Pugmum

Every dog we have had tends to chew their feet and scratch their legs etc. I have changed diets (we feed nutro kibble, raw meat, veggies, sardines etc but no dairy) and it still gets so bad you think they are going to chew their feet off. I have been dipping thier feet in calendula tea and rubbing it on legs - its not helping either. So the solution seems to be to get rid of the lawn - its really more a mish mash of grasses and mown weeds anyway. But what to replace it with ? has anyone had any success at this? thanks

Hi DR, Bison is a beautiful boy and I wish you both the very best. Any illness of a pet leaves you feeling very vulnerable, but the word cancer hits you like a brick to the head. It looks as though Bison is responding very well to treatment though so hpefully his prognosis is now on the most positive side I dont know much about Chemotherapy treatments apart from those that my girl had for bladder cancer. The instructions from her specialist stressed taking her temp twice a day for a week after each treatment, then going for a white cell count - depending on that result we may have continued (if her white cell count was very low she was still prone to infections). A spike of more than 1 degree meant a trip back to the specialist. If you dont need to have a white cell count, maybe the temp thing is not needed - but it certainly wont hurt to know how he is travelling. With regards to the diet, again only from my experience, I was told to be very carefull about the amount of antioxidant I gave my girl while she was having the Chemo - spcialist told me it would actually work to negate the treatment I fed only cooked food, meat, steamed vitamised veg, quark (a form of cottage cheese) with fesh ground flax seeds etc. The reason for the cooked food was becase raw food had more bacteria - fine for healthy dogs, not those with a compromised immune system from the chemo. My girls cancer was very aggressive, but with a good diet etc she was in good conditon till the end. best wishes and a hug for Bison.

Hi, I was able to buy Essiac tea from health food stores - most should stock it.

Thanks, Yes, one of the dogs really only needs a trim to stop knots under his ears etc the other has a slightly wavy coat and as she is very small it gets knots and burs very easily as it does not clear the ground in many places, the wavyness makes it difficult to get a good look with scissors. she's also tad overweight so the idea is to also keep her cool in summer.

Hi, My daughter has two long haired Chihuahuas and is looking into finding a place to teach her to groom them. I'd like to get her some good equipment, but have no idea what would be best to get - does anyone have a recommendation ? thanks

Hi, In case you are still after a quantity for the pysillium husk, I was told by the specialist my dog was seeing that she could have up to 1 tablespoon with her meal - she was 10 kg. We also use it to control anal problems with my daughters Chi and we sprinkle about half a teaspoon on her food - she is 3 kg. Hers is less per kg of dog as she is a couch potato and therfore eats less

This happens to our 2 yo Frenchie girl (Donna) quite often. The skin at the side of the eye (second eyelid ?) protrudes into the visable area of they eye - just does not retract like it should. It was not red, just sort of the inside of they eyelid colour. It can happen on either eye for her. First time we freaked....waited for the vets to open, ready to pounce on them as our dark doggy looked quite odd :-) But while waiting for the vet my OH massaged the corner of the eye a bit and it just went away again. Now whenever it happens, quite often after a nap, we jut massage/rub it back. Its just a case of rubbing from the edge of it nearest the centre of the eye back towards the nose. In Donnas case it can happen every day or not at all for weeks. The vet says to just go with it as it is and that it only become a problem it it stays out for more than a day or two and gets red and round(thick) and wont go back with our normal method. We have only had Donna for 6 months and it has not gotten any worse in that time.

Merry Christmas Jodie and Ollie !! Its great to hear Ollie is doing well, best wishes for 2011

This is a strange argument I guess - there is no guarantee of a health issue free dog any nmore than a health issue free person. I agree that you can minimise the risk of joint problems etc by selective breeding but you still only minimise the risk - you cant eliminate it as far as I know. My two pugs, both pedigree, both from very good breeders, were so different. The one with the best 'lines' actually had more health issues. She also had a sensitive tummy so we had to be careful what we fed her. I can guarantee she had top quality food and a balanced healthy diet. She died of cancer this year. Both knees needed surgery, and had she not died she would have needed some work on her breathing. I love pugs, I love their personality and am confident with the temperamnet of them - but I'd never say I could be certain of their health or any dogs regardless of their breeding. One day I'll probably meet the pug that also that makes me question my confidence in temperament - after all they are individuals not clones.

My 10 kg girl was able to have up to a tablespoon with each meal (ate twice a day). I mix it in with some plain yogurt and she loved it.

I was quoted about $2k for a scan to check for a brain tumour in my girl - that was the vets estimate. by the time we got to the specialist centre for the appt, nearly 3 weeks later, I think they said it would be about $1200 - $1500. Apparetnly they are sedated quite a long time for this procedure. We didn't go ahead with the scan because she was diagnosed with a bigger problem and all concern about a 'possible' brain tumour was secondary so I did not get an actual cost. I know how you feel, but take a deep breath, and dont worry about a tumour until you need to - you may never need to. best wishes to you and your boy....

Thank you BellaDonna. It had only been there from sometime after we went to bed last night, and its gone again now. At least we now know, should it happen again , if it lasts longer than 24 hours to take her for treatment. We were ready to rush her in this morning as we tend to be worry warts. thanks again...

Thank you ellz, so it might come back or it might not. We'll have to keep en eye on it (yes, pun intended ) and hope that it does not re-occur. Poor thing, looked a bit lop sided this morning.

I recently (a week ago ) got an 18 mth old french bulldog to keep my elderly pug company. This morning the frenchie (Donna) had what I thought might be the beginning of a cherry eye, I've only sort of seen one before on a friends dog and it had long hair so was hard to see it properly. Donna's was not red, but as she in dark faced it was very noticable that there was extra light coloured flesh on the nose side of one eye. She is not bothered by it, but it made her dark face look strange. We decided which one of us would stay home and take her to the vet - OH won. But when I got to work he sent me a picture and showed that it had now totally gone away again I'm thrilled that it has gone again, but anyone have any ideas what it might have been ? Does cherry eye come and go ? thank you

My girl (pug) had both her knees done a few years ago. She had luxating platellas, and the worst one was done first and the second one was done about 10 months later. Her recovery was amazing. The hardest part was trying to keep her quiet for 4 - 6 weeks. A couple of days after surgery she was wanting to run around and would jump up and down on the spot if she was contained in a small space to try keep her still. I carried her a LOT to stop her running - got the best arm muscles I've ever had I had two dogs, so when I went to work, the other dog would go to my folks place, so that the the girl with the surgery had no reason to run around and play. It kept her quiet. She was also contained in places where she could not jump on furniture etc. We did this until the 6 week mark had passed. The thing she seemed to have the most trouble with was getting comfortable to sleep the first few nights - she just coouldn't find a comfy position. I ended up giving her a bed pillow and letting the leg with the surgery 'hang' off it onto the floor stretched towards her head. She'd sleep really well this way but then after she had gotten up for whatever reason, would not know how toget back into that position, so I'd place her again. that was only for a few days. The surgery went so well, I still skoff at footballters having months off for knee reconstructions - if the local vet did it, they be back playing footy again in a fortnight Good luck with the surgery.

I'm sorry about Leila's diagnosis - news like this does tend to knock the stuffing out of you. All of a sudden you are having to become familiar with things, and make decisions about things you never knew existed. Its tough Staffyluv has given you good advice, conventional medicine does generally not consider diet and supplements, and anyone whose pet has had cancer will tell you these are very important in keeping your fur-kid as well as you can during treatment, and to fight the disease in general. You'll see in the posts about Ruger that treatments can have good results, so try to stay positive. Best wishes, and a big hug to Leila.

Both your dogs are beautiful ! I'm glad that Jaz is feeling a bit better, and I hope this continues for her. Fish oil can also be a great addition to a dogs diet (those with cancer and also those that dont have it). If you are interested the dose is 1000 mg per 10kg of dog. I use the normal human consumption ones My massive pug (14kg) gets one on his own and the daughters little 4 kg Chi's get half each when they are.over. They are good for general health and used for dogs with heart troubles by doubling the dose. My avatar girl had cancer and I used this as part of her high fat and protein diet (one in the evening meal, and flaxseed/cottage cheese mixture (Budwig diet) in the morning meal) Big hug to beautiful Jaz - let us know how she is going....

Thats great news about Ruger Even though you are told that chemo in dogs is not as bad as for humans, you still expect the worst, and its a great releif to get the first one over and know that it really is going to be okay.

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a horrible time Its difficult to know what you can do for your girl if you dont know what you are dealing with. At this point you have no conclusive diagnosis, Jasmine may not have cancer, and as you say during the day she did pick up. Maybe giving the medication she has been given for the bile duct problem a chance to kick in and seeing how she is then could be a good idea. if it does happen to be the worst case and it is some form of cancer -the treatments vary a great deal depending on which you are dealing with and the prognosis too vary. I know its easier said than done but try not to panic, see what happens over the next day or two, then decide if you want - or need - to investiage further. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and Jasmine that its nothing bad.

Thats great ! My fingers are crossed for his next lot of tests. Its good to hear that sometimes things are not as bad as they at first seem.

My girl was also a patient of Dr David Davies while still nervous about going in the specialist centre Maggie always seems a bit excited to be there, they look after them and care for them so well that the dogs seem to feel more at ease. Dr Davies was not all that convinced about the diet etc I was using for Maggie (and mentioned 'snake oil salesmen' when I talked about things I wasted to try ) but he did check that nothing I was doimg interferred with the conventional treatment. And I know he was surprised at how well she always looked. I dont know if the conventional treatments made much of a difference (with bladder cancer the prognosis is not good at best) but I do know that the diet and supplements did make a big difference. Dr Davies is a great canine specialst and you can be confident he will do what is best for Ruger. Best wishes to you both (you cand Ruger - not Dr Davie and Ruger )

I am so sorry for what you are going through with Diesal - it seems like you have had a very rough trot recently I would weigh in on the diet argument - even though I did end up losing my girl to cancer (which had been a foregone conculsion that I hoped to be able to defer as long as possible) the cancer diet of low or no carb and sugar, and high proein and fat, I think made a huge difference. A also made sure she had organic chicken, veggies, budwig prepared flax oil, fish oil etc. Her spcialist was always surprised at just how well she looked - we actively tried to ensure we fed her not the cancer. Its difficult to make any other treatment decisions until you know exactly what you are dealing with - the treatments and prognosis between cancers ca be so different. Ollie is an inspiration, and shows what is possible. best wishes to you and Diesal.

Hi Miss Squish, I am so sorry to hear that your boy Ruger has been diagnosed with lymphoma - my heart goes out to you. Can I ask where your boy is being treated, and what they have in mind ? My girl went through chemo this year for bladder cancer. I dont know much about lymphoma apart from what I have read about the chemo results being about a 90% chance of remission and that generally buying you about a year of time, and that the low carb high protein and fat diet work well in dogs with this disease. My girl went through the chemo pretty well, but twice her white cell count went too low and that made her unwell for a few days and we had to be super careful as her immune sytem was so compromised for about a week while her white count went back up. Most dogs do tolertae chemo well and while my girl was never 'happy' to go to the specialist, she certainly did not mind it as much as a normal vet visit. Its more distressing for you than them, I never once managed to walk away without tears. You need to take their temp twice a day when they have chemo, starting before they have their first so you can get a 'normal' range for your boy. This is how you tell if there is a problem. Also they have regular 'complete blood count' blood tests to check the dosgae of chemo drugs is correct. This is a relly horrible time for you, made worse by having to make decisions. Some days there is just not enough chocolate in the world..... Brigitte

I think the whining is normal on the day, as they recover from surgery. As has already been said - the medications administered should last 24 hours. Where my guys have neede additonal pain meds after surgery we have always been given Tramadol and told to not be afraid to use it (and I wasn't )

My boy had to have them re-done as they were regrowing under the skin - he had them done very nicely at the Brighton Veterinary Hospital, 526 Brighton Road, Brighton 8296 4300. Also if you are really worried about the surgery, you could ask for a referral to the Adelaide Veterinary Specialist and Referral Centre, where they have a surgeon. They are at 102 Magill Road, Norwood. 8132 0533.