koolietas

My sheltie has had a couple of recent bouts of diarrhoea - I think it has to do with some different foods I have been giving him that he's not used to...ie. lamb liver/beef/fish. I fasted him for 24 hours, but was wondering what others give their dogs other than the steamed chicken/rice that vets recommend? Also - has anyone used slippery elm powder?

My last sheltie had ongoing liver problems for the last 12 months of his life. His liver enzymes were very high to begin with - until I went to a vet which was very supportive of alternative treatments. I found a product 'Livatone Liver Tonic Powder' by Dr Sandra Cabot - which my vet highly recommended as it is all natural and contains Milk Thistle amongst other herbs which is fantastic for liver problems. Within a couple of weeks of using this product (along with accupuncture & a liver support tincture which my vet organised and change of diet) his liver enzymes were at the lower end of normal and continued to be until he passed away nearly 12 months later. Hope this helps.

Make it fun for her and she should enjoy it. Give her treats - get her to sit, and reward her for calm behaviour etc. In the future, one of the best things to do is to take her to the vet for no reason (or just a weigh in for eg) - so that she's doesn't see the vet surgery as a place where she's always poked/prodded. I take my sheltie in whenever I take one of my other dogs or cats in - and he thinks its great...he gets lots of pats from the staff (and the odd liver treat) - so it's just like any other normal outing for him.

A couple of questions... How often do you feed your dog? I've always fed my sheltie twice daily when raw feeding - I'm sure I read somewhere that this is better for the liver...is that right? Also, do you fast your dogs? If so, how often?

My sheltie sometimes suffers from a little dermatitis along his lip line...and his lip can change from the brown colour to pale pink (just a sign of inflammation the vet said).

My boy gets pork ribs once/twice a week as part of his barf diet. I've never had any problems - and have been feeding him this diet for almost 3 years now.

I can totally understand how people get confused with what is the 'best' diet to feed their dogs... I feed my boy BARF only (other than training treats - which are all preservative/colour/additive free) but several vets I have come across don't even know what BARF is (which really surprises me this day and age!) Luckily, my usual vet, is really supportive of this diet and even put pamphlets out about the pre-made BARF rolls in the surgery (until it was banned - long story...) Most vets I've had experience with don't seem to know a lot about diet (although there are a few exceptions) and often recommend what is sitting out in their surgeries (you can come to your own conclusions about why that is!) Anyway, DOL site is great to do your own research and get people's opinions...so you've come to the right place! My last sheltie was fed Advance wet/dry (on his breeder's recommendation) which I followed up until he was 8 - at which time he had developed liver probs and I had to switch his diet to veg & fish. He was like a different dog after changing his diet - much more energetic & looked much healthier - with a beautiful glossy coat. Unfortunately he passed away from his liver probs about a year after they developed - but I have no doubt that the change of diet prolonged his life. That was what swayed me to consider feeding something 'different'...so when I got my next sheltie, I kept him on dry food for the first month (which is what the breeder had been feeding him) and gradually switched him over to BARF. His breeder had given him chicken necks/wings when he was a pup - so I continued that as one of his meals. He hasn't seen dry food since he was 3 1/2 months old (he's now 3) and has never had canned food. He has a beautiful thick & shiny coat, lots of energy (probably too much for me ;) ) lovely clean teeth and is really healthy. There's no way I would feed commercial foods unless I really, really had to...but if I did for some reason, I would go with a super premium dry food and continue feeding raw bones. IMO - I would definitely steer clear of canned food and if you want to keep feeding dry food - try some of the premium brands (Eagle Pack/Innova/Advance/Eukanuba/Nutro etc) and feed raw bones (at the appropriate size for your dog) as well. Rice/pasta are fillers only - no nutritional value in those foods for a dog. I would give the doggy stew a miss as well - most of the nutrients disappear when the food has been cooked...so you're going to the trouble of cooking for not much! Sorry - the post ended up being much longer than I intended!

I would go with Eagle Pack Holistic with some chicken/lamb bones or Ziwi Peak wet food (but it's very expensive)

My 20kg sheltie ate 85gms of chocolate fudge with hazelnuts last year (plastic wrapper, sticker and all!) - I phoned the vet in a panic, and they didn't seem to think it would be enough to cause any problems - but told me to keep a close eye on him...no problems thankfully! Given your boy weighs more, I would think that 125gm of milk chocolate wouldn't do him any harm. Signs to watch for are if your dog becomes overly excited/hyperactive, unusually thirsty/pees a lot, vomiting and diarrhoea. Keep him quiet as exercise can increase their heart beat (which with chocolate toxicity is already beating faster)...so you don't want to make it any worse!

I've been told that they are bad for dogs - but have never been able to find anything on the net about the fruit being bad...but you will find that the plants themselves are.

I made some cookies a couple of weeks ago for my dogs and one of the recipes called for apple sauce. When I was at the supermarket I just looked at the different jars and chose the one without any added sugar. Although there are natural sugars in apples, I would think that apple sauce with no added sugar would be ok for this circumstance?

Me too! Although, every now and then I buy the Brunswick brand with olive oil (but tip most of the oil off)

I went through this myself recently...with a 5mo birman kitten and a 2yo sheltie...sheltie was not impressed with new addition at all! He was brought up with cats (we had 4 before this one - which we had before we got the dog) so I didn't think it would be a problem (how wrong was I!) The sheltie is outdoors in an undercover courtyard area most of the time (which is right next to our living area with glass sliding doors - so can see us all the time). We kept them separated for the first couple of weeks - just allowing the sheltie to see the kitten playing inside, but through the glass/screen door. After the first couple of weeks, I started taking the kitten outside into the courtyard area with the dog on lead and began clicking/treating for sits/stays/tricks etc. whilst the kitten was walking around. That way he got to know that kitten = treats. It took about a month before he stopped lunging/chasing the kitten - but now they spend most of the day together without a care in the world...much to my relief!

Oooh - now there's a thought! I never give him beef so it would be something different! And I'm sure he wouldn't mind gravy either

Thanks for the suggestions KitKat - bright spark here hadn't thought of those (although, don't think i could manage the pig head!) but a whole small chook I'm sure would go down a treat.

My beautiful boy is turning 3 on Friday, and being a barf fed dog, and not being a big fan of toys, I would like to give him a food treat for his birthday... He is having a party with his buddies on the w/end where he will have a cake (doggy friendly of course) - but I was wondering whether anyone had any suggestions for his actual birthday meal? Just trying to think outside the square so to speak...he usually gets chicken, lamb, pork, turkey & roo bones of various descriptions and sometimes the odd rabbit...is there something else (like quail maybe?) that would be ok?

I've seen a couple of rough collies that have been clipped over the years - and whilst it does make them look like overgrown pups at the time I haven't seen any where there coats grow back normally...they seem to be wavy and not as long as they should be. My sheltie, Koolie has a huge coat, which I've been gradually stripping in the past 4-5 weeks...I find a brush before a hydrobath and then another brush afterwards seems to get the most out. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow???

I only like to use treats that are low in salt and have no artificial colours/preservatives/additives etc. I usually use steamed chicken or lamb and cut it up into small pieces. On the very odd occasion, I will use some chopped up ham or cheese (but due to the salt content, don't use much). I have found Ziwipeak to be excellent - and of course, liver treats, and the Kramar Supa Natural treats (that don't have potassium sorbate added) are good too. At this time of year, I'll get the odd punnet of raspberries and use those (my boy just loves them!)

I don't buy the pre made patties because I heard they contain grains and I don't feed grains to my dogs. I spoke with Dr Billinghurst many years ago when I first started feeding BARF and took his advice re supplements. Have also added a few of my own. I bought the pre made patties (when I could - they are banned in Tas) and they definitely don't contain grains. They are as per the Dr B books - ground bone, offal, veg, fruit & supplements. Wow,whats in them to get them banned?? Offal. Tas is the only state in Aus that bans you from feeding offal to your dogs... A distributor managed to get a pallet load of Barf patties in - but then when she wanted to order the second pallet the Tas authorities put a stop to it. Apparently they don't understand that the risk of hydatidis is nil once the offal has been frozen at a certain temperature for a few days.

I don't buy the pre made patties because I heard they contain grains and I don't feed grains to my dogs. I spoke with Dr Billinghurst many years ago when I first started feeding BARF and took his advice re supplements. Have also added a few of my own. I bought the pre made patties (when I could - they are banned in Tas) and they definitely don't contain grains. They are as per the Dr B books - ground bone, offal, veg, fruit & supplements.

Yes - I had an issue with that too. There's nothing in the policy wording for the insurance company I go through that says they must be vaccinated annually.

I thought of that too ie. opening a special bank account - but, it would take many months or even years to have enough saved in one of these accounts to cover a vet bill for most surgeries/snake bite etc. which is why I didn't go down that road...

I buy human grade chicken mince and I give it to my sheltie raw a couple of times a week with his fruit & veg mush. Just treat your meats for your furkids as you would your own and you shouldn't have any probs.

I've had my sheltie covered since he was a pup - it's about $40 a month for accident & illness. I've made 4-5 claims from memory and not once had a problem with the insurer coughing up. They've been really good. Having said that, the claims have only been for minor problems - certainly nothing over $100 or so. I'm happy to pay $40 for peace of mind...my boy's pretty active and you hear of lots of dogs these days doing their acl's etc - so it's worth the dosh every month for me...

I guess some dogs just don't like dry food...when my boy was a pup I would give him dry food for brekky and I'd come home from work and it would still be there. I tried 4/5 different types of premium dry food (e/pack etc.) and he just wasn't interested. Can't say I've ever had a problem with him not eating since switching over to barf diet. He's not once left anything