tdierikx

Telehealth is not the only finding or solution to the vet workforce shortage... which is a global issue, not just in Australia. The full report can be found here, for anyone who wants to read it... Trigger warning: it covers some distressing topics https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2964/Report No. 58 - PC 4 - Veterinary workforce shortage in New South Wales.pdf T.

Vets are regularly expected to provide gold standard care, but then the cost of that is baulked at. Doesn't help that young vet students are taught to use all of the diagnostic tools at their disposal (blood tests, xrays, etc), but not much actual hands on diagnostics, so when those young vets hit the workplace, they tend to want to rely on the tools, rather than developing good hands on diagnostic abilities. Unfortunately all those tools are expensive to provide and to maintain, and staff need to be trained in their operation also... all extra expenses. Try mentioning "shelter medicine" to any vet nowadays, and you'll be met with some pretty strong resistance in favour of the expensive diagnostics... but in most cases, those diagnostic tests may not be completely necessary, especially if the vet has any reasonable idea of what to look for with common ailments. Also factoring into vet servicing costs are staff wages, rent or maintenance of the premises, cost and ongoing maintenance of equipment, consumables like syringes/needles, bandages, medications, etc, and other sundries. That said, vets and vet nurses are paid ridiculously low wages for the services and experience they provide - nurses in particular are usually on minimum wage, and are only casually employed, which keeps costs lower there - vets don't generally make a heck of a lot more than nurses unless they have quite a few years of experience. Then there are the corporate group owned clinics... those are generally much more expensive than smaller practices, and their whole goal is to make money for shareholders. Unfortunately many of the 24 hour and emergency clinics are corporate owned nowadays, so an already more expensive service is corporatised and costs more than it really should. All that said, if one has a gripe at the expense of medical care for their pets, hurling abuse at vet clinic staff certainly doesn't make their lot any easier, and as a result many are leaving the industry, which just means less of these services available, and drives up costs of those that remain - simple supply and demand... Don't get me started on the pet food / pet supplies industry... but let's just say all of those things are purely designed to maximise profit, and may not necessarily be all they are claimed to be. "Complete and balanced" on paper doesn't mean much when said "balance" consists of chemical supplements to "balance" the product... note that chemical versions of natural vitamins and minerals are not processed the same way as the natural version, and as such may be as healthy and "balanced" as a junk food meal for us. T.

Still perpetuating the myth about "wild dogs" and "hybrid" dingoes to justify killing them off... I called it, didn't I? And just days since this study found that hybridisation isn't as prolific as claimed... https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-07-09/ancient-dna-study-suggests-dingoes-preserve-genetic-heritage/104065490 Here's a novel thought... maybe authorities need to be looking into why there has been a sudden increase in adverse behaviour from the local native wildlife towards domestic dogs and/or humans. Or maybe they don't want to know the answer. It's easier to just kill off anything we don't like, yes? Sometimes I'm ashamed to be part of the human race... grrr!

Of all the decisions we have to make in our dogs' lives, this one is the hardest by far... The balance between quality and quantity of life is sometimes very hard to judge when we are so emotionally tied to our best mate - especially one that is high need and becomes a daily focus to keep them comfortable. If the process is stressful for you as his best mate and primary carer, it will most likely be similarly stressful for him, if not moreso. My personal stance on this situation with my own dogs is that it's better to release them early than even one day too late, but not being in your actual position, I cannot judge you or your decisions at this stage of Snickers' health battles. What I would suggest is to look deep into his eyes and he will "tell" you when he wants to sleep the long sleep, OK? And be honest with yourself when you look for his signs to you... he deserves that, yes? T.

Funny how simply rebranding them as "wild dogs" in order to be able to more easily kill them doesn't actually make them hybrids... Anyone who has worked with dingoes can tell you that they are significantly different to most domestic dog breeds. I'd say they are most similar to the Shar Pei, which is itself an ancient breed and has distinctive qualities not found in other more popular domestic breeds. T.

What do we expect when we constantly encroach on the habitat of our wild neighbours? And just calling them "wild dogs" does not change the fact they are dingoes or native to this land... but it does give "justification" for killing them off when our own needs apparently trump their right to survive. "Next time it might be a child" is the general catch cry before we simply go and kill the "offenders".... Indigenous peoples managed to live alongside our native apex predator for some 60,000 years, but we "civilised" peoples seem to have lost that ability, as we constantly spread our populations across the country (and planet), decreasing natural habitat, and thus the ability for many species to survive in what habitat is left for them. Maybe we need to have a good hard look at what we consider our own "rights", and start to think about what that actually means for our native species - especially if we want to "enjoy" our natural environments, we need to be aware that that may come with actual risks from the native species that live there - especially dingoes, crocodiles, large kangaroos, etc... that may take umbrage at our being in their ever shrinking spaces. Yes, what happened to that dog was horrible, but the fact remains that it was running loose and unsupervised, until it got in trouble and yelped for help. What should be called for is no unleashed dogs in that area, and for humans to stay vigilant if visiting that space, as the dingoes may not take kindly to us being in their habitat. We could learn a lesson from this incident, but I doubt we will... *sigh* T.

Just in time for the last call for donations to RSPCA for the financial year.... Excuse me for being a cynic, but there were good reasons WA removed prosecutorial powers from RSPCA WA... their practices were found to be lacking to say the least... That said, there is no excuse for anyone to keep any animal in those conditions. T.

Hey Albert! Foster Mummy LG only wants the best for you big guy... please be a good boy tomorrow, and if you go home with these new people, I'm sure they will love you so much you won't want to live anywhere else, OK? T.

Not toy sized. I think the OP wants a small oodle type dog... May I suggest that you keep an eye on Sydney Animal Second-chance Rescue, as they recently took in about a dozen cavoodles... https://www.petrescue.com.au/groups/10123/Sydney-Animal-SecondChance-Inc?listings=active#pet-listings - and they rehome to Canberra. T.

I'd be worried about coming forward if I had a dog (especially a declared dog) in any part of Queensland after they pushed through their "Stronger Dog Laws" state legislation a few weeks back. Under that new legislation, actions that those council rangers did that were illegal back then, are now legal. You can only imagine what could happen to anyone who has a declared dog of a non-pedigreed bull breed background, as it can now be declared a "pitbull" and ordered to be caged or destroyed - even if the dog has never been any trouble to anyone. T.

Nope - C-BC Unfortunately, as soon as the dog sees me now, she starts heading home... that's how often I've gone out and told her to... she knows the drill now... *sigh* On the upside, she no longer tries to bail me up, or even bark at me any more. Cheeky sod! The owners have even seen her chasing people up the street and don't even try to call her back... until I come out and yell at her to go home... but 10 mins later she's doing it again and they don't care. Today she nearly made a cyclist have a fall... grrr! T.

I can remember a time when if you rang council about a loose/stray dog, they'd send a ranger out to come catch it. Nowadays, unless you have caught and secured it yourself, they won't come... and even then, they come "when they have time", so you are stuck looking after a strange dog until they get around to your issue. Earlier this year (January), I called council about a little dog across the road who is always out and annoying anyone trying to walk up the street. She's a pretty little thing, but territorial. Council sent a couple of rangers out to talk to the owners a couple of days after my first complaint. The little dog is not microchipped or registered (and also not desexed, but that's not illegal), and the rangers have told the owners to get her microchipped and registered, but then haven't bothered to come back and check that it has been done... which it definitely hasn't by my conversations with the owners whenever I've herded the dog back home to stop it getting skittled by cars. I've called council at least twice since my first call, and nothing has been done or even followed up from that first contact back in January. If I could get near enough to the dog, I'd catch it and take it to the pound myself, but the closest I can get is for it to sniff my hand then back off quickly... and I know that if I lunge and try to grab it, I'll get bitten for sure... and it doesn't have a collar, so not much to grab at anyways. I bet that if the dog across the road from me was a larger breed, council would be much more proactive about making the owners keep it contained. It's only a matter of time before it decides to nip/bite someone walking up the street. It's fave people to chase is a family of indian people with very small children. I've had it bail them up outside my house and I had to go out to chase it back home to let them pass safely even... their little kids are only toddler ages and were terrified. Even though this dog is only slightly larger than a chihuahua, if she decides to sink her teeth into a toddler, there will be damage. T.

Queensland has just recently upped their penalties for dog attacks... but the legislation also went a lot further than that, with a number of extra changes that are draconian and do not bode well for dog ownership overall. I am all for increased penalties for those who own dogs that have attacked and severely injured or killed a human or other animal without provocation, and repeat offenders should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law... but as evidenced in this article, when council rangers are inadequately educated in the facets of their supposed functions, that raises a much larger problem. Those enforcing the legislation or council local laws should be sufficiently educated in all aspects of their roles at the very least, wouldn't you say? This lack of requirement for any animal based qualification for someone enforcing animal welfare based legislation isn't just restricted to council rangers... RSPCA inspectors aren't required to have any animal based qualifications to do their role either, they basically only have to have a qualification in criminal investigation in order to get their job. I wonder how many people who own pets nowadays actually know what the legislation is at local and state levels that affects them? Not many methinks. Then again good luck finding what the council level laws are in NSW, as those are either non-existent, buried deep inside some other compendium list/document of local laws, or not easily found via council websites. Hint: generally if a NSW council does have specific animal based local laws, they are called "Keeping of Animals" - but you also need to be aware that some councils also have Animal Management Plans, and just to throw a spanner in the works, some also have a list of other local laws that refer to animals as well. All other states' council websites are much easier to find their local animal management plans or local laws/by-laws, but NSW councils are really good at hiding theirs, trust me, I've been through all states council websites looking for that exact thing. Seriously, some remote indigenous community councils have better clarity of animal based local laws than city councils... which is just ridiculous. A word to the wise... NSW are having local government elections in September this year, and that usually means that an incoming council will be looking at the local laws and amending those that may be out of date... which most NSW council animal based laws are... be warned! And don't get me started on state level animal welfare legislation... grrr! T.

Remember Stan the greyhound? He definitely had the "hungry" gene... lol! The stories about him chewing through the side of the chest freezer or fridge door to get to the contents were legendary... I currently have a staffy mumma dog here who was quite underweight when she was collected as a stray - with a tummy full of babies she weighed only 19kg. Pups are now 4.5 weeks old and mumma is a much healthier 20kgs, but she'd be more if I let her - she has a real love of food of any kind, and has managed to feed herself a couple of times, so now all her food is safely stashed behind closed doors, which she hasn't worked out how to open yet... *grin* That said, I've seen myriad fat staffies around, so maybe they are similarly affected genetically? I doubt anyone will do a study on them though. T.

I once had a friend tell me that my Lab Trouble couldn't be a Labrador because she wasn't fat... and I reminded said friend that the Labrador wasn't the one preparing her own meals... Regardless having a gene that seems to make them want to eat all the time, it's an owner's responsibility as to what, when, and how much a dog is fed, yes? @coneyemany smaller dogs seem to have faster metabolisms, which means that they should be fed more smaller meals over time to stop them getting sick, Probably what was your little dog's issue making it throw up when it went too long without food. It could have been worse if your little dog had gone into hypoglycaemic shock and started having seizures, which can also happen. T.

Meanwhile the council referred to so glowingly in that article has only 4 legally designated off lead exercise areas for dogs, of which there are approximately 13,329 registered in the LGA... and all of them are located mainly on one side of the LGA area, meaning that a good half of the dog-owning population would have to travel a fair distance to get to one. That council are also now looking to enact either curfews or 24/7 containment for owned cats, so possibly their free programs aren't working as well as they like. T.

@Rebanne "A vegan dog food manufacturer is being sued over claims it produced a toxic batch of biscuits which killed seven dogs and caused illness to more than 60 others. Veganpet dry dog food was recalled in October 2020 after it was linked to an outbreak of megaesophagus, an incurable condition which causes lifelong eating difficulties or death. Documents lodged in the County Court of Victoria by SNH Products, the owner of Veganpet, reveal the company has paid out $232,000 in damages to 33 dog owners. The company is now suing the manufacturer of the toxic batch, Advanced Pet Care of Australia. According to court documents, expert testing found toxic levels of fumonisin B1 and fumonisin B2 linked to a contaminated corn-derived ingredient. Veganpet is suing for damages and costs, claiming the manufacturer was responsible for the “contamination event” which caused them loss of business, profits and reputation. The toxic batch of dry biscuits was manufactured in June 2020 in a volume of 22,155kg at a facility in Western Australia. Veganpet, based in the Gippsland town of Nar Nar Goon, was made aware of associated pet illnesses four months later following correspondence from The Pet Food Industry Association of Australia (PFIAA). In its voluntary recall message, Veganpet wrote: “We feel greatly for those that have lost a family member to megaoesophagus, or whose dogs may have been diagnosed with the condition.” “Veganpet has been produced safely for over twenty years by our same manufacturer and there has been no change in the quality, formulation or process used in the product as it is supplied to us,” the message said. Its website states it uses “human grade, Australian grown, organic (when available) raw ingredients” in its pet food products. Unlike in other countries such as New Zealand and the US, there are no mandatory standards for pet food in Australia. Here it is self-regulated, with voluntary industry standards applied through the PFIAA, but no mandatory recall system for pet foods deemed potentially dangerous or deadly. There is also minimal government oversight of the industry. In 2018, it was revealed more than 100 dogs became ill or died after eating top-shelf dog food brand, Advanced Dermocare. Some of the dogs who died were part of the Victoria Police dog squad." T.

Interesting that it's the police who have charged the woman, and not RSPCA... Upside of that is that the woman will be tried to the fullest extent of the law and not plead down to some lesser charge for only a fine. T.

It's not just vet students left off the list... vet nursing and most other animal related courses have student work placement requirements also. When I did my captive animals (zookeeping) course, I had to to one full day of classes and two days of student work placement every week - which meant that was 3 days per week I couldn't work in a paid job for those 3 days. My vet nursing course had one full day of classes and one day of student placement in a vet clinic - taking 2 days a week away from being able to do paid work. You also need to factor in time outside of those hours to complete assignments, etc too. And after completing both of those 2 year courses, I can work in those professions for minimum wage or less... Funnily enough, some Sydney zoos are taking full advantage of the free TAFE student work placements, often with free student labour and other volunteer positions making up a larger component of their workforce than paid (read qualified) keeper staff. Same with vet clinics - some rely on the fact they will get a couple of free work placements to cover each day and so they have extra hands to get the workload done for less cost. We won't get into the fact that most animal industry jobs are also mostly casual or part time, meaning that full-time positions are rare and therefore highly contested when they do come up. As a result there is also very high turnover, as people leave the profession as they can't afford to live on minimum wages and sporadic hours. T.

My last foster dog had been dumped at a tip in Newcastle, and the one before had been dumped in a park near Campbelltown with her dependent puppies. With pounds, shelters and rescues all full, and/or most charging surrender fees to take animals, people are resorting to dumping pets they can't keep anymore. Some of those people who have dumped animals may be callous arsehats, but some may just be as a last resort when they can't take their pets with them wherever they have to go. I don't necessarily think we can jump to judgement in the latter type of cases. T.

There may be something in the various claims by anti-commercial food proponents that commercial food is actually making our dogs/cats unwell. When I was younger, most people tended to feed their dogs in particular food scraps leftover from our own meals and maybe top up with some cheap supermarket kibble or wet food. Bones were cheap or free from the butcher shop, and lamb shanks were basically considered as dog food. Dogs were maybe vaccinated regularly, but mostly not. Despite the fact that diets were not necessarily "complete and balanced", it was rare to find a dog with chronic allergies, kidney/liver issues, or any ailment other than a touch of arthritis as they got old... and generally they seemed to live to ripe old ages back then too. Is anyone else concerned that our pets are seen way more often by vets for a much wider range of ailments since we started being pushed to feed them commercially prepared "complete and balanced" food? Over my dog-owning years as an adult - where I've been the one making decisions about what I feed them - I've definitely noticed that my own dogs have always seemed much healthier and easier to maintain good body condition, etc, when I've fed them diets that aren't high in commercial food products. This has applied to dogs of pure/pedigreed backgrounds AND BYB crossbreeds/rescues. T.

How many people have come here to ask what is the best food to buy for their dog? And our answer is usually that the "best" food is whatever your dog does well on. Some here feed supermarket kibble, and others go the whole hog to make their own perfectly balanced diets for each of their dogs, but most are somewhere in between, yes? Personally, I think that kibble is an easy choice, as it's ready to serve, and some brands are relatively cheap to buy, so that is what the general public think they have to feed. This is not helped by the industry (mostly unregulated) pushing their own sales agendas by making claims of "complete and balanced" (even though that "balance" is mostly chemical additives, etc)... and vets pushing the same tenets. I am yet to find a commercial dog food that is perfect for every dog I've ever owned. Like us, they can be different as to how they process the foods we give them, and may have different taste/texture preferences, etc. My rescue foster dogs are fed a mix of raw and dry Savour Life dog food... and that is basically because Savour Life actually provides it to us for free. So far, all my fosters have done well on it, so I have no issues with feeding it... and the fact that it's not costing us/me anything is a bonus. If the dog wasn't doing well on the feed provided, there would be discussions about trying something else. T.

Fly free with the angels goodest boy Warrior.... @Rebannemy heart breaks for and with you... please remember him with lots of love an smiles in your heart for all the wonderful memories you made together... I think he'd like that... T.

Sounds like she's very close to showing you her pups... and she'll probably pick today (a public holiday of course) to whelp... just my feeling here... If you have plans on doing anything away from home today, I'd suggest you change those plans and stay home where you can keep an eye on her. If nothing happens today or tonight, I'd be contacting your vet first thing tomorrow and possibly taking her in for a thorough check. Don't fuss over her unless she actively "asks" you for comfort... go about normal routines but keep an eye on her from a bit of a distance if you can... she may be reacting to any fussing and is uncertain about letting her body do what it needs to do... they can be very sensitive about things when it's their first time. Have you ever assisted a whelping before? If pups are born with the sac intact, you are going to have to tear it open and make sure their airways are clear. The placentas will sometimes take a second contraction/push to eject after the pup/sac is out, do not try to hasten that process. Allow mum to eat at least a couple of the afterbirths as it will stimulate good milk production... I've never had issues with bitches eating all afterbirths, but some advise that it could be a bit rich for them. Pups may arrive in quick succession once the first arrives, but could also have a decent gap between them (I've had them come 1-2 hours apart with no issues). If she is actively contracting and pushing, but nothing seems to be coming after 2 hours, you will need to contact your vet asap for advice on your next steps. Be advised that she may choose somewhere other than the whelping box to start having her pups... go with her instincts and let her do what she needs to do where she chooses to do it... make sure you have a stack of clean towels handy for that eventuality. You can move her and the pups to the box once she's finished whelping. If she does have the pups today/tonight, still call your vet tomorrow and book in an appointment asap for a post whelp checkup of mum AND the pups, OK? Oh... and once the pups are born, we will be expecting some photos of the new little family... it's kind of an unwritten rule around here... *grin* T.

Thanks @sandgrubber Quite frankly, true working livestock guarding dogs are scary as heck if they don't know you, or think you are some sort of threat to their herd... and if there is a history of them not necessarily staying close to their herd and roaming loose where they may encounter the public, then I think the decision to euthanaise the repeat offenders now they have actually caused harm to someone (and killed their dog) is a sound one. The fact that the farm in question is some sort of venture to show how sustainable farming can be achieved seems to make this incident - and the other livestock escape issues over the years - even more neglectful. Sticking to your guns about using a fencing system that clearly isn't working can't be explained away or excused by saying they are "green" or "sustainable". Fix your containment issues, or loose your license to operate methinks. As for charging $400 for a meal produced by this farming method... if that's what it costs this operation to provide a meal, then it's way too expensive to be touted as the "way of future farming", don't you think? T.