greentea

He is ok now thank goodness. Horrible Drontal!

I know, it was not good at all. I await the results from the vet and also the feedback from the manufacturer. I am one unhappy mummy! Imagine if in his rabid mania he crashed into something and really hurt himself. There were no warnings on the pack... Will let you know what transpires...

Yes we were with the vet this arvo. He contacted the manufacturer and will get back to me with the feedback. Henry had a full check up and got the all clear, he is now sound asleep in front of the tele with his grandparents. Although he can catch up on sleep after last night's charades I unfortunately have to be up all night to finish some work I have. Little monkey! So many sleepless nights but as always just a look at the little griffy face with those big brown eyes makes it all worth it.

Really? Well that is certainly interesting, it is not just my boy who reacts to this drug. I have left a message at the clinic for Henry's vet to call me back so I will see what he says. He was acting so strange and running so fast I thought maybe he had swallowed a cold/flu tablet as they contain pseudoephidrine (spelling?) but I checked our house and we do not have any and my partner tells me we haven't had any cold/flu tablets for ages so there is no way it was that. He is still weird now, normally he sleeps for about 80% of the afternoon but today not a wink. Poor little guy will probably pass out from exhaustion at some point... I hope it is before my bedtime though, I am sooo tired!

Thanks T-Time for your response and best wishes for my Henry. He is still a little off today. I have had a look at his poos and they are normal with no worms or anything... His wee (all over the carpet again) seems the usual colour. He wasn't just being a crazy clown he was acting very very off for a usually placid puppy. He loves nothing more than to be held and most days spends all day here curled up on my lap (aww such a sweetie) but the reaction produced a totally different dog. He was racing around with his ears back and was growling at things that we couln't see. He wouldn't keep still and was not wanting a cuddle or a pat at all. I am so tired! Warning to anyone who hasn't given their dog Drontal, maybe ask your vet a few questions first because I am NEVER giving it to my poor little gremlin again. He is barking a lot today and is rather unsettled but I do think he is on the mend... Anyone else had a similar experience?

Hi everyone, The strangest thing happened to my puppy. He has had what I would describe as an allergic reaction, to Drontal. Has anyone else had this happen? It all began a few weeks ago when he had his C5 vaccinations. Because the vet thought Advocate was not a sufficient wormer for a puppy, he prescribed Dronatl as well. So that night after the vaccination I gave him a Drontal tablet. Within about 2 and a half hours my puppt had become a devil. He was racing up and down the house with his ears back like a little rabbit. He was wee-ing and poo-ing all over the place and wouldn't let me hold him or touch him. This behaviour carried on through the night and I stayed up with him just to watch him and make sure he didn't hurt himself. As my partner said- it's like he is on drugs! I assumed it had been a reaction from the vaccination. The next day he was his cuddly little self again. I did not think that it was the Drontal. Last night after dinner I gave him his Drontal and about 2 hours later the theatrics began. My hubby came from work at midnight all exhausted and he found our normally friendly dog acting like he had rabies or something. Charging at us, biting, barking, weeing a lot and acting weird. I haven't been very well lately and needed a sleep, but instead I stayed up with him all night again. This morning we realised... it must have been the Drontal. Anyone else had this occur?

I totally understand your problem. I encountered 2 vets who misdiagnosed my pup as having serious defects when he was fine! I can only say the vet we saw last time was good, Ross McGregor at Syd Uni... but you are in melbourne so I guess that was totally unhelpful. At least I can say you are not alone Haven!

Self-righteous rubbish umm I was thinking about oh things along the line of: "It is actual hands on EXPERIENCE that teaches you things and six months of dog ownership means that you know very little even if you think otherwise." Steve YOUR advice to me was amazing it was what you told me that stopped the eukanuba diet the breeder recommended and started the bones and raw meat diet. YOUR advice to me about my dog has always been given kindly and in a helpful manner. YOU have never been self righteous in your advice I was not referring to you Steve. All I am trying to say to George and anyone else who gets 'told off' or patronised by other people on this forum, is that it isn't worth getting upset about as George seemed to be rather hurt "EXCUSE ME? I never asked for opinions. I asked for ADVICE, BOOKS and WEBSITES. Read the first post and you will see nothing about opinions there. I personaly don't like hearing opinions because that's only what that particular person thinks, and it isn't fact. " I wanted George to feel confident instead of being insulted, I was quite insulted by some posts directed at me last week and for that reason I was trying to be supportive of George. As I have said a million times I am no expert on dogs and nor will I ever be, all I am doing is trying to care for my dog as best I can and make sure he is healthy and happy. I am not advising George how to feed his/her dog. I am just telling George not to feel down about the responses and also let george know what I do and that I am happy because it works for me. Trying to do what you think is important, acting with integrity... It appears that is what George is doing too. Steve's advice about canine nutrician is the most helpful as it is factual. If you re-read my post you will see all I am saying is at the end of the day you can't follow everyone's instructions because they all differ don't they? You have to work out which thing works for you and your pet. Saying things like owning a dog for a few months doesn't make you an expert, doesn't help George to feed his/her dog does it? It just makes George feel hurt and maybe embarrassed. Nor does inferring someone who wanted a professional to groom their dog was somehow irresponsible. Do you know what I mean? Support and advice is one thing, offering facts and figures is helpful and helps us newbies do what is best. As for the intensively farmed animals vs certified organically farmed animals, that is another debate and in fact the topic of a very long piece of academic writing we have been working on. I won't bore everyone with the facts of my research. Do what you believe in your heart is the best thing to do and have an objective observer confirm or deny. That is the best thing you can do, otherwise you will be running from one instruction to another. Over and out. (edited because I am useless with posting quotes. sorry if hard to follow.)

Hey George don't get upset with all the self-righteous rubbish being spat at you. You clearly love your dog and want to do the right thing. My baby puppy eats bones and raw food and kibble sometimes, he seems to like this diet and is healthy so far. I only feed him organic meat and bones though, as that is what I buy for the house. We only ever have organic veges too. It's a personal choice. As for people worrying that it is costly, well at Potts Point Woolies I can say I have found that the organic meat items are often on sale and are less than the intensively farmed meat items. I will never knowingly eat anything that comes from intensively farmed animals, this for me is an animal welfare issue. As for the organic fruit and veges I prefer them they seem to taste better but who knows it could just be in my head. Oh and before some know-it all spits back that intensive farming isn't all that bad blah blah, well I have studied animal law for a long time I have seen enough to turn me against intensive farming for life. At the end of the day George My Doggie and anyone else who is a little over being lectured by dog-experts and the like, I feel the best thing to do is be confident in the fact that there are vets you can take your animals to and have them make sure the animal is thriving and well. As long as the diet he or she is on is keeping him or her in great health then who cares what someone on an internet forum says. George you probably thought you would find helpful supportive people here and were shocked by the attacks on you, I was too. There are some fantastic people here but there are also some lunatics you wouldn't spend a minute talking to in the real world so don't waste your time doing it here. Some people believe pet owners are brainless, other think show people are cruel, who cares; just love your animals treat them with kindness and respect and make sure they are as healthy as they can be.

Henry my 3 month pup likes his daily chicken necks raw, I always stay with him though because his tiny needle point teeth often get stuck in the bones and he wimpers for me to dislodge them. So watch the pup with the bones, it is great for them though, so do give it a try... I am glad I did.

Thanks Persephone, he does have a bell and we hear it a mile off. It came with the collar... because it is a kitty collar! We don't tell Henry that though, because he thinks he is a tough dog and wearing a kitten collar might break him!

Thanks everyone for your support. Things are actually going pretty good now. By wearing rubber gloves I can grip the hair and it comes out effortlessly- you will all be happy to know we got a whole big patch of old hair from the back. So he now has a "bald patch". Even though I can't see up close to get it right, by wearing the gloves it doesn't matter as the old puppy coat just comes straight out against the rubber. Fantastic! Also his training is going well, I have some pretty little tricks for walking him now so he complies. We went around the block twice yesterday without a problem and I have even managed to teach him to go up and down the stairs himself. Before I was carrying him and it was getting quite dangerous on our steep stairs, me all wobbly coz Im off balance on the stairs and not seeing that well, and with him squirming in my arms. So now it is much safer and easier for both of us that he goes up and down himself! So thanks guys for everything. Will keep up the good work!

Becks thank you so so much. Your advice was the answer! Because at the moment I can't quite see well enough up close to tell the difference between the new red hairs and the old black hairs, I couldn't strip out the right hairs. I put on a pair of surgicals gloves as we have a box in the boot of the car from a first aid course I did ages ago, and I had a go. Well it was remarkable! Somehow the hair that had to be pulled out just took well to the rubber and practically fell out so there was no need for me to even look that closely. Henry now has a good patch on his back that is... wait for it... RED ROUGH!! No longer black and fluffy, my little pumpkin has a patch that looks like a real Griffy. I am thrilled. The head will be the problem as it hurts him and if I pull the wrong hair it will really kill, so for now I will finish his back and legs and then see if another griff person at a show might help with the head since it is so small anyway! Anyway thanks to everyone for advice and support, it has been great. Carrie.

Hey Dru, sorry I have no idea what I did with your message, just went to the inbox but it isn't there. Iam a bit hopeless with this thing...

Thanks guys! Henry is making progress, today he walked happily on his lead for 11 minutes. We have puppy school again this weekend and for now I am keeping his coat as is. At end of June I should be able to strip it myself if by then I haven't found a pro. All things going well I'll have pretty good vision then!

Wow, do the rspca really go to dog shows and prosecute dogs with docked tails? My new puppy came from WA, I didn't know he had a docked tail til I collected him from the airport... Would I be in trouble if he was sighted by an rspca person at a dog show?

Thanks guys! My only concern with leaving the chicken neck with him for long periods is that it might go off and make him sick... We live in a very old freezing house so when we are inside the heating is on and it is quite cozy, would the heat make the chicken fester and get bacterias? I have been taking it and putting it in the fridge today when he is asleep and bringing it back when he wakes... I bought it yesterday. Today he had scothch fillet minced up and loved it, as well as the passionfruit shell he stole from the bin! ha ha

*sigh* I will explain... Firstly we wanted this puppy as a pet, but the more I researched and spoke with breeders who encouraged me to give the whole show thing a try the more I thought it might be something nice to try. Entering him in a few shows I thought might be something nice to do together. I am not in the market for a new career or anything just something to enjoy doing with my dog!! It was very hard to get a puppy as this isn't a very common breed, so when I finally got notice from a breeder who was willing to sell me a puppy she said he was intended to be a show dog and would be sold as such. She asked if I would like to get into showing and I though -hey why not? So we brought our little guy home with the intention of giving the whole show thing a try one day. My condition worsened very quickly and unexpectedly. Unfortunately these things can't be planned for. Surely people realise that? Gees! He is being cared for very well as I am home all day with him so I wouldn't want anyone to think he is neglected or anything it is just my corneas are so diseased that I struggle to see well enough to get certain things done.(got special equip for computer etc) Stripping his coat would be a struggle. I had thought that for him to do very well in the show ring he would have to have his coat in excellent condition, groomed perfectly. Even if I could competently pluck out all the hairs I do not believe that he would look half as good as a dog groomed professionally. As I said earlier, I go to a hairdresser for my hair so it looks good. Sure I could cut it myself but it would look pretty cr*appy compared to the result from a pro. I do not see anything wrong in looking for a pro to groom Henry's hair either. Everyone is entitled to disagree of course but for me I am sticking to my guns in the hope of having his coat stripped professionally. Just like my house is cleaned by cleaners and the garden is tended to by gardeners because everyone is expert at different things. How you guys look after you dogs is your thing, if you are physically able and enjoy grooming yourselves then go for it. If I want to pay a professional to groom my dog then I will do that. As for the training thing, as I have said repeatedly it was just a suggestion and I put it out here for input from others. End of story. Lighten up life is short. P.s for those interested in seeing a photo of my boy, see the personal photo under greentea.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone! Will do that! Also, for those who asked if I had any pictures of my little gremlin, please see my personal photo there is one there of him. Also I keep trying to add it as my avatar but it won't work for some reason...

Yes I was suspicious that maybe all the minced steak was a bad idea... He doesn't like the chicken wings, he doesn't mind playing with them but he never eats them... I bought the necks today but he picked it up carried it into his bed in his puppy pen and fell asleep next to it! Very cute... but not quite right! I was thinking about getting some of those patties you can buy with all the raw meat and the veges mixed in, only they contain garlic and there is this big article on the Annandale Vet website warning people not to feed dogs onion and garlic... Tricky stuff! HERE ATTACHED IS A PICTURE OF HENRY

Yes well they are at the same practice so I carried on a lot...(to say the least!) Basically what he (the good vet) said, was that it is possible that there was some movement with the patella but that because it isn't moving now then it was probably a case of underdeveloped ligaments which have now developed enough. With the murmur he said that in puppies they can come and go and are no cause for concern. He said we should have his knees checked again at 16 weeks of age just to be sure, but on the visit with him there was no movement at all!

Well good news on the health of my puppy. We took him to a specialist orthopedic vet who said he absoluetly did NOT have a luxating patella not does he have a heart murmur! Also thanks everyone for the advice about raw food diet. So far he loves it so much! He has minced scotch fillet for breakfast, chicken mince for lunch followed by a chicken wing in four pieces and at dinner time he has minced lamb steak. Not so sure about the veges/fibre component though. I gave him an egg hardboiled but chopped up and he didn't like that. The meat and bones he adores!

One day we might get a smooth coat Grif they are adorable too aren't they! Thanks Toohey those photos are amazing. I will look into the CK. Hopefully in a couple of months I will be in a better position to start having a go at hand stripping his coat myself. I was hoping that the first puppy strip would be done by a pro so I could see how great it 'could' look- nevermind the funny job I'm sure I'd do on the poor little fellow! Thanks guys!

Yes he does go to puppy classes once a week already. The suggestion was made to me about the special training in addition. It is off the adgenda now anyway so no worries.

Yes Miranda that is right I am looking for a professional to groom my dog not just because I have no idea how to hand strip his coat but also because at the moment I am not that well. I have a serious health problem. Have just been moved a up a waitlist for a transplant and will be out of action for a little while if I am lucky enough to get my surgery soon. I'm sure I could probably pluck out all his hair but he would probably end up looking pretty terrible. I would rather have a professional do it. Just like I have my hair done by a hairdresser and I do not cut it myself... perhaps things don't work that way in the dogshow world. Maybe I won't even end up doing the whole show thing, it just seemd like someothing I'd like to look into. Everyone is different ... As for the training, if you read my original post you'd see I said I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. I felt it was maybe traumatic for him. Just wanted to make sure experienced people agreed. What would I know? I mean, to me, feeding a dog raw meat and bones seems wrong but it turns out to be really good. I am glad I asked people 'in the know'. I guess posting this message I wanted advice about training as well, because maybe 'people in the know' might have said it was a good idea. See Miranda, that is the point of these forums, a place where people can consult others with more knowledge than themselves. Your post was unnecessary. Thanks everyone else though.