westielover

Hugs to you Horus. Rest in Peace Ben

So sorry for your loss Dogmad. Pippa was a very lucky girl having been spotted by you in the pound. Her last 16 months would have been bliss. She was a sweet old chooky. Rest in peace Pippy-pants

So close ...... RIP Zuri So sorry Wizard1 :-(

Gosh $400 per dog is a total rip off Tollers - perhaps they are quoting that price because they have never done one The first time I had titres done (almost 3 years ago now) it cost $175 per dog. They drew the blood and then sent it off to a lab in Western Australia as no one else in Australia apparantly did titre tests. Anyway - the results from my westies titres were above the required levels - so I chose not to vaccinate. They haven't been vaccinated for the past 2 years and are due for titre tests again early next year. The results will be interesting. If the levels are still adequate or above - I won't be vaccinating and will probably conduct another titre a year or 18 months later. At the end of the day if a titre shows ANY antibodies, immunity is present. On top of that I have been fostering dogs straight from the pound for the past 3 years and my westies have never even caught kennel cough from any of these dogs. Perhaps it's luck or perhaps their immunity is so strong that even when exposed to KC they don't catch it. Don't get me wrong - I have done a fair bit of research on the subject of not vaccinating and I felt confident enough not to vaccinate my dogs even though I was bringing pound dogs home. Mind you - I have never fostered young pound puppies - usually dogs 6-12 months and over. I also belong to a westie chat group whose members are from all over the world and there are some breeders in the group who no longer vaccinate their pups and have been doing this for the past 8 years - their dogs are also on the BARF diet - they say that they have never had healthier pups/dogs since stopping annual vaccinations. The vaccination protocol has changed overseas to every 3 years. However, I have also read that the following protocol is enough to cover an animal for its natural life: 1st Vaccs - 9-10 weeks 2nd vaccs - 14 weeks 3rd vaccs - 16-18 weeks (this third round of vaccines is optional) 1 year booster I have also read that we should only vaccinate against Distemper and parvo - as they are fatal diseases whereas: - Bortadella (kennel cough) is curable with antibiotics. - Hepatitis & Parainfluenza are respitory illnesses which are also curable. So there is no real need to vaccinate for Bortadella, hepatitis & parainfluenza as they are all curable - whereas distemper and parvo are fatal. The C5 vaccine covers all of the above - you cannot get a vaccine for parvo & distemper only in Australia - it's all nor nothing. There is a lot of information out there about annual vaccines and what do to and what not to do. I read a very interesting book called 'Shock to the System - The facts about animal vaccination, pet food and how to keep your pets healthy' by Catherine O'Driscoll. The book gets quite technical when discussing different diseases, vaccines, titres, memory cells, adjuvants etc but it's a very mind opening book. It's worth reading. I am 100% certain that annual vaccination are bad for our dogs in terms of their immunity and how it can effect their health. I am not 100% certain that I would never vaccinate again but I am prepared to have titres done before making the decision to vaccinate or not.

Ohhhh Juice - I'm so sorry to hear that Girl dog has gone to the bridge. :D She was a beautiful old chook. I am sure she knew she was loved during the past 6 months and no doubt enjoyed her daily romps and hanging out with her fur brothers as well as you and your family. You have a heart of gold Juice. Rest in peace Girl Dog edited to add a word I left out!

Thanks for the info Rappie and DB - cod liver oil sounds interesting.

Thanks Cavandra & Schnauzer - will give this some thought. My vet is normally terrific and I normally trust him implicitly. He did say that he could do the surgery himself or he can refer me to the specialist ......first appt with specialist at Nth Ryde would be 9th Aug ...... arrrgghhhh decisions, decisions. Does Bruce Robertson require a referral Cavandra?

I phoned my vet today and asked about being referred to a specialist. My vet suggested that my westie goes under GA to have his eyes checked for any debris in his eye etc. If no debris then he wll perform a full lateral keratotomy (I think that's what he called it) - ie remove the ulcerated layer of the cornea ....... Does this sound right?

Many thanks for your reply Cavandra - full of good info. I'm sorry to hear about you girl having her eye removed. Actually - I got the scratching with a needle bit wrong - he did do it with a cotton bud - I have a bad memory. He actually teased me with the needle which is why I only remember the needle and not the cotton bud! I am guessing that my boy either scratched his eye with his dew claw or perhaps my Brittany poked him in the eye during a play session (my brittany paws my westie in the face a lot when they play ) The dry eye was diagnosed months before the ulcer. We have been using cyclosporin for about 6 months and the tear test results had improved dramatically - almost 2cm in both eyes. Now that he has the ulcer - the vet is saying that it's taking longer to heal because of the dry eye! So far we have tried 2 different types of ointment and eye drops and the ulcer has not improved. I hate seeing my dog in any sort of pain so I am getting a bit annoyed that the ulcer isn't going away. I was told that the ointment was to keep the eye moist and also to keep bacterial infections at bay. Ok - so I need to demand that his eye is checked for foreign objects and then ask to be referred to an opthamologist. Do I have to be referred or can I just go to a specialist centre?

My westie has what the vet refer's to as an indolent ulcer on his cornea. It's been there for about 2 months and after trying different eye drops/ointments it just won't go away. The vet 'scratched' the ulcer with a fine needle to make it slightly worse in an attempt to get the ulcer to heal - but nope - it's still there. My westie has dry eye - but his tear levels have increased from about 2mm to almost 20mm with the use of cyclosporin. One of his eyes is only at about 15mm and this is the eye with the ulcer. The vet has advised that the dry eye is probably not helping the ulcer heal. Has anyone been thru this with their dog and has the ulcer gone away? if so, how was it treated? Some days his eye is really good and other days he constantly winks with that eye - which obviously means the eye is irritating him ir perhaps even sore. I hate seeing my little pooch in pain. Thanks in advance for your replies.

I did the course. Didn't like it as it was totaly focussed on dominance ..... don't let your dog to this and don't let your dog do that!! :D There wasn't much in the way of 'train the trainer' type training. I was very dissappointed.

Deleted

Oh gawd Gail - I am so sorry to hear about Mohini ;) Rest in peace little Moe

I have that book too but haven't read it yet ..... got it here http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DHR230

Hi BMP My Winston has dry eye and has that expensive medication. It's called 'Optimmune' and the active constituent is 'cyclosporin'. It's about $80 per 35g tube but it seems to work. Winston had a 'tear test' as follows: A strip of special paper is inserted just inside the lower eyelid in the outer corner of the eye for 60 seconds. The moisture of the eye will wet the paper. At the end of the 60 second period, the height of the moistened area is measured. A height of 15mm or more is normal. A height 11-14mm is a borderline result. A height of less than 10mm is dry. A height less than 5mm is severely dry. Winston had less than 5mm in both eyes. We have been using "Optimmune' for about 3 months now and it is known to 'reverse' dry eye in about 80% of cases. Winston now has 15mm in one eye and almost 20mm in the other - which is a terrific result. I now only use the 'Optimmune' intermittently. For the first month - I was putting the ointment in his eyes twice a day. I took him in for an eye test and htere was an improvement - so then I reduced treatement to once a day for the following 6 weeks and did another eye test with the above results. Now I just pop ointment into his eyes only when there is gunky stuff in is eye - not the dry gunky stuff - but the gooey gunky stuff. (Do you like my medical terminology ). Here is some good info about dry eye.

Sorry to hear about Hope! I'm glad she's on the mend. One of my westies had an intestinal blockage when he was about 7 months old - it was a combination of a bone/piece of soft toy and piece of leather from a shoe - they got intertwined and blocked his intestinal tract. Vet didn't beleive me either ...... wasn't until the second say after they did x-rays that they discovered he did indeed have a blockage. Must be standard routine for vets to do what your vet & mine did. Needless to say I switched vets!! Going forward you will need to be careful with Hope's diet. Feeding raw meat (with its high phosphorus content) without bones (or an appropriate calcium supplement, or egg shells) can be a nutritional disaster for dogs. I would suggest feeding the BARF patties (http://www.barfcentralvic.com.au/products.htm) and also sourcing some minced chicken carcasses/necks/wings/lamb riblets/lamb shanks/turkey necks etc. I have purchased chicken mince with minced bones thru it from pet supply stores - so hopefully you can source such a place in your local area which could mince the bones & meat for you. Powdered bonemeal isn't the best thing to give your dog because to make bone meal, bones have to be cooked at a high temperature so that they can be broken down into a powder form - so pretty much all the nutritional content is gone. Start adding broken eggs shells to Hope's diet too. Whatever you do - make sure she's getting bones - but in a minced form. Perhaps a local butcher might be able to mince bones for you? As for cleaning Hope's teeth - get a hold of some of those giant marrow bones - she can gnaw on them with her back teeth to keep them clean. Worse case you might have to get the Science Diet Oral Care dry food (click here for more info. They are like giant pieces of kibble - although if she swallows them whole - then this wouldn't be a good solution even as a worse case scenario! Hope some of this info helps. All the best to Hope.

Cooooool jbbb!

awwwwww - what a beautiful kelpie!

westiefan - when you say he had scabs on his back - is his skin/coat also greasy? If that it the case - he may have a yeast AND bacterial infection. You will need your vet to do a skin scrape to confirm - and if it is what I think it is - your westie will need 2 lots of antibiotics - one for the yeast and one for the bacteria. One of my westies is prone to greasy skin/coat with scabs ..... comes and goes. Personally I stay away from Malaseb etc and wash my westie (with the skin problem) once every 3-4 weeks with sapoderm soap - it does wonders for his skin. Sapoderm is an antibacterial soap which you can buy in chemists and supermarkets. If you are located in Sydney - I know a FANTASTIC vet in the willoughby area who could help you with your westie.

Schmoo - I don't know how true this is but I have read here on DOL somewhere that you have to be careful when feeding raw meat and kibble mixed together as the protein factor may be way too high. I am not sure if it relates specifically to pups & growth or if it was a general comment. I keep a pack of eaglepack duck handy and from time to time will throw in half a handful of kibble into the raw meat for crunch - but only if I have temporarily run out of bones.

Chicken necks, chicken wings, chicken carcasses, lamb riblets, pork spare ribs (american style), chopped chuncks of turkey necks, lamb shanks (one of my westies eats the entire shank!!), rabbit chuncks, - all raw of course. I have also read in Tom Lonsdale's Raw Meaty Bones book that it's good to give a whole raw fish every now and then - but I haven't dont it yet.

Oh Jane - I'm so sorry. You gave Wonder the best 3 years of his life. Rest in peace Wonder dog ;)

RIP Daisy What a lucky girl you were to land in doggy wonderland before heading to the bridge. Hugs to you Rozzie & Mr R.

Ohhhhhhhh - I'm sitting here crying - I drove Thomas to your place Rozzie ..... so I guess as sad as any passing is - the saddest is when you have met or known the doggy. Thank you Mr & Mrs R for taking Thomas in and looking after him and showing him love until he went to heaven. :rofl: RIP Sweet Thomas

One of my westies gets yeasty skin in summer - being a breed that is not accustomed to humidity - it seems to happen only in summer. He also has naturally oily skin. For the oily skin - I wash him with 'sapoderm' soap every 2nd wash - it's a human grade anti bacterial soap which works wonders on my dog. Also - when his gets the yeasty skin (lumps & flakes) my vet prescribes 2 lots of antiobiotics - Nizoral & Rilexine - one targets the bacterial infection and the other targets the yeast infection. Clears it up every time - it occurs almost every summer. Before I switched to this vet - the previous vet used to only prescribe one type of antibiotic - I can't remember what's it called but it's a big pink tablet and it's commonly prescribed by vets - this antiobiotic never cleared the problem. Has Husky's vet ever done a skin scraping and analysed it under a microscope to see if it could be a yeast & bacterial infection? If Husky doesn't have the annual heartworm injection - it might be worthwhile switching him over to Sentinel Spectrum + Advantix. Sentinel Spectrum stops fleas from breeding (tablet once a month) and Advantix is a spot on treatment which kills fleas living on the dog. The 2 combined seem to work really well as my dogs never seem to get fleas.