Zorro_007

DEAR OH DEAR. To Bommy, Norskgra & Ruffles - I wish an apology was in order BUT I honestly don't think I have anything to apologise for. I can't help it if your skin is ultra-thin and I don't regard what I said about Iams as 'running' them down; It is nothing other than a fact that those experiments were carried out and when is stipulating the truth considered as 'running' down something or someone?! What is this world coming to when one is made to feel like one is walking on hot coal when commenting about certain factual occurrences? If I was inventing these stories then I could understand where you are all coming from but gee whiz just cause you insist on feeding your dogs Iams doesn't mean that you have to try and gag others from speaking about this. I can't believe how childish your attitudes are, grow up and grow a second layer of skin.

Fish oil is great; cod liver oil has to be given in small doses as it is mega rich in Vit. A and as you may already know, Vit. A is a fat soluble vitamin which means that the body stores it and too much of it can be toxic. I would recommend 'evening primrose oil' which works fabulously for the skin; I give my dogs a capsule 3x weekly...I tend to prefer human vitamins as they are of a purer and more premium quality. Meg, are you sure that 2 capsules 3 times a week are the right dosage for your dog even though he is a big dog? Sounds like you may be overdosing on the Vit. A....

Have you had your dog immunised recently? Some dogs may not show signs at the time of vaccination but can start fitting some time later...it is known amongst vets that also practice naturopathy that overvaccination can bring on epilepsy and I have experienced this through my beloved chihuahua, Cleo. She lived to the age of 17 yo and was vaccinated yearly till she was 7 yo. She started fitting at the age of 2 yo and stopped at the age of 7.5 yo. I never would have guessed that her fits were due to yearly shots until I came across some literature stipulating that some dogs do start to have seizures as a direct result of overvaccinating!! I decided to stop her yearly shots and within 6-8 months after the due date she slowly stopped fitting and never had another fit till the end. This may not be the case with your dog but I would seriously consider a link between seizures and vaccines. Do you vaccinate her yearly?

Hooray, how refreshing to see poodles looking absolutely gorgeous; there is nothing worse than seeing a poodle with a show clip and various parts of their body totally bald especially their rump!! I could never understand as to why it is mandatory that show poodles are clipped in such a manner; I can understand that it was once supposedly carried out for hunting or working poodles but I think tradition should be seen for the reason it got started in the 1st place and I really don't think the reason for such fugly clips apply to the show poodle. Yours look STUNNING.

Sas, this is a forum for the sole purpose of exchanging ideas; I am not trying to offend anybody; I am sorry that you don't appreciate what I said about Iams but it happens to be the truth so I don't understand what my wrongdoing is. There is nothing political about my comment regarding Iams!! As an animal lover myself, I would not buy their product no matter how good I thought it was as it would play on my conscience with the knowledge that Iams have conducted horrific experiments on dogs, I wouldn't want my dogs to have to endure that kind of suffering so my heart goes out to those poor dogs in the Iams laboratory. This is only my opinion and to each their own but surely I should be allowed to express it without certain individuals getting all high and mighty ;) BTW - I know for a fact that Iams/Eukanuba were using BHA, BHT and ETHOXYQUIN, which are cancer-causing preservatives, how then can you consider this a healthy product, have you checked to ensure that these noxious preservatives are no longer used? I haven't checked in the last 12 months because it isn't the kind of product that I would feed my dogs even if it were available for free...

As previously mentioned, canned food is 75% water and roo meat is wayyyy too lean. Bear in mind that a change of diet has to be done very gradually otherwise you are going to end up with 2 very sick dogs with gastroenteritis. Introduce a new diet a little bit at a time whilst still feeding some of that extraordinarily lean diet that you have been feeding till now. Go the BARF way, much cheaper and much much healthier without all the preservatives and additives that most commercial foods have. Chicken pet mince mixed with cooked rice and some vegs added in will be great for putting on weight; chicken necks are also very good and a great source of calcium and also great for the toothy picks. If you must feed a commercial diet then I would opt for Supercoat as it is natural, it's made here in australia and they are not guilty of inflicting horrendous pain to dogs in the name of experimenting like Iams/Eukanuba are....any TRUE animal lover would never want to be guilty of funding such a company by buying their products

He saw a vet a week and a half ago and she put him on two-week course of Surolan. He gets drops in each ear twice a day as well as Leo Ear Cleaner once a day. While the treatment appears to be working, I'm just really concerned that he's going to have ear issues long term as he has very hairy ears. His breeder recommended that we pluck his ears; I just wanted to make sure that we didn't start too early. I don't think that applying Leo Ear Cleaner once a day is a good idea IMO as that would negate the application of ear drops; you are literally just washing away the benefits that the ear drops are supplying.... with the Leo ear cleaner. The whole idea is to try and get rid of any infection that is present for the time being...shortly before applying the 2nd lot of drops for the day I would just clean the ear canal with some cotton balls and that's it. Leo ear cleaner IMO is only to be used when no infections are present or just before treatment is started to get rid of any excess muck. It's a good idea to start the plucking asap so as to accustom your pup otherwise if you leave it too late you are going to have a good old battle as he will not stay still for a single moment. I am an advocate of the BARF diet, not specifically referring to the ready made patties but a home made prepared diet of raw food.