Stitch

I think you will have more success if you use a collar & lead to start with. I would also recommend puppy preschool and/or attending your local obedience club classes. I have harnesses which I use when taking dogs in the car. Tried to use it for walking one of my dogs and he wouldn't lift his leg or go to the toilet when it was on plus he walked like he had wet his pants!

One thing that vets worry about is the anaesthetic - the pup being so small there seems to be an increased risk involved.

I know that the RSPCA has a policy of desexing everything it can get its hands on. This practice is not supported by all vets and dog breeders. What would be the youngest age that a male pup that was say monorchid could be desexed and I wonder if the RSPCA would carry out that operation on a young pup?

I was taking my dogs to a local vet - we had a break in and my dog got beaten by the thief, he was several days at the vet, was told he had recovered and was OK to take home and when we went to collect him we were told they had just found him dead. Gave the vet the benefit of the doubt and continued on with him though. Next an immunised (by him) 7mth old pup got parvo - several days at the vet, recovering for several days but died overnight???? Well we thought, the vet is a nice guy so maybe it wasn't his fault. Next took a young pup who was not eating properly. He did various tests on the pup but when I rang for the results he couldn't remember taking the tests and didn't have any results. That was it - rang back several days later, the test results were in, got the results printout and found a new vet. Looking back on it I realise there were other warning signs of this vets incompetence which I should have noticed at the time but I had obviously misplaced confidence in him as I had known him for a long time. Have been going to the new vet now for over 10 years and he is fine. For anything really complex I take the dogs to the specialists.

Yes Diane, I have got that message from the vets (bone specialist) too when I discussed nutrition with them. It was his opinion that most dogfoods on the market were too high in protein compared to what puppies/dogs really need for optimum bone growth. I also have found that pups do just as well on the adult formulas and even though I now use puppy formula for the bitch and the pups until, as you say, 12 weeks. Not only that but I have previously found that just weaned pups will do equally as well on a good quality adult formula. Found that out when one litter just got into the bitches meal themselves even though their "puppy" formula meal was there too! So why do I keep on buying the puppy formula initially?

I agree Rebanne, I worry about all the unnecessary chemicals that go into the dogs system. Over the years I have known of products that were proved to cause problems - not discovered until the product had been in use for some time. I prefer to keep the dog and environment free of fleas with a mild flea rinse when/if necessary and that way I only have to give the monthly heartworm tablet and use an all wormer 4 times a year or less depending on where they have been.

Just shows you doesn't it, what works for one breed doesn't necessarily work for another!!

Sure, Scales, but I didn't know there was a problem until after it occurred now did I??? and it doesn't occur with ALL premium foods!! just that one!! And even COMPLETE food can have meat and vegs added to it - I certainly would never just feed dry food - even though the dry dog food sellers of this world would probably disagree with me!

Many years ago I used Eukanuba combined with mince & veg, etc. to feed an eight week old pup. I had been feeding that brand to adults with no obvious side effects so continued on with the puppy variety. By the time the pup was 5 mths old it had developed problems with bone development and overnutrition was suspected. I contact Eukanuba (Iams) and they totally distanced themselves from the problem and said that I had been feeding too much!!!!!! How do you make a pup eat more than it can fit inside it especially a small/medium breed that are not big eaters??? It certainly had no more than other pups I had successfully been raising on other premium dogfoods for years. Now they didn't say on the pack that this can happen, nor did they give any warnings, only their feeding chart info. which is very loose. Consequently I don't use that product anymore and have never had problems since but I always monitor the protein content! I might add that the specialist that I took the pup to said that they rarely see any problems with undernutrition nowadays but they certainly do see overnutrition problems and that he didn't believe in the high protein diets that were promoted these days. I wouldn't go that far but at that point I transferred all the dogs over to Hills and haven't had a problem since. However I also believe that results will vary between breeds.

I have encountered similar advice from the vet recently which got me thinking that the dog food reps. must have been doing the rounds with the hard sell recently! Advice along the lines of "quality dogfood is a balanced diet for your dog and you do not need to supplement". I would generally agree but they don't think to tell you what happens when your dog won't eat the dogfood and is in need of calcium supplementation eg. after whelping. This kind of half advice is positively dangerous in my opinion as many pet owners would not know what to do when faced with a dog with say early eclampsia.

Thanks guys - I like to have as much info as I can as I have found that not all vets are as experienced as you might hope! Just getting prepared in case GA is required.

Do some dogs have problems having a general anaesthetic moreso than others? I was told that certain breeds eg greyhounds that do not have much in the way of body fat have to be given different doses?? If this is the case, do you have to advise the vet prior to the anaesthetic being given?? Can anyone throw more light on this subject please??

Just bought some Jalna yoghurt and my dog loves it. How much do you usually feed daily for a pregnant bitch??

I agree Steve, there have been a lot of articles published to that effect and they seem to be largely ignored by the vets. I know Ricey you have said that you do not intend to take your dogs to boarding kennels but for others like myself, imagine trying to get your dog accepted by any boarding kennel without current vaccinations - it won't happen!! Chemical companies wouldn't be too thrilled to have a good source of income from these vaccinations stopped or severely curtailed so I don't see much changing in the near future.

Hi, Yes I would be interested in either a workshop or a one to one consult when K9 Force is in Brisbane. Will look forward to that one!!!!!!

........And of course there are some dogs that still get parvo. even after they have been vaccinated against it.

Do you remove the bitch from the pups for ever increasing periods? That gives mum a bit of a break from them plus a chance to regain some condition and they get to eat more solid food instead of putting that drain on the bitch.

Thanks Blade9! That all sounds good - I could do that - but you lost me with the fish - ugh, fish mouth when they come in at night!! With the grass thing - I am not worried about that as all our grass is dead anyway - that is all except the small area where the dew drips down every morning from the overhanging back verandah roof onto the grass - and guess where the girls like to pee - yep, on the only green area of grass in 40 acres!!!

Thanks Blade, that covers it!! I have started not feeding dry food every night and substitute chicken wings and/or lamb flaps instead about 3 times a week. With your BARF diet what do you feed? I work so I really need something that could be prepared in advance, say once or maybe twice a week and frozen or stored. Is it possible to feed a BARF diet this way?

Big fan of Malaseb - excellent results using that product. Also makes an fantastic ear rinse too!

The first stage of waste from any animal including humans is ammonia, then nitrite then nitrate, which is probably what you were thinking of. However pH is a totally different thing - I was just wondering what effect the dry food has on the pH as I know it does affect it. I did hear it mentioned somewhere that if you don't feed dry food then the pH of the waste is better for the dog but I don't know the specifics of that comment.

Not worried about the grass but I was interested to know the effect of what must be a high urine pH on the internal organs of the dog. If it kills grass so quickly imagine what it might be doing to the dog!!

I notice that even using Hills Science diet the dogs urine still makes a dead patch on the lawn. If you feed no dried food at all does the urine still stay at the same pH? Also is there any dried dog food that does not alter the pH (regardless of what the manufacturer says)?