tdierikx

Good quality food - raw or dry - will usually result in firmer poo that is easier to pick up and doesn't get spread about too much. Then again, it also depends on how many puppies you have at the time too - more puppies means more poo, therefore more chance that someone will walk in/on it or decide to play with it... *sigh* T.

Maybe I've been "lucky" to get the ones that seem to be trying to bluff their way through then... or the ones so darned eager to prove to the clinic that they can bring in the money... Considering I tend to bring in "interesting" cases for my preferred experienced vets to ponder on - you'd be amazed at the range of diseases and ailments you see in rescue - I'm just not comfortable with a kid that reaches for a textbook or wants to run a battery of expensive tests for all manner of things because they have really no clue where to start. T.

Well done Little Legs and Tim V! T.

I simply refuse to deal with vets on their first year out of Uni... and some for longer... I know quite a bit more about doggie ailments than them in most cases. I had one young lass actually reach for a textbook to look up diagnostics for a certain issue one of my dogs had... then she wanted to anaethsetise my dog for a follow-up x-ray on his paw (funnily enough at an extra $400 cost). I called for the regular treating vet who took my boy out to x-ray, had him sit in a beg position at the x-ray table with his paw in the right spot, told him to stay, then did his x-rays - no fuss, no drugs, and took all of about 15 mins (funnily enough exactly that same way they had x-rayed him the first time). The young lass was still trying to argue that my dog needed to be anaesthetised for an x-ray when the other vet brought him back into the consult room with the completed x-rays.... and she didn't have the faintest idea of how to read them either... *sigh* I did have one very experienced vet reach for the MIMS once to look up what drugs and dosages to give for coccidia - she had literally NEVER seen a case before... lol! She was so excited doing the fecal float and checking for the nasties that I suspected a foster pup had, she dragged me back to the lab section and let me look in the microscope at them... *grin* Those are the vets I love - ones who really get excited at learning about new things and working with owners on treatment plans and the like. Sadly she left not long after the practice was sold to Greencross... T.

My foster pups would get Royal Canin Junior for their type... they all did well on it. T.

Awww... I like Gussy - she's my kind of cat... T.

The odds of the vaccination taking on a pup that is also on AB's for a skin infection are pretty low. No good vet I know would vaccinate an immune compromised pup... There are so many alarm bells ringing in this particular case for me... personally, I wouldn't adopt the pup at all at this point. Who is paying the vet fees for the pup while all of this is going on, by the way? T.

There will be a special new star in the heavens tonight... maybe you and the kids can look for it? Run free sweet girl... T.

Jill will know if there is another JRT Rescue for sure... or she may be able to help... T.

Well done for once by the justice system... T.

Awww... how cute is that? T.

I think the bit I bolded actually tells the story... T.

Not the best news... hopefully he'll be OK... T.

Woolies are worse... they could have decimated Coles a few years ago, bt the ACCC wouldn't let them buy more stores... T.

The thing is though Anne... when do we start to worry? When they get upwards of 200 clinics on board? 300? 400? More? When they start undercutting smaller clinics in order to put them out of business, so that they then have the monopoly in certain areas? It all starts innocently enough - a slick business model, and lots of dosh floating around for those willing to do pretty much anything to get their hands on it... T.

Kind of reminds me of the way some of the human medical centres sprang up in the 80's and made some people obscenely rich - but the care actually given in those places felt like a processing centre more than a doctor's surgery/practice... and still does today... T.

At what stage will the ACCC step in and say they have too many clinics/outlets? Coles/Woolies are only allowed a maximum 36% of total grocery stores for example - to allow for competetive practices to keep prices affordable - will we see the same for vet clinic conglomerates, or will they be allowed to eventually hold a majority share of the market? T.

Still geared towards commercial "breeding" establishments very much, isn't it? T.

I'd probably get some fish oil into her regular feeding, and just trim her feathered bits so she doesn't get those stringy mats. See how her coat recovers before doing any more damage by clipping right back again... T.

Watch out! My 14 year old has become a senile delinquent since teaming up with former foster pup Pickles... they are so naughty together, getting up to all sorts of mischief! The oldies are great pals for the littlies though, aren't they? Teaching how to play nicely, and being just firm enough when they aren't... T.

Yay for Juniper!!!! T.

Ask the pound to hold him in isolation from other dogs for the next 7 days minimum - redo the parvo test after 5 days. Do not vaccinate with a live virus vaccine - Parvac is OK, but only does parvo... if pup is vaccinated with a live virus, he will test positive for parvo for aup to 7-10 days after being vaccinated... and you want to be sure he doesn't have it before you even consider bringing him home. If he is not positive for parvo after 5 days, then you could possibly be safe to vaccinate him properly then and take him home. T.

The local vet clinic that was taken over by Greencross started out only rebadging their clinic and paperwork - nothing changed at all... at first... Over time, they introduced the upselling and wanting to order the most expensive things that would generate decent profit for the clinic. At that point I found another local vet who is excellent at what he does, and doesn't mess anyone about (least of all the animals)... the only thing he doesn't do is in-house pathology, so I have another vet further away that I use for that purpose if I need a quick result on pathology (like a fecal float) T.

If the pup is healthy and has been getting regular worming, then a larger dose won't hurt - maybe at worst will make for a bit of yukky sloppy poop for a day or so. At 3.9kgs, and as physically immaculate as Neko is - the half tablet won't muck her about at all. If she had a large worm burden, and wasn't as well cared for as she is, then I'd recommend trying to get as close to an exact measured dose for her as possible. T.

You could get some Canex puppy worming syrup... or if you go the tablet route half of a Canex or Fenpral worming tablet will be easier on her than Drontal. I don't use Drontal on young pups - seen a few die from complications from the nasty stuff. Then again, most of the pups I've seen it have adverse affects on are rescue pups with decent worm loads... T.