aj88

i would say no bones for two weeks - the sutures used are disolvable and they usually take a month to come out completely. Although the mouth does heal quickly, i wouldnt give bones for two weeks. My ridgeback girl had her two canines out and she was absolutely mortified that she couldnt have bones that she went scavaging around the yard and found one buried - io caught her after she had been chewing for 5minutes and she made her gums bleed! Anyway. If you dont feed wet food i would suggest soaking her biccies for 10minutes so at least they are soft for her to eat and wont hurt. I wouldnt change her diet drastically to what she normally has otherwise it might upset her belly and i wouldnt give just mince otherwise you will get one blocked up greyhound. Soak the biccies and mix it with mince - perfect

Obviously Josh is the 'top dog' I have the same issue. I had three girls and we recently just got a new pup. My two youngest girls (2 and 1 and a half) have accepted her fine, except the 2 year old is a bit snappy at meal times but thats ok. The 1 and a half year old couldnt care less but thats just the kind of dog she is. My oldest is 13 and she hates the pup, new puppy wont go near her at all because she knows that she will just get bitten. For me i find it not a big deal because i know the heirachy system will sort itself out in due course. The balance has been upset and now they have to work out who fits where now. My oldest will always be top dog and its her way of showing new puppy that this is how things work here. New puppy has worked out when she can go near gem (old girl) and when she cant. And i think now they have re-established order Basically your dogs are re-establishing rank, this is where the agressiveness comes from. To stop this violence you have to establish that you are this packs leader. Buy a crate if you havent got one and put new pup in that, let the other dogs sniff out the new puppy. If they growl step in front of the crate and let them now that this is not tolerated. You have to show puppy that you will protect it from other dogs and show the pack leader dog that you are now the leader and will not allow aggressiveness. But make sure you reward positive behaviour - this works better than being negative. How long has new puppy been in your house for???

Aw poor boy My old old Ridgeback girl was always licking her lips and i went to work to have her check up and found out she had a horrible infection in her top two canines. After talking to my boss about it we decided it was best for her to remove both her canines. About two days afterwards after the pain had settled down, no more lip licking. She was on soft food until her sutures had disolved and no bones until they were disolved (much to her dismay but i didnt give the other girls bones just to be fair) Once all healed she is eating fine, all her normal food and playing just as rough with her sisters as she always did! As far as eating and playing go its fine. If you notice when your dogs chews at toys and bones they tilt their head to the side and use their pre molars, the canine teeth are for holding onto objects and also to defend themselves (he still has three good canines left!) In the wild they use the canines to grab and rip at their prey but hopefully your boy doesnt need them for that! hehe The bottom canines though keep the tongue from falling out, if you remove them the tongue will hang out all the time. I havent seen it happen myself so im not sure how far it hangs out. you may want to ask your vet about that one We generally anly remove the bottom canines if it HAS to be done, otherwise we leave them alone. i hope i helped you a teensy bit!

Carrots like that are great for his teeth!! One of the nurses at work always gives her boy a carrot for a treat and he loves them. But yeah you wouldnt want to feed him a whole bag, but thats the same as everything and no one is really that silly. hehe

As a TRAINEE vet nurse yes i do know this but as a TRAINEE vet nurse i am still learning. Since animals cannot tell us verbally when they are in pain, we must always treat for anticipated or presumed pain. Why would you want to deny your animal pain relief when it may in fact need it. Yes animals show signs of being in pain but still you cant always be sure. I guess our standars of care are just a little higher than those of other clinics, but have known this for a long time because the standards of care at most clinics make me sick.

usually the pain killer they are given is in the pre med which last about 8 hours and also given an anti inflammatory injection which is 24 hours. Pretty sure that a surgery like that your going to feel pretty painful for more than one day. We give the client the option of extra pain relief buyt we do advise it, its just our standards of care that every patient that has endured surgery shall be given extra pain relief. No Doctor would ever send home a human patient without pain relief that would undergo a surgery like that, animals should be any different. There is a higher chance of infection if the patient is painful after surgery and it also delays recovery time.

oh yay! She must be feeling better then ;)

WHAT???? Pain killers should be used after desexing, id like to see you go through an ovariohysterectomy and not have any pain killers.

I though heartworm was a vacc only?? Canine cough is the only vacc im aware off given up the nose. We do not recoomend it to our puppy owners & if they chose to use it its against our advice. Good vets will give the pros/cons & the risks but most dont because its a good money earner & the prices they charge are plain ridiculous . It may be convient but i wouldnt waste that much money when there are safer options & cheaper options.Isnt that hard to give a monthly/daily pill unless you have a health issue that makes it a problem. We have vets here charging betwenn $120- #170 ,i say come in sucker actual bottle for vets to buy is $1000 from suppliers hence why it is so expensive

than bandage should only be on for few days (either taken off or changed) please tell me your vet told you this! anf they should have put cotton between the toes to stop discomfort and to stop pressure sores in between. pad cuts are nasty because they bleed so so much poor girl, i hope shes ok

learn how to put the tablet down the throat- easy and you know its down there. one of my girls hates ALL chews even drontal so she gets the fist down the throat - takes 2 seconds and its done. I normally give them a drink first so that their throats are slimey - not nice to have a huge pill down a dry throat

4 weeks in between each vac is fine.

There's nothing wrong with a responsible owner making a well thought out decision that their dog is better off not being desexed. However anyone who can't keep their dog in their own yard is not a responsible owner and clearly not capable of caring for an entire bitch. Hmm if your breeding then by all means dont desex but ive seen to many nasty pyometras (uterus infections) to say 'yes not desexing your bitch is a good idea if you have thought it out' because you wouldnt have thought it out that carefully because a uterus infection can kill your dog. And $200 is a small price to pay to get them desexed

i dont vaccinate yearly, my girls get AB titer tests

My girls get washed once a week. I use the hydro bath glacier ice wash which is made so you dont have to rinse it out. They all have beautiful coats and good skin, never ever had a problem with skin issues. Also i dont put the water on their head so water does not get into their ears. The only ear issues i have had is today with my girl with a grass seed in her ear so shes at work withe me now waking up from her GA. Poor baby got such sore ears So yeh basically what everyones saying -buy a good shampoo and you can wash once a week. Dont buy supermarket (well whoever buys animal products from supermarkets shouldnt have pets anyway that stuff is just crap! hehe) brand. Vets can order in good shampoo, i order mine through work. If you have a hydrobath, glacier wash is really good. Smells beautiful!