~Aimee~

Thanks Kendell. I'll have a look at those sites

Thanks for your reply. I've been reading excerpt pages from amazon and it does look like a really good book.

Hi, I am looking for some books to read on animal therapy, pet communication etc. I had a pet reading done recently by a pet communicator and I was absolutely blown away by the accuracy of the things she said. Things that she could not have known about me or my dog. It was amazing! Anyway, I'm now interested in reading about natural/holistic therapy approaches to raising healthy animals and also books on others experiences with pet communication. The lady that did my reading has a book coming out soon but it isn't available for awhile. I'd like some books to read in the mean time. Has anyone read either of these books? Healthy Dogs: A Handbook of Natural Therapies by Barbara Fouger Holistic Animal Handbook: A Guidebook to Nutrition, Health, and Communication by Kate Solisti-Mattelon Does anyone have any others they would recommend?

We give her Sentinel Spectrum. She used to eat from a metal bowl but now she eats from a plastic one. Have the ulcers become worse since swapping to the plastic bowl? No, they're the same.

We give her Sentinel Spectrum. She used to eat from a metal bowl but now she eats from a plastic one.

What kind of specialist?

Bump!

We also suspected reflux at the beginning but for some reason the vet ruled this out. She's not showing any other signs of reflux at all. She eats normally and shows no signs of pain when eating. An endoscopy revealed no ulcers in the oesphagus or stomach and they are limited to the mouth/back of the throat only. I'm not sure why she was taken off the other medication but I think she was initially given it as they had suspected she had ulcers in her stomach and oesphagus too and were trying to line the stomach/throat. The vet thought that what ever she had eaten (suspected something chemical based) might eat away at the lining of her stomach and the infection could have gone into her blood stream and caused blood poisoning. She had eaten anything she should have or anything she hadn't normally eaten previously.

ETA: The medication she was on when she first got sick was sucralfate along with other things. She's no longer taking that though.

She was on other medication initially and she did have a tablet I had to crush and mix with water and syringe into her mouth. I can't remember what it was called but I think it was meant to help coat the ulcers and prevent them from getting worse. She's not on that anymore though.

Back in February she had severe vomiting and diarrhea and we took her to the vet who discovered she had mouth ulcers. It was initally thought she had eaten something that she shoudn't have but I can't think of anything she could have eaten that could have caused that kind of reaction. She then had a biopsy done on the ulcers which came back with a diagnosis of "Eosinophilic ulcerative stomatitis" with food allergy as the underlying aetiology. Hence why we started the food elimination diet. Ruby also scratches quite a bit and rubs her face which the vet thought could be linked to a possible food allergy. She's on Pred-X 5mg tablets at the moment. I think that was given for the suspected allergy rather than the mouth ulcers. She's also taking pentavite to give her additional vitamins while she is on the restricted diet. I'm now questioning whether or not the mouth ulcers are caused by allergy at all and whether there is some other underlining cause. Does anyone have any experience with auto-immune/immune problems? Or digestive problems?

No, she is on a very limited diet atm of venison, fish, rice, potato and sweet potato.

My cavalier has had mouth ulcers for nearly 3 months. She's most likely had them for much longer than this but we only discovered them in Feb this year. The vet thinks they could be being caused by a food allergy of some sort. I'm not so sure. She has been on a restricted food diet for awhile now but it hasn't helped and she still has the ulcers. Has anyone elses dog had mouth ulcers? Do you know what caused them? And how did you treat them? Thanks for your help! I really want to get to the bottom of this!

Longdog, what's the name of the naturopath you see? We're in Bubury but will travel to Perth to see someone good. I've been recommended to see greenpet but I'd only be able to talk to them via phone & online consulation as they're not in WA.

Thanks for your replies. Are you able to post what your dog is seeing the naturopath for, what treatments they have been given and what the results have been? Do you see the nauropath in person? What happened in your initial consult? What did they do? Also has anyone seen greenpet and what are your experiences with this company?

I was wondering if anyone on DOL has used an animal naturopath and what were your experiences? What did you see the naturopath for, what were you recommended and what were the outcomes?

I have a 20 month old cavalier that has just been diagnosed with Eosinophilic ulcerative stomatitis. Basically she has a severe allergy to some food/s which we are not yet sure of. Three weeks ago she suffered from severe vomiting and diarrohea and when we took her to the vet they discovered she had ulcers in her mouth. Initially the vet thought she had eaten something poisonous as the ulcers were quite severe. Over the last few weeks she has been on all sorts of medications to treat the ulcers and has had different tests to try to find out what caused/is causing them. The biopsy results came back yesterday with the diagnosis. So Ruby has been put on an elimination diet and is only allowed to eat chicken, rice and potatoes for the next 7 weeks. After that we will be able to slowly introduce other foods to see what she is allergic to. She has already been on the restricted diet for 3 weeks. Does anyone elses dog have a food allergy and what are they allergic to? How long did it take for you to go through the elimination process? What are you able to feed them? Our vet has also given us a small sample of the Hills Prescription diet Z/D wet and dry food to give in conjuction with the other food we are giving her. This is just to see if she likes it first as she'll most likely be on something similiar long term. The vet has also said we might be able to use the Royal Canin brand allergy food as she was being fed royal canin previous to falling sick and she'd be more used to this brand. I do know that she does react quite badly to pigs ears and she has always sratched like crazy after eating one. So she may have an allergy to pork or maybe the colours of flavourings in them. That's all we can guess so far. I guess now it's just a process of trial and elimination. I'd love to hear from others who have dogs with allergies also.

I've been thinking about you and little Lucy all day today. She really was such a gorgeous girl and she will be remembered aways Lots of love to you & Marc. I bet she is watching over her Mummy, Daddy and two little sisters and sending you lots of love and kisses xx

We are going to my brother's wedding in November ad it will be held overseas. As all my famly will be going to the wedding, we have no one to look after Ruby while we are away. I was wondering if anyone could suggest some really good kennels in Perth, preferably south of the river but I'm happy to travel to a great one NOR too. We live in Bunbury, so any suggestion of kennels down this way would be good too. I thought the choice might be wider in Perth though and as we have to go to Perth anyway to go to te airport. I'm looking for one with a more home environment rather than just cold, concrete pens with lot and lots of dogs.

Thanks showdog for your reply. Ruby does spend independant time outside on her own. Lots of times when we are home, she likes to go and sleep out in her kennel outside rather than sleep in her bed inside or on the couch. I always thought it was weird that she prefered her kennel to her inside bed but she must think it feels comfy and secure. We don't have a dog door yet but we want to get one soon. Atm she either barks or scratched at the door to get let out. I'm not sure yet which room the baby will spend most of its time in. It will be in our room in his/her bassinet at night and most likely his/her own room during daytime sleeps. Baby may end up having some daytime sleeps in the bassinet too. Not sure yet. When I have naps now, Ruby always comes and naps with me in my bed too. I'd really like to keep her sleeping in our bed with us. Do you think that's not going to work? Ruby already has a harness for drives in the car and she is fantastic at just sleeping during car rides so I'm not worried at all about her jumping up on the baby in the car. I'd have them on opposite sides of the car anyway. The only rooms she's be restricted in would be the playroom and that already has a baby gate on it anyway.

Just wondering if anyone has used an Easy Walk Harness and what you thought of it?

Thanks so much for your replies. They are helping so much already. Mita, that's a great link. Thanks, I've saved it to my bookmarks LizT, where do your dogs sleep? How old is your baby? We currently have a baby gate up at the entrance to our study. It looks into the main living area. I plan on leaving the gate there until our baby arrives as this room will then become the playroom. Ruby already knows she's not allowed in there unless she's invited to come in. I plan on being able to leave bub in their on their own for tummy time/play time without Ruby getting in his/her way. That way I can also feel safe to leave the bby on his/her own for sort periods and know Ruby isn't going to annoy or hurt the baby.

Hi, We are planning on TTC our first baby in about a years time. Currently we have a cavalier who is just over 19 months old. She's our baby and is spoilt rotten. She's an indoors dog when we are at home and stays outside when we are out. She also sleeps with us in our bed. When the new baby comes home, I don't neccessarily want to change this. We like having her in our bed and she likes sleeping there too. The only concern I have is that they baby will be in our room in his/her bassinet for the first 6 months. Do you think this is going to be a problem? Will it be ok for our dog to sleep in our bed, while the baby is asleep in our room also? I don't want to banish her out of the bedroom as sleeping with us is all she has ever known. Also we are thinking of getting another dog as a playmate for Ruby but are not sure for a multitude of reasons. Has anyone walked 2 dogs with a pram? How hard is it to do? I actually planned on walking Ruby with the pram a few months before the baby is born so I can get used to walking Ruby beside a pram before the baby comes home. I didn't want to have to sort this all out when I had a newborn in the pram. I'd rather she learn how to walk with a pram before the baby comes home. For those of you that have only one dog and a newborn, how did you find your dog coped when the baby came home? We are thinking of getting a second dog now, so that when we need to spend more time with the baby, Ruby still has some company.

Just thought I'd share some more photos of my gorgeous girl Ruby, wearing her new collar and lead

Hi Michelle, Just letting you know that our toys arrived Ruby loves them! They are her Christmas presents but I let her play with them for a little while before wrapping them up. The squeaky squiggler is a huge hit. Before I bought it, I wasn't sure if she would like it or not but she LOVES it. She loves shaking it around in her mouth and making the arms and legs flap about. It is heaps bigger than I thought it would be too. She also liked her hedgehog because it makes a different kind of squaking noise, more like a grunt. Everytime it makes a noise she barks at it and shakes it around like mad! The bottle buddy is cool too. Ruby likes it because it has a soft outside but it makes a cool crinkly noise when she chews on it. She also likes the loopy because it has heaps of bits to chew on. She goes nuts when it makes it's croaking noise Kyjen toys are the best! Ruby LOVES everything in the range. Her absolute favourites are the egg babies. We have the platypus & the turtle and she loves the hide-a-squirrel & the hide-a-bird too Thanks for such fantastic service!!