Cavalier

Its pronounced t - eye - tar

IFA - immunofluorescence assay HAI - haemagglutination inhibition VN - virus neutralisation

There are two types of titre tests, the IFA (which is what Ptolomy would have had) and the VN/HAI (which is what Peigirl would have had) The VN/HAI test is the gold standard, sent to a reference laboratory and the most accurate, the IFA is not as accurate and is just performed in-house at Vetpath. It only costs $14 more to test for adenovirus is you are getting the VN/HAI done, so its not really a huge extra cost. Sorry guys did a typo - wrote VN twice

This is what we did with my girl - except the tarsorraphy was in for 6 weeks. Still failed though

My Cavalier had a prolasped eyeball last year. We tried for 6 weeks after it prolapsed to save the eye - but she developed severe glaucoma and exposure keratitis (she wouldnt blink properly). We unfortunately had to make the decision to enucleate the eye. We placed in a prosthesis so she didnt have the "sunken in" look to her face.

Yes this dog definitely still has an ovary and it will need to be removed. Take her back to the vet who speyed her and ask for the procedure to be done properly...

Considering her history of pancreatitis it would be worth testing her for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. It involves a simple blood test. This disease can follow bouts of pancreatitis and causes the cessation of production of the enzymes that break down food in the intestines. The yellow slime may be an oily residue from fats that have not been digested. Just a thought.

Malaseb is a fantastic product however should really only be used where there is a confirmed bacterial and/or fungal infection in the skin. It is very drying therefore the malaseb conditioner should be used after the shampoo. From what the lasy is saying Malaseb is a bit too strong for what this puppy has. I would recommend taking your pup to a specialist Dermatologist, you will get the most up to date and accurate information on skin issues from a specialist

Diarrhoea is really only a cause for a vet visit in young pups, or if the dog is depressed, dehydrated or there is copious blood in the diarrhoea. Even a small amount of blood I wouldnt be too worried about if the dog if bright otherwise.

Do be aware that some dogs can become allergic to oatmeal. If I wash my older Cav in oatmeal shampoo she scratches herself to bits for days afterwards!

Why would a torn cruciate ligament prevent you from breeding her? A torn cruciate is not a genetic condition. If she is true to type and heart/patella/hip and eye clear there is no reason why a cruciate problem should not get in the way

Do be aware that dogs can get Zinc toxicity from human zinc based sunblock. Only a few months ago we had a small dog who died from the condition. Her Zinc level were off the charts - and this was only from one application of Zinc. I would be very very wary about using it on your dogs. After seeing this case I would never use zinc on my own dogs.

Cavalier people - are they just looking for foster carers for the Cavaliers or permenant homes? If any of you are going to foster, please note when they are looking for permenant homes, Ill be happy to take 1 ( or two )

Completely agree!!! People are way too soft on their dogs. When I have switched foods, all my dogs turn their noses up at it for the first few days. Tough cookies I say! It gets put on the ground for 10 mins - if they dont eat it they go hungry until their next meal. It doesnt take long for them to realise if they dont eat what they are given they go hungry. Dogs need to have a leader - and making them eat what they are given is part of establishing yourself as the pack leader. If you pander their their every whim, they are establishing themself as leader and you will end up with a huge number of behavioural problems! I guarantee if you follow the above method - strictly - your dog will eventually eat the food and get out of the habit of being so damn fussy! He's never been fussy before. And I played it tough for 3 or 4 days before I started to really worry about him starving! He was running out of energy when we went jogging and that concerned me. Dogs won't starve themselves. They eat to live, not live to eat. Their tastebuds aren't as developed as ours and if they won't eat something it's more likely that they don't want to rather than they don't like it. Humans are dogs' worst enemies in that regard. They certainly are! No dog will starve themselves - unless they are extremely ill. It took my old girl 7 days of not eating a full meal to get the message. She certainly was not starving

Completely agree!!! People are way too soft on their dogs. When I have switched foods, all my dogs turn their noses up at it for the first few days. Tough cookies I say! It gets put on the ground for 10 mins - if they dont eat it they go hungry until their next meal. It doesnt take long for them to realise if they dont eat what they are given they go hungry. Dogs need to have a leader - and making them eat what they are given is part of establishing yourself as the pack leader. If you pander their their every whim, they are establishing themself as leader and you will end up with a huge number of behavioural problems! I guarantee if you follow the above method - strictly - your dog will eventually eat the food and get out of the habit of being so damn fussy!

Polydipsia (drinking excessively) is not really a clinical sign of Hypothyroidism. The most common conditions causing polydipsia are Cushings disease, Addisons disease, renal disease, liver disease and diabetes. Diabetes insipidus (there are a few types of this disease) can also occur but is quite rare. Cushings disease, renal disease, liver disease and diabetes will all show up on a blood test. If your vet suspects Cushings or Addisons disease based on the first screening blood test - they will probably recommend another blood test (Low dose dexamethasone supression test or ACTH stimulation test) to confirm the diagnosis.

Yes that is very cheap. The test we use (which is the most accurate) is around $80 or so cost price.

Vetpath has just recently had a price increase (they do so every end of financial year). So that sounds about right.

Chicken meal is a higher quality meat that chicken by-products. Optimum also uses cereal protein as a filler to reduce the amount of meat used in the kibble.

I agree with not giving discounts for multiple dogs - it takes just as long per dog to groom one dog as it does to do two! We do not give discounts for multiple dogs at our vet clinic for this exact reason - why should groomers be any different? It is just selling yourself short IMHO. Vets dont do price collusion but we do have a price survey done Nationally each year so we can bench mark ourselves against other clinics. I believe this is completely legal - maybe groomers could do something along these lines??

No specific concerns Ive seen the procedure performed at least 100 times (used to be a nurse at an ophthalmology practice). I suppose Im more wanting to know how the dogs cope when they come home..... my poor girl is a very VERY nervous, scared of everything in life type of dog and Im very worried she will not be able to cope if she ends up blind.

Completely agree with this! If I fed my dogs what it says on the bag (I feed Hills Sciece Diet) they would be monsters!!!

Anyones dog had cataract surgery...?? I know all the medical stuff but I would like to know the experience from a dog owners perspective. When it comes to my own dogs I lose all objectivity and veterinary knowledge and regress back to a blubbering crazy dog owner My 6 year old Cavalier was born with bilateral cataracts and until now they have been very slow growing. Had a check up at the specialist ophthalmologist last time I was in Perth and were advised to have cataract surgery within 12 months, or if she starts having visual defecits then surgery sooner. Unfortunately last night she walked straight into the wall...... didnt see it at all So surgery will need to be done soon We will do one eye first (just in case there are complications), then if all goes well will do the second eye. Any experiences from an owners perspective would be much appreciated.... one very worried Mum here ;)

Testosterone levels came back today. Dog is completely infertile Now just got to wait for the pups to arrive to see what dog jumped the fence ;)

What's the difference between a pressure dressing and a pressure bandage? I have my own ideas (eg. to me a pressure dressing would be one of those that I described - actually, Rappie described it better - being a Vet, she can - but I mean the type where the dressing/bandage is on both sides of the ear flap and the ear is sutured to resemble a quilt. Whereas a bandage to me is something that wraps around something) but I'm not sure that everyone reading would be on the same page, nor whether I am right. Pressure can be applied to an ear without a bandage - my OH operates on human ears a lot and, although sometimes he does stitch through to hold a dressing on there are ways and means of applying flat pressure against the ear flap. A haematoma is a "tumour of blood" so by definition, even if the problem is caused initially by a breaking blood vessel, if the pocket is full of lightly blood stained serous fluid then it isn't a haematoma. I realise that vets refer to it as such, but by definiton it actually isn't. Anyway, Boney is doing fine and having an experimental/new treatment. A haematoma is not a tumour of blood! It is simply blood outside of a blood vessel. As I stated in my previous post - the lightly blood stained fluid is what is left over after the blood forming the haematoma has clotted. There would be a big clot left in the ear (this is surgically removed when vets perform the surgery) What you are doing is not an "experiemental" treatment. It has been tried by vets many times before and has a very low success rate. This is why we perform the surgery. Ummm what do you know about the new/experimental treatment that is being carried out? I haven't discussed it. It is something that is now being done in place of surgery which gives a better result if successful. HAEM = blood and TOMA = tumour. Do vet nurses do medical terminology these days? Rough Latin translation. A haematoma, strictly speaking, to qualify, must be blood filled. There is no way in human medicine that this space filled with serous fluid would be called a haematoma. I am not a vet nurse - I am a qualified veterinary surgeon with many years experience. Call it what you will. Your dog has a haematoma and needs to see a vet. Yes... a "blood collection" that doesn't contain blood. *Sigh* You are showing a complete lack of medical knowledge. Im not going to repeat myself yet again. Good luck.