stormie

How awful, Rocco. But good work for helping the little man out! I avoid ox tail bones with Orbit - I find them a bit too small and not a good shape for chewing. I think he'd try to swallow them whole. I think feeding raw, its one of the risks you take that you are increasing the risk of something going wrong. One of our Golden Retrievers died after eating a raw chicken frame - she mustn't have chewed it enough and it obstructed the path out of her stomach. She vomited aspirated some of her vomit which buggered up her lungs and she wasn't able to breath for herself enough so she was pts. She was just very unfortunate. I love turkey necks for the big dogs. They're big enough to need a good chew and the actual neck bones are small enough to not really cause a problem even if large bits are swallowed whole.

Awesome so far thanks! What about general boys call names? 'Sparky' isn't definite if they come up with something better... and also original...

I know and I can't believe I forgot my camera today! But I did just put up a pic in the Dane thread :D

This is what I don't understand, with the whole sending blood to America. If they dog is still producing the 'normal' levels of T4, then you won't see clinical signs, right? The clinical signs we see from Hypothyroidism occur when the T4 drops low enough. So if your dog has skin condition and your 'standard' test comes back with normal levels, then it's unlikely to be a thyroid issue causing the problem. Even if the thyroid has been destroyed to 50% due to autoimmune problems, if its still producing normal levels of T4 then you won't see clinical signs. Like Rappie, I see the importance of it for screening breeding dogs, but I don't see the relevance for testing every dog with a skin issue.

My boss's family are officially the proud owners of a gorgeous little black Newfoundland puppy as of yesterday. Pup is still yet to be named and they also get to chose the registered name. So thought we'd put it to DOLers who usually come through with the goods for both Reg. names and call names. Puppy was born the day after Valentines Day, if that helps, and the prefix is 12 letters long. They're wanting something original. Two of their kids want either Sparky or Shadow, so incorporating that into the reg name somehow might work?

its funny reading about all the dogs who lived such long lives eating supermarket brands! we had 3 live to 16. All dogs were outside dogs in the latter parts of their lives. 1 x Golden Retriever - mostly ate Pedigree/Pal but had dinner scraps here and there and occasionally mum would cook up big pots of rice, lamb and liver etc for her. But basic dry food diet was Pedigree Meaty Bites. She never had any major health problems. Was pts due to ongoing spinal arthritis which one day made her immobile. 1 x Golden Retriever - owned by my step dad who worked for Friskies for most of her life. She ate whichever brand of dog food Friskies made, and after merging with our family, ate what the Golden above ate. Other than rupturing both cruciates, and a bout of geriatric vestibular syndrome, was otherwise healthy. She was pts on the operating table, after eating a chicken carcass one night which caused an obstruction when it wouldnt pass out of her stomach. She had vomited in the night and aspirated some, so when we tried to operate, couldn't maintain oxygen saturation without being breathed for, so she was pts. 1 x JRT - fed same as second GR. She was always very healthy. She died after a very hot sydney day, when a tumour she had had growing in her liver, ruptured and she bled out. She died in the car on the way to the vet.

Nothing wrong with bathing weekly. But before telling her to change diets etc, suggest she see a Dermatologist who will guide her through a PROPER food elimination diet first, to rule in or out any food allergies before she starts feeding just raw, otherwise is could be a pointless etc Westies are unfortunately known for their skin allergies, so if she wants to investigate further, she should see a Derm.

I hope you get some answers and that Lottie gets better soon

I think the age at which they're usually done, there isn't a significant amount of growth yet to happen and nothing that happens all that rapidly. For example, I would say most owners of giants wait till the 12months mark for desexing - there is still obviously some growth after this but its much slower and nothing that would affect the surgery.

I'd ask for a fecal float to check for worms. We had a couple of clients whose dogs had an awful whipworm problem, even though they were wormed routinely. After discussing it with drug companies etc, seems there is a bit of resistance developing.

just added the link to my previous post

You can buy dried fish to use as treats. I'm pretty sure there's a few DOL members who could supply you with dried fish? eta: LINKY - try here

Tyra yes we have done all the allergy testing/elimination diets etc under Dermatologist advice. We know what our dogs are allergic to, hence the need for NOVEL meat sources. Two of us have allergic Danes - doesn't exactly represent the whole breed does it? But the reason our breed has allergies, the same as almost any other breed, is genetics. We are aware of the pinned thread - there isn't anyone listed there who supplies game meat like goat, rabbit etc, hence why this thread was started. Thanks Nekhbet - perhaps we should go join a shooters club! I actually considered posting my request on a shooters forum but was worried it might be inappropriate?! Thanks for the info on Rabbit Starvation too - interesting!! I actually need leaner meats as Orbit, being on his medication, is a bit more prone to pancreatitis/stomach upsets with fatty meals. We're on mostly turkey now, with a lamp flap every few days. I just want to be able to find him some different meat sources to give a bit more variety. It's amazing how we have such a feral rabbit and apparently camel problem, yet their meat is so hard to source and is so expensive!!!

Oh that's no good... Orbit had a similar episode a few months ago. Just started one night with projectile vomiting that wouldn't stop. Took him to work (vet) that night and he was flat as a tack the next day. Even going outside to the toilet took it out of him and he'd just lay down on the ground outside. The vomiting stopped after about 24 hours but it still took him a good 3 days to recover. It's so awful when they're sick. His second night in hospital I ended up coming in to have a sleep over with him. He was so happy to see me, he spent the night with me on the bed on the floor....

Maybe not entirely we generally hear of it every 1-2 years and this usually originates from the western suburbs.....perhaps it is the Disease Watchdog or perhaps it is a slow news week. I was under the impression the Disease Watchdog had something to do with border protection stats as well, but I will go to work and read the info thoroughly. quite possibly. I just remember our Rep coming by and talking about it in relation to the vaccine protocol issue... from memory I think she said they were hoping a uni student would use the information for one of their studies? so not sure whether they themselves are making any commitments to process the data and determine anything from it - will probably depend what the results say I would think!

There was a youtube series posted not long ago which talked about how dogs can determine emotions via our facial expressions, so I think if they are that in tune with our faces, they can differentiate faces. I've done things with Orbit where I've walked into a room with a bag or something over my head and he's barked at me, but as soon as I took the bag off he realised it was me. Try it! I wholeheartedly believe dogs recognise different faces.

"Disease Watchdog Database" .... good idea. Is that just new? Yeah came about a couple of months ago. Actually though, was started by a company who wants to use the information to prove that vaccines should be done annually

The cat thing isn't a myth - they also help with some aspects of balance too. Found this:

Thanks so much for that!! That's not a bad price for turkey - pretty sure my supplier gets the turkey for me from Inghams - he told me they only do turkey one day a week I think? I actually emailed Inghams to see if they could supply my turkey direct but they told me they don't do that At the moment turkey is the only 'safe' food for him, and I have that sorted. I saw croc meat at my local markets (though about $30/kg!) but I might get some anyway just to suss it out. It's amazing how expensive rabbit is, seeing there's so many ferals around! Might do as you say, and talk to some local butchers and see what they can do.

just showed my vet - he said same thing and its called a kerion.

so, when's the next hunt on then?

oooh woops! See if there was anything for Tas.. nope nothing in tas in the last month!

In the last month, there have been 8 reported cases in Warrnambool, 4 in Melton West, and 10 in surrounding Melb suburbs. I don't have access to specific case details so the 8 in Warrnambool could be a litter in one vet. Will keep an eye on it though and see if the reports increase. I should add, these are only from clinics/pounds etc that have signed up to the disease watchdog database, there could be plenty more cases that aren't on this database. eta parvo outbreaks in aus over the past month...

Thanks Tyra, but you don't really know anything about me or what I do for my dog, so no need for the 'lucky dogs' comment. If you'd like to discuss 'pet meat', perhaps you could start another topic, but this one is about sourcing novel meats for our allergic dogs.

This article is mostly related to commercial pet foods, not raw meat...