JulesP

The vet said that Poppy's teeth were at stage one and suggested I try the t/d first. Poppy is a fairly delicate eater so I think she will chew them. I got some turkey bits today and chunks of lamb bone. I had been trying chicken wings but I don't think they were big enough to do much for Poppy's teeth. The l/d is keeping Amber's teeth nice plus she tends to chew on stuff.

You have bigger problems than puppy buying!

Since Amber got sick I stopped feeding raw as a) I felt mean giving them to Poppy and not Amber b) the risk of Amber getting them. (For those that don't know Amber has liver shunts and tends to fit if she eats meat). Amber's teeth are pretty good but Poppy's are a bit dodgy. I've tried nylabones & the dental sticks. Couple of questions. 1) Has anyone had success getting plaque off with bones? 2) Any success with t/d? 3) Plaque off that goes on the food? Or am I best to just do the vet clean and start again? I've always fed raw/barf in the past so haven't run into this issue before.

What a hideous noise!

My dogs got attacked by a cat a few weeks ago. It came out from under a fence hissing and scratching. It was very lucky that both my dogs just looked to me to save them. My council is currently looking at having cats contained 24/7, they are asking for our thoughts at the moment.

Just saw this on Houzz (a decorating website). Some cool ideas for dog baths. Hopefully the link works if you aren't a member of the site. My link

Why do you think a BC isn't suitable?

Yes Amber is 3 now. The vomiting is a symptom of MVD but it is interesting that she eats ok. Amber was terrible at eating, she used to look at me like I was poisoning her. I love watching her scoff her food now. Amber has a sort of vague look in her eyes when she does the tongue flick thing.

My official diagnosis is Multiple acquired portosystemic shunts secondary to congenital portal vein hypoplasia. The HE episodes can be very mild and almost not noticeable. Can be as simple as rubbing the head along the wall. A lot of the symptoms of a serious liver condition are so vague that they do get missed. One of the things Amber did as a puppy was run into things. You could easily just write that off as being clumsy. It is a symptom though. Another weird thing she does is stand and flick her tongue in and out. During the really bad episode she lay on the ground and twitched and was then walking with a really weird gait. I did think I was going to lose her that day. She was always super fussy with her food but some dogs are fussy. She did totally stop eating at one stage but the vet couldn't find anything wrong then, liver was never suggested. She never vomited or had runny poos then. It wasn't until her tummy totally swelled up over night that the vet found her tiny liver via the first ultrasound. She was about 11 months then.

I was on a liver group support page. They did help a lot but they also gave me the shits a bit because they are mainly Americans and kept trying to tell me to buy Royal Canin. Was very frustrating having to constantly say we couldn't get it. Amber doesn't need lactulose. The L/D gives her nice soft poos. The poos should look like soft serve icecream btw. Disgusting to clean up but it means things are moving at a decent rate through the dog. Amber looks like a puppy too.

It is hard. Amber is very thin. I was feeling really bad about it last night but today I have just been watching her bouncing around the garden with my other dog and you would not know there was anything wrong with her. Amber is on the L/D as she had a few HE episodes. One was really bad. The main problem I face is her fluid retention in her stomach. That is a constant juggling act with medication.

I was lucky in that the specialist vet could see the shunting on their heavy duty ultrasound. If she hadn't been able to do that I had the choice of a MRI or to open her up. Her blood and bile tests were not that scarily abnormal. But we already knew her liver was odd before the blood test as the original vet had seen that it was half the size it should be on an ultrasound when we were checking out her heart. She had a build up of fluid and the vet thought it was a heart problem. As he moved over the liver he noticed it was abnormal. How is your dog going? Amber was given 6 months and that was over 2 years ago now.

Someone asked if I had clipped Amber today! She has just dropped her coat and does look rather naked.

Thanks JulesP. if I recall correctly Amber has multiple acquired shunts? I held off on giving her the prednisolone after the first dose because I wanted to double check with my regular vet but the ears seem to be clearing up with the just the drops. we went to the vet today because she's been having some tummy troubles on top of everything else and he said to stop the prednisolone anyway as he had to give her some metrogyl. Unfortunately her liver isn't the only health issue that we're battling with so often we have to weigh up the pros of giving her certain medication with the effect it may have on her liver. The vet thought that Amber has the same thing as your dog. Her vessels didn't grow in her liver so the shunts developed. We didn't do a biopsy as the treatment was the same. She was strange from a little puppy. Amber has metrogyl daily.

Same. Plus I was a dog groomer and had the 'joy' of having to groom dogs that had been previously clipped.

My liver specialist vets in consultant with the skin specialist vets said not to give antihistamines to Amber. They suggested a couple of lotions, which wouldn't be useful for ears. Luckily Amber's skin issues cleared up when I got her liver condition stableish. I would probably just use the ear drops and not the pills personally. The less going through the liver the better.

I just couldn't do the phone thing. Why? because if I did I would have 2 border collies just sitting at my feet!! I have to keep moving for them to move around. Lazy little buggers. Very annoying if I feel sick and don't want to walk around! Lol, i was going to say the same thing :) I take my 3 to the fenced off lead park most arvos, I walk around all day at work so sometimes I'd like to just sit down but if I do I instantly have the Sheltie on my lap, the poodle x tapping my leg asking for treats and the Aussie shoving her head in between them in case she misses out on something. The only way to get them to actually run is for me to walk laps of the park :laugh: It is so annoying. I have been sick all week and have still taken them out and trooped around the damn park. In the rain too most days. Maybe that is why I am still sick :laugh:

I just couldn't do the phone thing. Why? because if I did I would have 2 border collies just sitting at my feet!! I have to keep moving for them to move around. Lazy little buggers. Very annoying if I feel sick and don't want to walk around! I couldn't do it because I'd have a Springer off hunting (with ears firmly glued down) or else one at my feet with a rabbit or a duck Lol. That would be handy if you were lost in the Canadian wilderness after a bear had eaten all your food!

I just couldn't do the phone thing. Why? because if I did I would have 2 border collies just sitting at my feet!! I have to keep moving for them to move around. Lazy little buggers. Very annoying if I feel sick and don't want to walk around!

Same. There are a few off leash parks but none of them are fenced and they're all near fairly busy roads. Not worth the risk for me. I think this is why my park is so peaceful. It isn't fenced! Dogs could run onto a very busy road from one part of it. It doesn't encourage the 'angry bird playing' type walkers. Pretty much everyone I have come across in there has been very polite and their dogs have good recalls.

I find it interesting when people say that they know BC whose coats grew back nicely. Every BC I have seen that has been clipped has grown a horrible coat back, totally different from a normal coat.

Every day :) I purchased a house I didn't love because it had a close off lead park.

Why does this thread seem soooo familiar????? Having a deja vu moment.

Amber gets a lot of attention as a sable border collie. I don't mind talking about her colour. I do find it painful when people ask if she is a puppy and I have to explain she is sick and that is why she is little. I never really know what to say then. My friend has 2 Belgian Shepherds and the amount of people that interrupt us to ask what they are is very annoying. We took the dogs to a local flower show and the amount of people wanting to take photos of them was hilarious. We had Poppy posed for one photo and I reckon there were about 30 people lined up behind my friend taking photos. Poppy looked a bit 'wtf' about it but handled the paparazzi well

Funniest thing I've seen for a while is a friend's young BC hell bent on herding my Whippets. Have you any idea how hard it is to herd an animal that is doing fast laps of you barking to get you to chase it? Strangely they just want to stop most dogs from moving, Goldies really offend them, but this whippet has them totally baffled!