Mags

Just saw this so glad it is not his heart and he is making a good recovery and is coming home. What a horrid few days for all of you and a huge well done to your vet who sounds like a very nice lady besides being a never give up kinda gal. Just great news.

House training a puppy does mean cleaning up after him until he learns to go outside reliably and also means you getting up during the night to take him out. Just putting him outside is not going to house train him. Put the work in, make the effort and you will have a terrific little dog. Dump him outside because its all too hard and you will end up with far more problems as you are already seeing. And agree with everyone else baby puppies should be inside for their safety and mental well being not dumped outside for convenience sake. Did you not consider these things before buying a young puppy they do take work and training to become well adjusted trained adults.

Thank you for sharing - definitely a good luck story for a very lovely puppy.

So very sorry that you lost your special girl and her little ones.

Great news - thanks for the update. Love that your elderly lady made the vet and her nurses work for their money lol. Jo

Thanks off to look

Do all vaccines cover for this new strain?

Think these toys in junior would be brilliant for my coonies Wagsalot do you have a hid a squirrel and an IQube in junior? Think the eggbabies would be good too but don't want to encourage them to gut things looking for eggs their ratties & micies already take a huge beating found another 2 skinned this morning.

Lots of positive thoughts for your very special girl today.

Most people I know do it - the rep I suspect doesn't want to sell less product but I do not want to overdose my animals for no reason either so I breakdown a large tube and throw the excess away. Minimising our chemical usage will also minimise the risk of parasites bulding up resistance to the chemicals we use. Jo

As Jed mentioned there is clear correlation in cats between vaccinations and sarcomas. The two vaccines most likely to cause the problem have been found to be FeLV and rabies. THe problem is so well recognised that in the US these vaccines are given in the hind limbs as distally as possible so the limb can be amputated when a sarcoma forms. Left hind for the FeLV vaccine and right hind for the rabies vaccine. As someone with cats I do not think loping off a leg is a great response to vaccine induce sarcomas. It was also raised by the pathologist that was at the Jean Dodds lecture in Sydney last year that he has seen vaccine induced sarcomas here from C3 injections. So I would certainly not say that there is no research on vaccines causing cancers there is research available just do a google search on vaccine site sarcomas a huge amount of information come up. I am one of many that think we over vaccinate our animals and we need to better manage what we do. I still believe in vaccinations but I believe we should be giving the minimum number possible not endlessly jabbing our animals because it is safe as that has clear proven not to be the case. Jo

Well that is a good thing even if she hasn't done it before though it still sounds as though she didn't go through the full range of common side effects. I think people should be informed of the possible porblems too many vets are still pushing the view that vaccinations carry no ill effects.

I can understand funny comments about breeds particularly ones people don't often see we regularly get them at cat shows too but the funniest thing I have heard at the royal is a man explaining the diffrence between bulls and cows to his young family. And whilst we were standing there waiting for some cattle to walk passed he explained that the Jersey bull was a cow and the Hereford cow was a bull and glared at us as we fell about hysterical with laughter.

Do you have friends with well socialised dogs that are fully vaccinated or have had titres done (preference)? This would be safer then taking him in public before he is vaccinated. And remember you really need to wait for 2 weeks post vaccination for it to have worked or so I have always been told. Jo

Besides all the things other people have mentioned one of the best things we got when we got our first purebred cats was a detailed grooming lesson - demonstrations were done on first a kitten and then an older cat. The difference in the coats were explained and all the grooming tools (and shampoos etc) needed were shown to us and discussed. It was the most useful exercise and ensured our kittens stay in the condition they arrived in & held us in good stead at that first show and ever after. We left with a comprehensive list of what we needed (2 lists in fact one for a pet and one if we were going to show) and where to get them. Of course over many years of owning and showing fluffies of a couple of breeds we have changed some of the things we do and refined them as you learn what works for you and individual animals. Tips from a local breeder with many years experience and then an o/s breeder with 30 yrs experience when his wife was here judging didn't hurt either. Jo

Very interesting offer Jeff looking forward to the results. We have had cattle dogs for many years and our current dog I am sure would do exactly what your shephard did. She is from show lines and has a very different and I must say more unstable temperament. The old working line dogs we had loved people, were good with other animals and would bark and hold ground if needed but they knew how to work stock and that was part of what they needed to work effectively as was barking on command. I have had dogs leap to my defense before and was surprised. On one occasion I was home sick and some one knocked on the door when I answered it the man tried to push his way into the house my border collie kelpie cross (who was from working lines on both sides and a good yard dog but useless in the paddock) went straight into defensive mode got between him and me and was clearly not joking. This alerted our cattle dogs who came immediately to her aid. The man ran away and the dogs thankfully took heed of my "stay" and stayed with me. I called the police who attended but could not find him, told me I was lucky to have the dogs who were all trying to bludge hugs from the nice police men and we got security screens on all the windows and doors at the front of the house. It would never have occurred to me that this dog would have protected me the way she did - she was a cuddly teddy bear who loved everyone and every animal she ever met. One of the police originally though it had been one of the cattle dogs that came to my aid but when I told him it was our fluffy bear he told the cattle dogs they were useless which they took as a compliment wagged harder and got more pats from the nice police men. I would love to be able to know a certain breed would produce dogs that would do what these dogs did - I was just very lucky and will be forever grateful for my wonderful dogs protection. After reading this thread and looking back IMO my dogs protected me because the situation we were in was very similar to a working situation and they got between me and danger as they would have in the yards if cattle or a ram had tried to come through me. They would no more have run off after the man than they would have chased a cow or a sheep. Jo

Was at the vets today and was given the new AVA policy on vaccination of dogs & cats. Was so glad to see it - well past time IMO - still better late then never. Have attached a link for anyone interested. http://ava.informz.net/ava/data/images/doc...inal-june09.pdf Will be interesting to see what happens with vaccine requirements for shows, agility, boarding etc now the AVA has acknowledged vaccines work for signficantly longer than 12 mths and animals should be immunised only as frequently as necessary. Jo

Is gingivitis and tooth problems an issue with greys generally?

Do unfortunately know about it a lovely ragdoll queen, mother to one of my cats, that belonged to a friend lost her life to it. Cause was put down as a raw additive that contained garlic (still available unfortunately) she came good after a transfusion but collapsed and died a few short months later. Haemobartonella was ruled out in her case. Hope you have better luck with your foster. Jo

Another huge fan of the vets and staff at All Natural though I have had my cats there not my dogs and we are 2hrs drive one way and we have not regretted any of our many visits to that clinic. Barbara Fougere was wonderful with Aub when she was treating him for his auto immune disease after conventional medicine could do nothing for him. And I can not speak highly enough of Joanna Milan she has been wonderful with our Orijen affected cats who could not tolerate conventional medicines - if it wasn't for Joanna we would have lost all our affected cats. And what I have found is these vets are good conventional vets who found conventional medicine did not give all the answers so they have added other therapies to their skills and they are truly holistic - they are also very willing to work with your regular vet. Jo

Happy to help. Unfortunately I have learnt far too much about pet food issues over the last 12 months. We have just lost our second cat to Orijen (and still have others affected)and I know what food can do and I am only too happy to help others steer clear of any problems if I can. Jo

I was sent this link to US FDA notice http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEv...s/ucm166265.htm I was concerned when I read it as I had seen a list that stated Evanger produced food for Artemis so I wrote to Artemis Australia and asking for clarification and received a very rapid response. I have request permission to share that email and it has been given. Dear Joanne, Thank you for your email. I can totally understand your concerns but please be assured the only food made for Artemis at Evangers is the CANNED food, NOT the dry food. There are only a few canneries in USA and you will find mainly Menu foods and Evangers make most of the canned products. Menu foods was also in the news a couple of years ago for the huge Melamine issue in USA. We do not import the canned food into Australia, only the dry food so you can be completely safe in feeding the dry food. It is interesting to note that a few months back Artemis USA started looking into another manufacturer for their canned foods as they were not entirely happy with Evangers. I hope this reassures you and if I can be of any further assistance. please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind regards, Judith Strachan. Artemis Pet Food Australia Holistic Approach to Pet Food Phone & Fax: 03 9717 4707 www.artemispetfood. com.au Hope this helps as I remember some of you were discussing this food. Jo

There was a large study done by one of the US uni's on bloat (Purnell I think - can't find the link at the mo) which found that elevating the bowl actually increases the incidence of bloat so I would be very caution about doing so. Will keep trying to find the link so you can all read it yourselves.

It can be nutritional - had it happen with our youngest ACD when we changed from Advance (we were having problems with supply when they rebadged) to another premium brand. Quickly changed back and feet tightened up again.

I use Advance too and my dogs do really well on it. Ask for a frequent buyer card - it will get you every 6th (from the vet if they stock it - doesn't seem to be available for special orders) or 9th (from the pet supplier) free.