Stitch

Thought I would update you all on our progress using the new tabs. Doseage was 1/2 tab for a dog under 10kgs.....we had two storms come through, one yesterday and one the day before. Both times I was able to give the 1/2 tab 30 minutes before the storm arrived. Both times she still drooled and shook however once the thunder and heavy rain had past she recovered quickly. She wasn't drowsy and didn't seem to be affected by the medication. I am thinking she will need a whole tablet as the shaking is very intense.

I got it at the health food shop which I believe was Healthy Life. It is called Herbal Tea - Calendula Flowers. Perhaps the place you went was just out of stock of it.

Got the Kalma today for her, so I am hoping that it does the trick. Thank you BC Crazy and all those who helped this to happen.

Muscle relaxant. We also had an appointment this morning with the dental specialist....the ordinary vet tomorrow...anyway the dental guy had the time to do 4 extractions today which was a surprise, poor girl, so she was whisked away to have 2 at the front and 2 molars right at the back extracted along with a general cleanup. She has peridontal disease as they do when they get old. She had nerve blocks and along with the general anaesthetic isn't really in a position to be worried about storms at the moment. I can hear it rumbling in the background. She is asleep on the lounge....so I won't have to be giving her any valium today. Funny how things turn out.

There is supposed to be a storm this afternoon but our vet appointment is for tomorrow. Can anyone tell me the dose for valium for a 8kg dog? as I always keep valium here in case of toads.

Thanks for that BC Crazy. Sounds hopeful. I am afraid we are way beyond supplements SAS but I will bear it in mind if any of my others ever show signs of stress. This is not mild anxiety/stress, it is soooo much more and it is getting worse with age.

Phone the Interceptor company on the pack for best advise but the vet told me that Interceptor 'protection' lasts for longer than some other heartworm tabs. eg. I do not dose a pregnant bitch so just before I mate a bitch I dose with Interceptor and don't dose again until the pups are born. Never had a problem and we are in a mozzie area. If you are unsure whether your dog has taken its Interceptor you can wait 2 weeks and then dose again. This would mean that it would be a minimum of 2 weeks or a maximum of 6 weeks since your last Interceptor dosing. Well within the 'protection' period.

So is Xanax a med that has to be given daily or can it just be used for one off situations like thunderstorms?

I suppose my girl is noise sensitive too....she howls if I don't answer the phone quickly enough. She could be a hearing assistance dog as she lets me know about all unusual sounds around the place!! LOL Thank you for that article Rosetta. I will be asking for that med. from the vet!!

Ear muffs wouldn't work for my girl who knows when a storm is 50klm away. I tried plugging her ears with cotton wool...it made absolutely no difference. She must feel the change in atmospheric pressure?? As you say, none of the herbal remedies have worked. Yes, valium seems to be the way to go, unless there is something new that works better??

Unfortunately all those drops like Rescue Remedy don't work either....I am presuming that Pet Ark Calm is one of those??? Valium sounds interesting Piper, I will enquire about that at the vet. Crate training...all my dogs are crate trained in fact I sometimes just have to put her in her crate during a storm as she runs around so frantically if I don't, and she drools over everything. She seems to prefer the crate but I have had her in the crate, with the thundershirt, with me sitting beside her, sprayed DAP, rescue remedy or similar and she is still a mess. After the storm is over she drinks and drinks to restore hydration.

Thank you all for your replies. I have tried the thundershirt but it doesn't even scratch the surface of helping. I have tried TT etc. with absolutely no results at all. Accupuncture I haven't tried however I would not be able to get accupuncture in time when a storm was approaching. She is NOT nervous or uptight at any other time, she is actually full of confidence in all situations and is a very social dog, it is only when storms are approaching or here that she falls to pieces. I have DAP and it doesn't do a thing for her. I also tried it in conjunction with the thundershirt and all it seemed to do was make her more anxious. Maybe another trip to the vet is in order to see if there is anything new but whatever it is it would have to work within 15-30 minutes as we don't always get a lot of warning.

We have just had another storm go through which again reduced my old girl to a quivering, drooling mess. She almost clings to my legs whenever there is a storm and it is just terrible to see. It started off mildly but as she has gotten older, she has gotten much worse....and those thundersuits don't help either. I have been told by the vets over the years that there wasn't anything that I could treat her with but I live in hope that something new will come out that will lower her stress levels. She suffers from IBD now and storm stress is not doing her any good at all. There's got to be something that will help her????

I can honestly say that the worst I have ever fed any of my dogs is Advance canned food and that, only one meal. This is because I think ahead for feeding my dogs the same as I think ahead for feeding us humans.....and also because I particularly do not want to clean up sloppy poos after them and I want them to feel the best they can, not feel sick in the stomach as they must if they have sloppy poos. I am anal about this!!! LOL Trialling all the different premium dogfoods to find what suits them best was interesting, some of it did cause soft poos....some only soft to begin with but with others the soft poos did not improve. Of course ALL dogfood has fillers in it, even the grainfree ones, it's just not grain but potatoes or similar. If you don't want fillers then you feed BARF or raw or cooked food that you have prepared yourself.

There are savings to be made on the 'premium' dogfoods if you buy a 20kg bag.....I do not as I mainly feed BARF. I also don't like having a bag of opened dogfood for any length of time. I know in the USA there have been instances of dogs getting sick from dry dogfood that has been kept for more than 1 month without being refrigerated. That surprised me.....but I digress. What I wanted to say was that there is a BIG difference between paying $21.95 for a 3kg bag of Black Hawk and $92.50 for 20kgs when you look at the per kg rate.

Did you download the books that Ridgey Mal posted for you?? You really do have to read as much as you can about this subject, preferably before you get your pup so you are prepared. Both you and the pup are currently having your routines changed, you will eventually get used to the pup being there overnight and the pup will settle down. I think it is safe to say that all pups would prefer to be unrestrained ie not be in a crate or playpen but this is not the way to train them as you do have to leave the pup alone at some point. As long as you are consistant, fair and kind the pup will get used to being in a playpen/crate but you also have to have fun playtimes that it can exercise and interact with you. Do some internet searches on crate training,etc. You will be amazed what you will find!

Unfortunately the temptation is there for Australian dogfood manufacturing companies to increase their prices to match their competition because the price of premium dogfood in Australia is so abnormally high. I find it strange that there is not a great deal of different between the prices of the various 'premium' dogfoods at retailers. Sort of like buying petrol at the various petrol stations even down to the discount days!! LOL Hopefully because VIP is in the supermarket it won't become just one of the mob of high priced (mediocre quality) dry dogfoods available here. You would have to think that we could produce a reasonably priced high quality grain free dry dogfood here that wouldn't cost the earth. IMO the price of so called premium dry dogfoods in Australia is absolutely ridiculous!

I gotta say I am very impressed with the VIP grain free range....including their cooked rolls. I have been trialling various dryfoods on my lot for over 6 months now trying to sort out what dry they do best on. I have tried various dogs on grain free incredibly expensive brands and also about 5 other premium brands. The only one that gave small poos, firm consistancy, as well as highly palatable for my lot was Hollistic Select. I feed BARF of an evening and I still think it is the best however....the VIP grain free dog roll was accepted readily, did not upset anyones gut and did not produce runny or soft poos, so I will be keeping one in the fridge for emergencies. I have a very choosey pup at the moment who would not eat much dryfood at all BUT she LOVES the VIP Puppy grainfree dry food. I will be trialling my lot on the VIP Adult grainfree soon and I got to say I am looking forward to saving some money. Thing that always bugged me was that some of the 'premium' high priced dry dogfoods in Australia are actually just average dogfood in their country of manufacture ie. USA. I love the idea of finally having a decent dry dogfood manufacturer in Australia.

I started to offer the VAN roll recently just as an easy to prepare small meal for my recent litter. Only fed it for one of the three meals they get daily as it is marketed as an Adult food. It smells much better than their raw kangaroo mix puppy food which makes me feel sick. The pups love the cooked roll but it is very dry and tends to stick to the sides of the plastic wrap. A while back I bought a 4 legs roll from the supermarket and my adult dogs didn't recognise it as food. They looked and smelled it then walked away. They are usually not picky eaters .... I threw it away. Scottys ProPeak was always good. Haven't tried it for ages...it is now available in IGA and similar supermarkets but not Coles or Woolies.

Royal Canin Hypoallergenic works for my girl.

Don't know about spray on mozzie repellant suitable for dogs however we get our kennels, verandahs and outside areas including trees sprayed for mozzies every mozzie season. It really works well and lasts for ages. If you have a powerpoint handy to the area the dog sleeps you can use the plug in mozzie repellers or there are the portable ones. Mozzie coils can also be lit...they are a cheap alternative but IMO nothing beats getting your outdoor surfaces ie ceilings, walls, etc. professionally sprayed.

I have been to 2 Pet Barns and they have been frozen in both shops. It would be fantastic if Woolworths sold them however I doubt they do here.

Does anyone know where in Brisbane (northside) you can buy the Vets All Natural Roll (any variety) where is ISN'T FROZEN? Are they always frozen or is it just the store that finds it easier to store them if it is??

My vet will do anal glands for $7.... and he does it internally using a latex glove. I really appreciate that he doesn't price gouge like your $100 vet does!!! Sometimes I have had to get my old girl done that way but I notice that since she has been on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic diet she doesn't get the problem anywhere near as much as she did when she was on a standard diet. Now all I do is check her when she gets a bath and do it myself from the outside which may not empty the glands as well as the vet does but good enough.

Depends on what part of the turkey they mince.