morgan

You are quite right there - conventional medicine does have a monopoly on certain words in the English language

Just remember that both of these girls have just had a complete and sudden "early menopause", and dogs don't even have a menopause like people! The sudden change in hormones added to post surgery discomfort is bound to make them crabby. Once during a caesar I discussed whether or not to spay at the same time and he was adamant that the change in hormones over the next few days was no burden to inflict on a new mother coping with surgery and puppies - only to be done in emergencies. There have been studies showing increased aggression in some spayed bitches due to the different hormonal makeup, but this doesn't seem to be too common.

Puppies can still die from parvo with ordinary vaccines, as can adults. I have lost vaccinated puppies to parvo as have other people I know. I think it is more a case of whether or not the vaccine or nosode is specific for the particular strain of parvo. I was told by my vet that the strain that killed my pups was probably 2c and the vaccine was for 2a and 2b. Years ago I had a vaccinated litter that became very ill - the vet thought it was either parvo or coronavirus, and I had 6 pups on drips at home, with twice daily trips to the vet for checkups, drugs etc. The vet thought that I would lose the lot, so I had a homeopath make up a nosode from body fluids from the pups - managed to save 3 out of 6 pups and 2 of these went on to become Royal challenge winners. I don't think I would have saved any without using both forms of medicine.

Any homeopath in the yellow pages can provide it as well as Newton's Pharmacy in York St Sydney (will do mail order) and some online sources. It is often included in "First Aid" homeopathic kits, which are well worth buying - they usually have basic things like Arnica for bruising and inflammation, Ferrum Phos for the first stages of an illness, Apis for insect stings etc. For example, Apis is one remedy I always have as I'm allergic to bee stings - every summer holiday as a kid I would be rushed off to hospital with swollen limbs and angry red streaks heading to the heart - a couple of doses of Apis and all I have is a slight pink swelling at the sting site and a bit of pain. Ledum is also used to prevent Tetanus from puncture wounds - I wish my mother had known about this as I was always having tetanus shots too - was a bit of a tomboy, playing where I shouldn't have been

Giving Ledum has cured tick bites and snake bites but the best advice would be to administer Ledum and give a vit C injection whilst on the way to the vet! For myself, having large dogs and living in an area where snake antivenene is usually unavailable I wouldn't take a dog to the vet for snakebite - my vets simply don't stock it as it is so incredibly expensive that it isn't worth their while. So I would simply use both Ledum and Vit C. As I don't live in a tick area I haven't had to face my dogs having them. The only affected dog I have dealt with was a visitor who showed signs of tick poisoning but we couldn't find a tick despite two hours of searching - took him to his owner's vet who eventually found the attachment site the next day. Apparently we must have knocked it off while looking for it, but he recovered with no treatment whatsoever - considering he had been unable to sit up, let alone stand when we were searching him he was very lucky. He stayed at the vet's for 2 days in case of complications, but never received any actual treatment, yet other dogs I know have been in the same state, received all the possible vet treatment and still died.

Don't know, I have been using calendula ointment for over 20 years for any condition involving an infected wound of any sort, on dogs, kids, horses etc. Haven't used a vet ointment in that whole time, so can't help you there..

The homeopathic remedy Hepar Sulph is fantastic for abscesses, intact or burst - cleans them right up - just give orally several times a day for several days as well as using some calendula ointment topically to help the healing process.

I have only used Ledum for puncture wounds to prevent tetanus and promote healing, and I know it is the remedy of choice for immediate administration for tick and snake bites, but I haven't heard of it being used on a daily basis as prevention. Would have to look up my notes for this one, sounds dodgy but I could be wrong.

Having used homeopathy for many conditions in animals I would say that it could be very helpful with treating parvo along with fluids and all the support one normally uses. After all, there are no drugs a vet can give that can improve the outcome, it all boils down to the strength of the pup's immune system (no worm burden and general good health), the intensive support given and how nasty the particular strain of parvo is. I would think that homeopathy could improve the odds a little if correctly prescribed and administered and I would think that there are some practitioners in the UK with the necessary skill to get good results, but I haven't heard of any such practitioners here in oz where homeopathy is not as widely accepted or used. Personally I think he needs to see a litter with parvo to understand how truly horrific it is - I am a firm believer in homeopathy and even use the nosodes for cat flu, but every one of my pups gets 2 C3's. No matter how much I worry about adverse effects of vaccinations I worry about parvo more.

Plenty of good suggestions in this thread - http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=144906

Would it take that long to settle his skin down? Have a dog here atm that has been ripping himself to shreds, removed a great deal of coat and had the reddest raw inflamed testicles I have ever seen. Didn't respond to Malaseb, natural anti-itch washes, Missing Link, fish oil etc (altho these last 2 are longer term things) and I was about to get him a cortisone shot in desperation when I put him on the ProPlan sensitive skin formula only yesterday. Today the redness has gone, the testicles look heaps better, the heat has gone out of his skin and the chewing and scratching has gone down by at least 50% - the first meal was lunch yesterday. so the effects have been in less than 24 hours. The difference in his skin's appearance and temperature is simply amazing.

yep, I always have manuka honey on hand - wounds, proud flesh on horses, coughs, sore throats or just on the morning toast :p

Has anyone here tried MSM? I've heard about it before, but have just started looking into it as an immune booster. Having trouble locating aussie suppliers for dogs - the human prices look rather expensive and the US pet and horse ones are fairly cheap in comparison, but then you have to add shipping.

We have horses on it as the kikuyu mineral balance is no good for horses, so we get 10kg or so bags from the produce store, but a lot of pet and greyhound places sell small kilo bags. If not, you can get tablets from the health food store. The wrist problems usually only occur in large breeds - it bows sideways, pics are frequently seen on the net of great dane pups with deformed legs. Knuckling over is easily recognised too. You shouldn't need to worry about giving dolomite unless you see a problem starting. It will reverse it in a couple of days. Sounds like you are doing everything you can and obviously the breeder isn't worried about bowed wrists or knuckling over in your breed.

We have had one week old pups with it, and they had colloidal silver administered with an eye dropper every 2 hours around the clock for a couple of days. The mother had colloidal silver instead of drinking water for a week - not all of the pups were coughing and they mostly recovered very quickly. One pup was left with a slightly rattly chest for a little while and was treated for pneumonia to be on the safe side, she lost a fair bit of condition initially, but was pronounced perfectly healthy by her 8 week checkup and vacc. It was picked up at a dog show before the pups were born unfortunately, and there were no coughing dogs anywhere near us - but of course it is contagious before the cough starts. I do get fed up with everyone accusing people of taking coughing dogs to shows, some might, but often it is transmitted by dogs that appear perfectly healthy and the owners simply don't have a crystal ball to know that they are incubating it. If you can't get colloidal silver get the grapefruit seed extract and give that in their drinking water - it can be bought from most health food stores, often called "Traveller's Friend" or something similar, as it is also used for purifying water when camping or travelling. Don't get grape seed extract, this is quite different.

KC is a virus, so there is no point going to the vet unless the dog is off it's food, lethargic, high temperature etc, which means it needs antibiotics. If it is just coughing you have to let the disease run it's course and just try to soothe the coughing with manuka honey. Colloidal silver can help shorten the course, as can a few homeopathic remedies. Get some grapefruit seed extract and put it in the drinking water for all the dogs and maybe boost everyone with some vitamin c to try to limit it a bit. The other dogs were all exposed to it before the first one even started coughing, so just try to boost their health and wait for the coughing to start. You will probably find that not all the dogs will get it. It is incredibly contagious and can be passed on before, during and after the coughing phase. Keep the dogs away from others for 2 weeks after the coughing stops to be on the safe side.

There is no single perfect protein level - a lot depends on the individual breed and even bloodlines within that breed, which is why the breeder's advice is so important. However, with a recent litter, the dam's breeder suggested an RC adult food that she always used, as it had a lower protein level (28%) - the pups still knuckled over at 6 weeks and had to go down to a lower level. They also knuckled over on the Advance Puppy and had bad stools to boot. Out of sheer desperation we put them on to a mixture based on Great Barko (20% protein) and their knuckles started settling down within 36 hours. They are now a few months old and on a 24% protein plus meat with no knuckle problems whatsoever. This is a breed that matures at 15kgs. I am used to protein having to be closely monitored for large breeds (skeletal deformities in the wrist at 32%+) but was surprised to find it such an issue in a breed where generations behind the dam had been reared successfully on 28%. Watch his knuckles and wrists closely - if they remain perfectly normal his body is probably fine with what you are feeding him. If you are worried, add a spoon of dolomite powder each day as this will help keep his bones growing correctly. It corrected our pup that developed the deformed wrist in two days combined with lower protein and we kept him and siblings on it for months to be on the safe side.

Haven't had to deal with this mange touch wood, but I can certainly vouch for the blood cleansing tonic - we have used it on a number of very ill or badly injured horses with terrific results, saving every single one of them. We also used colloidal silver in every case. There are a number of immune building supplements I have used, but most are pretty expensive - would it be worth trying homeopathic treatment? It's one of the cheapest forms around. Diana Hayes in WA would be able to offer advice and supply remedies. The China Road site has a big section on it - this page has lots of homeopathic remedies, herbs etc plus a homemade lemon tonic to apply daily - cheap if you have a lemon tree! http://lowchensaustralia.com/health/demodicosis.htm

Thanks for that - I don't know how I slipped and put IBS :D http://www.labtestsonline.org/understandin...tory_bowel.html A relative was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, which is a type of IBD - she has recently started on LDN treatment and has responded very well so far - as she is only 25 she is extremely grateful for the relief she is getting from her embarrassing and uncomfortable symptoms - these were not conducive to her lovelife apart from the pain and discomfort

Was checking the Low Dose Naltrexone Forum for a relative with Crohn's, and came across this entry LDN Thought it might be worth mentioning for those with dogs with this or other auto-immune problems. ed to correct title

I stumbled onto it years ago when I bought Percy Weston's book "Cancer Cause and Cure". He was a Victorian sheep farmer who noticed back in the 1930's that his sheep were getting cancer and arthritis after he started using superphosphate on his land. He developed this powder to supplement the minerals he felt were lacking and to counter the effect of too much phosphorus in the pasture. With it he cured the sheep, a serious uterine cancer in his young wife (she went on to have 6 kids I think, after refusing an emergency hysterectomy) cancer in himself and in plenty of other people. He continued farming until the age of 97 and died peacefully in his sleep at 100, no cancer, no arthritis, no heart problems. He wrote the book at 98! His wife died cancer free at almost 80 from an accident. THis is the place in Sydney where I bought the powder - Percy's Powder However I am considering using the improved formula from NZ, which has extra selenium and magnesium plus vitamins etc. It is also in capsules which make it easier to give to a large dog. My father used this formula and got his PSA levels back to normal in 6 weeks, after ten years of chronic prostate problems, including catheterisations and hospitalisation. Would be very worth considering for dogs with prostate problems! CAA Capsules PS - the book also has a fascinating look at life in rural Victoria years ago, with some great photos.

I am currently checking out the use of Percy's Powder to help the immune system It has been used for decades to cure cancer in people and sheep, and I have used it for cancer in one of my own dogs successfully, but we used it for a dog with major skin issues recently that didn't fully respond to zinc, fish oil, Missing Link or diet change. Stopped the frantic scratching and chewing in two days! I have a dog with an auto-immune eye problem that the vets haven't been able to help, so thought it might be worth a try. Currently she is on cod liver oil, started a week ago and already there has been a noticeable improvement - vitamin A is incredibly important for eye health. I feel that the Percy's Powder might be able to reverse some of the tissue damage, seeing as it can completely break down tumours. Crossing fingers and toes!

The 6 week shot is worse than useless as it delays the effectiveness of the next shot while not providing any immunity itself. It also gives a false sense of security in people who believe that the pup has some immunity. Plenty of people take out pups before their second shots.

Seeing as the FDA says that Aspartame is perfectly safe, I don't take a lot of notice of what it may or may not say I have been using it for years without the slightest bit of argyria (which is reversible in the early stages anyway) It saved the life of one of my horses when antibiotics failed to help, much to the astonishment of my vets, who had believed that she would die. Infact, it has saved the life of a few animals here, so forgive me for ignoring the FDA's pronouncements on the matter and continuing with what usually works for me. PS - of course the FDA is going to try to ban something that people can make cheaply at home and thereby reduce the profits of the corporate world. Oh, and aspartame is good for something, it is an excellent ant killer PPS - even if my mare would have become permanently blue as a result of CS, it would be better than dead...

Just out of curiosity, how many of the rescue puppies would be large breeds? I would have thought that more of them would be small or medium breeds, but that is just guessing. Also, most problems resulting from early desexing could take quite some time to show up and not be apparent in the first year or so?