aliwake

I haven't taken any photos yet pers - will try to do so in the next day or so. The look normal and have good contact with his eyes when he's upright and awake, then they seem to sag away if he's lying down. You can see a lot red inside his lower eyelid at times. Our vet said she is confident doing eye surgery, but has offered to refer us to an eye specialist, so we will probably do that. Thanks Ams, Lisa has suggested ectropian, so perhaps you can both place bets and I'll let you know the winner when we've seen a specialist :) Sounds the the symptoms are very similar - on-going conjunctivitis...

Too cute Lisa! Bring on the baby bed pics!

My boy has had ongoing issues with very mucky eyes, particularly overnight. I tried doing the calendula tea rinse over the last couple of weeks, which definitely made short term improvements, but was not lasting. I took him to the vet last week and she checked for dry eye (not an issue - he has plenty of tears!), scratches and lumps etc (also all clear). She said it was most likely a low grade infection or an allergy, so we've been using a steroid and antibiotic ointment for the last few days. His eyes are looking a LOT better, but not 100% and my gut feeling is this is going to continue to be a problem. The other concern I had, that I pointed out to the vet, it that his eyelids are quite floppy/droopy. She asked if he sleeps with his eyes open (which he does), and said the eyelids could definitely be an issue. We're just in wait and see mode at the moment, but she said it is possible to do an eyelid tuck to tighten them up, if it continues to be a problem. It makes sense to me, but such delicate surgery seems pretty scary. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had experience with this problem, and if you took the surgical route, what was the outcome like?

Pups grow so fast, so beds are a bit tricky. I ended up buying a small $15 bed from the local cheap shop which lasted for the first few months, and he absolutely adored it. He was still trying to cram himself in there at 6 months, and now it would probably only fit his head in it... If you buy a full size bed at the start then it might not provide that safe snuggly environment that the little ones like. There will be plenty of time to buy an expensive bed when they're a bit bigger, and not chewing so much :)

I got my kyjen one just a couple of weeks ago from pets providore - their shipping is flat rate $10 I think, and the kyjen puzzles were all on special...

We use dog puzzles as feeders - even though he knows them inside out now, there are still so many compartments to open and close, that it slows feeding down a lot. We have an aikiou one and a kyjen one. Both are good because they're made out of nice hard plastic.

such wonderful news! I've been following too, and it's such a relief. Reba is a superstar!

Awesome pics Steph! So nice to see some pics of Gus looking all grown up, and of them both having so much fun! Pretty impressed you survived camping with two dogs :) P.s. thanks for all the support guys. I'm not feeling better about what happened, but have managed to let go of my distress somewhat. We went to the park yesterday cos I wanted to have a positive experience, and we both had a nice time, so I don't think Nix is going to have any lasting issues. As an aside, we went to the vet today and he didn't pee on anything!! hooray!

Yeah, I wish I hadn't read that this morning when I was at work - teared up big time. It was a wonderful tribute to their time together.

I have noticed that about SBT's!! :)

Thanks :D My mum thinks it's a puppy thing and he'll grow out of it, but I'm pretty sure I've met adult dogs that lie that way too. I hope it's not bad for him cos I think we have about zero chance of being able to stop him from doing it! Hopefully as the weather cools down they'll all decide to spend more time on the lovely beds we've provided!

I'm curious too, Nixon is the same. And my husband worries about him sleeping like this: Thinks it might be bad for his joints. Any ideas?

That sux when they're so busy! I have no doubt you're doing all the right things :)

Someone was telling me about something similar with their dog yesterday - apparently it was a piece of stick stuck in the dog's gum. Hopefully it's will be something easily fixable for your dog. If he's in pain, perhaps you should try to go to the vet sooner?

:) That would be fun! Thanks for commiserating x

I know Steph - I felt like calling the police and reporting an assault! I think I was just frozen in disbelief!! I will not be frozen if there's a next time - I'm now prepared for the existence of tossers like that I just can't even imagine why he thought that would be ok!

Had an awful incident at the dog park yesterday - I'm absolutely fuming. After going there for months and having 100% positive interactions, and us both making some lovely friends, we came into contact with a complete douchebag yesterday. A guy with a golden retriever came down - he has been there before with no dramas, but not often. Nixon and the other dog were playing really nicely together, and clearly enjoying themselves. They were settling in for a long round of bitey face, when the guy said, oh, my dog has had some trouble with his ears lately so we need to make sure his ears don't get bitten. So, I dragged Nixon away a couple of times, but they both clearly wanted to keep playing, so then the guy grabbed nixon, dragged him away and hit him over the face 5 or 6 times (telling him no or something ridiculous)! He didn't hit him very hard, and I think I was so shocked that I didn't do anything (I'm so ashamed now!) I called Nixon to me and mumbled something about not telling him off for something he's normally allowed to do without any problems, and fortunately the guy left a minute or two later. Why on earth would he even take his dog to the park if his dog's ears needed to be kept clean. I'm so angry, and so disappointed in myself for not sticking up for him better. Luckily for that guy Nix has a lovely temperament and just took it all with a slightly confused look on his face If he ever tries that again he'll be hearing about it for sure!

The only time we used it our boy refused to use his toilet for 2 days. I would just see how your boy goes first. If he's used to the pads already he'll probably do ok.

Congrats, sounds like Nala and Cleo both did so well! How exciting!! And lovely to get such great feedback too!

I didn't think Nixon paid any attention to the tv, but the other night he was lying in my lap half asleep then suddenly sat up and looked at the tv, and it turns out there was a dog food ad on :)

That was such an informative and balanced post bridgie_cat, thank you!

OMG Sumo is gorgeous! Makes me want cuddles immediately!

It sounds yummy sheena!

It does smell pretty bland.... not too keen to try it myself!

I got a cloud collar from petbarn too - but beware, depending on where the stitches are, a flexible dog might still be able to get them with a cloud collar on. My boy could definitely still reach his desexing wound. I'm just lucky he healed really fast, so I mainly just used the cloud collar as a bit of a deterrent. I don't think he was specifically trying to lick his wound, he's just a regular groin licker regardless :) PS my petbarn had the cloud collar behind the counter, so make sure you ask!