Everythings Shiny

I have a furminator for my kelpies and i absolutely swear by it... I got mine cheap on ebay... we bought our first one at around $100 at pet barn... since then got two off ebay for $15 - still great quality!

Glad your doing better Jed

Sometimes its just something you miss. no matter how vigilant you are checking your dogs sometimes these things come across. I know a breeder who went through something very similar... didn't notice mucky eyes or anything - eye ulcered etc. Dog is fine now. Keep your chin up :p

Interceptor is a chew... I haven't seen many heartworm tabs around when we do our stock order.... will try and have a look tomorrow at work and see if I can spot any on the order program.

It's nobody's fault.... these things happen very commonly whether it be a byb or a registered breeder you get the dog from.... I think we have them at least 2-3 times a week coming into work. At least you've got treatment going and you did the right thing by going to the vet as soon as you found it.... so many people sit back and 'see how it goes'

Your welcome hehe. I think most of our clients use interceptor if they don't go the proheart inj

Corneal problems can be hard to spot if it's early in the development. What cream did the vet give you to use? Sounds like the vet had some concern that there was something going on or they wouldn't have asked you to come back... if it was something minor like a little dust or something in the eye they would have given cream etc and said see how you go. Dry eye can be a funny thing to treat. Hopefully the eye heals up quickly.

Interceptor does Heartworm. I only use fronntline (am changing to comfortis thought) and the proheart injection once a year.... if i didn't have the injection I'd use interceptor or heartgard

R/d is good - your local vet clinic should be able to order it in. You can't purchase it at pet shops as it is a prescription diet from vets only. Normally you don't need to take the dog into the vets to get R/d, just tell them you are after something for weight reduction and they should be able to get you some. Eukanuba also have a similar version which they just call their weight loss diet... it's very similar in make up and is able to be purchased at pet shops that stock it.

I'd switch to Interceptor to save money if using comfortis. I love comfortis, we have changed most of our clients onto comfortis. I love that it's an internal drug so its very waterfast.... Once my supply of frontline runs out I'm changing mine onto it. For heartworm I get a yearly injection for it.... never had a drama and I find it works out cheaper for me with the three dogs.

I agree with Tilly on the Permoxin, but I also use advantix on my dogs. With the Permoxin I make it up in a spray bottle and spray the dogs daily with it. It also helps keep flies off of them during summer (the poor dogs get their poor ears eaten by flies) Daily checks are the best ways to prevent tick paralysis... always check thoroughly around where the dog can't chew them off... esp the face and arm pits. Aussielover- I can't see how they'd become resistant to paralysis. I have a client whose dog has been in every single year with tick paralysis, even though he uses treatment (we can't get it into their heads to check every day for ticks!) if any dog should get resistance from the treatments they use it would be this one!

As a nurse I have to congratulate you on desexing before her season. I truly believe it's a brilliant thing to do (I know people disagree) It will severely reduce the chances of mammary tumors as she gets older. I only wish I got my girl done early as she has had to have tumors removed 18 months after being desexed (she was an ex- brood bitch). If your concerned that she will lick at her stitches, ask the vet staff about getting an elizabethan collar. Nine times out of ten you can take it home and if you don't need it you can get either a refund or a credit on your file.

BRILLIANT NEWS! Diesal's blood results have come back CLEAR! I don't know what's going on but he may be in the clear yet.... going to do another blood test in a weeks time to sort this out. But fingers crossed my boy might be alright!

Have a talk to your vet, they may some recommendation for you about what to do with her. Good luck with the surgery!

Supacoat has a light one out - my dogs are going well on it.

Hi Christie - The only bit of info I can give you is the dietary information we were told at a Hills Prescription Diet Workshop... Something like hills w/d helps maintain stable blood glucose levels and it is high in fibre and a complete and balanced diet for dogs that can help the body be more responsive to the insulin. The only other thing we were taught was that to make sure that Diabetic dogs and cats don't scavange for food and that they always have access to a lot of water. Hope Lucy goes well for you!

The weather being the way it is is affecting a lot of dogs coats.

We done a training day with Hills recently which covered this type of ailments: We were told u/d, w/d or Z/d would be best for kidney and pancreatitis - also to avoid giving scraps or treats etc as they may be rich in phosphorus and/or salt. I'll try and find my information sheets at home if your interested... pm me! Hope she continues to do well

I have always used Hills food for my dogs. They have a brilliant range out there for different breed sizes and any medical conditions dogs and cats may get. My clinic always pushes either Hills or Eukanuba.

Miss Squish - I feel your pain.... My own Diesal has just been diagnosed with cancer.... it's so frightening. You and Ruger are in my prayers.

Thanks guys. Diesal's diet is going to be changed to a prescription hills diet to help him get by, my boss thinks this will be the best thing for him as he is an active working dog breed. We've had major discussions this last couple of days and we have decided to do more bloods this friday and start him on some tablets once we get these back. I've decided against chemotherapy as my heart and head both tell me that he wont be happy.... my main concern for now is to keep him happy until we have to make the decision of Euthanasia.... not a track I wanted to go down with him. It's heartbreaking to watch him atm, he looks so lost himself, almost as if he know's something is wrong with him. I'm also concerned with Paige, she has been with him for so long, I believe once Diesal goes, she wont be long behind him - they've been inseparable for 5 and a half years now, she wasn't happy when I took him to the vets for a few hours last Friday for his tests. One of the vets suggested getting another dog for Paige to bond with, I'm leaning against getting another dog as I already have 3. Paige loves the youngest dog Serena, but not even Serena could keep Paige happy the other day. I think i'm dealing a little better with this whole situation, my vet sat me down at work today and spoke to me about what was going on, he realised how much this is killing me atm, especially after everything that's happened lately, and with me not being 100% well either myself... They are going to support both D and I as best as they can. Hopefully Friday gives some good results, maybe even a full diagnosis! Thanks again guys, having this little thread to vent is keeping me sane atm I think

Thanks Staffyluv - I'm trying to stay positive - its just another kick in the guts atm. My other dog Paige has been in remission for 12 months after having malignant mammary tumours removed, my dad died nine months ago from leukemia and a very good friend of mine has been diagnosed with a blood cancer - it's just a very dark time for me atm The vets have discussed options between themselves this afternoon and a couple of them have agreed that most treatments are out of the question - separating him from Paige sends him into a spin and he gets extremely upset. We are doing more tests this week coming to see how we go with him.... one of the vets have said we should just let him go and not try to keep him going as he is going to die either way, nothing we can do about it.... but we can keep him comfortable and go from there. I'm sorta thinking that may be the way to go... but I'm going to wait and see how we go with these next tests

Today has been one of the hardest days for me. Diesal was taken into my work yesterday as he had been a little off, nothing major, just a little unlike himself, getting irritable, trembling at times, not being able to put on weight We done some in house bloods, found out his packed cell volume was really low.... that raised a few alarms with my vets so we sent some blood to the lab and marked it urgent.... we were all thinking either he'd some how gotten access to rat baits (i don't use them and neither of my neighbours do either) or had some sort of infection. Normally all blood results are back the next morning.... alarm bells started ringing when they hadn't returned by lunch.... My boss rang the lab chasing them down.... thats when we got the news. Poor Diesal has some form of cancer.... i'm so in shock I don't think my brain has retained any of the information........... I thought the vet said lymphoma but I've checked his lymph nodes and the aren't enlarged.... gonna talk to my vet tomorrow at work again, try and get my head around it I'm absolutely devestated... Diesal has never had anything wrong with him and now has come down with this..... I'm absolutely lost as what to do........ Just needed to vent

I know! Aren't my kids in appalling condition!!! I'm still fuming about this. The RSPCA man was very good. I spoke to him in regards to my concerns for their safety and welfare and he has offered to help us however he can. If anything happens that I am concerned about, he has told us he will look after us. I told my boss at the vets what happened and he was going to wring our neighbours neck, he's very upset that either mum or myself have had this happen.

Bartok - The kelpies are in a yard with a enclosed run inside of it to lock them into of a night. I was 20 mins away when Smooch (My Mother) rang me to tell me we had a visit from the RSPCA. I rang the inspector in tears as I was so upset to be accused/inspected. He was really nice and has offered to help us if we have more problems with said neighbour as I told him I have concern for our animals welfare at our neighbours hands. Hopefully our neighbour isn't back up to his old tricks and stops causing problems!!!