coogie

We have one Kelpiecuddles, it is not as heavy as the dog and is easy to use. It is one of the plastic folding ones and has a non slip surface. It folds up behind the back seat and it is very sturdy despite being light weight. It is great for our girl who has bad hips - but the boy won't use it without a lot of fuss despite lots of practice,enticing and treats, so mixed reaction here. Can anyone lend you one to try?

My dream dog would be my girl now, without the HD.

Our council has bark monitoring collars that they will lend you, they offered me one when I contacted them in relation to a very similar letter put in our letter box; could you ask if your local council has any ? I didn't need to take them up on it as the immediate neighbours were all willing to sign a letter/stat dec to say it was not our dog barking.I went and asked because I did have some doubts - she had previously barked a lot for around two weeks when she first came to me as a rescue, so I couldn't say hand on heart that it wasn't her - although I suspected it was the dogs across the road. Maybe you can contact the other neighbours and ask them if the dogs are causing a nuisance? The other advantage was that when the complainant did contact the council they already had my information on file and knew I was willing to address the problem if it was my girl. I am still not 100% sure who complained or why they were convinced it was our dog, it never went any further.

Sorry to see that Donatella. Our girl has had the surgery on one leg with good results. The insurance covered a lot of the cost so it might be worth asking if she does need the surgery. The recovery was the hardest part (as usual). We found physio and hydrotherapy very good afterwards once the initial healing was done, let me know if you want me to pm you the details.

Hi Cat, Alfie has to take prednisone from time to time and he too is absolutely starving when on it, it is pitiful to watch because unlike Issy he is not usually a guts. He also drinks a lot more so we watch him because he doesn't always seem to know when to stop drinking - almost like he is trying to fill his tummy.It's a balance between him drinking more because he is thirsty on the prednisone and just drinking so much to fill himself he is sick. We do pretty much what Nek said and try to feed him smaller meals more often to stave off the hunger pangs,he won't eat carrots though, steamed pumpkin in small amounts seems to help a bit. He does go back to normal very quickly once he is weaned off the tablets though. Hope your boy is feeling better soon. Give him a pat from us.

If he is less bouncy than he was and is bleeding I would go to the vet. That's just me - probably overly cautious, but I would rather be sure everything is ok right away. At the very least is there an emergency vet nearby you can call? If there is some infection or other problem it could deteriorate quite quickly. Hope it resolves quickly and he is on the road to recovery very soon.

Love a happy ending, pleased he took off Skyefool.

well, you know when you get moths flying from your wallet...... Just got back in and saw this!!!! Really pleased the little guy is ok Skyefool, hope it goes well tonight and he flies off.

Skyefool there are some links to SA Wildlife Rescue Groups here Wildlife Rescues RSPCA also suggest calling Fauna Rescue one of those listed in the first link. SA – contact RSPCA SA on 08 8231 6931 and also see www.faunarescue.org.au/ Good on you for trying to help the little bat but as MUP said please be careful.

Sorry to hear that Persephone, he sounds very special. Rip Bernie.

So sorry for your loss, too many, gone too soon this year. RIP Stich.

I am torn on this one, I have always believed it was a media beat up, but a few months ago there was a spate of dog thefts in our area, a lot of dogs and enough anxiety from local dog owners to draw a fair bit of media attention and the following appeared in the paper: Dog thefts I am sure that sometimes when dogs are "stolen" they have just wandered off/been let out, also agree that some of the Facebook drama is probably just that, drama with no substance. But this was a sudden explosion in the number of dogs going from yards, and some were from behind locked gates where the thieves had to cut or break padlocks,nothing was taken except the dogs, so they were not inadvertently let out in the course of a break in. 2 of the 22 dogs mentioned in our area were from the top end of our cul -de -sac, which backs onto a huge run off. The dogs were securely contained and some effort was gone to in order to remove them. The dogs were not found or returned despite an extensive search by the owners, both were chipped and registered but have never turned up.The owners were not irresponsible or lazy and remain heartbroken at the loss of their dogs. I don't think we are about to be over run with dog fighting rings but it has made me think, I would love to know if any of the dogs were returned or found but have never seen any follow up so can't comment on any of the other 20 dogs. It definitely made us even more security conscious which I guess can only be a good thing. The owners did say that the police were very disinterested when they first called, and they had to be very persistent to get someone to come out and take a report and properly document the theft - it was low priority for them and the police's initial attitude was also that the dogs had most likely just wandered off - so ring the council/shelter etc. Maybe this contributes to a lack of formal reporting?

He's beautiful Lhok and he looks right at home.

That's a bit harsh mymatejack, I constantly exercise both my dogs - but the girl has severe HD and has had a femoral head ostectomy which means no running on the kind of surfaces that would wear her nails down naturally. She goes to hydrotherapy every week, swims down at the beach at least a couple of times a week and she walks/ runs on soft grass for at least a few miles over the course of an hours walk daily without fail. Add in some training sessions and she is hardly under exercised.There are lots of reasons for having to cut nails other than lack of exercise. What about the front dew claws as well?They don't wear down and have to be cut/filed. Don't justify what you do Coogie to someone like mymatejack who appears to know diddleysquat You are completely right Rebanne , it is just a bit of a naked nerve for me I guess, we never had to cut/file anything other than her front dew claws until the surgery. Must have thin skin tonight - normally don't rise to that kind of comment.

That's a bit harsh mymatejack, I constantly exercise both my dogs - but the girl has severe HD and has had a femoral head ostectomy which means no running on the kind of surfaces that would wear her nails down naturally. She goes to hydrotherapy every week, swims down at the beach at least a couple of times a week and she walks/ runs on soft grass for at least a few miles over the course of an hours walk daily without fail. Add in some training sessions and she is hardly under exercised.There are lots of reasons for having to cut nails other than lack of exercise. What about the front dew claws as well?They don't wear down and have to be cut/filed.

Whist I can't speak specifically for dog hair Pretty Miss Emma I can explain split ends! Dog hair has the same basic structure as human hair -so am extrapolating it will behave the same way - Hair has three layers generally - the cuticle, cortex and medulla. Split ends are a result of the cuticle layer breaking down and peeling back and away from the rest of the hair. Most common causes are heat and mechanical damage, so hot dryers, rubbing - either from vigorous towel drying or natural rubbing from sitting/lying etc. The longer the hair has been in situ the more likely it is to split due to not receiving as much natural oil from the skin and also just because it is "old" and the ends will weaken. Hair goes through four stages in its growth/loss cycle: Anagen - growth phase, first phase when the hair is actively growing Catagen - transition phase where hair stops growing Telogen - resting phase between phase between the anagen and catagen phases Exogen or shedding phase - does what it says on the tin, hair falls out and follicle prepares for the next anagen phase. Some of the follicles will be in each phase of the cycle at the same time - if it is just before a big "shed" some of the longer guard hairs will have been in place for a relatively long time it may appear there are a lot of split ends at once? Things that might help are drying with the lay of the cuticle -so down the hair shaft towards the tip, gently squeezing if you towel dry rather than rubbing and using any kind of conditioner that smooths the cuticles down - although once the ends are split nothing will "repair" them no matter how expensive a miracle product you buy, some may temporarily hold the rough ends of the cuticle down improving the appearance, but they can't fix them.

Good luck Ness,sending positive vibes for you both!

Living Exclusive If anyone is interested Living Exclusive has a lot of pet specials on again today. Beds, bowls, collars,harnesses, leads, toys, coats, dog houses and cat poles and houses, there are some huge discounts, you need to sign up but it doesn't take long. Edited to add link.

Westiemum, I have a soft fabric harness here that I don't use,in fact it has only been used about twice for a few minutes, it is purple with black edging and has a matching lead. It is the same style as the Puppia ones but I am not sure it is Puppia. It is very adjustable but has no size label and I don't recall the size - would you like to try it for Mac or one of the other doggies? I don't want any money for it as I would be pleased to just see it go to a good home. Just ask that you pass it on if it is no good. If you would like it just PM me your address and I will gladly send it.

I think all you can do is try it Staffyluv, goodness knows I tried so many things for the first couple of years, it's such a slow process as too many changes at once i.e. more than one, would have meant we couldn't pinpoint what he was reacting to. He certainly has much better skin, coat, ears and paws on this than other diets. Hope he stops itching soon.

Our dogs eat Earthborn Holistic but the grain free fish variety,I think it is called Coastal Catch; it is one of the very few kibbles our itchy boy can eat and he is thriving on it. I have never had any problems with it and have noticed much less and firmer poo. We did have to cut down on the amount we were feeding though as they got a bit tubby. We have tried lots of different ones and our two don't go well on raw diets, it's the best thing we have found for him so far.They get some sardines/tuna/mackeral as a bit of a topper sometimes and some other bits and pieces that they can tolerate. Hopefully they won't change the formula I dread having to start searching again.

I'm more worried about the ... pussy

So nice to see the photos, also probably off topic DD, when I worked in Public Health in Camden, London we were lucky enough to have a St. Mungo's shelter in the borough. They actively worked to keep homeless people and their pets together. It was amazing to work with them. I'm not suggesting it solved everything - there is a massive problem still in the UK much worse than here. But it was so good to see the people who had access to the service get a positive, safe outcome for themselves and their pets. I think anyone who has been in a vaguely precarious position at some time can't help but think there but for the grace of God......... Link below if anyone is interested in checking out St Mungo's. If anyone knows of a similar service here I would be grateful for a link. St. Mungo's

There is Canine Cubby at Yatala which would be closer but not sure if they have a treadmill or just the heated pool, there is also Canine Hydrotherapy Australia at Greenbank- not very close but at least South of the city! The specialist gave me a whole list I will see if I can dig it out of Issy's folder and check the Gold Coast. Hasten to add I have never used any of the others but at least they might be a starting point ?

Great news, really hope he can find a safe place to stay and keep his dog. So sad we have people in this situation.