Cavalier

How does she recommend the plasma is given? This pup is way too small to get an IV catheter in.

We see some pretty serious ringworm up here in the tropics. If it spreads and becomes generalised (ie all over the body) there are a course of tablets you can give for it as well. Cream is fine if it is just the one spot

Just though Id give everyone an update on the little pup I have been hand raising. Unfortunately his sister passed away at 1 week He is nearly 4 weeks old, is chowing down puppy food, is running around his little pen and is generally very very happy!! We have decided to keep him - we desperately need a big dog to guard our yard. He should mature between 50-60kg and will be a big solid black Mastiff looking dog so should look very scary!! As he was born premature, he is still quite undersized for his age, but hopefully he will catch up now he is on a balanced puppy food. Does anybody have any data on when a pups immune system can respond to a vaccine where there is no maternal antibodies? He did not recieve any colostrum from the bitch, only bovine replacement colostrum. So presumably he would have no circulating antibodies against parvo, distemper or hepatitis to interfere with an early vaccination? With the amount of parvo Im exposed to I want to vaccinate him as soon as is scientifically possible. Obviously I am taking every possible precaution - but as we all know even with every precaution there is still that small risk.

All my dogs (They range from 7kg CKCS to 50kg GSDs) are expected to behave exactly the same. Yes my Cavs are cute - but they are treated like dogs, and need just as much training as my GSD.

Another newbie question.... What does "opposite" mean in the context of shows. As in the above posts context

The only speys/castrates I keep in overnight are ones who have not recovered from anaesthesia well or if there were any complications during the surgery. Orthopaedic cases stay over night are fluids and methadone injections. However - its the vets individual choice. We are the ones putting our degree/licence on the line everytime we make a decision - so yes it is our choice. Each vet has a different opinion as to what is best for the animal

My girl is on eye drops for life - the bottle has last me 5 years now. Its now 2 years out of date and still works just fine with no side effects. The worst thing that can happen is they dont work

Epilespy medication only increases the dogs appetite....so they wont put on weight if they are not being fed more. If dogs are overweight, they are being fed too much. Its pretty simple I advise people to reduce what they feed by 25% then reweigh in 2 weeks, if there is no change, reduce again by 25%.....and so on. My Cavs get 1/8 cup of Hills once daily and one treat in the morning.....nothing else. They are all a very healthy weight Most people greatly over-estimate how much dogs need to eat!!

I'll double check on these with the vet. Wheatens, to compound the issue, are 'sensitive' to a particular anaesthetic but I can't recall which off the top of my head. This is thiobarbital. Many dogs are sensitive to this anaesthetic agent (namely sight hounds). It is the cheapest anaesthetic around and some old vets still use it to cut costs. IMHO, with the newer and safer anaesthetics on the market, Thio has no place in small animal anaesthesia in this day and age. Im sure dog owners would be happy to pay the extra cost if they new the risks.

Hi Sheridan, The risk is very much determined by the type of anaesthetics used by vets. Some vets still insist on using the older, less safe anaesthetics because they are much cheaper. We use a combination of Alfaxan CD-RTU and Isoflurane. Over the years of using many different types of anaesthetics this has proven to be the absolute safest anaesthetic combination. Ive anaesthetised my Cavalier with a massive heart murmur (grade 5) with this combo and he came out of it quickly with no complications. To reduce any risk, get a blood screen done first to ensure good kidney and liver function. Also, pay the extra money and get your dog put on IV fluids during the surgery.

Yes they can Giardia and entamoeba can both be transferred between humans and dogs. We recently diagosed a dog with an entamoeba infection, which is primarily a human disease.

I personally dont feed my dogs bones - ever. And never will again. One of my old (now passed) Cavaliers was fed a chicken neck and a chicken frame and the bones became stuck in his intestines and had to go through a huge surgery to remove them. My GSD was given a lamb shank bone and a splinter of the bone got stuck between her jaws and pierced into her palate and up into her sinuses. All the above bones were completely raw..... After my experiences nobody will ever convince me to feed my dogs bones ever again. Its not worth the risk IMHO.

Best way to know for sure is to get his parvo titres checked. In saying that, I have never known a dog who has recovered from parvo to contract it again. For dogs to recover from parvo they have to mount a pretty strong immune response, so the likelyhood is your boy will have very high protective titres

When you find this out can you please tell me the secret??? We always tell people up here to never take their pup outside their property until after their 3rd vaccine. Even people that have followed this advice to a T have ended up with a pup with parvo. Its a horrible virus, you have no idea where it is and when it will strike. You can take every single possible precaution and still end up with infections. Doesn't give us Dog Lovers much peace of mind does it......it's like a monster lurking in the dark, just waiting to pounce on poor innocent dogs. Do you find that the larger breeds are hit any harder than other types of breeds. The more research I have done (including ringing & emailing vets in Australia & overseas), the more I am being told that the Giant breeds are more susceptible to Parvo.....not necessarily at more of a risk catching it (although some think this also), but much more susceptible of dying from it. What has been your experience? My personal experience has been its all random. Off the top of my head the breeds which have died from parvo this year in our clinic are a Shar Pei (x2), Mastiff X, Chihuahua X, and a couple of mixed breed camp dogs. We have treated a very wide range of breeds for parvo - it doesnt seem like any particular breed is more susceptible. What is consistant though in all our cases is either 1. owners have taken their dogs out walking before their final vaccine - this is the biggest one 2. the dogs were not vaccinated as pups at all (my oldest parvo case was 8 years old) 3. the owners have recently moved into a new house (very common up here - being a mining town) and then got a new pup - in these cases there was probably a pup with parvo there before them.

When you find this out can you please tell me the secret??? We always tell people up here to never take their pup outside their property until after their 3rd vaccine. Even people that have followed this advice to a T have ended up with a pup with parvo. Its a horrible virus, you have no idea where it is and when it will strike. You can take every single possible precaution and still end up with infections.

Just got this email from Murdoch - about time we had something like this in Perth Hill’s Pet Nutrition Mobility & Rehabilitation Service Opening Saturday 3 October 2009 5:00 – 7:00 pm Murdoch University School of Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences, Dean’s Pergola. Please follow the signs to the Veterinary Hospital, park in Car Park 9. See the attached invitation for more details. The event is open to the public, all are welcome to attend. Please RSVP to [email protected] or 08 9360 2731 You are invited to attend the opening of the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Mobility & Rehabilitation Service at Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital on Saturday, 3 October 2009 from 5-7 pm. We are opening our doors to show demonstrate the comprehensive range of therapies and rehabilitation tools and exercise programs to assist the recovery of dogs and cats from illness and injury. The Service offers individual programs for pets to assist with: · Restoration of mobility and function after orthopaedic surgery · Improved function and quality of life for patients with osteoarthritis · Improved strength and coordination following neurological injury or surgery, resulting in shorter and more complete recoveries · Pain management (both acute and chronic) · Weight loss and fitness · Improved quality of life for geriatric patients. · Exercise for patients with illnesses causing weakness or lethargy We will be showcasing different treatments: · Hydrotherapy using an underwater treadmill · Pain management (including acupuncture by a qualified veterinary acupuncturist) · Therapeutic exercises · Specific physiotherapy treatments supervised by an animal physiotherapist We invite you and other members of your dog club to see the new services available at Murdoch University. We would appreciate if you would forward this invitation to other members of your club. Please contact the Murdoch University Veterinary Trust at 08 9360 2731 or email [email protected] for more information about the opening event. Please contact your veterinarian to see if rehabilitation may be right for your pet.

Its not quite as easy as this. We are the only vets in our town (and the only vets for another 300kms). We see about 5 cases of Parvo a week and 90% of these are treated in hospital (an isolation). By your definition - we should not vaccinate puppies at all??? Its just not practical

Ive got my Cav on Coenzyme Q10

Excellent advice! Horse, rabbit and camel are other good sources of novel protein

Agreed. I would be very wary of starting him on any holistic treatments unless they have been prescribed by a vet who understands any interactions with his current medication. Just because medications are natural does not mean they cannot have interestions and side effects. My rescue Cavalier Wookie has a 5/6 mitral murmur - and luckily at this stage is asymptomatic. Its so strong you can feel the 'woosh' of the murmur if you touch his front legs Im dreading the day (and it will come) when he starts to go into congestive heart failure. I hope you little man stays confortable and responds well to the medications for a long while yet

Agreed. I would be very wary of starting him on any holistic treatments unless they have been prescribed by a vet who understands any interactions with his current medication. Just because medications are natural does not mean they cannot have interestions and side effects. My rescue Cavalier Wookie has a 5/6 mitral murmur - and luckily at this stage is asymptomatic. Its so strong you can feel the 'woosh' of the murmur if you touch his front legs Im dreading the day (and it will come) when he starts to go into congestive heart failure. I hope you little man stays confortable and responds well to the medications for a long while yet

When I was in Perth spring early summer was the "parvo season". Up here its hot all year round, so it really just comes in waves. Over the past few weeks we have a mass influx - about 30 cases in total. I think its because there have been lots of people moving to town recently and bringing their new puppy with them. More pups = more parvo. Luckily we have only lost one puppy in this outbreak.... We also usually have an outbreak after a cyclone or a big rain downpour. We are lucky up here in that we have a custom built parvo ward which is completely separate from the rest of the hospital. It has its own separate airconditioning, waste system, plumbing etc. All the other clinics I have worked at have not had any isolation...scary thought.

The thing is - maternal antibodies are not usually low enough at 6-8 weeks for a pup to contract parvo. Unless of course the bitch was not fully vaccinated, or has not recieved a vaccine in some time. It always worries me when breeders say their breeding bitches only get their pup vaccs, one annual then thats it for life. What if they are not exposed to the virus enough throughout their life to produce enough antibodies for the puppies they are raising? Yes the bitch has memory cells and she would most likely be protected if she were to come into contact with parvo. However memory cells are not shared with the pups through colostrum, only circulating antibodies. It also interests me about the apparent low sucess rate with treatment of parvo.... We are in a town where there is a very high incidence of parvo virus (mostly due to high levels of unvaccinated stray/camp dogs roaming the streets. We, on average, treat about 5 parvo cases a week. There is an equal occurance with both pedigree and cross breed dogs. Most are infected around 10-12 weeks of age as maternal antibodies wane and havent finished their course of vaccinations. We have a (calculated from our cases) 90% success rate with hospital treatment. We class success as the puppy surviving and having no long lasting effects from the virus. Most cases are in hospital for less than 5 days. Treatment at our hospital involves IV fluids, antibiotics, anti-nausea medication and glucose. Just a thought for everyone...

When had the bitches last recieved a vaccination?

I would seriously consider getting your dog tested for Cushings disease. Weight gain around the abdominal region is another classical clinical sign, along with polydipsia.