sandgrubber

The pro for pet insurance is usually some protection against the economic effects of nasty, expensive events, like car accidents, injuries, bloat, etc. But as others point out, you have to read the fine print. Some things won't be covered. As a breeder, the con is that it doesn't cover most of the things that come into my vet bill. Health testing, prog testing, AI, Ceasars, speys, neuters, vaccinations. Also, unless your pet is less healthy than the average, health insurance will cost you more than it saves you . . . it has to . . . if it didn't the companies involved would loose money. I don't know about Oz, but when I lived in the USA, the thing that pissed me off about insurance is that it started out cheap, when I had only routine vet bills for things it didn't cover, and got expensive when the dog got to be eight or nine and started having problems with arthritis, etc. I always keep a good financial buffer in the form of ability to redraw on my house loan. I'm reasonably good at keeping my pets healthy and out of trouble. Unless your animals are catastrophe prone, this is substantially cheaper, in the long term, than paying insurance.

A neighbour who does rescue suggested using a biscuit called Vitality. I'm wondering if anyone else has used it. WA made, mostly for export; only available from the wholesaler (in Naval Base). Not irradiated. It's embarassingly cheap: $35 for a 20 kg bag. Beef/lamb are main meat ingredients . . . . the ingredients list states mixed grains so you don't know what grain is used . . . plus something called Omega-Magic . .. a blend of flaxseed and fish oils. My dogs get mostly bones, with a bit of kibble and some veggies thrown in, so its hard to say what it does to their pooh. Being Labs, they'll eat any biscuit. But this stuff seems to do good things for their coats . .. I suspect it's the added oil supplements.

Whether or not you need supplements, and what supplements may be of benefit, depends on the quality of what you feed. In my book it's a pretty complicated issue and I don't think anyone has a definitive answer. My answer and a lot of other people's answers, are tied to broader outlook / philosophy / belief. I supplement with a fish-derived product that contains a lot of zinc and selenium (elements that are generally deficient on a well weathered continent like Australia), plus a few dozen other nutrients (elements, fatty acids, vitamins and amino acids). It seems to improve my dogs coats, and I figure that coat may be an indicator for other things. I choose that particular supplement because it provides a lot of different things, it's cheap, and it's a byproduct of ridding waterways from feral carp. I do not trust supplements that provide massive dosages of a single thing. I have labbies, who are all gulpers. That doesn't stop me from feeding chicken frames. They gulp them, but they digest what they gulp. I think it's better to feed frames than bone meal . . . because some of the good stuff may be destroyed by heating, drying, and whatever else they do to prevent bone meal from becoming a stinky mess.

I had a dog many years ago (speyed Labrador) who had one grand mal epileptic style seizure . . . frothing, unconscious, incontenent, growled at me when she came to, etc. when she was three and never had another. I had a lot of tests run, but they couldn't find anything. My pragmatic vet says that unless the seizure is severe / life threatening, the best thing to do is watch and wait. The vet can run a lot of tests, but it's a fishing expedition: likely to be expensive and inconclusive. Keep a camera handy and watch handy. Take photos and time the seizure . . . then go to the vet if the seizure reoccurrs. If the condition turns out to be periodic, its likely that it will respond to medication. But the vet who gave me advise on this one says she doesn't recommend meds unless seizures are severe . . . or reoccur more often than once a month.

Don't panic. Unless you have a very very small puppy, the pup probably weighs 5000+ times more than the fly. So it would take quite a few flies to get to a lethal dose. But I agree with others, prevention is a good idea. Or use a pet safe repellent spray such as the citronella blends used in stables.

My father, who was a medical doctor and something of a maverick, preferred to have a tubal ligation done on his girls. This leaves their hormonal systems natural, but prevents pregnancy. It doesn't have the benefit of stopping seasons, or reducing chances of tumors in the repro system. The procedure is simple and should be a bit cheaper than a full spey because they don't have to make a large incision or pull anything out.

Bottom line first, then the story prompting the question. What can you do at home to help a dog that is dying? Is there a medicine it's worth keeping on hand when the end is near? I got a late night call from a neighbor who has several (>15) rescue dogs, including sick, elderly, and abandoned dogs. One of hers was elderly, frail, and suffering organ failure. She wanted the number for the mobile vet I use, hoping that the vet would come out and administer the green needle that evening. Our local mobile vet is great, but I doubted she would respond. Nobody wants to become THE vet who comes out and does after hours euthanasia. The neighbor already spends hundreds of dollars a month on vet bills, and an afterhours emergency fee for euthanasia was not high on her priorities. The dog passed naturally within a couple hours . . . not without pain. This lead to a discussion about what the best thing to do in such situations, and whether home administration of a potent oral medicine (or even a sub cut injection) appropriate in such cases. Eg, phenobarbital or vallium. I'd be interested to know what others do or would advise should the situation arise again.

My vet charges a dispensing fee on worming tablets . . . so I buy them 100 at a time in their original packing and on sell them at my cost to other breeders . .. . saves the vet from having to deal with lots of little transactions and gets the dogs wormed in a way that minimises handling charges. If your dog is on a medication for life, why not see if the vet will sell you dosage for several months at one hit. Btw, most meds have a very long shelf life (years) if kept dry and refrigerated.

King River International in Canning Vale is the cheapest source I've found . . . especially if you buy in bulk. Their kennel mince is lean and $2 (bulk) or $2.20 (single pack)/kg. Chicken necks, same price as kennel mince. 2 kg bags of roo tail segments are $3. Chicken carcasses $6/bag . . . a bag is 20 carcasses . . . may weigh as much as 14 kg or as little as 8 kg . . . often with neck on. They are big roo exporters, and also have roo for human consumption. And if you run a zoo, they'll sell you a whole container load

My Labbies eat them whole, inside of 10 minutes. The pups take longer, and sometimes the big dogs take over and finish what the pups don't eat.

Did the vet say what was causing the seizures? If they are epileptic, you may be able to keep her going for years on meds. I realise you were asking about the second dog, and you may already have decided against going for a second opinion and I don't mean to push this . . . but vets do make mistakes, and some supposedly hopeless cases are treatable.

Homoeopaths do not 'cure' any disease - if a homoeopath tells you they can - run a mile. If he's dealing with a homoeopath who specialises in homoeo-immunisation, he's probably quite correct. I don't understand. Let's say dog is suffering from parvo and a remedy is given; the dog recovers due to the remedy. Isn't that 'curing' the parvo? Don't homeopaths give remedies that treat, and hopefully cure, the sufferer from the disease? btw, I'm not sure my friend used the word cure. He did imply that puppies who had come down with parvo were treated homeopathically and got better, apparently without IV support. This didn't jive with everything I've heard about parvo, and if it were true, I'd think there'd be a rush to adopt the homeopathic treatment, or at least people talking about alternate treatments in this forum.

A friend of mine recently wanted to book his dog into my kennels and I had to refuse him because he doesn't believe in vaccinations. A good natured discussion of vaccinations ensued. He believes in homeopathy and claimed, among other things, that UK homeopathic practitioners had good success treating parvo and that the disease wasn't as horrible as it was made out to be. I was a bit shocked cause it ran contrary to everything else I've heard. Has anyone seen any good evidence that homeopaths have a cure for parvo?

That's like asking how long flu is contagious. In my experience, there are a variety of viruses lumped as 'kennel cough' and there are significant differences between them in terms of symptoms, infectiousness, and period to onset. This is further complicated by secondary bacterial infections, which are common and varied in nature. The bit that responded to antibiotics, btw, it wasn't kennel cough, which is a viral infection and does not respond to antibiotics, but a secondary bacterial infection accompanying the KC.

My Labbies will eat Agaricus mushrooms -- but only cooked in lots of butter or in a rich gravy. If they could pick them out and not eat them, they would. I doubt that the mushrooms that are safe for people are poisonous for dogs -- but why bother. Dogs don't like them, and they're too good for dogfood.

I was reading the three yr C3 Topic and saw an add down at the bottom of the page for "Find a Pet" (Yellow Pages). I tried it, and what did I get . . . a nice list of local pet shops that sell puppies . Maybe someone should look into this . . .

Vets charge for things other than the medicine itself -- as others have stated. Eg, as a breeder, I buy worming tablets in 100 bottles. I pay ~ $2.00/tab good for 10 kg bodyweight. If I bought them from the same vet on a piece by piece basis, I'd be paying $6/tab or more. LIkewise, I had a long stay boarding kennel client with two dogs who used Sentinel. First time I bought it from a local vet at $120 for a 6 mo pack. Eventually I halved the cost by finding an online source that sold 12 mo at a hit. If I was a massive user of the stuff and could move up the supply chain, I'd expect to be able to come down to around $40 for what I paid $120 at the local vet. But that's how markets work. Everything's more expensive at the end of the chain because there's more labour, more overhead, and more wastage when you sell small lots with slow turnover of stock. If you compare to human meds, vet meds aren't bad. Eg, if I want to get a cortisone itch cream in a pharmacy, I'd expect to pay more per ml than I would for Illium neocort from a local vet . . . and in my experience, neocort is better than any drug I can buy over the counter for itchy bites that might get infected. If you want to reduce costs, look for someone who will help you buy higher up the chain in bulk, or ask your local vet if they'll give you a discount for buying a whole year's supply at one hit (most drugs last a long time if you store them in the fridge).

I worry when: - many meals in a row are vomited - the dog shows no interest in eating the vomit - the dog stands like its stomach hurts and belly muscles are tense - the dog has a fever or acts lethargic I agree with the others -- dogs are natural regurgitators, and in most cases, a puking dog can be ignored.

Jeez, I wish you were closer. I throw out a kilo or two of chicken fat + bits of meat every day. Sometimes chook frames are very fatty and I trim them. Excess fat not recommended for Labbies!

Lots of words flow on which people meds you can use on your dog in what dosages. I'm interested in the opposite direction. I got some mysterious and very itchy bites. Of course the itch came on after midnight. I tried some Illium neocort . . . which I keep on hand for misc. irritations, cuts, minor irritations in my dogs. It's great stuff and did a better job at killing the itch and preventing inflammed bit marks than anything I know of in the spectrum of meds designed for people. One of my vets confesses that she likes the antibiotic used on ear infections for puncture wounds (eg dog bites). I don't think I'll be taking worming tablets or getting parvo vaccinations . . . but it would be interesting to know if others have found dog meds useful for human ailments. If so, what med for what problem.

fat contains more than twice as much enerty as protein, kg to kg compared, and if you take account of water content, fatty tissue may have well over triple the joules of muscle meat. The fat content of meats fed as dogfood is hugely variable. If your skinny one tolerates fat -- some do not -- and they may not because their digestive systems can't handle it so don't push it (the buzz word being pancreatitis) go for something with a lot of visible fat. Some chook products are very fatty, others lean. Ditto lamb and brisket. If your dog doesn't tolerate fat, then you generally have to work on getting him to eat more protein or carbs. But skinny isn't bad. If your dog runs lean, it may be best to accept it.

Dogs aren't big on masticating (sorry, chewing) their food and 'chunky' is what their gut expects. 'Crunchy' PB is, from a dog's perspective, very smooth, and if they do smooth ok they should be able to do crunchy.

I don't know about titre tests, but in my books Andrew Buchanan at Mill Pt Vet Ctr ranks very high. He's had lots of experience. He opted against scaling up and becoming a large practice. His 'bedside manner' is great. It's clear he loves animals. He is very helpful to rescue organisations. If you're trying to avoid unnecessary vaccinations, I'd recommend Claire Middle (I think I have that right). She used to be at May St. in E. Freo, but I think is now in South Lake. I have a couple of clients whose dogs have bad reactions to the distemper vaccination, and she's great about providing the parvo only vaccination for them.

Yep, this is quite similar to the "nobbly" side of the brush I suggested. Loosens the hair, picks up any dust/dirt on the skin and brings it to the surface so it can then be brushed away. Not so much in favour of the strippers/knives/tools etc that actually cut the hair because they tend to remove the waterproofing properties from the coat. My wife is a bit hesitant about the price because we have been told other brushes would work but they haven't. She is actually a tad allergic to dog hair but has been having special drops which are helping to make her quite good but it would be nice to just be able to cut down on there hair. She said she wanted to try one but I can't see that happening. I got a very similar one for five bucks from Gone Bazaar. Then they went on sale and I bought half a dozen for $1 ea. They work great and the dogs line up to get brushed. They also withstand puppy chewing very well if you accidentally leave them sitting on the arm of the sofa

Interesting question. I don't know the answer. But if your water is flouridated, supplements are probably not of value. Flouride is poisonous at high doses, but I would expect it's value in protecting enamel is the same in all mammals, so trace quantities should help teeth.