New Age Outlaw

Kool! Thanx Jess, I will pass that on.

A friend of mine in western Victoria has a standard poodle who has developed a limp. Attendance at her local vet commenced a course of Metacam and Cartrophen, the thinking being possibly arthritis, but these have not alleviated the symptoms. The problem is, her local vets are much more large animal orientated, so she is not so confident of their diagnostic abilities. She would like some recommendations from anyone here who has experience of a good vet - she is prepared to travel some if necessary, though she would prefer not to go into Melbourne unless absolutely necessary (she hates driving in Melbourne). She is in the Ararat region. Any ideas gratefully accepted.

Oh wow! Welcome back Sharen! I remember coming to visit you and the pups so many years ago.

I've PM'd you. :)

Love the crossed paws!

They sure do! We weren't sure what to expect with Freckles...nobody, including her vet, thought she would make it this far, and to be honest, anyone who didn't know her wouldn't even know there was anything wrong with her. She gets out of breath easily (we think because the tumour presses against her diaphragm), and lately she has changed her eating habits (as in what she will and won't eat). Blood tests indicated some liver involvement, but are otherwise normal, so who knows? While she's still bouncing around like a happy goof and eating her food, I'm not going to worry too much about it. :)

I do love the oldies! They have such character. Here are my two oldies... Cleo (black) who turned 13 last November. She has lumbo sacral disease so is getting pretty wobby in the back end, but so far she is still happy and otherwise healthy. The white and black girl is Freckles....11 years and 7 months old, she was diagnosed with a benign internal mass and came to live with me because we didn't want to rehome her, not knowing how long she would last...that was over 3 years ago! :D

The average of 4 seems slightly low but not astoundingly so. They can have huge litters, though this is not the norm; litters of 1 or 2 are not uncommon, especially if they are only talking about live births. For example, my Cleo had 6, but only 3 survived so I imagine it would have been recorded as 3 (7 years ago).

Fingers and paws crossed here for Ziggy's quick return to robust health. And also for sausydog's little fella!

I live in Bris...thought it would be a bit of a song and dance to get a permit for more than two, but it turned out to be easy as. I expected someone from the council would want to inspect the property etc, but none of that happened...I just lodged the application, paid the fee, and that was that.

Breakfast: half a turkey neck, plus kidney, liver and chicken hearts, spoon of greek yoghurt Dinner: Lamb hearts, beef mince, a splash of pet milk, some tinned tuna Dessert: Denta Stick Bed time treat: half a Smacko

So sorry to hear this - what a horrific thing to happen. I think I would be unable to physically restrain myself from decking someone. Absolute and utter negligence and ignorance...please report them to anyone and everyone who can take action against them...they need to be shut down. Hugs to you and your family - take care of yourself.

Had a dog here that caught a flying fox once (wasn't even one of my dogs, I was just babysitting)...I was worried about risks of disease as it has scratched or bitten the dog on the nose. I contacted CSIRO and they said they had no evidence of any diseases that transferred from bat to dog (in this country anyway, thank goodness we don't have rabies here...yet). Make sure you are careful handling it though...a few things that can be transmitted to people.

Good point! Anxiety is most often inherited, which means that it may only respond to training & and other external methods to a point (depending on how badly it manifests). I have never had a storm phobic dog until recently - one of my old girls, Freckles, is very scared of thunder and prolonged loud noises (eg fireworks). She will just lie on her bed and shiver uncontrollably, completely miserable; she won't get off her bed, even to eat (and she is usually such a food hog!). I find that Valium works well for her. The wierd thing is that Ziggy, who is usually frightened of anything else, sleeps through storms. Dogs...who can figure them?

What most people don't realise that anxiety can be an inherited behaviour; dogs can be nervous without ever having had bad experiences that trigger it. My boy Ziggy is quite anxious; he is frightened of so many things...strangers (especially men), hydrobaths, and pretty much anything unusual or new. However, as I bred him and have always owned him, I know where he has been and what his experiences have been all his life. I know for a fact he has never been abused, nor had any bad experiences with any of the things that trigger that reaction in him - he has just always been like that, it was evident from puppyhood that he was going to be one of those kind of dogs. But anyone seeing some of his reactions could easily assume he has been mistreated at some time in the past.

Not a dog, but pressing the button at the wrong time didn't do this horse any favours! :laugh:

So many pet owners express shock when I tell them I measure/weigh what my dogs' meals. Apparently it has never occurred to them to do so, just pour it out of a bag or slop it out of a can into the bowl..."it can't be too much because he ate it all so he musn't be full". Like overweight people, I think the problems are a) portion control b) too many in between meal snacks and c) far too many processed/packaged components in the diet instead of fresh food. It's a discipline that needs to be maintained, and if it isn't there are health consequences, just the same as there are for people.

A close friend of mine has actually written it into her will that if anything happens to her I get her dogs plus a sum of money to care for them for the rest of their lives. I would do it without the money but she doesn't have any other family anyway...I'm the closest thing she has to family.

A friend and I are working on some designs at the moment - should have one hot off the presses in a few weeks, if you are interested. :)

With elderly greyhounds, there are two really common causes for the symptoms you describe (as well as a host of less common ones). Osteosarcoma (bone cancer) is extrememly common in older greys, as well as lumbo-sacral disease. Both could be diagnosed by X-ray, but, to be honest, at her age there's really not a lot of treatment options other than keeping her comfortable anyway - meds like metacam is what would most likely be used anyway, and you are already doing that. When that isn't effective anymore, because her pain levels are not manageable, then, as you know, there really is only one option. She is old for a greyhound, and sounds like she has had a lovely life with you...I know how hard it is, and how little that helps at this particular moment. Which I had more to offer than just my sympathies.

Greyhound X 4 :)

I have never lived in a unit complex, but I imagine that you might need to make a complaint in writing to the body corporate?

Odd advice if you ask me. I have flown dogs before, several times, and never had a problem. People fly pets all over the world and it doesn't make the pets "crazy". As others have said, if the animal is adequately prepared then there really shouldn't be an issue. But, if she is worried, she could talk to her vet, or phone one of the animal transport services (Jetpets, Dogtainers etc) and discuss her concerns with them.

I have Ziggy (after the Bowie album "Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars), Candy (after the Iggy Pop song of the same name) and Pearl, who lives with a friend of mine,(after the Janis Joplin album). :)