goldieneale

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep looking and leave the labradoodle idea.

Thank you. I posted here as I knew I would get correct information. I was unaware of the breeding timeframes that breeders usually use so didn't know that this was so excessive. No, I haven't been particularly interested in 'oodle' breeds it was purely a timing thing. In regards to the second dog, our goldie was living with our sister for the last 18 months due to us building etc and was living with their 3 year old labrador and she is missing his company. This is our first dog and we always planned on getting another dog after she was gone but someone mentioned an older dog will teach a pup boundaries and behaviour well.

Hi, Older member who hasn't been on here for years. We have a 13 year old golden retriever currently and considering getting a puppy to keep her company. I wasn't planning on going down the track of a poodle cross but a local person who has been breeding labradoodles for about 9 years has a guardian puppy available. They have said they retire the dog at 5 years. They breed them a maximum of 4 but mostly 3 times. They pay to desex them at the end. Can you give me some more input. I am well aware that most people on this forum will be anti....but looking for advice which is why I'm here.

Just an update... I have been feeding Akira this diet for 6mths now and she is doing great! She has lost 6kgs so we need to beef up her food a bit more. She is now in a healthy weight range that her vet is happy with.

Akira and I were at the dog park today and she seems to have slightly torn her dew claw. It was bleeding a little bit but not too much. She was still running around and it isn't bothering her. I went to check it late this arvo and she has cleaned it up. Should I be doing anything in particular? I am going to bath it in the morning with salt water. Thanks.

Thanks. That's what my initial thought was but I didn't want to be rude to our neighbour :-)

Our neighbour just gave us a ham bone for the dog. Is it ok for her to have a chew on? I'm thinking it has been smoked or cooked or something?? Any ideas?

Thanks for those links. I went and had a look at a dog food place that sells a lot of raw food and he recommended dog mince (mix of roo, mutton and beef) and roo tail. Does that sound reasonable? I really need something that is not too fatty as she needs to lose a couple of kilos. He said the chicken carcasses were very fatty and really didn't have any meat so said I should avoid them if I want Akira to lose weight. I guess if I wanted to use chicken I could buy chicken wings or quarter chickens. Does she have to have organs like liver? I was thinking feeding her 250g of dog mince mixed with an egg and a roo tail for dinner? He said the roo tails weigh approx. 200g each. Also does $3 for 6 roo tail bits sound fine?

So are you feeding one patty a day plus some sort of raw meat? Do you find that enough. That's what I'm thinking of doing because I don't think I have that many good suppliers of raw meat up here in toowoomba (will have to go looking again).

Are you adding any vegies in there or just the offal, egg/sardine? Thanks for mentioning the 2-3% - makes is a bit easier to get my head around quantities.

I'm no expert either but am inclined to think if your goldie did better on Barf, then try something along similar lines. I tend to feed a prey model diet rather than BARF because I find it time consuming and mind boggling making barf patties and making sure I have 'the right balance'. I have done a lot of reading and am confident what I give my goldie is perfectly fine for him, it's cheap for me and little or no preparation. I don't stop and think what should he have today, I just grab whatever comes out of the freezer first. So, it's meaty bones, roo meat, lots of chicken frames (probably 70% of his diet), leftovers from dinner eg lots of roast pumpkin etc. Yoghurt, sardines, eggs get fed when I remember - but usually once or twice a week. I'm busy so my goldie has to fit into my lifestyle and as long as you have a freezer, it works brilliantly, plus he is very healthy and he gets variety. I also feed Orijien kibble when I run out of meat/bones. (Have also used Bonnie Light which was fine occasionally) and Ziwipeak food gets used for treats. I don't see any harm in kibble occasionally as long as it doesn't affect him adversely. Sometimes people get a bit caught up in what to feed and how much. If my boy starts to put on weight, I just ease off on the size of his meals (always twice daily). Observing your dog and what he does best on and how much, should be the way to go. I might just give that a go. So do they get two meat meals a day? i.e. meaty bone in the morn and chicken frame at night? Or just one meat meal and the other a mixture meal with some tuna/sardines egg and vegie mix?

Thanks for the replies. I have always thought she had an intolerance to something but haven't been able to find what it is and figured a good dry would be fine....but apparantly not. Gretel you must have searched my posts!! lol We haven't used barf patties for a long time! Akira does love them though and they have been the best thing for her but they are too expensive for us being a one income family. I have thought about trying to make my own and have investigated it but it was too mind boggling. How many chicken wings do you think you would need to feed her if I only gave her 1 patty a day? I would really love some help with feeding her as we have been struggling for sooo long and I just haven't found a solution that works for us. She is 3 years old and weighs about 30kg (so ideally needs to lose a few kilos). In terms of intestinal wormers (I'm having a loss as to what they are called) but our vet said twice a year on top of her advocate. Helen

Must just be my dog then. She is wormed regularly - advocate and the chewable allwormer 2 twice a year.

I haven't posted in here for a long time. Have you heard of particular brands of dry food causing diarrhoeah? We have been using Natural Balance (DVP) and Akira has had a LOT of diarrhoeah. We were on Royal Canin before that and it wasn't much better. Could the dry food cause it? We never had a problem when she was on BARF patties but it ends up being quite expensive. Any ideas?

Thanks I will pop into the vet tomorrow and see if I can grab some. Can I use aloe vera gel in the mean time to sooth the itching?