MalteseLuna

Thanks for the tip! I was using an enzyme cleaner which seems to work okay. I'll also give it a good steam clean on the weekend :) Yesterday afternoon she hadn't done anything inside (even on the pee pad) but she went straight outside :D She's a very good girl

She only does it occasionally - not every day or even every week. She had a check up a few months ago (dental and blood test), everything came back normal, even her ALT levels which had been slightly elevated previously (i.e. 6mths-18 mths). However, yes I do think she needs to be checked out by a vet - I'll organise it before baby comes. A normal vet should be able to deal with this - correct? What sorts of tests are they likely to run? What should I ask them to do exactly? I agree putting pee pads down will not make her go more often - I told Hubby that but he doesn't believe me I put one down for her yesterday and she used it (but it ran off the side and then under the pad). This will be an option until we figure out what is going on! Thanks for the advice/help guys!

Thanks dancinbcs - she has been acting abit funny which I have put down to her reacting to my pregnancy. She is quite clingy towards me, is acting weird around my husband (shakes randomly and acts scared of him sometimes for no apparent reason) and is doing some odd behavioural things like taking 3-4 false jumps before jumping on the sofa i.e. she walks as far away from the sofa as she can then inches forwards, then stands on her back legs, then backs up again etc before finally jumping up on the sofa like normal... It's very odd to watch, I'll try to video it :) I'll see about a vet visit if the food doesn't fix it and if she doesn't "normalise" once the baby is here.

I'm currently struggling with my 5 year old Maltese and some toileting regression - she has started weeing and sometimes pooing inside the house during the day (when we are at work). Prior to the last 3 months she was on a routine of wee/poo in the morning, nothing inside whilst we are at work, then wee/poo outside in the afternoon/evening. We very rarely had accidents if we were late coming home or if she was unwell. She was very predictable and well trained. About 2-3 months ago I changed her food from Canidae Grain free to Artemis Osopure. I am also pregnant (currently 32 weeks). At this stage she is toileting inside everyday (besides weekends when we are around to let her out) - even if I come home at lunch she has generally done a wee inside and desperately needs to do a poo. I think the amount of wee and poo she is needing to do has increased hugely. Even the size of her poos is much larger. My first thought of the culprit was her diet since the change in her toileting roughly coincided with when her diet changed. I'm in the process of changing her diet back to Canidae (hopefully this fixes it). The other possibility is that she is reacting to my hormonal changes in late pregnancy. Does anyone have any insight into this situation and/or tips to deal with it? I did think of putting down puppy training pads (she does know how to use them since she used to be trained to go on them as a puppy) but my husband thinks this will encourage her to go inside. I clean the area she goes with an enzyme based cleaner, the floors are wooden however so I suspect there maybe some urine in the cracks between floorboards (i've tried steam cleaning the floorboards as well). I have tried coming home at lunch but generally she has already gone inside and whilst I will go on maternity leave in a few weeks so can let her out more regularly it's not a long term solution. I don't think a doggy door is an option as the neighbours dogs and her would bark at each other all day (and the cat would likely figure out how to escape the house - he is indoor only). What do people think is the diet the likely culprit -has anyone had issues with this food? Or my hormones? or is a vet visit in order? I don't blame her - if anyone has sympathy for a weak bladder or constant need to pee it's a late-term pregnant woman - but I wish to figure out why she is doing it and fix the issue.

It's really scary that the dogs did so much damage to the poor guy that his heart was in danger of being punctured and they had to administer IV drugs via his feet/foot. The paramedics said it was the most horrific dog attack they had seen. Wonder how the dogs all got back to their house - apparently they were picked up from their house a few hours later. Also wondering if they were desexed - if the bitch was on heat it might explain why it escalated so badly. The fact that the owner was recently fined for having the three dogs unregistered suggests that possibly someone complained about them recently - bringing them to the attention of the council. Hope that the owner gets fined/jailed and the dogs are euthanised humanely. What brave guys for trying to help the jogger - hope those injured recover quickly with no lasting damage.

In extremely rare cases, identical twins have been born with opposite sexes (one male, one female). In these cases, identical twin boys are conceived, but, during the twinning process, one twin loses a Y chromosome (boys have chromosome type XY while girls have XX). Without a Y chromosome to trigger the production of male sex hormones , this fetus develops as a girl by default, but a girl with only one X chromosome (chromosome type XO). The co-twin is unaffected, and develops as a boy as normal.I read this about humans but i haven't been able to find any thing about it with dogs so do the girls grow up to be 'full' girls with only one X chromosome? I was wondering about that too. Do they have any complications? In humans individuals with XO (called Turner Syndrome) are sterile as the sex organs do not mature at adolescence. I personally find it hard to believe that 2 pups could be identical twins but opposite sexes. "losing" a chromosome after fertilisation and blastocyst splitting (i.e. into twins) seems highly irregular and I can't see how that would work.

we have this problem at my house too - dangling poop because of her eating my hair - ick! I don't pull it out because that can hurt their sensitive/delicate "passage" I just cut the hair.

I definitely needed something to stop my dog licking her stitches. I thought she was being good and leaving them alone... but she was waiting till my back was turned She got an infected wound which needed antibiotics and to have some of the stitches removed/replaced. Having it as an option is always useful - my vet allowed us to "rent" or pay a deposit which was refunded when it was returned.

some people Clearly price is something that should be asked about along with questions about health testing, temperament, lines etc and providing information about yourself (the puppy buyer) as well.

I remember following Charlie's story from when I first joined - he was an amazing dog. He was only able to have a short life but he knew love and companionship as any dog should! I'm very sorry for your families loss. Run Free Charlie

This is a definite must. I would contact Bargo Dingo Sanctuary (Sydney) or the Dingo Discovery Centre (Melbourne). Also I would be talking to the sanctuaries/breeders about fencing/housing requirements and even doing some volunteering to see what dingoes are like as they certainly aren't a normal domesticated dog .

Title: The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11837.html A new paper published in Nature whose authors think they have found a link between starch metabolism in dogs and domestication i.e. that increased starch utilisation (i.e. as result of humans and or agriculture) was one of the key factors driving domestication. Very interesting read. There is also a Nature News article summarising it. Abstract: The domestication of dogs was an important episode in the development of human civilization. The precise timing and location of this event is debated1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and little is known about the genetic changes that accompanied the transformation of ancient wolves into domestic dogs. Here we conduct whole-genome resequencing of dogs and wolves to identify 3.8 million genetic variants used to identify 36 genomic regions that probably represent targets for selection during dog domestication. Nineteen of these regions contain genes important in brain function, eight of which belong to nervous system development pathways and potentially underlie behavioural changes central to dog domestication6. Ten genes with key roles in starch digestion and fat metabolism also show signals of selection. We identify candidate mutations in key genes and provide functional support for an increased starch digestion in dogs relative to wolves. Our results indicate that novel adaptations allowing the early ancestors of modern dogs to thrive on a diet rich in starch, relative to the carnivorous diet of wolves, constituted a crucial step in the early domestication of dogs.

http://www.nature.com/news/dog-s-dinner-was-key-to-domestication-1.12280#b1 Excellent article summarising a new paper published in Nature today whose authors think they have found a link between starch metabolism and domestication in dogs. Love the comment by Robert Wayne:

If there is a chance that you need to do a CT scan anyway (after a biopsy) why not just do the CT which is less invasive? At the end of the day the decision if up to you and your vet (and the consulting specialists) - the people who are seeing the full test results and the dog (in person) as a whole picture. I hope that your pup is one of those whom is asymptomatic/normal for her entire life! Let us all know how it goes!

Thanks Zeebie, in all other instances I would advocate the "wait and see" approach especially in a dog with no clinical signs, however, her ALT levels have been tested several times now and they are above 1000 and slowly rising (the Frenchie cases I googled mentioned ALT levels below this). According to the specialists and the vet, is definite cause for concern and warrants further investigation, especially because her bile acids are also abnormal. Diet has been ruled out as a factor in this as well. We ordered a coagulation profile to be done which measures the clotting of the blood, and thankfully this came back normal, which means she is by all accounts fit to undergo surgery. But I do agree with you, a biopsy is very serious thing. However I would rather her go through it now than wait until we see symptoms, in which case it may be harder to put her through the anesthesia/surgery. These are the hard decisions we have to make as pet owners I suppose, it's a very hard thing I would go to the specialist if it was my dog. But then I wouldn't have the biopsy unless she developed symptoms. Have they talked about doing a Protein C test I linked before. It boggles my mind that there is an easy non-invasive test but that vets (in Australia) don't seem to be aware of it... or something :S Has your vet consulted with a specialist from Sydney Uni? If not then I wouldn't be making any decisions regarding biopsy or not until talking to them.