MalteseLuna

I've had good experiences with: Dogue (Bondi Junction) - about $65 for my 3kg Maltese WaggingTails - Angela is absolutely wonderful and Luna loves her, again about $60.

I have yet to see CC brushes at any store in Sydney - I ordered mine from America - I love my combs but I could go either way on the pin brushes (didn't get a slicker). Let me know if you find a store that sells them!

He isn't house trained if he is making messes in the house - I would say that you need to go back to square one with potty training. He needs to be CONSTANTLY supervised whilst inside and taken outside for potty breaks - just because he was outside for the morning doesn't mean he won't need to go potty later in the day. At 5 months old he is still a puppy - and still needs to be supervised (alot of dogs aren't fully trained at this age so don't worry). The important thing is consistency - it sounds to me like he has gotten confused because he doesn't spend alot of time indoors. It's not his fault that he has accidents - its your fault for not making sure he is 'empty' Whilst he is indoors he shouldn't be allowed to wonder around un-watched and if he looks like he might have to go to the bathroom then outside - Make sure to Praise him ALOT when he goes in the right place - and even give him a treat. If he makes an accident don't punish him - if you don't catch him in the act - if you catch him in the act you can make a stern "NO" and take him straight outside BUT don't smack him or make him too scared or he will merely become more sneaky. Make sure that any accidents are cleaned up effectively with a pet stain cleaner (no ammonia) - this will make it easier. I would even confine him in a smaller area of the house - don't give him free run of the entire house - until he is fully house trained. Does he have access to the outside whilst he is inside - i.e. does he have a doggy door? If not that might be the reason he is having accidents. Don't confine him outside just because he has accidents - instead put in the effort to train him and you will be rewarded 20-fold with a gorgeous cuddly house trained Maltese They 'can' be notoriously hard to housetrain - but not in my experience - they are VERY smart and if you are consistent he should get the 'idea' quickly. Another question - is he de-sexed? If not I would suggest getting him done soon so that he doesn't start 'marking'

I would be interested - if you don't mind having a Maltese in the "club" :rolleyes: Seriously they can be very good at agility and Obedience (I hear) - they do look like flying dustmops though

There are no grand kids in the picture - but my siblings who still live at home might be giving her extra food She was on light food till very recently when they put her on the special joint formula. Thank you Charles I will pass the info onto my parents and hopefully something can be done for her. She has always been a cuddly dog and likes to laze around the house but at the same time she always used to LOVE walkies

I agree it didn't sound right to me - hence me posting on this site - I figured there would be more knowledgeable people who have dealt with pugs particularly It's more than just panting - but it is true her back could be causing her to pant. Thanks for the advice Guys - hopefully they will figure out whats happening with Nu-Nu and she can get back to her normal self!

I am getting mixed up - there is an MVD associated with hearts and another with livers ... Taken from YorkiePatrolI have noticed that her coat is very fragile - could this be related to liver disease? I think I am going to get an ammonia tolerance test done at Sydney Uni and see where that takes us. I really want to avoid having to put her under for a biopsy or ultrasound. If it is HVD/MVD then an ultrasound won't be able to make a diagnosis. Kylie

Her ALT levels on Friday were 127 so still elevated and this time higher than 4 months ago (they were 113 last time we tested). Has anyone heard of allergies (particularly food) affecting ALT levels? I don't know if I should bother with an ultrasound given that she shows no symptoms of a shunt and I've heard they aren't very good at diagnosing shunts anyway. I am leaning towards doing a bile acids or ammonia tolerance test and fiddling with her diet - I've heard that asymptomatic MVD is common in Maltese and shows up as elevated ALT and bile acid levels does anyone have first hand knowledge about this? My vet doesn't know what asymptomatic MVD is

I have passed on this information and the thread URL to my parents - I think they are going to work on her weight and see how that helps and will try to get the vet to look at her trachea next week. I do think she is a bit overweight - not as bad as alot of pugs we see out and about but definitely compared to what she used to be; what sort of vegetables are good to add to her diet? Thanks you guys, Kylie

This is about my Parents pug who they are worried about. She is about 10 years old and from a registered show breeder - she has always been a quiet breather, quite active, quite trim normally between 8-9 kgs, healthy (no problems till now). In the last 6 weeks or so my parents have noticed that she is panting/breathing very heavily and is now unable to walk even short distances (i.e. around the block and she pants/breaths very hard). It's been a sudden development - possibly due to the heat but she still breaths heavily on cool days. My parents are worried because previously she was very active - running around on the beach, happy to go on walks. Mom doesn't want to push her if its going to hurt her. She did hurt her back about 14 weeks ago - but she doesn't seem worried by it now. When we went to the vet yesterday the vet couldn't hear a heart murmur or anything wrong and said "it's just old age, just let her hang out in the house all day and don't take her on walks longer than a block". Would age have such a profound affect in a matter of 6 weeks? Could excess weight be the culprit? Is it normal for pugs to develop heavier breathing as they get older? My main concern is how they keep her "trim" and healthy without exercise given that she is already a little overweight (9.6 kgs) and if excess weight could be causing the breathing how do they get the weight off her without exercise? She is generally fed light or senior eukanuba (not the best brand but they won't listen to my advice and change to something else) - lately she has been getting the "Joint" formula diet (Dad bought 2 x 20kg bags of food for 2 toy dogs ). Does anyone have any tips for helping her out/making her breath easier? Kylie

Thanks for the reply Rappie I am aware that bile acid tests often give an abnormal result for Maltese - I will have to see if my vet does ammonia tolerance tests Do you of an association between bad reactions to ivermectin and liver abnormalities?

My 1 year old Maltese got de-sexed roughly 5 months ago and at that time we discovered that she had abnormal ALT levels (they were at about 120) - I got a big scare and the vet wanted to do ultrasounds/biopsy's for a liver shunt - but since she didn't have any symptoms we helt off and instead started doing monthly blood tests to monitor her liver enzymes - they rose to about 140 and then started to fall to 110 (still abnormal). They were steady at 110 and she still seemed fine so we decided to retest at her yearly exam (which is next week). I don't think she has a shunt but rather asymptomatic MVD - which I have read about in some Maltese forums - unfortunately the only un-invasive test for shunt/mvd is only avaliable in America (it's called a Protein C test). If she still has abnormal ALT levels then we will likely have an ultrasound or I will get a bile acids test done (though the vet thinks this is useless ) Anyway when I first got her until about 4 months ago I gave her Heartguard 30 for heartworm protection and I noticed that after having a tablet she would have loose stools and not act normally (i.e. she would be drowsy) so I changed to interceptor - my question is has anyone else had a similar experience with heartguard 30? Is ivermectin dangerous to liver compromised dogs? Could her weird reaction indicate that she does have a liver problem? Could the weird ALT levels be a result of ivermectin? My vet thinks I am over-reacting and said that heartguard was perfectly safe and she had never heard of a dog having a weird reaction to it Thanks for any advice/tips in advance Kylie

I really like Nutrience and Royal Canin - my dog has been alot happier on these brands than on any other i.e. no foot chewing! Alot of vets don't stock the "best" dog foods but rather the most common, ones offered to them for special prices or special medical diets (i.e. Kidney or dental diets) - My vet sells Advance, Eukanuba and Science diet none of which I would touch with a ten foot pole I would never buy Innova or Evo simply because they are only sold in PP stores and I refuse to shop at them

My parents dog, a 9 year old malt x shih has god LP in both hind legs and she had to have surgery early this year on her Cruciate Ligament - my parents were avoiding the surgery on her knees and as a result she completely severed her Ligament She was in pain and couldn't even squat properly or walk short distances. She had surgery on one leg (corrected knee and ligament replaced by nylon ) and she is back to her normal happy self My parents definitely think that the surgery was worthwhile - but then there wasn't a "wait and see" option for her because the knees were so bad and the ligament was completely severed

I think it's also related to how much sun the dog gets or age - my parents dog used to have a black nose and now its a brown color. Luna's nose get a little lighter during the winter but now that its spring and she suns herself its getting nice and dark! I love the dark pigment against the white hair

Personally I don't like it - it has lots of fillers and grain products. Eukanuba is a "good" brand but its not the best out there - I prefer Nutrience and Royal Canin.

I don't have a toilet command - we live in a 14th floor apartment and she uses a pad in the bathroom. I took her outside repeatedly to let her empty her bladder (and she did) but she still marked indoors. Thanks for the advice though - I will keep her on a lead and give a stern "AHHHH" when I see her looking like she is going to mark. Kylie

Well she isn't really a "puppy" anymore - but I thought it was more relevant to this section of the forum ;) I went to my "in-law's" house for dinner tonight and took Luna because I thought she would enjoy playing with their dog (a bichon poodle cross who is about 2.5 years old) - she did BUT there seemed to be a dominant undertone to some of the play :?: Luna started marking all over the place - about 3-4 times indoors and about 5-6 times outside when I marched her outside to go toilet after finding the indoor 'puddles' :rolleyes: It seems to be a marking thing i.e. the puddles weren't big and fairly regular - we were only there for about 2 hours max. I am completely stumped :faint: I mean I got a girl because I didn't want a dog that marked all over - and I though Luna was relatively submissive :hair: I was keeping a close eye on her but she seemed to still do it - even when I was clapping and looking right at her/walking towards her... We have had 2 other occurances of marking - one at my house when my parents dogs where here she just piddled right in front of everyone and then at my parents house she seemed to have made a small piddle or two inside (could have been that she didn't want to go out in the rain :?: ) So the question is what do I do? How do I nip this in the bud and stop her from marking - obviously I will have to stop all marking (indoors and outdoors) - but how do I do this? I obviously don't want to discipline her - seeing as I am for positive reinforcement but I just have no idea how to start Is this a relatively common thing to happen at about 1 years age - it's only just started happening all previous visits to my parents and in-laws she was a perfect angel and went right outside to do her business - thats what is so frustrating I was so embarrassed at the in-laws after all I often comment about how well behaved she is and how she is fully potty trained (we live in one of their rental properties - so i want them to know I am making sure Luna doesn't wreck the carpet) and they just got new carpet I need a

I would definitely recommend either Bella and Fox or Wagging Tails - it's the same groomer named Angela and she is fantastic! I take my Maltese there and she loves it!

The price of desexing is nothing compared to the cost of C-sections, vaccinations and micro-chipping if you have an "ooops" pregnancy I was sitting in the vet one day and a couple came in asking how much it would cost to get their pups vaccinated and were most surprised when the vet quoted a number of $50 each - the girl said "but we have 10 puppies don't you do a deal with that many" :rolleyes: They also wanted to get their male dog de-sexed. I paid about $300 dollars at my vet - but that included an optional blood test and baby teeth removal. Think it was about $150 for male dogs. Boy am I glad I got the blood test tho - it showed up abnormal liver enzyme levels MY vet does seem to be a little more expensive than some - but I like my vet

Luna lifts her leg up in the air when you touch her hip or her tummy :D She also lifts her leg when she wees Does Tia like having her tummy rubbed?

To disinfect my house after a parvo incident last year I asked my vet to make up a solution of Trigene (vet grade disinfectant that is effective at killing Parvo) - it worked for me But I threw out all toys, bedding, crates etc that had come in contact with the sick puppy.

I free feed my dog - the vet advised me to because she is small and wasn't eating enough with set meal times. The vet was also of the opinion that if I free fed she wouldn't scavenge as much or be a glutton i.e. she only eats when she is hungry. That being said I don't see free feeding working for most people i.e. my parents pug but it works great for my dog Free feed means I fill up her food bowl when it gets empty (about once a day) and she can eat over the whole day

My little Maltese licks her paw fairly regularly (esp her front 2 paws) ... The fur around a few of her nails is slightly pinky... but vet said she couldn't see any irritation and to just keep an eye on it She first started licking her feet at about 11-12 weeks of age (a week or 2 after we picked her up) and I started doing alot of reading on the subject. Apparently it's quite common for Maltese (or Maltese crosses) to have allergies (particularly food allergies) and a symptom of this is foot licking/chewing. Have you changed her food recently (i.e. on same time line with licking). My vet said that allergies often present themselves after the 1-2 year stage (i.e. not generally during puppy hood). It could also be related to nails being too long. Personally I wouldn't want to put anything like Tabasco sauce or curry powder on Luna's feet as I wouldn't be able to make sure she didn't get it in her eyes or onto her skin I am thinking that Tabasco on irritated skin (skin that is being licked alot) wouldn't be very nice. I try to divert her attention to something else i.e. playing a game or practicing tricks (this is what the vet advised me to do) - but I would certainly go see a vet to check that there isn't an underlying reason for the licking. From my own experience I saw a reduction in the amount of licking when I changed food brands from Eukanuba to Advance and then to Nutrience (she is on the holistic one atm and she is licking alot less than she used to)... however we also think that she just 'likes' to lick her feet... she is a very 'licky' dog We haven't done any allergy testing as yet because the vet seems to think allergies don't present till they are older (Luna is about 10 months)... plus we have been dealing with a liver shunt scare recently (she doesn't seem to have one... but ALT levels are elevated).. but that might be something to look into

Try taking in an Australian Shepherd puppy Maybe add them to the seperate group too Definitely agree - I took my Maltese puppy (who at the time was 1.2 kg maybe) to a puppy school run by my vet (was very good) and I LOVE Labrador puppies ( my auntie has Lab's) but a Maltese puppy just can't hold her own against that size dog :rolleyes: Poor baby - she wanted to play and then as soon as she was in the 'play' she wanted out again :p Towards the end though she comfortable with the bigger pups ;) I thought it was a good part of my puppy school that the dogs not only encountered other dogs but also were handled by other people (we did pass the puppy) and Luna is a very sociable little doggy now when she started off as being quite timid :p I felt 'safer' doing it at my vet than at another location because I felt they would have a better handle on diseases (i.e. the room we used was wiped down with Trigene before and after the school) JMO though. The puppy school was run by a senior vet nurse and 'semi'-retired vet and they did keep a close eye on the pups to make sure nobody got bullied or overwhelmed