Everythings Shiny

I had to have my bird PTS three weeks ago when he developed a nasty cancer. I only had to pay for the cremation as my boss put my beautiful baby to sleep, but even with staff discount from the cremation place, I am still up for $220ish dollars. Luckily I can pay it off :)

RIP Atlas *Hugs* Teebs.

RIP Penny *hugs* Esky

My vet advised no joint supplements in a sound dog unless there is a specific joint problem I sometimes wonder about the future of our current young dogs with all the premium foods and supplements we feed, maybe it will come nback and bite us on the bottom!! Edited to addI omitted no joint supplements under 5 years of age according to vet Yep, our clinic is much the same. Esp with dogs at risk of joint issues, they get a full work up before advising to feed suppliments. We generally try to discourage use of them in dogs unless needed.

Fav breed: Working breeds (ie kelpie etc) - I love their intellgience and their agility. Least favourite: spoilt brat little dogs who bite!

Before I started working for my vet, he came out to our property and treated my heifer calf that broke her leg, he was very gentle with her and won us over immediately. After that another vet in the practice euthanised my old kelpie who went into heart failure at the age of 19. I was only 16 at the time and I was completely heartbroken. The vet talked my through our options and treated me like an adult about the whole situation, which was fantastic for me as she was entirely my little dog. Another vet in the same practice helped me save my beloved Abby, my little mini pony who had a very bad accident at two days of age. He did everything for her and only charged me for materials as he couldn't guarantee it would work (she had very bad damage to her front leg). He spent a lot of time on her and constantly checked in with me on how she was going. This sort of compassion is what I try to encourage clients to find. Once they find that clinic or even that vet that they click with, they generally find the right fit for them, they may need to try a few different vets, but they should find one that suits :)

We're a little hesitant to give JG or Pernaese at young ages. I know there are some studies happening now to see what affect long term use has on organs etc.

We have lots of patients on Catrophen and a majority of them benefit from it greatly. Depending on size of the dog injection price varies from $25-$45. First appointment there is usually a consultation fee as the vet will do a health check etc before hand. After that it's just the injection fee. Some vets will also sell the bottle or the course of injections to you if you tell them that it's difficult for you to get into the clinic to complete the course. Fish oil in the diet can help alot too.

With Heartworms, we'd recommend using the Proheart injection and then testing in a couple of months as the heartworm from missing a couple of doses aren't mature enough to be picked up by the blood test. Proheart has a three month reach back period so it is fairly safe in that respect. Occassionally we'll do a blood test now and then again in three months for owners peace of mind. Other heartworm medications can be deadly if they do have a high heartworm burden. Hope this helps :)

Peaches - if it's the vet I'm thinking of that you had the issue with he is no longer a part of the business.

Very common these days unfortunately

Maitland has a few vets. There's Greencross Maitland/Rutherford (2 clinics), Greenhills Vet, Holmes at East Maitland. There is also a mobile vet at Maitland as well. I work for one clinic (I'm not saying which one as I don't want to Bias anyone). You've also got Newcastle Animal Emergency Centre for after hours stuff, which is something a lot of vets are using in conjunction with their own on call services (ie for intensive care situations). Cessnock vet's - most of their vets are nice. I've worked with a few of them from when I worked at the animal shelter at Kurri.

Been using Comfortis for AGES. Elanco who owns Comfortis told us in a training session that they believe Comfortis to be safe all round, but haven't spent the $$$ to do the clinical trials to prove that its completely safe for entire males. The test study they did had a mixed group of subjects.

I'm a vet nurse if thats any use for you???

Hmmm, if my mum was around when something happens to me, I know she'd sort out what needs to happen with my guys. I'd hope she'd keep my Bailey and Abby though as I'd hate for anything to happen to them. My dogs would most likely meet me at the bridge. My oldest horse would most likely go back to my friend whom I got him from. My birds I'd hope would either be rehomed within my immediate family or with my Galah's go to a wildlife park or sanctuary.

Poor Cookie. K9Angel - you've done an amazing job with Cookie, I'm sorry the outcome wasn't brighter And people question me on why I prefer animals to humans.

My kelpie is Serenity-Jayne. She was a rescue from our pound and the name stuck. I have shortened it to Rini but thats just me :)

You could also use a tick collar. A lot of our farmer clients are using them and advocate to treat for everything.

F11 - they would be if the owners of the parents told them. I've seen it happen before.

Maybe other related dogs have been involved in attacks too. Council is obligated to protect the community. For all we know, other dogs related to rocksteady have been involved in incidents as well and council maybe trying to cover their backsides. Or it could be a case of mistaken identity. Good luck!

Do a straw poll of men and what they think of poodles Dee Lee - I'm not pulling this stuff out of thin air. If you get more than 30% who fail to mention the words "girly" or "pouffy" in their description, then I'll eat my grooming table. :laugh: Want me to lay you odds the OP's friend's husband has never met a well trained, well bred poodle??? Me too! I swear almost every man who brings in their partners dog tells me the poodle is a pouffy girly dog.

What sort of papers does the mother have? Did you see the pedigree papers or did they tell you that they have "papers". The father is from a stud? He's a crossbred dog! I don't know of any "stud" who would be selling crossbred sires... Yes we have seen the papers for the mother.... As the parents owners are good friends of ours. He originally wanted to put the female over another bullmastiff, but his male dog got in first. And yes there are two studs in Queensland that breed bandogges. I know they can be a cross breed, if they are not bred properly, and I know ppl who just breed them with anything,. There are also several types of 'bandogge' although rocksteadys dad is classed as a Australian bandogge. Okay :) Thanks for clearing that up.

What sort of papers does the mother have? Did you see the pedigree papers or did they tell you that they have "papers". The father is from a stud? He's a crossbred dog! I don't know of any "stud" who would be selling crossbred sires...

We have to amputate lots of racing greyhound tails. We try healing them up first, but they get so excitable it just doesn't work.

I often use cage drying with older dog SWF's. Their cages are set up right next to the grooming table area so I'm constantly watching them. I don't however use it on stressy dogs nor do I use it in Summer. In summer, I use and ordinary fan as to not heat the dogs up but to put some air through the coats to dry them.