temperamentfirst

My dogs have acupuncture and depending on the treatment the electrodes are sometimes attached. My dog walks in stiffly and slowly. She almost prances out! I had acupuncture at Raffles Hospital in Singapore - they have a Traditional Chinese Medicine centre - and they use the needles with the electrodes attached in some places and just needles in others. All I know is that I went there with my back so bad that I kept getting 'stuck' if I moved even slightly the wrong way. One treatment and I was improved, three more treatments and the pain was gone! I asked about the electrodes at Raffles. THe doctor told me that prior to using electrodes the practitioner would have sat there twiddling the needles to get the same effect!

My Borders are all on Nutro, and are thriving on it - we are more than happy with it. It's the best dry food we've used. The dogs also get meat, chicken carcasses, veggies, sardines, eggs, suitable leftovers. We avoid dry foods that have 'meal' in them, and in the hotter months we avoid lamb / mutton as the dogs get hotspots when they eat it.

My Borders are all on Nutro, and are thriving on it - we are more than happy with it. It's the best dry food we've used. The dogs also get meat, chicken carcasses, veggies, sardines, eggs, suitable leftovers. We avoid dry foods that have 'meal' in them, and in the hotter months we avoid lamb / mutton as the dogs get hotspots when they eat it.

As a breeder, I NEVER sell to a home where the mum is not keen! Golden rule for me, and have even said that to my kids' friends' mums when they were being pressured by their OH or the kids. It's just too big an ask of someone who is probable feeling like she already has her hands more than full. With kids that age, I think it is unfair for her to be pressured this way. JMHO

Lots of councils give away rolls of poo bags for free - always worth checking!

Trapped Neutrophil Syndrome Neutrophils are made in the bone marrow and released into the blood stream to fight infections. In TNS affected pups the neutrophils aren't released into the blood stream, so the pups have weakened immune systems. Sometimes the pups look 'ratty', and sometimes they fail to thrive. Sometimes they seem normal until the first or second vaccination. There is no cure. Luckily, thanks to the amazing research and dedication of the late Dr Alan Wilton, we have a DNA test, so we can know the status of breeding stock and avoid breeding two carriers together.

A dear friend of mine once told me about a dinner guest her OH had brought to their home. She had two dogs, and after dinner she always let the dogs lick the plates before she put them in the dishwasher. This dinner guest was not a dog person, and when he saw the dogs licking the plates he was shocked. My friend noticed his attitude, waited until the dogs had licked the plates clean, held the plates up to the light and said, 'hmm, yep, that's sparkling clean now, good job boys.' Then she put the plate back in the cupboard! The dinner guest nearly fainted, until the OH gave it away by laughing. :laugh: Seriously, we have come a long way here and it seems that in NSW dogs will soon be permitted on lead at all outside eateries. I'd hate to see it go backwards because non doggy people get offended by seeing people feeding their dogs from cutlery that is meant for human use.

Hope he's back to normal very soon.

He's a red Border Collie, and does have a very gentle smiley face.

It's not a natural therapy as such, but we had a bitch with spay incontinence and the vet put her on Stilbesterol - a hormone - and after a few months we weaned her off it and the incontince did not return until she was 15 years old.

Gibbs is fine, the kid was a lousy thrower thank goodness. What a stupid mother to assume my dog would not react badly to her brat! I know Gibbs so well that I was sure he wouldn't do so, but how would any strang know that? I told my hubby about it tonight and he was very impressed that I kept my temper! I have decided that if I see her again I will speak to her about supervising her child if she doesn't like other people being forced to do so! Wish I had thrown sand at her face tho :laugh:

From what I read, he only came up with the younger hiker excuse when there was talk of his being charged. He first said it was the storm. And regardless - 3 days and he doesn't go back? And what sort of care did he give her to get her feet cut up?

We were having a lovely time at the beach in the off leash park. Gibbs had a new friend and they were racing in and out of the water - well his friend and another dog were - Gibbs rounded them up from the sand and occasionally forgot and raced into the water. Two little boys were playing on the sand and the other dog's mum and I were careful to keep the dogs away. The kids' mums were sitting at the top of the steps gossiping away and occasionally checking the kids. First one boy, then the other started throwing sand at the dogs. Then one of them followed the dogs and threw sand at them. The mums paid no attention. After this went on quite a few times, one boy came right up to Gibbs and threw sand at him. I said very nicely, " Please don't throw sand at the dog it might hurt him ". This got mummy's attention and she said "He's my child and I will speak to him." I felt like saying ' then why haven't you ?" but just explained that while my dog was OK, some dogs could react badly to her son's throwing sand at them. Her response was that she has a dog! I have raised two kids, and am not an anti kid person, but am definitely over the precious mummy types that seem to be on the increase! When my kids were feral and I missed it for some reason, if another mum spoke to them or told them off, I would apologise if I felt my kid had misbehaved. I now understand why schools are complaining about the kids with precious mums:-)

Another drug to look at is Robaxin or methocarbamol, which is used for muscle spasms. As we are dealing with arthritis, our vet suggested Trocoxyl. It has been used the UK for at least five years.

Our 13 year old has been on it for 6 months now. It has been fantastic, far more effective than Rimadyl. Prior to that we had done a course of Cartrophen injections, which seemed to have little impact, but hopefully will help delay the joint deterioration. We did bloods first to make sure her liver etc were OK? On a previous dog we had used the Cartrophen and Rimadyl which didn't make much difference. I would choose Trocoxyl over Rimadyl because it is making a drastic difference to her life. She has to have a month's break now, and I am dreading it. I'm glad to hear it's working for your girl. Did you notice any pain coming through towards the end of each month? She definitely is a little more stiff at the end of the month, but is still better than my old boy was on Rimadyl or tramol . She has good quality of life on this drug, and it seems that if a dog tolerates it, it works really well with less liver damage than Rimadyl or Metacam.

Our 13 year old has been on it for 6 months now. It has been fantastic, far more effective than Rimadyl. Prior to that we had done a course of Cartrophen injections, which seemed to have little impact, but hopefully will help delay the joint deterioration. We did bloods first to make sure her liver etc were OK? On a previous dog we had used the Cartrophen and Rimadyl which didn't make much difference. I would choose Trocoxyl over Rimadyl because it is making a drastic difference to her life. She has to have a month's break now, and I am dreading it.

If the temperament isn't good, I won't breed from a dog. If the structure is not good enough, I won't breed from a dog. For me, a dog must be sound in mind and body:-)

One thing we have found really good for bad breath is raw chicken frames. Don't know why, but it makes a huge difference. I pay 99c a kilo for them from a normal chicken shop.

Given it was mid afternoon when the first black tongued pups were born, I would have involved the vet - just not worth taking the risk IMHO.

Can you scare her ? Point out that if even one puppy turns out to have a preventable disease she can be sued and lose everything? Use the AWL proposal for registering ALL breeders and them having the right to seize her dogs as soon as she advertises them if she hasn't paid the breeders registration fee ! I would try and find out where she is getting the pup before anything else - maybe offer to go with her so you can help her make sure it is OK?

Just remembered too that the total lack of lining starting from stomach thru the entire gut meant she suffed from the worst 'heartburn' until the lining regrew. What you feed them will affect them a lot, and we found that the less work her body had to do re digesting the food, the better.

My voltaren thief had a very sensitive stomach for at least 12 months. I actually fed her baby food for the first month, as well as all the stomach meds she was on. We used yoghurt with every meal when she was weaning back to normal foods. Also, and I am sorry I cannot remember what we fed her, but we had to make sure her liver was not overtaxed.

That is very young, and Labs also have a tendency to OCD, so I would definitely investigate further.

Damage to the gut lining may potentially lead to a loss of protein through the intestine (aka protein losing enteropathy). The owner may want to get a full blood panel done at least every year to be sure. Unfortunately, the fecal API test, which is a non-invasive test done on a poo sample, isn't available in Australia and a definitive diagnosis has to be done via biopsy. She is 13 now and apart from arthritis from tigger leaping every day she is in excellent health. We did quite a few blood panels with a new vet - never went back to the old vet.

My dog ate a packet of Voltaren as a pup. The new kitten was the culprit as he had decided to play with the bottle and it had ended up on the floor. I came home to pools of vomit. Rang the vet whose wife was the receptionist/nurse. She wouldn't put me onto him and told me it was too late and it had to just 'go through her system til it came out the other end'. I was not happy so found an excuse to go up there for something the next day and managed to mention it to another vet as she went past. She threw a fit. Gave me all these meds to coat the gut etc. Of course, it was too late. The pills were destroying her entire gut lining and the poor pup was so sad and sick. I took her to the vet and she was put on a drip. The bitch of a wife then rang the next day to complain about the pup crying as she was worried about the neighbours. Meanwhile I was ringing everyone I knew and got onto the wonderful Marilyn Gill. She didn't mince words and told me we'd be very lucky to save her and sent me straight to the specialist vets. After a week she started to recover and is now 13 years old! It took over a year to get her right back to normal, and Her liver has not recovered fully and is extremely small, but it hasn't affected her. So don't give up because you did everything right and went straight to emergency. They will be able to deal with any problems as they show up, and it sounds like they are already taking preventative action.