stormie

Basically it's just cutting a chunk of the ear off, say about half, whilst they are young and then using a particular taping method to hold them erect so they eventually stay up.

I believe the crop they did for hunting purposes was quite different to what you see today. I think a lot of more the ear was taken off and I don't think they went through the whole taping process that happens these days. Here's a picture of the early type hunting Dane. Quite different to the cropped ears we see today

Because it's unnecessary? It serves no purpose other than to 'look good'.

Agreed. Big floppy ears all the way

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it has something to do with their organs etc working harder due to their size? Being the 'extreme' of their species, things wear out quicker? They start of small and grow rapidly to a size much bigger than they started - perhaps that's somehow relevant? But then with that theory, it doesn't make sense as to why larger parrots live longer than smaller parrots.

I'm so going to make one of those for our notice board at work

I flew Orbit on a Qantas Link plane when flying him back from Mildura.

Actually, often its the sicker ones who take longer to pass than the healthier ones when being pts, because often their body isn't functioning as normal so it takes longer for the lethabarb to travel through the body. It is just a GA, but very concentrated, so if he didn't give enough it's possible the pup could go to sleep and then wake up, like it's had a GA. By the sounds of it, they were possibly skimping and using very, very little. But still sounds strange

I'm glad his prognosis is good, but if your home is a non smoking home and so was/in his parents, where has the second hand smoke come from?

I liked a soft martingale for Orbit as a puppy - being young and silly he would occasionally have little tantrums on a walk where he'd suddenly stop and pull backwards, so a martingale worked well there is it couldn't really slip off

My mum smokes and Orbit lived around her during the first part of his life. He tested positive to cigarette smoke with his allergy tests. Not sure how correct it was, but I always used it against her to make her smoke well away from the backyard!!

I would think $250-300 should be the price for a basic scale and polish. If teeth need to come out then obviously the price goes up, but I personally think $500 is a bit much But best to find out what $500 involves as they may insist on pre-anaesthetic bloods, fluids etc which all push the price up. Some of the prices I've heard being quoted for routine dental cleaning is outrageous. We had a client come to us with a copy of their bill from their previous vet for a basic scale and polish, coming very close to $1000.

+1 And these days, anaesthesia is very safe and in fact I would prefer anaesthesia over sedation in my boy, if that makes you feel better!

If it helps, generally speaking, Demodex doesn't usually make them itchy - it's more just symptoms of hair loss. But obviously there are some cases where there are reactions to the mites which can cause more severe symptoms. The fact you mentioned from November does coincide with the 'allergy season' but could also mean that a plant has sprung up which is irritating to them like the wandering jew like you mentioned. As for the knee, whilst you are right in that you usually see contact problems in less hair covered areas, don't discount it based on that. For example, my boy is pretty allergic and is itchy all over. The allergies they have aren't always contact, so they can inhale pollens, absorb them through the skin etc and have a general all over reaction, causing itching all over. Sometimes too, one area may have just encountered a plant and become slightly itchy, which they have a chew at and then make worse and results in them licking more because of the damage they caused than being itchy, if you know what I mean. Again I'll use my boy as an eg - he gets itchy feet sometimes and will have a bit of a chew and can maybe go a bit deep and get some blood. He then goes nuts licking at the blood and causes a bigger wound. So whilst he's not itchy there anymore, he still has areas of rawness because he just won't leave them alone. If it's itchy, then it's going to be a reaction to a plant/insect or an allergy. If he's just licking at it, being on a joint its possible it may be a little sore? But from the history you give of previous rashes in the same place, I'd go with that for starters!

I would bet my life that she's licking due to pain. I understand that there are some scary stories out there from NSAIDS, but if you look at the overall population of dogs who use them in their senior years, the percentage of dogs who have serious side effects is actually quite low. Cartophen is not an anti inflammatory or pain reliever. It's not that dissimilar to giving glucosamine. But in a dog with serious degeneration, it's not going to do an awful lot of the pain - the damage has already been done. IMO, it's time for NSAIDS. There are some that seem to have fewer side effects like Previcox, but Metacam and even Rimadyl are both good in healthy dogs. As for the nerve in the front leg, I can only think she was talking about the radial nerve? Dogs can suffer different degrees of damage to it which can lead to paralysis of the front leg, but it can repair in some cases if the nerve isn't completely severed. But whilst it can be temporary, it's still a gradual recovery so I don't believe something that would just happen in a matter of seconds?? I've never heard of touching a nerve which results in a dog falling over. There is no simple access to nerves to generally have that sort of effect - nature hid them away so they we didn't always fall over when we touched things.

A lot of people talk about protein in growth but I personally don't follow that. All the Vet Nutrition books I've read say that it's not the protein levels that cause the problems, but the calorie in take, as well as unbalanced calcium/phosphorus. I agree with everything 4Kelpies said

Explains why it was so hard to get and that supplies are only just now filtering back through the chain. Hadn't heard anything about it being available in supermarkets - would've thought it would be too expensive for that market. That's interesting. We stock it and went through the supply issues with them. We were told it was simply that there wasn't enough stock being imported to the country to meet the demand. We would get the dates of the shipments arrival, but if we didn't order at the exact time, it would all be gone within a few hours and we'd miss out. The wholesaler who deal with it in Sydney (and maybe even NSW?) is terrible. They don't back order anything if what you order is not available. So for example if we put our order in on a Monday and the shipment arrived Tuesday, we got nothing, because when our order was processed there was no stock and so it was discarded. It's a nightmare. The supermarket thing is news to us too. Something I'll email our rep about on Monday though for sure

Get yourself a referral to a Dermatologist from your regular vet. The sooner you get started on a plan, the sooner you'll know the cause. I wouldn't go changing the diet around either - if it turns out he's got allergies, he could also have food allergies, which they get to things they've previously eaten. If you start changing the diet now, it will make a food elimination diet much harder. In terms of plants, the ones you see on the internet tend to be plants that cause a reaction to dogs. For eg Wandering Jew is an irritant to all dogs. When a dog is allergic, it develops an abnormal immune response to just about anything. So they can be allergic to pollens, which are floating in the air, on the grass etc, or to the grass itself, to dustmites, flies, fleas, fungus - a whole range of things. My boy has allergies and he was itchy from the day we bought him home at 9wks of age. He's allergic to a multitude of things and will never be cured.

Some lovely stories. I had a strange but lovely moment with Orbit this afternoon. We had just finished a good game of tug and chasies and we were sitting down on the lawn facing each other. I was actually thinking at the time how he sees me has his pal - we play together, sleep together, do everything together. Anyways, I just started talking to him about random stuff and he was really listening! He was looking at me so intently. Then he crawled closer and flopped down on his side against me and I just stroked him and kept talking. Then, he did the strangest thing. He rolled over on his back and I leant over to rub his chest and he stretched out his front legs and fully put them around me and pulled me down to him. It was amazing. He's put a paw over me before when we're laying next to each thing, but this was different. So we had a full on hug! But then he must have decided it was so lovey dovey and kicked me in the stomach and walked away

What Ruralpug said. And also, keep in mind for a dog to be allergic to something, their body has had to encounter it before. So if he's not had the antler before it would be incredibly unlikely to then have a reaction to it

I would have this worked up - could very easily be a heart problem that so far is only causing problems when it has to work harder. I would think most regular vets can do an ECG as a start and then look at a referral to a Specialist.

Things might have changed, but I think when we looked into it at our old clinic, we had to pay an annual fee to GE to have the Care Credit option?? I remember it sounding like a really good idea in terms of clients, but there was something about it which made it not so great for the Vet. But as I said, things may have changed.

I think you'll have a hard time trying to get it for that price, unfortunately. I tried sourcing it a while ago and didn't end up going through with it because it was so expensive. I can't even get lamb or beef for that price from an pet meat supplier

I think it becomes a problem when the dog becomes so distressed it risks harming itself. Our two family Goldens were storm phobic. One would find a corner to pant in whilst the other would go to the back shed. Though the second one eventually got worse as she got older and started breaking out, to just run. At this point, we resorted to drugs to help her. I've heard of similar stories involving larger dogs hurting themselves. One was a Dane who was so bad eventually started putting itself through windows to escape. He got pts because he was such a danger to himself and other people :D

Clicker training worked for us. Orbit was never a big fan of having it done, but after we did some work with the clicker and he understood the concept, I used it to teach him to keep still and that it wasn't actually so bad. I just started with handling his paws first then moved on to toes. He was fine with this but it still reinforced what he was doing was good. Then started just touching his nails, then touching his nails with the clippers. I got him to target the clippers too (eg touch them with his nose) so he saw them as a positive thing. Eventually I moved on to clipping a small bit of nail and the sound make a click and he waited for his treat! Now, I just have to get out the clippers and ask for each foot and he gives them to me. princess. It was pretty easy really and he learnt pretty quick. And if you look at the pics of him in my sig you can see he's hardly the sharpest looking dog in the world! And now he's so tough that even if I go a bit too far, he doesn't even flinch!