sjl79

My boy had slight dandruff before the desex, and really awful dandruff after the desex, for about a fortnight, I put it down to the anaesthetic and gave him doses of olive oil (slugged over his chicken necks) and anchovies (tinned in olive oil) as well as his usual home made barf mix and it cleared up in a couple of weeks. I know when I have had anaesthetic, my skin and scalp were very dry afterwards. Keeping up the BARF principle and a quick brush more often (he is a smooth coated MF) have improved it, almost non existant now.

I paid $300 roughly, but that was for male desex (2.5kg MF), antibiotics (preventative) and the heartworm injection. She advised against pain relief as the aneasthetic wearing off covers that, and aside from being wonky he was comfortable. My boys balls were so tiny though he only got one stitch! :rolleyes:

No time off work here, we did the opposite and brought the pup to our office (he is a permanent fixture now, coming to work each day with us). You will be amazed at how much time they actually spoend snoozing when they're bubs!

Thanks for that Tess32, I am interested in the Sentinel that Clifton Park talks about as it seems to be an all round solution. What is ivermectin free?

We found it stopped when we switched to BARF diet - literally overnight, his next BARF poop was left sitting proudly on the pet loo (unlike the previous weeks where we would come home to find just a smear of poop on the bacony tiles ... ewww!). ETA: Someone once recommended adding cooked mashed pumpkin to their food too.

It's done now so no chance of reversing the 6 month one, I'm just struggling on the net to find really solid data. Would I just switch back to tabs at 18 months of age? I loathe the back skin applicators (I can never get it to absorb onto the skin, I must be clumsy!), and we use that for fleas (I can't for the life of me think if it covers worms too, thinking not?). Any good recommendations on a once a month to cover fleas / worms / heartworm? Also, at what age would the adverse reactions present? Are they conclusively linked to the vac? I will talk to my vet again about all of this as I find it really worrying no data was presented to consider (from 3 vets too!).

Yep it is. Sometimes the side effects aren't after the initial shot. It's been responsible for MANY problems, no reason to risk it. http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=65494 This thread is almost two years old, I wonder if there have been any further studies / changes to the med? I have had three different vets since getting Timmy (finally found an excellent one on the third go) and they have all recommended the shot.

Excuse my ignorance but what is BARF? I feed them half a cup of Pedigree puppy dry food and a few spoonfuls of tinned food at night. My boy dog is outside during the day and my girl dog is in her crate as she escapes the fence. She never soils her crate. I take her outside as soon as I get home around 5 then every two hours after that until I go to bed. I take her outside in the morning as soon as I get up then before I go to work. I always treat her when she goes outside. Not sure on the toiletting as my dog has a pet loo in close range and no fence to escape! Sorry. But BARF = Bones and Raw Food. It's a way of feeding and it has worked wonders for us - appearance (coat and teeth are great), behaviour (a lot calmer than dry) and toiletting (stools are really firm and small so less cleaning and great for anal glands, plus he drinks a lot less than on dry so less urine). PM me if you want my feeding regime / recipes! :D

Is the needle very unsafe? I have seen no adverse side effects, would I be wise in 12 months time to do the monthly tabs? Also where do you get them in chew form?

Poo eating is often a sign of diet. My pup ate his, and LOTS of possum poo at my folk's house before I changed him to a BARF diet. Can you describe the set up you have for the housetraining? Are they allowed access to inside / outside? Do you have them on a potty schedule? Always treat results?

I make my own BARF mix as it is cheaper (PM if you want my recipe) as I can store a fair amount in my freezer but keep a roll of the pre-made for emergencies. I also mix it up with chook necks and have just introduced sardines (tinned in oil) - he has never been so shiny!

Our dog used to whine when left home alone (he's 6.5 months old now, and we seemed to have stopped it, at least for the last few months at least!). I think the neighbours talking is reinforcing the negative behaviour. We were told by our trainer, to test our puppy by setting him up alone (but where we were within earshot, but out of sight, like through the door) and to verbally correct the whining as soon as it starts. Second it stops give a praise. We did this consistently and it worked a treat. So if your neighbours are willing to help, get them to use whatever verbal correction you use (we used Bark Busters and their method is to low deep BAAARGH) as soon as the whining starts, then to praise (not too much) the quiet. Practice this yourselves too. It worked so effectively for us. Hope that helps?

We had the injection done at 22 weeks when our puppy was desexed. He hasn't had any adverse reactions.

Great advice Persephone! We used the bathroom, then built up to the bedroom, then added the balcony and now pup at 6.5 mths has free run when we aren't home. The key for us was the "puppy paradise" or doggy heaven as we called it :rolleyes: We made it so great to be left home alone (including giving a stuffed Kong right as we left), so great in fact that sometimes Timmy sits and waits for us to leave. He sat and gave me the tired "almost asleep" look before I went out the other day and I caught a sneaky peak at him happily mosying on over to his special cushion to devour his Kong stuffed with biscuit. Equivalent of me kicking back with a chardy, trashy mag and my feet up when hubby goes to golf! ;) Make it so he associates going outside with GOOD things, then he will practically crave that time alone.

Slightly OT, sorry, but I am really curious. I use a harness on Timmy as he is tiny (2.8kg) and has a very slender neck (it seems to be the only bit of him that hasn't really grown). I have had pressure from trainers to use a ltd slip to train and walk him. I have decided against as one day last month we were walking him (on harness) and a big dog came charging across causing Timmy to try to bolt. He moved so quick he actually took flight! I shudder to think what would've happened had he been in a regular, ltd slip, or choke collar. It is really putting me off enrolling him in obedience club and my current trainer (they have been great to date, BB) can't even get a ltd slip to fit Timmy. Thoughts???

Peeing and pooping are entirely different ballparks as far as my puppy was concerned. Did maybe two poops inside? From around 8 weeks on the rest were on his pet loo .... wees however took another 6 weeks (until he was 14 weeks) of absolute training. I was in tears one day I was so frustrated and tired! But like magic, one accident free day merges to the next and before you know it they are completely on top of it! We used attractant on our pet loo and it helped with "getting him interested" in weeing there. I would strongly reccommend if you can afford one, to get a pet loo or a pup head. We have a pet loo at home and a pup head at work (I like the pup head better, I use it with puppy pee pads lining under the grate and it is really clean, my pet loo gets a bit whiffy though). I love my loos so much now that if we moved somewhere with a yard I would still keep it as it keeps the mess to one spot. Watching Timmy at 6am meander around my in-laws huge yard the other (very chilly) morning when we stayed overnight was not my idea of fun! There is a thread on here where someone made their own. I tried that for the office (Timmy comes to work 5 days a week) but he ate the kitty litter and it seemed to really stink compared with the pet loo and now pup head.

We crated Timmy next to our bed and did loo trips as needed. But at around 14 weeks we made a (lifelong) decision that he will sleep with us (Hubby's dog as a teenager slept with him and he really wanted Timmy in our bed. Me not so much but now I cannot imagine it any different). We find at 6 months, being a toy breed with a tiny bladder he still does loo trips through the night most nights, so we have a set of puppy stairs at the edge of the bed and he toddles down to use his pet loo which is on the balcony off our bedroom. The only bummer is that it's getting cold and leaving the door open is starting to be a concern. We have been trialling leaving the door closed and we tend to wake up if he crawls out from under the covers so we let him out. Essentially, what you need to do (which Hubby forced me to as I was so up in the air) is to make a decision on how it is going to be. Then start working towards it. I watched my in-laws poor cav be shuinted from the daughter's room, to the lounge room, to the laundry and now to outside the house entirely. I think it really stuffed him around and at 2 he is a nightmare (lovely dog but entirely untrained). Consistency is the key I think as they crave structure and routine.

Choking is my ultimate fear after Timmy almost choked at 9 weeks. He had a tissue that he was naughtily munching and tearing apart on our bed. It was about 6am and all of a sudden he wakes us up, clawing at his face, eyes bulging and not breathing. I have never been so scared in my life. We tipped him upside down and pulled his tonge and out popped a wad of tissue the size of a smartie. I guess I am paranoid now, but we have trained Timmy to eat on an old bath sheet, so I can keep a close eye.

That sounds like our diet, pretty much BARF principle (Barf mix for breakie, chicken necks or wings for dinner), but lunch is a spoonful of premium kibble at the office and it keeps his entertained. He has this funny way of taking a few pieces out of his bowl at a time and playing with them prior to eating them. Very cute to watch! The one thing I can't stress enough is to supervise the bone meals, we have had to fish out a chicken bone stuck between teeth a couple of times now!

Ooooh, I feed BARF, I make my own mix up these days (very cheap and I feel good knowing what is in it!). PM me if you want my recipe.

I have been watching her to see exactly what she's doing. I can distract her, though. She has training every afternoon (going over what we learnt at puppy school), she has fetch games and chasing games with us. She has a kong with the little biscuits inside and plenty of different toys. I will try to discourage it. ETA she also gets a walk almost every afternoon and goes to the park every weekend (unless it's raining). Sounds like she is really stimulated, I'd say she just needs to be corrected and distracted so she understands it's not a desireable thing to do.

Our trainer told us to stop tail chasing pronto! He said it can be sign of epilepsy in older dogs but in puppies it can lead to OCD spinning. So we verbally correct each time we see it, and usually offer a toy or a distraction. I saw Timmy spin to chase his tail this morning and one quick verbal and he went to happily play with his toys. We've been training it out for 3 months now (he's 6 months on Monday). and it seems to be something he does when he is bored, so we rotate his toys to keep him busy and that has really helped.

Can't help as I didn't buy from a reg'd breeder, I did however get vac papers and the change of microchip form and paperwork were posted out. We also got the vet report. Does anyone with experience of reg'd breeders know the answer to this?

Some British back packers said that to my hubby when he was walking him home one day "Nice guinea pig mate". Hubby = "His name is Timmy and he's a miniature fox terrier thank you." Hubby calls Timmy his "best mate" too, he's not a "pet".

Terrified indeed, my husband has bigger shoes than Timmy (he's 6'4 and 120kg), I'm small in stature but very clumsy. So he was doing the shuffle without lifting his feet, whilst I developed the grace of a ballerina (almost .... ). When we first started to have him sleep with us I was constantly cecking his heartbeat (ok I still do occassionally) and I lost him under the covers once (he was lying on his side all flattened out like a cat!). He seems enormous at 28cm long and 22cm high and 2.6kg .... until I took him to the dog park