Ptolomy

Good luck Smisch - if you get a chance can you upload a photo of the compost pens please

Its official Toller babies due 20th December. This is the mating of both my Norwegian imports - so a very special litter

Go the little red dogs - well done TO and Jovi

Yay Ruby and Rubystar and all this was done when you weren't feeling particularly fantastic I know we have said this in the past UD is character building - and you just need to keep plugging away

Yikes Tiggy - glad to hear the dog is OK. Guessing it would have been an expensive little exercise. I am just back from Brisbane and one of the dogs I go over to babysit was bitten by a brown snake the weekend before I got there. They actually didn't realise the dog had been bitten until the next morning when they got up and found blood all over the floor - she was bleeding out. Thankfully, even though it was a 5ft snake she didn't get a full hit of venom and after 2 lots of anti venom she was fine by the time I got to Brisbane. Needless to say I spent the 2 weeks keeping my eye out for anything that wriggled.

This is what Scoota was on when he was first diagnosed - see my first post - he was also on SAMe (for 6 months - its available at Pharmacies and costs about $35-$40 a bottle) and mine wouldn't touch the L/D food

Can Cavs get Addisons????? Have they done potassium levels?

Milk Thistle you can get either from the supermarket or a Pharmacy and its dirt cheap - less than $20 for a bottle of 50 or 60 tablets. SAMe Forte you get from a Pharmacy. But do run these past your vet first. Getting him to eat was the hard part - for 6 weeks he would nibble at something one day and turn his nose up at it at the very next meal. Most of the time I resorted to hand feeding him and if he ate a mouthful then I would celebrate. He lost 3kg. Chicken, often cut up chicken necks was the food he would eat most often and the low protein canned food I purchased - he wouldn't look at. There is currently another toller in NSW who is distantly related to mine going through the same thing

One of my tollers had liver failure and his liver enzymes were through the roof . He wouldn't eat so I knew he was sick and he was also vomiting. He had an ultrasound which showed no abnormality First lot of bloods were CK 249 Reference Range 47-228 ALP 979 RR 20-184 ALT 2259 RR 21-142 Cholesterol 17.2 RR 3.3 - 6.9 T.Bilirubin 49 RR 0 - 8 Following first consult - this is what the specialist said..... AND I WILL STrESS THIS IS FOR MY DOG ONLY......... We still don't know the cause of the hepatopathy, with the most common being toxic, infectious and inflammatory The options for further investigations as we discussed today are: 1) fine needle aspirate of the liver; mainly rules in or out round cell cancers 2) ultrasound-guided needle core biopsy 3) surgical biopsy 4) follow up ultrasound in ~3 weeks if doing well, earlier if not. I understand your wishes to try the conservative approach. In the meantime, his management should be the following: 1) lower protein diet. Preferably the liver diet (or blended with the liver diet as extra vitamins are included in this) 2) metronidazole 200mg tablets: decreased dose to ¾ (three-quarters) of a tablet twice daily 3) added Clavulox at 250mg tablets: 1 twice daily until finished (2 weeks, perhaps longer) 4) Milk thistle; he needs at least 150mg per day 5) SAMe at ~ 425mg per day. I don't like the bioglan product as it is too hard to work out what is in it. Try and get a hold of the Bio-organics Forte product… or there is a veterinary formulation but hard to get a hold of. It took him 6 months to fully recover and we are now 18+ months down the track......

Next Tuesday I booked in to find out if she is or isn't - however had to see the vet urgently tonight with the same girl - Vet is fairly sure she is (she is only 25 days from the first mating) but will recheck her again on Saturday and Tuesday when she has to go back again for more acupuncture. Congrats Blitz on your confirmed pregnancy

Leopuppy we have had a couple of vomiting episodes in the last few days too (she is not confirmed pregnant yet either)

I wasn't there but Tassie was You had a great day too by the sounds of things Murve - well done to you and your kids

Terrific work PME and well done on your title

waiting......waiting.......waiting...... I hear there are huge celebrations in Tasmania tonight

Picking up toys and putting them in a toy basket

Fantastic news LP

I have my fingers and toes crossed for you Leopuppy. What date would she be due if she was? I am not at home at the moment and I keep asking my mum - do you think she has put on any weight, is she hungry, extra cuddly - so tomorrow I will be able to see for myself, but will have to wait another 10 days to confirm

I am a snooza owner x many too. However, I now have 6 of these around the house and the dogs love them http://www.mypetwarehouse.com.au/BONO-FIDO-STAYDRY-2-BASKET-KHAKI-OLIVE-1-SMALL-62X45X25CM-p-10033

I received this email too - not sure how it compared with what the other companies charge.

Yee Har - raising a glass to both of you Fantastic!!!!!!

I had a thin one and a thicker variety - I think the thicker one was probably better - but both worked. I just wasn't happy for the puppies to be straight on the newspaper.

This is what I had ready for my girl as my mentor always uses this. Does the same method as winpara does. What size is your whelping box? I have two pieces here cut to exact size for the box I borrowed that you are welcome to. Thanks jr :) My box is about 1.2 x 1.2m so probably bigger than yours. I was just in Bunnings have a look around and they had some mat type stuff similar to what Ptolomy described reduced to clear for $9.00 a linear metre. I think it was called camping mat, anyway at 1.5m wide and $9.00 a metre I bought enough for 2 pieces and will see how it goes. If no good for that it may get some use on the tiles when they first get access to them to prevent slipping on them. Can you let me know how the Bunnings stuff goes. Hopefully I am having a litter in December and will happily pay $9 if it works.

I too have problems fitting my vet bed in my front loading machine. I can get it in but it doesn't wash very well and yes the non rubber backed stuff I find is better. My last litter I had vet bed in the whelping box but when the pups started moving outside the box I had the rubber matting you put on kids high chairs to stop the bowls from moving around on the newspaper. The pups were able to get a grip as they moved around. I had 2 different sorts - one was tablecloth size $10 and the other lot was a thicker rubber material also from Red Dot and it was slightly bigger and $20. I know you can also get this stuff from Clark Rubber. Cleaning is just a matter of throwing it in the washing machine or taking it outside and hosing it off - it dries really quickly.

Huge conrgarts to Bedazzled and Brookie on your UDX pass last night - 192 is a fantastic result well done to you both and thanks for the text message

Woo Hoo well done Bedazzled and Brookie - I got up in the middle of the night because I heard my phone neeping to tell me I had a message - thanks for letting me know. I will raise a glass to the result tonight