knitmehappy

Oops. Double posted.

Have been to vet. Still thinking its just food intolerances following the gastro and irritated gut. Fasting again until tomorrow and will keep him on the chicken diet for a few weeks. If he still has diarrhea in 3 days he will do more tests. Have got some probiotics. The vet said they already tested for coccidiosis so that is unlikely. Has lost more weight, down to 29kg, was 30.5 the other day. Buddy is snoozing next to me in the sun now. I feel so bad for him, he should be full of beans and having a great time in his new home

Have been to vet. Still thinking its just food intolerances following the gastro and irritated gut. Fasting again until tomorrow and will keep him on the chicken diet for a few weeks. If he still has diarrhea in 3 days he will do more tests. Have got some probiotics. The vet said they already tested for coccidiosis so that is unlikely. Has lost more weight, down to 29kg, was 30.5 the other day. Buddy is snoozing next to me in the sun now. I feel so bad for him, he should be full of beans and having a great time in his new home

Thanks for your replies. Buddy seems very unwell to me. He has been sad and lethargic now for 3 days and refused food yesterday after eating nothing the previous day. I hand fed him a few nibbles of cooked chicken this morning, he wasn't really interested at all. He had another episode of explosive diarrhoea this morning, and a couple yesterday. Will ring the vet when they open soon. My friend is a very experienced dog owner and said one of her labs was like this when he got coccidiosis, I will check with the vet this morning if they checked the previous stool sample for this, we have chickens and they can carry it. Im worried he is in pain, yesterday morning he was very unenthusiastic about his walk, we just went around the block and he had had enough, usually he is just getting warmed up around the 5km mark and will happily walk/run 8 or more km. is what our walks are usually like. now he looks like

The vet thought it wasn't related to the kennels, just something he picked up after the move.

I will try and get some yoghurt tomorrow. I think I won't give him breakfast tomorrow, as I will leave for work at 6.30 and I don't want any accidents during the day. He can have a frozen chicken broth kong to keep him busy and I will feed him in the arvo, I will be home about 3.

Yeah, the cat we have had sorted for a year or 2 now on fresh meat/wings etc. Buddy was treated with flagyl originally, he probably had giardia - it certainly smelt like giardia. he had worsening diarrhoea for a few days and passed a lot of blood. he was hospitalised for IV fluids. I was hoping his gut would be on the mend, obviously I was too impatient. Would something like olive oil be irritating for his gut? he could do with some calories. he also had peptosyl for his gut originally.

ALso he is pretty skinny and has lost about 500g since his last vet visit. He actually lost more than that but I managed to get a bit of padding on his ribs last week with extra meals. He is a very lean lab and the vet said today he shouldn't lose any more. Chicken and rice doesn't seem very high in calories, is there anything non-allergenic that can boost calories? We didn't see the regular vet, this one wasn't very communicative

Hi there, my new dog Buddy (4yr old labX) got a nasty gastroenteritis about 3 weeks ago, 1 week after we adopted him from a shelter thru pet rescue. Since then he has been on a restricted diet of chicken and rice, and we gradually transitioned back to canidae kibble (his previous food). On weds I gave him a roo bone and he has been sick since, with diarrhoea and vomiting. Saw vet again today and he's back on chicken and rice and will stay on it for a couple of months probably. So my question is , has this happened to other peoples dogs, and how long should I expect it to last? I would like to feed him a natural diet, mostly raw food with a little bit of kibble. He would really love a bone to chew on. Ive got a couple of kongs in the freezer with chicken broth and rice in. I started another thread about his separation anxiety, he needs something to chew on to keep him occupied when I am at work. I have to go out to work tomorrow, usually I work at home, poor timing for a sick dog ): I have a cat with an intolerance of preservatives who I raw feed, she can't even tolerate mince because they often put preservatives in it. Today I have cleaned up vomit out of 2 creatures....would like to go a week or so without someone vomiting and diarrhoea, buddy has had 2 stinky episodes inside...

Poor buddy is sick again. Diarrhea and vomiting in the night, another vet visit, needle, antibiotic. Is now asleep in bed, has been lethargic all morning poor darling. Appears to have food intolerance, I gave him a roo bone on weds. Will be back on restricted diet for 1-2 months. He has lost about 500g since his last vet visit, the vet doesn't want to see him any skinnier.

They look like greyhound legs in that pic :) He is a gorgeous boy. So not kangaroo then? lol

So you think maybe a touch of greyhound? He can run like the wind so maybe you're right :) I'm really hoping he does well at obedience and can do agility. I really want to do agility, he better like it!!lol.

Why thank you :) I think so too.

another one. look at those legs! a lady in the park asked if he was crossed with a kangaroo lol.

Here are some photos. Is he too lean? His legs are extremely long, so he looks leaner than other labs (we think he has some kelpie in him) but I think he is skinnier than when he arrived. At that time the vet said he was just right.

So I've been less soft today. He knows what 'out' means but I am guilty of allowing him just back up a few steps instead of leaving the room. I made him leave my workroom this morning and stay outside the door. For one thing it's too small for a 30kg Labrador and myself,and also unsafe with a hot iron and my sewing machines. He has been quite happily snoozing in a sunbeam near the front door. He has left the cat alone, stayed out of the kitchen and hasn't even tried to sample the treats in the kitty litter. He had a short playdate with my friends lab this morning. Normally I dogsit a couple of days a week while my friend works but haven't since getting buddy. Am going to build up the time they spend together so I can leave them unsupervised for a bit. At the moment they are completely insane while together, they look like 2 hippos wrestling. They do have quiet periods too do hopefully they will calm down together lol. I will trial walking them together by myself this weekend, I think Iight need backup for that the first time. But if he has a dog friend over regularly I hope he transfers some of his affection to his friend :)

I've had a needy dog before, he was also very dominant. I implemented NILIF * and it helped enormously. Either way it certainly sounds like you have are very aware, he is very lucky to have found such a caring, switched on owner. *rushing out so can't find direct link but if you go to http://www.k9pro.com.au/#t you should find more info on NILIF. I've been doing something similar, but I suspect I'm not consistent enough. Can be a bit soft at times. Must be consistent!!!

I wondered that too. I presume they get a deal or donations. The shelter recommended dogfood.com.au I'm wondering if the company gets some free recs too from adoptions? Tbh it wouldn't be my first choice as its imported from the us but I'm happy with it for now. But, yeah, I'm pretty sure the shelter woukdnt be paying full price!! That stuff is exxy.

He is on Canidae dry food, the same brand as he was on in the shelter.I was going to transition him to a more natural diet but then he got sick and his tummy has been a bit sensitive since so I will just keep him on that for a while I think. I plan to feed mostly raw, with some dry food occasionally. i feed my cat only raw as she is allergic to preservatives so I'm used to preparing a couple of weeks worth of meat meals and freezing them (even though Im a vegetarian, what we do for our pets lol) His coat looks....not great, he could have a bit of shine I think. I think he needs some egg or sardines or something, so maybe next week I will start trying him with a little bit of those and see if he tolerates it. I need to get some ideas on making sure he has a complete diet, so will check out the other forums.

Thanks for your replies, funnily enough while i have been reading this I've been ignoring him and he has been much calmer, and lying on the floor at my feet. I'm going to be a bit more 'structured' with my ignoring from now I think. i have been trying to make leaving and coming home low key, but will set up some strict routines along the lines of your advice. Regarding kongs, I have read that people use peanut butter in them, is PB ok for dogs? how does one get it into the kong? I just put kibble in at the moment but kibble isn't much of a challenge for a lab lol. I might get a food puzzle as well. I probably won't get a crate but the rumpus room downstairs already serves as a kind of den, even though its a bit large. He usually eats his food there so its a happy place. He is happy to go down for Bedtime, he gets a treat and goes to bed with no probs. Another question, regarding feeding. Buddy lost a lot of weight when he was sick, he had a bad gastro and passed a lot of blood and fluid. He spent a day in hospital having IV and antibiotics, and was fasting for about 3 days as well. Then he was on a restricted diet and has just transitioned back to his dry food. I noticed I could see his ribs the other day and have been giving him an extra feeding at night. He seems to be better behaved when he is fed twice a day, rather than once. Is ts ok to continue twice a day feeding- he is now back on about his regular amount, but twice a day. I am suspicious he has been hungry- is is very lean for a lab and has either been very very well exercised or fed very little. Considering his owners didn't have time for him I am suspicious he wasn't being fed huge amounts. He doesn't guard his food and is happy for me to steal it (I test him every now and again, he gets it straight back) but does seem to be more likely to raid the bin and the cats food etc than my friends lab.

Hi there. My name is Jackie and I have a few questions to check if am on the right track with my labrador Buddy. He is 4 yrs old and we got him a month ago, he was surrendered by his previous owners as they didn't have time for him and were finding him "uncontrollable" with jumping etc. He has had one owner, and a few months in a shelter where they surrendered him. Since I have had him i haven't found anything "uncontrollable" he had no leash manners to start but with a halti and consistent training and exercise he learnt to walk nicely on lead within a few days. He is still a bit pully but with consistent reminders to heel he is pretty good and by the end of a walk is great. He learnt to not chase chickens within a few days too. His recall is poor in strange environments, but very good around the house, I am not letting him off lead until we have been to training and worked on that. mainly my questions relate to our relationship. Since day 1 Buddy has been fixated on me. I am everything, for the most obvious reason that I do all the walking, feeding and training. I work from home most days so he has me all to himself. I wonder if he is getting too much of a good thing as he is literally my shadow, the moment I move he is alert and following me. He has learnt "out" and stays out of the kitchen (mostly lol, more on that later) and the bathroom where the kitty litter lives. When we are out and about he is not interested in other people, even friends and neighbours we meet regularly. My friend remarked today that he didn't even wag his tail at her when she arrived at school pickup. He seems to ignore everybody but me. I should mention my family includes me, my husband, 8 yr old daughter, cat and chickens. I have started making sure buddy spends a couple of hours a day downstairs (he sleeps downstairs in the rumpus room) when I am working so we are not joined at the hip, so to speak. He is developing separation anxiety which is manifesting by breaking out as I am leaving to try to follow me. I put him downstairs (a baby gate on top of stairs to keep cat and dog apart while I am gone) and he wants to push his way past me to ensure he goes with me. I leave him with a kong to distract him but he won't be distracted. Will his anxiety resolve if I keep maintaining these routines? it is not "terrible" at the moment but I can see it might become that way if I don't nip it in the bud. Also he tends to a a couple of crazy periods generally in the evening, but sometimes in the morning, when he goes nuts, charges around, breaks into the kitchen, steals things, steals the cats food, chases the cat etc. Total lunatic. I have taken to just keeping him downstairs at those times so he doesn't get started. We start formal training in 3 weeks, he was sick and in hospital the 2nd week he came here so we missed the start of those lessons and have to wait now. Will more training help these issues settle? Thanks for reading through this long novel :)