k9kutz

Yes winter is such a wonderful time of year for us groomers. I always seem to get the poopers and the pee'ers. Shit in the tub or on the table whilst been blowdryed. Or like one little Maltese decided to do today pee in the create and lay in it at after she had just been finished and her owners were due to pick her up any minuet. Or the ones who let there dogs cock there leg on everything in the reception area. Lets not forget those who bring there dogs in now after about 5 months. Fluffy is matted to the bone and expect you to do a scissor cut or longer blade because it is to cold to shave them, and no matter how much you try to explain to them its impossible they refuse to listen. I had one guy tell me all the matting will come out when i wash it????? :rolleyes:

Thanks guys thats what i thought, well my expiriance has always been that single speed clippers only have the lower speed. Thought i was going a bit mad there for a second. Actually what am i talking about i am well and truly mad. :rolleyes:

I had a woman, comes once a month. She came for her monthly appointment last Friday. As usual sends husband to pick up dog with no money she has to come in on Saturday to pay. She is a major tight ass and is always winging about the price etc etc. So Friday she gets us to just wash and dry Tilly (Tibetan x) because thats the cheapest service available and thats what we did. When she comes in on Saturday to pay (because i was generous/stupid enough to discharge her dog without payment ), she says were not very happy with the job you did yesterday. I asked what the problem was. She says she did not look any different to when she came in, and she had none trimmed off????????. I explained to her that all she wanted was a wash and dry and for that price (only $25) there was no clipping?????? WTF is wrong with some people. :rolleyes:

Thanks Kelly, i was nice to share my story with others who understand cushings. Im glad you did not take my story the wrong way i was not rying to scare you. Chloe will do great, she is lucky to have a mum who loves her and will take care of her.

My old girl had cushings. She had the hair loss on her tail and back end, big pot belly, extreme hunger and thirst, really bad skin and excessive urination. She had a really difficult time and we only lasted 8 months before having to let her go. ;) Minnie was an extremely rare case. She had both forms of cushings a tumor on her puturity gland and adrenal cushings. Not only adrenal cushings but a tumor on both her adrenal glands. This is almost un heard of. Only 10% of cushings dogs suffer the adrenal form, but to have tumors on both adrenal glands and on the puturity gland is very very rare (and unlucky ). Specialist from all over Australia were very keen to examine her and study her. Diagnosis of Minnie took about 6 months because she was such a tricky case. I ended up opting not to have surgery which is the normal procedure for adrenal cushings because her specialist said there was 50% chance of her dying on the table and then if she did survive surgery the a 60% of major complications. For me the risk was not worth it and we made her comfortable on a drug called Trilostaine, which is a new development in cushings treatment. It was difficult getting the dose right and she ended up being on a dose 5 times what is normally recommended just because her disease was so savage . She was also one of the small % of dogs who had reactions to the trilostaine ;) . She also had arthritis which i think cushings treatment did aggravate, she had metacam daily and cartrophen monthly which did help, i also started her on Sasha's blend. Sadly her adrenal tumors turned out to be very aggressive cancers which quickly spread through out her body and a large tumor from her adrenal had wrapped itself around her spinal cord. In the end she suffered sever dementia due to her puturity tumor pushing on her brain and causing pressure and neurological symptoms. Needless to say i had to let Minnie go at the begining of the year. I know this is not a very encouraging cushings story :D . Keep in mind my Minnie was a very rare and extreme case. I know many dogs (especially with futurity cushings) that live for years and do quite well. Trust your vet, hopefully you have a good vet who you are happy with. I was lucky to have a brilliant vet who gave me 8 extra months with my girl. One other thing you have probably already realised, its a very expensive disease. I spent more than $20,000 on Minnie's cushing treatment alone, much of this just went on the diagnosis (many scans at over $1000 each, also the trilostane was about $350 a fortnight) plus thousands of dollars all her other medical conditions. I hate to think of the total cost . Good luck i wish you all the best.

This is so emabressing comming from someone who has been grooming as long as i have. ;) I always thought the single speed clippers only did the lower speed. I never use the lower setting either but have always bought double speed clippers becasue i thought they had the advatage of having the higher speed. I have used single speed clippers before and they were slow thats why i thought the two speed had the faster setting for more heavy duty cutting and commercial use. am i wrong, yous are saying the single speed have the faster speed only ;)

I agree with you 100%, feed whatever works best for your dog . I do however choose to believe that there is always a better product available than supermarket stuff. If a dog dose well on supermarket food i am sure a better quality product could be found that they would do just as well if not even better on. There has been so many advances made in dog nutrition these days that we now know what is the best diet they should be on. Same with the advances in vet medicine, sure years ago dogs "survived" but i sure am thankful that these advances have been made so my dogs can receive the best food and care possible. I also find it amusing that when someone on here asks for opinions about which super premium dry food they should try, there is always someone to quickly jump up and down and try and defend the supermarket foods (when i say supermarket I'm don't include Purina one or optimum, if you do feed supermarket because thats all your dog does well on then i think those 2 are acceptable). I don't know how with what we know about canine nutrition these days people can still Deny the fact that supermarket food is all CRAP!!!! by the way this not aimed at you or having a go at you crisovar, your post was mearly my inspiration - i agree with you about feeding what works best for you. i agree eagle pack is great but would not suite every dog ;)

both products are good, I normally recommend eagle pack and think it is probably slightly better than pro plan. I am a retailer of eagle pack in NSW and it can be difficult to get sometimes. My wholesaler if often out of stock because eagle pack themselves are waiting on a shipment. It is a great product they just need to sort out there ordering. I always make sure i stock up good just incase but its not often an issue.

Scratching can be from a number of courses. It could be secondary to fleas, with some dogs it only takes one flea and they off scratching for weeks. Although you don't see any fleas it's not to say there was not a flea he could have picked up from anywhere that could be the root of it. It is so frustrating when a dog scratches and there appears to be no obvious problem at skin level. Knots could also be a potential problem but at 12 weeks old and with your brushing every second day i doubt that would be to much of a concern for you. Keep in mind also the more brushing the better, if you can do more than every second day thats even better, especially when there young to get them use to being brushed. Another possible cause could be a mild food allergy, co lours and preservatives (in treats like schmakos etc) give a lot of dogs skin irritations. Hopefully he is one a super premium dry food or a natural diet. Thats another thing you might consider. If his skin looks fine then i would not panic to much just yet, it can be easy with a new puppy to pick up on the tiniest thing and pull your hair out worrying about it. Its normal for dogs to scratch occasionally if he is doing it a lot some dogs develop obsessive compulsive conditions try telling him no if he seems to be scratching a lot for no reason and try diverting his attention with a toy or something. Good luck, hope it helps :rolleyes:

you might want to check, i think you will find all the super premium brands offer a 100% money back guarantee. As long as there i s a majority of the bag left, at least then you can try a few different brands to find one he likes and not have to worry about wasting all that money. My pups were on pro plan but i have slowly changed them onto a specific royal cannin diet for there breed. They were not keen on the pro plan but seem to like the royal cannin. I do mix it with a tiny amount of chicken, sardines or eagle pack can food plus a drop of hot water. I find they are more eager to eat when its mixed.

I used Oster for years, then changed to andis for a little while but i was never satisfyed. Now i have wahl km2's and wahl switchblades i love them ;)

One of my Toy Poodles also has a taste for kitty poo. I have one of those big enclosed litter trays with the flap on it and i will often find him with his head inside having a feed. Or sometimes if he gets to the litter box after one of the cats has just been and before i do, he will proudly carry the poop out and drop it at my feet, Then thinks its OK to want to give me kisses afterwards. Such a gorse little creature, i wish he ate his own food as keen as he does the second hand cat food. :rolleyes:

No the Anchovy one has no corn (from memory). Some of the eagle pack do contain corn but its as a carbohydrate. Corn is actually 91% digestable by dogs. The reason corn has such a bad name in dog food is company's like Hill's science diet use corn as there main protein content, corn is only about 10% protein. As opposed to meat meals which are about 80% protein, thats why corn should never be the first ingredient listed on the ingredients panel. Another thing brands that say "real chicken " etc you should be wary as real chicken is full of water (as opposed to a meat) so is much lower in protein. Corn is obviously much cheaper than meat meal so they try to get away with using it a protein source and justify it to themselves because of its high digestibility. chuckie500, as soon as my wholesaler drops the price, i will drop it to. You should know by now that prices never go down only up :rolleyes:

From my days as a vet nurse, it is normal for vets to charge more for dogs than cats, more for girls than boys and also more depending on the size of the dog. I also know the price will range from about $200-$400. Wow some of you guys are getting a really good deal. Don't you envy the people with small male kittens, On the flip side feel real sorry for anyone getting a 2year old Dane bitch spayed

Yep PP, Pet Goods Direct and Pets R Fun are all owned by the same compay- Paradise Holdings Pyt Ltd

I would have to vote for Eagle Pack, defiantly check out the stockists on there website Hopefully there is one near you. The Holistic Large breed puppy might be good for your pup. 23% protein and with Glucosamine which might help with your pups joint problems.

I use Wahl, there not to bad.

I would question the genuineness of Innova with the so called ethical stance they have, when they seem to not be bothered by there product being sold exclusively by PP. I think its a great product but, eagle pack is better. PP get there hands on some really great products which they then get the exclusive import rights to and jack the price up through the roof. I guess thats why there a multi million dollar company and doing so well.

One of mine had a bit of gunky eye once and my mum told me to try cold tea. Worked a treat!

I'm not really a fan of can food (in general) as i have said before but i think it is great (eagle pack cans that is) to use a mixer just to add a bit of flavor and stimulate appetite. My 2 pups weren't all that keen on there dry food so i have been mixing just one teaspoon of eagle pack can food in with the dry and they gobble everything down. As far as can food goes eagle pack is defiantly the best IMO, but i still would not be feeding it as a complete meal. Although the eagle pack cans are a little more sexpensive when you use just a tiny amount (1 teaspoon) just to stimulate appetite, 1 can last my 2 pups a week. If your dog is happy eating the dry on its own i would not bother with the cans.

Oh yeah cartrophen is great stuff to. One initial injection a week for 4 weeks followed by monthly to every three monthly boosters, depending of how bad the arthritis is- worked absolute wonders for my old girl.

I struggle with this myself a bit- this is what i conclude from having spoken with my sales rep. The main difference i think between the two is the super premium contains more fillers (corn/ rice- a high quality and slightly more digestible cereal for dogs) and slightly lower quality ingredients than the holistic. The holistic contains only organic and free range human grade ingredients and many natural supplements. The holistic select is probably IMO the best dry food you can feed. I still think the super premium range is a cut above the other "super premium" dry food available on the market today. The holistic is great if you are targeting a specific problem i.e skin irritations or tummy upsets but for all other "normal" dogs there is absolutely nothing wrong with the super premium range.

I have personally had good results with Sasha's blend and know of a few others that have experienced good results with it also. I don't know what diet you feed but might i also suggest a super premium senior diet i.e eagle pack holistic or similar.

I agree with what Tzu lover said 100%. :D I also sell the eagle pack cans and they are about $5 each can. I know they are a bit more expensive than most other cans and i personally don't like can food as a general rule but i do think it has its place. If one where to feed some can food for whatever reason i would prefer them to feed the eagle pack because as far as can food goes it if far better than the rest. Normally you get what you pay for and quality just costs a bit more.

Oh don't get me wrong Kitkat, i agree with you 100%. Feed what works best for you and your dogs and its great to recommend to others what you thinks good. Having said that i know people who think pal and chum are great and they work well for there dog, but no way in hell i would ever feed that or recommend it. Despite having no import costs, advertising champagne and reps to pay i don't think it would be of the quality that other brands are. As you say yourself you would not call it "super premium". I would always suggest to someone start at the top and if cost is an issue work your way down from there. I'm not saying that food is complete crap and I'm glad it works for you and your dogs Kit Kat, but i believe there is better available. Just giving my opinion on the topic