Jim

Having left the purebred dog world many years ago, I have decided to move on several rare and/or out of print books. The complete listing can be found here. I offer this information in the spirit of letting people know of an opportunity that many will want to know about. Chihuahua people in particular take note. Troy, I have not been here for some time so am unaware of current policies on this forum. If you consider this post to be of a commercial nature or inappropriate, please delete at will. No explanation or justification is required. Cheers to any of my old friends that may still be frequenting this forum. Cheers Jim

Greyhound Gayle????

Tell her Jim from MindiBown sent you in. She's actually quite a nice lady. Take her as you find her and be yourself. I hope you like her. Quote...I'll just have to break a chihuahuas leg in three places Been done. Well, actually, it was two places. But it was a Chihuahua, and she did fix it. No surgery, with a syringe case for a splint. Chihuahua was feeding a week old litter at the time...JUST to make things even more interesting.

In my ever so humble opinion, for whatever that opinion is worth, Dr Sue Collins is the single best vet I have ever come across and she played no small part in the success of our kennels. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty on so many occassions I have lost count. Yes, she is far more comfortable with your dog than she is with you. Part of it I think is that her brain operates at a speed far in excess of most people (certainly mine) and she's way ahead of any conversation we may feel is needed. All she's doing is quietly saying to herself..."Give me the dog. Let me fix the problem. Let me do my thing now please. Would you please shut up now and let me fix the damned dog" While trying not to sound rude to you and I. Thus you get the smile, the uh-huh's etc. And not a whole lot of anything else. What you are seeing is her impatience to get on with the job at hand...making your dog well.... without offending you. And the first part of that is her priority. If you want the bedside manner, with almost the same skill level, ask for Sandy. As you can probably tell, I have the highest regard for both the abilty and humanity of these particular ladies. If you want to chat with Sue btw...get her into theatre. Now you're in her territory. She's non-stop talk in there. Take a notebook with you. you'll learn heaps.

All I can say after reading everyone elses posts on this subject is to say that Roxiekda probably went into more detail than some of the others and everything said in her post should be re-read. Please re-think your choice of breeder, for both the pups sake and yours. What you are describing is heartbreak waiting to happen. And....please report the breeder to your state Chihuahua Club.

Not a bad idea Ellz. Its a bit like brainstorming isn't it? If you've ever done that. One idea leads to another which leads to yet another. Your idea has sparked that chain off. I've got a couple of things going through my mind as possibilities now. Thank you.

Hi everyone, and thanks heaps for your input. The concept of separating the cats food so the dogs can't get to it is basically the solution we have now. By putting the grates back up. Before the grate, we put the cat food on the kitchen counter. That worked fine, until kittens arrived. The idea of allowing the cats access where the dogs can't go may well be the final solution, but I wanted to hear if it was feasible to re-train the dogs. I guess what I'm basically hearing is that dogs and cats have different requirements regarding this. Sas summed it up with "Cats are grazers and eat when they have to, dogs just eat whatever is there and just keep going" Except for Pandii of course. What you're describing sounds interesting. A little bit in the bowl until they get the idea. Maybe my mistake was to put a full bowl down each time. I really hadn't considered rescue as a possible source of a solution but of course, you guys deal with dogs with various food issues all the time. I thank you for you input. Sas...in answer to your question. When we had many more dogs than we have now, practical considerations dictated we feed them all at the one time, individually. They just got used to that. Now that we are just basically pet owners, we don't have the same needs and it would be much better if we could just let them graze. But breaking these long held habits may be difficult. I have a feeling the grate is going to have to stay up a while longer. Tamara, our eldest and most stubborn girl will be leaving home with my daughter in less than a years time. Indy, my own personal alien has a degenerative spinal condition that I have been told has no cure. He also probably has only about a year left here. When he goes, little Midget may have to go with him. Midget is a pup, now 6 yrs old, that shouldn't be here. She has more problems than Ned Kelly and Indy keeps her out of trouble. Apart from Midgets degenerating condition, she and Indy are inseparable. Midget without Indy is unthinkable. She barely copes with life with him. Without him....not going to happen. That just leaves little BillyBob. Maybe I should slowly work on her, and let nature take its course with the other guys. In the meantime, whats another year with grates at the doors? Unless I can find somewhere else to feed the cats? Maybe.....

I wonder if anyone can advise me on this one? As some of you will know, my wife’s and my breeding kennels closed down almost a year ago. All of the dogs are gone now except for our pets. When we had umpteen dogs, feeding had to be done in a certain manner. Specifically, mealtime was a set time of the day, and each dog was fed independently. Now that we have only 4 dogs, and cats….we would like to just leave food down for everyone and let them graze. The cats in particular prefer it this way. Trouble is, as soon as food appears to any of the dogs, they immediately assume “Dinner Time” and down it goes. We tried just continually putting more down until they got the idea that food would always be there but I honestly think they would have eaten themselves silly if I hadn’t stopped doing that. I guess basically, I lost my nerve. I’ve had to barricade the lounge room so the cats can graze and the dogs can’t get to it, but that’s going back to grates at the doors which is something we’ve lived with for too long, and the dogs can’t get into where the family is at night. No good. That’s not what we want. These are older dogs, ranging from 12 years down to 2 years. Does anyone have any ideas?

I don't know if anything will come of it, but I contacted a gentleman at Melbourne University today, (Attached to Werribee Teaching Vet Hospital) He's agreed to have a look at everything on this thread and give an opinion. Keep fingers crossed. If we can just get a direction to look to, that would help.

Agreed Jed. In fact, I understand it to be a "Syndrome" ie, a general catch-all phrase to describe puppies that just up and die for no "Apparant" (obvious??) reason. Not a disease as such. Interesting though, that in this link, she should use the words "Go Stiff" while referring to tubing a pup. Maybe there IS a similarity here after all. Cheers Jim

Thank you all. You've just reassured me. That was precisely how I understood it to be. We had one case of milk fever eons ago when we first started breeding and were still feeding commercial food. Since BARF...nothing. No calcium supplements either. Wundahoo...I have NEVER found your posts either long winded OR boring. I look forward to them and either learn, or get something to think about more often than not. I learnt something new just this morning about electrolyte drinks that I didn't know before. Please keep up with the "Long and boring posts" as you call them. I enjoy them. Cheers Jim [ 22-09-2002, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: Jim ]

Ok, I'm getting a tad concerned here. Call me paranoid. There's been a few references now to calcium supplements just prior to whelping. It's as if everyone is giving it as the norm. My understanding is that the correct amounts of Calcium must be available all the bitches life, preferably through proper diet, not just prior to whelping. In fact, I was under the impression that giving Calcium supplements at this time can actually bring on eclampsia, not prevent it. Have I got this all wrong, or am I misunderstanding what you guys are saying? Cheers Jim

I received a fax from my vet today. Nothing earth shattering but I thought I'd share it with you. I'd given her a printout of our discussion with the words, "Here's a mystery for you" Sorta the vet version of a good Agatha Christie Novel. I quote: italics are her own words Bold is quoted from text Dear Jim Some ideas from an article on Fading puppy & kitten syndrome. Puppy/kitten losses during the first 12 weeks of life usually approximate 15 - 40% Causes include congenital problems, teratogenic effects, not always obvious of hormone/antibiotic contamination of environment generally &infectious diseases. Bacterial= Staph, E.Coli, Klebsiella, Strep, Pseudomonas, Pasteurella Etc all of above often present on skin, bowel or vagina Viral=Parvo, Corona, Herpes, Adeno, Calici Congenital problems include the obvious like cleft palate = diaphragmatic hernia = kidney troubles but also microoanatomic = biochemical anamalies like citrullaineamia)...I think "Wundahoo" has the right idea. The cause of the "Seizure" can be found but can take several tests etc. With so many things waiting to attack the pup it's a wonder any survive - I wonder if the fit causes the Hypoglycaemia by using up available glucose stores so....common factor is secondary hypolglycaemia ...inciting cause is variable? Do some of these pups get sepsis, hepatitis, liver damage hypogly and as liver regenerates with age they recover? She's obviously thinking about it, and when I was last in, one of her nurses asked if anything further had come up on the forum, so she has all her staff wondering as well. I have only one question...no time to ask my vet directly. What's a diaphragmatic hernia? Anyone know? Interesting on top of the discussions elsewhere on hernias. Cheers Jim

Jed...In answer to your question Jim, with chihuahuas, I believe it is common practice to give them glucose if they have a fit, because they are hypoglycaemic?? Do most of them live? Depends on age and size Jed. An adult in otherwise good health? Usually not a problem. Survival is the norm. Younger pups? Maybe 50/50 In Chi's, the tiny tinies are most susceptable. In the very tinies a Hypo attack is basically the beginning of the end, but we have one here now as living proof, not always. Now 2 yrs old. We treat with a dallop of pure honey if the pup is big enough to get your finger into their mouth. Otherwise, disolved in water from the tea kettle and syringed in. Main thing is do it QUICK. Then, they zonk. Wipes them out totally. Let them sleep but check constantly for awareness and dehydration. Don't ask me how she does it, but my darling wife can now actually pick the susceptable ones. Every so often she says something like, "That pup isn't right" I ask why, what are you seeing? Answer??? "I don't know. It's just not right." Sure enough, within the week, "Jim, grab the honey!" Cheers Jim

I totally agree Bob, and you've raised some valid points. Hypoglycemia is something Chihuahua breeders live with fairly regularly. Almost always, with the tiny tinies. Seldom with a good sized pup. If Hypo is so often associated with toys, how come none of the examples are a toy breed? Yes, after the initial loose lethargic rag doll type of behaviour comes like a muscle spasm. Head thrown back, legs out stiff, eyes rolled back. Is this what you're all describing with your stiffys? What about the other PM done that returned a prognosis of pneumonia? Doesn't gel with Hypo. Where did pneumonia come from? Some stiffies went on to later die of kidney failure? Yes..that fits the hypo theory, but I'm just not happy with it. There's more here somewhere. We're missing it. I have limited time right now, but I'll go over all the posts again. I'm searching for common denominators. Everyone welcome to do the same. Anyone else reading this who has experienced something similar but hasn't posted? Please do now. Jim