LisaCC

I will get her a marrow bone today :) I've had a lovely offer from a wonderful DOLer to borrow one of those fancy mental stimulation food toys, so I will be picking that up tomorrow. The rope through the kong is a great simple idea too! Unfortunately I don't live anywhere near the coast, and the river here is probably getting a bit too cold to get into. We had a bad night, at about 3am she was in a lot of pain and straining to urinate, but after a massage she was finally able to release. Off to the specialist this afternoon so we will see what they have to say about everything. Raz OH comes back Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

Thank you everyone, Great DOL community support here :) I have a big wheelie office chair I was able to lay her up on so we had a little roll around the house and back yard this afternoon. Tail wagging the whole time :) I'm thinking that holding her in some water (say the bathtub) may get her legs kicking, as this afternoon when I was rolling her on her back and giving her a tummy rub she started paddling her legs. I'll be doing all my uni lectures online this week and only going to a few hours of compulsory pracs so I'll be able to keep nursing her back to health. So if anyone has any more tips keep them coming. I'll keep updating her progress and will talk to the vet tomorrow morning and see if he still recommends the Specialist consult and get the referral sent over.

They are great ideas m-j. She has a crate but it is a soft crate and I'm only putting her in it at night. Its much too hard on myself to keep pulling her out of the crate all day to move her around and/or take her outside. I might try putting her food in an egg carton though. We finally got a poo! Helped massage it out to begin with but then her muscles kicked in. Good small improvements today :)

Just took her outside for a little roll around as she woke up again. A little improvement! I put her in a standard drop position and she worked her legs a little and moved a tiny bit forward and then fell to the side. Small but great to see! A lot of effort on her part, straight back to sleep she went.

According to the vet, the reactions she displayed after the bite (did not see it happen, it was just before I got her) was more along the way a cat reacts to toxins. I took her to the vet as she was high stepping with stiff legs and breathing abnormally. I did not personally see the rest of the reactions through out her vet stay, just told they were very abnormal. About 5 vets observing her and didn't know what was going on until later in the day, they were literally just about to call the specialists when she started displaying snake bite reactions. Blood tests for snake bites kept being negative but to begin with they though it was unlikely anyway. Can I get paraffin oil at the supermarket?

Both the bolded parts are already being done. I don't have anything I can take her out in. I might be able to take her for a car ride, but could be useless if she can't see out the window. I do have a beanbag!

I'm looking after my partners dog as he has gone away for the week. The poor darling got bitten by a snake but has had some strange reactions, possibly not related, her story is near the end of the "Bloody Snakes" thread. At the moment she is kinda paralysed in all four legs. She can feel her legs if you pinch them, they twitch in her sleep but she just can't move them or put weight on them. She is getting bored and I need some ideas to keep her occupied. She was enjoying her Kong with a bit of peanut butter in it but as kongs are round and she couldn't get a proper grip on them unless I held it. Any ideas for something that she only needs her mouth to use? She's a smallish Cattle Dog if that helps.

She's still the same. Bit sleepy but thats to be expected. Odd thing is that she can feel her legs, if you give her a pinch between her toes she can feel it, She moves them slightly in her sleep. But she can't even move her front legs to hold something. Her throat is quite raspy, she's been barking a little at the next door neighbour but it sounds a bit like she's been de-barked. She also hasn't pooped since I got her home. I'm just about to post a general topic. I need some ideas on how to keep her occupied, she is getting bored. I tried putting some peanut butter in her kong but as she can't grab it it kept rolling away. Even propping it up it kept falling so she couldn't get to it.

Thanks Tikira, Just wish my partner (her owner) was here. Hope she improves or at least stays stable until he gets back.

They honestly aren't sure. She had some very weird symptoms but they did improve with the antivenin. Luckily there are only brown snakes around here so only one option of antivenin to give. So it's either a prolonged reaction from a snake bite or something else is happening. If there are no improvements by Monday then there may be something else going on. She gets very stressed at the vets so they said as she is stable being home would be the best for her.

Ruby is home! But she's still not moving her legs Otherwise she is pretty normal, eating drinking by her self even just watched her attempt to catch a fly. If there is no improvement on Monday we have been advised to take her to the diagnostic vet centre. The normal vets have done all they can for her.

Thanks Mudlark, We actually got a pattern from our vets on how to make our own Booties. We will try how he goes with the home made ones (being made this weekend), if they don't have enough traction we will go with the commercial ones.

I know a few people who only had one or two dogs and looked after them very well, one day their partner decides they don't want a dog for one reason or another (One was because it meant they couldn't go on holidays with a days notice). Unless its a major issue like the dog became aggressive and attacked, If I was told "it's me or the dog" I know what I would pick.

I think we will be going with the Walkabout. Thanks for everyones input and Staff'n'Tollers help. I'll update about how it goes once we get it.

That's a bit cruel. If you're going to kill a snake atleast be quick about it rather than boil them alive. What a horrible thing to do. Condolences to those of you who have lost your dogs to snake bite. I agree with you Raz. I got to visit Ruby today. Poor darling, she is looking much better, but can't stand up. Generally she is actually quite a healthy dog and the vet thinks she'll survive. She's just had a very odd reaction. Doesn't help that she is terrified of the clinic and is refusing to eat there. Full bloods to come this arvo.

My dog comes first and any future dogs i have will come first. My partner feels the same way about his dog, so we are totally fine with it.

Thanks Staff'n'Toller :) You don't know of any other Australian suppliers do you?

Sorry for you loss Tikira No snakes on the rainbow bridge. Quick update from the vet, the Antivenin seemed to have worked a little last night, Ruby is breathing properly now. Obviously still not out of the woods as she was showing very very strange symptoms. Still not walking but she hates the vets and wouldn't walk in there when she could. I've been told to come visit at midday so hopefully get her up and have a little walk.

Yes I was looking at that. They say they don't rub or cut in as they have Neoprene sleeves on the bands, not sure how effective that would be. I was hoping someone might have used them before and could let me know the truth of it.

Has anyone tried the Bottoms Up leash or something similar? https://seniorpetsup...s-up-leash.html http://www.aquapaws....?stg=14&view=14 That second link is an australian one. The other harness I was looking at was the Walkabout back harness http://www.walkabout...ut-back-harness I will also be calling the vet to ask about Biko bands and if they may help http://www.bikomobil.../pet-owners/#DM Or this may be better http://canine-mobility.com/about/ Since Sam's Inflammatory bowel disease has flared back up, his Degenerative Myelopathy is getting worse as his weight drops. I'm looking to get something to help him move around a bit more, but we aren't sure what the future holds at the moment so not looking into ordering a cart yet as if his IBM doesn't get on track we might not ever get to use it.

Argh Bloody snakes!! Had to rush my partners dog to the Vet today, She had a very very odd symptoms. 6hrs later still with negative blood tests and they only now are seeing symptoms related to a snake bite! I gave them the go ahead for anti-venom I'll know soon enough. She would of gotten bitten in a time frame of half an hour this morning at his house.

As SchnauzerMax said, Generics have the same active ingredients but the formation can differ. My own medication I never get in generic because they are huge giant tablets and the generic brand doesn't have any coating on it so they stick to your tongue/throat.

Unfortunately our beloved breed comes in for a lot of criticism on weight and every man and his dog (both non Labrador owners and Labrador owners have an opinion about a Lab's weight) . Yes there are many overweight Labs out there, but so many confuse a muscular, solid & very fit Lab with being overweight because they don't resemble a "field" Lab. There is a major difference between the show/bench lab and field/working labs and I have always preferred the show/bench Lab as they are the Labs that are bred to standard. My current youngster is from a very well renowned Labrador breeder who has been breeding for over 35 years and showing and judging Labs for many many years and I got my youngster from him as I believe his Labs are an excellent representation of our breed and he breeds to standard. Funny thing is I actually get a lot of compliments from Rotty owners on my boy who say he is the most solid and fit looking Lab they have ever seen and some ask if he is part Rotty :laugh: If people want a slim build Lab they can get a field/working Lab as a show/bench style Lab will never be a slim build Lab as they are completely different builds, unless a show/bench style Lab has been purposely keep very lean due to joint injury or to appease their owner's often misguided view on how a Lab should look :D In saying this, I do realise that unfortunately, there are a lot of overweight Labs out there, but not all show/bench labs are overweight just because their body build is larger as a lot of these dogs are very solid and fit. In some people's mind, all show/bench labs are fat and nothing any of us say will change their their opinions, even though they have never run their hands over the Labs they judge as fat and I am not talking about the obvious overweight Labs here. Anyway no amount of criticism of our beloved breed will dampen my joy for both the very happy and gorgeous Romeo and his delighted owner. :) Great achievement Well said! When my yellow boy was young and healthy he was a very big boy, but definitely not fat, at the time his breeder enquired whether we would be interested in showing him as he had grown to be quiet lovely (my Mother decided she didn't want to). The comments we got from other people were disgusting, I had one man drag his skinny field lab bitch over to me at obedience and say "This is what a proper labrador should look like" and that Sam was "Grossly obese".

I thought the labrador was absolutely gorgeous! I adore heavy built labradors and his excitement was great to see :)

Oooh a Vizsla and a Dalmatian pup on the way! Cute photos to come I'm sure!