labsrule

OMG that is so terrible, poor Reg I so hope he will be ok :D . What an awful thing to happen to the poor old boy and of course what a nightmare for you, as how stressful must that have been for you happening at your place and thinking it may have been caused by the bone he got when all along he ingested poison at his own home I am pretty shocked that his owner laid this poison where it was accessible to her dog, even if the tradesman did move the furniture. Sending Reg lots of healing vibes and thoughts Reg's way. for you.

thankyou, have you used then yourself for anything? My black lab boy was treated last year with some alternative therapies by Karen Goldrick at All Natural Vet as part of his cancer treatment and she was just the most wonderful, caring and supportive Vet I have ever known. I actually asked Karen to PTS my beautiful boy when his time came in September rather than my normal vet and I will be eternally grateful to Karen for her wonderful support, kindness and compassion.

It really is trial and error to find a premium kibble that your dogs do well on. Over the years I have tried a variety of premium/super premium kibble with my black labs with mixed results and with them being black it is very easy to see the results. By far the best they have done well on is Nutro with their coats beautiful and glossy and I was most annoyed when they pulled the imported Nutro from the market awhile back as had to start again with the trial and error with disastrous results on their coats on the various super premiums I tried them on. The one kibble that I had hoped they would do well on was Artemis and I perservered with this food for quite a while and tried the various ranges Maximal (grain free), Fresh Mix and the Weight Management, but unfortunately my 3 lab boys didn't do well on Artemis at all resulting in their coats becoming dull and flaky and itchy skin. When I was advised that Nutro was being manufactured in Australia, I was very excited, but that excitement was tempered when it became known that the recipe was different to the US version, but a few months ago I decided to bite the bullet and give the Australian version a go and put my two older boys onto Nutro Lite and wow the different in their coats is amazing I am now in the process of swapping my puppy over from Advance Puppy to Nutro Adult range and I love the size of this kibble, nice and big size , which is ideal for my little piggy Lab pup who scoffs down his food in typical lab fashion. :D The dry component of my boys diet varies between 30-50% with the other 50-70% being a variety of RMB. Good luck finding a kibble that suits your dogs and you will find a lot of differences in opinions on the kibble debate but the main thing is to find one that your dogs do well on.

Abrham Ali Andrew Andy Angus Anzac Apollo(different spelling!) Appollo Archie Arkhan Armand Arq Ashke Attila Atlas Bailey x 5 Balou Bandit Banjo Bardigrub Bart X 2 Barton Baxter Bear x2 Bender Ben Benji Benny Benson Billy Bing Bluey Bomber Bosch Bosco Boxer Brady Brian Custard O'Doggle Brock Brockie Brody Bronson x2 Brownie Bruce Bud Buddy Bumble Bundyx2 Buster Cannon Caramel Carl Cash Casper Champ Charlie x 5 Chevy Chief Chip x 2 Chok Clifford Coco Cooper x3 Cory Cowan x 2 Cowboy Crikey Cuba Danny Darcy x 2 Dashx2 Deakin Dean Declan Delgado Dennys Dog Diablo Diesel x2 Digby Digger x2 Dillon Dinky Douglas Dumas Duncan Dylan Ebon Echo Eddie Edward Elijah Elliott Elvis Edge Ernie Esky Fergus x 2 Fox x 2 FlashBazil Fleming Fletcher Flynn Focus Forester Frank Fudge Gandor Geo George Greedy Grover Guiness mcGuinness Hail Harley Harri Harrison Harry Henry Hogan Hudson Hugo Ivan Jack x 3 Jake x 2 Jasper x 2 James Jay JayDee Jed Jethro Jet Jett Jordan Joshua Judd Juggie Kahn Kai Kaiser x 2 Kane Kasper Kaos Kiba Kei Kingston Kippy Kisho Kynan Kyzer Leo Lincoln Lenny Leroy Lestat x2 Logan Luca Lucius Ludwig Lughie Lukas Lukon Mac X 2 MacKenzie Mark (the cat) Mason Max x 7 Maxie Maxwell THE DOG Maze Mel Merlot Merry Milky Milosh Milton Minook Mistral Mojo Mokha Morris Mr Darcy Nammu Napoleon Nelsson (yes two s's) Nicky Nigel Noah Nova Nudge Nugget Occy Oliver Onslow Oscar x 3 Oz Pal x 2 Payton Pete Phoenix Phantom Piikki Porsha Punch Quick Quincy Raffy Ralph Randy Reeve Reagan Rex Ricky Riku Riley Ripley River Rocks Rolly Rory Rove Rover Roy Jones Jnr Rupert Rusty Sam x2 Satchmo Scout Scrap Scratch Shadow Seth Silas Snitch Sonny Soul Spartan Speed Spencer Spike Sport Spud Sterling Stig (The) Storm Stryker Sumo Swanky Tana Tazz x 2 Teddy Terry Tey Dog Thomas Thunder Tiger Tirra Toby x2 Tolkien Tommy Tournie Tub Tusca Tye x2 Tyson Udo Ulf Valdez Wags Walker Watson Weave Whisky Willow Willy Wilson Woody Wycomb Yoshi Zac Zedley Zeppelin Zephyr x 2 Zeus Zuma

I took out Pet Insurance for my 16week Lab pup a couple of weeks ago. I vowed and declared that I would take out pet insurance for any new dog I got after incurring some large vet specialist expenses last year for operation and chemo treatment for my late 10 year old lab boy's cancer last year I originally applied online with PetPlan, but found after reading the Product Disclosure statement that when dogs reach 10 years of age (or 7 years of age for Selected Breeds), they are only covered for 65%, not 100% and I wasn't happy with this based on my own personal experience with my boy last year who was close to 10 years of age when he was diagnosed with cancer. Also with PetPlan I opted for the Supreme Cover which has a $2000 benefit for death by illness/accident, however, this benefit is excluded if your dog reaches 10 years of age or older and dies from illness The fact is that there is more likelihood of an aging dog getting ill and possibly requiring expensive veterinary treatments and I would like peace of mind of 100% insurance cover if this happened to my new dog when he ages. It also took over a couple of weeks for PetPlan to issue the Insurance Policy/paperwork. I cancelled the policy with PetPlan as was within the "cooling off" period and subsequently took insurance out for my pup with PetInsurance Austrlia (PIA) who cover dogs over 9 years of age 100%, providing there has been no break or lapse in the policy after they reach 9 years of age. I opted for the Comprehensive cover with an Excess of $100.00 & for monthly payments of $36.60. Also they were much speedier than PetPlan in issuing the Certificate of Insurance (Policy Document). Funnily enough I received in the mail yesterday a 2nd lot of Policy Paperwork from PetPlan after I had cancelled the Policy and received no acknowledgement of my email cancelling the Policy, despite a request from me for acknowlegement of my email, so will ring them on Monday It really pays to read the fine print in their Policy Booklets/Product Disclosure Statements.

Who told you it was "best" for the lab? My 14week old lab pup is on Advance Puppy Plus Growth Large Breed as was recommended by his Breeder and he woof's it down like a little greedy pig ;) even though I feed it to him in a "slow feeder" bowl that is designed to stop them hoovering it up and the kibble size is a large size as well - he definitely has a typical labrador's healthy appetite He was initially on human grade mince and Advance, which after a few weeks, I stopped the mince and replaced it with bones (brisket, chicken wings, necks and I recently introduced chicken frames and when he gets a bit bigger I will introduce lamb necks, kangaroo tails and salmon heads. I also give him tinned sardines with his Advance 1-2 times a week, and also an egg 1-2 times a week, as well as yoghurt twice a week and a mixture of vegies 2-3 times a week. He is doing very well on his diet My pup does on average around 3 poos a day, sometimes it is a bit hard to tell if it is 2 or 3 now that he is getting bigger as I have two other Labs as well , so I make sure I do the poop patrol twice a day. I would say that 5 poos a day is excessive, but unfortunately is common with various dry foods on the market If you do change your girl's food, swap her over to it gradually and also get a small bag to start with to try and you may even be able to get some free samples of some of the food you might want to try. Also do a bit of research on the various dry foods out there. There are quite a number of threads on DOL on dry foods that you can search on and you will find a variety of foods and opinions The main thing is to find a food your girl likes and she does well on Over time I hope to reduce the kibble component of my boy's diet to around 25-30% of his diet, so that the main component 70-75% will be RMB. All the best with your girl

In my experience, when a Lab is off his food there is normally something wrong ;) and it could either be the food itself or a health problem with the Lab. To work out whether or not it is an issue with the food, I would feed them something else, preferably a favourite in their bowl and see if they eat it. If they don't, then I normally suspect it is a health problem and give it say 24 hrs before I take them to the vet. If they eat the replacement food, then I would be looking at the original food a little more closely i.e. could it be contaminated? if it is kibble what is the expiry date on the bag? One thing you mention is you were getting his chin checked out at the vet, so am wondering what is the problem with his chin and whether this chin problem has anything to do with his loss of appetite? i.e. does it hurt him to eat? Also I think the Vet should know better than to make a comments like "he is holding out to get something better" as Labrador's are renowned for their well deserved Gutses of the Canine world title and he/she should have taken you more seriously when you advised them of his loss of appetite. What do you feed your Lab? Has he always been fed the same food? Has there been any change to his food of late?

Fantastic news lillysmum I am just so happy for you and Ruby ;) Hope she is recovering well from her splenectomy

Wishing you all the very best for a positive outcome with benign results for Ruby and I know only too well the inner turmoil and stress that you must be feeling awaiting the pathology results My beautiful 10 year old black lab boy, Fitzy, had a splenectomy late April after a large tumour was discovered on his spleen during an ultrasound after blood test results showed he was anaemic. I had taken him to my vet for a checkup as he had not been himself for a couple of weeks, was tiring on his walks and seemed depressed and during the consult with lots of poking and prodding they felt a lump, so did CBC with the results returned next day that he was anaemic. His tumour hadn't ruptured and had not spread to any other organs and he recovered exceptionally quickly from the splenectomy, but my world was completely shattered when I received the devastating news from the pathology results, that he had Hemangiosarcoma, a very aggressive cancer of the blood cells and he was given a very grim prognosis of 20-60 days survival time His only option was chemo which I opted for, as up until mid April this boy was a very healthy and very fit dog with puppy like enthusiasim and joy for life and he was the love of my life . Within a couple of weeks of his splenectomy he was running around like the crazy boy he had always been and was so full of life that it was extremely difficult to accept that my beautiful boy had this aggressive cancer in his body His first couple of chemo treatments went really well, but the 3rd one affected him badly and he hit the wall, so I delayed his 4th treatment to give a chance to recover and didn't proceed with his 5th and final treatment as his quality of life was being affected. He lost his battle in September when the cancer spread to his lungs and I had him PTS on 29/9/09 Wishing Ruby a speedy recovery from her splenectomy and I truly hope you receive the best possible news I will be thinking of you and Ruby during this very difficult time

Two books I would recommend as I purchased these myself 3-4 yrs ago - by Dr Ian Billinghurst - "Give your Dog a Bone" and "The Barf Diet" - they can be purchased from his website below or other online stores if you google the book titles: Dr Ian Billinghurst's Barf Website Another book I purchased that you might be interested in is "Healthy Dogs" by Dr Barbara Fougere and this can be purchased from her Vet practice (located in Russell Lea - near Drummoyne) or by phone - below is the website - just scroll down towards the bottom and you will see the book listed. All Natural Vet Care Website

Bokezu - so sorry for the loss of your beautiful Jordy :rofl: a terrible tragedy and such an insidious and very frightening disease and my heart goes out to you and your family during this devastating time :D -

Labradors are big dogs and I wouldn't have thought that groomers would be lifting them up on tables to groom them ;) - correct me if I am wrong groomers Also in re-reading the OP post, I am shocked that the groomer clipped this dog's whiskers Why on earth would they do that , I would be very upset if any of my Lab's whiskers were clipped during a grooming session .

As requested! Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth! She's beautiful :p another black beauty You should join us in the Lab Forum under the Breed Sub Forms of the General Discussion forum. You can swap lab stories with and get advice from other lab owners/lovers who understand the scallywag youngsters

We know how exciteable our lab youngsters can be - why don't you trying brushing her after she has had a good walk to burn off that excess energy. Another thing to consider is putting her on a lead and tether her if required so you can brush her gently and calming her at the same time, giving her lots of praise and cuddles. :p

I would get her done by one of the mobile pet groomers, so that you can be with her when she is being washed/groomed to reduce her anxiety. She has obviously had a bad experience at the groomers , so I would certainly not take her back to a grooming salon. When booking the wash/groom explain to them the difficulties you have had in grooming/washing her and the bad experience at the grooming salon, so they know in advance that she may be a handful and they can then decide whether or not to take the booking. As others have recommended, definitely get her used to being brushed daily to start with and start with a softer brush and make it a calming, soothing, bonding experience for her. My two previous labs boys that I had from pups loved being brushed and groomed/washed and were introduced to these experiences as pups and the moment I got the brush out they would sit at my feet ready for their brush and there was excitement plus when they knew they were going to get a bath. My lab girl on the other hand only tolerated the brushing and washing :p despite being introduced to these as a pup and my current two older boys who I adopted are the same .

It depends which company you use. I lost my beautiful black lab boy 3 weeks ago today (29/9/09) and I used Pets at Peace in Sydney who offer individual pet cremations, they were Australia's first dedicated pet crematorium for the individual cremation of pets and I also used them for my darling black lab girl who I lost 10 years ago . I paid $275 and this included the pick up of my boy, individual cremation, delivery of his ashes in a Polished Timber Photo Box and a rose - refer to Pets at Peace website. His box of ashes sits on my bedside cabinet along with his collar, lead and his favourite toys , so he is last thing I see before I go to sleep and first thing I see when I wake up and I constantly pat the box, hold the box closely and tell him constantly how much I miss him and love him. and the box has been soaked in copious tears ;) I have done this for years with my black lab girl, Cassie, as well and have a memorial bookcase for her in my bedroom with her ashes in Stone Urn, photos and her collar. I buried my other beloved black lab boy, Chaz, in NZ at my parent's place as cremations were not available for pets then.

removing post

Thank you everyone - I am struggling with the loss of my beautiful boy, he meant so much to me :D . Oh my darling beautiful beloved boy My life is full of sorrow instead of joy Since that terrible day you were given your wings Much sadness and grieving each new day brings I know you are at peace and free from any pain Gone is the sunshine now there is only rain The tears are many rivers, I miss you so so much Your beautiful spirit, your mere presence, your body to touch From a pup to an adult I spent your whole life loving and protecting you Giving you your wings was the hardest thing I have ever had to do The tears are flowing again baby as I tell you how I feel I know my life will never be the same, I am crushed, I will never heal You truly were the love of my life, a once in a lifetime dog & truest friend Loving and remembering you always darling till the very end RIP beautiful boy until we meet again

So sorry for your loss of your beautiful girl, I know how devastated you must be :D RIP Savannah

A more loved dog you would not findA beautiful soul, loving heart, friendly & kind A once in a lifetime dearest & truest friend A mum with a broken heart that will never mend Together we were inseparable, the unbreakable deep bond forged long ago Fate brought us together, our destinies entwined, it would seem so Kindred spirits and soulmates, a connection few could really understand Side by side we journeyed through life, in step in paw and hand Our blissful wonderful happy life was turned upside down that fateful day When you were diagnosed with the awful Hemangiosarcoma in early May The prognosis was so grim and you deserved every chance of a longer life But I vowed and declared treatment would be stopped, any time you got into strife That time arrived and I said no more, as quality of life you must have above all End of July 3mth check, no spread, so joyous, but 6 weeks later you hit the wall I cried as I took you in for a checkup as I knew the beast was gaining the upper hand The cancer had spread to your lungs and your body could no longer withstand With limited time together so precious, I couldn’t bear to leave your side I lovingly stroked you and held you and soaked your fur with many tears I cried When you looked at me with those beautiful tired eyes that said I have had enough I knew I had to help you my darling, but the decision was so gut wrenchingly tough Each day I would take you for a long car ride as it gave you so much pleasure From puppyhood to your very last day your beloved car ride you would treasure So it was most fitting that after your last ride you chose it as your final resting place I could not deny you, so I stayed close and tried to prepare for what we were to face As I held you and told you over and over how much I loved you and what you meant to me You laid your head down one last time, I was screaming on the inside in so much agony The love of my life, my beautiful boy, my baby, my dearest & truest friend was gone Oh the devastation, the unbearable pain, you were the best part of my life for so long My beloved, beautiful boy, your loss is so profound, I am struggling to breathe I have plunged to the depths of despair at your passing, so heavy do I grieve Enveloped in darkness, it swirls overhead, threatening to consume my being I can barely function, I stumble around and look without really seeing An unbearable, overwhelming sadness, is all I have been able to feel Such emptiness and a shattered heart that I know will never heal I have cried rivers of tears for you and the wounds they cut so deep I ache for you, I miss you desperately, without you I am incomplete I dreaded this day your whole life through knowing the pain to come But knew I would always be there to the end loving you always as your mum Life will never be the same without you, my beautiful darling boy So much love, fun and happiness, you brought me such immense joy I will love and miss you for an eternity my darling boy. Even though you were cruelly taken before your time, I am so thankful that you lived each day like it was your last. You truly enjoyed life to the fullest with that wonderful beautiful spirit of yours that brought so much joy, laughter, mayhem, havoc and so much happiness. You leave so many truly wonderful memories from an adorable scallywag and gorgeous rascal youngster who wreaked much havoc and mayhem through to a beautiful adult who charmed everyone, both human and dog alike, along the way as “Mr Socialable” personified. You were such a great dog, such a good boy and I am so thankful that we got to spend so much time together and do so much together over the years and I know you lived more in your 10 years than most dogs get to live in a lifetime. I will be eternally grateful to Karen the wonderful vet and her assistant for the tenderness, caring, kindness, respect and dignity shown to you on that terrible day. Run free darling boy and Cassie and Chaz will take good care of you until we all meet again Loving you always xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mum, Thomas & Tournie Some of my favourite pics of you over the years

Mercedes, I am so terribly saddened to read of the loss of your darling Cassie She was only a baby such an awful tragedy and my heart goes out you and your hubby . I know you must be devastated and missing her dreadfully and are probably still in shock from her unexpected and sudden loss :D . RIP Cassie and run free at with all the other labbies - hopefully you will get to meet my beautiful Cassie (my beloved black lab girl) and she can show you around.

Tks Charles for your input. Since my boy was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma of the Spleen, I have gone from being totally ignorant of this type of cancer, in fact never had heard of it, to doing copious amounts of research on it, in addition to the info I was provided with by the Specialist Vet and the Oncologist and am now, unfortunately, very informed on this nasty beast. My boy's first chemo treatment went very well without any side affects at all and his blood test he had on Friday, a week after his first chemo, was normal and looking good so he is scheduled for his 2nd chemo this Friday. He is doing extremely well, is definitely back to his normal crazy self :rolleyes: and specialists are extremely pleased with how well he is doing and outwardly, he looks very healthy, is very happy and you would not know there is anything wrong with him. In fact, when I was at the Specialist Clinic on Friday waiting for his appt for a blood test, a gentleman was sitting in reception with his dog waiting for his appt and he commented to me what a very happy and healthy looking dog I have there. Very hard to explain and accept that this very happy and healthy looking dog, has a very aggressive cancer in his body with a grim prognosis Whilst the median survival time for this awful cancer is grim, I am heartened by some wonderful stories of dogs with this cancer who defied these grim odds and lived way beyond expectations of 2-4 years with and without Chemo, so I will hope and pray my beautiful boy will also be one of those dogs that beats the odds and every day he is with me after the median survival time, I will deeply treasure.

So sorry to hear about Honey's MCT and lots of best wishes for a positive outcome on her results and recovery from surgery. I will be thinking about you and sending lots of healing vibes Honey's way.

So sorry to hear your boy has cancer It is very frightening and devastating to hear this terrible word and I feel for you, as my beloved black lab boy has recently been diagnosed with cancer (Hemangiosarcoma of the Spleen which is an aggressive cancer of the blood vessel cells ) and he had to have fairly major surgery to remove the spleen and tumour and had his first chemo treatment last Friday. It is important that you contact your Vet to get the exact name of the cancer, so that you can write it down and then do some research and find out as much as you can about it on the web, to not only inform yourself all about the type of cancer your boy has, but also to ensure you do not receive any conflicting or misleading info. if you do not know the type of cancer your boy has. Also your vet or specialist if you have been referred to one, should also provide you with the information you need. Nutrition for dogs with cancer is an extremely important issue as well and you should receive advice on that as well as research, once you know what you are dealing with. Youth is definitely on Fred's side and I send lots of best wishes for Fred's surgery next week and lots of healing vibes for his recovery and a positive outcome My thoughts are with you during this very worrisome and stressful time.