Rappie

Simply put pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. Under normal circumstances the pancreas secretes digestive enzymes, in addition to secreting other endocrine products like insulin. A sudden influx of fat into the digestive system can lead to a situation where the pancreas actually starts to "self digest", causing acute (or sometimes chronic) inflammation. Some of the most common clinical signs are vomiting, diarrhoea and acute abdominal pain, you will often see dogs stretching into a "praying" position to relieve discomfort. It doesn't happen to every dog that eats a lot of fat, but it is recognised as a common trigger. It is a very painful condition, and anything more than a mild cases usually requires swift medical treatment in hospital. It's often recurrent and some dogs need to be managed on a very strict low fat diet to prevent recurrent bouts, and it can also occur simultaneously with diabetes. All this doesn't mean that you shouldn't feed bones, but feed them (especially the marrow) in moderation and preferably whole or with the marrow removed. Also, aside from the recreation aspect, I feel that the main teeth cleaning action is from pulling the meat and connective tissue away from the bone - which has a "flossing" action. It's quite common for me to see dogs with fractured teeth from being too enthusiastic with a large bone - weight bearing bones from cows are very solid, more so than canine teeth so I would suggest that they get taken away once there is nothing left on them.

I haven't read all the replies so apologies if someone has already said this Remember that there is no such product as a flea repellent - we can't create an impenetrable barrier around our dog. If fleas are in the environment then they either need to be eradicated there (with environmental sprays, washing bedding, vacuuming etc) or we have to accept that on occasions they will need to hop on the nearest animal in order to be killed by the product that has been applied. As a very general rule, if you can catch a flea easily chances are that it's already on it's way to dying. Also be aware that the fleas that you see NOW are fleas that have hatched from eggs that may have been laid several weeks ago. No matter what you do, it's going to be hard to "solve" a flea problem in less than 6 weeks. Make sure you use a product that affects the flea life cycle rather than just killing fleas. If it is difficult (or impossible) to treat the environment (under the house, gardens etc) then that's when we resort to using pets as "mops" knowing that they will go to areas where there are fleas, pick them up and then they will die. Eventually, since there are no more eggs being laid, the flea population will dwindle.

It's the bone marrow, rather than the bone that is the big concern. It is very high in fat, and along with eating large quantities of sausages / christmas hams and left over pieces of fat, it is one of the common causes of pancreatitis in dogs.

Canine cough has two pathogens involved - the parainfluenza virus which causes the cough, and bordatella bronchiseptica which a bacteria that causes opportunistic secondary infections. A cough alone doesn't require antibiotics, but a cough with evidence of congestion and lower respiratory tract infection does.

The only "same" part is that they have transferred the Duramune name to apply only to the 3 year vaccine, and the remainder are simply "Protech". It is a new vaccine, in the process of doing the trials to register it for 3 year duration of immunity (DOI), Fort Dodge redeveloped the vaccine to be (and I quote the rep) "Stronger". I do have the technical information somewhere at work, I will try to find it so I can let you know exactly which claims are made. Some protocols recommend using the core vaccines we already have, but reducing the frequency to every 3 years. Most of these vaccinations are only registered to provide protection for 12 months. Some vaccines (as with Duramune) have been changed, and then registered for 3 year DOI. The Duramune vaccine does cost more - about 3 times more as a typical C3.

Carousel - I have a 5kg dog and a 7kg dog and a 3kg bag of Eukanuba adult maintenance lasts them about 10 weeks. This is their primary diet but they do usually end up with some extra food (chicken necks etc) on most days). I think the retail price is around the $25-$30 mark for that particular bag. You will find that the estimates on the side of the bag are often very generous and you may struggle to feed even half of what is listed for a dog in a particular weight bracket.

If you found that Advantage was working well for you, you could try Advantix (which is also made by Bayer). As with Frontline, it is a fortnightly application for ticks. Just be aware that is contains permethrin which is highly toxic to cats - and if the dog is likely to come into contact with cats it is best to separate them for at least 12 hrs.

$200-250 is about what I would expect for a dental that does not include extractions. You would generally find that about $100 is the general anaesthetic, and the remainder is(or at least should be) the charge for a general descale and polish (including checking peridontal pockets, doing a dental chart and removing any very loose teeth) and any associated drugs and / or hospital charges. If your dogs are cooperative, and you ask nicely, your vet may concede to cracking the worst of the tartar off while the dogs are concious. However, while this may remove the bulk of the visible tartar, it is nigh on impossible to remove the tartar that remains under the gumline while the dog is concious - and this is the part that is important to peridontal health. If you cannot afford to do both dogs at once, let your vet know and you should be able to prioritise and do the one with the worst teeth first. In the mean time, the dental diets will help prevent further tartar build up and feeding edible bones like chicken necks may go some way to removing some of the tartar that is already present.

I just checked a couple of references and the delay for 1080 can be up to several hours. Since it acts on a particular part of the energy cycle, it can be delayed if the animal is quiet and equally accelerated if they are actively using energy. Certainly would fit with the neurological signs - it only takes a small amount on 1080 to do damage and it may well have disappeared from the stomach contents by the time it started to affect here.

I would still consider it to be a possibility too - it's not the typical presentation but DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation) can be caused by hyperthermia (and snake bite, and drug reactions etc). The distress and seizure activity would also fit with something causing increased consumption of platelets - it can present in a number of ways, but the last case I saw started with erratic barking, followed by facial twitching and a neurological "lameness". That particular case was immune mediated, and I would expect DIC to be a lot quicker. Thats not even touching on the possibility that the seizure activity - was just that, a seizure - there may well be a combination of common factors (although that doesn't directly explain the massive haemorrhaging). I know you had a negative snake bite test, but I also wouldn't rule that out 100%. The time frame would fit with a massive lethal dose of venom, brown and black snakes can cause coagulopathies quite rapidly. Do you know what type of sample was sent for the testing - urine? It's plausible that it could have been a snake bite and that there was not sufficient time for venom to be filtered through the kidneys and enter urine, given that the time frame that you have described is so short. Nothing is certain - I've seen a case where a dog was bitten by a tiger snake 5 days prior to presenting to me, and that isn't something that is supposed to happen, but it did. When faced with a situation like this, I'd probably be tempted to look for horses, not zebras. I guess that's a long way of saying that I don't really know either, and it may not be something you'll ever work out for sure. You have my sympathy - it's hard enough to lose a loved one (human, or animal) at any time, let alone suddenly, and without a known cause.

At 6 months old, he may grow out of it, but you wont know that until he does...or doesn't. Acetylpromazine (ACP) is a sedative, that also happens to have antiemetic (anti-vomiting) properties. It does work well, but oral administration often means that the effects are unpredictable. It has a range of effects on the body however, including lowering blood pressure, dilating blood vessels (which can affect temperature regulation) and causing ataxia - which can potentially lead to problems especially with car rides in hot weather, particularly in a young dog. There are other options which might be more appropriate if anxiety isn't really a problem, but you'd need to speak to your vet about those - namely medications like Maxalon (metoclopramide) and Stemetil (prochlorperazine - which is a relative of ACP).

I think all the salient points have been covered. A C3 is the core vaccination (against "deadlies") and I would suggest that anything beyond that be a decision made about the risk factors that apply to a particular individual animal. As a point of interest, although the C3 protects against parvovirus, distemper and infectious hepatitis (Canine Adenovirus 1 / CAV1) - the protection against CAV1 is actually conferred by cross protection from CAV2 (which is a cause of infectious tracheobronchitis). Trivia really. If your dog is going to be in regular contact with "strange" dogs or in a high population environment then you may choose to get a C4 / C5 - knowing that the vaccinations will not neccessarily prevent the disease, but aim to limit the clinical signs - in order to prevent the spread of disease. I have no justification for offering a C7 in our area (Blue Mountains), let alone one for insisting on it. As others mentioned, coronavirus causes gastroenteritis, which can be treated in the same way as gastroenteritis from any other cause and bears all the same possible outcomes (unfortunately including death in young or debilitated animals). It would normally only moderate disease in adults, so age can be more protective, compared to parvo which can affect any non vaccinated animal (and the odd vaccinated animal). Leptospirosis is something that should be vaccinated against based on risk, not aiming for "completeness" and the mountains are not in the far north of Australia, nor is there an abundance of production animals....

Grakemjo - you're welcome to PM or email me if you like. Obviously I can't give you advice specific to your own dog, but would be happy to go through what each of the medications do and what to expect etc. I may not be able to reply tonight but should have time over the weekend.

That silhouette looks fine to me too. I see a lot of dogs every day and the majority of them are overweight to some degree. It's almost a novelty to see a lean, fit, active dog and I'm sure owners think I'm slightly deluded when I make a point of commenting that their dog is in enviable condition. I can talk about diet until I am blue in the face, but not many people will take notice UNTIL they have a problem with the dogs heart, or joints etc and then it's even harder to get the weight to shift. I want to be able to feel where ribs, hips and vertebrae are - but not see them. An obvious waist is also a good thing, as is abdomen being higher than the bottom of the rib cage

Distemper is still around but vaccination is very effective. There's been several small outbreaks reported in unvaccinated dogs in Western Sydney in the last 3-4 years alone.

If you bought the box a while ago it may not be listed on there (hence the confusion). The research and extra registration requirements were being finalised several months after Advocate was released and there was a lag period before the additional information actually appeared on the box.

Advocate is registered for the treatment of both demodectic and sarcoptic mange. Revolution however is only registered for the treatment of sarcoptic mange. I've found Advocate to be great for treating localised demodex cases, however often generalised cases will require more aggressive treatment with other regimens like the Dectomax (which is doramectin) injections or ivermectin orally. It's important to attack demodex from a number of angles (omega oils, follicle clearing shampoor etc along with parasiticides and antibiotics) because the effects of the mite infestations (eg. secondary infections and constant itching) are very stressful on the body and suppress the dog's immune response further.

Would you be willing to have it done with sedation? I'd just have a chat with your vet to see what they are able to work out with you.

Depends on the dog, the owner and the procedure. In animals things are often done more safely, more quickly, and less painfully if sedation is involved. Local nerve blocks are effective, but whether I chose to use it alone would depend firstly on whether or not the dog will let me restrain a foot long enough to inject something that stings and secondly how effective the owner is at restraint. The answers to those in most cases I see where I could do something under local only is "No" and "Useless", so I often admit an animal for sedation rather than start a war of wills where someone could get hurt. That doesn't mean that I would never do something under local, as I do, reasonably frequently (removing torn toe nails, exploring and suturing wounds etc) where it is appropriate. If you are confident with handling your dog and their behaviour then it's certainly a possibility. There is a quite obvious difference between the general dog owning population, and the DOL dog owning population particularly in terms of knowledge and capabilities. As for the breed of dog, "anger management" seems to be more of a concern with dogs under 1 ft high

No I haven't tried it. I'm not sure what mechanism it is supposed to work by (compared to quite specific information available on it's use in cancer treatment and box jelly fish etc). Apart from making you smell like a pickle, I can't see it doing any harm (unless of course you get it in an open wound ) Might as well say now that I have no objection to alternative / natural / complementary therapies - I just like to know how they are supposed to work - because you're right, they can and do! (Although I have to concede that I find some of them just a bit wacky, but that's another story).

I've heard of vinegar being used to reduce tissue oedema, through soaking bandages in it and wrapping joints etc. I guess the brown paper would soak some of it up...used to be use to wrap horses legs when a koalin poultice was applied to them.

In the scrotum, same place as most other testicles. Directly under the tail. Depends on how many happy thoughts he has in a day Dark pink to red is normal. "Hurt" is relative, usually only hurts if they can't get it back in. Is that one lump or two? *chuckles* I think you're talking about the bulbus glandis. See "happy thoughts" above. It's like waking up happy.

Better than nothing yes, but I would not administer it to a dog that was quite obviously affected as their laryngeal function is inadequate to protect their airways (ie. they can't swallow and any liquid given by mouth can enter their lungs).

Fort Dodge produce their own C3/C4/C2i etc vaccines, but the BB component is made by Pfizer. I have actually had quite a long discussion with one of the techincal services vets from Fort Dodge, after reporting an adverse experience. Although their responses were carefully worded, I was reasonably satisfied with the outcome. The Proheart 12 injection is being monitored carefully by the APVMA and it will be reviewed if the adverse experience reports indicate that this should be done. However, because the reports can be submitted by any one, at any time, and because vaccines are often administered at the same time, it is difficult to determine a direct causal link to many of the experiences reported. That doesn't mean that they don't happen, it means it's difficult to prove it. The majority of the adverse events are anaphylactic reactions, which can happen as a reaction to anything (bee stings, any other drug) but which can be treated effectively with prompt veterinary treatment. I gathered from my discussion that part of the reason for the recall in the US was the sheer volume of reports, where each one must be counted even if it were highly unlikely to be related to the use of the product.

TB - yeah, they heal at about the same rate. Ideally take them out at about the 10 day mark. How much trouble they cause depends on the suture materials, the two cases I saw had nylon sutures in that becames reasonably loose as the wounds healed - it's a bit like dental floss.