sandgrubber

Would be interesting to know if these dogs had dew claws. I was very impressed by the following video . . . but really don't know the extent to which dew claws can get a dog out of trouble when it has fallen through the ice: My mother and I both had Labs in Pennsylvania back in the 1980s. They went on a frozen river pretty often and we worried about cracks in the spring when the ice broke up. The dogs never had a problem. Both had dew claws.

I have a 10 yr old epileptic who gets mild focal seizures. This started about four years ago. She does fine on a very very low dose of phenobarbitol. She has always tested clean for everything, but she will seize if I take her off her meds. 'Seizures' covers a lot of ground. Everything from a fixed stare that lasts a minute or so to a full grand mal seizure complete with snapping and incontenence; and from once in a lifetime to clusters that become more and more frequent and end up happening several times a day. Cause is generally hard to diagnose unless it's an obvious poisoning case. If it's epilepsy, blood tests won't show anything. If the problem isn't immediately critical (some seizures are so severe they can kill) the first thing to do is observe closely. Time the seizure and note dates. Take video. Note anything that may have happened to cause seizure (flea treatment, eating odd stuff, etc.) If seizures are infrequent (less than once a month) and not so severe that you're really freaked out, many vets end out recommending doing nothing but observe. Usually the seizure has passed by the time you get to the vet, so all they can do is run tests. The more info you can provide them and the more experience they have had with neorological problems the better. You can do tests up the yin yang and find nothing. Epilepsy is often called ideopathic epilepsy . . . meaning cause unknown.

Staffies and Labradors? My Labbies are totally unfit for fighting, or training a dog to fight. They have been attacked a few times. Reaction: look confused, if it's a big dog, run. I understand that in some places there's a problem with hunt-trained Labs getting stolen. That makes sense. Training a dog is a big investment and a well trained dog is a valuable thing . . . plus Labs transplant well. But if fighters do actually use bait dogs (I'm not convinced this is common if it happens at all), I'd think they'd do better with dogs that are likely to put up a good fight . .. specially terriers.

Good reason to do a tubal. She's on the table after the second C-section. You believe in free whelping. A tubal is just two snips and the vet is happy to do it. A full spay would be messy and the vet won't do it without giving her months to get her hormonal balance back to neutral . . . at which point she'll have to get opened up again. My father did tubals because he figured dogs probably enjoy sex and didn't want to deprive them of the opportunity :) . But he didn't want puppies.

Hysterectomies can cause incontinence in women. This is not hormonal, but rather weakening of the pelvic floor muscles. Women can reverse this problem, at least partially, by doing pelvic floor exercises (Kegel). Unfortunately, there's no way to teach dogs these exercises.

My father, who was a medical doctor, always did tubal ligations on his girls (dogs, that is). This was in the 70's and 80's. He just felt it was more natural, and didn't much mind them coming on season. It's a simple operation compared to a spay. He never seemed to have trouble convincing his vet to do it. Maybe you just need to talk with a few vets.

If a great puppy happened my way and it happened to be fox red, I'd jump at the opportunity. But I wouldn't go out of my way looking for the color. It's pretty rare, and I would be suspicious of breeders who specialize in one shade of yellow (btw., if you want to be picky, the Australian standard calls it red fox, not fox red). In my book, fox red is different from dark yellow. It's a rusty shade. Quite attractive. Used to be quite common in golden retrievers but has almost been bred out of them now.

The nominal purpose: "protect, promote and preserve" a breed is horribly subjective. One person may protect by keeping bloodlines pure and inbreeding. Another may protect by promoting diversity and outcrossing. Etc. No surprise. The pedigree dog world includes people with strong opinions. In my limited experience, a breed club is a group of people who work with the same breed and have worked together for a long time. The work is done in committees, which may or may not be transparent. A handful of people tend to dominate, and to have dominated for years. They tend to have like attitudes.. . except for places where they have agreed to disagree. A newcomer with particular interests, eg., health or agility, may not going to find it easy to get involved without a lot of schmoozing.

That's wonderful of your sister. I'll bet she finds Oz a great change from (Brrrr!) Canada. She should have no trouble getting recognized as a reputable -- and excellent -- breeder from what I saw in the 15 yrs I lived in Oz. Show people care a lot about showing. She should get the right boxes ticked there. Pet people care a lot about the home situation in which the pups are raised. Also should be no problem. If Westies have health problems for which there are tests . . . she probably already does them and just needs to provide documentation. I wish more puppy buyers asked for health test results. Both my parents did terminal cancer (pancreatic and esophageal/stomach) with hospice. Both they, and we (the children) found the care helpful. I wish you well and hope you can find joy in the time you have remaining. Having dogs around helps a lot.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/pictured-doberman-shocks-new-owner-5037275 Zara Hayes paid £450 for two-year-old mother Keela after seeing an advert saying she was 'possibly pregnant'. A newly bought pet Doberman left her owner speechless when she gave birth to 14 puppies – despite vets saying she was expecting just six. The cute pooches are thought to have broken the British record for a Doberman litter. Zara Hayes paid £450 for two-year-old mother Keela after seeing an advert saying she was "possibly pregnant". She was worried Keela would be exploited because doberman pups are often sold for more than £1,000 each. Zara, who runs dog rescue centre Yappy Ever After, rehomed the pregnant pet with "foster parent" Cat Davis, 33, in Cardiff Vets thought Keela was expecting just five or six pups so they were stunned when she gave birth to 14 – appropriately on December 14. The lively pups have now taken over Cat's terraced house and eat an 11lb bag of food between them every day. Cat, who will keep new mum Keela, said: "They've taken over my house and my life. "There isn't much space not taken up by dogs. "But it is worth it to make sure they are safe." GREAT PICTURES in the original article

This 'mass' was not on the incision line. It seemed well below the incision and smooth, not lumpy like the incision line lumps I've felt in previous spays. It seemed to be oriented not along, but about 15-20 degrees askew of the midline. It has completely disappeared and Bonza is acting normal. No unusual urination. Full energy. I'll be taking her in on Monday for a re-examination. This is more to satisfy the vet's curiosity than because I think anything is wrong. Kind of sorry they didn't do an ultrasound because it would be interesting to know more about what was going on. Strange things sometimes happen. Just glad it was an apparent problem that turned out to be nothing than an apparent nothing that turned out to be a big problem. Thanks for input.

It is hard to design, and extremely expensive to conduct meaningful tests of what to feed a dog. For each diet you test, you'd need to have a dozen or more (preferably ~30) dogs from several breeds, selected so as to represent a variety of bloodlines within the breed. You'd need to keep dogs on the same food from youth through old age and monitor many aspects of health throughout the lifetime. They would all have to be kept in similar conditions to avoid differences in environment, which pretty much means they need to be kenneled. The only study I know of that begins to satisfy these requirements was done with Labradors only . . . it looked at the effects of feeding more vs. feeding 25% less of a standard commercial diet. This conclusively showed that the dogs who were fed less lived longer and had fewer health problems. Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_220_9_1315.pdf "Dogs were paired, and 1 dog in each pair was fed 25% less food than its pair-mate from 8 weeks of age until death. Serum biochemical analyses were performed, body condition was scored, and body composition was measured annually until 12 years of age. Age at onset of chronic disease and median (age when 50% of the dogs were deceased) and maximum (age when 90% of the dogs were deceased) life spans were evaluated." LOTS of people and companies are putting forward strong opinions (or sales pitches) about what is healthy. These are often contradictory, and the scientific basis behind most is weak. As I read it, canned food is to be avoided on economic grounds: it's an expensive way to buy water. It may also cause tooth decay or gum rot. I don't see any evidence based results in the raw vs. dry or grain included vs. grain free. Some dogs do have allergies, and this may call for avoidance of some foods. In my experience ProPlan is a good food. If your dog is not getting very skinny when he goes "off' his food, he may just be telling you you're feeding him too much.

I didn't do the poll either because, though I have a 5 yr old who has HD based on radiographs, shows absolutely no clinical signs. I have known other such dogs. The whole problematique is dicey. Bad hips from clear parents, pretty common. Radiographically bad but clinically no problem, pretty common. Breed statistics are biased. Testing isn't uniform. Environment, accidents, and genetics can all affect outcomes. I wish this whole mess were clearer! In my breed, I'm happy to test and that testing is required to register pups . .. but I fear that the strong pressure to use only very low scores is warping breeding practices away from dogs with some radiographic imperfections though no health problems, and great temperament/working ability/conformation. It's so much easier to use a number than subjective statements . . . and so easy for numbers to take over the selection process. As it is, people will shy away from, say, a dog with 6:8 scores . . . though the same dog, scored by a different evaluator or using a different set of Xrays, might have been a 3:2 . . . even if a dog with 6:8 scores is unlikely to show any but very mild clinical signs of HD. p.s. a dog with a 2:1 hip score, technically speaking, has radiographic HD, but is very unlikely to suffer from clinical HD

As stated, it's complicated. Kittens are not puppies, but neither is you SIL's brother. It is likely to vary by breed (and species and parameters studied, and environment, and . . . ). Excess sex hormones can also be problematic . . . . This link describes a study that claims that human eunichs have longer life expectancies than entire human males. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/24/castration-life-expectancy-eunuchs-men_n_1910455.html You can find lots of support for many positions on this one ;)

I once pushed to have a dog re-tested after the 10 pups he threw were genetically improbable (odds worse than 1:1000). The second laboratory that did the tests came out with results different from the first, and consistent with the colors expressed in the litter. This was just a trivial coat color test . . . but it did teach me that genetic tests are sometimes wrong. Personally, I'd suggest to the breeder that the supposedly clear dog be re-tested. If the laboratory is ethical, they should be happy to do this at no cost. FALSE GENETIC TESTS ARE A BIG THREAT TO ANYONE WHO USES TESTING TO TRY TO IMPROVE ON THEIR BREED. A good laboratory can reduce human error to vanishingly low frequency (<1:10,000) and should be happy to retest when their results are called into quesion. If genetic testing is to be of any use to breeders, we MUST insist on quality control. Sloppy genetic testing is inexcusable. On the other hand, EIC is complicated. I've known many Labs who were EIC positive and totally asymptomatic. What you describe sounds like it may be something else.

Tapeworm is hard, but not that common. There are two species. The one that is spread by fleas is most common here. Praziquantel is the compound most used to treat it. It is effective but fairly expensive. You'll find it in the more expensive multi- type worming tabs. If you have persistent problems, you can buy the active ingredient in stuff that fish farmers use to treat tapeworm, but you'll have to do some homework on dosage. If you're not good at working out concentrations and weights, get some help from someone who is comfortable with such calculations.

In my breed (Labrador) there is very strong pressure for hip and elbow testing . . . and Labs are often regarded as a breed particularly affected by HD (not supported by statistics). I ask this out of curiosity about how seriously HD scoring is taken in other breeds . . . also out of curiosity about the ability of radiography to predict whether a dog ends out suffering from HD.

Not all hormones come from the testes or ovaries! No one is talking about taking out the pituitary gland. It's not rocket science . . . but biology. And biology is often extremely complex. If it were as simple as you imply, research results would be unambiguous, and there would be clear guidelines that everyone could agree on. Note, females develop with very little testosterone and males develop with very little estrogen. The two sexes have somewhat different health problems . . . but neither sex can be seen as healthier than the other. Kittens are commonly neutered at a very young age, yet live long healthy lives without obvious consequences of desexing.

Yes. Pyrantel pamoate aka Pyrantel Embonate. Very mild. Works well for round worms. Easy to administer. Sold for human infants. Google it and for dogs to get dosage. I paid $35 for a quart of the stuff -- enough to last a lifetime.

Thanks for the opinion. Glad to have my vets opinions confirmed. Strangely, Bonza's energy level has picked up. She's back to doing zoomies and playing dog tag with her daughter. The angle at which she holds her head and tail is once again perky. AND the lump seems to have vanished. She's still pee'ing more than usual, though. She goes back to the vet for palpitation early next week, and ultrasound + exploratory if necessary on Wednesday. She has been a healthy dog . . . maybe her system has begun to push whatever it is back. (Guess that rules out the sponge hypothesis). Fingers crossed.

PITA vs PETA

Facebook is full of gossipy nuance. If you take things personally, it will provide you with lots of things to find disturbing. Personally, I got so pissed off by being wished Happy Birthday that I stopped looking for FB friends. (I don't like the heat and stay out of the kitchen). As Brightstar says, the veterinary evidence is mixed for spay/neuter. For a review that treats the different diseases supposedly affected by desexing, see: http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2013/04/benefits-and-risks-of-neutering-an-evidence-based-approach/ For most claimed risks or benefits, the results of multiple studies have been inconsistent. Findings vary with breed, with study design, and probably other factors.

Bonza was spayed at a spay/neuter clinic on 10 December. Around New Year's Day, I noticed a lump near the incision area and well below her skin, also below mammary tissue around. Seemed large (wide and long), but it didn't stick up much and thus wasn't noticable. No pain, redness, soreness or other symptoms. I took her to the local vet; got the junior vet in the practice, who told me it was nothing and sent us on our merry way. On 9 January, Bonza presented symptoms looking like a urinary tract infection. Squat, squat, squat, squat . . . just a trickle of pee coming out. No leaking in the house. I took her in to the vet again and insisted on seeing the senior vet -- who I trust. She acted a little shocked by the size of the lump (she called it a mass) and took X-rays. She said ultrasound would have been better but their radiographer wasn't available. She wanted me to rebook. I opted first to go back to the clinic that did the spay. They gave Bonza an appointment with the vet who did the surgery on the same day. Unfortunately, they don't have ultrasound either, though the vet that did the surgery is friends with my vet and they did share the X-ray and notes. The vet who did the surgery was stumped by the symptoms. She named three possibilities: granuloma with adhesion of uterine stump or omentum, panniculitis, or a sponge left in the surgical area. She has done several thousand spays and says she has never seen anything like this before. She says they did count sponges; it was a messy spay and there was a lot to clean up; but she has never before sewed a dog up with a sponge inside . . . but it was possible. I've googled granuloma and panniculitis and they don't seem to match. Does anyone have any thoughts on other things that might be going on? Btw, the vet who did the surgery agreed to take responsibility for getting the problem treated at no cost to me. This is going to mean a two hour drive for each trip . . .which I am quite willing to make. Bonza is sleeping a lot and less playful than usual; still pee'ing a lot; but showing no fever, loss of appetite, or other alarming symptoms.

When I had a kennel I was pretty sure we could defend the space against fire. Irrigated lawns, lots of open space with low fuel loading, good pump and sprinkler systems, etc. However, there was no way to ensure that dogs wouldn't be asphyxiated by smoke from adjoining properties. CFS/SES and local authorities need to do more than tell people what they should have a plan. It requires a deep and full understanding to devise a workable plan, and plans would be much more workable if they were coordinated through the SES.

Look over this site, Wildthing. https://www.greenharvest.com.au/PestControlOrganic/Information/NematodeControl.html Eelworms is their other name. :) Nematodes are a large group . . . probably as many species as, say, carnivores. Some of them are plant parasites and something you don't want to have in your veggie patch . . . as noted in the link above. But there's another group that infect insect larvae. I found a couple Australian sources, but there may be others. http://goodbugshop.com.au/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=46 or http://www.ecogrow.com.au/How_it_works.html This one seems to be linked to CSIRO and gives clearer descriptions Yes . . . timing of application matters. They are living animals and require a moist dark soil environment, not roasting but not too cold, to get established. They need to be watered in.