aatainc

The things that you have listed that she will eat are all perfectly acceptable and can easily be used to make a balanced diet. I would feed here approx 50% of her diet as chicken necks (or frames if she will eat those.) For the rest, mix the chicken or beef mince with some oily fish, some liver and as many varied vegies as she will eat. Add a little rice for energy (or rolled oats are even better) if she's thin. Mash it all together and cook it. It would be better if she would eventually eat it raw so trying cooking it less and less every day, until you are just warming it up a little. Obviously if there is rice in the mix you will always have to cook that thoroughly. Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not need to eat any dry food. If she gives you so much grief over it just don't bother with it! You're only wasting your money!! She'd be fine on a mix of the things you've listed above. BTW, when my pointer was eating 4 buckets of food a day but still underweight I fed him the following satin ball recipe (but didn't bother making it up into balls at all.) -500g fatty beef (hamburger) mince -125g cream cheese (full fat) -1/2 a large tub of NATURAL smooth peanut butter. (buy the natural stuff as the emulsifiers in the non-natural stuff can cause big problems) -2-3 eggs -4 tablespoons of oil. Believe it or not, this did not cause any diarrhea, and he is a relatively sensitive boy, digestively speaking. It put weight on very quickly. I fed it for 3-4 days before each show, once a day, on top of his normal (huge) meals. It is not a suitable long term diet obviously, as the pancreas would eventually suffer for it.

Just have to say that you guys are great. He put on enough weight to enter the show today. My goal was to beat a dog, any dog - we have never done that before - we have always either been alone in our classes or lost to the other dog. but not this time.... Puppy in Group!!! YAY! VERY excited. Thanks to Ashanali for handling him in group line-up. How typical that the one I handed him over for was the won where the judge pointed to him! Thank you all for your advice. I will now shelve the satin ball recipe till a week before our next show. His condition is good for a pet pointer I think so I don't want him to get too fat! Thanks - from Solo and his very excited mum. (Actually solo's pretty excited too - having been cramped up in a crate for most of the day!)

well I fed him 300g worth of that satin ball recipe yesterday afternoon, plus a chook frame - rugged him up really nice and warm last night - and guess what - got him up this morning and his ribs have dissappeared! i Can't believe he could put on weight so quickly - but he has a definite covering that wasn't there yesterday. Gonna keep him on a small amount of satin ball every day. I definitely don't want to go back to any dry at all. He has been fed many large meals lately trying to fatten him up - and he has bloated twice - both times when he was fed dry food. (and he's only eaten a dry food meal about 3 times so I Think that's enough.) Also, even the tiniest amount of dry food in his dinner makes his poos sloppy and stink to high heaven. What I am feeding him is definitely right - he has great muscle tone, energy , brilliant coat - just needs a few more calories - if he wasn't a show dog I wouldn't care about his weight because he is very healthy.

aha! thank you!

1 lb hamburger 1 package cream cheese 1 dozen egg yolks 1 jar all natural peanut butter about 1 cup rolled oats soaked in milk 1 jar wheat germ This is the recipe I like the look of the most, because it's not got that total stuff, whatever that is - we can't get it here I don't think. Anyway, how much of this stuff? i just fed him a saucepan full of rolled oats, 3 tablespoons of peanut oil, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 cup tinned peaches and 1 cup of fat trimmings from mum's raw rump steak. He gets this sort of thing occasionally - you'd think he'd be a porker by now!! Anyway, thanks for the tips, I had never heard of satin balls before. Hopefully they do the job!

Hi guys, long time no post, been busy. Anyway, I have continually struggled to keep enough weight on my Pointer (from Ashanali) who is now 10 months old. He will eat anything in sight - appetite is not a problem. We have been to a few shows (for socialisation practice) and I would like him to do well but he is always too skinny for the judge. I have been feeding him up lots of fatty lamb off cuts, chicken, BARF patties etc and he has slowly gained a tiny bit of condition. Unfortunately, in the last 3 days it has gotten a lot colder and I guess that might be the reason why his condition has dropped again and he is ribby all over again. We have a show on Friday (Rosewood - anyone going?) and I would like to put as much weight on him as possible between now and then. I would prefer not to resort to dog food. As he has a great deep chest and tends to inhale his food, he is a prime candidate for bloat - so I need to be careful about how much I feed him at one time and I would be worried about feeding dry food especially. Any suggestions for keeping/putting the weight on him?? BTW - he is really really fit and healthy, has been wormed recently (As have all the dogs) none of the others are underweight so I doubt any of them could have worms anyway, he has excellent muscle tone and lots of energy. His poos are nice and small and firm so he's using what he's fed. He gets a 5 min walk to the off leash area (across the road) a few times a week where he trots around for maybe 10 minutes. I don't let him play with other dogs there as he burns too much energy that way. We sleep him inside and I put a coat on him to try minimise heat loss during the night if I take him out training or something. Should I sleep him in his coat too? Or keep it on during the day? I'm worried he might chew it off but maybe it might help conserve energy? What do people from cold places do? I need a fatter dog!!! Any help is appreciated. My email isn't working so posting here would be great. thanks.

there is absolutely no way you can get tape worms from meat!! Tape worms come from fleas! Sam.m - you need to worm your dog and put him on good quality flea control if you are really getting tape worm - it certainly isn't coming from the meat!

adding mince without bones to teh dry food will unbalance it - adding too much phosphorous and not enough calcium. You would be much better adding chicken necks/wings or going to Lenard's chicken shop and getting pet mince from there (which also contains ground bone) because that mince is better balanced. I would also ditch the wheetbix.

:rolleyes:

I should clarify what I Said above, a vegan diet is only possible if you add supplements. Kathp, if you know a cat that is on a vegan diet, it has either only been on it for a short time and hasn't suffered the ill effects yet, or it is being supplemented with taurine, or it is getting meat from elsewhere (such as hunting lizards outside) or it is going blind. Cats cannot live without taurine. They go blind. Taurine is only found in animal products (or supplements.) period. Dogs can't live without the essential fatty acids and amino acids. These can only be obtained in available quantities via animal products - unless you buy an extracted supplement. That's why they can't live on vegan diets - without supplements.

If you are planning to feed some animal foods, such as eggs, milk, yoghurt etc, then it is possible (though unadvisable) to feed a dog a vegetarian diet. However, it is highly highly highly recommended NOT to feed a vegetarian diet to a pregnant or nursing bitch or new puppies. Also, it is NOT POSSIBLE to feed a dog on a vegan diet. I have read this many times over. they NEED some animal protein, so do not attempt a purely vegan diet. There will be vital things missing and the dog would eventually die of a deficiency. I also second the call to avoid soy foods - they are not good for dogs. TVP can give them terrible gas though your welcome to put up with that if you want. (then again, if the dog has gas it's pretty sure that he has a stomach ache too!). The majority of the dog's diet for a vegetarian dog would have to be eggs and dairy products. I don't know how you would go with a lactose intolerant dog.

Hi Jacqui, I haven't been on here much for a while so I was hoping for good news. i think you might be right that the time is approaching. At least she had some more good quality time with you. 3 kg is a lot to drop in 3 days. Is she drinking? I could only guess that a large part of that could be water. Try putting something tasty in her water to encourage her to drink. i hope she is feeling comfortable and that you make the decision that you are most comfortable with yourself. Thinking of you... Nicole

grow your toller on a barf diet, he'll be much better for it. It really isn't that much more complicated than an adult barf diet. IF you start feeding it now he won't be fussy when he gets older. IF you use dry now and start barf later he is more likely to be fussy later on as he will be used to just dry. Base the diet on chicken necks and wings and you can't go wrong. BTW - I have raised many puppies on barf - including a toller.

I am definitely planning to come and watch the consults, so skyesdalimmit could you please pm me your address?

Hi Gareth, sorry, i"ve only just gotten over the illness and have been out all week placing dexter with his new recipient. I thought if I waited until that match has finalised then I can comment on how that's going as well. I might have time this long weekend.

I won't bother telling you not to be nervous - I don't know how many times I was told that and it never worked! HOWEVER, do remember to breathe deeply, and when you're heeling in normal pace - try to walk normally - not formally - ok? That helps the dog a lot. Good luck - you'll be fine!

Gareth, do you mind if I do that in another topic in off-topic? I'll wait a few days - I"m still pretty sick and these rotten antibiotics haven't kicked in yet. Keep an eye out - might call it "a day in the life of me" There is only one success story on the site because hubby is too lazy to add more! I am not too good at web pages that involve photos and I have written a lot of the text but I'm not able to add photos in yet and do all the formatty stuff. Have been meaning to update that page for ages. Thanks for the reminder.

If a young BSD is going grey at 2 years of age, does that mean he is aging faster and will die younger - or is it completely unrelated? Sorry, just currently looking at a young Groeny.

Gareth he had to have surgery for lip fold dermatitis. as I paid for the surgery I wanted to make sure that I did the aftercare myself to make sure that it didn't get infected but having a few stiches in the lip doesn't stop a dog from trialing - I got vet permission of course. He is not going back to the same person because she didn't believe that they were quite physically compatible - she has asked for a different dog which suits her more and she is about to get that dog and dexter is about to go somewhere else. This happens all the time (ask somewhere like guide dogs) to other orgs so please don't attack me for it - it just wasn't a perfect match physically, although he did work well for her, and she was very impressed with what he did for her. I am defensive because I am tired of being attacked by people who know nothing about the situation. That person inferred that I was dishonest and that I was swindling the public and our sponsors. How would you feel if someone accused you of cheating people out of money? That's what racknrune did. I believe that I am accountable to those to give of their time, money, resources etc. I do not believe that I am accountable to a person who posted merely to stir things up and who has never contributed a cent towards what I am doing. If you want to make a donation, volunteer, or foster a dog then I'll give you all the information you want. In the meantime, please understand that I give 120% of myself each and every day and it has eaten away at my marriage, my health and my finances in a major way so I really don't need to be attacked on top of that. I am here as an individual not as an organisation and I don't believe that it is my responsibility to outline every action of the organisation to every tom dick and harry who asks!! I don't have the energy for that quite frankly. It is over ten dogs that I have trained, plus I have aided another 6 (soon to be 10) people in getting their own dogs certified as assistance dogs - which they largely trained themselves but I helped them get formal recognition. This also takes up a lot of my time. Of those that I trained myself, one has stayed with me as our demonstration dog (grace), 2 were sadly retired at the end of their training due to them developing orthopaedic problems (before they were placed but they were fully trained) the rest are all yes, placed, and are going great guns. I have had one client come back for a second dog from me, and most of my clients on my current waiting list have been referred by past clients. On average, since we started up, we have placed more dogs per year than guide dogs queensland. This is phenomenal since we have only 1 staff member and they have 60 - and most of our dogs spend as long trainign as a guide dog. I have raging tonsilitis and have been out working for the last 10 hours. I still have 2-3 hours of admin to do today and the house to clean. Sorry if I sound tired and fed up. I guess I am a bit today.

chicken frames are cheaper than necks etc. Just give him 1 chicken frame, minced vegies, supplements (vegemite/brewers yeast, apple cider vinegar, oils, sardine, honey) and that should be enough. You really don't need any dry food. It's usually the dry food which is the culprit in weight gain, although you do have a differnet situation here. Go yell at your neighbours!! Or, keep him in or supervised at all times until you know who it is - then yell at them!

racknrune, your post only goes to show that you are not only aggressive and rude, but you haven't got a clue about what goes into an AssIstance dog (learn to spell! - if you're gonna be rude then so can I!). You wouldn't happen to be one of the people who has been "monitoring' my internet activity and "reporting" back lies to other people would you? Anyway, to answer you questions: No, I was not "touting" him as an assistance dog he IS an assistance dog, got nothing to do with me touting at all. Someone was donating money to help him become an assistance dog and I pm'd them when I first started competing with him - it's not like I was hiding it from them! Why am I competing with a dog that should be used as an assistance dog? Well, let's see - have you considered the fact that perhaps he wasn't finished his assistance dog training yet? HELLOO - it takes up to a year to train them!! DURING his assistance dog training I was competing with him. He got 3 of his passes during his training. He was not placeable as an assistance dog during that time. He was placed out recently with a disabled person to be their assistance dog but he had to be returned due to a minor medical problem. He has been living with me again while this medical problem was fixed and it didn't interfere with his ability to trial so I finished his title during these few weeks. Do you have a problem with that? Incidentally, his problem has cleared up and he will go back out as an assistance dog within the next few weeks - until it suits all concerned to settle him back in to his new home - ok? And actually, getting his CD has indeed made him a better assistance dog. It has improved his ability to work without needing food, it has greatly improved his distraction training, attention span, precision, stability around other dogs, long stays etc etc etc. Also, competing in comps has made me a better trainer so all my future dogs will be better because of what I have acheived with Dexter. I do not use any donations for any of these competitions - donations cover vet bills, bedding, food, medications etc - and that's IT. I am not paid for any of the back breaking work I do so if you want to complain about my financial situation - start paying my wage for me! Some credit union paying my way - yeah right. You want to know how much money they have given us? About enough to cover expenses for one month. That was 2 years ago. CUA have VERY generously given us brochures, donation tins, stationary etc - they have given us very little cash compared to the physical stuff they have given us. Tell me how CUA giving me 'with compliments' slips has helped me in trialing? I dont' think CUA would have any problem with me competing with a dog during his training time - given that he is going to be placed anyway. Besides, the time I have spent training him for trials has not in any way taken away from time spent training him for assistance work. In fact, he has probably gotten more training than he otherwise would have because the trials helped give me deadlines and extra external motivation. What do you mean by disabled person atomic? The person who gave me this dog knows that he got his title and he is thrilled!! He also knows that he will go to a person with a disability shortly. The number of dogs that I have trained as assistance dogs is none of your business. Figuring that you probably think you know me and probably are just trying to fish around for dirt on me I will tell you that it's over 10 in the last 3 years. Given that I do this ALONE in MY OWN HOME with no kennels, no extra dog permits - just one at a time - for no pay I think that's a pretty good number. That's also not counting the puppies I've raised who are yet to start adult training, or those who were donated and turned out to have hip dysplasia as adults - and had to be retired! Go back to your mates and tell them I'm not interested in your gossip. Actually you can tell them that it's because of people like you that I got into trialing in the first place - people who said that because I had never titled a dog I couldnt' be any good. This is one step I've taken towards proving them wrong. Kez, thanks for the support

thanks everybody! Maverick- everybody said cockers are dumb!!

hi all, Just a quick brag to say that Dexter FINALLY got his CD title last night at caboolture. His 3 qualies were for 179, 185 and 176 points and his sweeps was 180 points. No ridiculously high scores but considering that he almost always misses a couple of drops he did very well. Am very happy to have titled my first dog!

HI Jacqui, At this stage it sounds much more like Molly is fit and healthy enough to withstand the effects of the chemo and for it to have its greatest effect. If it's only in the skin then go with it! I think this is the right choice now. Good luck!

How did it go?