~*Shell*~

When I got Zero he was only C4 vaccinated - they don't do the KC at the shelter because most of the dogs have it when they're there anyway. The nasal thing was fine for him a couple of weeks later - but he has a big, long nose. I'm not sure if i'd want to put it in a nose that was smaller...

I use lanolin on fly bites with some spray repellant over the top. The lanolin soothes the ears and then the repellant keeps the flies away. It's good because even when the repellant wears off, the lanolin is so thick that the flies can't get to the ears to bite anyway!

We use Krill oil for Zero - 1 capsule a day (we open the capsule with a pin and put it over his food). It's more concentrated than fish oil. He didn't have porblems with Zero before so I don't know how well it's working but our vet suggested it to help his joints now that he's getting to the ripe old age of 4...

Because it's so close to Trixie's mouth it's hard to treat with anything that will stop Angel from licking! Maybe ask your vet?

Could you try the low fat Iams kibble (if you don't want to change brands) for him? Zero's on doggie weight watchers atm and he's only getting 1.5 cups of low fat kibble and a chicken wing a day and he's thriving!!

Some dogs tolerate it very well, some don't. I know when i got Zero, he didn't have good coat condition but we put him on a diet of pedigree naturals (which also contains corn - he gets sick off a lot of things and we've only found pedigree naturals and supercoat don't make him sick) and chicken wings and his coat has come right back. We're going to be trying him on both eaglepack and orijen in the next couple of days (higher quality foods because i'm concerned about the amount of filler in the pedigree) but if he can't eat them I'll be happy to leave him on pedigree naturals till i can find a higher quality food without the filler. It all comes down to the dog i think - the best food for your dog is one that it does well on.

I'm sure you'll find him a family who will love him as much as you do! Good luck with him - I hope his new family keep in touch and send photos... so you can post them lol!

You could also get some barf patties (if you can't make up enough baggies for the whole time you're away) as well as some good dry food - that way your dog will still be getting some fresh meat. Just remember to put him on whatever your friend is going to be feeding for a few days before you go - i know that when Zero has a food change he can sometimes get stomach upsets from it and i would hate to dump him on a friend with stomach problems (not to mention having to clean up after him...)

A swimmer pup is a flat chested pup that doesn't start walking, and just kind of lies there with it's legs splayed so when it moves it looks like it's swimming (hence the name) - it looks a bit like a walrus really. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, these puppies die or are PTS and it requires a lot of physical therapy to put them right because you have to lengthen the muscles and tendons between their shoulder blades to get their front legs to get into the right position and so they can move their neck and head (or they arch their back instead of lift their head when they feed) and therefore, make their chest take the right shape. I've never seen one in person but i've seen quite a few photos and had my breeder explain it to me when Poodlemum first posted about Thorpy - my breeder has only ever had one and unfortunately the little boy died at about 3 weeks old, even with her doing PT with him everyday!

It was full of gunk down in his ear (not really visable without a torch and 3 people holding him down) - though he had probably scratched/rubbed the gunk from the top of his ear off. Poor little man - he's afraid of many things because of the abuse and is slowly getting better. Maybe me having to touch his ears a lot over the next few days will get him over this fear. Lots of cuddles (and some low fat treats) are definitely coming his way. When he hurt his paw (cut it on some glass) we had to handle his paws a lot to put antiseptic on them and it got him over his fears about his paws being touched so we can only hope!

You mean you have a dog that you can leave food out and it doesn't get eaten? Zero is all over his food the second he can get it! Both the cat and the dog can search out an open pack of schmackos (both love them) and have worked out a way to get the drawer open and the schmackos out of the packet without moving it! I don't even have to leave food out for them to get to it!

I doubt that he would have let me touch it anyway - took 3 people to hold him still long enough to clean his ear out last night (and that was after a shot of pain killers!).

Zero's been under twice - once was a major op to retrieve his testicle after he was kicked by his old owners and it went back up inside of him and he had to have a 15cm incision for them to find it (4 hours to do a desexing!). He came out fine both times - not a care in the world!

You could try the breed specific forums. The great dane owners in there will be able to give you a run down on what to expect and may even be able to direct you to some fantastic breeders. As for the kibble - the question of what is the best is a loaded one! Everyone will swear by something. I go by the saying "whatever your dog does best on" - I feed pedigree naturals because my dog has an allergy to many foods and gets sick from them, aside from supercoat (which makes him poop a lot more) and pedigree naturals. I'll be trying orijen and eagle pack in the next couple of days because they're supposed to be good quality foods and i'll see how he goes. ETA: congrats on the decision btw - baby danes are very very cute!!!

Well, we're back from the vet and he has quite a bad ear infection. Because he has been abused in the past he didn't really let on how much pain he was in but she's had to give him a shot of pain killers so she could even have a look at it because he was crying everytime she touched it. Now he's on pain killers, antibiotics and i have to wait a few days before i can even start washing it because he's in so much pain. Poor munchkin!

Supercoat has quite a lot of "filler" in it (grains etc) - because a dog has a shorted digestive system, they don't absorb carbs like we do (or at least this was the reason given to me). Less things to absorb = more poo.... And it's true - Zero gets sick off quite a few things but supercoat itsn't one of them. When i feed him supercoat i have a lot more to clean up!

You could try getting some flavoured water from your local supermarket (made especially for dogs, it's in the pet food section in with the puppy/kitty milks). A friend gave it to Zero once and he loved it (i think it's along the lines of chicken stock though so the boiling chicken in water thing is probably the same thing!). Sorry, can't for the life of me remember the name of it but i saw it in coles.

I'll be very interested to see what people have to say. I'm training to be a groomer (so I can do some volunteer work with rescue organisations and to do my friend's dogs, as well as my own) and can't bath in our own tub so a hydrobath would be a fantastic idea.

Is he a keeper Poodlemum? Or have you found him a fantastic home? He certainly deserves one after what you both have been through!

He hasn't been around other dogs for a couple of weeks because he's our only dog and because of the rain, we haven't been to the dog park. He could have ear mites, but i haven't seen any evidence of them. He may have a scratch to the outside of his ear at the front (hard to see because he has some pretty thick ear fur! Typical husky!). I haven't had the opportunity to have a good look because he doesn't want me to move the hair around it. Could have been scratched by the bushes in our yard or something when he's been doing zoomies... Good thing he loves our vet! Dr Sarah is fantastic with him and he lets her do anything because he knows she has treats (she's very big on making Zero's trip to the vet a positive one so lots of cuddles, treats and baby talk - she even calls him woofie which is our pet name for him. Best vet ever!). I'll let you know what the problem is exactly when I know!

I decided it was better safe than sorry - his ear has puss in it so i think that even if the ear isn't infected he probably has a cut or a scratch on it that isn't healing properly. We're booked in at 5:45 today so i'll take him down and have him checked. He won't let me touch it and it's obviously sore so i wouldn't be able to put a cotton bud down it anyway (not that i would - too many things can go wrong since I don't know what i'm doing) and he won't let me clean it. Besides, i'd hate to have too much water on whatever i would use to clean it and have some go down into his ear and make it worse!

Wow! You've done fantastically with him! I thought that most swimmer pups didn't make it but he certainly looks like one very happy pup!

Hmmm, nothing changed very much today - can't see a scratch on his ear at all and i've had a good look. There is no reason for him to have this muck around his ear unless it came from inside it. I'll have another good look tomorrow and if there is no change i'll take him to the vet. Better safe than sorry anyway!

Hi everyone, When i got up this morning i noticed that Zero's ear was weeping a bit (making his fur turn a reddy colour) - at first we just thought it was wet because of the rain but the rest of him was dry. The ear doesn't appear sore to the touch, the ear canal doesn't look red but he looks like he might have been scratching it. Does this sound like he has an ear infection? Our usual vet isn't open today so i thought i might have a look at it tomorrow and if it hasn't changed I would take him down tomorrow but if he does have one i would rather pay the money to get it checked rather than leaving it!

Zero had a similar problem with not eating. Turns out that the things he wouldn't eat are the things that make him sick (vet believes he has some kind of intolerance to an unknown ingredient) - at the moment he's eating pedigree naturals (not exactly what i wanted to feed him but he's doing well on it and it's the only thing aside from supercoat that i've found that doesn't make him really sick). I want to try him on orijen and eagle pack but at the moment i'm finding them hard to get in small bags (don't want to pay $100 for a big bag only to find he gets incredibly sick off them).