Jump to content

karly101

  • Posts

    678
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by karly101

  1. can recommend Clipperman.com.au also fast turn around.
  2. My dog chewed right through his kong wobbler (I guess thats one way of getting the food out)! I now use a buster cube and it's much better, much harder too!
  3. An Adaptil collar - last for a month coupled with behavior modification training. There is a calming paste you can try too - I've heard mixed results (value plus calming paste). A thunder shirt could also possibly help. Don't necessarily close your mind off to drugs... drugs can be incredibly helpful as a short term solution coupled with behaviour modification - if the behaviour is anxiety based then sometimes drugs can help take them down a notch to make the training easier and increase success rates. I'm not saying they are even necessary but they can be a really good option.
  4. It only lasts 24 hours... advice I have heard is to give every day but at the lowest effective dose - ie. 20kg dog try giving up to 19, then 18, then 17 till you find the dose which makes them comfortable Ask if you can get the 180ml bottle. They are prescription meds so you can only buy it from a vet or with a script from your vet.
  5. Technyflex is another to look into. They are all slightly different so yes its really a trial and see type thing unfortunately! Just be aware if the cruciate is a problem there is the real risk that all the strain from limping can do damage to the 'good' leg. Many end up needing both cruciates repaired at some point. Another option is (and may not be correct as I did the sums a few years back) it was cheaper for one of of my patients who was a small dog to go onto the hills j/d (which is basically the joint supplement in the food). They did get very good results from it and preferred not to add powders/capsules and the dog liked the food so it all worked out for them. J/d does have money back guarantee - so it could be one to try and then take back if you don't see improvement and still have some left.
  6. They are not cheap but they are very very effective. I actually used them to help my dog tolerate medication (he's allergic to gelatin) the cerenia stopped him from vomiting it up... he also hates car travel and it stopped the droolyness in the car so obviously he did feel a lot less motion sick too.
  7. Ask your vet if percorten inj is suitable/if it will be cheaper for you - often find this is cheaper for owners with the injection given every 28 days and only a small amount of pred needed. The vet can write you a script for the meds but it may or may not end up cheaper (as it won't be on the PBS) and most clinics charge for scripts too. Sometimes buying a larger amount can help save on dispensing fees to. Speak to your vet they may have suggestions for you! Each clinic also prices their meds differently (and consults too) so you could also try and find a further out and generally cheaper clinic.
  8. My dog is 4 and he's been on cyclosporine for 3 years. No side effects apart from developing an allergy to the gelatin capsule! He is on 1ml every 2 days and seasonally needs to be bumped up to every day. I do yearly blood tests with him too to check he is not having any issues. Qaulity of life is important and he is incredibly itchy and miserable without treatment.
  9. I used etsy for my last collar purchase - cheap, strongly made and unique!
  10. I wouldn't confuse things with a different vet but it needs further work up... sending poo sample to the lab - it's not just parasites but they also look for bacterial infection as well.
  11. I don't think it has been recorded for a a few years because of vaccination. It is included as part of the CORE C3 vaccine so I don't think you can get vaccines without it's inclusion. Same with distemper... cases are becoming rarer but because it is still out there and such a nasty disease, we still vaccinate for it.
  12. The kd is very good... the research is very strong on it. My friends dog did really well on it for 2 years after diagnosis. Royal canin also have a renal diet too.
  13. Good luck with the specialist. One thing I'd also check is whether to do a chest x-ray to make sure it hasn't spread .... If he wasn't fit for surgery ... in ferrets where adrenal disease is very common they have been using suprelorin implants (normally used to temporarily sterilize male dogs). It doesn't stop the tumors from growing - but it makes the ferret a lot more comfortable symptoms wise.
  14. as above... goat is quite cheap and can be found in butchers + potato and check with vet if you need to add an oil/vitamins. Needs to be for 6 weeks. NO other food at all.
  15. Due to this pups young age.. I recommend consulting a dermatologist. Dogs grow into their allergies so this could potentially get more severe and I was having similar issues with my pup at a young age. He started seeing the derm at 6 months and I hate to think how uncontrolled his skin would have been had I left it longer. He is atopic so he has a deformed skin barrier - he is allergic to grass but not allergic enough to vaccinate against them. He also developed food allergies later to pork and beef - chicken has been safe for him. He does well on z/d as his main diet but the dermatologists prefer to do their own elimination diet it just ended up being what works well for him and me.
  16. It's true they can develop a sensitivity too it and I have only seen it in a couple of dogs. It is a fairly safe drug in that the risk of side effects is less the 1% and usually the side effects you see are lethargy or vomiting after the injection. I think the benefits are great as it helps so many dogs with arthritis and delays the use of medications which have much greater side effects. The important thing is to always monitor after giving any medication so you can act quickly should there be a reaction.
  17. It's the main component of my dogs diet now ... he does very well on it. It allowed me to work out what he's allergic too (beef and pork) but he's remained on it as he thrives on it and I haven't found another food I really like that doesn't include pork fat or beef. It's only since switching to the z/d that I've actually been able to get condition onto him and he doesn't suffer vomiting or diarrhea. I would suggest seeking a dermatologists advice - they actually prefer to do their own elimination diets that aren't commercial. I already did that route and my dog developed food allergies later on! The cost of home making the allergy diet they wanted me to feed was a lot higher than z/d.
  18. These are questions best directed to a vet who does behaviour work - from reading your other post it sounds like this behaviour is anxiety based. There are many drugs available that help with this and all are different in their mode of action and safety. I highly recommend a consult with a vet that does this work frequently. The one in VIC that my clinic uses creates really good notes of the plan to improve behaviour with training and then another hand out on drugs that they use whilst doing the behaviour modification (and these are really indepth and include possible side effects to watch out for). Careful use of drugs for these dogs I find is highly successful coupled with the training and then often we are successful at weaning the dog off drugs - though some do stay on them. Behaviour work really isn't a one size fits all approach and it can take some fiddling to find the right dose or even type of drug. Cost wise initially it is expensive but most of the drugs I've seen used are fairly cheap long term. Monitoring of blood is a good idea if on drugs long term but this isn't that expensive either.
  19. No it comes in a tub and you can put whatever medications you like in it. It's made up for the patient so sometimes its beef based sometimes chicken etc. Another option if they are long term medications sometimes its possible to get them to be compounded into a tasty paste as well. Ask your vet as many have a compounding pharmacy they use - if they don't see if they are happy to write a script so that you can contact them and get meds made that way. Another option for some meds is a paste that you rub on the ears and it absorbs that way - it just depends what the meds are to what they can do.
  20. Big dog or small? I like the buster pill poppers for small dogs - they are actually for cats I think but you can suck water up them and then pop the pill on the end so the bit of water helps the pill go down. For any larger than cat size dog I prefer to not use one at all. I just give food, open mouth shove it down, immediately follow with another tasty treat. Another thing my clinic can get made up for difficult till dogs is 'doggy dough'.. our compounding pharmacy makes it up according to their needs and most go nuts for it.
  21. My boy is allergic to pork and beef. Interestingly his initial diet food trial was pork and potato but overtime he has developed an allergy to it. Pigs ears as well gave me the first clue, but they are also very high in fat so it could be that too that is causing issues with your dog. I've tried lots of foods (I have since found most manufacturers use pork fat so that explains why most cause issues) he does very well on hills z/d now.
  22. Is she actually on flea prevention? If not do it as you need to be 100% to rule it out. The other reason I've seen distress in that spot is from anal glands. If she is that distressed she sounds like a visit to the vet would help as they can give her something to relieve the itch.
  23. There is a genetic component. Most of the dogs I see that do it are overweight too so keeping your dog as lean as possible will help. Apart from that you can't really avoid it as such - sometimes illnesses can also cause the ligament to degrade. Fortunately I've seen many many successful surgeries to repair it so it's not one I'm hugely worried about. As long as surgery is done relatively quickly otherwise the joint can become quite damaged and also puts a lot of strain on the other leg. Yes it'll be $$ but outcome is generally good.
  24. I strongly urge you to push for referral - it will give you the clearest option on where to go from here. I go to MVSC and see either Greg Burton or David Robson. My dog has been so stable now though he hasn't gone there for ages as I have a clear plan of what to do when he does have a flare up my normal vet can take care of any issues. My boy can't have pred too due to the stomach upset too. He went on to atopica but developed a allergy to gelatin (beef/pork products), fortunately they make a feline version which is just the liquid so he has been on that and been stable ever since the switch. The most common side effect is vomiting or diarrhea. It is a immune suppressant (but so is pred) and also can cause lumps - my dermatologist tells me though in dogs it is very well tolerated and initially they were doing blood tests every 6 months but now have relaxed as its not as bad as they thought. In my boys case I still do blood tests at least yearly just to be sure and his last one one was fine and he has been on the drug since 12 months and is now almost 4 years of age. Atopica isn't the only other drug option available now though so be sure to get the referral to discuss different options - working in the industry I haven't heard of anyone unhappy they have gone to see one as they do lay out really clear treatment options and their reasoning behind it sometimes its good to get the extra input.
  25. Sometimes you get lucky and the test can give you results to do an allergy vaccine.. my dog not so. He has only stabilized since being placed on atopica. It's not cheap medication but returned his quality of life and he doesn't even look like a skin dog anymore. I would suggest seeking a dermatologists advice. Normal vets can do skin work ups but a specialist does this all the time and I found once I started seeing on the diagnosis and then treatment plan was clear. From being a regular visitor to the vet my boy now only goes every 6 months to get a repeat for his meds.
×
×
  • Create New...