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.

I'm no fan of Supercoat but a lot of folk don't seem to mind it. I think you can do better (and feed less) with a slightly better product though. The best thing you could do to that diet is feed two out of three meals as raw meaty bones. As soon as you get a freezer, investigate buying bulk chicken frames (often sold for soup stock). They are very cheap and great for dogs. If you go to the supermarket fairly frequently you could buy those or chicken wings. Nothing wrong with table scraps. Dogs lived of those and bones for many years without too much trouble. Thank you, that's what I was thinking. Stick with the supercoat, or possibly change to Bonnie (not sure which is better) but only feed it 2 or 3 times a week, and on the other days feed meat and bones. I was thinking on the days I do the kibble, that I should add things such as tinned salmon, or fish oil or something to help improve their coats. I'm also thinking of having their teeth professionally scaled. I know the bones keep teeth clean, but I think I've let it go too far. They've hardly eaten any bones in the past 18 months

Thank you that is VERY helpful!!! What is Canidae??

I've never fed canned food, but I am feeding Supercoat and Table scraps... I know it's not good enough. I can tell simply by looking at them.

Hi all I'd love some ideas on feeding my dogs a super healthy diet on a tight budget. Money never used to be an issue, and my dogs were fed very well. They would eat barf patties, or Mince mixed with VAN, lots of meaty bones, or on my lazy days Eagle Pack Holistic Dry food. These days, they are not fed as well, and I can see the difference in their skin, coats and teeth, and I need to fix this ASAP. Currently we have nowhere to store bulk meat, frozen or otherwise, but we are looking into getting the dogs their own fridge/freezer in the very near future, so that will no longer be an issue. Any ideas you can give me would be greatly appreciated!!

No wonder people just don't help each other anymore

OMG no no no... the idea of a dog travelling under there makes me feel ill! I would not be concerned about Hypothermia in Australia, even in Winter. If you friend is willing to do this to the dog, I would guess they're not likely to spend big money on a canopy or well secured crates, so my suggestion would be to get a heavy duty anchor ring drilled into the tray of the ute, in the centre at the front. The dog should wear a well fitting padded harness, and be attached to the ring on a short line so that he can't reach the side of the ute and risk falling off.

Thanks girls. I spoke to hubby this morning and told him we REALLY need to do better by the dogs. Normally he couldn't really care less about the dogs, but I think he could tell how much it was bothering me, and he agreed. We have just had a loan approved, and the money was going to be spent on a car, but instead it will now be spent on stuff for the DOGS! HAH! We're going to fix their fence, extend the patio so they have more shade, buy a new fridge for us, and the dogs will get our old fridge, so I'll actually be able to buy things like chicken necks and carcases and have somewhere to put it!! At the moment they just get kibble and our scraps, but they'll now be getting 2 - 3 meat & bones meals a week, and once or twice a week I'll add some salmon or something to their kibble. Oh, and the money will also go towards getting both of their teeth professionally cleaned. Yay!!

Thanks Willow, you sound very busy!! Thanks again for all your replies, it's very interesting to hear how differently each family copes. Yesterday I made a point of Hayden and I playing with the dogs from the time we got home till his dinner time, which I will attempt to make a daily occurrence. Then, as soon as Hayden went to bed, I let the dogs in for a snuggle in front of the tv. Again, something that used to just be standard, and no idea why I've let it go. I guess when bedtimes were all over the place and Hayden was up more of the night than not it was the last thing on my mind - but now that he's a good sleeper, there's no reason why not! We're about to all go for a walk! They do walk quite well beside the pram on halters. Not on a loose lead mind you, but still pretty good, both on the left. My husband is actually really useless at helping out. Does nothing with the dogs, nothing with Hayden other than play with him (he hasn't changed a nappy, given him a bath, or settled him for sleep, in 13 months!!) so yeah, it's all on me and that does make it a bit harder, but there's no excuse. The dogs were here first and I need to make time for them. Here is my main area of guilt, and man does it eat me up - the dogs diet. They used to be fed extremely well, but since having Hayden and no longer working full time, money is tight, and I struggle to buy them the things I should to eat, and I'm starting to see it in their teeth and coats. Their coats that used to be shiny and vibrant are now dull and faded. Their teeth that used to be sparkly white are now yellowing and their breath smells - which makes it less enticing to have them inside also. I REALLY need to fix their diets. Some ideas on how to feed dogs well, but on a very tight budget, would be greatly appreciated.

What fantastic replies. Thanks so much all of you, you've given me a lot to think about! I'm currently sitting on my patio on my husbands laptop, my one year old running amok around me, and my beautiful dogs are quietly sitting here watching him play. They are such good dogs. I need to make more time for them.

Hello all! I am making a return to DOL after a long break. Within that time, I have given birth to my first son (who is now 13 months old) and have a 2nd baby due in July. I've never been happier!! Before my skin baby came along, my fur babies (kuma and Rei) were my everything. They went everywhere with me, slept on the floor of my bedroom, and if I was at home, they were inside with me. I promised myself that would never ever change. When I first found out i was pregnant with hayden, I transistioned them to sleep in the laundry, as hayden would be sleeping in our room. It worked really well! They were strangely more than happy to sleep in the Laundry. When hayden arrived, nothing changed. They were still with me all the time. They were very good with hayden, though kuma is big and boisterous, he was very gentle and knew not to get in his face. Then slowly.. day by day.. I got tireder, things got busier, I went back to work part-time.. the dogs started coming iside less and less. hayden got bigger and more interested, and Kuma struggled not to be all over him and licking him.. so they spent less and less time together. hayden is now 13months and well and truly walking. The dogs are still great with him, though Kuma does unintentionally knock him over fairly often. I feel really guilty at how my dogs have taken a back seat to my son. They don't deserve this. I'm returning to DOL to try and help me re-ignite my passion for my dogs. So tell me, did your relationship with your dogs change when you had children? How did you cope? What did you do differently to what I have done? What advice do you have for me? Thanks