westielover

I have tried the BARF patties and they're not bad - they don't feel overly greasy. I find them too big to keep in my freezer - but I do get them from time to time. Most of the time I buy mince from a great shop in Haberfield and keep mushed veggies in 1/2 cup size frozen balls in the freezer. I believe that if Dr Ian Billinghurst puts his name on the label - then I assume he ensures that the patties meet a certain level of quality. It would be interesting to see if the quality of the patties drops over time. At the moment I think the quality is good. My dogs like them!

Did she eat some sort of poison maybe? Are there any snail baits or anything around the yard?

Gosh Openarms - I have no idea but I hope she will be okay. My thoughts are with you too.

Miranda - have you ever had any of your dogs titre tested 2-3-4 years down the track to check their immunity levels? Just wondering because I am considering not vaccinating my dogs anymore. They are 6 & 5 yrs old and are overdue by 3 months now - my vet suggested that I vaccinate before the the year is out but I am still undecided. Also - the kennel cough vaccination only last for 6 months at a time.

I have been feeding my dogs BARF since they were puppies. They are west highland terriers (very prone to skin conditons) and are now 6 & 5 years old. They are both very healthy dogs and have never had any skin problems. When feeding BARF - you must add other foods. You cannot just feed raw meat & bones. Tablescraps are good as long as there are no cooked bones been fed to your dog. Other things to add to the BARF diet are (as other posters have suggested) yogurt/cottage cheese/sardines/canned salmon/lots of blended green leafy veggies (asian veggies & spinach are great) - teaspoon of olive oil every now and then. I am not a strict BARFer in terms of making sure each meal is 100% nutrionally balanced - but I always ensure there are ingredients included in their diet besides just meat & bones. The other things I do in terms of treats is stay away from 'processed' treats such as schmakos etc. I tend to buy dried fish/dried kangaroo/dried pig ears & snouts/dried lamb meat / dried liver to give as treats. I find that my boys are in great health - they have good skin/bright eyes/clean teeth/good breath - perform solidly each day and don't see much of the vet!!! I'm grateful that I was told about the BARF diet and I'm grateful that it is working well for my dogs.

Ohhhh - sorry - I didn't catch the thirsty part! Oops! I tend to to take my foster dog out for his last nightly pee just before I go to bed - but I also leave a water bowl in the crate. You can buy those water bowls & holders which you can hook onto the crate wire - I place it near the top for bigger dogs. I don't know if I have been lucky - but taking the foster fur kid to the loo just before bedtime and then leaving water in the crate as well - seems to tide him over until morning when I let him out for again for a pee.

Kamuzz - can you ignore him? When I got my first dog 6 years ago - for the first 4 nights he would start 'crying' at about 2am in the morning. Silly me used to go downstairs to his puppy pen and sit with him until he went to sleep again. I happened to take my pup in for vaccs on the 5th day and told my vet about the 'crying' in the middle of the night. He told me that by going to check on him I was sending him a message saying thay I would come when he 'called'! The vet told me to ignore the behaviour. On the 5th night my pup cried at 2am ...... I sat silently at the top of the stairs, out of my pups view, for 45 minutes until he stopped ...... it was the longest 45 minutes of my entire life - and the fact that I lived in a townhouse at the time made me even more on edge ....... anyway, lucky for me - he never did it again!!!!!! Can you apply the same principle to Coda? It might make take a few nights - but apparantly going to him and acknowledging him or letting him out of the crate is telling him that you will come when he calls.

Go Flame Go!! Go Flame Go!! ;) ;) Go Flame Go!! Go Flame Go!! Go Flame Go!! Go Flame Go!! :p

So sorry Ibite - you must be very sad. RIP Sox

Be careful when mixing meat with dry food - it may be too much protein. I remember reading that here on DOL somewhere. Give all raw at one meal and then just kibble for another - but don't mix the 2 together. Please correct me if I am wrong - but I am certain someon on here gave advice to that effect once.

Westiefan - try feeding Rolley the ready made BARF patties in conjuction with raw chicken necks/wings/carcasses + raw lamb shank every now and then. Buy some big raw bones from the butcher and let him grind his teeth on them while you're at work. Eaglepack holistic is a very good dry food too. Check out eagle pack here: www.eaglepack.com.au You can buy BARF patties & Eaglepack on line at www.petdeli.com.au If you live near Haberfield - there is a pet supplies store on Parramatta Road called 'Aussie Pet Supplie' which sells raw chicken mince for $1.60 per kilo - they also sell mixed varieties of chicken mince for $2.50 per kilo (chicken & sardines, chicken & liver, chicken & veggies etc) My westies have been on the BARF diet since they were pups and they are in great health. It's definately worth putting Rolley on the BARF diet as westies are predisposed to skin conditions which can occur when on a commercial diet.

Hi Westiefan My westies are 6 (Winston) & 5 (Riley) years old - both male - and both lovely natured dogs. Winston was quite independant until he was about 2 years old - I would say 'come' and he would walk off in the other direction!! Riley on the other hand has always been a 'mummy's boy' and does what he's told - he would be an excellent obedience dog!!! Mind you - we did do some basic obedience training and clicker traing when they were younger. It worked brilliantly with Riley - but not with Mr Independant Winston!!! Westies can indeed be strong willed. I would highly recommend some obedience training - if you are in Sydney I can recommend a great clicker training course. You have received some great advice in the posts above - take those ideas on board. There are a couple fo great books which you may consider buying: Don't Shoot the Dog - The New Art of Teaching and Training - Karen Pryor (website: http://www.clickertraining.com/home/) The Power of Positive Dog Training - Pat Miller (this is a great book and includes a 6 week training guide) Both of these books are great reading and teach you how to train your dog, have fun and build a lasting & respectful realtionship with your dog. Westies are beautiful dogs and have great natures - but they definately need to know their boundaries. Enjoy your beautiful boy - look forward to seeing some pics of him too!

hehehehehe - he sounds like a typical westie pup to me!!!! Cheeky little boy!

Awww Rozzie - the tears must have not stopped flowing over the past few weeks. Run free Sophie :D

Awwwww - how sad. No greater place for Keera to fall asleep forever than at Rozzie's doggy haven. RIP Keera

Wow - what a beautiful tribute to the handsome Sam. It sure looks like he had a great life! So sorry that he was taken from you so suddenly. RIP Sam

Minny - I think the reason why dogs contract parvo in pounds is because the pound is not disinfected effectively AND because most of the dogs that come into pounds aren't micorchipped/registered - so one can assume they have probably never been vaccinanted before either. As Cordy said in the thread about the rotties with parvo (rescue section) - a place which has been infected with parvo should remain 'unvaccinated dog/puppy' free for at least 6 months until parvo dies off. For example - if you were to bring a parvo infected dog into your backyard - you would need to pretty much kill your garden with a disinfectant product like F10 and then not have any unvaccinated young dogs in your backyard for at leat 6 months. Hence the reason why pound dogs are more susceptible to contracting parvo. I guess one could say that the disease is pretty much always there. Even if newly impounded dogs were innolculated - it still takes about 10 days for the vaccination to kick in - so the dog is still at risk. Also, I believe that if you innoculate an already infected dog - it can kill the dog. I think pounds only innoculate dogs if they know they are going to rescue - and not all pounds do innoculations. Not sure what the council regulations are and if they are standard Australia wide. One of my dogs is now due for his annual vaccination and I am unable to decide whether to do it or not. The only reason I would have him vaccainted again is because I foster rescue dogs and I wouldn't want my dogs to be at risk. I did the titre test a couple of years ago and both dogs had above adequate levels - so I didn't vaccinate - when I started fostering - I vaccinated again. I have been lucky with fostering (as I take them straight from the pound normally) that I haven't had any parvo infected dogs. Touch wood. I have read a bit about vaccinations and I am starting to believe that we are over vaccinating - I questioned my vet about annual vaccinations and he said that the protocol is changing - but nothing 'official' has been realeased from the appropriate authorities to confirm the change in protocol. No vet will voluntarily tell you not to vaccinate your dog as he me become liaible if the dog dies (in this day and age of people suing for anything & everything). I believe in vaccinating a dog until they are 2 years old - but I question annual vaccs after that as it seems that there is more and more data becoming available these days to prove that over vaccinating can actually kill our dogs. However, I am still not sure what to do myself!!

Sky - try washing her feet in 'sapoderm' soap - especially if she has been running around on grass. I use it on one of my westies and it works brilliantly. Also - in winter time - be sure to dry your westies feet after a run/walk in the park. I find wet grass in winter time to be a nuisance for westies feet. I tend to walk them on the footpaths after work during winter.

Ohhhhh - I have tears in my eyes as I write ..... RIP Rastus. Scruffy you did a wonderful thing having him at your home for the last 9 weeks of his life - I'm sure he would have known he was loved dearly during that time.

Oh - how awfully sad Olly. At least he go to experience the 4 best months of his life. RIP Hapi. :D

Oh Dogmad - so sorry you have to go thru this. Thinking of you. RIP Barney

Oh gosh - no idea sorry shekhina - but I wish you well.

katetk - how did you manage to find someone to handstrip Harvey??? Is it expensive?

Hi Lex Ang, I have 2 westies and I don't have them stripped. I tried to hand strip them when I first got them but they didn't really like it - one of them would even yelp when a breeder stripped him. So I switched to clipping. There is nothing wrong with have a westie clipped instead of stripped. Hand stripping means that your westie will have a harsh exterior coat which basically keeps rain / water from getting to the skin and is meant to keep the dogs coat cleaner for longer. In fact some westie breeders will tell you that a westie with a hand stripped coat will NEVER require a bath!! I personally believe that clipping your westie in the hot weather months definately keeps them cooler. I have a friend who has a westie bitch and he used to get her stripped for the first 4 years of her life - but she always seemed much hotter in summer than my westies who were clipped. My friend has now switched to clipping also - her coat is softer - but she's definately cooler in summer now. These days it's mostly westie breeders who hand strip their show dogs. If you were interested in 'stripping' your westies coat it may be worthwhile investing in a 'coat king' - it doesn't do the same job as hand stripping - but using this tool will leave a little bit of 'harshness' in the exterior coat. Here are some weblinks which may be of interest: http://www.canadawestieclub.ca/maint/intro.html http://www.sfbaywestieclub.com/tips_5.htm http://www.downsouthwesties.com/grooming.htm If you have never hand stripped your westie before - then I wouldn't recommend switching to hand stripping. Just keep having him clipped - but be careful which groomer you choose - my westies used to looke like white schnauzers after a visit to the grooming salon!!! :rolleyes: Luckily the breeder who I obtained my second westie from, grooms my boys - so they always look pretty good. Stripping is very time consuming and it may be difficult to find a groomer who will hand strip your westie. Doing it yourself requires a bit of skill - so it might be best to find a breeder who would be willing to teach you how to hand strip if your were keen to try this method. One more link for you to check out: http://westiewisdom.westieworld.com/ You can write to Jane Fink who runs the westiewisdom website and she will probably be able to give you the best advice. She is extremely knowledgeable in all things Westie. She is a member of the Ozwestie forum and is always providing great information about westies. Good luck with your decision.

I use Sentinal Spectrum tablets which do all intestinal worms + heartworm + fleas. In addition to that I use Advantix in Spring & Summer (this does fleas & ticks). Very convenient as both of these treatments are once a month. If my dogs ever have fleas on them (which they don't now that we are using Sentinal Spectrum) I give them a Capstar tablet which kills whatever fleas are on them at the time. (Capstar comes in very handy for foster dogs!). I wouldn't use Frontline at all as it doesn't work against fleas anymore - it's as if they have become immune to frontline!