stormie

All of us at our clinic won't use the drop down menu options if its a oodle thing !! all three of us will type in the oodle X floodle, It really annoys me that all the major practice software has the designer dog names on the dropdown menus fifi I just assumed it had been added in there by past staff and wasn't installed, cause any time we add a new breed it asks us if we want to add it to the main list. And we have the ability to completely delete breeds from the menu. Which is helpful when staff think someone is coming in with an English Taffy

hehehe one of the first things I did when we took over our clinic was to go through the computer system and remove all the designer dog names and replace them with what they really are. Not sure how impressed the clients are when their reminders etc say Poodle X Lab but meh, not my problem!

I'm guessing that's the one. As no-one else has come forward to give the downside of this vaccine I would appreciate it if you'd elaborate on what your concerns are Erny. I have posted up the documents from one company which compares their annual from their triennial, numerous times here. There are more Parvo virus particles in the 3 yearly vaccine, than if you gave a dog 3 annual vaccines. So our point of view is why switch over to the registered 3 yearly vaccine, in the hope to reduce the amount of vaccines you are given, when you're essentially giving them more virus particles than you would if you just vacc'd every year with an annual.

It's an awful situation but one that IMO, is kindest to the dog. Dogs with extreme phobias can be very difficult to fix and often the phobias only get worse with time. My boss often tells me the heartbreaking story about the Dane he had to pts because it was so phobic of storms. It otherwise was a very lovely, calm dog, but his storm phobia was so horrific, he'd go into such a panic and cause himself much harm. I think the final straw was when they tried to crate him in the garage, but he busted out of his crate and put himself through a window in a mad panic to get out and escape. He hurt himself so bad they just couldn't let him suffer anymore with is phobia. I have total sympathy for people who have dogs with phobias. It's very difficult to get them out of that state of mind, and when they're as terrified as they are, all logic goes out the window and they are in a terrible panicked state of mind.

Thing is, BB, is that I'm one of those people who will, one day, again be a prospective buyer and I can say without a doubt, 100%, that I will be going with/staying with a breeder who has restrictions, limitations etc - everything you say people should stay away from. I have no problem with waiting for papers if I need to, because I'll have done my research into the breeder, have established a relationship and know I won't be getting 'duped'. And I can tell you I will be avoiding any breeder who puts all their puppies on main and sells to anything and anyone. We have enough breeders like that in our breed, who pump out puppies and put them all on main, feeding the BYB industry and amateur breeders. Stormie, having restrictions and limitations in place doesn't automatically determine these are practices of a great breeder. When I was searching for my new puppy 6 months ago, I was totally shocked with what was going on. and appeared worse than it was 3 years ago when purchasing my other boy, the restrictions over your own dog are escalating sometimes out of control, totally unreasonable restrictions. I found one litter that I liked, $1200 on limited, $3500 on main, some on joint ownership contracts and some they wouldn't provide the papers at all. There is plenty of funny business going on out there and you have to be careful when looking for a specific type of dog. The puppy I did buy had the better parentage and line breedings than the restricted litters, had pick of the boys and tested them 3 times. The difference was massive between my breeder and some that I had considered. I have a promising puppy, main registered, no restrictions with the papers on collection..........beautiful, just a really good experience in the whole process :D BB, I have tried to see your point of view in your posts but now you're just insulting people's intelligence. Don't think you most of us have all been around in the Purebred world long enough to know what determines a good, ethical breeder? And I think it's pretty rude that you're telling me that my personal view on the matter, as in what I want from my breeder, implies they are not ethical. I am well aware there are breeders out there who are not ethical. I see them all the time. I see the results of their breeding in our clinic on a daily basis. And if your idea of an ethical breeder is one who puts all their pups on the main reg, sells to anyone with little care of whether they will breed with it or not, then that's fine. That's your opinion and what you want from a breeder. It's not what I want from a breeder and who are you to tell me that the breeder I chose is therefore unethical. And who are you to tell me that my LIMITED REGISTER dog, who is a damn fine example of his breed and more to the standard than many MAIN REG. dogs out there, is of a lower standard and that I obviously got duped by my breeder. You say yourself that there are plenty of dodgy unethical breeders out there. So maybe, rather than just arguing for the sake of it, you can try to open your mind a little and see from other people's points of view just why some breeders are loath to put everything on the main reg. Talk to people of certain breeds and compare a few breeders and look at the difference in types. Pop in to our thread maybe and have a read of some of the problems some of our owners have had with poorly bred dogs with terrible confirmation leaving the dog in pain for the rest of its life. These types of breeders got their hands on some main reg dogs and bred them and continued to breed them with no idea what they were doing. They have no idea about confirmation, breeding genetics etc. So tell me why this breeder should be allowed to end up with a very well bred dog with great type, when you know they're going to breed the #$%^ out of it to exploit its lines, because they think the dog has some sort of magic wand and will produce beautiful puppies. Nope, this dog will be a complete waste because it will be bred to anything and everything, none of which will be improving the breed - quite the opposite really. The puppies will be average because no thought went into the breeding. So an otherwise lovely dog, that in the RIGHT hands could have produced some lovely puppies, has become a waste and a breeding machine, adding to the terribly conformed puppies already being produced. As for papers - yep, I got my papers with Orbit as a puppy. But would I have cared if I didn't? Nope. Because I knew there would be no chance of not getting my papers. I had 200% confidence in my breeder - she has her reputation to think of and was breeding for herself so why wouldn't she register the puppies. But hey, I did my research. I nearly got duped by a breeder but managed to pull out of the deal because I did research. If people thought of dogs as living things and not just an item they can go out and buy tomorrow, we wouldn't see a lot of the problems. Because people would go to dog shows, meet people in the breed, talk to people and find out what they need to know. But people don't do that. They want a puppy and decide they want one now. So they find someone who's prepared to sell them a pup at the drop of a hat. Trouble is, those breeders can so often be the 'farming' type just in it for the money, lying to people etc. So yeah, shame on the 'breeder' for their unethical approach, but shame on the buyer for not giving some thought into the life they are about to take home.

Well, he could only go by the photos really, and just now when I told him you were told phantom, he thought it a bit strange and probably not what he'd have thought, but again, he's not prodding and probing or anything. It's just a weird looking swelling but again, could have been the angle of the photos. If she's otherwise well and normal, it's unlikely to be anything bad, like they tied off something important (and believe me, this can happen!!). I wouldn't worry too much - if it gets bigger/worse etc then worry, but if the vet thinks its a phantom, then I'd say trust them and go with that. Not something i've ever seen with the swelling like that, but not to say it doesn't happen, because it can happen in people so why not!!

Hmmm... I've seen dogs with phantoms - we recently speyed a rescue Dane who was having a phantom at the time. From what you've described and from the photos it really doesn't look like a phantom, but then having just been desexed I guess it's possible. I hope they're right....

We did it and it didn't work, we live on Cortisone as many of his allergens are things we can not control. That would be an option for us but my dog is not tolerant of cortisone he gets incontinent and very depressed. I heard there is something called cyclosporin that some people are using, wonder how successful it is. Cyclosporin is great, but damn expensive!! There are a few minor side effects, such as a bit of inflammation of the gums, but that goes away as soon as you stop using it. In the 'lucky' cases, you can wean them down to just giving it twice a week which makes it more cost effective, but if you're unlucky like me, you need to give it every day. I get it in liquid form from a compounding pharmacy and it costs me $550 for 100ml - which is cost price. But, once you're on it, the itching, allergies etc stop, so you aren't spending a fortune on antihistamines, supplements, antibiotics etc etc. So it's a matter of weighing that all up. With the Immunotherapy, they say the success rate is about 70-80%, however the word success doesn't mean cure. So in 70-80% of cases you see a reduction of symptoms, but this can vary from getting off medication, to reducing medication. I think only something like 20% have a 'complete cure'

Thing is, BB, is that I'm one of those people who will, one day, again be a prospective buyer and I can say without a doubt, 100%, that I will be going with/staying with a breeder who has restrictions, limitations etc - everything you say people should stay away from. I have no problem with waiting for papers if I need to, because I'll have done my research into the breeder, have established a relationship and know I won't be getting 'duped'. And I can tell you I will be avoiding any breeder who puts all their puppies on main and sells to anything and anyone. We have enough breeders like that in our breed, who pump out puppies and put them all on main, feeding the BYB industry and amateur breeders.

wait up, so the patella is luxating???

I hope it's nothing serious ;)

Those Rat Zappers look awesome and much more humane that the slap or claw traps!

Any type of repair can faulter and I believe the TPLO or TTA's are much harder to deal with if they fail. I know the norm seems to be to have TPLO or TTA done on large breed dogs, but if done well with good equipment, the DeAngelis can work just as well. We do the DeAngelis on most of our repairs, as per clients wishes, and they are all rock solid. But then, our vet has been doing them routinely for over 20years and insists on using only the best and strongest materials. We've done Goldens, Rotties, Shepherds all with perfect results. And the most it usually comes to is about $1500. If you can find a good experienced vet, I wouldn't write off the DeAngelis technique. But if they're happy to pay a few grand, then go for the Specialist option.

Flank speys are still done the same way, taking everything out. They idea with the incision being smaller is because you're making the incision right where the ovary would be, so its easier to access. But truly, that's an enormous incision. We wouldn't even have an incision that big for a standard midline! On dogs that small we'd probably only have 2 stitches!! A vet I used to work with has no gone over to work in Hong Kong in a big clinic and I know they are made to do flank speys there. No idea why! Hope you get some answers tonight!! Goodluck!

im off to the vets again at 6.45pm so i will ask again but she said that "it looks like she might have done a cruciate" and that it was hard to tell?? well, the main way to diagnose is by feeling for draw. If its ruptured, you can move it, if its not, its solid. I'd want to be pretty sure that was the problem before having major surgery!

We just rested her and she eventually came good. But this was before I was nursing and if I knew what I knew now, I'd probably have had her operated on because I don't think it was fair for her to be so lame for so long. We just didn't understand really. As for the DeAngelis technique, lots of people will tell you its no good for bigger dogs, and the newer more expensive options are possibly better, however, as I said in my post, the surgery is only as good as your surgeon, as well as the post surgery care. We have done cruciate repairs on Samoyeds, Rotties etc with perfect results and the knees have stayed rock solid stable. I think it's odd that there's no draw in the knee, but they're still diagnosing a RAC based on xrays, when you can't see ligaments in xrays...

just so you know, you can't see ligaments on xrays

It can depend - the ones I've seen are usually gone within a couple of weeks, however they haven't been anywhere near the size of Banshee's (if thats what it is). Thing is really, it could be a number of things, from fluid from the incision area, a hernia which has also made its way down that way, to fluid accumulating from something completely different, like something wrong having been tied off inside! Its unfortunate they did a flank spey - particularly on a dark skinned, hairless dog, because it was obviously going to leave a scar. The other thing is, from what my vet is telling me now, is that the general idea behind a flank spey is that you don't need to have a very big incision and can usually be closed up with one stitch - so looks like a pretty big incision they've done on her there!

Yep - our Golden Retriever ruptured both her cruciates at different times and neither were operated on. The vet told us it wasn't necessary and she just had a course of Cartrophen after each rupture. She eventually was able to walk and walked quite well, but as she got older her legs weren't so good. I'd get another opinion - we do cruciate repairs all the time and the most I've seen it come to is $1500. Some might say that the method we use (DeAngelis) is old school, but really, the technique is only going to be as good as the person who's operating and our vet is very experienced in Orthopedics and I've never seen one of his repairs fail (and if it did, he'd repair again for no charge). I've seen a Great Dane that had his cruciate repaired with the DeAngelis technique and you would never had known he'd had surgery. I've seen others who have had the expensive options done by specialists fail, and not be able to be corrected.

My guess is its a bit of a seroma from fluid that has drained down to that area due to gravity and pooled there. If so, it should just disappear but I'd still go with getting it checked to be sure.

she won't be pregnant as you're right, they take the uterus and the ovaries out. A bit of swelling is normal around the incision area but that amount of swelling I've never seen before and you would expect any swelling to have gone by now. I've never seen a flank spey either so probably can't really help much there... There's a scar, so they've operated, but I'd be taking her somewhere to find out exactly what the swelling is. Don't want to freak you out, but we've had animals come to us that were supposedly desexed by another vet, only to discover a pair of perfectly good testicles there!

sorry, I think you misunderstood. I understand how vaccines work and why we have the schedules that we do. But the more common vaccines usually require 8,12 and 16wk shots because we don't know when the maternal antibodies are dropping off, so we vacc at this age to ensure they are covered, but if the antibodies from mum are still in their system, they render the vaccine useless. But the new generation vaccines claim that you can finish at 10wks, regardless of what the maternal antibodies levels are because these vaccines over power or over ride the maternal vaccine to give the pup its own antibodies. So I want to know how these vaccines do this, thats all. Titre testing isn't that expensive if you shop around, either. We can do it for $85

Because BB doesn't WANT an educated response. BB wants to argue. BB knows ALL of the answers. I would hasten a guess that the combined knowledge base in this thread would add up to over a century of experience, yet BB who it would seem is NOT an experienced dog breeder knows more than all of us combined. Ok, what about people like me? I want to know what's so funny about what was said? I don't know an awful lot about showing, so I'm not sure if everyone's laughing because of the use of the term 'disqualifying fault' or just because of BB's attitude???

Rather than all the giggly emoticons, why doesn't someone give an educated response to BBs posts...

:D Are you saying that show quality means the potential to win a show :D It's not about the potential to win, any main registered pure breed is eligible for show entry in most situations and the judging determines the better examples of the breed. BB - in our breed (Danes) there are no disqualifying faults. There are, however, unaccepted colours, which I think is what you were getting at.