TigerJack

I would have it removed. With the amount of damage you describe and only a 20 to 30% chance of vision, I wouldn't put a dog through that recovery and pain. I have had two dogs who had eyes removed and they had a short uneventful recovery and coped just fine for the rest of their lives. good luck

7 Kelpies ranging from 12-20kg...... I dont think you will have a problem!! Most of my use would have been with 45-50kg of bouncing dogs :laugh: Back when I had a sedan I used to fit ten dogs in a Camry. Don't do that anymore but back then I had a 63kilo Dane and a 33 kilo Malinois cross sharing the BSB with a littler whippet cross and a kelpie. (The other 6 were tinies,crated up front. No problems, the BSB was tough enough. I will say that the hair can still get round the sides a bit unless you get the right size for your car. I also let one front down so my whippet cross could sit in the foot well. She preferred to travel there. That might have contributed to the hair getting out. Gave mine away when I sold the sedan. It was a tough item. Still had years of wear left in it.

maybe tell us where you are staying. I am sure a bunch of us have various coats and won't mind you trying but not much use if we are miles away. I did have trouble fitting my very petite Kelpie with a swamp cooler coat so I know how frustrating it is. Fitted the others fine (and also fitted my tiny Silky) but the small kelpie was in between sizes. The other kelpie's coats swam on her and the next size down was so small she was choked by the neckline. I had to change brands and get her a Hurrta one which fits perfectly.

I have had a bout of vestibulitis myself. Very disorienting. I was constantly dizzy, the slightest movement had me spinning. I had some nausea too due mainly to the dizziness but that faded. I kept hitting walls when I walked as I couldn't do a straight line. Lasted about 2 weeks at the worst and then I came good slowly. Was a worry initially as I was imaging all sorts of nasty pathologies. It was scary enough for me, must be terrifying for a dog who can't know what is going on.

Thanks Brookstar, I have decided to go with Petplan. I just have to wait till my pup can come home now. Meanwhile I will talk to my vet and see if they are registered for the direct payment arrangement. I like that idea too. thanks for all your info Jo

Try Satin Balls. They are very calory dense in a small meatball sized serving. I used them successfully to put weight on my Malinois cross when he got scrawny. He was a big chested do too so I didn't want to risk bloat and just feed bulk kibble. I have a recipe if you want me to send it to you. Jo

So far I like what I have read via a search on DOL about Petplan. I will ring them tomorrow with questions but I want to know from Dolers if there are any requirements you have to keep in order to maintain your insurance. By that I mean things like regular assessments. I read one post where someone was complaining about having to get yearly dental assessments. I can't find anything about that on the Petplan website. Is this just a check up or is it an actual cleaning? (Is it covered?) I will speak to Petplan but wanted to hear if anyone found these things restrictive or is it common with all plans?

Thankyou Megan and SchnauzerMax. That's exactly the sort of info I'm after.

Hi all I am looking for some feedback on pet insurance. None of my current dogs are insured and I've been lucky so far. I have a new baby toy breed pup due to come home in a couple of months and it occurs to me that it might be time to look into insurance. I am not current on what companies offer it. So, who do you all use and why did you choose them? Any problems with getting bills paid? Any issues with exclusions? Anything else I haven't thought of? Jo

Very sad news, he was only 7 years old RIP Koko news story here

report it! Imagine if you had your own dogs with you as well. You wouldn't have been able to intervene with the same success and also guarantee your own dogs were safe as well as the fluffies. It could have been much worse and might be deadly next time. You don't want that on your conscience if it gets out again. There must have been something awful to happen for the dog to be wearing a dangerous dog collar in the first place. That still wasn't enough for the owner to be containing his dog safely and it got out and did it again. I would tend to think this person is not responsible enough for today's events to be enough of a scare for him to 100% keep it contained in the future. Report it for the sake of all the other dogs in the area. You are not responsible for the outcome for this dog, the owner is. (and good on you for helping out)

I use Animal Medical Services and I mainly use the Kingsford office but they have also got a centre in Alexandria in Botany Road. I have been there a few times, including once in an emergency after my dog got hit by a car. They've always been good I've found. I take ten dogs there so they give me the gold client discount. Details for the Alexandria half as follows. AMS: Alexandria Veterinary Hospital - Sydney Vet Shop 1/138 Botany Rd Alexandria NSW 2017 Australia Phone: (02) 9698 4120 Fax: (02) 9698 4125

As far as I know (not a member of HDAC) the HDAC Tuesday night jumping trial is on 04/12/12. Entries for it close on 13/11/12. HDAC also have a twilight games trial on 01/12/12 which closes on 24/11/12. There was a Tuesday night trial for November already. It was last Tuesday the 6th for Snooker.

they do seem well made

I recently replied to an email from someone asking about cooling mats so I am cutting and pasting here. It is all about the ones I've tried and there are some links in there too. I have a couple of different cool mats here that I have gotten over the years. Mostly from places like 'deals direct' or similar. I tend to buy multiples of bargains when they are on sale and stow them away and forget I have them. The two mats I have I got back when I did flyball with my big dog Jack. I had tried the wet fabric versions and found them hopeless. He felt the heat and would not get into a clamshell pool. I have one version which is called an 'All season pet ped' which is basically a double layered thing. It is vinyl and one side is filled with foam and the other side is empty. You fill the empty side with water and it is like a water bed. Quite cool to lie on. Supposed to put the water side up in summer to be cool and the foam side up in winter to be warmer. I found it very effective but at a comp you need a short bit of hose and a connector as not all places have hoses. It is also quite heavy if you fill it too full so you need a hand to carry it and then poke it into your crate. I ended up making a couple of giant pillow slip type covers so the dog was not lying direct on vinyl as they don't seem to like that as much. with the slip cover they were fine. It does stay cool all day though. Need enough water in it that the dog's body doesn't heat up the water, hence the weight. Its quite comfy, I've laid on this myself. I googled it and this was the first place that came up with it here which is exactly what I have but I didn't get it from this place. I ended up with three of them (in case they got holes but they turned out to be quite tough) so I am still on my first one. The second version I have is a bit easier to deal with as there is no filling and emptying to do with water. It is a gel filled mat that has permanent fold lines so its easy to pack up. It also comes in different sizes. The label in the box says 'cool pet pad' and googling found this at here which is the same model and label as mine but I got mine elsewhere. There seemed to be lots on ebay too. This one is filled with gel and has a quite tough sort of cover on it. Probably the best one I have. They came in different sizes too. The same thing, (appears to be a different name) is on clean run here here so might be worth seeing if clean run do free shipping again in November like they did last year. Another gadget I have is the 'scratch and newton ice pod' (link here here ) which I actually got last year when clean run had free shipping. They don't seem to have them anymore. Dreadful, bright pink colour but very effective. They are a round frisbee sized plastic sealed dome which is tapered at the edges and about 2cm thick in the middle. You keep it in the freezer like a big ice brick and then stick it in the crate under a towel or mat and the dog can lie on it or off it as they choose. They are completely sealed with some sort of liquid or gel inside. Nothing to fill and empty. I checked deals direct again tonight and they have another kind of pet bed again which seems to be some sort of memory foam version. Haven't tried that one but here is the link. here

I use the ruffwear swampcoolers a lot for multiple dogs and find them excellent. I did recently find that I couldn't get them to fit my petite female kelpie. She's quite tiny and if the neck fitted, the rest didn't. I got a similar coat from Hurrta (think that is how you spell it) and it is excellent. Same cooling principle but a bit better made with some adjustment in the neck for the tricky to fit dogs like my girl. The thing I like about the swampcooler and the hurrta cooling coat is that it wraps down over the whole chest. Cools better.

you can get something called a 'cloud collar' from Clean run and they have free shipping right now on that item. I got a few for the different sized dogs I have when they were on free shipping last year. I found that the sizing chart gave me collars that were a bit small. So use your judgement but maybe go up a size?

I can only comment on Kelpie sized dogs and tinies. I bought some of these in chihuahua size and kelpie size last year during free shipping. I found that all the ones I got were too small and the dog could get round them but the next size up was good. Their sizing chart must just be a bit too small.

my local chemist warehouse has it on a shelf behind their registers. Looks exactly the same frontline plus that I use.

when we were kids peanut butter would get used to remove chewing gum stuck in your hair.

I am looking for these too. I used to be able to buy them for less than $2 in coles and woolies in the pet section but haven't seen them for a couple of years. I eventually lose the bottom half. Will check out those links. I like having the additional security of having the cylinder as well as the tag. Some of my dogs have lost tags but seldom lose the cylinder. One who escaped was only found quickly as the person who found her got my number from the paper in the cylinder. Thanks for the links

It is dog friendly. I have lots of friends who stay there when the Canberra Royal is on. They've even had the hotel owner kick the people out of the pool so that the dogs can have a swim!

Pebbles they do come in a smaller size, i have a couple. They are not the ones on special though. Check out clean run, that's where I got mine. I did wait for the end of year free shipping though!

Have you considered a rescue? As a child I always wanted a Great Dane, thought they were fabulous dogs of course I knew next to nothing about them. As an adult I got the opportunity to adopt an elderly Dane boy who had been abandoned. Sam was 8 when I took him home. I thought it was a great opportunity for me to see how a giant breed worked for me. I was told that they only lived till they were 9 or so and I felt I could give him a great last year or so and really get to know Danes. Sam lived till he was over 14. Gorgeous old man. He had bloat right before I adopted him and had surgery to fix it so I was conscious of the feeding issues. He also had cancer which took him in the end. Sam had about 6 different kinds of malignancies. I still don't know if that is normal for Danes but his cancers were all nasty requiring repeat surgeries. In the end it was too much to put him through. He was a darling and I would certainly have another Dane again one day sometime when I am on a larger property. Even though he was an elder gent, he still had bursts of energy and a little run. He was happy spending most of his time on his bed though. He wanted to be near me, he liked knowing where I was. Definitely will go Dane again one day but knowing how great Sam was, I might just adopt another oldie one day. Jo

my young Kelpies can pick them up and carry them hanging sideways, chew the base a bit then put them down upside down and they've still got water in them. (Great idea for trial prizes.)