Ittybitty_

Would you believe some of my Poms wont touch Ziwipeak?? They sniff it and walk off!

I can give the thumbs up for Ziwipeak, Nutro & Eaglepack Holisitc I use Ziwpeak on a couple of my little dogs who are extremely hard to put weight on, and it has worked better and quicker than I could have wanted. However, with the high fat content, It can take some dogs a while to adjust to it, as it gave a few of my Poms the runs really bad for a couple of nights. I wasnt going to change over to Nutro from Royal Canin, but it seems i have no say in the matter.. I received some Nutro samples, and fed it to the dogs and they loved it, and then, decided they wouldnt eat the Royal Canin, so I had to buy some Nutro to mix in with the RC just so they would eat it. Its a nice moist kibble, which is what I look for.. Eaglepack Holisitic is great too.. But my dogs wont eat it any longer.. They got over it within a week. So I cant shed too much light on it.. However it did do wonders for one of my Italian Greyhounds who had a skin irritation.

Alot of people who I have spoken to regarding the surgery, reckon that it can do more harm than good.

Unless you opt for surgery, there isnt anything the vet can do.... I havent had surgery done on any of my Poms for it. They are all fine.. I find certain foods can cause it.. Mainly Dairy, or really dry/dusty foods. I have issues with some dry foods such as Eukanuba, for some reason they all start 'snorting' if they are fed Eukanuba dry. As far as dry/dusty foods, I tried mine on Supercoat kibble, and they couldnt eat it without snorting either, as it was extremely dusty and crumbly. So they are all on Royal Canin, as it is already a moist biscuit, and doesnt 'crumble' into a dust. WHen your pom does it, just try and keep him as calm as possible, because sometimes they scare themselves which makes them do it even more. Cheers Roxie,

Hi Swain :p I know exactly what you mean.. It is his 'trachea' that he is having difficulties with.. Its hard to explain.. But there is a little flap of skin down his throat, that sometimes overlaps his trachea when he is trying to breathe, therefore making it rather difficult, and he makes 'backwards snorting' sort of noises. Some Poms suffer from 'collapsing trachea' the entire trachea comes together at times when they try to breathe. There is an operation that can be done to fix the problem. When he does it, you can try blocking his nose, so he has to force air through his mouth, or, you can stick your finger down his throat, and push that flap of skin back. You will feel it straight away. Alot of Poms get past this problem by the time they are 2 years old. One of my boys had it really bad as a youngster & he is now 3, and very rarely does it. If you want any more help just ask Cheers Roxie

mmm. the Poms (weighing no more than 3kg) on average each get 1/4 cup of raw chicken mince, 1 heaped tablespoon of royal canin mini kibble, 1 tbsp of meat bits meal, 1tsp of eaglepack canned 3 times a week, just to ad a bit of flavour. Some of them get a sprinkle of Ziwipeak on top. Fussy Pom who only weighed 1.5kg, now weighs 2kg thanks to Ziwipeak, he gets 1/2 cup raw chicken mince and approx 1tbsp ziwipeak dry food. The Italian Greyhound boys (4-5kg), get 1/2 cup Royal Canin kibble, 1/4 cup raw chicken mince, 1/4 cup meat bits meal, 1/4 cup Ziwipeak. Italian grey baby girl (2.6kg), she gets 1/2 cup raw chicken, 1/4 cup royal canin mini junior & sprinkle of Ziwipeak. The German shepherds, they all vary.. But average is - 1 cup Coprice family dog with 1/2 cup Royal Canin German Shepherd formula, 1 cup raw chicken.. It usually ends up as 2 cups chicken, as the chicken gets mixed with pasta, rice, vegies, some days they get mackeral or sardines, some days Tuna. depends whats going. All our guys get fed of a morning. As they spend the day running around being looneys.. The Italians are getting fed twice a day now, as they burn off so much energy.. :p

Received my Ziwipeak 'kibble/jerky' stuff today, and he scoffs it Its awesome stuff..

Ive got him eating :D A combination of things.. Eaglepack shrimp/Salmon canned food, mushed up with raw chicken mince, mushed up royal canin puppy bikkies, and Ziwipeak sprinkled on the top. I have to stir it ever so often though and move it away from the edges of the bowl for him He has put on 200grams over the past few days.. Which is excellent, I can already feel the difference.

Havent read all 4 pages... But my advice is... put her in bed with you I now have 4 Pomeranians & 3 Italian Greyhound's & 2 German Shepherds sleeping on/in my bed. They all love it. They all just love to be with me. I admit, its a race to the bed at night to claim a spot, but once we are all in, NO one wakes until morning, and we all sleep sound. The Sheppies usually hop off and move to the lounge half way through the night, or on a mattress beside my bed.. But the littlies dont budge.

The problem is not the food itself, nor his digestive system.. He is just a very fussy eater.. believe me I know my dogs. I could go out and buy him a whole bbq chook, and he would scoff the lot. I could cook him a whole roast beef, and again, he'd eat the lot. Its just a matter of feeding him what he LIKES to eat. A few months ago, he was eating the chicken, rice & veg that the rest of the dogs get, no worries, AND digesting no worries. I cant develop muscle on him if I cant get fat on him to turn into muscle.. Correct weight, he would be a 2kg dog. I would like to see him at 2.5kg, as I know alot of Pom exhibitors keep their dogs 'boney' (because they are judged on weight not height) and I dont like that at all.. Its just a matter of finding foods that suit his 'expensive taste' Thanks guys for all your input, keep it coming :D

One of my Poms, is extremely thin.. as in you can feel EVERY bone in his body. He has had all the relevant tests done at the vets, and he just has an extremely high metabolism, and is extremely active, but a poor eater. If you didnt touch him, you wouldnt notice, as he is so fluffy, yet he is so happy and active.. he is 'healthy' within himself, im just not satisfied with his current weight. He is such a fussy eater, so far ive got him eating Eaglepack CANNED food, mushed with the nomal raw chicken mince rice & vegies, and he will eat it reluctantly, but i can see it not lasting for very long. At night I give him a big drink of low lactose milk, as he wont eat anymore than once a day. I cant expect him to eat BIG meals, as he is such a tiny dog already, there isnt much room for him to eat alot anyway.. What foods are really high in fat that will help beef him up? Even though he only eats small amounts?? Ive got Ziwipeak on the way for him, it should arrive any day.. But other options would be muc h appreciated Cheers Ash

All the advice has been great Go for the good stuff. It lasts longer, because the dogs get what they need just by having their normal required feed. Feeding cheep crap, just leaves them hungry, and wanting more 'crap'.. I dont like Hills... Well... We won a bag last year, a HUGE bag.. and NONE of the dogs would touch it. So we donated it to the RSPCA. 90% of what I feed my dogs in the way of Dry kibble is Royal Canin Mini, and they all seem to love it.. But for that little bit of variety, I always buy a bag of something different, usually Eaglepack Holistic Anchovy, just for added flavour. Or the Pro Plan Lamb & Rice Puppy, as I need that extra fat content as my little dogs are so active. I have just started them with some Ziwipeak sprinkled on top, just a tiny bit.. And they go nuts!

Ive done that Filled in the enquiy form in like 6 times in 2 weeks.

How do I go about getting info from the aussiepetfoods website?? As in, price list etc??

Are there Ziwipeak Samples? for the dry food?

Im definately going to give Ziwipeak a go on my little ones. I do take alot of care selecting my dogs dry food, but im not fussed where its from. As long as Im happy with the ingredients, and my dogs do well on it, then its a go from me I have used Ziwipeak jerky treats for the showring for ages, Fish & Venison ones.. And its the ONLY dry treat my dogs take any notice of. I was using Royal Canin until my dogs got sick of eating it. I have now changed them over to Pro Plan Lamb & Rice (puppy) mixed with Eaglepack holistic Anchovy & Salmon, which they LOVE and they do really well on The larger fat content will do my Iggies really good, as even though they are a small breed, the amount of energy they burn daily is phenomonal. And they could do with that little bit extra in their diet. Im really looking forward to trying it :cool:

I had my vet show me how to do it myself so it is kept under control. My dogs generally have great teeth, but the pom bitches especially after a litter get alot of tartar build up. So I had them done. But now I do it myself.

its not about what we want, its what the clients want. We refuse, we lose business.

I LOVE the dremels, i have one, which i use on both the poms and sheppies. Also, there is a little tool on it that I use to clean the dogs teeth, it lightly vibrates on the surface and the tartar just falls off.. from me

All the BC's I clip, arent done for looks. And Im sure most are the same. The dogs are always happy to have their coat off, usually they are happy and bouncy at the end of their clip, and are done because they are in tick areas, and it also keeps fleas off because they are easier to spray. It prevents hot spots occurring, And especially when they are on working stations, they keep free from burrs and spikes from the grass. I agree Silverblue.. We aint all bad. IMO The franchises are the bad guys..

Im a mobile groomer and I do clipping etc. Not a franchise, I started from scratch on my own. I always go over the dog with the owner there and if it is matted I simply explain how it has to be done. I have always had positive results. I just spent 2 weeks grooming up at Kempsey, and I had clients coming from everywhere, and they said they wish I would move up there because I was affordable and the job was excellent. A few of them will be driving their dogs to Newcastle just so I clip them. Not all of us are bad

Yeah my Poms and Iggies are fed exclusively on Royal Canin and I wouldnt feed them anything else

She was a happy little muffin. But my god it was strange to look at. She had part of a lower lip hanging there, and her tongue.. She has learnt to roll her tongue up in a sort of ball, so that she can tuck it away. I have used tweezers to pull out a loose tooth etc. But only if it is hanging by a thread etc. Anything other than that is a job for the vet.

Hey all, Ive been flat out working, and I thought Id saw it all, until I had 2 poodles brought in today to be clipped. The little apricot toy that I had, didnt have a lower jaw. She only had the upper jaw. She is from a registered breeder, and apparently they tried to remove baby teeth with pliers and were extremely unsuccessful, so the lower jaw got infected, and rotted away. She is with a new owner who loves her to bits. She can eat normally, bark, whine etc. She just has to wear a bib as she cant control the excess drooling. Still a sweet little gal, and god bless her new owner for giving her a new chance! Cheers Ash

What's bigger? Those "bolo" bones seem to be too big and there is nothing in between. WHen you get the big cow legs, as I call them, get the butcher to slice them in half longways, that way the dogs can get the marrow out of the centre. Keeps them busy for hours. I Cooked bones should NEVER be given to any dogs!!!