Crisovar

Down the throat fan here, no problems in my experience.

[quote name='tyra20007' date='28th Apr 2009 - 11:25 AM' post='3633228' Stick with it - as it is worth it in the long run - the rewards are huge - healthy long lived dogs means that the effort to feed a properly balanced diet is worth it. Just as many dogs live long healthy lives on commercial diets too, the best diet for your dog is the one it does best on, be it raw or processed. We lost a family dog last year aged 16 he ate the same premium commercial diet all his life, he was healthy and happy right to the very end.

Nutro? sloppy pooh, itchy scratchy dogs, and a couple just wouldn't maintain good weight.

It doesn't matter how well a food reads on the packaging or how much it costs it is still possible for any animal to not do well on it. Animals are all individuals, Not all animals will thrive on all foods. All mine bar one do great on Eagle Pack, and that one only really does well on Proplan Sensitive skin & stomach. My dogs didn't do well on Nutro, they are going great on Eagle Pack and Proplan. It is how well your individual dogs do that is important not the brand.

Individuals can be intolerant of anything, I have a dog that cannot eat fish, therefore fish oils for her are out. RBO is a a good oil, it is only a small supplement it is not the basis for a diet, if you do not wish to use it fine, it doesn't make it wrong.

Rice Bran Oil is a good choice, it does contain a good balance of essential fatty acids linolenic and linoleic acids which are essential for skin and coat, and has anti oxidant qualitites. RBO is actually a great choice for cooking and salad dressing etc, it is a good oil. We use it here, humans dogs and horses.

It is a toy poodle. I good coverage where you want to just feel the ribcage when you pass your hand over the dog is ok..but this dog is light....you can feel the dogs induvidual ribs when holding it and the lower backbone/hip joint are visibly protruding. The vet agrees he is light on but all is perfect physically. There is just no substance to this dog which is notable in other examples of the breed. He is fed morning/night with food avail all day...he eats like a bird also. Was hoping for a calorie high/low amount suggestion perhaps. I would not leave food with him all day, I would offer him his meals twice a day, if he doesn't eat them take them away and do not give him anything till the next meal time. Nutrigel or Nutripet paste will often perk the appetite, it is a high calorie supplement paste in a tube.

Raw chicken on the bone is a regular event here with no issues, if he is unused to the bone content he may get a tad constipated, that is if they were bone in, but really he should have no problems. If they were boneless, I probably wouldn't be concerned at all.

I wouldn't trust any of those supermarket wormer. Apparently they don't do a great job. The drug in the supermarket brand daily heartworm tabs is EXACTLY the same as any brand you buy from the Vet or Pet supply place. The same goes for many of the Intestinal wormers, read your labels and compare, in many cases you are buying the same formulation simply a different brand.

It will really depend on the variety that you choose, and it's ingredients, is your old boy sensitive to something in particular?

WOW I have NEVER recieved free food, the most I have managed to score has been a frisbee, a storage container and a crappy bowl. I might have to work a bit longer and see if all the goodies eventuate. We rarely see a rep from the food companies and certainly no exciting offers in the mail. We would actually prefer not to stock food at all, but the specific veterinary diets have their place.

Could you please explain what these "insentives" are??

Question though why do frogs seem to like being carried around by dogs, if they were smart they would not swim in the dog water each night and get carted around by the dogs, get rescued and come back again. My dogs don't kill frogs they just carry them around, the frogs go "blawk" from inside their mouths and the little tails of the doggies wag as the sashay back and forth with their new toy.

Keep up the nightly patrol, you will decrease the numbers. A solid smooth barrier is better for trying to stop them getting in, the nasty buggers can actually climb to a certain extent, we have to fish them out of the horses water and the large concrete dog troughs. A spotlight placed down low on the lawn to encourage lots of flying insects especially moths and flying ants and you can harvest lots of them.

I simmer mine in salted water with added garlic & parsley, then slice it and dry it slowly in a low oven, or between paper towel in the microwave. Some people use a food dehydrator.

Simply because long nails do alter the way a dog walks & the way the foot sits. When this altered it affects muscles & other aspects of the dog . Also the longer the nails the longer the quik grows & the less you can trim off. We see dogs weekly with long nails & i can safely say most have flat feet or walk a tad odd to compensate due to the nails often curling under the foot. Commen sense would tell you its uncomfortable Just consider the way we walk if we get a blister on our foot You will also see dogs with longs nails especially on slippery surfaces slip & slide more or grasp the ground with grim death. Totally agree, and so many dogs have issues with their feet that cause them pain that simple regular nail trimming would have prevented. I becomes a viscous circle the nails get too long the dog is uncomfortable or in pain walking, they walk even less, nails get longer. It is a very important and often neglected aspect of pet ownership. So if some of us seem to be banging on about it, well there is good reason.

Great you've spoken with the breeder but I'm not sure the advice is sound regarding the vit c. It seems to be one of those recommendations passed from breeder to breeder without a sound knowledge base. Do you think that maybe sometimes Breeders do know about these thing

It is a long weekend I would imagine most places would be closed till Tuesday.

My own eyes and records over many years and generations of animals who I have raised the way I have are enough proof to me that what I do is working for my animals. I too believe that the animals in any study would have to be bred for generations for any information gathered to be useful, you would not simply be able to study large number of animals, you would have to be breeding with each an every generation.

Toads and frogs look pretty different to me

What about the frogs? Nobody is doing anything to harm frogs? I have a huge population of frogs. It is quite easy to tell them apart, they don't get squirted.

There is a company in Brissy, Utility Agencies, I think they are in Mansfield, they sell a Pine disinfectant that is Pine OIL based, if they haven't changed the recipe if kills the toads, smells great and friend of mine swears it keeps the snakes out of her aviary. You can buy 20l of it. Much cheaper way to buy it too.

Unless I have missed something there is no definitive test for Canine Epilepsy, it is more a case of ruling out other metabolic issues. Thyroid testing would be be high on the list. Observation of "seizures" provides valuable information for your Vet, there are different kinds of seizures.

Pound dogs are sometimes used as blood donors,so yes.

Don't choose a food and get set on feeding it just because you like the way it reads, be prepared to find a food that agrees with your dog and that it does well on, you may have to try a few before you end up with your final choice. Be guided by your breeder they will be wealth of knowledge, ask them why they feed the food they do. Just because a food claims to have all the bells and whistles, doesn't mean it will suit your dog, a food is only as good as it's suitability for your dog.