Christina

No idea what crap is in them. Doubt that there would be much difference. I have used them about once a year & all the dogs love it no matter which brand. My friends dogs have been fed it & some dry & at about 10 years old they are in great health & condition.

If they take action on one cat they have to take action on all cats & that includes any cat that is out, even in your own front garden, because cats can get out so easy. The law has to be that either cats are not allowed outside or that they are. Councils usually seize animals that are complained about if they are not inside the owners house so Danny darlings cat is likely to be seized too if they bother. The current laws are that it is not illegal to let your cat out. Its stupid to let your cat out & that applies to all.

2 more suggestions that may be helpful. To increase appetite in cats you can use Periactin. Its quite safe & is available at the chemist. Many breeders use it. Check at the vets if you are not sure but do not buy it there. Its only about $8 or close for 100 tablets, the vet charges more than that for dispensing a few. Try half a tablet every morning & again in the evening if the morning does makes no difference after a few days. The other thing is if you know where the other cat comes in sprinkle lots of cheap white pepper around the area but your cat may get affected by it too. Unpleasant but not harmful.

Big upset over using electric fences for cats on the cat forum recently. I think its cruel but another point to consider is that these 2 cats are friends so if you force the friendship apart your old cat may fret for her friend & not eat anyway. She will miss her & get depressed. You have always let your cat out too so confining her now at her age may also depress & suppress her appetite. If you decide to keep her totally indoors now I suggest you block access to the other cat coming in but bring it in for a couple of short visits a couple of times a day when you have removed food. The cat flaps where the cat has to wear a collar aren't the best for small animals as the collar is quite heavy & cumbersome & if she is not used to it & again it may put her off her food. It would be unfair & unethical to trap the cat( & you don't want to anyway really ) its not a stray, or complain to council as you have allowed this & let your own cat out. Electricuting it isn't impressive either.

You explained it much better than I did too.

A lengthy, rather disturbing article with opinions from RSPCA, AWL & referring to Oscars Law, PIAA & the select comittee. Too long to type out several pages but here is a worrying part re PIAA Its dogs lifetime guarantee on traceability & rehoming includes a scheme for approved breeders to comply with codes of ethical operation, subject to an independent annual audit by a vet. They would be required to microchip animals with breeder details before sale to accredited pet shops ( tells you how to find the 8 here later on ) If the dog were to be found abandoned or sent to a shelter or pound, the theory is that it would be traced back to pet shop & breeder for re homing at PIAA's expense. The policy was rolled out in NSW & will be launched in SA in 2 or 3 months. Does this mean that registered breeders with canine associations have to sell through pet shops only ? Why do the RSPCA refuse to contact the breeder of a surrendered or abandoned dog or let the breeder take it back if they have it now but they are going to approve it through pet shop sales ? The whole article was odd & flawed with varying opinions & am not sure exactly what it was trying to do apart from somehow support large scale, approved cross breeding facilities. Not sure how to find a link on the net for this but worth a read if you can find it.

PTS is the kindest thing to do however I wonder Can they put a shunt in like they do with people ? If yes how successful is this ? What would be the cost ? These are questions to ask the vet.

Apart from the obvious that a desexed dog can't breed it can impact on a dogs behaviour & stop some things that may bother many owners. Not every dog but so many. The males don't hump or pee on things. Not every entire male does this but its common. The males don't try & escape to get to females on heat, which they can smell from afar. The males are more malleable without all the testosterone. Less likely to fight. The females don't hump, yes this happens in entire girls. They don't leave blood around the place twice a year for a few weeks. They don't attract male dogs. You can take them out all year. One can debate on the health issues forever but re the above people are not as tolerant of any hassle with pets & want to fix everything. Desexing fixes a lot. Many entire dogs are fine with a certain type of owner but they are not the majority.

Probably much advice would be the same however this is a purebreed forum. I guess that as you have never bred a litter you may not have an entire male & female dog or if you have they have never got together. That's good & I guess we won't be hearing about it if they ever do. :) People are not infallible & dogs can be so amazingly clever in unthinkable ways. This particular breeders issue is not a cruelty matter. The dog is fine & will not be constantly bred from. Its a lesson learnt the hard way which can happen.

Its called being a teenager. Every dog tries it on. My dogs would keep nicking things more if I gave them a treat to swap for them. They would soon learn more nicking = more treats. I would ignore the nicking & retrieve the object when she has lost interest unless she is destroying it. Try a shorter lead if you want a faster walk but part of the pleasure of the walk for the dog is the stopping & smelling the interesting stuff. You may be finding the walk boring but she probably loves it.

I also had a browse for any info re welfare laws & if they are actually imposed. Even here in Australia the anti cruelty/welfare laws fail for various reasons. This was interesting, especially posts 21 & 24 http://www.jref.com/forum/japanese-news-hot-topics-4/animal-cruelty-laws-japan-do-they-exist-35033/ However its only a forum (although the posters do seem to live in Japan) so maybe they all lie.

I always use a 40 blade for all my dogs feet, even puppies & sometimes on the face depending on the particular dogs texture of hair. They have never, ever, been burnt, got a rash or injury. The way to use them is to put hardly any pressure on at all when using, the blade does the work with barely any. Also to constantly check the heat of the blade. It less damaging or uncomfortable for the dog than using a 10 & having to use more pressure Obviously the blade has been used incorrectly. In this particular situation of the poor dogs burns I don't think putting anything on them is going to help & may hurt. What about only using pain killers.

I felt sick after reading this the other day. Why would any breeder send dogs to a country that treats its animals this way ? Yet still they do. please stop generalising! There are plenty of disgusting petshops in Australia. Are you going to judge the entire country as well? Its not generalising. The difference is that we do have cruelty laws here that can be enforced & most of the population would think those conditions were cruel. In japan they don't have any laws & think this is normal. Accepted animal keeping & husbandry is so different there. Its a culture thing not generalising or racism. Its enough of a worry to send a puppy to its new home here, despite all we try & check sometimes it can turn out not to be the best home so I don't understand why they get sent to Japan, especially entire. Anyone can say & give a good impression over the phone or internet.

A night on the town, a taxi & a meal costs more than getting your dog desexed. Some people spend more on a pair of shoes than desexing would cost. I don't understand the moaning over a one off expense

It still puzzles me how some people think nothing of "wasting" $1,500 on something like a piece of furniture or TV or holiday (which is gone in a flash) yet they are outraged at spending that amount on their companion to be & new family member for the next 10 or 15 years etc, one hopes. I guess common sense would tell them a limit & expectation of some sort. According to their personal finance & whether the breeder price is within the sensible/average range.

I felt sick after reading this the other day. Why would any breeder send dogs to a country that treats its animals this way ? Yet still they do.

I also find it weird that the vet said it takes 3 to 5 days for symptoms to show after ingesting rat/mouse poison ? I thought it was either instant or within a few hours/same day No autopsy makes no sense.

Emotionally they would motivate me more to survive/escape & ease the isolation. On a practical level toy poodles would be useless except as an alarm. Another breed would be something to protect me/hunt for its own food. I would have to be vegetarian in those circumstances. German shepherd, deerhound, along those lines.

Never needed & would not put one on an animal as a matter of course. Its not nice for them Wait & see what she does. Probably nothing. Sometimes if it seems to be bothering them its the piece of thread they are sewn up with has been left a bit too long & is poking them when they curl up. If so just snip it a bit shorter with small scissors facing away from the dog obviously.

Some cat biscuits Hairball Formula ? Ask the vet if they are ok.

Today is a new day.

I am not sure there is another company that can be used for testing prcd/PRA ? There was but seems after Optigen won the lawsuit to prevent others using the test for this particular thing we may be limited.

When its dumped over your fence & you can hear people running away. When its dumped in your garden & you know it can't have scaled a 6 foot fence at 3 weeks old. When its left in a box on your doorstep. Maybe I am wrong but I guessed this meant you can have it

I find that hard to believe. If it is true for Victoria then its wonderful. My faith would be restored tremendously because I have lost it re this issue, which greatly upsets me. Do you have a link to the re home info & stats ? Its certainly not that way in SA. Both them & AWL have huge kill rates & will not let any go to rescue or back to breeders.

They rehome to families that can contain them. I'm probably the cause of more lamb deaths than they would be. How true. Almost every lamb born is killed & eaten by humans eventually. How is our killing more humane & justified.