violetmay

Thank you Rappie - pumpkin is cooking as we speak. Daughter and I went on a pumpkin hunt to the local markets after I first read your message. Thanks for the reminder about food with metacam too, I had forgotten about that. He's due for his next lot shortly, so will see if he will have anymore chicken first. Thank you you too Staffyluv - I will read the whole thread about Ollie, thanks so much for sharing your journey. Really feeling happy about the whole grain free thing and making him his own food. He's always been a very hard dog to feed (extremely fussy) and I'd spend heaps of money only to have it all go to waste. This way atleast I know I will be feeding him food that he will eat, with the added health benefits as a bonus. Edit - pumpkin/chicken mixed up is a hit!! Yay for that!!

Thanks trifecta and Staffyluv. Yes I will be careful with him. He has been to a holistic type vet before (hip/arthritis issues) and I was given a whole lot of supplements which did nothing for him (not to mention I had to give him the supplements five times a day, some on a full and some on an empty stomach - it was just madness). But catrophen injections from the regular vet are like magic. Not sure why the holistic vet couldn't have suggested catrophen. So much cheaper, easier and 1000 times more effective. So really don't feel too trusting of holistic vets after this experience. But I will see how he goes and be open to trying a different holistic vet than we tried last time. Right now, I just have to get Scruffy eating again. Vet said if he wont eat cottage cheese (which he wont) to give him tasty cheese (which he loved). So it's chicken and tasty cheese that he is living on now (vet said it was important he get calcium and that is why he has to have cheese). The vet wanted me to get some rice into him aswell (he hasn't pooed since last weekend, his bowels are totally empty except for a few bits of chicken). So she wants the bulk of the rice to get his colon moving. He's gotten through the surgery well and is on metacam once a day for pain relief, but he seems to be in a lot of pain. He is just sitting still, eyes open but not sleeping or moving. We take it in turns to sit with him. I think once he is a bit stronger and his bowels normalise, it might be safe to try the tea then. Wouldn't be safe for him right now at all. Thanks again for the help.

Wow Crits'N'Bits - thank you for your detailed response. I have a lot of research to do. Can you tell me please where do you buy the essiac tea? Haredown Whippets thank you for your response too, I did chuckle at your mention of boiling a whole chicken. That amount of food would last my dog about a month LOL!! He's not much of an eater. One thicken thigh a day is what he has been able to eat this week. Bit of an update, dog is out of surgery now and the tumour was 450 grams (dog weighed 6.7kgs this morning). They never said how much the spleen weighed LOL!! So wait and see how he goes. Hopefully he will be able to eat proper amounts of foods soon, now that he doesn't have a huge tumour pressing on his stomach.

Hi Everyone My maltese Scruffy is having his spleen (and 8cm attached tumour) removed on Friday. He had an ultrasound that revealed there are no more tumours. He was diagnosed last Friday on a routine trip to the vets for a catrophen injection. Ultrasound was Monday. My problem is feeding him. He also has colitis. The colitis became aparrent while waiting for the Friday vet appointment - has a bout of diarrhea right at the floor on the vets (prior to this he seemed OK). They took a sample and said it was colitis. Vet has said that he has to eat chicken/rice/cottage cheese until the colitis is better. He has also been given antibiotics for this problem. The tumour seems to be limiting his ability to eat. He wont eat rice/cottage cheese at all, and it's only bits of cooked chicken that he is eating now (several times a day). The chronic diarrhea (almost incontinence) that plagued him over the weekend is gone and he hasn't pooed in about 48 hours. I know on Monday when he had his ultrasound, they said his colon was totally free of any excrement, so maybe it is going to take a while to build up again (considering he is only eating small morsels of cooked chicken). I've been googling about cancer and dogs, and many people are saying that putting them on an anti-cancer diet (basically grain free) will help. So is feeding him only chicken is the best choice right now? We just need to make it to Friday without his spleen bursting. Afterwards do people with dogs that have had cancer keep them on protein only food? He's always been prone to bumps on his skin and has already had a few operations to have lumps and bumps removed, this is his first internal bump though. But with the colitis (and general emptiness of the bowel) should I be trying to give him some rice to have something in there atleast? Just not sure what the right thing to do is, he will only accept bits of chicken right now, so I don't seem to have much a choice.

Just wanted to add to this thread.. My dog is having his spleen (and attached 8cm tumour) removed on Friday. He had an ultrasound yesterday and the tumour hasn't spread to any other organs. My dog is only 6.9kg, so the tumour must be really big inside him. Ultrasound found that he most likely has cushings disease (enlarged adrenal glands) and also he is battling colitis at the moment too. Really hoping the operation will be successful, read a few too many bad stories about spleen rupturing during operation.

Thanks everyone for your help. Yes, will get an xray next time we go. This guy is supposed to be the best and most experienced, that is why I went to him. I'll try massage, that's a great idea. Not sure about swimming. We don't live far from the water, and near where I live, dogs can walk (even off lead) to a local island and back at low tide (not on weekends and public holidays. All the other dogs have fun playing in the water, my dog thinks the water is absolute torture and wont even wet his feet. I'd give a heated pool/treadmill a go, but can't imagine him OK with it. yes he definitely has to lose a bit of weight, we've been working on that. Thanks for your help. I think I was hoping that there would be some kind of monthly pain killer injection or something.

Thank you so much for your help persephone. I'll answer some questions. How old is your dog? Approx 6 years, What did the breeder say ? He didn't come from a breeder, he was from the pound and we got him three years ago. He was approx 3 years old when we got him. Did you get more than one opinion? Two local vets both though it was his knees, one thought arthritis, one thought cruciat ligament. Arthritis made no sense for me given him symptoms ie. he isn't stiff/sore in the morning, he is sore after exercising, then his back legs don't work. Did the vet who did the Xrays have good experience in diagnosing/treating HD? The vet I went to was Rowan Kilmartin, at Animal Options. He is a vet chiropractor aswell as a vet. He diagnosed without xray (he can do that). Can you tell us whereabouts you are - as I am sure someone here can suggest a vet who is good with these sort of issues? Brisbane, and I did my research and went to the best person. I've got no doubt this man is an expert, I just want conventional medicine, had enough of the naturopath type medicne, that's all. When I go back to see him I will ask for conventional medicine I think. Thanks for any help. Got to run off now, got to take a guinea pig to the vet to have tumour removed. Oh the joys of animals LOL!!

Hi There A few weeks ago, my dog (a maltese) was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. We went to a holistic type vet/chiropractor and were given medications to be given 5 times a day (these are the type of medicines you'd buy in a healthfood store, not real medicine). I'm just over the 5 times a day, I have a whole lot of other things going on in my life and just can't ever seem to get the 5 times a day in. Can I just ask what a conventional vets treatment for hip dysplasia is? My dog isn't bad enough for an operation, and if I don't take him for a walk he is fine even without any medication, he is only in pain after going for a walk (which he enjoys), and then afterwards I give him metacam (this came from local vet) which works in about 10 mins. I just can't handle the dosing 5 times a day, and even when all this stuff, he is still in pain after walking and still needs the metacam, so it doesn't seem to make any difference. If the 5 times a day medicine (4 different things, given in various ways/times) was working and I could walk him without pain afterwards, I'd find a way to cope with the 5 doses a day, but it doesn't work, so I want to know what the alternative is. Thanks

Just an update. Finally today was our Animal Options appointment. My dog has hip dysplasia, not arthritis. My local vet was wrong wrong wrong. I am pretty upset at the thought of my dog having this condition, but very glad I decided to pursue it further. The vet said that he is not a candidate for surgery, so that is a good thing atleast. Boy, and I thought giving Joint Guard was hard. My dog now has a host of other tablets that all have to be given multiple times a day, some without food, some with. The medication is just a nightmare now. Poor dog had three needles today too. But gee, when I read through a list of the symptoms of hip dysplasia, my dog has all the symptoms. Last vet appointment with the local vet I was told my dog has arthtiris in both his back knees and his hips were fine. Rowan said today that my dogs back knees were perfectly fine, so I really don't understand why I was told he had arthtitis in his knees by the local vet. I'll just really staggered by this, my local vet is supposedly the best one in the area, and all the locals rave about them.

Just an update. Got the dog in with a doggy chiropractor/vet. Rowan at http://www.animaloptions.com.au/index.php?...=animal-options. His first available appointment wasnt until 6 May, but that is fine. Dog is fine if he is on painkillers and I don't walk him. Walking aggravates the problem, so best to keep him home. Poor thing was very sad this morning when I left to go for a walk without him. Thanks for the help everyone!! Oh that cannd science diet j/d is an odd thing. Very hard, never seen dogfood so hard before LOL!! I can get him to eat it if I hand feed it to him, but he definitely prefers the Royal Canin mobility. I'll try some yoghurt for mixing joint guard. I thought I would also give peanut butter a go too.

No, the walk was 40 minutes, not 10. I just think I will limit them to 10 minutes in the future. I just took him on the normal route we walk on. It's 3K exactly (I record it on runkeeper which is an iphone app, so I know exact distances). No, we haven't had xrays yet. A few weeks ago he got an even worse reation after a 5K walk (1 hour) - same as today, was fine for the walk, came home, had a sleep, woke up, couldn't move at all, and was crying very loudly. I had metacam in the house, so quickly gave him a dose of that before I rung the vet. They told me to come immediately, and in the 10 minutes it took to make the phonecall and get to the vet, the metacam was already working and he could put his weight on his backlegs atleast. The vet took him in straight away (she knows us, we've been before) and felt him legs/hips etc and said that he had arthritis in both his knees, and to keep on the metacam. I found joint guard by asking the people in the guinea pig forum LOL!! I can tell the dfference it makes though. I'm in Brisbane, and have been reading through the threads and am thinking that maybe I should take him to that Animal Options place at Ormeau that people are recommedning.

Thanks, I will buy the joit guard chews next time, I have to use up this tub of powder first LOL!! I managed to get canned Hills J/D today, and also after discussion with a vet nurse decided to order Royal Canin Mobility dry food instead of the Hills science diet j/d dry food. The lady said it tasted a lot better to dogs. This was the sample I was given that my dog ate. I stupidly took my dog for a walk this morning (he's been fine for a two weeks up to today) and was fine on the walk. But a few hours after the walk (after he's slowed down and had a sleep) he was in mega pain and was crying out loudly again. So sadly no more walks for him over about 10 minutes long.

Just wanted to add, I went to my vet to enquire about the Hills j/d. They didn't have any instock, but are ordering me in some of the small size pellets. I'm going to go on a search of the canned variety of hills j/d. They did give me a free sample of Royal Canin mobility, and to my absolute shock, my dog ate half the sample. Had to hand feed him piece by piece, but he loved it. Feeling so much happier now. I hadn't realised that there were all these speciality dogfoods available, and now when my dog will be eating food, he will be getting helped with his joints. So if I don't get his joint guard into him all the time, it will be OK. Yay, yay.

Thanks for your help everyone. Yes his food issues are a problem, but because the joint guard helps him with pain, I really want him to have it. It is awful when his arthritis is bad, he just sits and cries. One time it was so bad he couldn't use his back legs at all. Before this, if he refused to eat the food it was put away etc, but now, he really has to have joint guard, so I need to find ways to get that into him. I didn't realise I could give him milk, so I will try that for the joint guard. I'll buy some lactose free milk from the supermarket, really don't think he could cope with lactose. He's got a sensitive tummy at the best of times. Yes I know 6 smackos a day is a lot, but giving him the metacam without smackos (ie. being one of the few things he would eat) caused him to have diarrhea. So it needs to be given with some sort of food. I'll keep looking for alteratives. Thanks for the other product sugggestions. I will ask the vet about catrophen next time we go. He's only been diagnosed for about 3 weeks, so we are just starting this journey with him. I was googling too and found that Hills make a dog food specifically for dogs with joint problems. So I might go and see if I can find a can of that, to see if he will eat it. I've had cats on various hills diet catfoods before, but have never bought a dog one (this is the first time I've had a dog). Thanks for your help. Always happy for more suggestions.

Hi There Scruffy my 6 year old maltese (we got him from the pound about 3 years ago) has been diagnosed with arthritis. He is doing very well on metacam and joint guard certainly ramps up how good he feels. Problem is he is an extremely fussy creature. He's been like this since day one. It's extremely hard to feed him anything and he has almost no interest in food. Certainly wont even try any sort of commerical dog food. He brand we have had most success with him eating is the Julius brand 5 packs from Aldi (not the chicken flavour, but the beef and lamb ones) - sometimes he will eat that if you hand feed it to him bit by bit. He wont eat any of the brands that woolies/coles and coles sell. The only way I've found to get him to eat Joint Guard powder is to buy a roast chicken from woolies, rip of a small amount of chicken (may 60 grams or so) and then mix the powder in with the chicken. Then hand feed him the chicken (he wont eat it from a bowl). I once tried mixing the Joint Guard powder in with minced meat (the one humans eat) and he wouldn't eat that. I wondered whether it would be OK to bake the Joint Guard/mince ball and make it into a little meatball for him. Our vet said he may find meat more palatable if wasn't raw. With the metacam, he has to have that with food. So we give him three smackos before and after having metacam, but he is starting to turn his nose up at smackos. I just wondered if anyone had any other suggestions. I need an easy and cheap way to get the Joint Guard into my fussy dog. Thanks for the help :-)

Dog Bow making instructions Go to this page, and search "bow" using your browser, there are heaps of threads on how to make dog bows http://www.groomers.net/discus/messages/126/5315.html This page http://www.groomers.net/discus/messages/12...html?1052404650 in particular has good instructions hand drawn by one of the contributors. On you-tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIupqAKNqBU...feature=related I had no ribbon, nor a hot glue gun, but found some coloured rafia, some beads, tiny rubber hair ties, a metal crochet hook, needle & thread, and easily managed to make some cute bows. Enjoy :-)

Ok I think you are all right. I'm sitting here almost in tears as I am so stressed about it all, and I've spent all this week (while I should have been doing assignments) so stressed and trying to figure out what I should do. It is really affecting other aspects of my life at the moment and I need to be able to get back to thinking about my uni stuff without having to constantly worry about the dog and it's aggression. So I am in Brisbane, Redlands/bayside area. Any reccommendations for behaviorists? I did see that the RSPCA has a calm dogs class http://www.rspcaqld.org.au/training/calmclasses.htm - does anyone know anything about that?

Hmm.. Kavik, maybe I need to walk another route. The route we usually take has got a lot of places where you can't simply cross the street to avoid. We've got pedestrian bridges over creeks/duckponds, wooden walking tracks through mangroves - all of which are really narrow and dogs pass eachother quite close. If I stuck to streets it would be easier to avoid other dogs. All the problems with meeting other dogs happen in these narrow spots. It is no problem avoiding other dogs while on the street.

Thanks for your reply Sas, I agree with you. It is not right that he attacked the puppy, I was quite horrified that my daughters let him get so close to another dog. He had been Ok with small dogs until then and we've only really been avoiding larger dogs (which is most other dogs) ones, so I think that is why they thought it would be OK. My daughters are 10 are 12 and I think you are right, they really aren't getting the seriousness of the situation. The dog is supposed to be the 10 year old's dog (the older girl doesn't really have much to do with the dog, she's more of a cat person) but she just isn't understanding how bad it is. We are going to try a behaviourist, but unfortunately I need to wait for the university semester to be over (late november), as I there is no way I could cope with trying to implement what a behaviourist is recommending while I have exams and assignments to do. I guess I just need to find ways to cope with the behaviour until we can get professional help. I've been walking him at 6.00am lately, but as I'm back at uni next week, it will be 5.30am walking, so we rarely see other dogs that early and it's pretty easy to avoid the ones we see. So I think that will be safe to continue walking him at that time.

My dog Scruffy (maltese, so looks small and cute - came from the pound about 2 months ago, male/desexed) seems to be getting worse not better. I've posted before about his aggression towards other dogs and our dog obedience club problems. Unfortunately, it is getting worse every day. This morning he attacked a a womans two dogs (cavaliers) that he has gotten on with up till now (and was Ok with three days ago). Yesterday my two daughters took him for a walk and he bit a 5 month old puppy on the tail. It's like whenever he sees another dog (or worse still gets a successful attack in) it steps his aggression up another notch. We've all been on holidays this week, so have taken the dog out more than usual trying to socialise him. It's like the socialisation attempts are backfiring as it's the dog exposure that sets off his aggression. The more dogs he sees, the worse his fear of other dogs becomes. I just want to know what do when I walk him and he starts acting aggressively to other dogs. Do I say nothing and only reward positive behaviour? Rewarding positive behaviour when walking doesn't appear to work as he wont accept treats when walking, too stressed and too much on guard. Do I say "no" in a gruff voice and walk away from the other dogs. Do I buy a muzzle? Do I find someone brave enough to help me socialise my dog and have Scruffy build up a friendship with one other dog. Then slowly try and introduce other dogs. I don't want to stop walking him (I need the exercise too). Most people where we walk avoid me now (LOL) I've warned them all about the possibility of my dog attacking their dog, so they usually cross the street when they see us coming (it's nice to be popular LOL). I think my daughters thought yesterday that he wouldn't attack a small puppy. I've told them not to let him near any dog now. I've recently switched from using a collar to a harness, but am going to look for another harness today. I'm finding better control of him with the harness as the one we have keeps slipping off his shoulders and I need to keep stopping to adjust it. It's quicker to get him away from other dogs when he starts barking with the harness than when in a collar.

Was good reading this thread as I picked up some other products to try. Advantage is supposed to last a month, but only lasts 2 weeks on my maltese. When I find fleas I just give him a bath in his regular shampoo and because he is white and small it is easy to pick the fleas off one by one. I think because maltese have different fur to regular dogs it makes the flea finding process easy compared to other dogs. Then the next morning I reapply the advantage. I will try one of the other brands recommended next time though. Not really happy with advantage.

Thanks for your help, I live in the Bayside/Redlands area of Brisbane which is south east. Yes I need positive reinforcement for him, not negative - so some suggestions would be good. I think I'm feeling really shocked as to how bad he is, the president of my dog club was telling me a few weeks how concerned they were about his behaviour, but I never really got it until seeing him at the dog park and seeing his behaviour in comparison with other dogs. I'll go early and have a chat with the president on Wednesday night and see what the club can offer. The dog is very stressed/scared of other dogs and that leads to aggression. I don't think I've mentioned, but the dog displays no interest in toys at all. He doesn't play, doesn't even look to try and retrieve a thrown object. One morning a few weeks back, my daughter and I got him excited and playing with a small squeaky caterpillar I bought at Woolies, but we haven't been able to entice him back to that happy playful behaviour since, though we try continuously.

Oh wow, thanks for all the responses. Yes I will to get some professional help re his behavior, but as I am a very stressed/busy university student, there is no way I am going to be mentally able to do that until the semester is over and it is Christmas holidays. My daughter has taken him at dog obedience classes until this week when I had my first go, but it's all been so overwhelming at uni, I barely been able to do the dog obedience thing with the dog, just sometimes, but mostly it has been my daughter. I'm on a weeks holidays now so am having a few days off for my own sanity. I need to find a way to deal with his behaviour until then. Yes he is a bit sooky in new social situations (eg. waiting at a fish in chip shop or at the beach) and cries quite a lot - quite often he is cold and that is why he cries. I'm in Brisbane and the weather is getting warmer, but sometimes it is windy at the local beach (bay not surf beach). I guess he is spoilt too, definitely a lap dog, he seems to need constant reassurance and cuddles and just goes from one lap to the other most of the time. I will stop cuddling him when exposed to other dogs at dog parks. I think I may try and avoid them for a while, they are OK in the morning when there are no other dogs there, but the afternoon is just too busy. I'll just have to play it safe until Christmas holidays and just limit his stress. I'll talk to the dog obedience club I go to, they offered me one-on-one training a few weeks ago, as they are really concerned about his behaviour, so I will see what they say. They aren't into clicker training there, they tried in in the past and it didn't work out, but I will chat to them and see - they are really lovely.

Hi I'm pretty new to having a dog. I adopted a maltese boy from the pound about two months ago and called him Scruffy. He is desexed and approx 3 years old. He was found as a stray and I know no other details of his past. He is lovely with people and a big baby at home. I'm having major problems with him trying to attack other dogs. We've been going to dog obedience classes weekly since we've got him and he behaves terribly there always trying to attack big dogs, but in particular a big fluffy golden dog. When I walk him he is always trying to attack bigger dogs, and even some smaller dogs. I just spent an hour at an off the lead dog park (no I didn't take him off the lead, I don't trust him enough). There was two big golden fluffy dogs there that he just wanted to kill. He got along with some of the smaller dogs, but pretty much barked 80% of the time we were there because of the big gold fluffy dogs. The check chain type training we are doing at dog obedience classes does not work for him, so I decided that we would try clicker training. I bought a clicker and a treat pouch and he enjoys the clicker training process with that at home. Once out walking (even if there are no other dogs around) he is way too stressed to consider eating a treat. So I think the idea of using a clicker is good, as it is a reward that doesn't rely on him being comfortable enough to eat. I was thinking initially that desensitization to bigger dogs is going to be the only way that he will learn to be friendly, but perhaps I am traumatizing him more by exposing him to big golden dogs at the dog park. Does anyone have any opinions on this? None of the dogs today were a bit worried about Scruffy and his barking, but I wont always be so lucky. There was so many dogs at the dog park all playing together having a lovely friendly time, and my dog was barking and stressed like crazy while I was trying to pat him and talk soothingly. Perhaps he had a bad experience with a big gold fluffy dog in his past life, I'm just at a loss at what to do to help him. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help.