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Hey, thought I would update on Micas progress. We went to the vet on Thurs, and all is looking good. He was very impressed with the progress we had made in a week on the drops. The Pannus has cleared a lot and you can barely see it. We are now reducing the drops she is on and see how it goes. She was on 4 drops a day and we dropped them to 2 a day for a week, then one etc. So far so good I discussed going to a specialist with the vet. He is of the opinion that it is not neccasary just yet as she is responding so well. He did say he would happily write a referral for me if I would like to, but he didnt think it was necessary at the moment. Based on this I am undecided, I will probvably still take her to the specialist for peace of mind. Just need a day off to do it as its a 3 hour each way drive! The good news is the little darling is adjusting to having eye drops remarkably well. I discovered the technique to suit us and it has made a difference. We sit next to each other on the floor, and (with a loose collar) I hook my arm through her collar. I am then able to use the arm to hold her in place while leaving my hand free to open her eye that so wants to shut. She has become quite accustom to it now and will sit quietly to have her drops. So all is looking up and I am a little more optimistic Thankyou everyone for your advice and support

Anita good advice. Mica has never been one to love her head being handled, she has aslways tolerated it though. I have been making an effort to make sure I pat her head and pretend to look into her eyes and give her lots of treats. Great idea thanks I have been reccomended this clinic by others as well. Seems like the place to go. I have a referral form I will take to the vets on Thurs and make an appointment. I definitely agree I would like to see a specialist before we decide on long term treatment. How I would love my vet to have been wrong about the Pannus!

I had wondered about administering the ointment. We are managing on the drops now, even if it is a bit of a wrestlemania. May try and stick to them. Greytmate, so glad to hear your dog was OK with Pannus. Im a bit surprised about how quickly it has dissapeared with the drops. You can barely see it now. I hope this will mean it will be easy to manage.

Puggy she is on Prednefrin Forte at this stage. We had a vet appointment on Thurs and he prescribed this 4 times a day for a week. We go back this Thurs morning to see if the drops are doing anything and to discuss where to go from there. The drops have already made a big difference, even though I havent managed to get all 4 drops in each day I believe that there is an ointment also that may work? She hasnt been to a specialist yet, but I will look into it after the vet appointment on Thurs. Do you know of any specialists in Melbourne that would be good to see?

Thanks for the well wishes Charli. I hadnt heard of it either until the vet suggested it. I am absolultey crushed. I just hope it will be treatable and she wont go blind My poor little girl, its devestating, she is so young too. Oh well, just have manage the best we can. One of the worst things for it apparently is sunlight. So it is suggested to avoid swimming etc. Thats one of her favourite things. I think we will have to invest in some Doggles Then she can go to kepala and look like a dork in her sunnies

Thanks for your suggestions. I think you are right Puggy and she may be testing me. I had to steel myself for a bit of a fight as she HAS to have her drops no questions and today I forced the issue. After about a 10 min struggle she gave up and let me give her the drop. I am hoping it will get easier in time, as after she has her drop she is pretty subdued for a while and it breaks my heart that i am causing this distress to her . Even if it is for her own good. ETA she gets heaps of treats afterwords and plenty of praise.

Thankyou for the reply rommimum Its good to hear about the dogs that lived normal lives with this. I was pretty upset when the vet told me about it, but I am hoping that with treatment she will be able to live a normal life. She is so active and young, it would break my heart to see her slowly go blind. So far the drops seem to be helping so maybe that is a good sign? As for the drops, yes the little bugger isnt going to get much better if I cant get them into her I keep the drops at room temperature, so I dont think it should be cold. Maybe they sting her eyes? Like I said she used to be fine with them, but after a few days, it is causing a lot of distress. I may have to see if i can get someone to come around and help me give them to her for a few days. I am going to drop into the vets today to see if they have any suggestions and will PM Erny and see if she has any ideas.

I took Mica to the vet last Thurs as she had a red eye. The vet has diagnosed her with Pannus. I had never heard of this before, but it seems that there is no cure. I am pretty upset about it and unsure what it means for her future as she is only 2. I would appreciate hearing form anyone with experience with this disease, and some ideas on where to go from here. I also have another issue. Mica has been on eye drops 4 times a day since she was diagnosed. For the first 2 days all was good but yesterday she has decided she wont have a bar of it. She will shut her eyes tight, shake her head and bite at the bottle. She gets really worked up and distressed and cries the whole time. The sight of the bottle sends her into a panic. I have tried distracting her with treats, and just holding her down, both unsucceful. Its really hard to hold a 35kg wriggling dog, who squints her eyes shut, on my own. I would really appreciate any suggestions about how to administer her drops as she may need to be on them for the rest of her life.

Ive been debating with myself over vaccinating over the past 4 months. My vet wont give the 3 year vac either. I am taking Mica in this arvo to get her eye looked at so Im going to enquire about titre testing, im pretty sure they wont do it but we will see. If they wont, Im not sure where that leaves me as I don't really have many options as far as vets are concerned. To vaccinate or not, that is the question?

Thanks for the info Sparky. I have looked it up and found the guideline for Vaccination of Dogs and Cats by the WSAVA. Not sure if this is what you were referring you to, but has some great info. I will present it to the vet and see what she says I need to take Mica into the vet as she has a sore eye so we can discuss it then. I'm sure they think I'm quite mad for questioning them :p

My vet refuses to give the 3 year vac. I also live in a country town, so will have to travel to another vet, which I don't mind doing, but is it necessary to give a 3 year booster? Maybe I will see if they will Titre test instead.

Ok, my GSD was due for her booster vaccination over a month ago (she is 2). I have been researching vac's and reading on DOL and slowly getting my head around what to do with her regarding vaccinating. I have come to the conclusion that yes there is some validity in not vaccinating yearly. I guess I came from old school, where we were taught you yearly vaccinate and don't question it. So I guess I am now challenging my previous beliefs, and feel that the right thing to do is not vaccinate, but I'm feeling a bit guilty, or second guessing myself in case I get it wrong and my dog gets some awful disease that I could have prevented Anyway to get to the point, I have spoken to my vet and she has put the fear of God into me again about not vaccinating. She will admit though that it may be right that the dog will not require vaccinations yearly to most things except Kennel Cough. Is this the case? If so would I still need to give her a Kennel Cough vac every year?

Could I add a question onto this topic? My 2 year old GSD does the air snap thing as well, but she also does it to other dogs. Particuarly when she gets excited she will run past and air snap in their faces. She is not being aggressive, just excited. Is this kind of the same thing you are talking about, or she being an abnoxious butt head like I always thought she was being?

So sorry to hear your having troubles with Diesel, Kavik. Obviously Im no a trainer so cant offer any advice, maybe a break will do him some good? He seems like such a lovely boy. Could his lack of energy be related to his medical issues?

Good idea. Like any training tool, learning correct use is the key to success. Good luck

I would be wary of the ones on Australian ebay as I believe that it is far more effective to have a quality collar that will give a consistant and reliable stim. Some of the cheaper models can be a little iffy. Just MHO of course. I have used a cheaper model in the beginning stages of my training and found it very difficult to get any reliability out of it, making training fairly useless. I now own a Dogtra, more expensive, but I believe it is worth it. I understand you can now import from OS so that may be an option to look into as well, as they are much cheaper in the US for instance. There are some quality E-collars on the US ebay.

To do an elimination diet, do you HAVE to feed them on something they have never had before? I have contemplated trying this with my girl, but she eats lamb, chicken, roo and beef fairly regularly. I'm not sure what type of meat that leaves. I know I cant get rabbit or camel here.

Oh he is gorgeous :cheer: I to was blessed with a vocal GSD. I almost took her back before we got home cos she screamed so badly. My mum likes to remind me how I rang her from the car on the way home in tears because the puppy was so loud, I seriously doubted I had made the right choice. It was heartbreaking, she seemed so sad to leave her littler mates. She settled down after two days though and was quite happy. She was still vocal though, and still is to this day, though no where near as bad. I have vague memories of sneaking off to have showers when she was asleep, otherwise she screamed the whole time.... GOOD LUCK

I did the puppy school, group obedience etc with my GSD where it was encouraged to let your dogs play with each other. I now have a dog who has assigned a very high value to other dogs. Knowing the difficulties I have since had with her when other dogs are around I would definitely lean towards neutralisation with my next pup.

Yes I remember that to Cosmolo. The link was in an Anti-Barking Collar thread This is the website Anita referred to: http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resource...ces/ACN0855.pdf It says that after the 2nd Dec you no longer need import permission for some electronic collars Not sure why customs are telling Seita you still need permission if it has changed?

So I guess if you have permission to import before you leave so you can show that when you come back it shouldn't be a problem should it? Before I discovered k9 force who I got my collar through last year, I tried to import an e-collar. I spoke to customs about it and was told that although the minister 'could' give permission to import a collar he had never done so and would probably never do so. They basically told me I could apply but shouldn't bother as I would be denied. This of course only applies to the average joe blow importing their own collar. It is obviously different for for trainers/suppliers etc.

I got mine from k9force.net They have braided or plain. The leather is nice and soft on your hands. I was very pleased with my leash

Erny, So sorry to hear your boy isnt well again. He is having a bit of a rough trot at the moment. Hope hes feeling better this morning and it is nothing serious.

K9: No, once the value has been set it can only be changed with training not socialisation. It can be undone so not all is lost. How?

Thanks for your advice everyone. Good idea Midol, might look into it.