WoofnHoof

I got an Ozito from Bunnings for $46 it's a dremel equivalent too, I tried the cordless rechargable type but found it way too bulky the flexible attatchment is heaps better I was talking to the horse vet about dogs today and she didn't know about the existence of dremels etc so she was quite impressed

That's fantastic news! Hope everything stays on track

Fingers crossed here too! I know what it's like to make such a long trip and worry whether it's all worthwhile but you are giving him the best shot and hopefully my dog's good luck will rub off on you!

I got the el cheapo engraver years ago but the dogs wouldn't let me near them with it but they will with the extension attatchment it's heaps easier.

I have an Ozito from Bunnings, heaps cheaper than dremel ($46 vs about $80) and already comes with the extension attatchment

My dog had some very small kidney stones as a side effect from his liver shunt, thankfully they didn't cause him a problem and I was told they would dissolve once the liver was sorted and they must have because he's been fine.

Stay away from high protein while she is recovering as protein creates more work for the liver, my dog was fed k/d when he was sick as I was told that it was similar to l/d so maybe rotate and ask the vet if there are other prescription diets available that you can offer, I wouldn't try anything other than vet recommended food until she has recovered sufficiently. The diets are bland but that is the best thing for her liver at the moment.

Good to hear it's treatable and doesn't require surgery! I don't know anything about this condition but I'm crossing fingers that your girl recovers quickly

Hi skw02 I just pmed you the contact details, hope you get some answers today. When my boy was having seizures he just looked like he had something stuck in his teeth at first, mainly an uncontrollable spasm but he didn't lose conciousness. Whether that was a side effect of the coma or the toxins I don't know, it was only brief though.

I'd be getting to a specialist too if I were you, like I said Geraldine Hunt is the best of the best and she will know if it's a shunt or not - they don't call her Dr Shunt for nothing! Can you get your vet to fax the blood results to her? An intrahepatic shunt (inside the liver) can be visualised on ultrasound but maybe not on a smaller dog (mine's a husky) although everything I read suggested smaller dogs tend to get the extrahepatic (outside the liver) ones as a general rule. Seizures are a symptom of liver shunt, my boy fell into a coma and almost died and when he woke up he was having seizures and he couldn't see or hear for a day or so afterwards, it's a very serious situation that you don't want to get any worse. I would be concerned about the vet putting her under anaesthetic if there is any chance of a shunt because if there is the toxins produced as a result of the metabolisation of the anaesthetic can be extremely harmful - I believe my boy's coma was due to sedation he had earlier in the day for an x-ray (trying to identify why he was sick at that stage). If I were you I would be ringing Dr Hunt and just ask whether she thinks that a shunt is a strong possibility before you allow your dog to go under anaesthetic.

If she is getting depressed after meals it's likely to be a liver problem and the best thing you can do is get her on the special diet, when my dog had the shunt he was also on something called lactulase which helped to absorb some of the toxins that the liver wasn't getting rid of. Hope she feels better soon, and that the cause is indentified quickly

That sounds promising, hopefully if it's an infection the antibiotics will knock it in the head soon enough. Usually the diagnosis for a liver shunt is made firstly with blood tests showing pre and post feeding levels of bile acids, and then with a specialised ultrasound.

If it is a shunt, you are in the right place being in Sydney Dr Geraldine Hunt at Sydney Uni vet centre is the authority on them, hopefully it isn't though they are bad news and very expensive (and risky) to repair.

I had a lot of trouble with toilet training with my fellow he had upset tummy a lot when younger and I think that when they are unwell when they have to go they have to go right then and there. My fellow turned out to have an internal defect which required surgery to correct so I would advise going to the vet if you are worried about him at all. Edited to add that as soon as my boy's health problem was fixed he never went inside again, I think he knew I wanted him to go outside the whole time but didn't always make it.

No, sorry, this won't work for some dogs. A commercial kidney diet food is balanced with low but good quality protein, low phosphorus, etc. Just because a protein is low content, it doesn't mean that it's good quality or that the food as a whole is low in phosphorus or balanced. I would be very wary in feeding a dog with kidney disease BARF, for instance, because it's so hard to get the balance right. You may as well just have the dog pts if you only consider the protein and not all of the food content. There are other commercial kidney diet foods. There's also an email list K9-Kidney but be aware that it's full of Americans who prefer supplements over a balanced diet. Oh ok. I've only had experience with liver problems and was feeding r/d and l/d but when he was allowed to eat 'normal' food the vet just suggested something relatively low in protein to start with to prevent overloading the liver - although it wasn't the specialist who said this, the specialist didn't actually specify any type once we knew the liver was functioning normally.

Usually you would feed Hills r/d for kidney issues. Hills l/d is also low in protein, but you have to get it from the vet. If the vet doesn't want to start him on the prescription diet yet then just look at the protein content of various dog foods and pick one with the lowest protein.

Milk which comes from goats it is MUCH easier digested than other milk... and great for babies/convalescents. Your poor little pup should still be with its mother At present....I would be feeding 4 small meals a day... of good quality chicken mince, some bonnie puppy, some goats milk, or plain yogurt... amd some chicken wings to chew From page 1 (my highlight) From page 2 (my highlight) I think everyone in this thread was doing a great job of educating and assisting this new puppy owner ETA selling pups at 6 weeks is legal and not everyone knows why this is not necessarily the best age to let them go, the OP hasn't done anything 'wrong', there have been a number of posts indicating why many believe it's not ideal and I am sure the OP will be more careful choosing pups in the future.

In case people missed puggy puggy's post from page 1 (my highlights)

I have to agree with this. I'm surprised nobody has addressed the issue of a 5 week old "purebred" puppy. No papers. The deed may be done, and of course what we want is to get the weight on this puppy. However I also think the OP should be educated on what she has done and why its wrong. The same as any person who has bought a designer dog. Anybody care to comment? Or will I also be getting told off for going OT. Flame me now... *pulls on suit* I just read this whole thread and a number of people have pointed out that these pups were too young and should still be with their mum, a lot of people have pointed out that they were extremely small, one post (can't remember who it was sorry) addressed the fact that the pups are probably from byb/puppy farmer and the mum probably bred too young and fed innappropriately hence the low weight of the pups. All in all I think it has been pointed out that this was not the ideal purchase but an awful lot of pups are purchased in this way by people who don't know what age is appropriate or what the ideal weight for their breed/age should be. I'm glad you've got your flame suit on but the OP probably doesn't own one and I think the extra care this pup needs is going to be painful enough without the typical dol "omg how could you buy a pup from a BYB/puppy farmer - shame on you!"

Possibly not the answer but what is? In boxers there may not be as many questions over their soundness as other breeds (the GSD is at the top of my mind ATM because of the other thread), and of course training will factor into any kind of performance testing and skew the results somewhat, like anything. I'm thinking in more general terms of creating a database of results so that if people were choosing a breed or line and wanted evidence of versatility or ability then they could find it. The pointscore concept is a motivator and an opportunity to promote lines as well as stave off questions of soundness. Lol it was the looks on the horses faces that cracked me up the most - one year there was a jump made of hay bales, the horse couldn't believe he was being asked to jump his dinner so after dumping his rider he proceeded to tuck in! Unfortunately no species is safe from that. ;)

You could argue that a working hunter class with 3 or 4 jumps is not a real indicator of whether a horse will follow the hounds effectively, but it's still a test of sorts and when added to conformation testing you can get a better idea of it's ability than just a conformation class alone. When they first started the working hunter class at Toowoomba royal the people with show hunters entered even though it really did look as though the horses had never seen a fence in their lives! After a couple of years the organisers had to add a note to the schedule asking that the horses had jumping experience prior to entering the class - this was because at least half the riders would fall at the first couple of jumps! It's nowhere near as much fun to watch now but at least the horses have looked a bit more capable the last few years and are not just pretty faces

So no one wants to set up a breed performance pointscore?

Probably not a secret but not publicised either

I just had a peek at the Sydney Hunt club website and it looks like they still do chase foxes, although they don't say it in as many words, couldn't find any other clubs with websites so since none are advertising the fact that they chase drag lures I'd say it's foxes.

OzPit I don't think anyone is denying the difficulty in testing for some breeds, however for me at least I think that some sort of integrated performance testing would help to stave off the soundness issues (real or otherwise) which can occur when the breed is only tested in the show ring and being bred for the show ring. I don't think anyone would suggest that a weightpull would prove the dog is able to be a fighting dog, or that a coursing dog is able to be a hunting dog, however these sports can at least go some of the way to proving that the animal is still well built and able to perform at least some of the functions of it's original task.