stormie

And that causes the constipation. Try more meat and less bone (eg human grade chicken mince, lamb mince) with some veges. I'm not quite sure which part of my suggestions you're saying causes constipation Are you saying that adding blended vegies to the chicken mince causes constipation? Or are you saying giving the dog some paraffin oil causes constipation? Neither is correct. It's the pet grade chicken mince without added vegies that causes constipation. I think Arty is just trying to point out that pet mince, being nearly all bone, is what causes constipation.

The best thing for your dogs is what they do best on. As the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke, why fix it'. A food is only going to make them fat if they get too much of it. I would think Bremo doesn't need to be on a puppy diet now either. Have a look at some of the grain free foods like Artemis and Orijen. There's a thread on Orijen actually and seems to be a lot of success with it, however it would be more expensive than Iams or Hills. Eagle Pack is another good dry food that comes in an Holistic range too. But if they are doing well on what they are currently eating, I wouldn't worry about changing.

Thanks for the info. I think I will look into Parramatta - I like how they are accepting titre tests now too. Thanks Poocow, I didn't know that. I remember joining up for obedience in Feb and having some really hot days - wasn't fun!

Thanks for the heads up about Dog Agility Club of NSW. Can anyone recommend another agility club that trains on weeknights around Sydney? So many clubs train on sundays during the middle of the day which firstly isn't the best cause I work sundays, but I also don't like the idea of training in the hottest part of the day in summer...

Do you give them frozen in winter too? I've seen dogs get quite shivery after eating a frozen meal, because the meal is sitting in the stomach frozen and can make them quite cold. I only feed chilled/frozen food in summer.

I'd give her some probiotics just to replenish the good bacteria in the guts.

Personally I'd stay away from any cooked bones - just not worth the risk, but thats JMO. Chicken wings are great, as are lamb flaps, but just make sure there's not too much fat as it may give her an upset tummy. Sometimes an unbalance in omega 3,6 and 9 can cause dry skin, as can artificial heating and cooling! I have found a number of different shampoos and conditioners leave dogs skin quite flaky. Maybe try looking for something that's 100% natural?

Shell - Orbit and I are about to start agility hopefully in the next month or so. We're going to go this one at castle hill more than likely. It runs on thursday nights and you can join up on the first and third thurs of the month. As for obedience, we were going to Brush Farm and it wasn't too bad. It runs on sunday afternoons which was really cutting into my work, so we aren't going anymore, though a friend from work may start training him for me with his wife and their dog.

I don't know a lot about wei's, but I'm pretty sure they can suffer from both auto immune diseases as well as immunodeficiency diseases. I wonder if its possible that she has developed an auto immune disease, which might explain the HOD and possibly the kidney problems also? If it is auto immune, her body could be attacking her own kidney. Did the vets take a biopsy of her enlarged kidney when they did the exploratory surgery? I really hope you get some answers soon. Is she urinating frequently, suggestive of an infection? Or is it still a normal flow just full of blood? Do her bloods show any sign of bleeding occuring? Or abnormal white cells?

That urine looks scary... Are you seeing a specialist now?

I'm just trying to find out a bit more about this disease and was hoping someone could answer some questions for me. Firstly, how common is this problem within the breed in australia? And secondly, does it only affect pure breds, or can it affect SBTx's as well? Thanks!

Orbit does this For some reason he only seems to go for socks and bras though! I guess the other stuff is not challenging enough for him as he doesn't need to reach for it! Might give the water balloons or pepper a try - thanks!!

Dogmad I've heard of this food before, but can't for the life of me find any information regarding the ingredients. Their website only has a guaranteed analysis, do you know of anywhere that has a list of what exactly is in it?

I assume alot but no disrespect intended,i do own a massive hard nose dog though What does the size of the dog have to do with training methods?

In this case, did it not help in keeping the dog away from what could have been a fatal situation?? It did, i agree with you. people on dol are very quick to take you out of context though, everyone wants an opinion but will shoot you down in flames if you dont agree with them, my thought was to use it as a last resort kind of thing, but not everyone has the time to spend with ther dog to use other methods. Not every dog is the same, though. Some dogs respond better to certain methods than others. Just because someone chooses to use an e-collar, it doesn't mean that they didnt' have time to use other methods, or that they don't know much about behaviour, or that they are trying to shock the dog into submission!

BARF is not a trademark just an acronym that is why DR B uses Genuine Aussie RAW. Dr B doesn't make his BARF it is made by Bigdog Petfoods.It is a bit like in America where BARFWORLD own the right to DR Billinghurst BARF DIet and they make a BARF.Why not here. The difference is of course that a true barf is not all with chicken bone and beef offal that is why I changed as well to Canine Country BARF so many dogs have chicken allergies . Just as many dogs have allergies to red meats such as beef and lamb, as they do with chicken. Just out of curiosity, are you linked with CC Barf at all? All your posts seem to be about pushing them

I don't think 8.30 is necessarily too early. Orbit is generally nodding off to sleep at about 6.30pm these days, and has generally always been sleeping by 8.30 from a young age and sleeps right through until about 630-7am. I think it's what they do in the day prior to bed that's important. How much mental and physical stimulation is puppy getting during the day?

I'd go to a dermatologist as soon as you can. The sooner you can get to allergy testing - the better. You need to withhold cortisone for a period of time (depending on what dose you're on) before you can test, too. Might just be the time of year, but since switching Orbit to raw, we're down from 0.5mg/kg every second day and sometimes every day, to less than 0.25mg/kg every 3-4 days. On this dose we only have to withhold oral cortisone, antihistamines and topical cortisone for 2 weeks before we can do the new blood test for allergy screening, which we are really aiming for. Sounds so much easier than it is Most grass allergies which seem to be contact issues, are generally still related to the pollens. So whilst keeping the dog off the grass might help, the pollens that are just floating around on the wind are still going to be absorbed through the skin as well as inhaled. So often removing plants rarely helps because the same plant is letting off pollens just down the street.

You need to go back to the vet and explain to them that the problem hasn't resolved so that they can explore other avenues.

Does anyone actually know how much it costs to send the sample to her or how one would go about it? My club have been saying for ages that they will do a big batch day where everyone can be tested at once and send it to her but I have no idea when (or if) that will actually go ahead. I'm getting impatient and need it done soon. Hepatitis is basically non-existant here and hasn't been seen for a long time, not much point testing for it which is why most vets don't bother. Hey DC, I emailed Jean and she sent me all the forms for sending blood and the details on how to ship it etc. You need to get the info sheet on how to send blood from an international destination. Her website has her contact details and she was really quick in replying to me.

Is it possible that Gribbles forward the blood into VetPath - hence the higher cost? Those prices look similar to the labs we use, who send the blood to VetPath in WA, but just ad their own handling/transfer fee onto the cost. Maybe see if your vet can find out where the actual tests are done, because it might work out cheaper if the vet opens an account with VetPath and sends the blood directly there. I think people need to give vets a bit of a break when it comes to the vaccine issue. They are just following the dosage instructions recommended by the manufacturers, otherwise they are leaving themselves wide open to be hauled before the board. It's the drug companies who need to change their recommendations.

The weatherbeeta's unfortunately don't stay completely dry when they are out in the rain. I contacted weatherbeeta about this and they said that yes, the water will seep through, but the rugs are designed in a way that the body heat from the dog will eventually dry the inner lining again. Orbit was outside in the rain in his one day for no more than 5min and when I took it off, the lining was quite wet at the topline seam as well as at the seams of the binding all around the edges.

It could also be totally unrelated... She might have just inhaled some fluff or had something else bugger her in the back of her throat...

Could also be an inter digital cyst that has erupted. Either way I'd get it looked at in case there's something in there that shouldn't be.

I'm not a big fan of fine needle aspirates on lumps. If you do one on a lipoma for example, and send it off to the labs, they are reluctant to say its definately only a lipoma, as fat is all over the body, so you can never be 100% the fat cells you extract are from the lump, or because you didn't go in far enough etc... And, it is really not advisable to be poking around in a mast cell tumour for example. Just food for thought.... edited for spelling