*kirty*

Its hard to tell from the photos but it looks like corneal lipid (fat in the cornea). It will need to be treated as it is often progressive.

She really is a special girl, and I feel so lucky to have her. :)

She is so cute! Can't see any English Mastiff in there though!

I have posted lots of photos of Pia with my cats and kittens before, but she continues to make me proud. :) She loves to supervise while I feed my guinea pigs. She likes to eat their poop if given half a chance, but I don't think has any desire to eat the piggies themselves lol. Bad photo, but the monster bunny likes to get involved too.

I agree that every brachy dog has BOAS to some degree. We deal with it at work every single day, and have special premed and anaesthetic protocols for brachy dogs. I don't understand how it can be acceptable to breed dogs that can't breathe properly. It is upsetting to watch a dog wake up with an ET tube still in after surgery, with the best airway it's ever had, only to struggle to breathe again once the tube has been removed. The poor dogs have reduced oxygen saturation permanently. The breed standards are open for interpretation so they don't necessarily need to be changed.

Tenterfield Terrier Fox Terrier Italian Greyhound Miniature Pinscher Whippet What are you looking for in terms of temperament?

There is aChi breeder in Melbourne who breeds mainly for stable, family pets. Her dogs are gorgeous and love kids. :)

I would just get a Chi. :) I have an Italian Greyhound with my four 20kg+ dogs and they are all fine together. Obviously you need to be sensible - big dogs learn very early on that they need to be gentle with the littlies, and they are not left home alone together. Chi's aren't as breakable as some toy breeds and are pretty good at sticking up for themselves!

I think the owners would know what breed their puppy is. It looks like a Scotty to me?

I've just caught up with this thread now, and I'm so sorry DD. She was such a precious little girl and you did so much for her. She knew how loved she was. Thinking of you all xxx

Is that the blue pup that was all over FB? What great news for his family! :)

Feel free to send me a PM. :)

Great story. :) And some nice eye candy too hehe

Yep, poor little Emma was very unlucky.

Was that in NSW Jane? I believe they don't do ERGs in NSW and with a 6yo Cocker I would be very suspicious of PRA.

Hi, I work at an eye specialist so hopefully I can help. The PLR tells us that the eye is responding to light. It is not necessarily indicative of vision. There can be lots of reasons that a dog has a slow or poor PLR. Sometimes the muscles in the iris (the coloured part of the eye) can become atrophied due to age, so we get a poor PLR. In this case, the retina (nerve tissue at the back of the eye) may be perfect so cataract surgery is still an option. However sometimes if the cataracts have been present for a long time, they start to leak inside the eye. This is not something you can see, its happening on a microscopic level. This leaking causes inflamation inside the eye, and this inflamation can cause damage to the retina and will also cause a poor PLR. It can also cause the retina to detach and that will also cause a poor PLR. The only way to know if the retina is healthy and your dog is a good candidate for surgery is to do the ERG. When the dog is under anaesthetic, probes are attached to the face and eye. A bright light flashes into the eye and a computer measures the response. This tells us instantly if the retina is working properly. The ultrasound shows us if the back of the eye is normal - we can check that the vitreous (jelly at the back of the eye) is healthy, that the retina has not detached, and that the back of the lens has not ruptured. If all of these tests are good, we can go ahead with surgery. Unfortunately no surgery is guaranteed. Mature cataracts always have lower success rates due to the inflamation they have caused inside the eye. But there is still a good chance that your dog will get useful vision back. We could give someone a 90% success rate and their dog could be in that unlucky 10% that has complications. As Pretty Miss Emma said, blind dogs cope very well. There is no right or wrong answer here. It's entirely up to you. Personally I would get the ERG done so you at least know where you stand and what your options are. :)

At our clinic, we do both. If the. client has filled out their sections, the vet is happy to sign it at the time of consult. If not, the nurses sort it out and get vet to sign later. We are happy to post to the insurance company or back to the client.

Desexing is the removal of the uterus and ovaries. When they are done as puppies it is all very tiny, hence only 2 stitches.

If you are looking at vizlas, check out the wirehairs. Stunning!

LabTested, that stuff is different - it is normal tape. Vetwrap (and all the other brands) sticks to itself but not the animal.

Yes vet wrap is the name. You can buy similar stuff (but in boring colours) at most chemists.

So many comments.... Not worth it. Let's just say that things are not always what they seem.

Meh. Perhaps you could call it karma?

Add to that long hours, low pay, high debts, etc and it's easy to see why the suicide rate is so high.

Kongs and Tuffys. Mind you, my newest Tuffy was crap and the dogs destroyed it very quickly. If you stick to the canvas-like ones though you should be fine.