coogie

If you have nosy dogs,don't leave the new blinds down!

I'm glad you went, I would go for any cut where it looks like skin may have been separated from muscle,and if there is anything I can't identify showing! Also agree even if no stitches needed antibiotics usually are for a bite. Hope the bill is not too horrendous and the dog is ok.

So sorry to hear of your loss.

I bulk buy sticky rollers from Crazy Clarks,dirt cheap and when the sheet gets hairy you just rip it off and there's a nice clean sticky one underneath.It works really well on the car seats and even the mats. Word of warning just case you have a fey, childlike, curious type of mind like my OH - YES they will stick directly to the dog and NO,the dog won't like it!!!! And when it falls off under the house because although it sticks,it doesn't stick very well (thank goodness) the fey, childlike, curious person will be fetching it...........

So ,so sorry to hear this, RIP Emma. . to you all.

Oh Jules,big hug for you, I thought about you all day yesterday,I hope that you managed to get someone to come over so at least you had some company.I hope the other dogs are ok. I know nothing anyone can say will make you feel better but I hope you will look after yourself as much as is possible.

Jules that's terrible so sorry to hear that.Can you shut off any part of the garden ie front or back and then wait for someone to help you?It's awful that you are alone, is there a neighbour or friend who would be willing to help you? If you absolutely have to do this on your own I would start with you fence line,one of our idiot neighbours dug new beds on the fence line and due to their design when it rained hard soil washed under the fence - this could wash baits through? Hugs to you and the other dogs,RIP Brock.

We were stable until we got the dogs Seriously though, we have no children so probably can afford to treat the dogs a bit more. I do have to say that in the last 12 months I have noticed everything seems to have gone up a lot. We have started to shop around a lot more for our groceries and we think more before spending on "luxuries". The upside of the dogs has been that we do more together and spend a lot more time outside and in the fresh air at weekends.Plus we don't tend to take expensive trips as we usually go up North to my sister as we can take the dogs with us. I would definitely go without if we needed to pay a big vet bill or something. Issy will need some more surgery on her legs in the future so we put some by for that,although she is insured we will still need to find a few thousand up front. I think having had to live without dogs for a number of years I am so grateful to have them now I would willingly give up a lot of things before I would see them without.

I joined to look for a breeder and get some more information prior to getting another dog,never found the breeder as I found a breed rescue and went for a rescue instead. I stayed because of all the great information and the variety of opinions. I get a bit scared by some of the in fighting and don't often weigh in on those threads,but even when a scuffle breaks out I still like reading the well reasoned parts of the arguments 'cos there is usually some good information and background in there. If things get down to name calling or downright nasty I just don't look at that thread anymore. That said the other (and main) reason I stay is because I honestly think my dogs and myself have benefitted from lots of the information and advice other DOLers have been willing to give and I am constantly amazed at how supportive people can be on here.

You could try here Ute Dog Boxes

Hope he is okay

Week days evenings only,I can take them for a longer walk at night and it seems to settle them. Weekends they usually get two,one morning and then usually a run to the beach or an off leash area in the afternoon.

BTW Jimmy, he is gorgeous I hope you all have a great time,it sounds like an amazing trip.

Jimmy I think Pacers do doggy first aid kits - might be worth thinking about? If he is going to the vet anyway you could always ask about some antibiotics,cream etc;our vet will give us a small supply of 'essentials' to take away (and we are not camping)! We usually get some antibiotic tablets,neomycin cream or similar and metacam for our two.I take some probiotic powder for upset tums as well. So far we have only really used the cream & antibiotics once for hotspots but I feel better knowing we have emergency stuff with us and it saves having to try and find a vet in an unfamiliar place for small stuff,although I would obviously take them if it was something serious. Just read this back and feel like a paranoid, over protective nutter now LOL. I didn't realise we took so much stuff as I have just added bits overtime. OH and I have some 2 year old bandaids and nothing else in our kit.

Have you thought about a leptospirosis vaccination depending on where you are going along the way? Worth checking if he will be around billabongs etc (or anywhere there might be rats) in areas it is present. The vaccination isn't 100% (like most) but if you are going into a risk area I would consider getting him done.

Hope he is ok Thommomac.

We use the pernaease,same active ingredients as Sasha's Blend but half the price. If travelling we use the jointguard chews for convenience. The pernaease seems to have made a big difference to our girl but I would say it took a good six weeks to see the benefits.

So sorry for your loss, your artwork of your boy is utterly beautiful.

Newfsie he looks amazing,it must be so nice after all your hard work. The photos are beautiful.

Dandybrush I sent you a pm about our experience with Medibank. Cheers Kate

Alfie02, I don't understand why they only pay "up to" 80% of the bill? I would be very wary of this,do they provide more information on what percentages they pay for each type of service? It just seems really ambiguous to me,we have a $100.00 excess with our insurers but the company pays everything else and it is per claim not per vet visit. We have recently had some very big vet bills and they have been paid promptly and the staff have been really helpful. The renewal has just come through for our most expensive patient and the increase in premium was tiny,just a few dollars. I suppose I just feel better knowing that we only have to pay a fixed fee so we know what we are up for,also it was important to me that our insurer paid for diagnostic work as well as treatment. We are with Petplan and pay by the month on Direct Debit. The policies work out to about $10.00 a week per dog. Only other company I have had any experience of is Medibank Private and due to a bad experience personally I would avoid them. I hope you get what you need. Cheers.

Quoting Kirty "So its OK if the products contain rabbit or raccoon, but not dog? How about just not using ANY fur at all? The whole trade is so cruel. You can get lovely faux fur now, I don't see why people must use real fur" Kirty please be careful because stuff labelled faux fur can be dog and other types of fur as well,as far back as 2007 this was being detected in the UK and US. There is a story on the BBC News website from the 19 June 2007 - I won't post the link because it is very graphic and could be very upsetting if someone clicked inadvertently but it is easy to find on their site if you want to check it out.

Sorry to hear this Teebs.

There was a spate of this sort of substitution in the UK a couple of years ago - just a word of warning it was not just mis-labeling real fur with regard to type, but also using dog fur and labeling it faux fur. I just avoid anything with faux fur at all now.

Shar Pei crossed with a Schnauzer, she had a bone mouth with long fluffy hair and a Schnauzer body and tail. Sounds terrible but she was actually very pretty and after a fair bit of work by her owner a lovely dog.