tdierikx

Gorgeous ladies having a ball! T.

I will be looking for the newest star in the heavens tonight... and know that Dougie is now shining his love down on us all. Massive hugs to you and yours @Mandynchicko... little Dougie was lucky to have you as his family even though it was only for a short while. T.

Why are my eyes leaking? T.

HotasHell Heir of the Dog... lol! HotasHell Little Prince HotasHell Perfect Prince HotasHell Prince of Hearts HotasHell Handsome Heir T.

Here is a link to Queensland Office of Fair Trading... https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/fair-trading-services-programs-and-resources/fair-trading-services-and-contact-information/contact-us/complaints-and-investigations At the very least, I would make a complaint about this breeder and her selling pups "not fit for purpose"... ie. congenital disorder and so full of worms that he required veterinary intervention/treatment. You should be awarded the full purchase price you paid for Dougie. Then I would call the RSPCA again and tell them you are worried about the health and welfare of any other dogs the breeder has on her property as she was so eager to offload 6 week old pups full of worms, and at least one with a serious congenital disorder. None of this will bring Dougie back, but it might give the breeder a very strong wake-up call about her practices.... and Dougie's little life will not have been in vain... T.

You may also be able to put in a complaint with the breeder's local council and/or RSPCA for animal health related issues... especially as she sold you an unwormed, underage pup... probably not microchipped or vaccinated either by my guess. I'm sure there are a few bylaws/laws she has broken in the process of the sale of Dougie to you... for which she may be fined at the very least. Also if he had a massive worm burden, then you could speculate whether any of her other dogs are similarly poorly cared for with regards to worms or vaccinations, etc... Unfortunately, under the law, pets are considered "property", so the most you would expect to receive if you take the breeder to small claims court is the price you paid for him. With Pectus Excavatum, he was clearly "unfit for purpose" when sold to you - that is not an issue that just suddenly appears after 6-8 weeks, it would have been there from birth, and if the breeder had handled him at any stage, she would have definitely known there was something very wrong there, as pugs are notoriously deep and barrel chested. I am so sorry that you and little Dougie are going through all this... massive virtual hugs to you and yours... T.

Puppy kindergarten may be run by your local vet clinic... great for starting little Fido on his learning and socialisation before all his vaccinations are finished and he's allowed to venture out in to the big wide world. T.

@Troy... we need a Love button!!! Those eyes... to die for! T.

Happy birthday Neko!!! Brother Arkey will be looking down and slobbering at the roast dinner... remember him with smiles and love... T.

So, are you saying he's had an issue with that leg ever since you got him? And you aren't even considering that an x-ray might show you an underlying problem that he's had for 4+ years, and may possibly finally have a resolution so he never hurts it again? Vetpay or Zip Pay are easier ways for you to be able to afford procedures that your best mate might need so he can have a better quality of life... please have a look at whichever one your vet subscribes to and consider it at least, OK? $540 for 3 different angles is actually a pretty good price... and what if he has damaged something in there that needs professional help to fix properly? Swelling is usually indicative of something reasonably serious. Please take the vet's advice on this one... your boy will thank you for it in the long run. T.

How bizarre... leaves out a lot of small breed litters then... *sigh* The again, they want $7.50 for each registration, so are guaranteeing themselves $15 minimum per "litter"... T.

My bad about the 3 litters... I'd been led to believe that was the number mandated at some point... T.

Most of the registered breeders I have met in real life have been lovely people, genuinely seeking the best homes possible for their pups - be they main or limited registered. If a breeder does all of the health tests, vet certifies their pups, microchips, and registers before sale, then what is the problem with them supplying a good number of pups to the pet homes that want them? If the same breeder lives rural, and has say 20 dogs - 4 stud males and up to 16 bitches of breeding age and good health status - if they bred most of those bitches annually for 3 years, then that would be a fair number of pups produced, yes? Especially if the breed is one that produces litters of 6 or more. The breeder is also complying with all other husbandry requirements for the care and welfare of the dogs in question. However, some see the above example as "puppy farming" or "not ethical", or having any number of other "nasty" connotations... why? I believe the "snobbery" aspect to pedigree pet ownership is more related to the pet owners - I've come across many who fit that bill to a tee - that their pet is somehow more "relevant", "better", and "prized" than a mixed breed pet purely because of it's parentage. Personally, I've owned bot pedigrees and muts, and all have been loved and cherished for their individualality, not their parentage - each has enriched my life in different ways, but ALL for the better. T.

Thanks for the update... they do like to scare us, don't they? Glad the little man is back to his normal self @April_Mum... please give him a cuddle from me and tell him he's not supposed to scare you like that... T.

Such a stunning boy... T.

A standard blood test will tell the vet whether they have an infection going on or not. It will also tell the vet if there are any issues happening with organs like the liver and kidneys. I would definitely recommend getting bloods done. Lymph nodes usually swell when there is an infection happening somewhere - it's a normal response to same. Treating with a broad spectrum antibiotic may be all he needs to help him sort the infection out. If he is no better after 4-5 days on a broad spectrum antibiotic, then I'd go for the pathology and/or the ultrasound. I agree with Rebanne... get the bloods done at your regular vet clinic... start the wee man on antibiotics... and go from there... T.

She is gorgeous!!! How is Bella handling having a little sister? T.

Pretty girl doing the strut and turn... lol! T.

Look at that happy happy tail going a million miles an hour... luckiest girl on the planet to have found you Cyn... T.

Baby Salukiiiiiii!!!! Woohoo! Bring on the spam! T.

Our first dog was a Labrador cross girl named Nuppy (my brother named her). We lived in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, in Goroka, and the local landowner's (coffee grower and supermarket tycoon) stud Labrador had gone roaming and found a neighbour's female crossbreed to get friendly with... lol! Nuppy was all black, and looked like a slim Labrador. She certainly taught us a LOT about raising pups/dogs... we had to clean up all of her overnight messes from the laundry before we went to school, and when she was 6 months old, she got Distemper, then Meningitis... that was scary, she was not a well girl at all! After that though, she was allowed to sleep inside on whoever's bed she chose - not out in the laundry... *grin* When she was 15 months old, she got pregnant to a neighbour's dog and had 8 beautiful puppies of her own - I hepled whelp them, and refused to go to my judo lesson that afternoon because I was busy helping Nuppy with her babies. All pups were adopted by lovely people. When we left PNG, we had to leave Nuppy behind, as the Distemper episode meant that she would have been in quarantine for an extended time at an exhorbitant cost. We found a great family for her, who would send us letters and photos about Nuppy's adventures at least twice a year... up until she passed away some years later. It was such an excitement to get those updates... we pored over them and the photos and knew she was being well looked after. T.

The reaction he had to his sutures that you sought treatment for soon after the surgery... were they the internal or the external sutures he was reacting to? If he was reacting to the internal sutures, then it is possible that the deeper layers of same could have been having a reaction too... but the treatment did clear up the visible reaction, yes? So it follows that it would have had a positive effect on the deeper layer suture reaction also... Sometimes complications like this just happen, and can be so hard to diagnose and treat.. even for the world's most experienced vets. Dogs are so good at hiding the full extent of some issues... and so we can only treat what we can see is obviously wrong. From Kane's symptoms, the vet would not have thought that a deeper issue was brewing, or that blood tests might need to be taken to ascertain same. The treatment did clear up the visible problem, but that million to one chance that the problem was much more serious just happened to be the case here. Please don't get angry with the vet for not picking it up at the time... that will only make you more sad, and still won't bring Kane back to you. I say the following from my own experience with the same deep sense of loss... please focus on all of Kane's wonderful memories - the times he made you laugh at his silliness and crazy antics - the times he cuddled with Scout (whether she wanted him to or not) - the times he snuggled up to you and gave you those precious staffy kisses - and just what a wonderful young lad he was in general. Time will make the hurt fade... Hugs... T.

Most people don't see the high costs involved in running a vet clinic... and there is no Medicare for animals, so the costs can be seen to be high. In reality, the costs are less than what human doctors charge for similar procedures and medications... but without Medicare or PBS, the client has to pay the full price. Not many vets are well off... the profits they get from any markups usually go straight back into business/equipment costs and wages for all staff employed at the clinic... T.

I remember about Jan Spate... they treated her so badly... T.

Answered a call at my work placement clinic the other day... a gentleman wanting to switch vets because he wasn't happy with how he felt he and his terminally ill dog were being treated at his current clinic. I was super polite, and passed him on to our clinic manager... Turns out that his dog really needs to go to the Bridge, but he can't bear the thought. The dog is on fluids and all sorts of medications to try to keep it comfortable, and the owner wants to come and sit with it for hours on end in the clinic... which is traumatic for all involved, not to mention having to move the poor dog back and forth from it's hospital cage to a consult room whenever the owner decides to drop in and sit with it. The dog is too ill to be sent home... it will pass away without all of the supportive care... The owner wants to switch vets because the current treating vets keep hinting that his little mate needs to go to heaven. Sometimes keeping human clients happy might not be the best thing for their little mates... *sigh* T.