induce vomiting, just to be on the safe side eta: sorry, I just realised you're over an hour away, in which case there's probably not much to be done other than to monitor him for symptoms.

Firstly, you have no idea if the person quoted was accurate in her assessment of the dogs, she may have been exaggerating for effect because she didn't like the situation. Secondly, there are plenty of dogs that don't like walking into a new place with strange smells. I've got one dog that does that, shame on me for ever taking her out or to the vet? the quote says MOST dogs Can I just add that many dogs we take away from their owners to admit for surgery often act the same way. Some plant their feet when they realise they're not going back with their owners. Many need carrying. Even after a pre-med, some dogs still become quite nervous when you're giving them their GA. So is that 'shame on us' too? Are we terrible people for operating on a dog and fixing its broken leg, because the dog was scared prior to surgery?

How are the animals suffering and how is this barbaric? There is no difference with what happens in this situation to what happens when your pets go in for surgery, except what whilst already asleep, they are given an injection which sends them to heaven. I take offence to your comments saying vets are desensitised to the suffering of animals in their training. If you read some of the previous posts, you'll see that Vets have one of the highest rates of suicide compared to other professions. This doesn't sound like a group of people who are desensitised. I have not met one Vet who enjoys euthanasia. All the vets I've known and/or worked with take great joy in fixing an animal and seeing it go home. I've been nursing for 6+ years now and have witnessed many many euthanasias and am by no means desensitised - in fact, it's the opposite for me and I can't remember the last time I didn't get upset having to do it. The idea of using rescue animals is all good and well, but that would mostly just be for the routine desexing surgeries. But there are other things that are done (well, they were when my boss went through), such as spleen removals, cruciate repairs, amputation, fixing a deep chest wound etc etc. They can also see the effects of an animal too deep under GA and learn how to correct it. Obviously there will still always be their first surgery on someone's pet, but I'm sure knowing they have done the procedure successfully before, during Uni, will give them greater confidence, as well as the owner.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing really is a fact of life to ensure our pets can have treatment. There seems to be a lot more pressure in Vets to provide only the best care to our pets and get everything right first go, but I'm not sure how this is meant to happen when there is such an outcry in how they learn. What about the dogs used in vaccine registration trials? We want vaccines to have a longer registration to protect our own dogs from over vaccination, but what about the dogs who have to be kept in isolation during the trial time and then given parvo virus? There are control dogs used in those studies who aren't lucky enough to get the vaccines, but still get given parvo. I'm sure their deaths are far worse than those used in non recovery surgeries. I do understand why people can find it hard to accept and I appreciate that. But at the end of the day, putting an animal to sleep doesn't hurt and is not cruel. It's no different to putting them under GA for surgery which we would all do for our pets if they needed to, except that they just don't wake up.

I have not researched this, but thought I should put it up just in case. Here is a link to the website Recall list Yep this is old. And the recall wasn't do to with melamine it was because one of their tests in the factory came back with a positive to Salmonella, so they recalled everything, closed down the factory and reopened somewhere else.

The thing is, that Vets also need to learn what to do if something goes wrong. They get to learn what happens if they accidentally cut/tie off the wrong thing, let the animal get too deep under GA etc etc. They get to see the physical changes that happen right there and then and learn to identify the problem. Emergency situations can be simulated, like a penetrating wound to the chest or abdomen, all whilst the animal is under GA and the students can learn what do to. That's not something you can go and watch over and over to learn, because it's not something routinely seen. I would rather Vets learnt these types of things on animals that are already destined to be pts, rather than on people's pets.

How terrifying for you. I'm glad Lucy wasn't hurt and also that the owner was so apologetic. I think you're reaction is pretty normal in that situation. We were startled by a dog on the back of a parked ute on our walk yesterday too, though thankfully this dog was restrained. It still scared the poo out of me though - it was under a whole lot of stuff on the ute and suddenly just lunged out aggressively barking when we went passed. After the initial shock, I was really angry and swearing to myself. I think it's just the body's way of dealing with the huge adrenaline rush.

Yep that's us. The beginning of the week is generally better - means prompt service from the couriers and faster results, cause I'm pretty sure the lab only runs the tests two days a week. ouch $300! But I think if we used our regular Sydney lab and put a consult fee on top of that price, it could come close to $300. I can sort of understand vets putting a consult fee on no matter what, because the whole thing can take up the time of a regular , particularly if you have a dog who objects to having blood taken.

Thanks Clyde. We send directly to Vetpath WA so it's a bit cheaper for everyone. I'm pretty sure it's $85 for the Parvo and Distemper and the turnaround is usually around 3-5days. That's just to come in, have blood taken and sent off. If you wanted a check up at the same time then it would be a bit more :D But the added bonus is that you have the free option of meeting Orbit too :D

Julie you are amazing Vicsta I hope you are doing ok and know that so many people here are thinking of you.

Can you explain this for me? Orbee hasn't killed anything except his toys, but he tends to be what I refer to as a 'hoarder' in that when he takes his toys outside, he takes them to the same spot and puts them together. Do you mean it's a Terrier thing to NOT do this? Or is Orbit just.... um.... you know...

This is what puts me off coming - dogs who should not be there. Surely if you know she does not like strange dogs then its better for her not to be put into the situation which will cause her anxiety/ stress? Oooh see I just assumed that being a walk, everyone will have control over their dogs and won't be letting them go up to strange dogs willy nilly? I'm taking Orbit cause I think it will be good for him to get out amongst a whole lot of strange dogs, combined with the forwardness of a walk. Not that he's really DA, but he's not a fan of dogs rushing up to him. I've never been to one before and just got a free pass through work so thought it might be good, but if they're just a free for all with people letting their dogs go all over the place, we might reconsider??

I would wait to see what the Derm says before you start spending money on new foods etc. If you get an allergy diagnosis, then you can look at new diets, barrier creams etc. But it might turn out to be something completely different.

I would go for a biopsy. They don't always give definitive results, but mostly they are able to tell you whether its an allergic reaction, hormonal, fungal, cancer etc etc etc. Then you can work on ways to deal with it and know whether a Dermatologist is going to be required. I am sure that after all you've already done, it would be the next step by the Derm anyway. It's quite simple and something we often do just with some local anaesthetic and a little skin punch.