tdierikx

Good boy Dags!! Clive... don't you want to go out on the same adventures with the Boss? I reckon once you get up the energy/nerve, you'll be as good at it as your brother... T.

Good boy Dags!!! Clive... sleep in's aren't part of the plans for you... lol! T.

OMG!!! That is a cracker photo... lol! I think what you have there is a very rare and much sought after Cuddlehound... never sure of parentage, but a delight in every respect... The snout and feet don't look "dingo" to me... and I've been around a few - fostered pure and crosses... She doesn't need a "breed" label... she's unique. T.

It does look like canine acne... but always best to have lumps of any kind checked by a vet just in case. Awesome job noticing and asking though... you are a good doggie mumma! T.

Does your dog eat from a metal bowl by any chance? Could be something like canine acne, which isn't a big problem... very similar to human pimples. Best to have the vet check any new lumps or bumps in any case... better safe than sorry, yes? T.

Now the news media are slamming the zoo for having a thatched roof and trees near the structure... FFS!! T.

Just one stray firework... *sob* Warning - distressing content. https://news.sky.com/story/germany-fire-kills-all-animals-inside-monkey-house-at-krefeld-zoo-11898973 T.

Good to hear she's keeping you all on your toes... Staffords can be real little terrors when they decide it's playtime in the middle of the night... lol! The best thing for her is lots of rest and cuddle time now... chilling on the couch with her fave humans is the first "trick" she can learn, yes? T.

That is wonderful news @Leon! I'm sure she'll really thrive now she's home with you... If she did actually have Parvo, your very quick action in getting her to ARH was the one thing that saved her life... I'm hoping that it was similarly symptomed bug like Coronavirus or even Giardia, as both of those are much easier to deal with the disinfection and shedding aftermath. Parvo pathogens can live in the environment for 12 to 18 months, but the other 2 have MUCH shorter lifespans. She sounds absolutely gorgeous... baby blue Staffords are stunning little whirlwinds... *grin* Merry Christmas little Belle... your daddy loves you very much and you gave him such a scare... but now you can get down to the job of giving and getting lots of love and cuddles, OK? T.

Hoping little Belle has had a comfortable Christmas, and is responding well to her treatment... Hmmm... Metronidazole (Flagyl) is usually indicated for bugs like Giardia... personally, I'd be going for Panacur (fenbendazole) to combat that. And if the breeder's vet suspects that Giardia is a likelyhood, then Belle certainly would have picked that up well before you took her home... thus the breeder could be liable for some compensation regarding your vet bills. Gestation for Giardia is 5 to 12 days in dogs... Right now, the best sign is that Belle is still with us and hopefully will recover in due course. Parvo can kill small pups within a few days - even with treatment - so your prompt action in getting her to a vet and onto fluid/medical treatment is the best christmas present she could hope for. Well done @Leon! What breed is little Belle? Maybe I can get a mind picture of her to smile about... *grin* T.

A very merry Christmas to all my fellow DOLers... To those doing it tough... may your day be better than you hoped, and all my wishes for a better 2020 are with you... To those surrounded by good friends and family... may your food coma be the best ever... *grin* I'm off to work to be surrounded by a bunch of the coolest, friendliest, and lovey animals... I'll be getting lots of cuddles and kisses, and is where I prefer to be today... T.

It sounds like you have her treatment well in hand @Leon... and you got in really early, which is paramount to having a good outcome. I wouldn't solely rely on the SNAP test for a 100% guarantee that she has Parvo though... the margin for false positives is higher than claimed by the manufacturer in all honesty. The best indicator of what is going on is that she's still with us 4 days into treatment... a VERY promising sign that she's a little fighter and may well beat this hurdle. The treatment for suspected Parvo is to be put on fluids to support your pup while the bug is fought by the pup's own immune system. This will cause diarrhoea if she's not eating solids as yet, as she has nothing solid to turn into properly formed faeces in her tummy... so the diarrhoea might not be related to the bug. Mind you, Parvo diarrhoea has a VERY distinctive smell, which I have found to be probably the better indicator of that disease than even the antigen test. There are so many other bugs that a pup can get that mimic the symptoms of Parvo, that sometimes even very experienced vets can jump to the wrong conclusion... but fortunately, the treatment and supportive care is exactly the same regardless of which actual bug they may have, OK? Just one other question comes to mind here... was she also wormed at the same time as she had her vaccination? I have seen cases where pups have been very ill after having both on the same day - not common, but not rare either. I have raised well over 300 puppies myself (rescue litters), so have seen pretty much everything that can go wrong despite all the best intentions by breeders, owners, and vets. We are forgetting the most important thing here in all of this though... what is your little one's name? And do you have any photos of her that you can share with us, so we can fawn over her cuteness? I would say that as your pup fell ill within 24 hours of being picked up from the breeder, that you may well have a case for getting some form of compensation from the breeder to help with the bill for her treatment, but that probably will only be up to the price you paid for her. I don't know of many bugs that have a 24 hour gestation period... most will be from 48 hours up to around 2 weeks. There are a couple of strains of parvo that gestate in 48 hours, but your timeline indicates you hadn't had her in your care quite that long. Also, the vaccines used nowadays have a 3-5 day take-up time - but are tempered by whether the pup has residual immunities from their mother, which is why we follow 2 or 3 vaccination protocols... to cover for this anomaly. One last thing... if Parvo is the suspect in this case, then you will need to try to disinfect everything your pup has come into contact with - bedding, floors, clothes, etc. Ask the vet for some F10 disinfectant, and follow the instructions on the bottle to make up the correct strength to work on the virus pathogens. Leave the F10 on for at least 30 minutes at that strength... you don't have to wash it off if you don't need to, as it is safe for pets and humans anyways, OK? Parvo is a nasty bugger that is hard to get rid of in the environment, and has a long life... F10 is one of the few very effective disinfectants that will help reduce it's presence. T.

I fostered a stunning pair of Labradoodle/Lurcher crosses back in the day... errr! They were SO PRETTY! T.

I work as a vet nurse and use those antigen tests regularly, and I can confirm that recently vaccinated (and symptomless) pups can and do test positive for Parvo after vaccination with a modified live vaccine. Would you be able to just humour me and let me know how recently, before the Parvo test, your pup was vaccinated? And how is she doing with/after treatment? I am genuinely interested in the outcome for your little one @Leon... and hoping that she's pulled through OK... T.

Parvo tests can give a false positive if the pup has been vaccinated within the past week... and vaccinosis can display similar symptoms to parvo as well... When was your pup last vaccinated? T.

After all costs have been addressed (rent, utilities, salaries, medicines, consumables, etc), vet clinics don't really make a heck of a lot of profit... especially when compared with their human medicine counterparts - who are subsidised by Medicare, so they only appear "cheaper"... Vet science courses at Uni are also almost impossible to get into here... the list of prerequisites are ridiculous. It's MUCH easier to get into human medicine courses... T.

Vets are able to refuse to euthanaise healthy animals nowadays... and they do... We had a really nice finish to our day yesterday though... a little poodle having difficulty delivering her 3rd and final bub was delivered safely and we all got tiny puppy and sweet mumma cuddles. It's times like that which can really boost the morale... T.

It's so very sad that the rates are measurable in ANY profession really... What I can say is that depression is avery real side effect of working in the veterinary field (nurses included). Most enter the profession to do their very best to preserve life and the quality of same... but the reality is that ending life is a much larger part of the job than anyone will really let on, and this is not exactly something that one shrugs off as "just part of the job", each life is as precious to us as it is to the family it belongs to... it can be soul destroying at times... T.

Sounds dodgy to me... can't drive due to surgery, but can go on holidays? Wants pup gone before it is 8 weeks old. Has no-one available to look after dogs while on holiday. Changing all transport/delivery arrangements at the last moment AND then telling you that you are going to lose whatever deposit you've put down already. Dodgy AF IMHO. Personally, I say maybe you need to cut your losses here and find a pup elsewhere... T.

Those eyes... they both adore you by the looks of things... smart doggies! How old is Don now? He's still a very handsome boy, even with the grey... I think it looks distinguished, not old... *grin* T.

Is your submission up there yet @asal? T.

Looks like a lot of the outstanding submissions have now been uploaded to the website... https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=263#tab-submissions Mine's there now... phew! T.

OMG!! A baby Weim... squeeeee! Welcome to DOL Otto... you handsome boy you! T.

I find that it's a "do as we say, not as we do" attitude LG... there is no accountability, so why do they have to change? Any charity that spends more of their money/resources to try to raise more money, rather than on what their core business is, is just shonky imho... T.

I thought that in order to seize or destroy stock farmed herds, that a Stock Welfare Panel should be convened well in advance of such seizure or destroying... https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/animals-and-livestock/animal-welfare/inspections-and-enforcement - see the Stock Welfare sections T.