curlyking

Hi All, Is anyone able to give me information on the use of injectable Vitamin C for a dog bitten by a snake. Have looked on the web but not found just exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks in anticipation SueH

Clipper World in Cranbourne is also very good. www.clipperworld.com

Thanks for this explanation Nature Vet. I knew there were two medications but was not sure which was which.

No, Buster's Mum, You are correct IMO there is nothing wrong with feeding pork, however, I would only feed human grade and inspected pork. I have raised litters of pups on minced pork many times and fed it to my adults etc over a period of 30+ years and not had any problems. Once again it is a personal choice but unfortunately many people listen to too many urban myths. Chicken also carries bacteria like salmonella but I would suggest chicken is the most popular raw meat fed to dogs today! Yes, I dare say pork CAN cause problems but then so can everything else in life. CAN does not mean it automatically DOES JMHO

My dogs get pork, raw on a regular basis. We have never had any problem but do not feed really fatty meat. Hocks/trotters,mince are all regular dishes on our menu. Alibear, why do you say your ham bone will not be cooked? Are you cooking the ham yourself and boning it out first? If you have a ham from the shops they are cooked already as a rule. Personally I'd b a bit careful of feeding the ham bone as I think they may be a bit too fatty but have done so over the years without any problem.

For an older dog I would give rimadyl for quality of life over quantity of life BUT I would look at other options first. For a young pup or dog no way would I use rimadyl. metacam, cartophen (sp) which I am led to believe is another form of or name for rimadyl. What from my own experience I would do is contact Robert McDowell http://herbal-treatments.com.au/index.html I had a 7 year old with big problems with fused vertebrae and arthritis and we tried rimadyl and methasone then went on to matacam. the metacam worked OK but the vet then suggested I try a then new product called Beneloc Active (www.benelox.com.au) The change was instant and spectacular and we used that for about 12 months before and found it excellent. I ran out of the Benelox accidently and used Robert McDowell's Anti inflammatory mix which I had for another dog. The difference is remarkable. This dog which struggled to move is now happy, active- albiet not a 3 year old - and at 10 year of age pretty well keeps up with the younger dogs in the yard. I do think the thing a lot of people using rimadyl fail to do is the blood work. If using rimadyl you shouild have blood tests before you go on to i and then regular tests while using it. Only then can you monitor the situation. As with every drug, there will be dogs that can handle it and others that simply cannot. Each person needs to make the judgement for their own dog. Good luck

Sugar, If you are anywhere near Keysborough go to Star Poultry in Kirkham Rd West. They used to sell bags of frames for $5 - to be honest it is about a year since I had any from there. In the bag there would be anywhere between 20 and 36 frames depending on the size of them and most had the necks attached. They also sell seconds chicken wings for $1.80 kg. Now I usually get necks from Superior Eggs in Chapel Road and they cost me $1.75kg but chicken pet mince (cascasses minced) for 6o cents a kg at Norm Oliver butchers or my local poultry shop. The dry food you bought for my liking has too much in the way of grain. If you look at the ingredients 3 of the first 4 are grain. JMO BUT having said all of that and as others have said it is better than nothing and I'm sure many a dog lives quite comfortably on this quality of food.

Of course the gums look a bit inflammed. This is a 5 month old pup that is no doubt teething, why on earth would you want to give a shot of "peno" - by which I assume you mean penicillin- when teething unless it is conclusively shown there is some bacterial infecion which needs controlling?

I agree that they are inverted canines but not that this automatically means expensive orthodontic work. These are only puppy teeth not adult ones and there is still plenty of options to be explored. I know quite a few breeders in the UK and probably here too that in a situation like this will actually cut the top of the tooth off. This does not cause pain to the pup, in fact quite the contary as it removes the piece of the tooth sticking into the gum. It also makes the tooth die off earlier and hence loosen and it comes out sooner than it would otherwise. My option here would be to get the vet to remove the tooth as often these ones are larger than normal puppy teeth and do not come out when they should. Then you can watch and guide the new teeth into the correct positin IF they look like being inverted.

Hi CK9 we do have Innova and I agree it is a super food BUT horrendously expensive - my experience is that it works out to about $10Au a kg which is about $13.80 US for a kg which is 2.2 pounds. The other thing is that it appears only to be available through Pet's Paradise outlets. PP is a chain of petshops which among other things sell animals - pups, kittens, rabbits etc. It would be my food of choice when feeding kibble IF it were more available and better priced.

You may be able to shift these teeth out by putting pressure from your thumb on them and holding it for about 10 seconds. Do this as often as possible through the day and apart from your thumb getting very sore you may move the tooth out. Alternatlvely the tooth may be removed. I had a bitch with teeth like this and the vet I was using at the time refused to remove it. That caused the mouth to not grow as it should have as the misplaced tooth held everything from sitting correctly. I have found as a rule and we see this a fair bit in my breed that when the new teeth come through they are usually correct BUT you do need to keep an eye on them and if the look like going into the upper jaw or on the inside of it then push the tooth out

We used Benelox for about a year and found it to be excellent, however I changed to the anti Inflamatory mix from Robert McDowell as I had it for another dog and ran out of Benelox. It was quite a bit more expensive than the McDowell mix so I have just stayed with that. Benelox was costing me about $75 and a bottle lasted about 6 weeks. The McDowell product costs me about $55 and lasts about 10 weeks.

Have a look at Robert McDowell's Herbal Treatment web site http://herbal-treatments.com.au/index.html I have had some wonderful success with an older dog that has arthritis and also fused vertebrae by using his Anti inflammatory mix. We have been able to remove her totally from metacam and my vet is delighted with her condition. I have also given her the Nerve regeneration mixture although she is not on this currently The service is great, I ordered online late afternoon on Monday and had the delivery in outer eastern Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon. Good luck

I've been feeding a diet based on Billinghurst's BARF diet now for about 4 years. I changed my dogs then 13, 6 and 10 months because I believed that had to be a better diet than commercial based products. Prior to changing the dogs were fed raw chicken or beef, usually minced and occasionally table scraps together with kibble. Each of the dogs took to the change well and we had no transition effects. However, I find the diet in comparasion to feeding a mid range kibble and raw meat quite expensive and very hard to keep up the required supply (now feeding 4 dogs). I had to purchase a freezer to have any chance of making this work for me. Unless you can source a cheap supplier of what you are using and buy in bulk I can see this diet could be cost prohibative for many. My food bill initallywent from about $20 - $30 a week for the 3 dogs to over $100. In all honesty, I would not say my dogs were any better for the raw diet, I had never had problems with their health or with whelping. As far as I can see nothing in that regard changed except for one reason or another I seemed to be spending much more time at the Vet's. This probably was not related to the diet but may have been in as much as the dogs seemed to have more muscular type injuries. After the 4 years of feeding raw have just had my first (in 30 years) difficult whelping which ended up with a caesar to deliver the last pup. Does this have anything to do with the diet? I don't know it may be coincidental but it does show that just because a raw diet is fed the dogs will not encounter any problems which is the mantra of Billinghurst. At the moment I am still predominately feeding the raw diet because I still believe it is the best there is but a couple of times a week they dogs do now get kibble. I look at these nights as equvialent of having fish n chips or McD's

AS a breeder we have always removed the dew claws at the time we docked the tails. Dew claws were always harder and more painful for the pup and also took longer to heal. For some reason the last couple of litters we had several dew claws become infected. The litter I have at the moment - now almost 4 weeks old is the first I've had since the tail docking ban and we thought about not doing the dew claws as well, however, did so but because of the infection problem were a bit cautious in removing this lot. Several have grown back and already we have found hassles with them. the pups catch them on the bedding in the box and they get pulled. No way I will leave them on in th future and I hope the one I keep is one that has not got them or else they will be removed surgically. I will also suggest to those buyers that are having their dogs desexed that they ask the vet to remove the dew claws at the same time.

Personally, I never give a C5 only C3 and I certianly would not 1. vaccinate an 11 year old or 2. a dog that had cancer as the immune system is already compromised and to vaccinate will do so further. Vaccinations should only ever be given to healthy dogs not ones whose system is already under stress.

Best place I have found for carcasses is Star Poultry in Keysborough (Vic) they sell them by the bag and there are between 20 and 30 depending on the size. I must admit I've not bought them for a while but the used to be $5 a bag.

That would last me one day - so I'll stick to the chicken wings, necks and carcasses I think.

Hearts, liver, kidneys, lungs etc. = offal Little Pixie, if you follow the Billinghurst version of a BARF diet, you can safely combine both the raw meaty bones - eg chicken - wings, necks carcass or pork hocks or lamb shanks etc but also feed some meat without bone such as minced beef. Billinghurst would suggest this included the mushed up offal, veggies and fruit etc and would make up only about 20% of the total diet. Many people have fed many variations of this and you will find some never feed mince without bone. My personal experience is that feeding mince or chunks of muscle meat a few time a week helps the dogs to be able to pass their stools with a little less straining. If you feed your dog twice a day, there is no reason why one meal cannot be muscle meat and one RMB as long as the balance is maintained. Personally I only fed one meal a day as I find it too easy to overfeed when feeding twice a day. No matter how many people you ask about this each will have their own opinion but at the end of the day it really does not matter how you feed exactly as long as it is right for your dog and you will know that by his general health. Cheers Sue

Yes, you do have to wait for the coat to regrow if you strip out bald. An Airedale takes about 8 to 10 weeks for the saddle to come in correctly. While waiting you need to go over it frequently to keep it even. There is no way I would use a Mars Coat King on a dog I was showing. It is prone to cut the coat not pull it. As for the furnishings, it is very rare that you would remove them fully however, they do need to be trimmed and thinned to keep under control. Scissoring them is not the best method as this tends to leave pale dead ends. Finger and thumb stripping is best on furnishings - at least those with coloured furnishings.

Trace, I was going to suggest you contact Robert McDowell. I have had fantastic success with his products although have not had to use them for anything as severe as you and Stewie are. Best wishes to you both

I have had a dog with a problem with arthritis for years. We tried Rimydal with no effect, we tried Methasone with no effect and we tried Metacam with reasonable results. However, all of these imo are almost as bad as each other. My vet then told me about a product he had been asked by the manufacturer to try and he suggested we try it for Tayla. Benelox Active - www.benelox.com.au The results were outstanding. A natural marine oil based product. I buy mine from www.vetstop.com.au and it costs me about $75 for 8 weeks supply. This is for a 25kg dog. Another suyggestion is to visit Robert McDowell's Herbal Treatments www.herbal-treatments.com.au He is based in Bathurst andis very quick to post things out. I have had excellent results with several of his products. Good luck SueH

Thanks all for your suggestions, this gives me something to work with.

Mel, This is not the case in this instance, the dog is not keen on the canned food and I was asked if I could suggest an alternative.

A work colleague has a maltese x that has just been diagnosed with pancreatitis and has asked me if I can suggest a diet for him. The Vet said she should only feed Hills Pescription (available ---- wait for it ---- from the Vet ) Can anyone give me suggestions for something else please. Thanks in anticipation