cavNrott

My deaf little Cavalier purrs when she is lying on my chest on my bed and I gently cup her head in my hands. This is the only time she makes that purring noise. Because of my back issues I have to lie flat on my back on the bed frequently during the day. While I'm lying there reading my book she lies her body on my chest.

Excellent news Sheena I'm glad the crisis is over for you.

I usually yell SIT if a loose dog runs up to us when I'm walking mine. It's amazing how often this works and the dog obediently sits.

Sheena, the woman who is feeding liverwurst to other peoples dogs is very lucky she hasn't caused a dog a serious problem. Had she fed this to one of my dogs the dog would have had a pancreatitis attack within hours. Seeing one of these attacks in action is very unpleasant for the dog and owner. Perhaps she should be made aware of this. I would be furious if she fed it to my dogs and would let her know in no uncertain terms. Worse still you have already told her not to feed it to your dog last time she attempted to do it. I would definitely tell your class not to feed treats of any description to other peoples dogs. I guess your husband was taken by surprise which is why he didn't tell your dog to drop it. He probably had no idea what the woman was doing when she was trying wrestle the wrapper from your dog's mouth. I know what size the liverwurst packaging is because I buy this product but the only reason I would give it to a dog would be to hide a tablet in it when the dog was on medication. This does not include the pancreatitis dog. Don't worry too much, your dog should pass it without a problem. Good to hear she is happy and well today. She will probably pass the stuff tomorrow.

Those liverwurst sausage things are only about 10cm long so I wouldn't panic too much, the metal thing that holds the casing on is tiny and it's round with no sharp edges and the plastic is fairly thin and soft. Did someone actually see her feeding a treat to your dog or did the dog steal it out of her bag? I doubt she would have given your dog the whole lot including the wrapping. Because you saw her feeding liverwurst to her dog on the weekend doesn't mean she fed some to your dog tonight. Since your husband was holding the lead he should have been watching the dog. The round metal part that holds the casing is tiny, the dog will pass it without notice. There's not a lot of plastic wrapping so this also should pass easily as the plastic is soft and thin. I don't get why you fed the dog only half her meal. She won't pass the plastic in a hurry if there's hardly any food in her system to move it along. I would have fed her a little more than usual to move it along more quickly. I bet she enjoyed the home made beef stock but liquids will not help move things along. You will need to carefully examine her stools for the next couple of days, the plastic and little metal clip thing may well pass without your knowledge unless you watch for it. You should know within 3 days if there is a problem.

Glad to hear it's not a tick. Thanks for the update.

JackC. We all vent about pet insurance and their ridiculous hikes in premiums. No apology necessary ;) It sounds like you have a good plan having savings set aside. Pet insurance companies are not interested in the dogs genetics and I doubt they'll ever take this into account. I also bet they'll continue to increase our premiums at a ridiculous rate because they can. The cost of veterinary procedures are so prohibitive now that pet insurance is necessary for most of us. Our claims reflect this so they're covering their bases. A few years ago I cancelled my Rottweiler's policy because I got fed up with their ducking and weaving while trying to find a reason not to reimburse me for a surgery she had. A couple of years later my girl developed cancer and because she was no longer insured it cost me tens of thousands of $$ for her oncology treatment. It wasn't smart of me to get all huffy and cancel her policy.

Odin-Genie, how did your girl get on at the vets? I hope she's ok.

How much is a heap ^ (bolded words)? Is it a teaspoon or a tablespoon? More info would be appreciated.

I don't think it's a problem to feed mince. I often buy a couple of Kg of meat or chicken thigh or breast meat from my butcher and ask him to mince it for me. I sometimes buy good quality minced meat of all varieties from the supermarket and my dogs have suffered no ill effects. Dog's digestive systems are pretty sturdy and can cope with a myriad of bacteria without any issues. I think this was actually the point of someone saying not to feed packaged mince. As long as your dog is getting the chewing action from chicken wings, necks or part of a chicken frame I would happily feed him minced meat. Your breeder does sound a bit dodgy to me. I wouldn't count on receiving the pup's registration papers but I would certainly persist in emailing and calling her to ask for them. I will say here that the price you paid for your pup is less than the breeder of my dogs charges for a Cavalier with pedigree papers. You are responsible for registering your dog with the council. This has nothing to do with the breeder. Just call your council and ask them to send you the paperwork. Fill it in an you will receive your dog's registration tag in the mail. You could go to the council in person and do all this if you wish. About the pup's leg. When you go to the vet tell her you're very concerned about the leg and ask her to test for a luxating patella. You can Google luxating patella for your own info but don't believe everything you read. Just get a general idea what a patella is and it's function. I would definitely buy a crate if I were you. Any day now the pup will be able to jump out of the bassinet you have him in. Look on Ebay for a 30" crate. That's the size crates each of my Cavaliers have. Crates are not expensive. A crate will assist you with house training the pup and you can pop him in the crate with a kong or a toy when you are not able to watch him. It will save you a lot of hassle and will prevent him getting into mischief and chewing your belongings. A crate will also help when you need to leave the house and leave him on his own for an hour or two without him freaking out. If he is a pup who gets upset when you leave the house, post a question and we will assist you with info on how to train him to get used to being alone for a while.

Read their PDS. There will be something in there telling you that they can cancel the policy but I think they have to tell you they're doing so. That was an awful thing for them to do. You would have thought Kenzie was still insured. When did they stop taking payments for her policy? efs

Yep, what Lisa said. I pay the vets with credit card and when I'm reimbursed by the pet insurance company it goes to pay off the credit card.

Hate to put a downer on this but $5000 is nothing if your dog needs major surgery. That plus four years at $80 per month = $3840 (not $5000). You need to have at least $10,000 in the account if you want to cover your dog for a major surgery. Are you assuming your dog will have no accidents or health concerns at all in the four years it takes you to accumulate $3840 in the account and that you won't need to draw from this account to pay for, say, $500 or so in vet fees? The $500 would cover two or three consults plus medication and tests. If xrays are needed it will cost more. Also if any 'minor' surgery is required you're looking at around $3000+ depending on the kind of surgery required e.g dog swallowed something indigestible that caused an obstruction. Though a dental is not covered by most pet insurers, if your dog needs dental in the first 5 years of life, there goes another few hundred $$$ which you may need to draw from your pet savings account. One of my dogs had never had a sick day in his life and at 5 years of age he suffered a ruptured disk in his spine. The cost of imaging (myelogram) and the subsequent surgery was around $7500 and this was 5 years ago. You can bet the cost of the surgery has increased considerably since then. The only way I would do this is if I had $7000-8000 to deposit in the pet account right now and then deposit $100 each month to the account until the account balance reached $15000. At this point I would cease contributions and let the interest the account attracts increase the balance.

The Melrose brand has a virgin cold pressed coconut oil. I buy mine at a large chemist warehouse. Thanks for the good tip about it being great for dry lips, Sheena.

Mine is rock solid sitting on the bench but I have no need to melt it for the dogs, they love it so it's jut put on top of their food.

Unfortunately the breeder you got your puppy from gives registered breeders a bad name. We need less breeders like her. I suspect there was blood in this pup's feces before she insisted you take him underage. I can't help but wonder if this and the leg biting is why she insisted you take him early. Maybe this scummy breeder was aware she had a pup with a couple of issues and wanted to rehome him before he cost her money in vet fees. The puppy is lucky he ended up with you and not someone who wasn't cluey enough to ask questions. 10 weeks is very young to expect a puppy to sleep through the night. You should expect to get up at least once to take him out. With luck he should sleep through by the time he's 12 weeks old. You'd be doing yourself and your puppy a favour if you invest in a crate. He can sleep in his crate right beside your bed so you hear him when he becomes restless and needs to be taken outside. A crate for each dog in my house is an essential. I feed pups in their crates from day one so they learn to love their crates. My Cavaliers are seniors now and they still run into their crates and wait when they see me preparing their meals. The crate doors haven't been closed for years but they go in there for a nap or if I have visitors with rowdy children in tow. My Cavs sleep on my bed at night but this arrangement is not for everyone. The breeders of my Cavs fed dry food. I gradually introduced them to a raw diet starting from the day they came home. If I were you I would gradually reduce the cooked food and replace some of each meal with raw meat and vegies. Mix a raw egg, shell and all with the vegies in your blender. If you're using minced meat buy good quality minced beef and also look at minced lamb, chicken and turkey. You can start feeding raw chicken necks now. The calcium from the crushed egg shell and the chicken necks provides your pup with calcium. You can prepare the food in bulk and freeze in meal size containers. About the leg that's driving the puppy nuts. The vet needs to investigate this. Maybe pain is causing him to lick the leg. A patella issue perhaps? Whatever it is needs investigation. Don't let the vet fob you off by saying something like 'he'll grow out of it'. It's happening for a reason and you want to know the cause now. Please keep us posted on your progress.

I have been using Sentinel for many years and none of my dogs have ever had fleas or worms. I certainly recommend this product. If you have queries about Sentinel being suitable for your breed of dog, perhaps the breeder will assist you. efs

I was actually think of you and Renae, Jules when I posted that.

Those of us who feed a raw diet are aware that in order to be digested the vegies need to be blended to a pulp in a blender or a juicer to break down the cellulose fibres. Vegies do not need to be cooked. Many of us here have been feeding our dogs raw meat with pulped vegies for many years. We have done our research. My elderly Cavaliers are still here to tell the tale after their lifetime of eating pulped raw vegies with their raw meat. They also eat organic raw eggs without a hint of salmonella poisoning. I don't feed rice or other grains. You choose to feed meat on the bone. That was not my choice and though my dogs used to get chicken frames I made the choice not to feed them any weight bearing poultry bones as I believe there is a possibility of splintering with bones such as drumsticks.

I can't see any reference to this troublesome leg being the hind leg. San&paul will you please clarify which leg is causing the trouble. Is it a front or a hind leg? My Cavs are fed a balanced raw diet, well 99% of their diet is raw but I see nothing wrong with giving the occasional meal of cooked food, especially using quality ingredients as this pup is being fed. The rare cooked meal they have does not upset my dogs digestive system. The cooked diet San&paul is feeding is very similar to the diet I fed my Rottie when she developed cancer and could no longer, for various reasons, have a raw diet. I used organic chicken and organic vegies, the same vegies as this puppy is being fed. I fed no grains though. San&paul if you could come back and give us an update you will probably receive replies from a few more good Cavalier breeders and owners who may not have yet seen your questions.

You're doing a very good job for a first time dog owner. Well Done. Many experienced dog owners wouldn't go to the trouble to get their dog well as you are doing. If you could access some bone meal it would provide the pup with much needed calcium and phosphorus. You would probably be able to get this at a feed store. You could try the pup with a chicken neck. My Cavaliers were having chicken necks at 8 weeks of age and loving them. There's no need to feed kibble if your pup is not doing well on it. People may be able to suggest a kibble that is a bit kinder to your puppy. I suggest a better quality puppy kibble such as Canidae if you want to feed the pup some kibble. See if you can access a sample from one of the large pet stores. It's fairly expensive so you don't really want to buy a bag to start with. About the leg biting. It is not normal. Something is going on there and this is probably what is disturbing the pup's (and yours) sleep at night. Take the puppy back to the vet and explain that this leg biting is a real problem. It's irritating and uncomfortable for the poor little puppy. If your vet is not able to figure out what's going on there then ask for a referral to a specialist vet. The sooner you get this sorted, the better. Normally I would suggest asking the breeder for help and asking him/her if any other pups in the litter have the leg biting problem. However I'm guessing the puppy didn't come from a registered breeder because they don't let their pups leave the litter at 6 weeks of age. Unfortunately I doubt the breeder of your pup will be of any assistance so the vet is the way to go. Please let us know how you get on and keep us updated on your puppy.

Email them panda. I've had fairly prompt replies to my emails.

Well that's charming... people have devoted time and energy to try and assist you with your queries. No one here has even slightly suggested that $12k isn't a lot of money Exactly and if Shazaam's comment was in response to Simply Grands informative post, it was beyond rude. I would probably be a better idea for the dog's owner to do the research.

Bone meal is packed with nutrients for dogs. If you have a query about Sunday Pet Foods their customer service is pretty good. They get back to you fairly quickly with answers for you.

Perhaps post your comment in your original thread rather than having two threads about the same problem with the same dog. Just to clarify does this dog belong to you or someone else?