twodoggies2001

I agree that if you choose to own a giant breed, or a miniature one for that matter, you should be able to financially look after it. Your example of the service to your car and the toilet is not a fair comparison. In fact, it's world's apart. These people apparently approached said vet and he denied them. I still believe that he is morally incorrect, and as I said before, he could and should have worked out a payment plan. Say for example, if an owner presents with a very sick animal to the vet, and at the time is short of funds, does the vet turn him/her away, or does he/she do whatever possible to save that animal? Again, a payment plan could be arranged. It's not that difficult.

There are a lot of people in this world who will have numerous dogs, (especially in the US,) who can barely afford to feed themselves let alone their tribe, and live from day to day. Personally, I think the vet is somewhat to blame for this situation. If these people went to him and asked that the dog be put down, because of this temperament, even given their financial circumstances, he should have obliged. I agree, the parents should have been more vigilant in their responsibilities to their toddler, and now she has paid the price. As to the father chasing the dog out, and not tending the baby, he was most likely in shock/panic mode. All members of that family have now learnt a hard lesson in life which I wouldn't wish on anybody. Why? Vets are not responsible for every pet owners costs that they decide they don't want to pay. Most of the 180 pounds was probably the fee that the vet would have to pay for disposal of the body. Now if they had contacted the council and said their dog had bitten and they wanted it euthed for free, and the council had said 'no' that might be a different matter ... I agree, vets are not responsible for pet owner's costs, but I feel they should have a moral obligation and responsibility to the community If someone brings them a native animal for treatment, they treat that animal free of cost. That vet could have set up some sort of payment plan with the owners. I wonder how he feels now after this poor child has been ripped apart, that is if he has any conscience.

There are a lot of people in this world who will have numerous dogs, (especially in the US,) who can barely afford to feed themselves let alone their tribe, and live from day to day. Personally, I think the vet is somewhat to blame for this situation. If these people went to him and asked that the dog be put down, because of this temperament, even given their financial circumstances, he should have obliged. I agree, the parents should have been more vigilant in their responsibilities to their toddler, and now she has paid the price. As to the father chasing the dog out, and not tending the baby, he was most likely in shock/panic mode. All members of that family have now learnt a hard lesson in life which I wouldn't wish on anybody.

DITTO

Gosh. What's wrong with the breeder? If this person who went to have a look and couldn't afford the price tag SHOULDN'T sold a pup anyway. It's not t just the purchase price, it's the ongoing costs of owning the dog. As we all know if we do it properly, it's not cheap. What happens if there are unforseen situations? No one can forsee what happens in the future. The more I think about it, I blame this breeder more and more. Probably sees the $ signs as well!!!!!

AND, they're having a baby too. What if that human baby doesn't meet expectations?

No, you're not being a ranting bitch at all, you are being perfectly reasonable. Another very good reason why owners should be licenced, not the dog. The problem is that some of us have a throe away mentality, and I can't stand that way of thinking. A friend of mine, who is a supposed dog lover commented to me that I shouldn't be paying out so much money for vet treatment on my 12.5 yr. old mini schnauzer because he is already old, and maybe I should have him put down. I'm surprised that I even talk to her anymore!!!!!! I tried to explain to her that he came home as a 10 week old puppy, and he will stay until he is ready to give up the ghost. She can't fathom that.

If it were me I would prefer to keep the diet you already have. Pet mince is minced chicken carcasses and other offal from the birds. It is full of marrow and very fatty. The chicken wing is much better for his teeth and human grade mince is healthier for him too. I use minced chicken carcasses to feed to under weight dogs that come into care to help them regain some condition or to tempt a fussy eater to learn to eat kibble but do not feed it as part of a regular diet. The offal from the birds is actually beneficial to the dogs. On most raw diets, they say to feed organs at least once weekly. When I get chicken carcasses for my boys, I don't clean out any of the offal, just cut off the skin which is as already mentioned, fatty.

Oh I'm so sorry to hear about your beloved boy passing. Pancreatitis is a horrible affliction, and I'm sure you did the very best you could to give him that fighting chance. There are times that the so called professionals who are supposedly in the know treat us with such disdain. RIP Ralphie.

But twodoggies what you end up doing is rewarding the unscrupulous liers and penalise the honest. :/ Bites on puppies, especially in those breeds who's heads do a lot of changing, can go the full spectrum. I've seen a perfect scissor bite go undershot in 1 week and 3 weeks later be looking overshot. Granted, there are instances of puppies exhibiting the problem from an early age and it never really improves, but I haven't heard of anyone breaking jaws to fix overbites and any fixing has been done for cosmetic reasons. If the puppy can't eat/drink now, it simply won't thrive or grow. I would suggest photos be taken and sent so you can see if the jaws are twisted (wry) if you can't go see the pup in question. Not sure I quite understand your answer about rewarding unscrupulous liars and penalising the honest. Must be one of my senior moments. The pup we bought didn't have the bite problem. His problem was a porto systemic shunt and it was noticed when he was 6 months old. We were involved in buying another pup several years later from another breeder where the entire litter had incorrect bites and we walked away once we were told 2 days before picking up this puppy. That's what the vet advised us to do.

I'm sure they do, but personally, I wouldn't buy into a known problem, because, in the owner is left with the ongoing problems if any, and vet bills. If the prospective buyer hasn't interacted with the puppy as yet, and I was that buyer, I would look for another litter. I know the heartache of getting attached to that beautiful little puppy, which takes all of 2 minutes to bond with and have an open pocket for treatment. I must say, that at the time we purchased the puppy, we were unaware of the problem.

mmmm I'd be a bit iffy with a Breeder who didn't know one of their pups had an Overbite and it was the Vet who found it. Are you buying from a Registered Breeder? The overbite shouldn't be a problem granted it's not grossly over, perhaps you can ask to speak to the Vet before the puppy is shipped. You want to see the results of the health testing before you get the pup. What would you do if the entire litter had the same problem. A pup I was looking to join our family was one of several and on the advice of my vet, I just walked away.

I do agree with this somewhat,( i am having problems with my dogs manners atm ) however i do find that a simple "sorry" for my dogs (very) bad behavior goes a long way, most owners in my experience, are happy to tolerate bad behaviour around their dogs providing that it is not going to cause a fight or injury to their dog and that something is being done to correct the behaviour But why is it assumed to be "bad" behaviour, or something that needs correcting?? Are dogs destined to be silent beings on this planet (excuse the drama)?? Small dogs bark, and I believe and see that it is often their way of making themselves bigger, holding their space, just as say working dogs may bark as part of their herding behaviour. Is it being "annoying" to us enough to say that if it isn't stopped the owner or dog are at fault? It's not only small dogs that bark, although I have two mini schnauzers, and yes they do bark when they approach the park because they are excited, and I see it as the way they express themselves. Heavens above, you can't keep quiet all the time and they also want to talk to their 'friends' just as we do. Let's just call it child's play. It's not bad behaviour.

Isn't chicken meal and salmon meal just squished whole chickens and whole salmon? Yes, but the chicken etc. used is of inferior quality Perhaps but still human grade. I don't think so. Jump on to google and see what really is in pet food. Having been inside some Petfood manufacturing plants and having friends in the industry, there is a big difference between the ingredients of the top brands and that of the lower priced brands. Roadkill and Euthanased animals do not feature in Australian products or in the super premium brands. If you want to feed organic free range human consumption meats to your pets then that is all well and good, but there is nothing wrong with feeding a good quality processed food if that is what the owner chooses and the dog thrives on. Chicken feet, chicken necks, carcasses, offal, bones and offcuts are all perfectly acceptable food sources for dogs some of us might feel better feeding them prime cuts, but they don't need them. That's the point I'm trying to make. The processed part. I wouldn't like to eat processed food day in and day out. I do not feed prime cuts or organic, and I never said I did, but I do feed fresh meat, including chicken necks, feet, carcasses, offal raw fish etc, and I control what goes into their stomachs. In the long run, not that it makes any difference, it probably costs me cheaper to feed my way, than it does to feed kibble and canned.

I'm not here to argue either, but I sure would want to know what I'm feeding my dogs.

I just had my 2yr. old titer tested and the vet suggested all he needed was the parvo test. This cost me $90, plus consultation. I'm happy with that. He came u[ with sufficient immunity not to be vaccinated this time around.

Isn't chicken meal and salmon meal just squished whole chickens and whole salmon? Yes, but the chicken etc. used is of inferior quality Perhaps but still human grade. I don't think so. Jump on to google and see what really is in pet food.

Isn't chicken meal and salmon meal just squished whole chickens and whole salmon? Yes, but the chicken etc. used is of inferior quality

It has been said that kibble and raw digest at different rates and probably should not be fed together. What I don't like about the dry food you listed is that the 2nd and 3rd ingredients are 'meal'. That could be any rubbish, not to mention the 'flavours'. Also, I feel there are too many carbohydrates in that mix. You say that your boy is eating raw. Then why don't you just continue with a full raw diet? I'm sure your boy will appreciate it, and you'll see the difference in his coat.

What a blow. I'm so sorry to have read this just now. I was hoping that he would be found safe and well. Please accept my condolences.

What a blow. I'm so sorry to have read this just now. I was hoping that he would be found safe and well. Please accept my condolences.

In my case, another vet I took my boy to after a severe pancreatic attack seemed to think there was a big chance it was caused by prednisone. This was confirmed by others in the know that there was a good chance for it to be true. By the way, my dogs are fed low fat diets, knowing that mini schnauzers should not be fed fat rich diets.

Neil Mitchell's morning show on 3AW normally has tremendous success in similar cases. It may be worth giving him a call. The show ends at noon.

So it seems that licensing the potential owner of animals is actually a good idea. One that i personally feel should be brought into play, sooner rather than later. Anyone can go out and buy an animal and a very large majority have good intentions and love and nurture their charges, and then you get people like this bitch and instead of pouring love on the companion make their miserable even more so. Gosh, my two dogs are not really dogs. They are members of our family, along with my kids and grandkids.

Was he desexed fairly late? I've heard of desexed males achieving a tie with a bitch in heat. Sounds to me like you may need to separate all three dogs while she is in season. I know of breeders that send their males away when they have a bitch on heat, or the bitch if she is not to be bred that time. Personally, I think you are asking for trouble leaving things as they are. An undesexed dog, as you have witnessed yourself, will also try to do the deed.