ncarter

Thanks for that ness. I would just prefer the bitch to be staying with someone else so he could get 4-6 weeks of peace. Dont think she would like being outside by herself while he is crated inside. The vet said he has grade 3 PL, but am a little unsure as she seemed to have to use a lot of pressure to luxate the patella. She also put pressure on me to have the surgery ASAP, without asking me about how it is effecting his quality of life, how his gait was etc so was a bit put off. This all started as a result of an injury where he slipped on wet grass and hurt his right knee. And he has favoured the right leg when he has had too much running in the past and am no expert at reading x-rays but the right knee looks worse on the x-rays. Anyway i will have to get another set of x-rays done at the specialist and ask them to compare them to the ones i had done previously.

no i havent yet mason. I cant really afford it at the moment. Am worried the specialist would charge more really, what were they like price wise compared to a normal vet?. Do you definitely need a referral letter from your local vet to see one of the vets at rivergum? I got quoted a $1800 per knee doing them separately and i think that is pretty good value. I would have to board my other dog as well as im sure she would drive him nuts and try to play with him all the time. Its a bit hard as i have recently given him a full course of zydax and stopped all hard running and he is gaiting normally and not showing any symptoms

hey ness, im looking at doing the patella surgery on my boy sometime this year. I will have to ask the vet but have you researched the pro's and cons of doing both patella's at the same time? I dont think we could stand 12 weeks strict rest. With toileting i think no 1 might be manageable but no 2's might be a too hard as they like to crouch down and bend.

yeh i have and she is well, nah not been showing much lately. We will have to do a big-small shot next time i see you.

nice looking boy HFB. how tall is he and how much does he weigh?

From what ive read the owner has no grounds to sue, as according to law in Texas, Any Law Enforcement Officer can shoot to kill any animal if there is a perceived threat to their safety. Don't think their will be any disciplinary action taken against the Officer either.

in the apology the police couldnt even remember the owners name and it was basically a 'shit happens' apology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUzpNDSLHPY&feature=player_embedded#! very disturbing situation and horribly sad for the poor guy. I thought the owner handled himself really well considering. I cannot believe the policeman could be so impulsive and then try and too downplay his error. Cant imagine Australian police conducting themselves like this

Austin Police Chief Apologizes for Shooting of Cisco the Dog By CHRISTINA NG | Good Morning America – Wed, Apr 18, 2012 1:12 PM EDT... A Texas police chief has apologized to a devastated man whose dog Cisco was shot point blank by a police officer who responded to a call at the wrong address. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo apologized to Cisco's owner Michael Paxton during the "Dudley and Bob Morning Show" on KLBJ FM Radio. "My heart goes out to him. I think if you ask everybody in the department, believe it or not, we're animal lovers, just like everybody else," Acevedo said, according to ABC News' Las Vegas affiliate KVUE. "I definitely appreciate the apology, Art," Paxton replied. "It does me a lot, considering I haven't been contacted by anybody. To hear that from you, it does mean a lot to me." The incident has garnered national attention and anger. A Faebook page called "Justice for Cisco" has more than 71,000 supporters that have left messages of support and, often, outrage. The shooting happened on Saturday afternoon when Paxton, 40, and his Australian cattle dog were relaxing and playing Frisbee in his Austin backyard when he decided to go get something from his truck in the driveway. He encountered a police officer who immediately drew his weapon and told Paxton to put his hands up, he said. "He had a Taser. He had pepper spray. I don't understand why, in broad daylight, he pulled a gun on me. I wasn't running. I wasn't hiding," Paxton told ABCNews.com. "I was just saying, 'I live here.' I was panicking. I was afraid for my life." Paxton said he heard Cisco, who weighed about 50 pounds, barking and coming towards him from the backyard. "I said, 'Don't shoot him. Don't shoot my dog. He won't bite you.' But he shot him, just like that. It all happened in under 30 seconds," Paxton said. "There was no attack on the officer other than barking and challenging him." Austin Police Cpl. Anthony Hipolito told ABCNews.com that the officer did respond to the wrong address, but it was the address provided by the 911 call. The call came from the house next to Paxton's. "The officer was basically in retreat and asked the owner to grab the dog," Hipolito said. "He was unable to and the dog continued to attack and that's when the officer discharged his firearm." An apology was issued at the scene, according to Hipolito, but Paxton said no one apologized to him. "Officers have to do everything they can to protect themselves, up to and including the use of deadly force," Hipolito said. "It's something that we don't ever want to do. To shoot and kill an animal is very unfortunate and tragic. The officer is distraught and did not want to do it, but at the same time, he had to protect himself." As a shocked and horrified Paxton stared down at his dog's lifeless body, he said he was confused when the officer started asking him if he had a girlfriend. "I was saying, 'You just killed my dog. I can't believe you just killed my dog. What is going on?'" Paxton recalled. Paxton said the officer said he was responding to a domestic issue report of a man choking a woman. It turned out the call had come from next door. "I was in shock for probably almost 24 hours. I wasn't crying at that point, but when I picked my dog up out of the driveway, I lost it," Paxton said, choking up. "He's not a viscious dog. He was a good boy. He was a real good boy."

i boarded my boy at the kennels once, they asked if i minded if he shared with another small female dog. They got on together fine, and if anything he was less stressed than when he had a kennel by himself.

its very sad there seems to have been a few fatal dog attacks lately http://video.news.com.au/2159693214/Dog-mauled-to-death http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/13623778/council-blamed-for-fourth-dog-attack/

i think having one of my dogs mauled would be one of my worst fears. I heard the guy who had his maltese X mauled on the radio and that sounded like a terrible story. The offending dogs owner wasnt even in sight when the attack happened so the owner went and found him and the guy with the 2 bullbreeds said something like 'well you should have gotten a bigger dog' and 'get over it mate'. But i dont know that i would waste time talking to the guy, instead of just taking the dog straight to the vet in that situation. They had a guy on radio from the city of vincent saying that you shouldnt get involved if your dog get attacked by another dog, but if your dog is getting ragdolled by 2 larger dogs what are you meant to do? just sit back and watch your dog die? I have no faith in my local council if rangers cant even be bothered to do something about roaming/aggressive dogs (until they actually bite someone).

i have rang up the ranger about roaming and menacing dogs before. Ranger asks did it bite anyone? answer "no". Ranger "well there is nothing i can do then". It is in their job description to enforce the dog act which would include picking up stray animals but they dont seem to do their job. I think the dog act could do with an overhaul as well, its 36 years old.

Thanks for all the help guys, will definitely get a second opinion. I have noticed once after a lot of hard running, that he hopped for a few strides like it popped out momentarily. Everyday around the house i havent noticed any unusual gait or clicking. He still seems to be doing a lot of stretching and lying with his back legs strecthed out facing behind him without any obvious signs of discomfort or clicking. So i think there is definitely some arthritic symptoms there but not sure the patella's are actually coming out regularly.

I know i should probably post this in health but general will probably get a better response. My boy is a 5 and a half year old papillon. About 18 months ago my boy mont seemed to slip on wet grass when running in a straight line. His right knee seemed to buckle and he fell over. It was painful for a few weeks and then slowly got better with anti-inflammatories. I took him to the vet and they did an x-ray and said he had degenerative joint disease and might need surgery down the track. Im no expert at reading x-rays but the left knee looked quite normal and the right knee looked like it wasnt aligned perfectly. In the meantime ive been taking him to the vet regularly for zydax injection, and giving him fish oil, chondroiton, glucosomine regularly. He seems to be doing fairly well. His knee doesnt click and ive only noticed him to be sore once after too much running. I took him back to the vet today to get another course of zydax. I got a new vet. She thinks he has grade 3 PL and needs surgery on both knees too deepen the trochlear groove. I wasnt sure about this because he doesnt seem to be in pain and his patellas dont slip out or click. The vet got pretty pushy and wanted me to book surgery next week. I took my younger bitch in as well and she tested her patellas as well and graded them a 1. What was strange was when she was trying to manipulate monte's patella medially, at first she says 'oh they are actually harder to get out than Stella's'. She then had to use a substantial amount of force to move his patella out of place. So am not entirely sure about this vet. She also tried to sell me the royal canin kibble for teeth cleaning, even though ive had her teeth cleaned and scaled under GA about 4 months ago. So basically i know his knees arnt 100% and i dont want him to be a cripple when he is 10, but at the same time i dont want to have surgery unless its absolutely necessary. What do you guys think? get a 2nd opinion from an ortho specialist? Anyone know any good ortho vets in Perth? Ask my breeder if there is a genetic link? I have x-rays from the 1st incident if anyone wants to have a look and tell me what they think?

i have a bitch who is a finicky eater most of the time and also a resource guarder with food. I have another dog slightly overweight as well. I normally feed the bitch in her crate so a) there are no fights and b) the dog doesnt get any extra food if i cant be there to supervise. Sometimes though i find if she is out of her crate eating and the dog is around then at least she eats up all her food. But i worry that her resource guarding will get worse if i let the dog be around. What do you guys think?

the dog was a mixed breed i though, how are they going to determine what breeds made up the dogs breeding? I didnt think DNA testing could unequivocally identify what breeds were in the mix. and what is this going to prove anyway?

thanks for that. I could only get a lift to the airport early so didnt want to have to drop her off over 2 hours before hand. I just went in quickly with her checked my bag in and got out before anyone noticed. Only problem is ive now lost my pet pass

another question? Does anyone know if you can take a crate with dog inside in the terminal building? like it would just be briefly to check in my bags?

thanks wayrod!

Thanks again wayrod. Hey do you or anyone else know if the virgin freight building in Melbourne has moved yet? Is it in Service rd or Apac Drive? Tried calling them about 5 times and the phone number is engaged.

Thanks guys

Im having someone housesit and look after my boy. Never really thought about exact quantities of how much i feed. The dog is 4.5kg, middle aged and still fairly active. Was thinking maybe a smallish third of a cup of Black Hawk (say 35gm) and 2 chicken necks per day. Does that sound about right?

Oh sorry I meant no healthcare workers undertakes standard precautions in between having personal contact with patients all of the time. Thats why people dont like having their tablets touched, which i think is fair enough.

I prefer to be overly cautious and carry my dogs in for their puppy shots. Last time I was greeted by a very mangy looking dog not on lead and another sick looking mutt. If you hang round a hospital as a patient with nothing to do, you'd probably start noticing what goes on. No healthcare worker washes their hands all the time in between having patient to patient contact. I'd prefer not to have someone's fingers all over the tablets im about to put into my body, how do i know they havent just wiped the bum of someone with MRSA and then not washed their hands properly or at all.