Terujo

Hi, I had a Boxer do that as a pup. She is almost 9 now :-) She did it about 4 or 6 times over a few weeks. I found that I needed to feed her more regularly (in smaller amounts of course) and it stopped! It also seemed to happen mostly when we arrived home after being out ( typical Boxer excitement ). The feeding regime made the difference- my bitch was about the same age too. It must have been something similar to low blood sugar levels maybe?

Hi, Sorry if this has been done over and over, but I have just come home from a leisurely trip to Petstock, which I usually don't have a lot of time for. I'm pretty much a 'dyed in the wool' Proplan advocate. My dogs (Boxers) do very well on it too . Because I had some extra time today I got to studying the ingredients' on different brands and was still very happy with my usual choice. Then I looked at the Holistic Select (Anchovy,Sardine & Salmon meal recipe) and was impressed :cool: It was quite a battle for me, as I'm very loyal to my brands, but that Holistic Select was swaying me. So I bought both ! I would like to know what experience others have had with either of these brands, particularly HS and any suggestions anyone might have. If you have made a switch recently to or from either of these brands I would be interested in hearing about it.

Absolutely! 100% support from me too. The pup may just work out fine and I hope for your sake it does :D

ummmmm...what state are you in?

Hi again Humbolt, thanks for that additional info. So I'm guessing that by what you wrote the people who are selling the pup ( how much for again?) have bred it and their son just happens to work in a petshop? Does the petshop have anything to do with this pup? Yes the lady is right she cannot register the pup because its parents are not registered. I made an anon enquiry to a local backyarder once who told me that she could get the pups registered if she wanted to (even tho neither parent was) but it was just too much red tape and she didnt have the inclination. This is also untrue. For any pups to be registered the breeder would need to be a member of their state controlling body and also be a registered breeder. The sire and dam of the pups would also have to be registered, for the pups to be registered. I'm just letting you know this in case you were falsely led to believe that it was possible to have the pups registered as my local backyarder tried to tell me Please let me explain to you that the reason we harp on soooo much about getting a pup from a regsitered breeder is not because we are some crazy dog snobs ( although truely I am a dog snob ) but because we love our breed like there is no tomorrow. We have every boxer book on the earth, and breeding book, training book, grooming book, nutrition book and the list goes on. We feed our dogs nothing but the best to do our bit to ensure they are healthy, happy and stong. We get up at 6am every morning to walk our dogs 5kms to keep them fit. We show our dogs and talk with other breeders/ exhibitors about boxers to educate both them and ourselves and we invest massive amounts of time,energy and money to keep our dogs ' up to scratch' health wise, mentally, and socially. They sleep in our houses and sometimes our beds. They watch TV with us at night and greet our guests at the door. Then.....all too often some backyarder decides to mate their bitch for either some cash, because she is a nice bitch or to let the kids see her having puppies and there has been no health testing, no temperament assessing, no socialising and we get emails, enquiries etc from people saying I have this young pup and it's got xxxx wrong with it what do I do? Don't get me wrong, we love helping people with Boxers, but it can get very frustrating when we are all trying our hardest to produce that perfect, healthy, sound dog and some backyarder comes in and with one fowl swoop stuffs up our boxers and the reputation of our breed. I hope you understand where I am coming from. It's not that we are snobs. We have just heard too many sad and frustrating stories where things have gone terribly wrong and to be truthful, its the backyarders that cause the problems! It is very frustrating that these backyarders have their dogs immunised and therefore claim that they are responsible owners...which if that was the case, their dogs would be desexed :D It may seem that you can wait sooo long to get a regsitered boxer as opposed to something unregistered, but it's important to consider why. Registered breeders are more slective with their buyers, and I'm not insinuationg that you wouldnt be a good buyer, after all you are asking all of the right questions. Registered breeders dont have litter after litter, they dont saturate breed. They breed carefully.Because of this registered breeders have waiting lists. Now unregistered breeders on the other hand may have a litter from the same bitch every 6 months, they don't screen buyers and they don't have waiting lists. Sometimes, actually often, it's those ' but I want one now, I don't want to wait- this one will do' decisions that result in the saddest endings. Personally, I would rather wait and get the right one. You can ring the Vet if you like, but the vet is unlikely to tell you anything as remember they are paying the vet for his/her services. The vet is unlikely to know of any serious health problems as unless they have been asked to test for these they will not know. Again how much is this pup? I was quoted by my local backyarder the same amount I paid for one of my registered show dogs She then went on to tell me that registered Boxers were $xxxx which is more than I have ever paid for any of my registered show dogs, and I have 4! So now that you have your eyes open you can go into this fully aware and if something does go wrong ( which I hope for your sake it doesn't- and your kids most of all because that is devasting for children) you will know that you had all the info, made your choice and decided to wing it. Up to you. All the best!

Some very good questions here Humbolt. Your questions fill my head with questions! I guess firstly, why? why buy from a non registered breeder? You seem to be aware of the risks related to this, which is great, you are are obviously thinking ahead. I am unsure why you would then continue down this path. That aside, hip problems can be an issue but so are heart problems and these do need to be tested and certified clear by a vet. If any of these problems do occur (or any other for that matter), what support and advice will this ' breeder' offer you? Will they offer to take the dog back and provide you with another? Will they advise you on feeding, training, general care? Will they offer this support for the entirety of the dog's life? I would be worried about alot of things. But you seem clued up enough to ask here, so I am sure you are prepared to ask the 'breeder' now. Alternatively you can go to the boxer puppies page on this website and find a list of registered breeders who will offer all their knowldege for the dog's life! oh and also, keep in mind that if a dog isn't registered it is impossible to know if it really truely is a purebred. There's no telling what it's grandparents or great grandparents were. Papers provide that assurance. Boxers are great pets/companions and you sound like you are ready for their busyness and would love it as a child Do yourselves a favour and get a good one! :D

Boxers that were docked pror to the tail docking ban are still able to be shown. WA bred (registered ) Boxers born prior to December '08 can also still be shown. Born after this time they must have a tail if born/bred in Australia.

Thanks everyone! I have made an appointment for her to have skin scrapings done, then depending on the results of that, I will be given a referral for the dermatologist. Will let you know how it goes. Decided not fuss around with food till we get some results.

I don't have a HSD list of ingredients handy.

Just read the ingredients of RC hypoallergenic This is what it says; rice, hydrolysed soya protein isolate, animal fats, minerals, beet pulp,poultry liver hydrolsate, vegetable oils(soya borage), fructo-oligo-saccharides,fish oil,L-tyrosine,taurine,DL-mathionine,marigold extract(rich in lutein) Average analysis; Protein 21%Fat 19% Ash 8.4% Fibre 2% Essential Fatty Acid 4.3% Additives; vitamins per kg- A 32000IU- D# 1200IU- E-600mgCopper 22mg/kg. With Preservative: Potassium sorbate and antioxidentspropyl gallate- BHA any help interpreting would be helpful

Thanks. The HSD z/d is also fish based, that's why she was put onto that one. Inspectorrex, you're right I'm going to request it.

Proplan for my lot- apart from miss allergic to everything One of mine absolutely loves supercoat and does really well on it too( she gets this as an addition to her proplan as a special treat) I wont feed just supercoat, don't think it has enough of what they need.. Mine wont eat advance- I love evrything about proplan. Proplan for us

This is the train of thought I have been on for a while. we have lived her for 2.5 yrs. she had got obviously worse since then, although she was a problem before that. Hmmmm.... you mentioned insecticides b4. We don't use any, but i have a vineyard behind my house. I know they use herbicides. Could be the problem! I find it hard to elimante things like that because we have 4 dogs and none have any allergies whatsoever apart from this one!! The other dogs spend more time nearer to our back part of our yard, so I never gave it another thought. will mention it to the vet!! Thanks

appreciate your help.

She was on the HS z/d but when I changed vets they don't always have it in stock, so for someone like me who goes " oh no I need more food by tomorrow" - like I did a couple of times I couldn't wait the 4 days required for them to order it in, so i had to get what they had coz she can't eat what my other dogs eat . They supply royal canin and always have there so its easy just to go and and get some. lilysmum, great link, have already checked it out- will email them tomorrow. Thanks

The vets have just had a good guess and obviously not a very good one at that! will enquire about allergy testing. I know we have a specialist who is in our area monthly- will see if we can arrange to go down this path. Thanks for the info. I'm glad I bothered to ask- much better than sitting here getting frustrated listening to her licking and chewing- as I am right now!

I've been looking through the other threads on anti histamines, and allergies and stuff. Think I need to ask my vet a few more questions about our options of treatment. There's got to be more than just feeding a hypoallergenic diet.

I have given her anti histamines on the rare occasions when she was stung by a bee (allergic to them ). I hadn't thought of giving them any other time. It does change throughout the year, but according to my vet nurse, her worst reaction times are at the wrong times of the year for it to be ' seasonal' I'm at a loss as to what it is envorinment or food. I feel I have tried EVERYTHING! I did have her on a purely raw diet as a young dog, but looking back there were a lot of vegies in my mix, that may have caused upset. At that time I felt it was certain vegies, which i eliminated one by one. I gave up and put her back onto commercial food. It has got worse since we moved house (2.5 yrs ago). Grass maybe? Although she is now (as of about 2 months ago- when her allergy increased) inside 99.9% of the day (goes out for toilets only). At first we thought it made a difference, but i don't think so now. Vet thinks it is most likely food related ( internal), but say they can't say for sure. If this is just her, then it is just her, but I would love to find some relief or her- I couldn't live like that myself- constantly irritated ansd scratching/chewing

I was going to get PP foaming whitening stuff (purple liquid). Is the animal house better?

Do u mean home prepared cooked rice and chicken? or something else? I just followed vets advice on the cortisone. I didn't think it was something dogs could be on long term. But it's worth running it by the vet, I spose

Hi, I have a VERY allergic boxer that itches, chews and scratches if she eats anything other than high priced premium hypoallergenic foods. Even a bone causes her to chew her feet like crazy. The only relief we have had for her is when she was on a course of cortisone (obviously to determine reasons for allergy). I'm getting a little tired of the high price and keep thinking, there must be something else! We can't feed her anything, not a scrap of any other food without it affecting her. She still scartches and chews on the hypoallergenic foods, but not nearly as badly, and with these foods she has no redness, apart from her feet (from chewing, they are also inflamed). She is now 5 yrs old and seems to be getting worse with age. If anyone has any ideas I would be inetersted to hear them.