Rappie

She's adoring and adorabubble Being a smidgey bit dumb is just endearing

She's gorgeous, but stoopid This is an older photo that I think I've posted before, but it's got the same warm and fuzzy thing happening. She reminds me a bit of 'Babe', I can just imagine her wandering around singing 'La la la'.

I was just going back through some photos I took before Christmas, it was another lazy afternoon in our apartment block garden. This is my little chunky-munkey Dusk. While my other dog Scsi is an occasionally moody Mr Independant, Dusk is always just plain old happy. Want to go for a walk. AWESOME! PICK ME! Want to just hang on the couch and watch tv. AWESOME! PICK ME! This is one of those not quite right shots that I tried to make better, it was way too dark and went grainy when I tried to rescue it and looks bad in colour. However, it makes me want to just smoosh her little face up :D This one is just 'her'. Can never quite manage to do what you ask. Sit here? Ok.....but I'm going to shuffle over a bit so I can sit on your feet where you can't quite see all of me and then I'm going to just look at you adoringly because thats just what I do :D

Wrong place. Duh. Posted in main forum :D

The dilution rate to use Malaseb as an ear cleaner is 1:50

Unfortunately, no amount of education (veterinary or otherwise) can force someone to 'care'. I have clients laugh at my medical recommendations - no, I don't think you should breed you severely hip dysplastic, neurotic, fear aggressive German Shepherd with the bitch down the road. I don't care how handsome he is, he lacks genetic potential. Don't really care that you can sell 'em for $1000. You know really, no, your Staffordshire bitch with generalised demodex shouldn't really be bred from. No, it's probably not just grass. No, I don't think just one litter is a good idea. I have lots of clients who just refuse to microchip their pup before 6 months. You can tell them all about the legislation, and how the 'breeder' shouldn't really have sold them a pup at 5 weeks old and that weetbix isn't really a complete diet. It's illegal to steal someones cat and try to get it put to sleep just because it annoys you. The usual stuff Vets are just normal people to. Some are good, some not so. Some have a great interest in animal welfare, some just do their job. Some think outside the box, some don't. I don't know that you can blame the education system entirely for the individuals that come out of it - I suggest that you find one you love an keep seeing them. It is a requirement for maintaining registration (at least in NSW) that vets attend a minimum number of hours of continuing education. I know young vets who find it just as tedious as older vets and who just have no interest in anything other than meeting the minimum number. It's not particularly important, but I'm a Chartered Member of the AVA - the requirement for this is 120 CE points in the last 3 years. I obtained 132 points in the last 12 months - including 330 hours of a post grad education course.

In the absence of a medical problem with metabolism, weight loss requires less calories in and more calories out. If you can't reasonably increase the amount of exercise that is done (due to pain or other physical limitations) then the food intake needs to be decreased even further. We have on occasion admitted a dog to hospital for a week and strictly controlled it diet (weighing kibble on kitchen scales) and they do lose weight. Once excess fat has accumulated it doesn't take much energy to keep it there, and we need the dog to start using it as a source of energy. Pain relief can certainly help with mobility if that is the issue. However in dogs with joint disease or respiratory disease the level of exercise should always be 'moderate' - they should not get sore and excessively tired from doing it. If you cannot increase exercise, I would decrease the food intake further.

It is Helen and you're quite right she is brilliant, and lovely to boot.

Did the vet have a look at a sample of the wax under a microscope? It is not uncommon for puppies to have ear mites and then develop a secondary yeast infection due to all the irritation and inflammation. With regard to the timing of the vaccinations it would depend on the interval between the vaccinations. If it is a 4 week interval (8 weeks, then 12 weeks) then going at 3 weeks would be ok but I wouldn't go any sooner than that. Hiccups are quite normal

The specialist that you're seeing is fantastic so you're in good hands and I'm sure he'll answer any questions you have. There is a physiotherapist that does some work from that practice if it ends up being required. I remember an Iggy with bilateral distal radial fractures being in hospital while I was at uni - if I remeber correctly, she had a giant beanbag in her cage and with sufficient attention from many vet students she was happy to just lounge around. Keeping his brain busy is a good idea. Toileting will need some care, but in a young healthy dog as long as food and water go in, pee and poop should come out

In some of these cases it's possible to take a surgical biospy without removing the lump and send that for histopathology to grade the tumour. Then we have a better idea of how to approach the surgery itself. Mast cell tumours in the perineal area do unfortunately have different prognoses than those in other areas of the body, I think that having an oncologist involved is a good idea.

Skin allergies are frustrating no doubt. Sometimes we need to use prednisolone to manage them - sometimes because nothing else helps, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it for a 'rescue'. I think it has it's place if used with due care and with respect. I aim for the lowest possible dosage that will keep a dog comfortable, and I usually only start at 0.5mg/kg and do a short reducing dose schedule over 5-7 days. I do have the occasional dog that is on it long term and in some cases we have got 20kg dogs down to 5mg every 2 or 3 days. I see far too many dogs that have just been stuck on pred at high doses and have never been investigated - tend to find a lot of underlying demodex cases that way! Before looking at long term pred, I would throw everything else I could at the allergies - every little improvement helps, so that means antihistamines, shampoo and conditioners, skin support diets, omega oil supplementation, derm referrals, immunotherapy, cyclosporin if possible etc. I don't think we should forget that steroids are VERY good at what they do, but they are frequently misused and get a bad rap for that. I'm not suggesting that every 'skin' dog go on steroids, but sometimes it really does come down to a quality of life issue.

A small pupil after trauma is a painful eye, and you need to know whether there has been trauma to the cornea or not. I would recommend a vet visit as soon as you can organise one - it may be over cautious but eye injuries can turn bad very quickly and 'wait and see' is not recommended.

The antivenom itself is not cheap - the last time I worked in a snake area it was $600-700 for a vial of CSL multivalent antivenom, a bit cheaper if it was straight brown or black snake antivenom. The cost price to veterinarian has also gone up in the last year or so, I think it's now about $700-800. By the time you add in consultation, hospitalisation, fluid therapy, blood work and other medication you could reasonably hit the $1000 mark in the first 24 hours, higher if it requires intensive care or ventilation or a few days in hospital etc. It depends on the type of snake, the state of the patient at presentation and how things progress from there. There is also some difference between how various vets will approach treatment, evident even just from reading snake bite thread on here - that will have a great influence on how much treatment costs, and potentially the outcomes (although there is always the potential for a bad outcome even when absolutely everything is done).

You'd be best to speak to either one of the transport companies, or an AQIS accredited vet who would be the person doing all the vaccinations / titres etc for the transport companies anyway. You can download a list of accredited vets HERE.

There is Pyohex lotion which is similar to Resisoothe, it's basically Aloveen conditioner with added chlorhexidine. It's designed for extending the effect of Pyohex and Malaseb shampoos but you can apply it alone. It should be a bit easier to find than the Virbac products, most vets should have it.

It is possible to see a forelimb limp in dogs with neck or shoulder pain. Spasm in muscles on the underside of the spine or medial side of the shoulder can cause a temporary 'nerve entrapment'. The tight muscle squashes the nerve roots up against the bone, and can cause a stiffness or lameness. Pain caused by picking a dog up as you described if often neck or back pain - and it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact spot in stoic dogs. Radiographs aren't particularly useful for most cases of intervertebral disc disease but they are frequently done to rule out other problems such as spondylosis / spondylitits and fractures etc. Rest is very important - no jumping onto / off furniture and later, walk in a harness not a collar and lead.

I've worked in both situations, appointments are much preferred The practice I'm in at the moment works on an appointment schedule, but since we're on a highway we get a lot of walk ins as well. The walk ins are politely informed that we operate on an appointment schedule for normal purposes, but since they are here now, the next free appointment is at "x time" if they don't mind waiting. We have signs on the consult doors informing people that we operate on an appointment schedule but emergencies will take priority. We don't get too many complaints about it, and when we do they are usually from people who walk in and are repeat offenders. Mostly when there is a wait, we find that all the clients are chatting to each other or collectively worrying about the emergency case that is being treated. ETA: We have 3 vets on at any one time, one on surgery and not consulting after 10am, and 2 vets that consult the rest of the day. We do have regular commitments that often requires one (sometimes two) vets to leave the premises for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. Appointments mean we can plan our days (to a point!). We'll always try to squeeze people in if a pet needs attention. We also have some vets who have an entire afternoon booked up 3-4 days in advance!

Do you use all of these? I use Advantix on my dogs every 15 days. Do I need any other flea protection, particularly since they play with other dogs in the dog park? Use all of them together? No, that's not necessary. There are just different characteristics to each product that mean you might choose one over another for a particular dog.

Advantage stops the fleas biting within 5 minutes and they do not need to bite to be affected and subsequently die. Edit: I find Advantage useful for 'sensitive' dogs, Frontline or Advantix for tick protection, Revolution for more 'washable' flea prevention with heartworm. The ability to kill fleas is quite similar but they have different characteristic and benefits.

It lasts for one month after administration. It does rely on fleas attempting to feed but has a rapid kill time which means that fleas jumping onto a dog do not have time to lay eggs. I imagine it can be used with a topical but it shouldn't need to be. It does have a registration claim for treatment of flea allergy dermatitis due to the rapid kill time of fleas. It's just another option - depends on what suits, environmental factors, access to water (swimming / bathing etc) will all affect product choice.

No more than once every 24 hours. A topical flea preparation will be more useful and have the same effect (along with treating the environment). Capstar is better used as a 'knockdown' treatment on really bad days. Otherwise ask your vet about a new product called Comfortis which is a monthly tablet treatment for fleas, that kills adults rather than having a sterilising action like the lufenuron in Sentinel. It's only been released in the last 6-8 weeks but should be easily ordered in.

Vetmedin is now available as chewable tablet as well.

Vetmedin can make an enormous difference to the quality of life of a dog with heart failure. The current recommendation for congestive heart failure is a triple therapy of pimobendan (Vetmedin), benazepril (Fortekor) and frusemide. If for some reason it is not possible to use all 3, then Vetmedin is suggested as the sole drug (ideally Vetmedin and frusemide in that case). It's a good idea to have chest radiographs for information about heart size, pulmonary oedema etc. A cardiac ultrasound is also very useful to assess the actual function of the heart. As for whether or not to keep going - thats a matter of quality of life, your expectations and your limitations. There is the potential for affected dogs to return to almost normal and to keep going for many months longer than would be fair if you did not pursue treatment. Is he in otherwise good health? Is his epilepsy under control? Any underlying medical conditions of concern (such as kidney disease)? If you've just been handed medication without a good explanation, don't be afraid to go and ask your vet all your questions as well. If you can't decide or don't know, then get as much information as you need to be comfortable (including blood tests etc).

I expect this was the PCV or packed cell volume - this is the % of the blood that is red blood cells. It should increase with a whole blood transfusion. Accurate platelet counts generally require a blood smear being sent to a pathology lab, but I will often have a look under the microscope myself (to quantify whether there are "enough", "some" or "none"). However, in a dog with ITP and anaemia there is a balance between limiting the number of time that venepuncture is performed in a day, and getting enough information. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me. I can't give specific advice about management but I'm more than happy to explain things if you have queries.