~Anne~

After discussing the yearly injections with my vets and specialist and reading countless posts, threads and reseacrhing links and sites I have decided I will no longer give the yearly injection. When my boys are next due I will be switching them to either daily or monthly.... I am still 'on the fence' with these two.

Yes - good thinking. If anything needs ot be done it is best to get it done at one time usually.

Snoring means he has a problem. It may not neccessarily mean a big problem or even a dangerous problem but it is something that should be looked at by a vet. it is more then just a 'noise' issue. I would suggest possible soft palate probs or nasal stenosis.....

Out of curiosity.... I ownder if the BARF feeders also look at their own diets as intensely?

I think try the wound guard. Missy, my little rescue, licked her legs and had appeared to have done this for some time as she had several lick granulomas on both legs. We used several methods, behaviour modifying with diversion as well and the wound guard. The wound guard was not as effective as the nail stuff. The nail stuff is not a varnish but instead it washes off with water. Depending on the brand - some are more bitter than others and some last longer than others. We eventually got hers under control. Missy's licking was also anxiety related and you could imagine how stressed she would have been in a pound and then coming to my home (a stranger) and then being re-homed permanantly must have been for her but it turned out that it was probably about 80% habit and once we broke her of the habit and she settled in with us (and then her forever home) she was fine!

Have you tried putting a bitter tasting product on her legs as well?

Perhaps you need a combination Charlotte? The Clomicalm (or similar product - see your vet about this), bahviour managment ( with the advice from the behaviourist) and a product on her legs that is distasteful. I was advised of 'bitter apple', the stuff you put on your nails to stop you from biting them and also a wound spray that you buy from the vet that has a bitter taste to it to deter wound licking when I had a rescue Pug in that licked her paws.

I think perhaps thay you have 'misquoted' them..... the term epilepsy actually means seizures for which there is no known cause. Most of us have dogs that suffer from 'idiopathic epilepsy' which basically means there is no pattern to the seizures that have no known cause Great to hear you have found a good vet. As you probably know from your previous experience a good vet makes all the difference. I administer valium when Monte seizes. He hasn't any real triggers and because he clusters we have to administer the valium in the hope it will stop the seizures before he goes into status.

But at that same high level as the TV suggested????? I have always only fed human grade mince. I tried the pet stuff once and it made them sick. I assumed it was becuase the roo mince that it was mixed with was too strong for them so I went straight back to human grade mince as I assume this would be safer??

Sattfy-lover has said it all..... if he is experiencing multiple seizures as he is you need to be very aware of the term 'status epilpticus'. Status occurs when the seizure doesn't stop, hence why you are advised to immediately race to the vet if he continues to seize for more than 5 minutes (actuall convulsing time). As Staffy-lover mentioned there are a few of us with eplileptic dogs. I have an epilpetic Pug, called Monte, who suffers multiple seizures and can have up to 6 within an hour... this is also commonly referred to as a cluster. Luckily for us we have now been seizure free since early Feb...... I'm touching wood as I speak. Monte was diagnosed with epilepsy over 2 years ago now. Are you in NSW? Both Satffy-lover and I could recommend Vets if you are. I also have an appointment to a specialist Veterinary Neurologist on May 2 in the Sydney area if you are interested in hearing the results of this. OT- Staffy-lover have you heard of the trials being conducted by Syndey Uni on epileptic dogs? PM me for details if you are interested.

Puppies will be puppies. They all bite. It is natural behaviour and is the way they would play with their siblings and other dogs. My advice. Try to discourage him when you can. Use distraction techniques and a gentle reprimand. Above all - be patient. He will grow out of it.

Yes, the freedom to express our views is a fabulous thing and a right.... I guess the difference is that most of us know the distinction between expressing an opinion and being rude. Lilly - you appear to have a very aggressive way lately of dealing with subjects that you choose to speak up about. I'd like to suggest you take a moment of time to assess your motivations for responding in the manner that you do. I'd also like to suggest you go suck a lemon so that you can experience the bitter taste that some of us have felt when reading some of your responses of late. ;)

Angelo, sounds like you are on the right track and you have been given some great advice in this thread if you can pick through the rubbish A little patience coupled with a few strategies and loads of lovin will see things work out. LM- you may be an animal lover and no-one can deny you are passionate about your beliefs...... but common sense and a shred of manners will see you not force your opinions on everyone else particularly when the thread is not about hunting. Do the fair and sensible thing and retreat.

I've given up. There is no stopping my Monte from eating it...... eeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww............................

And again I will disagree. I have worked for many vets and I was responsible for ordering stock in some of the clinics and I can categorically say that I, nor any vet I have worked for, ever took 'kickbacks' that went towards equipment for the clinic. Quite frankly, you are wrong and you are only perpetuating a stupid myth. Vets push products they beleive in and they push products that they will make profit on. Plain and simple. Sometimes if the drug rep is particularly good at building a good rapport and developing a relationship with the vet and or nurses then a person may be more inclined to buy their products over others but otherwise...........

As do I but there is a logical explanation for that scenario though - vet buys product - vet resells product and makes a profit.... the more the vet sells, the more profit. Logical. He is running a business after all. I am sure that he may also personally believe the product has some merit or at least that it will not harm the pet otherwise he wouldn't sell it.

So what? Do you really believe that a Vet will say to himself "gee, I am going to push commercial food because 'so-and-so' brand dog food company contributed to my uni which enabled me to learn and become a vet"..................... Not bloody likely.

I think you'll find that some scoff at the idea of a barf or raw diet becuase of the potential problems these diets can be associated with. I believe that some manufacturers of pre packaged barf food (i.e. barf patties and similar) are creating a product that is no better, and sometimes worse, then most commercially availlable canned dog foods. Also, unless the pet owner has a reasonable knowledge on the specific nutritional requirements of canines (particularly the needs of a puppy)they can be doing more harm then good by attempting to feed raw or barf. There also seems to be a lot of conflicting and confusing information about feeding your dogs a barf or raw diet and this information becomes even more confusing when the words themselves (i.e. barf and raw) are used in different contexts or to mean different things. e.g I consider that I feed a raw diet to my dogs... other people may call what I feed barf.... but I do not follow a specific 'barf' diet and I do not purchase pre-made 'barf' food. Your vet probably advocates playing it safe to ensure that your pup gets all the requirements it needs to grow up healthy and happy. I know people can be opposed to commercially available foods and I do realise that most of it is water and cereal fillers but the simple fact remains that these commerically available products are nutritionally covering the basics that dogs need. It may rot their teeth, give them gas or whatever still but they will get the calcium, phosperous and other needs met by these products.

Yep, mine too. His, his brothers and the cats.... and I am sure he'd even eat mine if he could!

Currently I feed him a mix of (not all at once ) assorted veges, beef mince, eggs, sardines, chicken mince, yoghurt, pet milk, apples, pinepapple and kibble. He gets fed twice a day and soemtimes will be offered a snack depending on how he is feeling with his meds (the meds cause nausea at times and eating helps him). There is a possiblity I guess that is is related to an enzyme deficiency but until the Neuro visit I won't really know. Dogsbesotted - can you elaborate. Are you saying that the papain will assist with his absorbtion of enzymes or just assist in digestion non specifically?

Thanks Di! I actually have the link that was mentioned there.... I think that is possibly where I got it from too. I have tried altering his behaviour but it is difficult. He is very much like your dog where he hovers and waits while the other lad does the job and you can see the glee in his eyes - eeeerrrrk! If he misses the even he sniffs them out. I have increased the amount of pineapple but it still doesn't appear to be working. I am thinking I may have to attack it on a mulit pronged front. Behaviour managment, restricted movements outside and, addiditves in his food (pineapple or perhaps something that Barbara has written of) and with some luck, the Neuro will advise lowering or altering his meds which I feel will greatly alleviate this behaviour. Thanks again for yur help with this.... icky dilema

You are a champion! Thank you so much for your help. I'll check out the links.

Wow - thanks for that! Does Barbara have website or any published articles that I may be able to peruse?

*bump* still desperately seeking ideas and solutions.

However, Monte is not eating his poo because he has an enzyme deficiency...... he is eating it because he is a Pig... I mean a Pug. He is on heavy medication for epilepsy which increases his already large apetite. Also - he is already overwieght because of his condition so he certainly doesn't need to put on weight... if anything he needs to drop about 1.5kilos. Poo is not the only odd thing he eats, it is just the most disgusting thing he eats though. He also eats rocks, twigs and in fact anything on the ground that he can hoover. He has a particular penchant for gum nuts and for grass and even mushrooms (growing in the backyard). We try to monitor him as much as possible and we remove whatever is possible that he may ingest but apart from him living in a sterile cage for the rest of his life there isn't much I can do about the majority of it and it looks like this may be the case with his caprophagia. EFTypos