Monchichi

Celebrating birthday here! though last year was postponed for few weeks, as I had family member passed away. this year will be Mochi's 2nd birthday! time flies very quick...been thinking of the cake for her birthday already Anyone in VIC looking for dog birthday cake/cupcakes, pm me :D

This is probably an old thread, though I found very good reference from Little Gift about starting up new small business, but I do wonder if anyone here in DOL that can share their knowledge on starting on dog treats business? It's mainly for dog cakes and cookies. do I need council permit to run this from home? licenses etc? and if I want to start selling on the markets, what do I need to prepare? thanks in advance :D

sending healing vibes!

yes, bought mine and a friend of mine too :) just checked the website again and it has released another early bird tickets with same price. still very long time to wait...hahaha I hope it worth the wait :D

thanks Taliecat I had experimented over the weekend on making treat without any flour...turned out great. I had 3 while cooling it down however it's not crunchy enough as I was expected. just need to see how long it will last in the container in room temperature. will you be buying something like this in the photo? it's just fruits & coconut.

i am going! :) will purchase the ticket soon. only in general admission though..cannot afford VIP price..

hahaha yes one day if time permits! I work full time mon-fri, and only weekends I can play around my kitchen but then I still have to take my little monster to park/beach and to her obedience school. Come to thing of it...what sort of ingredients that you don't want to see in dog cookies/cakes?

thank you all for your feedbacks, much appreciated! yes, I have and will be making these cookies/cakes from natural ingredients and no preservatives. Ingredients will be human grade for sure. What I eat that will be what my dog eats too. And where possible I will be using fresh ingredients. And will be using RSPCA Approved Chicken, Sow Stall Free Pork and sustainable seafood, etc. is this something that you will be considering too? more ethical sourcing? yes, I have been thinking about grain and no grain options too. I had made both options before for my dog. I love to make cookies by not using wheat flour if possible, so dogs that have allergy to gluten can have it too. is this something that you will be looking at when buying dog cookies? would love to sell it at Farmers market, however at this point in time, this is not quite possible, so probably via facebook. hahaha Taliecat, I tried most of the cookies/cakes/meatloaf I made for my dog too! except when I include the egg shell in it, then I don't eat it. Oh talking egg shell, will you be happy if this is included in your dog's cake/meatloaf...either mixed inside or decorative outside? I feed mine raw diet, hence she gets raw eggs and egg shells. so not sure in general public perspective of seeing crushed egg shells in dog cookies/cake/meatloaf.

Hi All, Would love your opinions on this topic " Dog cookies & cakes". I have been baking cookies, cakes and meatloaf cake for my dog not long since she arrived, and yes I love baking too. Few of my friends keep asking me to sell it in general public. Haven't made this to reality yet, as I need to find some time to do it. So, if you don't mind giving me some feedback: - what sort of price range are you willing to pay for dog cookies? and what sort of weight range? do you care of the weight or just by pieces? - what sort of price range are you willing to pay for dog cakes? and sizes? - what sort of price range are you willing to pay for dog meatloaf cake? and sizes? - will you be looking at the ingredients on the product? if so, which ingredient in cookies/cakes/meatloaf that you tend to avoid for your dog? anything else that you can tell me, please do so. Thank you for your help!

Better Late, which type/brand of the hammock seat cover did you buy if I may know? Thanks. I am looking for one. currently only have the reject shop one, which had the seams around the Velcro came out.

Hi All, Do you know where I can get a PP40 crate (airline approved) in Melbourne with cheaper price? thank you

Hi Sheena, I had bought several Loyalty Pet Treats products, I had minnow and tuna bites. oh got the meat topper too which smells good! bit pricey though to buy everything plus postage. Hence, if I can fresh products then I can have some, my dog some hehehehe

Yeah, it sounds like bigger bone won't help your chomping machine :D I also agree that too much bone is definitely not a good thing. Dunno much about Japanese Spitz but I know that too much bone can bind Zinc and then you can get problems with ZRD (Zinc responsive dermatosis) especially in huskies. If I am giving a meal with a high quantity of bone I make sure I increase the liver and kidney to counteract the hard chalky stools :) Oh dear...I never think of the Zinc sides. I give her just vegies first (with lots of pumpkin to soften the stool) before she has her bone, thinking this will help with constipation. I will experiment with liver and kidney next time then. Thanks Yonjuro!

thanks Yonjuro! I don't think I can give more or bigger bone to mine, as it will cause her constipation. one 4cm wide beef neck will give her white chalky poos for nearly 2 days, I think! at least 2x of pooping time will be hard. Accidently a couple of times I gave her bones within 2 days apart and it gave her bad constipation, to the point I heard her "crying" while pooping. the only different is if I give her bone during day time while she is home alone, then most likely (90%) she will bury 13 of the bone on my garden and retrieve later on when I am back home. it's like she is saying..look Mum, I save the best for last..here the proof.. if I give her bone at night time while she chews it next to me...not a single piece of bone will be left! frozen bone...oh yes I gave her too to slow her down. however, too clever! she will drag the bone from her bowl then just leave it on the floor till semi defrost. sometimes she licks it to defrost it faster...sometimes just leave there until 3/4 thawed

yes, I tried my best to buy Australian seafood these days. Though it can impact a bit on my wallet...but its better for the health and seafood industry here in Australia. silly question, does the fish head can be given to medium to small breed of dog? I keep thinking mine as a strong chewer like Ronin...well still related (Japanese spitz). she can chew down a 4cm wide beef neck bones in 1 hour. I just gave her lamb neck about 5cm wide (as I told the butcher to cut up only 2cm...came with 5cm doh!) and that lamb neck gone in 18minutes flat! not even I could saved a tiny bit from her...she chewed/gnawed it like eating lollipop! I have a strong jaw dog and super sharp teeth

thank you all for the info! Yonjuro, please spare me the rainbow trout too....would love sweet chilli mayonnaise to go with the fish and chips very interesting regarding white fish & thiaminase. I never thought of this until now. I had given mine grill barramundi fillet in the past, phew...lucky I grill it then. Freshwater fish...eg like rainbow trout (farmed) is this not good to be fed raw? also farm freshwater salmon? I had been to trout & salmon farm here in Victoria, and we had it raw sashimi style right away..is this not safe? Uhm...I had upgraded my fridge and freezer to a new one which is 1.5x bigger than previous one, and yet my freezer is chocker block with my dog's meals. maybe one day if space permitted I will nee to buy chest freezer to freeze all her goodies there hahaha In regards to canned fish, which type do you feed to your dog? in brine, oil, or...? though I prefer to feed fresh one than tinned, but nice to know which tinned one is safe to be consumed by dog when I don't have fresh handy.

Hi DOLers, I probably had missed on some info regarding feeding fish to your dogs. can I please ask your opinions? 1. Can I feed raw fish (any type) to dog? or only certain type of fish can be given raw? which one? 2. Can I give salmon/kingfish/snapper head raw to my dog? 3. can I give salmon/kingfish/snapper bones & tails? my dog gets raw diet. Currently she already has sardines on her meal nearly everyday. I bought fresh raw sardines 500gm and remove the intestines and cut into 1.5cm size, she loves it. I am just not sure if I can feed her raw salmon/kingfish/snapper. Actually, I had fed her raw salmon occasionally. the reason I mention only these 3 fish types, because I love eating sashimi and buy my sashimi from Japanese restaurant which sells salmon/kingfish heads too cheap. so I thought if I can feed this to my dog, I will buy then :) not limiting to just these 3 types if I can get other fish from fish mongers. thanks..

I feed mine raw too. However, every now and then I give mine boiled chicken & rice, probably only once in 2 months, just to give her variety. at the show I also got the Prime100 Beef cooked roll as sample and had just finish this roll this morning. No side effect on mine, though it's only a tiny sample around 300g roll (probably only half what you feed on yours hehehehe) Mine eats the roll with no complaint and the smell reminds me of SPAM in the can. The vegie I could see only carrot (diced) and peas. I could feel some tiny crushed bones in the roll. actually, I had got the lamb roll one from the Single Protein Diet one. Will try this tonight.

Hi Yonjuro, I saw this prime100 rolls at the Melb Dog Lovers Show and I was interested at the Crocodile and Tapioca too. I thought to buy it at the end of the show, but unlucky me...whole fridge case empty by the time I came back to buy. though I got to sniff on the lamb & rosemary roll..it's very rosemary smell. the crocodile roll not so much of the smell...plain smell..more like chicken roll (at deli supermarket) white colour. I had got a mini sample of the chicken one, haven't tried on mine yet. will try in the next few days.

I second what Bjelkier said! and please never shaved their coat at all, unless for emergency medical reason. Mine is staying outside while I am at work. Similar as yours, I have covered deck. I bought dog kennel for her to sleep/rest during the day, which she often use. I position the kennel just next to the door and away from rain or direct sunlight.Plenty of safe toys for her to play with, eg stuffed kong, eggs cardboard with treat inside. I just cannot trust her yet to be inside while I am not at home, she is a Houdini...she worked out how to escape from her puppy pen as I used this to block her access to certain part of the house. and chew some cables (lucky I turned off the switch). Night time or as soon as I am back home, she will be staying inside. I used to put those potty training grass (bought from Reject Shop) not far from her crate and she did her business there at night. She is crate trained now and slept inside her crate at night even if I don't ask her to go...she just goes there herself (even opens the door herself if she is really sleepy )

thanks Steph M. I will do both. Donatella, friend of mine had done the surgery for her dog and the vet advised her to bring the dog for monthly cartophen injection. she wasn't sure if this is the best option either, so check with another vet which said not necessary.

thanks Aliwake & Denali! I had just e-mailed my vet with your suggestion. I hope this can be used as effidence when I needed claiming this in future. shall I email petplan or just ring them? oh...I would love to have your vet, Donatella! I had met 4 vets , 3 said surgery , 1 said no need. and it's just grade 1 or 2.

I am hoping if any of the DOLers here can give some suggestions to me regarding pet insurance. I am currently with Petplan, and recently my dog had been diagnosed with patella issue on one of her leg. Long story short, I opted not to do surgery until my dog shows she is in pain or limping, which she is currently not showing any of these. yesterday, I went to the Dog lovers show and had a chat with the Petplan guy there. Expressing my situation and asking him the question: " If I choose to do surgery on this leg later on the future (in months or years to come, if he shows pain) will the surgery sill be covered?" and the answered was "probably not" because I had disobeyed what my vet said and the surgery later on probably will cost more than currently. if the vet said surgery had to be done now and I choose not to, then most likely insurance won't pay. All in all, the guy said better do the surgery now which what my vet suggested and it's covered now by the way. What a suggestion from him... now, I am in dilemma whether to still continue with pet insurance or not anymore and do the saving myself (though it will be a long way to save up $20k as what covered currently). if I am not using pet insurance, what if my dog done some silly things and end up need big surgery or treatment (apart from that leg) which cost a fortune.

Hi PeiLuvR, from what I heard of my friends who had Grade 3 above LP issue, surgery is the best way to go. especially if your dog is showing the pain. mine was quoted $1700 for one leg (as mine only affected in one leg) with surgeon that comes in to my vet clinic in Glen Iris. specialist quoted me around $3200-$3300 for that one leg. I might be sound stubborn...but if ever X-ray can show and tell how bad the patella issue is, then I will insist the vet to do so. Though probably it might cost me more. unfortunately, as per my earlier post, 4 vets I had met and none of them suggesting X-ray, just based on touch and adjusting the leg. honestly, I didn't even think on x-ray stuff until I posted here and Powerlegs mentioned it. My next move, if I ever need to see specialist then I will contact Dr Pete Laverty as suggested by CavNrott. Let me know how you go with your pet insurance and the surgery if you are doing it :) Pst...I think some of these Vets that I met, probably thought I'm crazy dog owner who overthinking of worst scenario etc and they probably thought luxating patella is just one common issue in dogs which not a bigger worry compared to broken leg or hips dysplasia etc. But hey...I love my dog, any little issue with her of course I'm concerned and as DDD said earlier...something has been cut cannot be uncut..so I have to take extra precautions if I can. :D

hope the link work, stressmagnetMy link you will find it either at Coles or Wollies in dog toy section, Purina Total Care Toy Mini Oinker. Some independent groceries also sell this. I bought this toy as 1st ever item for her, before she even arrived (just shortly after I confirmed to the breeder I wanted my name on the waiting list) probably that's why she is so attached with her piggy hehehe....apparently not all dogs love this piggy. I have a collection, from size (large and small) to colours now..