tdierikx

In all honesty, I've fed my dogs all sorts of kibble over the years, and they have all thrived nicely on whatever I've fed them. However, with my last 2 additions, I found that they did even better on the premium kibble than pups of the past have done on less well balanced foods. I now feed them a lot less food, have less mess to clean up, etc... I have 4 large dogs, and one 15kg bag will last me a whole fortnight and I collect less than one standard bucket full of poop a week. Previously I'd have been going through a 20kg bag of cheaper kibble a week - and would be filling 2 buckets with poop a week. Find what your pup does well on and is providing him with the nutrition his growing body needs, and go with it... but please ditch the weetbix, OK? T.

Really - I haven't noticed that with my pics... maybe I need a monitor calibration... *grin* T.

lillypilly has been Sweetie's primary carer - but everyone at the rescue had her wormed completely into our hearts. If not for lillypilly's wonderful care of "our" old girl, I don't think she would have had those great 5 years to enjoy to the fullest. I do love the fact that she passed peacefully during one of her fave things... a nanna nap... very dignified right to the end. T.

I'm tipping her owners will be by soon to pick her up... what a lovely looking girl! T.

The best part about premium kibble (apart from the obvious) is that he will make a lot less poop for you to clean up, and it won't stink bad either. T.

I've sent a message to a wonderful lady up your way who may be able to suggest a couple of rescues you could contact to assist with rehoming... she should be by here soon... Most importantly, don't beat yourself up over this - you are doing this not only for yourselves, but for the dogs too... you obviously care what's best for them long term. T.

I'd be cutting out the weetbix and milk for starters... no real nutritional value there at all. Personally, I'd be looking into a more premium brand of kibble - my preference for pups is Royal Canin Junior, but others may have other suggestions. I tend to feed my rescue foster pups twice daily, but only because I work during business hours. In the morning they get half the recommended daily portion of kibble for their size/weight and a chicken wing - then in the evening they get the other half of the daily recommendation of kibble. This has been working very nicely for my foster pups for a few years now. T.

How so? T.

I have moments with my latest addition where I swear if someone offered to take her, I'd happily let her go... but I do have a bond with her, and wouldn't actually dream of rehoming her. She does test the patience with her crazy 30+ kilo craziness at times though... I'm a complete crazy dog lady - I have 4 of my own, and foster pups for rescue (glutton for punishment) - but I have returned a foster once because I was completely indifferent in my feelings for her. It wasn't fair on her, and she was a great little dog, but I felt nothing for her... which actually scared me to be honest. She went to another carer, and was eventually rehomed to a family who adore her... Do what your heart is telling you to do - don't overthink the "what ifs", OK? T.

Look into Photobucket or other options for storing/advertising your work... T.

In all honesty, we can all have those feelings about our dogs when they've just done something so incredibly naughty as to eat a pet guinea pig... don't beat yourself up about it. If you feel that Isobel would be better off in another home, then by all means, give her that opportunity. T.

They love the cooling effect LG, and will happily take to them being applied. The only problem is that the cabbage leaf compresses can dry up the milk... which, with 5 growing bubs, we don't need happening... err! T.

If you rehome one or both of your current dogs, would you be looking to get another dog in the near future? How much time does the family spend with the current 2 dogs? T.

Oh yeah... can definitely relate to getting barreled by dogs whilst taking head on photos... The worst injury I've had was when taking pics of a 65kg mastiff cross running at me. I was sitting on a plastic garden chair, and snapping away, when she got close enough to leap onto my lap... that chair was not designed to hold her weight and mine combined, and it shattered underneath us. Picture me suddenly dropping to the ground (concrete of course) bum first with dog on top (obviously for the softer landing). I had the coolest huge multicoloured bruise on my butt for the longest time... but the camera didn't have a scratch on it... *grin* T.

Ouch!!! T.

Kudos to you Iggy Mum... awesome outcome achieved! T.

It's not going to be the same place without Sweetie... *sigh* A friend of mine made some gorgeously soft blankies for Sweetie a couple of years back, and they became Sweetie's fave blankies - dog help you if you made up her beddies without her fave blankies on top! She would stand in front of the bed and bark at it until you put HER blankie on it... and once it was on, she had to scrunch it "just so" until it was how she liked it... Sweetie was the first dog I named at NSWAR. She came to us with an apparently bitey history and had a red collar to indicate same. I wasn't informed of the red collar inference and was asked to go get her out of the run so we could clean her wounds. When I asked why she had a collar on, I was told that she had come to us with a history of biting... and they'd sent ME (the terrified of bitey small dogs person) to fetch her in for her treatment! Well - the collar came off that day, I named her Sweetie, and she never bit anyone from that day on... so there! Vale Sweetie - you will always live in my heart baby girl. T.

There are only a few pounds that insist on desexing before the animal goes to its new home - the vast majority of pounds in NSW don't, yet you still need a 16D in order for you to not be charged the registration fee when the animal is released to you. Of the pounds that do desex before rehoming, they have expanded on the 16D coverage for rescues to include being able to take the animal undesexed - which assumes they believe that the rescue will do the right thing themselves before rehoming the animal. Until formal regulation is brought in - or the 16D clause expanded to include that a rescue dog must be desexed prior to rehoming - then there will be the problem of some cowboys not doing so. The general concensus is that rescues don't want formal regulations enacted, yet we are constantly bemoaning that there are people out there doing things that give us all a bad name... rock and a hard place really. How about we get our heads together and come up with some possible ways the current system can be amended to be a little tighter and ensure that more rescues are forced to do the right thing? My suggestion is to see if we can come up with a way to expand upon the 16D regulation to include that each dog must be desexed and/or vetworked for fixable medical issues (like fixing teeth) before rehoming. The easy part is the amendment of the regulation clause - the harder part is the reporting back to DLG, changing their reporting process, etc... anything that will increase their workload won't be looked at favourably... *grin* T.

I know that Canestan cream helps a lot with getting rid of ringworm - would it be effective with localised demodex also? Also minimax... Annandale vet clinic has awesome vets... if they are close enough to you. There are also a couple of other medications that are quite strong that we have used with great success on a rescue girl we got in with the worst case of demodex I've ever seen (all over her entire body). I'll ask lillypilly what the meds were that we used, OK? T.

Be careful with the cabbage leaves - they can also help dry up the milk. Better to use a cool damp facecloth or the like to reduce the heat in the teat... but the best method is to strip the milk either manually or having the pups do it naturally. T.

All the 16D clause means is that you don't have to pay the council registration for the animal for 12 months after getting it from the pound. The registration must still be paid on transfer of that animal to another person regardless of desexing status. As there are still no official regulations dictating how a rescue must be run, if animals are being rehomed undesexed, that is still not illegal unfortunately - regardless of the rescue having a 16D... *sigh* T.

You had a dog having post op pain for 5 days... the vet should have called you straight back - not 2 hours later. He deserved your cynical look and grilling. T.

It's all about Mark now it appears... T.

:laugh: Like Joel Maddens' toothpick That's the least expression she shows... and I have almost 1000 photos of her... Should have used Trouble for the survey - she has the best blank stare ever! Here she is as a pup... T. Huh? :laugh: Seriously - that blank look gets an outing more than once a day! And she's now 7 years old... It's way disconcerting having that look on a dog whose tail is flapping around madly like she's in the thoes of rapture everywhere but her face... lol! Good luck to anyone who tries to read Trouble's nature just by looking at her dead stare face. Oh - and her name is reflective of her personality... T.

If it's mastitis, milk it... and get the pups to suckle from it until it clears the yucky stuff. We've had a few mummas get through it by emptying the boob as often as possible. T.