CazReiAndKuma

Loving all these replies! I've got so many fantastic ideas on how to make my dogs healthier without spending a fortune. You girls rock. BTW I gave them a really thorough wash and scrub down yesterday, and they look heaps better already, so I think the faded yucky coats are the result of a mault. Few! I like the minute oats and frozen veggies idea. Will give that a go occassionally too. My doggies will be eating better than me! Yay!

Excellent thanks. I've just sent my husband to woolies to get plain yoghurt, and tinned sardines, and we bought some coprice dry food to try them on today. I also bought a grooming mitt and some shampoo and if the weather holds out I'm gonna go give em both a good scrub this afternoon, see if that improves their feral looking coats. I wish you could still buy Missing Link. My dogs did great on that stuff. (ETA - I just googled it and apparently it IS available again on some websites. Wonder if it's worth looking into that again. looks pretty expensive. Anyone else using it?) Thanks again peoples!!

Hey guys! Some more questions for you! So I bought some chicken frames to give them last night which they loved. But what quantity should I be feeding? Rei is a very small lab. She probably weighs around 28kg at the moment, but looks overweight. She looks "right" at about 25kg. Kuma's weight is perfect atm, and he's around 35kg I gave Kuma 2 and Rei 1 last night, but I really have no idea. When I've been feeding them supercoat, Rei's been getting 2.5 cups daily (and is overweight) and Kuma's been on 4 cups (and is perfect). Also, I noticed a lot of people recommending yoghurt.. What type of yoghurt and how often? Thanks

I'm no expert, but I believe hot spots are caused by a break in the skin that bacteria gets into and it can spread. When I used to nurse, and dogs would come in with hot spots, we would clip all the hair off around the spot, and clean with an iodine soloution to stop the bacteria from spreading. I remember a rotti came in once, and it has spread so badly the dog was practically one big hot spot! It's whole head was covered... yucko. As for prevention - well I'm not 100% sure really, but obviously when your pup plays rough his skin is getting broken a little and bacteria is getting in. Maybe you could give him a good clean down after a play?

This was the main reason I gave up vet nursing when my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby. I generally managed to avoid bites and scratches, but there were times no matter how careful I was I'd end up with a good swipe or deep claw wound. It certainly was a very emotional job, having to put much loved animals to sleep, having to put completely UNLOVED animals to sleep. sadness, anger, every emotion under the sun really. But the good outweighed the bad. I never cried whilst working as a nurse, but OMG did I cry the day I told my boss I was leaving.

How do I go about buying a bag of this in Brisbane QLD?

OMG..

I loved working as a vet nurse. I only got the chance to do it for 8 short months, but it was the best job I ever had. Can't wait to get back to it one day.

Thanks heaps for the info on her coat. She has gone through quite a few stages in her 4 years of life where I've been concerned about the colour of her coat, and it always ends up at that beautiful rich chocolate brown again eventually, so hopefully it is the same thing again, and it's just that she's having a good mault. She probably needs a good wash, it's been a while since I've washed her because she absolutely hates it

Yeah, Rei is overweight. Kuma is fine, but she is overweight. I don't know how, all she gets is 2 cups of supercoat per day and a few table scraps! It is something that is definitely bothering me as well. I need to fix her weight - as well as she's gone from a beautiful rich chocolate brown, to a dull faded caramel. Gross. Some really great ideas here thank you. I'm going to start doing kibble 2 - 3 times a week with either sardines or an egg added, and chicken frames/necks/offal/brisket etc on the other days. Thanks heaps for all your advice

sorry, deleted

This makes me so sad

I've been wondering the same thing. I've noticed my boy Kuma eating grass quite frequently lately which I'd never seen him do before. I wondered if he was missing something in particular from his diet

Oh gosh, my labrador destroys anything that's left in the yard. For her it's not a stage, she's 4 now and she still does it despite many attempts to curb the behaviour. I just make sure nothing of value or importance is left in the dogs yard!! If I was a dog and constantly in trouble I wouldn't want to go to my owner either.

Ohh no no, I didn't mean feeding dry was lazy, just that that's what I would do when I couldn't be bothered mixing feeds. I'm sure if I could afford to feed something like Eagle Pack 100% I probably would!! I will definitely look into this Black Hawk stuff, $75 for 20kg sounds great. I pay about $55 for 18kg of Supercoat.