Koemi

I definitely think you did the right thing too, I remember when I was a lot less experienced and first moved out of home, I wanted to either get a kelpie or a beagle. Bloody hell, even though I work with animals I still would not get either breed! They don't suit what I want in a dog (well, a kelpie does, but I don't have the room, baww) and I had never actually owned a dog at that point. Now I own two, I am still learning every day and would not even get a breed like a mallie as my next dog, as I feel I won't know enough even then. And the coat! Her parents would have been driven mad!

Wow, this is such a good idea! I'd love to do this with Tucker but I don't know if his stocky little legs could handle it... I might give it a go. So it's 40km if you're riding, but 20 if you're jogging? Jogging for 20km?! *dies* We have a lovely oval right near the house that I can use.. hmm... I wouldn't want to enter a comp or anything though :D (and I don't think he could, being a crossbreed)

Excellent, thank you ellz :rolleyes:

Wow The Coles food isn't anywhere near as bad as I expected it to be! I am currently feeding my boy Royal Canin (I get it cheap from work, but can only get it if there's minimal customer demand for it) and my girl Innova (and am switching as soon as the bag runs out, because it's not making any difference in her condition, grrr). Do they make a senior food as well, or can I feed the 5 and 9 year old the same food?

Both of my dogs are the same, they have zero interest in toys. We were at the park the other day and found a tennis ball on the ground, I threw it for the random lab running around and almost had a heart attack when Tucker went after it and grabbed it in his mouth! When he saw how excited I was, he immediately dropped it and came running back. I dunnae if it has anything to do with them both being pound dogs and perhaps in their past lives neither of them were allowed toys, or were punished for chewing or showing interest in objects... it's sad because I especially would love Tucker to learn to chase a ball, it would give him some great exercise!

It depends on the coat of the dog. Some long haired dogs that aren't meant to be shaved (goldies, borders, shelties etc) do grow back the same the first few times, but others don't. I once had to shave a Keeshond and the lady came back a couple of months later yelling at me, saying the coat hadn't grown back yet (and despite me originally trying to talk her out of it, she insisted I shave it in the first place...). I do believe it is wrong that they did not at least call you when they found the matts. However, that being said, if I had a dollar for every owner who said they brushed their dog at least once a week and washed it, and came in with dogs FULL of matts, knotts and burrs EVERY TIME their dog was in for a groom, I'd have a lot of dollars! Some of it is due to ignorance and some of it is due to the fact that people think they always know best for their dog (not saying this is necessarily what happened with you, OP ). There are two things I can think of that lead to the misunderstanding. One, we have had a couple of dogs come in through summer for their yearly shave who usually get done by a mobile. I used to have a mobile so this is not a dig, but the truth is many mobiles have no prior experience and do not do a thorough and/or good job. There are a handful that are excellent, but on the whole? No. So perhaps your dog was matted and your mobile wasn't aware of it, either due to ignorance or lack of understanding what she or he was meant to be doing. The second being the 'trim'. Many times at the salon I work at, people come in asking for a trim, and actually mean a shave. If they are regulars, we know what they mean, but if not, we sit down and talk to them about what they want, and a lot of the time they mean something very different than what they ask for! How old is Simba? And did they show you evidence of the matts in the coat? (I always, always save some of the bigger matts to show the clients, since a lot of them go off the deep end when they don't get exactly what they want and accuse me of being a liar :rolleyes: )

Tucker gets mostly bones, a small bit of kibble (which he doesn't really like but I'm worried about him missing trace elements and vitamins etc since I'm new to this whole meat diet) and some offal. He had his first lamb heart for dinner tonight and LOVED it. Unfortunately he tried to thank me with disgusting heart kisses. Bambi gets fed My Dog canned (I mix her arthritis powder in with it) and some kibble, which I'm very slowly weaning her off. She's a very fussy little dog and will rather go hungry than eat, and half the time she eats she vomits (but re-ate her meds this morning before I could get to the vomit LOL). I don't think she'll ever eat bones, but she's slowly showing more interest in chicken necks. Won't eat Vets All Natural.

Thank you for your kind words and advice. She has been given a metacam injection, which has helped a LOT. She's now back to climbing the couch so she can sleep on the top like a cat (she's so funny, half cat half dog). I'll go and pick up some fish oil capsules from the chemist tomorrow, unless there is a certain type I should be getting for dogs..? I have no idea when it comes to things like this, Tucker is as solid as a rock, apart from a couple of unrepeated issues. ArtyFarty: we don't have any plants in our backyard apart from some bushes/trees that she has no interest in eating at all. When we walk, we walk side by side and she does nothing apart from the occasional sniff (she's very people focused, her last owner was a dog hoarder so she mustn't have received much attention). If I let her off lead she leaps onto my lap and doesn't move, so I don't know where she could be finding anything dodgy to eat! It could be cleaning products, I'll have a poke around and see what we're using... Kelly_Louise: Is Sasha's Blend like shark cartilage? I've read that ground up shark is good for arthritis, but if this is something different, it's worth a try anyway. When it comes to going to the toilet she's not very reliable. She doesn't exactly dribble all over the house but will run and hide under a piece of furniture/tree etc and do a tiny amount of business before running away and going somewhere else. I don't know if that's because she was abused for toileting inside or if she has some type of incontinence! It's so hard when you don't know the dog's previous medical history and something goes wrong. She drinks a LOT of water but doesn't seem to urinate so much. Although I could be saying that because my other dog is a boy and I'm used to him whizzing on anything new. I've temporarily put her on Innova (vet recommendation, sigh, I feel like I've sold my soul) since she won't eat raw and so far she hasn't thrown up tonight! So another question - is there an equivalent to Innova that doesn't come from PP that I can use? Preferably one I can order online since I don't have a car at the moment? It's sooo expensive ($40 a bag aahhhh) but at least she'll eat it. Sigh. It needs to be a food that caters specifically to seniors. I don't mind how much the food costs, as long as it's not like, $100 a kilo. I gotta eat too!

About a month ago, I purchased my second dog from a shelter. Her name is Bambi and she means the world to me. When I got her, she came with a clean bill of health apart from possible luxating patella. She was meant to be 5 years old. Since I brought her home, her condition has spiraled. She has gone from being a happy, perky toy sized dog (we think pap x chi but honestly have no idea), to a dog with constantly weeping eyes, incontinence, throwing up, no energy, losing hair. My wonderful housemates took her to the vet for me today, since I was working (I work sooo much ) and the vet suspects she has spondylosis (possibly spelt incorrectly). She has blocked eye glands (I think.. there's a more fancy term for this..) which aren't healing with drops, constantly blocked anal glands, and the vet hasn't found any reason for her coat loss and vomiting. I am scared to death about what to do. Over the next week or so, once I get the money out of my savings, I'm taking her for an x-ray for her spine, and a blood test to try and determine why she keeps voming. Her coat condition has gone to hell too. When I got her home I kept her on the Science Diet the shelter was feeding her, but have gradually tried to change her food. I've now put her back on the SD, but I don't even know what type to feed her anymore since she's supposedly 5 but the vet said she's 8 or 9 and my work mates think the same (as do I). ARGH!! I'm scared of trying to add anything to her diet such as suppliments to help with the arthritis in case the diagnosis was either incorrect (but seems pretty spot on), or it makes her vomiting worse. Has anyone had any experience with any of the above or just have some general advice for me? I am so worried for my poor little girl. Here's a pic of her before she started going downhill.

Oh, awesome nicestman77, thank you so much for the offer! I'll definitely send them to you, the sharpener I was talking to wanted me to send him my (brand new) clipper and reshape it so maybe the blades would fit! rovaround I'm so glad I'm not the only one having a problem!!! I was almost crying at work on Saturday after throwing one of my best blades into the sharpening bin AGAIN. It drives me nuts!

Hi everyone, just wondering if I'm the only one having trouble with the new Oster blades? I've found they don't cut anywhere near as well as the old series and some of them don't fit my clipper properly. I'm using a baby pink Wahl KM2 (adding colour because it feels different to the standard black ones and might be slightly different in make). What do the rest of you use and recommend? Is there somewhere I can buy the older Oster blades from? Or should I go with a different brand all together? Thanks!

1) What Dry Food do you use? Advance Dental & Royal Canin Sensible 2) How long does that last you? Probably a little under a month for each bag, since I supplement with raw. 3) Do you buy more than 1 bag at a time? Nope. 4) What is the size of each bag and its cost? I get RC at wholesale, and a 1.5kg (I think? Small bag) bag of Advance Dental small & medium breed is $18 from my vet.

Is the Royal Canin dental range only available at vets? We stock RC at work, but I've never seen the dental versions and I was told (perhaps incorrectly) that the sensitive stomach range was only available for vets. I had no idea RC even made dental food! My dog hates Science Diet dental and won't touch it, he dislikes the taste and the kibble is far too big for him. My new dog won't eat bones (or anything at the moment hopefully that will change when she settles in) so I'm curious as to what to feed in terms of kibble too.

I was going to suggest trying Vets All Natural, but it looks like you've found a solution already

Something I'd watch out for at this time of year is whether the groomer is going to keep you on or not. I know the salon I work at has a couple of extra bathers for the summer because we get SO busy, but because they both go to uni full time they're perfectly fine with one shift a week during the quiet times (winter). Try www.jobsearch.gov.au and http://www.piaa.net.au/page/jobs__training.html if you can't find any jobs on the main DOL website. Good luck! Oh, and when you do get a job, invest in some barrier cream. Your hands will thank you.