Crysti_Lei

when my MIL little Jack X Chi was tested it cost about $100, the two blood tests, the meal and the hospitalisation for the day. the test was positive. she was given 6 months, that was nearly a year ago now. we have removed all the protien from her diet, as best we can, and keep her on antibiotics and laxatives. she still vomits more than the adverage dog and it going grey, but she hasn't had a seisure since the new diet and is still happy and neuritic as ever. good luck with the test i hope its negative!! christie ETD the pic of Roxy, isn't she the evilist little dog you've ever seen!!! gotta luv her!!

hi Suzi, welcome to DOL muzzling is not a good idea, it is only for short term use of for agressive dogs in public. at ten weeks your pup probably hasn't learnt to control his bite. let them play and when he get so rought the the maltese tells him off or yelps then seperate them and give the pup a time out in a room by himself and soon he will learn that if he plays too rough the game ends. i hope this helps. Christie

oh, so thats what happend... ETA: just in case.

i am getting a pup in the next few months... it has to be born first! and i am wondering about this subject. i have heard two schools of thought on the subject. one is to act like a litter mate and yell and stop play as this is how the pup learn to control its bite the other is to act like the mum and give a growl and, excuse my wording, push the pup to the ground by the scruff of the neck. they both seem to have pro and cons in my eyes, but could some one tell me which is recomended at this day and age (as puppy training is ever evolving) thanks, Christie

my dogs poo said it all for me. On a barf diet they didn't smell and disappeared in two days. In her last week or so i was feeding her commercial food coz it was a bit more appetising and easy to eat when she was so sick and i have only rercently found poos down the side of the house that she did during this time, (she died in january). they are white but still there. Crysti

i have been told by my leturers (vet nurses) that vets get one leture on canine nutrition and it is given by a dog food rep!! rice is a waste of time, the fiber they need is ion the vegie/friut mush. don't ever doubt the BARF way!

*in my best Lumburge from OfficeSpace impression* Whats haappening? Yyyeahhh, i going to have to go ahead and... disagree with you there, yyeahhh. :D if it is an asthetics thing then vasectamise (sp). peronally i prefer the look of a nertered boy mainly because it's a good trade off coz dag balls...all balls are ugly. LOL i havern't read the atricle, sorry, too tired and dyslexic today to try. this risk of unwanted puppies simply outwieghs every other possible arguement you could make, especialy with vasectomy as an option. those puppies that could be borm are little LIVES, no less presious than your or mine, except because they belong to dogs they with rarely get the proper care that that [lives] of people do. if it because of what a person likes and what that person wants their dog to look like, i see that a selfish. (please don't take that as a personal attack, i couldn't find another way to phrase that, sorry if you do through, i is just my opinion) if you don't know whe Lumburge is, rent Office Space, its a very VERY funny movie!! Christie

Ok, right now i am several Harvey Wallbangers under the weather but in the last few weeks i have reflected on Brodie's time with me. when i first got her i was quickly sinking back into agoraphobia, it wasn't working (quit me job) and i was relunctant to leave places where i was 'safe'. since i had her she was a shoulder to cry on and a support like no other. she even lead me to the the path that had me thinking of the use of phobia support dogs (patent pending ) i don't belive that i could have completed my year at TAFE without her. It was the same time that i started considering myself 'healthy/cured' that she started getting sick. coincidence? or was her work done?? So untill now it hasn't been said aloud, but with out the help of good ol' Mr Wallbanger i am able, without inhibition, to say that i think she was sent to me to help me and to set me on the path i am on now. i know i would never have ended up here with out her, yet this exactly where i wanted to be! but never untill Brodie had the courage to folllow it. i'm drunk, so pass this off as only that, but it is only drunk, being agnostic, that i can admit that is how i feel about it, especially with the timing that she started getting sick! i am crying too much, i have to go. thank you for reading my rambling. Christie

i got her ashes yesterday! i cried again. it's so beautiful. i miss her terribly.

thank you all so much, i miss her terribly still. it hurts a little less every day. i'm still trying to think of what i can get engraved in her rosewood box from lawns wood. thank you, again, for your support. Christie

It was january 2004, an adverage day, when my Nanna called me. What she asked changed the course of my life forever. "Do you want a Saint Bernard?" "Yes!" Was my immidiate answer. As the story went, Irene had taken you, a 4yo St Bernard from your owners home where you were tied in a vegie patch in the heat, with ony kibble, if you had water, you were lucky. here you were regularly attacked my there pair of GSD with numerous scars to prove it, but what was worse was what the flys had done to you. You nose was raw from the tip to halfway up you muzzle, this and the fly struck pressure sores on each paw was covered in maggots. Irene had had you for a few weeks, removing the maggots with tweesers, bathing you (she was a profesional groomer) and feeding you everything you may have ever dreamt of, but now she was ready to re-home you. I met you that night, i remember like it was yesterday, even when we knocked on the wrong door because i wrote the address down wrong, but eventually we found you. We let ourselves in theough the gate and knocked on the door. it wasn't untill you stood up that we saw you through the screen door. You were massive! Not to mention beautiful. As Irene let us in, you were so gentle, leaning up against us as we patted you, rolling over for a belly rub, showing us all your tricks; giving your paw, sit and drop. Daniel and i decided there and then that you would be ours. A few weeks later on the 17th of Feburary, the same day your knew daddy left for army training, i brought you home to my Mums house, it was a horrible day for you, it was one of the hottest days Perth had seen that summer (it was that when every ones air-con konked out) and in my mums little house, surrounded with wimdows, it was an oven. Not to mention, you were on heat. But we prevailed. Over the three weeks untill you dad made the decision to quit the army and come home, we had some great times (like when you tore down Mums fence and gate when i went out, and i got it fixed with out ever telling her ) and we becaume best friends. You became my Baby Bear. When your Daddy came home we moved into his parents house, where you have Roxy and Rusty to play with. There were very few dog rules in this house, so every peice of furniture was yours for that takeing, after what you had been through, who was i to deny you. The next few years there were hopefully the best of your life; friends, your Daddy, your Mummy, huge family and not to mention Air-con in every room. We had great times as a family, you were always up to make us laugh. Just a few of you antics worth a mention are: first and formost, the bin lid on your head, only you could pull that one off with such innocense. Also Running through the doggy door and taking it with you every time, the countless times we came home to find you laying on the couch, covered up to you elbows in pond scum, and the maddies you did with Rusty and roxy in tail (who knew a Saint could be so agile). i must tell you now how proud i was of you for putting in so much effort at obiediance classes. you picked up everything as if ut was second nature. Despite how scared you were of all the other dog, you put on a brave face and made me proud, it took a long time but eventually you got less scared and we were able to train so close to the group. You are so special, and i am so proud of you. Eventually, last August, our little family moved into out own little house. Though Rusty still came to visit occasionally, you only had us. Then a few weeked later i started working, and you were alone all weekend, but you never made any trouble, you were always good. Except that time you got out and picked up by the ranger, but he put you back in the yard and even said what a good girl you were. It was early December when you went off your food and i took you too the vets, but that tests we did didn't show anything conclusive, so we left it. In the mean time, we got you a friend, Mikki, you liked him but he wouldn't play with you. Even though i told you off aswell, i know it was him that ate the budgies on Christimas day, i had to be fair, but you took the lecture well, with dignity. On the 30th of December, you got sick again, so we went back you that Vet. Over the next three weeks you could have thought you were a pin cushion, so many blood test, so many urine tests, in the end we had to presume it was lymphoma. We gave Mikki back on the 7th of January, and you continues to get worse. You wnet 4 days wit hout eating, in the end i had to seed you salami by hand. We eventually, on friday the 13th, we got you some medication: Steroid, to lower you Calcium, and you did feel better, thought you would only occasionally eat and it would only be chicken wings, but i didn't mind hand feeding you every 30 mins, what else is a mummy for. On the Wednesday i took a chanse and booded you into the Groomer for the following week and organised a photographer for the Friday after. I didn't realise that you had so little time. That night you were so hot, we knew that with hyour panting something wasn't right. It was the next morning, when you climbed up on the bed to be with me (something that you never did) i knew that you were scared and that you have very little time left. I spent that morning 6:30 to 10:00am holding you on the living room floor. We laid together so peacefully for so long, i told you every thing i was sorry for: loosing my temper through the years, not being able to do more, that you had to have such a horrible forst 4 years. But i also told you every thing that i was glad for: What such a good girl you were, that you came to us, that you were the best dog that i could have. Though i did ask you to hold on for another few days so we could immortalise you forever in photographs, as the moring progressed i realised how sick you were and re assured you that if you wanted to, you could let go, i had said all i needed to and i was ready, you didn't have to hold on. That seemed to be a turning point. After 10:00 i tried to get you moving, out to the toilet and out to drink. Through at first you seemed some what ok, you wouldn'y leave me and were still panting heavily, By 11am you could bearly walk. I called your daddy and asked home to come home as guik as he could. That was the last time you looked happy, i thing you knew, you looked up at me on the phone, paws elagently crossed and you smiled. It was the longest five minutes of my life, waiting for your daddy. Watching you, excited as you could be, struggling to stand and regularly toppling over as you waited by the door. It got to the stage that fell out the front door as daddy pulled uup the drive. You were quite happy to get in the car and considerably able (dispite me having to lift in you back end) compared to five minutes later when it came to getting you out. Your Daddy had you lift you, and when on the ground, you couldn't walk. Together, your Daddy and i, carried you in, where you calpsed on the waitng room floor. We waited an agonising eturnity for the Vet to see you. We carried you in to the consult room on a stretcher, where you laid, panting, but calmly. The vet looked you over and explained to us that You cancer had probably developed in your brain or spinal chord and there was nothing that we could do to help you that wouldn't extend your pain. So we decided to euthanise you there. It was imortant to me that i took you collar off, i wanted you to die as an equil, not as our pet. At 11:45am you didn't flinch as the needle went in, you were so brave, you slowly went to sleep, in the same position that you slept every night. And then you were gone. There was then a daddy without a daughter, and a Mummy with out her baby bear, we have been lost ever since. The house is so empty, we have advoided being home. It tore my heart out to cancel our appointments. We are slowly realising all the little things we did for you sub-consiously, it breakes out hearts over and over again. You were always so appriciative of everything you got, wether it was a little pat on you head or a huge BARF meal, perhaps because you went without for so long, but no other dog that i have ever know was ever so thankful as you. You were a great friend, always the to hug and bury my face into you fur and cry. You'd give me wour paw if i ever needed it, and even when i didn't. You helped me do that house work, sure you made most of it, but you were always by my side as I cleaned it. You were so happy to have your nightly rough-house with your dad, again with you maddies around the kitchen island. You protected me and made my feel safe. You were my rock, we lent on each other. I hope that your final two years with us, made up for the first four years of your life. Time, hopefully, will make our loss of you easire to bare but i'm in no rush, you were too important to me. We love you, and we always will, you have a permanent place in our hearts. Jimberlana Fancy Face, 'Brodie', my gorgous Baby Bear 15.05.2000 to 19.01.2006 Rest in Peace, forever. Love from your Mummy and Daddy

:rolleyes: as it turns out the cancer had spread to her brain or spinal cord. we had her PTS at 11:45am. Tomorrow i'll make my long dreaded addition to the Rainbow bridge forum. it's been 1 hour, and 5 minutes with out my baby, i'm so lost. :D

Brodie has gone rapidly down hill! she can bearly stand. shecannot eat, and she's panting like its 50 degrees. her Ca levels are so high. :rolleyes:

that was a good read, i and a non-confidant BARF feeder. (when she'll ill, i worry i'm not feeding her right) i'm sure DOLer would know this as a basic fact of Australian DOLing life, but new feed unscreened kangaroo meat,( unless you worn extreemly regularly) HYDATIDS!!!! i have heard of a guy that goes out once a week shoots a roo and have he dogs eat that. Poor puppies, poor him too, coz there's a good chance he'll have an hydatid cyst too.

I'd like to give it a go to feed as well as BARF, can you get it in Perth? i've never seen it.

Anthrax (from cattle, pigs, horse sheep and goats) Brucesellosis (from sheep, goats ,pigs and cattle) cat scratch fever Giardiasis (dogs and cats, parrots) Hookworm or Cutaneous larval migrans, (from dogs and cats) Hydatid disease (dogs, sheep, kangaroos and other grasing animals) leptospirosis (from pigs, cattle, dogs, cats, rats,mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and reptiles) psitacosis a type of Chlamydia (from birds, flu/cold like symtoms, rarely from cats) Q-fever (from cattle, sheep, goats, bandicoots, kangaroos and wallabies) Rat bite fever ringworm (from dogs cats, rodents, cattle, horses) Roundworm from (dogs and cats) Salmonella (from reptiles [94% carry the bacteria], birds, cattle sheep, pigs, rodents) Toxoplasmosis ( from cats mainly, but also rodents, rabbits, dogs, sheep and cattle) Well that was from my 3rd term notes, enjoy.

my girl loved venison jerky.

I'd love to come, and bring my dog. Would she be too much of a problem because she's a saint with big dog aggression issues? I NEED to learn how to control it with out making it worse. I'm feeling very bad about a bad trip to the dog beach. Would it be a weekend? -Christie

my saint gets hydrobathed once a fortnight. but the problem i've founfd is the most of the people that come out to you house don't use clean water to wash out the shampoo, so it stays in the coat and causes skin problems. plus Brodie (my saint) gets stuck when she tries to turn around. i'm going to buy my own hydrobath soon enough and hopefully set up a buisness from home, where they come to me. oh, and my little Jackhuahau showers with me, or my husband, or my sister-in-aw or anyone else for that matter, she just loves water. Crysti