David See

How would you know what our circumstances are? So, yes, you were rude.

She has had an inverted vulva for some time (looks like a small plum) but the vet said there was nothing to worry about. Maybe this has something to do with that?

Hi all, haven't been here for a while. Yesterday after I got home from work I noticed our 12 yo Kelpie was peeing more than she normally does. Then I noticed she was only TRYING without success. Over and over. No stream. She would go and lie down, hop back up about 3 minutes later and try all over again. Any ideas? She doesn't seem overly distressed about it. DS

Hi all, This evening I was in our home office doing some work and looked out the window to see our dog wobbling all over the backyard attempting to vomit. On closer inspection she had trembling back legs and her eyes were glazed. I had seen this behaviour before. A quick inspection to the front yard and sure enough - most of the snail pellets my wife had put down at the weekend were gone. The dog never goes into the front yard (that's why we thought it ok to use the pellets there) but she went out there tonight when we were admiring our christmas lights we also installed on the weekend. We didn't even see her go near the pellets!! I called the local vet - he was 20 mins away from his work and I met him there around 9pm. It is only a 5 min drive from home. Whilst waiting for the vet in the car park, Bessie got much worse and was stumbling everywhere with poo flying out one end at a rate of knots and vomit the other. Yep, up came the pellets. That was the culprit. Thank goodness she waited till we got out of the car. Vet arrived, took her inside, checked her vitals. Gave her the antidote for the Bayer brand snail pellets (with bitrex) and then some vallium to settle her for the night. She settled down within 10 minutes. Shaking stopped. She vomited three times in the vet's, more and more pellets came up. She had eaten HEAPS. She is home now and will not settle. She seems fine but is stumbling all over the place due to the vallium (apparently). No more shakes. No more vomit. No more exploding poos. She wants water but the vet said not too much. The bill? $175.00. I thought that was reasonable considering it was a callout and it saved my dog's life. A near disaster has a happy ending!

Hi all, I have been trying a few different brands of dry food for the dogs to see how they go on each. So far I found Optimum to be ok, but this week I tried Supercoat. The dogs have done nothing but poop ever since...the older one does enormous poops where the younger one has the squits and sprays all over the place with loud passing-wind noises and she is a little lethargic. The noises are funny, but obviously something is upsetting her. Perhaps the food? Has anyone else's dogs had this reaction to the brand?

What gets me with our dog is that all the toys are left - she goes for the things she shouldn't. Looks like the backyard is going to get all boringly clean and clinical again.

The relentless destruction is one thing but this is another: The pup, an 11 month old Kelpie Cross Border Collie, undoes our other dog's collar whenever they are together and left alone. She doesn't pull it off, she UNDOES IT COMPLETELY. I have NO IDEA how she does it, but she has learned how to undo the collar. It is not just pulled off, it is completely undone. I thought I was imagining things for a while until it kept happening. Amazing.

I was about to post the same type of question. I have an 11-moth-old Kelpie cross Border Collie that is continually destructive. I also have a 10 year old Kelpie. They both get on well. Everytime we go out, something is wrecked. Everytime we go in the house fo a while, something is ruined. Our office is in the garage and when I am in there the pup won't touch a thing as she knows I am close by. As I write she is alseep on her bed. This is disappointing and relentless and makes you so angry as there seems to be no stopping it.

We're back, not Parvo - vet said she has picked up a bug and will be over it in a day or two as long as she doesn't start vomiting or get the squits. Vet suspected parvo but said because her belly wasn't sore, Parvo was out. She got a shot for her 39.6 temperature and is on antibiotics. Back home now and she seems a little better, following our other dog around at last. There goes another $100 but at least Molly is ok. She has also remembered to use her tongue to drink, too! David

On the way to vet now - she wouldn't drink, either, just stick her nose in the bowl and not do anything - just look at the water closely. DS

wife trying to get in touch with one now (Sunday) having some trouble, hence this post

Hi all, I know I am going to have to take her to the vet, but I needed some initial advice. Our new Pup, Molly, has been lethargic over the last day. I just went out the back to see the dogs and she was crying around the side of the house, lying on her side, just wimpering. It took all her energy to get up. I picked her up, still wimpering, and I noticed she had bubbles at the side of her mouth. She has appeared awfully skinny over the last day or so, too. I am wondering if she has been bitten by something, or poisoned. Twice since we had her, it appeared as if she had some kind of snotty growth around her bottom lip. This morning I had to litterally peel something off her bottom lip, around the front edge. Looked like snot, but was completely attached to her skin. Once there was like a dried mucus all over her nose like a second skin, if you like, that had to be peeled off. Thought you guys might know something before it is off to the vet. Regards David

Gee, so sorry to hear that - it is incredible how these creatures get into you and it is truly a death in the family wwhen we lose one. I really don't hold much hope for bessie - I just have a feeling...it is so sad to see drops of dried blood under her bed from where her nose has been hanging over whilst she has been sleeping. I just hope she isn't in pain. She doesn't appear to be. I wonder how the tumours start and I wonder why they bleed? I understand that bleeding could happen after a biopsy - but yours obviously happened beofre the tests, as did Bess's. She had a sneezing fit one day, next thing there was blood pouring down into her mouth and over her paws. A very sad sight and the thing that prompted me to get her to the vet. She has only had a couple of smaller bleeds since then but she suffers from a lot of browny-coloured mucus coming from both nostrils. Sometimes so thick it just hangs down over her mouth. David

Hi all, Bess was taken to the vet this morning to have the stitches removed - all ok there. The vet said he would send the x-rays and pathology results from the nasal blockage to a specialist in Sydney who will then be able to advise us of our options. Bessie is still snorting as much as ever and has muscus running from her nose every now and then, Some bllod here and there as well. Sometimes she looks a sad sight indeed when she hops out of her kennel and her nose is covered in blood. David

I would think that the mucus and so forth shows signs of an infection rather than a tumour, although I guess the tumour could be causing irritation and therefore an infection. Perhaps she just has something caught up there? I just don't know and I fear invasive investigation will be the next step.....$$$$$$$$$$ That sounds cruel, but I don't mean it to be - we just don't have the money to go any further at this point. D

Oh no! I have been working this morning and when I came back I noticed a small amount of cloudy-brown fluid on the cement under her tramp bed at one end where her head and nose hangs over. There are also several spots of blood on her bed as well. I have seen her nose bleed before taking her to the vet the other week and it occurs after a sneezing attack, which is obviously irritating the blockage enough to cause bleeding. She left her food last night although I must admit she had some bones which could have curbed her appetite. She ate her food from her bowl just now. Trouble is that is the only way I can get antibiotics into her - with her food. She appears ok, happy as normal, no obvious signs of discomfort apart from the weeping nose. Not sure what this means but I will mention this to the vet tomorrow when she gets her stitches out. Her nose is not currently bleeding. David

Hi there, Bess seems to be doing well although she is still blocked. I am not convinced the antibiotics will help, I thought she would be over the infection by now. There is some brown thick fluid running from her nose every now and then, like a child with a bad cold. One thing I picked up on today is that we have a lot of green ants around here and Bessie is constantly being bitten by them. They are the ones that are larger than the normal black "house" ant and give a nasty burning sting when they bite. They are ferocious and we have heaps of them - they are always around where Bess sleeps. They aren't big hoppy-joes (larger orange ants with pincers). I wonder if one of these have ventured into her nostril and bitten her, causing swelling and an infection? Has anyone heard of this happening? She regularly eats them and so I wonder if she is suffering from a bite down there. Improbable, maybe, but a thought. She is getting the stitches out of her eye this week where she had a black lump removed last week, so we will know more then. Thanks all!! David PS I am not sure if you can see it in the photo, but her left eye has been shaved for thr sugery and this is why she looks a little worse for wear. The lump was cut out from the bottom eye-lid, right in the corner near the tear-duct.

Hi all and thanks for your replies! I Will respond individually when I can. We got a call from the vet today and he said the results DID NOT show any signs of cancer! This is great news of course, but he also said perhaps they didn't go deep enough to get a biopsy of the ACTUAL tumour, if one exists, OR it could just be a beinign mass caused by some form of trauma at some stage, like being struck on the nose. So, she is not out of the woods yet but the outlook is somewhat brighter. We are to keep her on antibiotics as her breathing has improved somewhat since coming home from the vet. David

Thanks so much, Where do I find such treatment? David

This has all just happened this week so we are still waiting for the results. I would normally be hopeful but the vet said not to get my hopes up - he is familiar with what is happening and I think he was preparing me for the worst. Let's see what the results say - should get them back early next week. David

Thanks all, I guess my concerns are that we will not know if she is suffering or not. She is quieter, to be sure, but she is still looking healthy and happy. She doesn't move around as much as she did and spends a lot of time in her kennel during the day. I noticed before all this happened, she started to become naughty. SHe was digging holes in the lawn and chewing things agin like she was a pup. She has stopped that now, though. Her coat has turned a lighter red as well, she looks a lot older in the last 6 months. The photo was taken three years ago. David

Hi all, I am so glad I found this site and look forward to becoming involved. I have a nine-year-old Kelpie bitch, Bess, red-brown and tan in colour and she has to be one of the best dogs I have ever come across. She is a great looking dog with an incredible personality and great sense of humour. Even though she is nine, she still plays and gets excited like a puppy but she thankfully stopped wrecking the yard after two years of age. I have had her from six weeks of age and I bought her just after I bought my first house - I still live there, too, so she is a real part of the furniture! A typical Kelpie, she is bright and very intelligent and extremely loyal, but not a vicious bone in her body. She is excellent with our kids, letting them pull her around the yard by her collar (my girl is only three) and she loves it as long as someone is touching her. I have neer seen her go to bite anyone, I am not sure if she is capable. She is also one of these dogs that, if we are sitting down outside having a drink, she backs into you so you are touching her and looks around you with those big brown eyes. If you dare kick her lightly in the butt, the game is on and she runs off looking for the ball. She is just a wonderful dog and I know impossible to replace, dread the thought! At the start of this year I noticed every now and then she would do this incredibly loud nasal "draw-back" like someone disgustingly clearing their nose. It would only happen occasionally and up until then I had never heard her do it. I took no notice of it as it was so sporadic, I thought perhaps she just had something stuck or it was an alergic reaction to something in the air. It would leave as fast as it came. Two weeks ago it suddenly reappeared but stayed. I also noticed that she was having difficulty breathing through her nose and of a night you could hear her snoring in her kennel. This week I took her to the vet and they have located a blockage in her right nostril, just near her eye and it is also decreasing the air flow in her left nostril. The vet has taken a biopsy but he has told me it looks like an aggressive cancer and if it is, there will not be much time left with her. Of course I am devastated, this dog has been through a lot of things with me in the last nine years. I have learned that dogs breathe through their mouth when on the move, so at the moment this only affects her when she is at rest. I wonder if this doesn't actually kill her, can she survive without use of her nose? I guess she wouldn't be able to smell then either. So at the moment I am ata complete loss. Something has changed here at home and I am having trouble even venturing out into the back yardm, even though she is still with us. Something is missing. I was wondering if perhaps any of your dogs have suffered from this and did they survive? Did medication and/or operations help them? I guess I am looking for some relief from the inevitable, but it might at least help me to deal with it all. At the moment it is unbearable. I look forward to hearing from you. David