stormie

Do you have any further info on that? Like I said, AFAIK there are regulations that have to be adhered to, and free of parasites is one of them. If there are abbatoirs not sticking to the regulations maybe someone should dob them in. I think there might be complications with the bunny thing wrt land zoning? I'm sure I read about this one time. I guess a lot of reptile owners breed their own rats etc. There might be animal ethics issues as well. SAS sorry for totally going off topic - FYI my butcher is getting info and prices on goat & bunny - will have it tomorrow (THURS) OK for Corvus & all the people that think "pet food" is no different to human grade - here are a few disturbing quotes from the standard. 5.1 Pet meat raw material shall be sourced from: (a) animals slaughtered at an abattoir or poultry abattoir and passed as fit for human consumption (b) animals slaughtered at an abattoir or poultry abattoir and determined in whole or part by an inspector to be suitable for pet meat © animals processed at a knackery (d) game animals passed as fit for human consumption (e) wild animals harvested in the field (f) fallen stock, where permitted by a controlling authority (g) field-dressed carcases of large, feral animals where permitted by a controlling authority. 6.10.1 Fallen stock may only be processed in accordance with the approval of the relevant controlling authority. 6.10.2 Carcases shall be inspected before processing and any carcases observed to have any infectious disease or abnormal condition which may render the carcase unfit for pet meat shall be directed for rendering or other approved method of treatment. 6.10.3 Carcases of fallen stock shall all be protected from contamination and deterioration by whatever means is necessary to maintain standards of hygiene during holding and transport before their arrival at a knackery. 6.10.4 Carcases of fallen stock must be processed within a suitable time after death to avoid putrefaction. The above extracts were taken from the CSIRO - standards for raw pet meat in Australia The Appendix B Post-mortem observations and dispositions is reason enough for me to never feed Pet Grade meats http://www.publish.csiro.au/Books/download.cfm?ID=6180 (INTERESTING READING!) A very disturbing PDF for people who insist that feeding their dog dried/processed food is a "great diet" is found here: Produced By the Pet Food Industry Assoc of Aust http://www.pfiaa.com.au/site/files/ul/data_text30/442896.pdf Just my opinion but I do not find ANY LEVELS OF MELAMINE (2.5ppm) Acceptable!!! I don't get it - these regulations you have just posted re pet grade meat sound ok to me?

With regards to the breeding of blues in Staffys, I realise that lots are doing it for the $$ these days, but are there ethical breeders out there who are trying to produce quality blues that are worthy of being bred/shown?

I give Orbit the huge big marrow bones (NOT cut in half) but I take them away once he's gnawed the softer 'knuckle' ends off the bone.

Blues can suffer Colour Dilution Alopecia, though it's relatively uncommon. And just for the record, I would say allergies are just as common in other coloured Staffy's. In saying that though, from what I've learnt on DOL regarding Blue Staffy's, I'd probably stay away from them due to so many of them being bred for the $$.

I think if it caused any sort of continuing pain, it wouldn't be done as extensively as it is. Orbit was back to normal a few days following his and has never showed signs of pain or discomfort when moving around.

Agree with this. If pain meds helped last time, perhaps this is something that might be required more often?

Bit of a shameless plug, but we're in Pennant Hills which isn't that far. Our clients really like Ian - he's only got the animals best interests at heart and will go right out of his way to help out people and their pets. We've taken up the new vacc protocol too and now stocking Eagle Pack Holistic. I should mention the clinic was previously owned by another vet, but he's since retired and Ian bought the place and moved in with his family, so its under completely new management in case other people knew of the previous vet!

Ah yep, we deal with those quite often. They become lick granulomas sometimes. Orbit has sensitive skin and whenever he'd been clipped, had an IV put in, or any little nicks on his legs, he licks and licks at them and turns them into dirty great big infected ulcer type things. It could have started because the wound got infected and he was licking at it, or he could have been licking at it simply because it was a wound and now infected it. They say too, that with things like that, when they lick them the brain releases endorphins, so it can become a habit to keep licking because it makes them feel good!

Was just doing some research and found this?? I wonder if the reports of dogs who have torn their tackings, were dogs bloating for the first time and tearing a surgery that was done during desexing, or whether they were dogs that were bloating a second time, after more recent surgery from a previous bloat? (if that makes sense :D ) When we talked about it with our specialist, he advised against the laparoscope method as he said in his experience it wasn't as strong and could fail. I think this method is used a lot more in the USA, though.

Interesting to hear some are advising against it. It's still the number one thing done AFTER a dog has bloated, to prevent bloat a second time, so not sure why it would be any different to do it before it bloats the first time. I wonder if this means the same people who are advising against a prophylactic pexy are also advising against a pexy post bloating? I found Jeds survey pretty interesting - from memory most dogs that bloated went on to have the surgery and I didn't see any that bloated a second time post surgery?

I had it done on Orbit - its called a Gastropexy. There are a few different methods of tacking the stomach and we chose the 'belt loop' style. We discussed the surgery with a specialist surgeon who encouraged us to do it, mentioning the bloat rate in Danes is something around the 1 in 4 mark. As Staranais said, it doesn't prevent bloat, but it can pevent the torsion which is generally the ugly part. If a dog bloats, this is the common surgery to do, but the dog is usually pretty sick by this stage, so its a risky anaesthetic and surgery. So we decided to do it at desexing, when he was a young, healthy boy. It is done quite commonly over in the USA. I have some pics of another Dane we did if you want to see? They're a bit gory though!!

But where do you get them from? I've found Rabbit reallu hard to get. I've seen it on coles occasionally, but its damn expensive!! I think from memory it was like $30 for a 1kg rabbit. I vote we breed them in your backyard, sas.... Or, we plan a visit to Mona Vale Golf Course one time soon - it's teeming with bunnies!

Gily are either of them desexed?

hahaha I have been thinking about this... and goats too! But is it legal to just breed your own bunnies and then kill them yourself? Not that I think I could, but I'm sure it'd be against the law maybe?

insydney - what breed or size dog are you referring to? The age by which a dog 'matures' varies greatly amongst the size of the breed.

It possibly resembles a warm nest? Orbit sleeps under the blankets with me in winter and snuggles in to me - I'd love to believe it was because he loves me, but I'm sure he's just using me for my body warmth!

Also having a Dane who can't have chicken, I get why sas is looking for 'pet prices'. I used to buy my mince from the abattoir - never phased me as I figure dogs will bury bones or leave them and have a chew on them when there's maggots crawling in them, so food that's been chopped up on the floor is hardly going to be a problem. As for the state of the animals, everything was wormed once it entered the property and was actually fed up prior to being killed. I also routinely worm my dog, so parasites are pretty much covered there.

I second this request. I'd also settle for other weird random meats, like camel, alpaca, rabbit, crocodile etc - just on the off chance anyone knows a croc hunter Failing this, can anyone tell me how to get a shooters license?

Not entirely sure regarding who can actually stick the needle into the dog and inject the vaccine, possibly this is something anybody can do, however, only those signed off by a registered vet are acknowledged.

I believe those that you've listed are all optional registries that at the time of microchipping, an owner can elect to go on, or at a later date. I believe it is the NSW Companion Animals Register that she would be registered on. I also believe that detail updating is done with local council - if you didn't get a transfer of ownership form or anything stating her chip number, you may need to have her scanned by a vet and a 'Verification of Existing Chip' form completed. You then put your details on that and take it to the local council who will update it on the database.

tlc I'm so sorry to hear that, how awful for you and your family. One thing though, and I really hope you don't mind me suggesting this, but I think you may have been given misleading information, as when an animal is put on fluids, none of it goes through their digestive tract; it just goes straight into the blood, so there's no way the fluid from the IV could have filled her tummy. High fat in the blood is typical of pancreatitis which unfortunately, can be fatal and the only real treatment is IV fluids and support. I understand how this would have been so traumatic for you and I am also saddened that the information you were given, which sounds odd, is also what has contributed to your lack of faith in vets....

You never know, she may have been having a slumber party! Seriously though, and maybe we're just really awesome but I can assure you when we have patients in hospital/boarding they aren't frantically searching for their owners. Most of them are too busy sussing out the new areas and smells and seem to have an 'out of sight, out of mind' concept when it comes to their owners.

Maybe she did get a fair amount of fluids from the IV, which actually perked her up and made her feel better, enough so to make her rip her line out and undertake in the break out! And had she been at home without any fluids, may have deteriorated without the fluids and been worse this morning. I totally understand you would be upset and frustrated to be told what happened - I would be annoyed too if I called to see how Orbit was, to be told he had been out and about unsupervised in the clinic. Try not to be too upset by it - she's obviously well enough to have done that, so maybe try to have a bit of a chuckle at having a potential Houdini on your hands! They are still animals after all and no one could have predicted that this would happen.

I'm the opposite, and I work in a clinic! When Orbit has been sick I bring him straight here, put him on a drip in a cage and he stays here. My boss does live here but he isn't watching him 24/7. I've never seen or heard of an animal escaping its cage before. Yep, some pull their lines out, but its not that often. I would say too that 90% of dogs and cats, when put in their hospital cages, are quite happy to lay down and sleep. Personally, I think if its not a life or death situation where the patient needs intensive care monitoring, there shouldn't really be a problem with the patient staying overnight. Being cage confined is helpful and you also don't have worried owners stressing the animals out even more with their worrying. If something is sick enough to need 24/7 watching, then it should be at an overnight emergency service. This is why I think crate training is so important. There are going to be times when pets need to stay in hospital, no question.

Haha Rappie that's all so true.. But with these people, the dog had just always had bad ears so they just didn't realise they were as bad as they were. I think the dog had just accepted the pain, so it really didn't show a lot of discomfort other than an occasional head shake. They had some other problems which took priority and because they dog was still 'happy' they just put him on the back burner, so to speak. But, they are doing the right thing now and are going to a specialist. Will be an expensive ordeal for them but alteast the dog will get some relief.