Ravyk

Sigh. Some vets have open minds, some are half and half and some are completely closed minded (and, I have to add that what some vets have said to me behind closed doors in the consulting room and what they 'officially recommend' at the counter have been rather different). I find it quite interesting when they get defensive and shirty though, it puts me in mind of people that dont like to be questioned because they might not have all the answers. I usually just tell the vet that I raw feed. If they try and comment I just politely say "well, Ive done my own research and do what I believe is best for my dogs". Only in the last week a friend of mine was told by a vet that puppies absolutely can not eat raw meat (erm, ok, I didnt realise dogs learned to cook in the wild) and at the puppy kindy I am going to in a couple of weeks one of the 'talks' is entitled "no bones - why they are dangerous for your dog". I shall be biting my tounge and just letting my dog socialise - the only reason I actually want him to go anyway you must have much better self control then me...i'd have been verbally bashing both times if that happened to me i love your "erm, ok, I didnt realise dogs learned to cook in the wild" quote...can i borrow it?

yeah adelaide is a small world...about 3 degrees of seperation

:p normally her coat is quite nice and silky [from the silky terrier], but shes been finding secret burr caches all over the yard and rolling in the dust everytime i brush or wash her [hence she looks so 'neglected' in the second shot] i dont want to clip it right off because its a nice looking coat and i know sometimes it doesnt grow back properly

I have a bitza terrier [staffy X pitbull X maltese X silky] and I want to clip her, well at least thin out her hair because of the heat. she has a double coat [a long white and grey coat with a short reddy brown underneath] and im a little worried that it wont grow back if i cut it too short what would the best length to cut it too be? or should i just thin it? and if i was to thin it, would i thin out her undercoat or the long coat? and what would the best equipment be to clip her with? [i want to do it myself mainly b/c i cant afford a trip to the groomers at the moment =/ ]

dw...sorted it

WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *runs in* still more coming!!! typical me...running late as usual Stupid camera batteries went missing in the car so I couldn't get all my shots off yesterday, plus it was too hot most of the time during the day so scuse the badly out of focus night shots Here are my last shots for January 27th: Running the Dogs Sandy Blurs 28th: Feeding the Shark 29th: Cooling Down 30th: Cooling Down II And last but not least 31st: Scooby Impression enjoy!!

just for your info, many supermarkets stock lamb offcuts in their pet food section in the meat fridges. they cost about $2.50 for a about 1kg of offcuts and normally there is a wide range of choice [bones or muscle offcuts/ribs or mixtures of both]

hi moosepup, you can try nearly any kind of RMB. chicken is really good for older dogs and for pups as well, because the bones are nice and soft and easy for them to chew. lamb offcuts can be good, just be careful as some lamb offcuts tends to be quite fatty. try getting the rib sections of the lamb, the bones a quite soft i have also heard rabbit is really good for dogs but i'm yet to try rabbit [waiting for my neighbour to go out shooting them] but i personally stay away from beef bones...they tend to be very hard and dogs can break their teeth on them...and somehow i dont think chi's could handle such big bones anyway

Chicken and rice is bland and easy on unsettled tummies. Would you rather they advise clients with dogs that need a bland diet till they recover that they feed them PAL. what puggy is saying is why do vets keep telling people to feed rice in the dogs normal diet. dogs digestive system cant break down the cellulose [cell walls] in plant material rice is good for unsettled stomachs but shouldnt really be fed in regular amounts as part of a healthy dogs normal diet

generally they do benefit from fish oil, ive been too lazy to give any to mine. from what i remember fish oil can give them the runs so start off with small amount mixed in with their food. raw fish is also good for them

maybe try feeding the chicken raw as well-there are more nutrients in raw meat than cooked meat

raw meaty bones contain a lot of nutrients and trace elements that plain meat doesnt. feeding dogs just meat-no bones isnt normally the way to go. feeding them plain raw meat occasionally is fine. and yeah raw human grade meat is fine. try also feeding it in lumps, rather that chopping it up small-it helps to exercise their teeth and jaws, and encourages them to chew their food chicken necks and wings are really good for puppies, as the bones are small and soft. and they get the benfits of both meat and bone in the one meal. depending on how big your pup is, you can also feed lamb offcuts [from the butchers or the pet food fridges at some supermarkets]-try getting rib sections and small pieces, although most of the time there isnt much choice.

as both my dogs run off their food in the blink of an eye, they normally get the fat on the RMBs, except in one instance where there was about a cupful of fat hanging off a chicken carcass-which i removed. i only cut the fat off RMBs when my OH mother is down-her dogs are fat, so they get little fat on their bones

cool thanks everyone!! i was just a bit worried somehow he'd got heatstroke-i had it last summer and couldnt drink anything for 2 days without vomiting it straight back up. not fun. he chowed down on semi defrosted chicken necks [a whole box of dog biscuits he got to when we went out] and a carrot...i think hes fine now :D

one of my dogs vomited earlier...there were no bits, just white foamy stuff...i was wondering if it might have been because of the heat/heat stroke [got to 45.7 at my place] the wierd thing is they've been inside almost all, day and drunk plenty of water. he seems fine now-ready to play as per usual... should i be worried or will he be fine?? [its forecast to hit 44 tomorrow]

i feed my two dogs raw meaty bones... lamb offcuts, spines, rib frames, neck chops. chicken wings, necks, frames. occasional small beef bone. chicken/rabbit offal. rabbit when i can get my hands on it. and each night [almost every-missed a few] they also get pulped veggies and chopped up chicken necks [because the ancient blender wont blend them!!] with added yogurt or egg or whatever food scraps are around

mine get fed in the same room, but at different ends and always supervised. they tend to finish around the same time so there hasnt been any fights yet

i have three for today: "The Stig Swims" [the yoyo/Pakistani loach is named "Stig" because of his markings] "Clowning Around" "Light Tail"

my two dogs [cattle X and pitbull staffy X] have had those neck chops and had no problems with the bones at all

as long as hes not showing any discomfort pooping, it should be ok someone correct me if im wrong.

And he said why? And he was referencing to a 'bone here and there' rather than regularly? He explained this? Bet he didn't. I hate sweeping statements without detail and reinforcing accurate explanation. Especially via the media channels, as so many people 'out there' hang on their very words and take them so literally. I said I feed my dogs raw meats in the morning and bones at night time & she asked the vet guy and he said that raw food is a bad idea and premium food from your vet is a better idea and that feeding bones offers little for your dog and were an inefficient method of keeping teeth cleaned so if he was commenting on what I do, then he was commenting on feeding a bone every day but who knows. He didn't really expand past that. hes probably paid to advertise the bloody premium food!! some vets are paid by companies like the "scientific diet" to try to get their clients to change over to them according to Dr Ian Billinghurst's [creator of the BARF diet] book "Give your dog a bone" [which by the way i have found to be the most useful book about raw feeding], [this is condensed from the chapter on bones] another interesting thing i found in the chapter but is off topic

from what i found both from reading and my own dogs, raw bones are great for keeping dogs teeth clean!! my dogs have nice white teeth that hardly have tartar buildup on them. and the plus side is their breath tends to not smell too much either my dogs get a bone or two [depending on the bone size] a day along with their regular meals bones also help exercise dogs jaws and body because they tear at them

normally a cooked bone will pass through ok with most dogs [one of mine got into a whole chicken carcass] but sometimes the bone can splinter and perforate their gut im no expert but if she shows signs of pain when trying to excrete or blood in her poos take her straight to a vet if you are really worried ring the vet for a chat about what to do

can anyone give me numbers to some emergency vets around the southern suburbs of adelaide?? i've been meaning to get the numbers to put in my phone just in case something happens

i'm like huski-a bit slack with the amount of food given but that sounds quite fair-maybe a bit less because you are also feeding kibble on top of that. generally the 2% is when you are just feeding raw