Akay

I was thinking either an English Springer Spaniel or a German Shorthaired Pointer. The Springer might shed too much though.

Another vote for Anvet in Kedron. The best vet practice I've ever been too. Caring, knowledgable and well-priced.

The other fussy eater in the family loves it too. He wasn't enjoying his kibble, so one day I fed him VAN and then he started demanding it every afternoon. The non-fussy eater in the family obviously loves it too. I wouldn't rule it out just yet, try a sample, you might be surprised (or you might not be!).

My brother's dog is quite a fussy eater and I was really surprised when he loved the VAN muesli. He hates it when it's mixed with roo meat, but loves it on its own.

I use Goat's milk baby wash on my dog with sensitive skin. It's very mild and apparently Goat's Milk creates a protective layer on the dog's skin that can help protect from contact allergies. His skin is good on it, so I keep using it. The other dog I use Vets All Natural dog wash, because it's not harsh on the dog's skin or coat.

When I first wanted to groom my own dogs, I read the advice on this site a lot of people made it sound really difficult and scary. It nearly put me off and then I thought if they can do it surely I can because I'm usually pretty good at most things. It's not hard or scary at all if you are co-ordinated! If you're clumsy then you might have a problem I guess. I did a good job when I groomed my cavs for the first time (it didn't take 2 hours as someone suggested it might, not even close) and now after a few years I'm great at it and fly through it (and that's only after probably doing 20 grooms). I've never even come close to nicking the dog. If the dog is well-behaved it'll be a breeze for you. I use a 7 blade on my cavs, I like them short, it means I have to do it less often. I use the Wahl 2 speed clippers. You're friends will be great, just tell them to have confidence!!

I just re-read your post... and if that goose sound happens a few times, then followed by the hack then it sounds exactly like what my dog's had. So it kind of goes - goose sound, goose sound, goose sound - HACK CK CK! I don't know if that makes sense, I can do it really well in person!!

When my dog's have done this hacking cough like they are clearing their throat, or as you say, coughing up a furball, it is because of a fairly well progressed heart murmur. I have had two dogs with it. My current dog is a rescue and I heard him do it and I knew he had a heart murmur without even having to go to the vet. It does happen periodically and it can happen when they're on their back or somehow putting pressure on the trachea. I think I read that their heart gets bigger and puts pressure on the trachea. If this ends up being the diagnosis, I noticed that it was worse when the dog at dry food as it caused him to drink more and retain fluid, thus bloating the stomach somewhat,leaving less space for the heart and putting more pressure on the trachea. When I switched to a raw diet, much lower in salt, the dog was a hell of a lot more comfortable. I hope this isn't what is happening to your dog, but it's definitely worth investigating.

Have you given him any flea or tick treatment products like sentinel spectrum or advantix prior to this coming on? The symptoms sound similar to what my dog would do after sentinel spectrum.... very wobbly, miserable, wouldn't eat, very restless, kept wanting to drink. Before I realised what it was I had given him the tablet on 3 separate occasions over a 2 year period and hadn't linked the events until the last time when it ended up killing him. He was an old dog, probably couldn't metabolise the poison. I've heard of similar reactions to the spot-on treatments from older dogs too.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations! Very much appreciated.

My dogs see Jason Wendt at Booval Vets (Sth Station Road) They have a 24hr service with surgery's also at Pine Mountain and Karalee. As far as I know they're the only vets in Ipswich that offer a 7 day a week 24hr service - I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong ;) Thank you for that! It's nice and close too :-)

Hi, Does anyone have any recommendations of a good vet/s in Ipswich? Also, is there an emergency vet in the area? Thanks for your help Akay.

He's doing well thankfully (much better than my bank account!). He's having a good rest, bless him <3 He does seem to have an allergy today, which is making his nose run a bit and his eyes all droopy, so I put some ointment in the eyes. I think the allergy may be in response to some smelly stuff that they put on him when they washed him. I put some frontline plus on him when I got him home yesterday so I have to wait 48 hours before I wash him again to get the smelly stuff off him (it is designed to smell nice I suppose but I hate synthetic fragrances and I think he does too!)

My dog's hold on until we get home. The area where we leave them is tiled so it wouldn't be too much of a problem if they had an accident anyway, that's why we close off the carpeted areas "just in case".

I've never had a problem with leaving my dogs in the house, so I can't offer any great ideas on how to train them not to damage things. All I can suggest is to close off certain areas, like the bedrooms or maybe put them in the laundry with a fan or something. Maybe a part of your house that stays cooler in Summer?

The Vets All Natural Complete Mix includes ingredients that are not digested by the dog and therefore come out whole, the mix has been designed that way so those non-digested ingredients help with the anal glands. I've been feeding this for years and my dog's have never had an anal gland problem (4 dogs). eta: I just read back and see that Nekhbet also recommended this. The mix doesn't have a ton of undigestable fibre as someone said, it has a couple of key ingredients that aren't digested and it is designed that way.

Marion ~ so glad your girl got through it ok, it's horrible waiting to get the all clear. I went to the vets at 5pm and he let me see little Bailey and he was sitting up and had just had a tick wash! I was so happy to see him sitting up. The vet said that he would be fine, it's just a matter of whether he goes home tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon. I am so relieved. Looking back now, I believe that going to the dog park, which made him puff and exhibit signs of the breathing difficulties was probably the best thing, because prior to that I was only noticing a very small difference in his breathing (which was not enough to rush him to the vet like I ended up doing). So I think that if he hadn't gone and done a little bit of exercise, it probably would have been a few hours (or even the next morning) before I thought things were serious because he wasn't showing any signs of wobble in his legs or vomiting or any other symptom. Thanks everyone for their well wishes and information xx

Thanks for that information, I appreciate it, and everyone's well wishes. He's 8 and is healthy with a slight heart murmur. He wasn't on preventative, we'd just moved to the area and I hadn't got around to it yet (kicking myself!!). The vet said that he's probably had 40 cases since July and he really only services two suburbs. The area flooded in the Brisbane floods and he thinks this might be why it's particularly bad as the ground etc hasn't dried out.

Thanks :-)

Hi everyone I took my dog to the vet this morning with laboured breathing/grunting sound and a tick was found on him. The vet said it was a big tick and he graded the symptoms at 2.5. What's the prognosis here? I know it varies from dog to dog, but what are people's experiences? The only symptoms he was showing was the breathing and this was brought out greatly because I took him to the dog park, which is a good thing (I think) because the breathing symptoms he had been displaying at home were difficult to tell if they were abnormal or normal because he does make funny grunting sounds a lot normally. I'm just hoping that the severely laboured breathing was distress after being at the dog park and it being a warm day, rather than it being a rapid deterioration in his health. I just hope he pulls thru xx

Anvet at Kedron are awesome.... it's a little bit of a drive from Keperra, but not too bad.

@ Pockets, how about: Availloh or Availoh (pronounced: A-vy-lo)

What a handsome dog. Tri-colours are so attractive.

I got all excited 'cause you said 'criterion'. :D LOL

I over-exercised my puppy too and he does have dodgy joints :-( We live and learn hey. If someone had told me that when I was exercising with him I would have really appreciated it.