Staranais

Me neither. A wild dog is no more likely to eat a potato than a grain. But I guess it also depends what a particular dog does well on - perhaps some do better on potato than grains, even though are both carbs. I can't recommend a grain free food made in Aussie, sorry. I know Canidae do a grain free food, but I haven't tried it. My dog gets regular Canidae All Life Stages with her raw food. Dogs don't need grains (neither do humans of course), but a small amount doesn't seem to do my girl (or me) any harm.

Just like animal abusers have no place in our society? Tying rats tails together and watching them hurting each other while trying to escape is abuse by any standard. I think you might need a basic biology lesson. Rodents are most certainly animals.

If it's just a working dog or pet, then probably a boy since I already have a girl & want to minimise the chance of inter-dog aggression issues.

My dog is neither desexed nor annual vaccinated, and they're happy to cover us? Perhaps it's different in Aussie.

I don't know. I can see both sides. It's impossible to go through life without causing the death of some creatures. And wild rodents can spread disease, so they aren't fun to cohabit with. I have nothing against killing rodents, so long as it's done humanely. However, I certainly don't agree that rodents are disgusting or deserving of cruelty in any way. I find them to be rather personable little animals, and they're no dirtier as a wild dog, cat or bunny.

Yes, definitely. I'm just not able to suddenly come up with hundreds or thousands of dollars if my dog should suddenly need it, so for us it's worth it. Do your research to get a good plan, though.

I've seen dogs with partial cruciate ruptures that were only a little stiff/lame and were otherwise quite happy. Lots of other things it could be too, though.

However, some breed websites do recognise certain breeds' tendency towards possible DA. I don't know any standard that outright calls for human aggression, but many do call the breed protective, defensive, or wary of strangers.

70% when added, or in the final product, and is it 70% by weight or by volume? Manufacturers can be a bit sneaky.

Not exactly. Remember that ingredients are listed by weight when added, and the ingredients list does not include added water. That means if the can says "lamb meat, rice", you might conclude that the can contains a lot of lamb and a lesser amount of rice. However the can will probably contain largely cooked rice, as the rice will have been added dry and the lamb wet, and rice greatly expands during cooking.

If you grabbed my dog by the throat when she was aroused or scared she'd probably put a hole in you too...

Look at the Natures Gift label, not all are made equal. Hence my saying generally. But, unless they have some technology I'm aware of it's still crap for teeth, and I'd be surprised if it's as cost effective than raw or a good kibble.

Can I please ask for references as to these risks? The only risk of early desexing I have seen conclusively proved is increased risk of spey incontinence in female dogs. ETA, obviously male mammals neutered before puberty also do have some tendency to end up slightly lankier than males neutered afterwards, however by "risk" you seem to be implying something a little more sinister than that?

That's very sad if they didn't take K9Pro's offer of a behavioural assessment.

I don't think canned diets have a single advantage for dogs! It's crap for the teeth (worse than kibble) and generally contains little meat (those "meaty" chunks are actually soya protein, look at the label). It's also usually more expensive than a good kibble as you're paying for the water content, and more expensive than raw foods. The exception would be that we do use canned (usually hill's a/d) in the clinic as a recovery diet, that works very well, it's very high energy and palatable and squishy for tube feeding. But I won't preferentially feed canned to a healthy dog or cat.

Sounds like either displacement (too much pressure) or lack of motivation relative to distractions (if she's really focused and intense about earning the reward, she won't be interested enough in the environment to want to perve at it).

It's got to start somewhere, RottnBullies. If they can manage to get to a sensible decision about what to do with this dog rather than the usual knee-jerk reaction of "kill it", it will set a precedent that can hopefully be extended to other breeds and all dogs later on.

I don't like traps either - I know they're sensible but I'm just too soft to set them. You can get electronic plug in noise maker things that supposedly makes ultrasonic noises to keep the mice away, my folks have one, no idea how well they work but they don't often get mice at their house.

That seems a more than fair price to me going on what I've seen charged around here, although saying that a lot depends on your area and also on exactly what was included in the anaesthetic. If you think it's a lot, call up a human dentist and private hospital and see how much they'd charge you for tooth removal, GA, thoracic radiographs, take home medicines, and an overnight stay.

Yes and no. The more expensive ones probably also need to step up and educate clients as to why they feel it's important to give fluids & do more intensive monitoring, otherwise clients just assume you're a rip off when you charge more for "the same" surgery. Trouble is, it's hard to do that without knocking other vets & other practices, which goes against the code of professional conduct that vets are expected to adhere to.

Videoing it is a great idea. Ditto seeing the neurologist.

I have seen that in several practices too, and I hate it. It's just so risky. I get that some practices don't have a capnograph or even a pulse-ox, but they should all have a doppler, & really, how much effort is it to set it up and then take BP every 5 or 10 minutes to make sure everything is getting adequately perfused? You're right, more client education is needed as to why it is good practice to do these things, and why they are charged for.

Just wait - 5th year is even better!

My anaesthesia lecturer likes Thio for induction in some patients and some circumstances. She's bloody brilliant at what she does, so I trust her judgement. I personally think that what anaesthetic drugs are used (within reason) is the least important part of safety in anaesthesia for a healthy dog or cat. From what I've seen, the ability of the vet to recognise and respond to intra-op problems, intra and post-op nursing care, and especially the quality of patient monitoring during anaesthesia, are much more important for patient outcome.

Fair enough, but I think the issue is also just as much the way some vets seem to have told some of us as we drop the pet off (last minute), rather than provide the options before hand so it can be discussed, considered and budgeted for. Yes, that seems fair. Perhaps suggest it to them? They may be totally unaware that clients are finding it upsetting to get hit with these additional options at the last minute.