RiverStar-Aura

I am so sorry to read about this outcome Sway and was really hoping Willow would be found. Run free beautiful girl and my condolences to both you and Willow's owners; you all must be devastated.

I'm not a creative person by any stretch, however, I made these decorations for a friend for Christmas. She has three dogs (Chelsea, Lily and Petey) and three cats (Rosie, JackJack and Molly). I'm still to make Molly's as I've run out of 'Ls' so I'll be finishing the collection tomorrow. My friend has colour co-ordinated her animals too, hence my colour choice for each name! :D Oh and I didn't make the ornaments themselves (I'm not that clever!!) I just decorated them! :D

I Norwich Terriers and am looking into getting one as dog number three. They are a very hard breed to get as they have tiny litters (3 puppies is considered a large litter) and the waiting lists are enormous! Plus they're not cheap. Hasn't put me off though; I'm determined to own one!! :D WORD! My little Kirah loves bigger dogs and will fit in nicely with any breeds you already have! Edited to point to my signature too! ⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣⇣

that Cindy is found quickly and safely.

As I mentioned in my post the vet I normally see wasn't working yesterday.

Thanks for the advice. Just found the Ingleburn Vet antihistamine calculator through a search and it mentions Claratyne. Will go give her half a tablet now and see how she's going.

No antihistamine. She's only 7 months old so would a Claratyne be safe?

I totally agree with you here. Before I knew anything about puppy farms etc I made an impulse buy at a pet shop and ended up coming home with a beagle cross JRT -- two breeds I knew absolutely nothing about. When I bought Zeus I was after a dog I could take out walking/jogging and here was this cute, floppy-eared puppy sitting all alone in a glass box. He came home with me two days later. Breed-wise he was a mistake -- he's a very high drive dog with masses of energy, and as I soon found out, he was going to be a handful and a half. His beagle half puts him on the scent of anything smelly within a 20,000 kilometre radius and his hyper JRT half means he go, go, goes non-stop. He's actually taken on a greyhound that frequents the local off-leash park and has managed to out-hoon it. On the flip-side, I'm not a person who abandons animals (I honestly don't know how anyone can do it) and I've worked with him. He's been to extensive obedience training and while he's not perfect, we're getting there. He's by far the quickest learner I've ever seen and he can learn new tricks within a couple of days -- he usually has the gist of the trick within 5 minutes and can perform it on command about 2 days later. I don't want to think about what happened to his litter mates because I learned the hard way what a handful this cross breed is and I honestly don't think that the people buying them would know what to expect either. A beagle cross JRT (I've nicknamed them "Brussells") is not a breed for the quiet types and I wouldn't be surprised if his siblings were surrendered because of their hyperactivity. And I'm still trying to work out the numpty who decided it would be fantastic to mix these two breeds together.

I'd suggest trying them on Comfortis. It's worked brilliantly for my two and the fleas disappeared within a day. It's not until now (just over a month later because I forgot their dose) that I've had flea issues again. And because it's a tablet there's no having to play "guess the weather" every 10 minutes as it's been so unpredictable in my area lately. And that's my main issue with spot ons -- the need to keep the animal dry for 48 hours after it's been administered. How do you tell dogs who love to run around in the rain "sorry guys, you can't get wet for two days"?

As I found out with Poochie (who suffered seasonal mange for a good 13 to 14 years) cortisone does nothing but treat the symptoms. Poochie's mange was left undiagnosed because our local vet used cortisone to treat the itchiness but he failed to look into what was causing it. It was after I took Poochie to our cat's vet (they had the cheapest desexing) 14 years later that he discovered she had mange mites that flared up every summer. The consultation was well over 2 hours because we were discussing the costs of allergy testing for an older dog when he decided to do a skin scraping for the h*ll of it to rule mange out. Sure enough, she had the mites buried under her skin and I was then able to treat her accordingly. She never had the problem again after that! Your friend should definitely take her dog back for a second or third opinion because I've also heard that continued use of cortisone isn't good for dogs. I also understand that my first vet probably ruled out mange due to the fact Poochie only ever ripped out fur and had flare ups in a localised place: on her back at the base of her tail (no where else). I'm just glad she got through 2 summers itch free! Maybe have your friend request a skin scraping to rule out any type of mites. I can't actually remember if Poochie's skin went black but I know it was flaky and sore from the constant scratching.

A couple of days ago I noticed some different coloured welts on Kirah's belly. She was at the vet today (the one we saw I've requested not to see because she's useless) and I was told to keep an eye on them as it's more than likely an allergic reaction to the fleas I found on her a few days ago. Both Kirah and Zeus were given Comfortis and another dose of Frontline Plus (for ticks) as they were due for both as soon as I spotted the flea on Wednesday. Since coming home from work tonight I've noticed that the welts are even redder and that she's busted the pus-filled pimple-like one and is scratching like crazy. The vet didn't give me anything even though she talked about a cream she could give me and I'm so frustrated that I now have to take Kirah back for another visit. Luckily I'm off work tomorrow because Kirah and I have puppy training at midday so I'm hoping to get into the vet either first thing in the morning or in the afternoon. And I'm going to have to ask which vet is working because if it's her again, then I'll have to use a different clinic. I managed to get some photos to post in hopes of getting some DOL opinions. They were both taken this afternoon before they got worse over the course of the afternoon. The welt on the bottom left is my biggest concern as it's the pus-like one, however, there are some black tipped ones as well and because they're all so different I have no idea. A closer up shot with flash. Kirah's not the most co-operative patient and loves to squirm!

That's a really good idea! Thank you. Although I will have to desensitise her to its noise though.

I've always been told that thorough searching of a dog for ticks is the best type of prevention but not once have I been showed how to go about it. All the puppy pre-schools I've attended harp on at the importance of searching your dog, but again, haven't taken time to show how it should be done. My Aussie Terrier pup has quite a thick and long wire coat and I have no idea how I'd even start to search her over. How long should it take? Do you actually part every centimetre of fur and how can you be sure you haven't missed a spot? Is finding a tick based more on feel than sight because I even have trouble parting her fur to apply Frontline to her skin. Would my vet take the time to show me how to correctly search for ticks or is this something that people are somehow supposed to know how to do?

Yes I was wondering the same thing. Yeh that's the one I feed my guys. They only get it once a week on a rotation with sardines and tuna too but love it. I enjoy the looks on their faces when they realise it's fish time -- Zeus, who isn't a drool-y dog, actually starts drooling! :D

Pretty Miss Emma you've hit it right on. There is never an easy answer and the best answer is to look for the signs. Poochie's story is very much like your Emma's; only without the diabetes. She'd been a healthy dog her entire life with the exception of having undiagnosed seasonal mange for about 14 years -- our local vet supplied us with cortisone injections to relieve her symptoms rather than finding the problem. As she only ever flared up in summer it didn't seem to be a problem and as I was young, I didn't know any better -- neither did the family because we didn't know much about dogs. Once Poochie was 14ish, I took control over all our pets' care and was fed up with the cortisone as I'd heard that it's not very good for animals. I changed vets and in a 2 hour long consultation discussing the what ifs and lengthy/costly allergy tests for an elderly dog, he decided on a skin scraping just to rule out mange mites. Lo and behold, the slide turned up tonnes of the buggers, which he treated and she got over -- apparently dogs are supposed to have a natural immunity to this specific mange, but every summer, Poochie's forgot to kick in. After that we thought "woo hoo", Poochie's all fine and dandy. It wasn't until I was bathing her about a year later that I noticed she'd grunt whenever I touched her abdomen. Took her to the vet who said she did feel bloated and quite firm, so he gave her pain relief and told us to watch her. About a month later I noticed her oozing from her rear end, which I knew wasn't right so she went back to the vet for a follow-up. He told us she had pyometra (pus filled uterus), which we didn't believe as my parents were adamant she'd been desexed. It turns out she wasn't desexed as a puppy -- I can remember as a 10ish year old her going into heat once and then never again and I think this is why my parents assumed she'd been desexed. The fact that there was no messy seasons to clean up after, one would assume she'd been spayed. And mum had 5 young kids to look after too so we were a busy family. (To this day I strongly believe the fact she never went on heat was due to the tumour growing in her.) Anyway, as it appeared the pyometra was severe, Poochie was rushed to surgery to have it removed. I was driving home from work about 7:40 at night when I got the dreaded phone call (after waiting for the "she's ok" call all day): Poochie didn't have pyometra but a huge ovarian tumour the size of a rockmelon attached to her left ovary and kidney and he wasn't able to remove it. Poochie was stitched back up and we were referred to specialist surgeon Dr David Lidbetter in Parramatta, who we grilled in regards to Poochie's chances of survival. He told us he was confident he could remove the tumour and although I had my doubts, my parents and the rest of my family agreed to go through with the surgery. And it was just as well because the tumour itself was about to rupture -- hence the oozing. Dr Lidbetter was fantastic and true to his word! He saved Poochie's life and told us to come and collect her a few days later as she was eating him out of house and home -- that's our Poochie. She always loved her food!! She bounced back like an all new dog -- she was like a puppy again and was able to keep up with my then 9 month old pup Zeus. We had another 6 glorious months with Poochie before she stopped eating and for Poochie to refuse food was odd. She'd eat anything! We gave her a few days hoping she'd come good, however, she very quickly went down hill. She'd lost a lot of weight very quickly and I can still see her lying stretched out in pain on her hammock bed looking miserable. I took her to the vets where after a few tests I was told the news wasn't good -- her kidney functions were bad and there was nothing they could do. I wasn't ready for Poochie to go -- not after having survived and bounced back so well after her surgery -- so we discussed what options were available. The vet said we could try dialysis but he couldn't guarantee it would work and as dad was there too, he told me it was time to let Poochie go. I had the horrible job of phoning my 4 brothers at home, telling them the news and to get down to the clinic quickly to say their goodbyes. Mum was at work in Sydney and couldn't get back, but she told me she'd said her goodbyes that morning (it was like she knew she said). So it was there, at about 4:20 in the afternoon of April 24th, I lost the best friend I'd ever had. Poochie was my heart dog and even though I lost her over a year ago now, I'm bawling as I type this. The hardest thing was to decide what to do with Poochie's remains as our family has never been through anything like that before. Mum wanted to let the vet deal with her remains but I felt that as a family member, Poochie deserved more than being tossed in a furnace with other animals. Our vet lovingly offered to keep Poochie's body until we made our decision, which wasn't until 5 days later. None of the family could agree on what to do with her body and I was constantly told it was "my decision" -- I didn't want to be the bearer of that responsibility as Poochie was a family pet, therefore it was a family decision. I resented my family for how they acted but I now see that they don't get quite so attached to animals as I do. The following morning I was back at work -- I spent most of my shift crying my eyes out in the staff toilet -- so I didn't have time to process what I was feeling. Finally, sick of the lack of caring on my family's behalf, 5 days later I phoned Pets at Peace and had them collect Poochie from the vet clinic. Poochie was delivered in a beautiful scatter box, which I clung onto desperate to keep Poochie close and 6 months after her death I was able to scatter her ashes in our garden. I have kept some ashes in 2 glass pendants/vials on necklaces: one is in her scatter box along with her last collar, lead and pet tag and the other I keep in my jewellery box and I wear it to special occasions, like the Million Paws Walk I did in her honour in 2010, as she wasn't able to be there herself. It will never be an easy decision regardless of circumstances but it's true. You just know. I was just glad I was there for her until the very end. Like Pretty Miss Emma, I'm still not coping with the loss myself and Poochie was PTS about a year and a half ago now and I still feel like there's a hole in my heart. I had a fantastic 16+ years with Poochie and that's not something I'm likely to forget in this lifetime and if it wasn't for Zeus, I would've died myself. Now I have Kirah Little too -- another Aussie Terrier -- who in no way replaces Poochie, but helps me remember the wonderful life we shared. Everyone copes with loss differently and I went through a huge guilt and anger stage: was angry at my mother because she seemed so cold about Poochie's death (she's only a dog e.g.) and angry at myself because I was more upset over Poochie (a dog) than over all my grandparents (I've lost all 4, plus a great grandmother). There was no one I could talk to, because I talk to mum about everything but she couldn't understand how I was feeling and I'd accused her of being a cold, unfeeling b****. And it didn't help that I had to go to work every day and didn't have time to process her death properly. I still get upset when I think of her, however, with time it's getting better. I'm able to think about things she did with a smile and look at photos of her and laugh over her silly antics -- like pulling herself up our cubby house ladder and rolling down them as they were too steep to walk down! It was the right decision in the end as it wouldn't've been fair keeping her alive under those circumstances. She'd been a fantastic girl and it was time for the family to do the only kind thing possible -- let her go. Sorry for the long ramble -- it's hard to keep any story of my Poochie-Pie short. I will her forever! And to you, Pretty Miss Emma. I totally understand and feel the pain of your loss. Edited for punctuation and spelling!

I was going to make the switch to an all raw diet but I've had trouble being convinced that they'd be getting all the correct nutrients from the meat alone. I did start my new puppy on raw beef mince and natural yoghurt but decided feeding Royal Canin puppy was easier for a growing dog -- I know that she's been getting all the vitamins and minerals needed by a puppy. The main thing is that I'm happy with my dogs' health -- Zeus is quite muscular and lean and his coat is so very shiny. Kirah is still growing but she's all in proportion -- she has a waist and also has a beautiful shiny coat. I still do mix in yoghurt, tuna, mackerel or sardines once a week and they also have their occasional chicken wing (Kirah)/turkey wing (Zeus). All in all, they eat better than I do!

I would've thought that training a puppy to keep out of certain areas e.g. the kitchen, would be similar to teaching a puppy to stay out of the house. My two dogs are outside only dogs, however, my new puppy (now 7 months) wanted to barge her way inside every time the door was open. I found it was simply a matter of saying "no" and placing her outside. Couple that with the "stay" command once the door was open she soon learned not to come inside unless invited. Now I don't have to say anything. Once the door is open, I walk through and she stays put -- unless mum isn't home and I tell them they're both okay to come into my bedroom to watch TV with me! :D

It sounds like you've got him animal whipped Atanquin! Although I've never understood how people can't love dogs -- fair enough if there's been a bad experience, but to just not like them? And it's funny that he'd go for another CS; they don't really ooze the "mucho" status! But they are very cool dogs -- I love their topknots! Are you kidding me? What on Earth would've possessed her to dye your kitten pink? The poor thing must've been terrified from the experience as I'd imagine it would've involved being bathed. I hope it scratched the s*** out of her. What an absolute jerk of a housemate and a very pathetic "friend".

I still live with my folks and 4 brothers so there's always someone home to keep an eye on my bubbas when I'm at work. I love that they stepped in to help out with Kirah's lunch as I'd be at work and to supervise play time so Zeus didn't hurt her with his boisterousness. If I ever fall into the position of share renting, it would have to be with people who love dogs as much as I do. There'd be no compromise on that.

*nods* eyes, ears, teeth, skin folds,...all sorts of things . No way!! That's $%@!# up! I also don't really get the ear taping either to be honest. If people want to do it, of course it's up to them, go for it, but it just seems unfortunate that WE project our issues to do with "perfection" onto them when they're beautiful the way they are. Just my 2 cents though, I think your puppy is going to be gorgeous whether the taping works or not. Ummm no it isn't. If a dog has saggy facial skin that affects it's eyes, cause skin fold infections, to gibe it a facelift and correct those issues is not F%$ked up it is doing the best for your dog. It is not done for vanity it is done for medical reasons. I totally agree OSoSwift. I've seen instances where Sharpei dogs need "eye lifts" in order to prevent them from going blind. I don't have a problem with animal cosmetic surgery for these types of reasons, I just don't believe in cosmetic surgery because the owner is vain. To deliberately alter the look of ones dog because of its looks is wrong -- if you don't like how it looks, choose another breed or don't have a dog. Period. Edited to say: I don't really mind ear taping because it is a non-invasive procedure, however, it's not something I'd consider doing because I love wonky dogs! :D Glad to hear Gracie's ear is improving Kiwipete. We definitely require photos when the ear taping is finished! Pugs are gorgeous little guys!! :D

Gorgeous photos everyone! Now if only I could get my 2 and the cat to co-operate ... :rolleyes: BTW, the colouring of Esky is beautiful. He's a stunning boy! Edit: to fix tags

So I guess the inference is that only dogs under effective control are legally allowed off lead. That's how I'd interpret the statement. If you can't have your dog under effective control then no, it should not be off-lead. If the dog park isn't fenced and your dog uncontrollable dog decides to head off towards a main road, there's a high chance it could get hit. Not a smart thing to do really. The dog park I frequent with my guys is at the back of a fenced in cricket pitch, but even though it's a good kilometre from the highway, it's still accessible if a dog decides to take off. And there's a Westfield Shopping Centre right beside it and a McDonalds on the other side of the road. Any dog with a nose like my beagle cross and not under control could just pick up the scent of burgers and make a beeline across the highway -- and it's bumper to bumper during rush hour! If my guys didn't come to me when I called then hell yes I'd bolt up to them and try everything in my power to stop them. Zeus is faster than a greyhound when he runs so is quite hard to catch but I'd still try my damnedest! And should one of them be bitten by an on-leash dog after they've continued to ignore my calls and I haven't gotten to them soon enough then no. I'd never blame the person with the on-leash dog. My guys should've returned to me upon command and if they didn't then that's my fault -- they're clearly not 100% recall proof. If it's really bad damage then I'd get the owner's number so I can let them know how I got on at the vet, but would never blame. There's no point in blame -- IMO it doesn't solve anything. What's done is done, it's time to move on. Hope I've helped!

I'd love to say that you'd be free of all blame as your dog is completely under your control and on a lead, however, there are a LOT of stupid dog owners who utilise off-leash parks. If something did happen involving your dog, you wouldn't be to blame but to the idiot owners of a dog not under effective control, you'd be an easy target -- your dog shouldn't be in the park if it can't be off-leash etcetera etcetera. My understanding of off-leash parks (or anywhere in general) is that ANY dog, regardless of it being ON-leash or OFF-leash, must be in effective control by the owner. And I know I'd hate for my dogs to rush up to an unknown dog -- I don't mind if my Zeusling rushes up to dog we've known for years and is considered our friend, but never to a question mark dog. That's asking for trouble!

I just did a very quick google search and Proban tablets pop in the results although I wasn't of the belief that Proban was used for ticks. For my guys (a small Aussie Terrier and a medium Beagle cross) I use Comfortis for fleas and Frontline Plus for ticks every 2 weeks. I buy the Frontline Plus for XL dogs and apply the correct dosage with a 30 cent syringe from the chemist. One vial of XL dog Frontline Plus is the equivalent of buying a 6 month supply of small dog Frontline Plus. So much cheaper!!

After months of being "temporarily unavailable" I found tins of mackerel in natural mackerel oil back on the shelves of my local Woolies. I was so excited that I stocked up -- just incase the fish disappear again! ;) If there's anyone out there who'd like some but is having trouble getting it, I'd be more than happy to buy and post some.