stormie

Sorry Erny I should have clarified - urticaria is just the technical term for hives Zayder you are so lucky! I dread any bouts of hives because they almost always turn into crusty staphs which in turn the hair falls out from and we go moth eaten. If I can get on top of things in the beginning though, we can cope. He's mildly hivey at the moment which sucks. But good news is we just had 5 days off pred thanks to cyclosporin! Not so good today, but not terrible, so 1 dose of pred to get things back under control. Has anyone used the Convenia long acting AB injection? Porp had a really bad week last week, needing daily pred which still barely touched the sides. Naturally he ended up with pustules all down his thighs, flanks and under arms. We had a spare 5ml (just what he needed!!) of the Convenia and thought what the hell, lets do it. I'm not usually a fan of any type of slow release injections, but I'd just had enough so thought bugger it. Pleased to say his skin skin/coat is looking better than ever - more so than what the oral AB's generally do!! YAY!!

That is extreme weight loss Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of it soon. Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, from what I know, often results in terrible diarrhoea, but it can be diagnosed with a blood test so worth a shot! How old is she?

Sign me up!! sign me up!! That's interesting Erny. I've never seen or heard of anything like that before. Have you had his liver enzymes checked or an ultrasound to get more info as to why the liver isn't functioning properly? So is it EPI? My only experience with canine urticaria is purely that of an allergic reaction - either contact or inhaled, so would be interested to hear more! Urticaria is seemingly always followed by a staph outbreak, due to the inflammation and irritation in the skin breaking barriers etc. Also, some dogs are allergic to staph and can break out in hives during staph outbreaks, so that could be something to investigate to? Do the hives clear up on antibiotics?

There should be no problem in having SASH fwd your history etc onto another clinic. It's when clients seek copies of things for themselves when you can run into problems, because the clinic owns the documents and does not need to pass them to the client. If you want to go and get a second opinion from elsewhere, why not just tell SASH and ask the info to be sent? Why do you need to access it specifically?

My vet has said the same thing. I am still confused about the triennial vaccine though, as some information seems to suggest that it is just 3x the dose of the annual one - and I can't see the point of tripling the dose???? Maybe stormie can help clear this one up. Ive also heard that a triennual vaccine like nobivac dhp contains over 3 times the amount of MLV particles compared to the old annual ones. yep that's right - for the parvo componant in particular. I posted up a brochure a few times, if you do a search for comparison with my username you should find it. But, I don't know what the significance is between the amount of particles in the vaccines. The annual was 10 to the power of 5 and the new one 10 to the power of 7. so that's 100,000 compared to 10,000,000 particles. But this may be a really small difference for all I know, in the whole particles thing

My understanding is that the vet hospital owns those documents and can refuse to hand them over directly the the client if they wish. We will give clients xrays to take with them to a referral, but they must bring them back to us (we need to keep such things as part of our records). I would think a specialist centre could give you a copy of the xrays on a CD for you to take and should be able to fax/send all history on to another vet for you.

Daisy we are in Pennant Hills. But, if you are in a higher risk area, it would be something I'd want to think about before changing over. This concept kind of messes with my head a bit, because either the vaccine covers for 3 years or it doesn't, so why should it matter whether you are in a higher risk situation if your dogs have immunity? But, the AVA does say those in higher risk environments should consider staying with annuals. Have you considered titre testing? I just worked out how to configure RxWorks so that all our core vaccine certificates show coverage for 3 years! YAY!!! (don't laugh at me, I'm new to RwWorks!! )

Silverblue I trialled Fitergol a number of years ago for a geriatric Golden who was going a bit senile. It didn't do a lot for her though and we ended up trying Clomicalm which really helped. Good on you for doing the best by your girl! We discharged a little dog from hospital just yesterday that's now taking 6 different medications for his heart. When he first came in, he could barely walk and he had one of the worst ECG's I've ever seen. His heart could (and probably should have!) stopped at any second. 2 days in hospital and a new drug later, his owners couldn't believe that change in him; he was bouncing around and his ECG was virtually normal. I personally think so long as both dog and owner are comfortable and not in any pain or distress, then it's more than fair to continue on.

Most dogs and cats won't show any signs of ill effects from annual vaccines. But, there is a slight growing concern about vaccines and the potential link to immune related diseases. Basically, research is showing the vacc lasts atleast 3 years, so it's really an issue of if this is the case, why do it annually? Yes - it applies to the feline F3 vaccine, but not to the non core vaccines like Fel Leuk, Aids, etc

Not being a pain at all! You're right, Kennel Cough is not a core vaccination and still needs to be done annually if you elect to have your dog vaccinated against it. So for example, our clients who still want the KC vaccine will come in annually for that vaccine, but only every 3 years for the C3. (the KC vaccines are seperate injections to the C3). It's interesting isn't it, Sandgrubber. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere on the AVA site that same recommendation - the KC injection/intranasal 2 weeks prior to boarding and that in fact the KC vaccine probably only really lasts 8 months. Laeral - our previous boss wouldn't think about it either. His attitude was the same as your vet - the vaccine label said annually so that's what he'd do. No amount of me producing information from the AVA or anything was going to change his mind. He figured he'd lose too much money from annual visits. The way I see it, if the vet is honest enough and open enough with clients, they will stay loyal. My new boss (we were both employed at the same clinic prior to his family buying the new clinic and running it himself and taking me with them) is one of those really great vets who genuinly isn't it the job for the money and clients love that. We are averaging just over 1 new client here every day, which is pretty impressive really. Obviously it's early days and we've only just changed the protocol, but I only see us getting busier. He keeps up with the latest information and passes it on the clients whenever he can.

Off label as in, not going by the dosage instructions on the label (which for most vaccines will say yearly). The first release we got from the AVA said that kennels should NOT be dictating a different recommendation to vets. However, being a privately run business, like vets, they are allowed to accept and reject whatever they like. They already do it now with the types of KC vaccines. We discuss the matter with all our clients first prior to being done, so those who board regularly need to check with their kennels whether they are accepting the new protocol. http://avacms.eseries.hengesystems.com.au/...ContentID=14289 Definition of core vaccine:

That would be cool!!

I'm curious as I've been told by a vet that the "new" protocols are only for *some* vaccines. I have been told that the Canine Cough vaccine is recommended to be given every 6 months under the new guidelines - is this correct? Nope wrong. Yes there are vacc's registered for 3 yearly use, but the AVA have said that ALL core vacc's are likely to also last 3 years. They specifically state that the new protocol will likely mean administering vacc's as an 'off label' dose. Go to the AVA's website - plenty of info there! I just printed out a few pages to put in the waiting room

Great to get some more media coverage in this. We switched our clinic to the new protocol when we took over from the new owner and 99% of owners have appreciated it. We've had a few who were not so sure and opted to continue annuals, but mostly, we've had a pleasing response. I was peaved recently though, after discussing the new protocol with a client on her annual visit, to have her return a week later to have the vacc done anyway. Seems her son's girlfriend is a vet nurse at another clinic and told our client that what we told her re 3 yearly vaccines didn't sound like a very good idea at all, so she came back to have it done. I think I might look at printing out some of the statements from the AVA as well as the news reports to have on hand in the waiting room for people to read for themselves.

We didn't do intradermal - no way he could have made it through the drug with-holding time you need. We did the SPOT test and the HESKA test which both matched, so had immuno made up based on those results. He's onto the maintenance dosing now and we haven't really seen any improvement, hence why we went onto cyclosporin. He does get inflamed gums from the cyclosporin which gives him slightly stinky breath, but I'd prefer that than the Hyper A symptoms from too much cortisone. We've been lucky in that he hasn't had too many major side effects from cortisone, mostly cause he's managed so well, but I do notice subtle changes when he gets longer breaks on it.

Yep that's him! It's become a bit of a balancing act in a way, but I'm leaning towards just accepting daily doses of cyclosporin. 1 day off it and he flares right up and needs pred again. I tried to get him down to maint dose recently, which resulted in a huge flare up with him needing daily pred for a few days. Back on the daily cyclosporin now and he's been 3 days without pred. Have you looked into sourcing it from a compounding pharmacy? Orbit needs approx 200mg/day and a box of 10 100mg Atopica is $80 cost price; that would last us 5 days which works out at about $1600 for 100 days. I get the liquid cyclosporin from a compounding pharm, that presents in a 200mg/ml 100ml bottle. Lasts us about 100 days and it costs me $610 (cost price).

Exactly. Well said, Nekhbet and so so true. No point exposing to your pup to all those things if you yourself haven't remained cool and calm. Not saying that you have done this at all, Cazwah, just that I have seen people who whilst they 'socialised', did so fussing over the dog and creating more anxiety and in turn, had an anxious, worried dog!!

We are following the new protocol (that is, 3 yearly core vacc's) but for puppies we are still recommending 8, 12 and 16wks, followed by the first annual booster, then 3 yearly after that. We ummed and ahhh'd for a bit as to whether to finish at the 12 week shot, but after hearing of puppies who contracted parvo who finished at 12wks, we decided to stay with the 16wk shot to be safe. We recommend people wait till 2 weeks after their second shot before really getting their pups out and about, but still recommend socialising under safe conditions eg with other vaccinated dogs, meeting new people etc. It's just a combination of weighing up the risks and using common sense. We want people to socialise their puppies, but obviously not taking a young pup to busy dog parks or other places where there's risk of disease.

How old is she? Sounds like a classic case of a ruptured cruciate.. goodluck!!

Beautiful photos! My boss has had Newfies and Saints and plans on getting a new Newf baby soon - I can't wait!!!!

No sore feet. she doesnt chew of lick her feet. Just remembered she did have a lump removed last april from her neck, we had it tested and it wasnt cancerous. The lump was where she scratches on her neck, they think the lump may have started from her scratching. im so confused i really am trying but im not winning. My allergic dog tends to itch and lick at his scarred areas a lot when his skin is inflamed. It sounds like your girl may have mild allergic skin in general, so the combination of inflammation in the ear canal and the moister environment with the floppy ear is contributing to problems. I'm sorry I can't recommend any Derms down there, but your vet should be able to give you someones details.

Welcome to DOL, Shepherd Angels My advice would be to ask your regular vet for a referral to a Dermatologist. It's not really possible to diagnose food allergies unless you do a proper food elimination diet, so I'm not sure why the second vet would say that straight away. I think the fact that the ear is down is likely a link, but I think you should seek out the advice of a specialist before you spend anymore money with your regular vet. Goodluck!

I just checked our bags of Eagle Pack -the Lamb and Rice formula contains no fish, neither does the Duck and Oatmeal

Sorry, but I find that wrong. Wuggles was already under GA so they should have just gone ahead and found them. It's possible they may never drop, so when you go back he may have to have the same op done anyway. Doesn't make sense to me, particularly if the vet himself said he's seen Pugs at 12months who's testes haven't dropped?! If I were you, when you do go back to have it done, I would expect to have the amount you paid for this time around, deducted off the final price of the second op. They should have called you when they had him knocked out on the table to ask what you preferred to do, rather than just call you in the afternoon telling you what they decided.

I understand your concerns and would be using Fentanyl, but I also think some sort of anti inflammatory is needed after such a major surgery. I agree with fifi's recommendations.