vetrg

"My girls run $150-$185 and boys are $130! and that is greyhound sized dogs!" Your vets are running the bitch spays at a big loss, the boys are about spot on. As previously stated most vets do neutering at a reduced profit to encourage people to neuter. Even on a slim dog it will take at least 30 mins for a spay (and that is FAST!) but mostly it will take 40 mins surgery time, about 50-60 mins of GA time. You need to pay for 1 vet, 1 nurse, anaesthesia dugs, equipment, sterilisation, premises etc from the surgery fee. Your vets are obviously keen to get those dogs neutered!!!!

If my reading of the ingredients is correct this is a caustic paste and should not be eaten. You would have to be very careful not to let your dog lick or chew after this has been applied. If it is similar to a product I have used in horses it must be left open ie not bandaged and will burn significantly if ingested. I have not used with product but would advise extreme care in a species like the dog who will lick at such areas.

Sorry it's taken so long The only distributor name for here is via Vet Express in New Zealand ([email protected]) however the european prduct manager said that they are planning to licence here within the next few months. Another product to try is ginko biloba (tablets from health food shops) 250mg twice daily per 10kg body weight.

The bits in brackets were examples only not definitive lists of all high risk breeds/ types. Lameness- as an example. I go to perform a pre purchase examination on a horse. It is lame. I tell the purchaser not to buy it. They say "but we really like it, it's very pretty". I say"ok, give it 2 weeks for it to get better from its bruised foot/ kick in the field and we'll look at it again". Two weeks later it's still lame. The advice is don't buy it. It has some ongoing issues, they may get worse, it may stay lame. The purchasers don't buy it. Hooray! a triumph of function over form. I would prefer not to breed from a lame animal unless I knew why it was lame and whether it potentially an inherited issue. It should be up to the owner of the animal to present a functionally sound animal for inspection.

For me the most interesting thing was that the people who would do the selecting will be show judges. Speaking from the basis of working springers (which is the breed I am most familiar with): there are KC registered working springers in the uk, who if placed next to a show dog, look like a different breed. They are certainly healthy, prized and bred from on the basis of their working ability. The show versions of working breeds frequently seem to have drifted significantly from their working roots preferring form over function. I suspect this is a step in the right direction as when all breeds were being originally developed they did not come from closed stud books and strategic outcrossing to other breeds and types was, I suspect, frequently performed to acquire desired traits. I would be more impressed if the working breeds were made to pass working tests rather than just conform to present standards on looks. For the non working breeds it would be nice if they could pass simple standards of - can it breathe? (all the brachycephalic breeds), can it see without discomfort? (brachycephalics, sharpei, St Bernards etc), is it lame? (pretty much all large breeds). Pause........wait for howls of outrage and derision..................

Hair regrows fastest when it was growing anyway. If clipped just as they were growing their summer or winter coats the clipped patch may be obliterated in 3-4 weeks. If clipped just after they had finished growing in their coat it may be 6 months before it grows back in fully

Just back from a big conference in the UK with data on Activait: it is due to be launched here soon. The paperwork is at work but will sort it through tomorrow and I can give you the name of the distributor here

Parvovirus is almost impossible to eliminate from soil. Virkon S seems to be the most effective disinfectant however it still amy ne be enough. Please be VERY careful using lime products around dogs as even dilute lime can cause severe alkali burns on skin and especially to eyes.

Dogs that are desexed before their first season run an almost nil risk of mammary tumours. Dogs that have had 5 seasons (I think but I read this paper a long time ago!) and are then desexed run the same risk as an entire bitch. Bitches that are allowed one season have an increased risk compared to no season but it is still small. Allowing them to have a season allows them to mature under the influence of normal hormones before desexing. This is considered more helpful in large breeds than small ones but it is a matter of personal choice.

The dilated pupil may still be due to the atropine. The pupil (in an uninflamed eye) in a dog can stay dilated for 3-5 days from a single drop of atropine. As the pupil is dilated it suggests the eye isn't inflamed which is what was desired. The pupil should go back to normal soon. The other option would be that the optic nerve was damaged and this is a blind eye with a dilated pupil. If the eye is visual then it is just the atropine.

Will probably pass through unharmed. Did he eat the wick as well- that would be more worrying.

Another issue to consider in such a young dog is the possibility of an ectopic ureter which then empties into the vagina, after the bladder sphincter, so then there is leakage.

Make sure the cat can get away and the puppy can't harrass the cat. Cat claw to the eye is a common (and expensive!) issue.

So when I see a diabetic dog I shouldn't prescribe insulin (a "natural" product but artificially produced) but use some natural remedy instead? Or perhaps when I see the dog that has just been hit by a car I should avoid those nasty toxic painkillers and antibiotics because his immune system should be able to cope? Define drug, define artificial. I had the misfortune to have to treat 26 akita pups (from 5 litters) and watch them die one by one from parvovirus. The owner (a "reputable" breeder and show person in the UK) told me I must be mistaken and the labs tests must be wrong as they has all been vaccianted with homeopathic nosodes and wouldn't die as she had been giving them her own herbal remedies. Must have all just been a bad dream then.

I was talking to a vet about this recently, there have apparently been a few cases of dogs having "issues" whilst being treated for mange... i.e ivermectin treatment There is no warning on any Australian packaging, although the company did send out letters to all vets. The anecdotal reports were dogs presenting with vision loss to specialists in the USA with no history apart from Comfortis use with no added avermectin use. Considering the numbers of dogs using the products the numbers with issues are very low but given the acion of the drug there is potentially some cross over of effect in sensitive dogs.

This is great news for people and hopefully these researchers will consider continuing their work to cover PACG (primary angle closed glaucoma) which is realtively rare in humans, but by far the most common form in dogs. I suspect targeted gene therapy wil be the future for a lot of these genetic based diseases.

equafleece.co.uk do lovely fleece coats and pullovers especially designed for deep chested dogs, lasted my dogs 10 years plus.

They are usually very god with "their own" cats.

Many dogs find the guillotine tyoe nail clippers more comfortable than the traditional type although you may struggle to find some big enough for a giant dog.

Having worked in the UK where there is no law requiing muzzling of any sighthounds and many people walk them off lead, in an area with a fairly high proportion of whippets, greyhounds and working lurchers (I know it's illegal but it was still carrying on) I never saw a small dog or cat that had been attacked by a sighthound. The small animal killers in our practice were akitas and airedales!!

as in lens nucleus?

There are several anecdotal reports about the use of Comfortis and vision loss in dogs (reported in the USA) and there is a warning from the manufacturer about its use at the same time as the avermectins.

The clinic has a business loan from the bank on which it pays interest, including the bad debts outstanding. Interesting the tax office still expects you to pay tax on bad debts!!

I used to work at a clinic that had over $1,000,000 of outstanding bad debts. With the interest they were paying on that they could have employed another vet. As vets we have to provide emergency first and and pain relief to any animal. That may mean euthanasia. Ask any vet and thay will tell you that clients who come in out of hours, that you have not seen before, with an emergency who tells you "spare no expense, I love my dog" is telling you that because they have no intention of paying the bill so the cost doesn't matter! The vast majority of people are great clients. A tiny minority spend their lives not paying for things and think veterinary care is no different. If you ask them for payment when they have to collect the dog all you have is a dog to rehome. I have had clients who have given false names and addresses then dumped the dog anyway. We all feel for clients who are placed in these awful situations but I am responsible to my boss who expects to run a business.

you can use baby shampoo diluted 1 to 4 with water to soften the gunk and it will not irritate the eyes.