coogie

Thanks Steve,that would be great,a gal can't have too many jammies. I'll post the measurements once I do them for Puppy Sniffer. Be nice to be supporting Pacers as well.

They don't seem to make Issy too hot,RiverStar-Aura - but she really only wears them when it is pretty cold. We are renovating and sometimes don't have windows etc. The house has no heating just now so will be pretty chilly in winter. Alf our boy has much thicker fur and seems to not be as bothered. If they come into the bedroom to sleep they don't have anything other than a blanky. I wouldn't leave their coats on if I was not there as I would worry about them getting tangled. I am hoping Issy's hips will do better over winter if she is kept warm.

Sir WJ, they look great, thanks for the link.

Sorry Steve - not sure of her size, whenever I have bought anything like this before (coats)she has tried them on -and range from medium in one brand to XL in others. I will have to measure her once I know what PS needs.

Oooh Puppy Sniffer they look perfect! She doesn't mind having them on she is good with things like that.She has coats for when we are out late but they are not so snuggly and soft. If she could have the pink stripes it would be great, and maybe a blue elephant pair for Alfie? I don't know if he will wear them but she can use them as spare if not. She doesn't have chubby legs and her right one is still quite wasted (although improving steadily with the hydrotherapy) If you let me know what measurements you need I will get them done. Please would you PM me payment details as well? Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!

Thanks Tara and Ash but need ones with legs, they need to cover her lower hip area ,haunches and knees if possible - a couple of people were making them last year and I will ask Puppysniffer. In fact what she really needs is a doggy tracksuit bottom LOL. I'm yet to see one.

Thanks Ams, I'll send her a message.

Do any DOLers happen to know if anyone who made dog jammies last year is making them again this year? I keep checking the marketplace but have not seen any yet. I would like to get some for Issy as her hips are bad and think she could do with the extra warmth. Failing that does anyone have any recommendations for shops in Brisbane or online suppliers? The only ones I can find are either like sacks or ridiculously expensive. Any suggestion welcome, I will get her a heatpad for if it gets very cold.

LOL@tdierikx

Tralee that is exactly where we are - friend backs onto the bush behind Kroll Gardens dog park and the vet thought it might be because there is a lot of native wildlife in the area. Apparently there were more dogs than usual affected in this area this summer,although again only anecdotal evidence. Luckily mine are both short coated and easy to check over a couple of times a day if they have been near any risk areas. Personally I don't trust any of the products available 100% and prefer to check thoroughly as back up anyway. Our vet has always maintained that although the efficacy of the worm component of the spot ons is not reduced by swimming/baths after 48 hours it does reduce the effectiveness of the flea/tick component - not sure if this is the case but have switched to Panoramis anyway for other reasons so no tick cover with that. Glad "your" tick was not a paralysis one!

Hi Tralee, not sure where you were in Brisbane - we definitely have paralysis ticks on the Northside a friend very nearly lost her Jack Russell to one this summer. Her vet gave her a link to this map -she forwarded it to all her doggy friends. Not sure of the source of the map (other than the website)so can't confirm the accuracy but it would give people a general idea. Ixodes Holocyclus

Like Ams I find this appalling and a disturbing development, and can second the comment on health issues from experience. Really struggling to understand why anyone would want to do this. I would think as a breed they are already over represented in rescue for their whole population numbers and can only see that getting worse if there is a crop of faddy handbag sized versions around. Such a shame they are amazing dogs.

In our Council area you can get a dangerous dog declaration if your dog kills a cat on your property. The Friday before Good Friday the GSD in the yard over our back fence killed the side neighbours cat, the cat was not dead when the neighbour found the GSD with him but died en route to the vet. I had heard the commotion (it was early hours of the morning) but assumed it was a possum or bat the dog had bailed up.The neighbour over the back was unsure where the cat lived as it roamed the entire area constantly. On the Saturday morning the side neighbour called us and asked if we had seen the cat, we had not but it made me think about the incident the previous morning and I offered to ask the back neighbour, he confirmed it was her cat that the dog had caught and that it was dead. He also said the GSD had a tooth embedded in his muzzle and he would be seeking money for his vet bills - up until that point the side neighbour; whilst very upset had acknowledged it was her fault for not containing the cat. When she heard he was looking to her to pay his vet bills for the dog she said if he did this she would report the dog to the council. He said she did not stand a chance as the cat was on his property, the dog is properly contained and has never escaped. Turns out he is wrong -on checking with the Council (anonymously) he was informed if there is a formal complaint they will declare his dog dangerous. The Council's rationale for their decisions on these things " other pet owners in the area have the right to know what might happen if their pets stray into his yard". Nothing was said regarding the side neighbour's obligations or otherwise to contain her cats. She has others and they also roam, I have asked both her and our other side neighbour repeatedly to please keep their cats out of our property to no avail. The responsible dog owner will have to bear the brunt of her lack of care of her cat. He will be asked to build an additional enclosure inside his yard for the dog, despite the fact the dog has never escaped and there is no suitable area due to the fact they have extensive landscaping and a pool. He will have to put signage on his fence and pay a much higher annual registration, he is totally (and understandably) enraged,basically the Council said he should pay his own vet bills, apologise to the cat owner and hope she does not complain. Whilst I think he could have been more empathetic with how he approached the vet bill issue when he could plainly see how upset the cat owner was, I don't think what the Council will do if she complains is right. The dog was contained,the back neighbour tried to get the cat to the vet for care and was visibly upset by the whole incident. Whilst chatting with other residents of the street I have been asking a few questions and every dog owner in the street (including us) has tales of cats roaming in their properties night and day - I have no idea what can be done but it makes me very nervous as I cannot be sure my girl would not kill a cat if she managed to catch one in "her" yard.

So sorry for your loss.

There is a lot of information on the net - like Human Papilloma Virus this can be contagious so if he has a confirmed case I would separate him from other dogs if possible. It can be passed on in general play.The only injections I know of are similar to the HPV vaccine for people and are to prevent spread - not actually treatment for an already infected animal. If you google Canine Papilloma Virus or CPV you will get more info, personally I would press your vet for a referral to a specialist if you can. Hope it clears up quickly and he is ok.

Leptospirosis can be caught from rat's wee or water contaminated by rats or other animals, people can also catch it, it's not that common in Aus but dogs in North Qld do catch it, there is a thread here from DoL last year. Lepto I would ask the vet before you go, our vet in Brisbane suggested giving them 2 weeks before we went and annually if we travelling up to Mackay with the dogs - but everyone seems to have slightly different protocols. My sister's boy goes to the beach but usually only in the sea out of stinger season and she has had no problems at all, he does wear a tick collar and we put them on our dogs when we are there and check them over daily. Our two get hotspots here in Brisbane as well as up there so if you haven't had any you might not get any. We tend to treat hotspots ourselves but our dogs are short coated and probably easier to deal with so I wouldn't like to say the wrong thing - we clip off surrounding fur, flush with salt water or mild antiseptic and dress with antiseptic powder. I take them to the vet if they look infected at all as they can spread very quickly and I would rather pay the consult than let them get bad. Hopefully you won't have any dramas at all.

Totally agree Stormie.

I second the hide-a-squirrel,they also have a hide - a- fish and hide- a- bee. Our pup had hours of fun with her squirrely pals and still carries their now rather battered little selves around (she is two now).

Percynality, I am sorry you had a bad experience and you are obviously very deeply traumatised,I also think you should seek some help for your grief. With regards to your new dog,please find a vet you trust while the dog is well -so you can have confidence if they need treatment. The problem with not seeking any treatment is that something minor and treatable may get out of hand if left and you may end up facing the same terrible circumstances without reason. When we picked up our girl she had to have some fairly unpleasant treatment for a number of things that would not have been an issue if they had been nipped in the bud early on. I wasn't happy with the first vet we saw as he made a disparaging remark about her breed. He may have been a very good vet but once the essentials were taken care of (I only stayed for the visit because she needed urgent care) I found another vet who was not only a very good vet, but one that gave me confidence as well. Issy initially hated going but the practice staff encouraged us to just pop in every time we passed so they could give her a treat and a pat even though she did not need anything done. If they were free the vets would pop out and pat her too. These are not the actions of people who don't care and are just after money - we were never charged for her "social " visits and the staff went above and beyond; as with everything there are vast differences in vets/practices. Please, please don't let your bad experience and possibly your guilt at not taking up the offer of a referral to a major vet hospital (whatever your reasons were) impact on your new dog. I also find when I am highly emotional because one of the dogs is injured or sick what sometimes comes across as a lack of care from professionals is actually just their total concentration or focus on the problem they are trying to fix, it is not always easy to see that when you are distraught. I hope you can find a way to come to terms with what happened so you can enjoy your new dog,make sure he gets any treatment he needs for a happy,healthy life - without the anxiety of what might happen down the track.

Glad to hear she is on the mend Dandybrush. She looks gorgeous.

My sister lives in Mackay Krystal and Coco, she uses Better Pet Vet and has been very happy with them, I think his name is Ashley,she also used the vet on Nebo Rd. for a long time and I took Issy there when she ate a tennis ball and they were good with her. There are currently no fenced dog parks in Mackay but there is a Facebook group that has been campaigning for more leash free areas and dog parks - it has a list of the leash free areas the council are currently trialling: Dog parks for Mackay One thing she has commented on and I have witnessed first hand is that with quite a transient population they do have a fairly big problem with roaming dogs and she is always careful if she walks on leash in streets local to her, lots of not very good fences and dogs rushing them. There are some very big hunting type dogs (not that these are always the aggressive ones but they are quite intimidating just by sheer size and when you can see they are not properly contained it can be a bit hair raising). There are quite a lot of totally unfenced properties with dogs as well. She tends to drive to somewhere quieter if they are not going to far beach which is her local beach. She does worry about her boy going in the water with the stingers in season as well but the locals seem split on whether this is an issue or not. They quite often go to the dam in stinger season. Her boy has a very high level of obedience training which I think is a big help, our Shar Pei do not have the same level and I was always a bit more of a "helicopter" owner when we took them up for holidays, as I didn't want them far from my side even on the deserted beaches - they tend to be bordered by bush and I was worried my nosy pair would disappear. It would be worth getting Leptospirosis shots before you go as well, they do have incidences of this in Mackay and we got our two done as we were going up a few times a year. I will ask about the groomer . She is coming back to Brisbane to live in early May as she has a new job, or I would have suggested you catch up for a coffee so she could show some good places. She would be more than happy to have a chat by phone if you want - just pm me and I will send you her number if you want any more "inside info" Her boy is a GSD - hot spots have been a bit of an an issue too. She has met some really great dog people up there though and has enjoyed living there except for the rains & humidity! I hope you have a great time.

We are with Petplan and recently had to take our girl to the Pet ER, she was transferred to the specialist directly for surgery the next day. We did have to get two forms signed but it was no problem and even though they were different ABN's for the specialist and the ER we paid one excess as it was part of the same claim,it was processed all together. Like Westiemum I just checked it very carefully and attached any extra information requested such as previous vet etc. I opted to post it myself but only because I wanted to take a full copy of everything due to Australia Post losing a previous claim despite the fact it was registered - something you might want to consider. They paid very promptly despite the fact it was over Christmas,we were very happy with the service. I have sent separate invoices for her ongoing care - medication, physio etc and as Goldenwei did I just wrote the claim number on them and they paid. I can only go by my own experience but so far (touching wood here) they seem to pay very quickly once they have the full information.

Staffyluv, that's very creepy - I'd be worried enough to call the police, and I would be watching Ziggy like a hawk for the next little while to make sure there was nothing in the food. ETA - sorry have just seen that you have already spoken to the police. Hope you don't get anymore visitors!

Fantastic news, pleased he is home and safe.

Keep popping in hoping for good news,fingers crossed he is home very soon.