tdierikx

Are you saying that the fit to fly vet checkup was dated within 3 days of when you received the pup @anon2345? T.

I read it as the OP's vet has been sent the pup's records from the previous vet... and the OP has been given that info by their own vet from those records... perfectly normal and legal process. There is a small chance that the ear infection may have precipitated the heart murmur... certain infections can be a causal link. If that is the case, then maybe you could have a case for more refund of vet related expenses when/if you lodge a claim against the breeder. Basically, if the fact that the ear infection was left untreated by the breeder, and it has caused the heart problem, then the breeder may be liable for all costs related to treatment of the resulting defect. @anon2345 - has the ear infection been cleared up fully yet? Have you had follow up ultrasound or other imaging to find out if the murmur is definitely a defect in the heart, or is your vet only going by the ECG results that don't actually show same visually? Visual imaging will give you a much better idea of the severity (or not) of any defect of the heart. Certain heart murmurs found in young pups have been known to resolve on their own, so unless there is a physical defect causing the problem, I'd be loathe to jump to conclusions as to genetic or congenital causes without visual imaging to prove such physical defects exist. T.

You may have a case for the untreated ear infection costs... as that has vet records from breeder's vet with the diagnosis prior to the pup going to you. The heart condition may be harder if there is no mention of it when the breeder's vet did their checkup prior to the pup coming to you. Heart murmurs in pups can sometimes crop up and/or resolve on their own, but it can be hard to state categorically that they are genetic or congenital in nature, especially if prior vet checks haven't noted the issue - and he did pick up the ear infection at that checkup, so it wasn't totally half-arsed... a heart murmur is pretty obvious when heard through a stethoscope, even a low grade one. T.

I fostered this beautiful baby back in 2016... and she found the BEST ever forever home to boot! I still get updates regularly from her family... T.

Could have also been a reaction from the combination of any of the above... what was the antibiotic you were given? T.

We both know that "special" dogs are the best, yes? T.

"Disability? What disability?" - such a love of life he has... my eyes are leaking happy water... T.

Both pet and human medical insurance is a joke really... high premiums, and very little coverage overall. T.

For sure Snook... but we seem to only hear about those cases... and that leads some people to draw conclusions about medications that may not be supported by the actual data. I'm with you in that I only treat my own dogs if I see evidence of internal or external parasites. Not being in a high risk area, I don't see the point of doing them every month or so. T.

As with human vaccinations and medications, there may be adverse side effects in any individual human/animal. We hear about those mostly because human nature is to point out the bad, and not so much noise when everything is hunky dory. I'd be taking any outright claims of how "dangerous" any medication/vaccination is with a grain of salt, as the percentages of adverse effects versus no issues whatsoever may be a lot lower than claimed. T.

I had been going to a local vet clinic for years and was a loyal customer, and the vets that worked there even became my friends... until the owner of th practice sold to Greencross. Almost immediately, the vets were forced to upsell everything they could - and they were KPI driven to do so. The better vets left for other jobs elsewhere, and I found another great local vet clinic that now gets all my pet business... I don't like the Greencross upsell mentality, and their prices are shockingly high for any service whatsoever. The practice I do work placement at just had a Greencross open 300m down the road in the Petbarn... they are always empty, and we haven't lost any business whatsoever. It's just as convenient for people to drive the extra 300m up the road to us (who they know and trust) than to use the Greencross in the Petbarn. T.

A step in the right direction... yay! T.

RSPCA Yagoona (Sydney) definitely appears to run as a profit making business... but has charity status, so lots of tax breaks and government grants are an added bonus. As to how they determine which animals to put down - they use a "temperament test" that was developed to identify issues that may need to be worked on to make an animal rehomable, but not many actually get the time spent on those issues - most animals that "fail" the test are put down instead. I have a copy of the test, and can tell you that not many animals in a strange and stressful shelter environment surrounded by strangers will pass it... Most of the smaller RSPCA branches have good people doing good work... RSPCA Yagoona is massive, but has a pretty poor track record IMHO when it comes to allocation of resources for the betterment of outcomes for the animals in their care. T.

RSPCA in Sydney (Yagoona) is a shelter... which means they can only take in surrenders from the general public. They are not a pound that has to hold animals for specific periods of time so owners can reclaim them. That means that they can euthanaise animals from any point after the owner surrenders them. The figures for RSPCA NSW include the smaller branches in other areas of the state - some of which are pounds (and thus will have reclaim rates). I'd love to see the euthanaisia rates for the Yagoona shelter alone... I'm tipping that it will be much higher than the overall average for the rest of the shelters/pounds they run statewide, regardless of the vast sums of money the government has given them to upgrade it. T.

If one google maps the Yagoona site, and looks at satellite view, you can see all of the new kennel blocks and huge vet clinic/office building that have already been built - with almost half of the latest grant value. I'd love to know what else they can rebuild there that will cost $12 million. One thing that you'll also see is that none of the exercise yards/areas have been upgraded, but still, those won't come anywhere near that figure to sort out. Let's not forget that the extended lease agreement and cheap rental rate equates to a saving of around $7 million over those 20 years too. T.

A drop of peppermint oil on the collar or harness can help with car sickness... worth a try... T.

If it is a cyst, it will not necessarily resolve on it's own, as they have a nasty habit of forming a skin around themselves which just fills up again unless removed. The stuff that you are squeezing out is actually a form of pus or dead skin cells that are congregating inside the cyst. If it's not bothering him and not getting bigger, then I'd just leave it... but if it gets bigger and becomes unsightly or sore, then maybe would look at surgical removal. T.

You can upload the video to Youtube and post the link here... would help to see the symptoms... T.

I have to drive past the Yagoona shelter on my way to work, and they've been upgrading the facilities there for at least the past 2.5 years. The vet clinic was the first upgrade, and I am reliably informed that around $2 million was spent on it... apparently it's pretty swish and has all mod cons, including a state of the art eye clinic... I haven't been inside it, so can't confirm myself. The new kennel blocks look to be almost completely finished now also. All those upgrades apparently were using a $7.5 million grant from the NSW State Government a few years back. I am at a loss to see what further upgrades are needing the $12 million apparently just recently spotted by the NSW State Government (June 20, 2019)... especially since the most recent upgrades don't seem to have made a single dent in the operating practices (read euthanaisia rates still disproportionately high) - funnily enough, no info on what the money is actually going to be spent on... And back in January this year, the NSW State Government also extended the lease for the Yagoona Shelter land for another 20 years... at a rental rate of $481 a year - https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/lands/news/lease-extension-to-save-rspca-millions T.

With the limited number of public areas dogs are allowed to venture out to nowadays, is it any wonder that so many of them are not as well socialised as we'd like? Just saying... T.

Skin issues can be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to blue/blue bred staffies... I have seen a few hermaphrodites... also some with sight/hearing issues... I'd be more likely to go with breeder who doesn't breed specifically for blue, but occasionally throws same in regular coloured litters. I'd be very leery of anyone who tries to talk up how "healthy" their blue/blue bred pups will be long term. I'd also like to know how anyone can be mains registering (for breeding/showing) Staffords that are not conforming to the colour standards set for the breed. Oh... and blue Staffords are as rare as rocks nowadays, so paying higher prices for them is ridiculous and money-grabbing. T.

I assisted a dental on a 9 year old beagle cross the other day... she had a fair bit of plaque, but only one small pre-molar needed extraction. Her owner was so upset that her dog must have been in pain from that one small tooth... but we assured her that where that particular tooth was, it wasn't too involved with her eating, so she may not have really noticed any pain from it actually. All of the rest of her teeth were in beautiful condition, just had some plaque build-up. As for bad breath, that can have other sources... not only from teeth issues. Some gastric issues will cause bad breath too. Best to get a thorough vet checkup (and full bloods) to make sure it's only from a bit of muck on the teeth and not something else more sinister... T.

Is your roof colorbond or corrugated iron? And the rain makes noise on it? Just because you mentioned she barks at the blender, I'm thinking it could be noise related... There are rain/storm CD's that you can buy to try to desensitise dogs to the noises of same... maybe you could see if she reacts to one of those? I have a storm phobic dog myself at the moment, but just normal rain doesn't upset her much at all - we've deduced that she is sensing the barometric drop that happens with proper storms, so noise desentising doesn't work for her. She knows a storm is coming hours before it happens... *sigh* T.

You could try putting a dollop of plain greek yoghurt in her dinner... won't necessarily stop the farts, but will take the bad smell away... a good teaspoon should do it. T.

Pickles is somewhat indifferent to the cold, but if it's particularly chilly, she'll either hog the heater or take herself off to her own nice warm beddie... and of course tries to push me off my electric blanket overnight... lol! Harper has a toasty warm jacket that she will not let me take off pretty much ALL winter... *sigh* I'm more of a sook when it comes to the cold weather than my dogs... lol! T.