mokhahouse

I use Cal Nat chicken and rice and it is the only food that my choc lab has done well on. He has several food intolerance that we have determined and since putting him on cali nat have not looked back. His coat and skin is vastly improved, no more diarrhea and vomiting,gas is gone. I highly recommend this food.

Kongs.Nylabones and a Cuz are the only thing my two labs don't destroy in five minutes.

I got a growth chart in the puppy pack I received from my vet on my first puppy check up visit. Ask your vet next time your in there if they have them. I have been recording Mokhas weight and it helps to see he is following his expected weight gain for his age, breed etc.

Mokha has always been fond of a snail snack. I just hate the sound of them crunching. They also upset his stomach if he eats too many . When the snails are out we lock him inside as much as possible. I also worry that someone might put down bait but since we have dogs on all sides of our house I would hope none of the neighbors would be baiting snails.

I noticed you are in the SE as am I. My orthopedic specialist is at the Animal Surgery Centre Dr Chris Preston. I have found him to be absolutely fantastic and very thorough. He explains everything in detail. He is in Mt Waverley in Ricketts Road.Just thought I would let you know of him should you require another opinion at all. I hope all goes well and your pup recovers nicely.

Thanks for the pro pac and artemis ideas. I had a look at the ingredients and checked them against Mokha known allergies and I think Artemis may definitely be an option once he is over a year old. He is a 9 month old lab so I have to watch his calcium intake I believe. I am going to find a local supplier and convert my other lab and see how she does and if all ok I will give it a go on Mokha once he is over his surgeries. I will know very quickly if it is not ok. He reacts hard and fast. At least I can buy this with a clear conscience and if it works great if not at least I tried. Thanks very much for letting me know about the PP and PGDirect link.

I am shocked. I had no idea. Can you believe I stood in a Pets Good direct and bagged PP about how stale the food always was and she did not blink and eye. I feel like an idiot. Now what do I do. The only kibble that Mokha has been able to tolerate is Cal Nat as it has limited ingredients. He has so many allergies and I don't have the knowledge at this stage to go all raw.Does anyone know of a food that has only chicken,rice and no other grains or proteins. Help! I have been completely fooled.

So how do you know that Pet goods direct is actually the same as pp I am interested because I buy food there.

I have two labs one barks occasionally and the other a little more. My 9 months old male will bark for a bit when he is locked out of the house which is not very often or if something frightens him. My 16 month old female will bark to alert us to something going on but compared to the terriers and lab in the neighbours houses mine are very quiet. However I work from home so they are not alone a lot, are exercised every day and obedience trained. If you have your heart set on a lab try a labrescue group who may be able to find an older lab that they will know is not a barker. I would definitely not aquire any dog though unless you have permission from the other residents.It is not fair on a dog to have to be rehomed twice.

Mokha is 8 months old chocolate labrador and weighs 23.2 kg. This all started in January when his Pennhip scores came back as .64 and .57. The vet referred us to the specialist who said he would be a good candidate for TPO as no arthritic changes were evident. When he examined him he felt the hips felt quite good considering his scores. He elected to wait and review in 6 weeks. During this time Mokha went lame of the right front leg, xrays were done and the vet was concerned about what he saw in the xrays but we would be seeing the ortho in a couple of weeks so just rest was advised. One week later Mokhas left front leg was the problem with severe limping. Saw the ortho again and the said he would like to do athro on both elbows.I He also could feel the grinding grating feeling, sorry cant remember what he called it in both elbows. As you can probably tell this is all new to me.He did not want to do it straight away. He said timing was important so that he could definitely remove any chipped away pieces of cartilage. He also mentioned the possibility of doing one hip and the elbow/elbows at the same time. He is not sure at this point if he thinks Mokha will need the TPO but I expect that at our visit in 10 days the decision will be made. Then last weekend Mokha was unsupervised for five minutes he jumped up and managed to get his left paw caught in the fork of a tree in the yard. He was hanging by this leg,his worst elbow by the way. We took him to the vet as he could not put weight on it but she felt the wrist was fine but the elbow/shoulder area was very tender. She prescribed anti inflammation medicine that seems to have helped. She prefers to let my ortho make any decisions. Sorry this is so long but he is a complicated little guy who also have food and environmental allergies but is a wonderful patient. This is one reason the ortho has been seeing him regularly and checking him before making a decision as he just lies there and lets him do whatever. He has a beautiful temperament. We love him so much and just want to do what is best for him.Could you tell me what hip denervation is,I have not heard of this. I want to be prepared for what I am in for if he does have the TPO on both hips or the worst hip done and elbows.Any advice is welcome. By the way my other lab is the picture of good health.I would be really interested to know what supplements you are using and in what quantity. Obviously I would have to alter the quantity for a smaller dog.

My ortho vet has suggested at our last visit that Mokha may be a good candidate for a TPO. Since this initial visit Mokha showed significant lameness in his front legs and has been diagnosed with ED. He will definitely be having surgery on his elbows as he has continued to deteriorate. At the moment his hips seem to be going along ok but it can be hard to know. We see the ortho in about 10 days and I expect he will be making his decision on what he wants to do with Mokha then. I am very much in two minds about the TPO because it does seem to be major surgery and a long recovery. Has anybody had this surgery and if it was a while ago how has your dog been since. I would really love to know what the recovery is like and whether the benefit is worth the pain and extended confinement to a crate. I would appreciate any opinions as I have lost so much sleep over this and I really want to make as informed a decision as I can.

Do you think that just maybe they stock what they believe works. That's how we work, we use and stock the products that do what we want them to do, products that we have good results with. I would like to believe that my vet does stock what they believe is a good product. I do have great faith in my vet, she is great.I just wondered when your vet works in a situation where there is several vets working from the same clinic that they might not have a choice in what they recommend. Thanks Rappie for your explanation of a better way to clean the ears. I will definitely try this way as I am sure it is pouring the solution in the ear that Molly hates. Both my dogs have had yeast infections, Mokha possibly from the swimming and Molly had a grass seed in her ear.

Oh no, should I put my credit card in the freezer now.

I have never heard of this condition before. Does anyone know if it is common to any other breeds.

Thanks for the suggestions. You have been very helpful. I actually have only just ordered my first purchase online so I am a bit of a novice. I never thought of buying this sort of thing online. I will see how I go . Thanks for the responses.

Sorry if I have been confusing. I have Dermotic to clear up the yeast infection but my vet wants me to clean the ears with Epiotic every time they swim and weekly if they are not swimming. Now you are supposed to squirt it down the ear I believe and then I wipe with a cotton wool ball but they seem to shake most of it all over me. While initially I wonder that it is drowning the ear I dont think much stays in but if it has alcohol I would think weekly or twice weekly use would be drying and irritating. Any opinions on this. Seems to me the vets just recommend whatever brand they stock which does not mean it is the best. For example my vet said feed Science Diet to my very grain intolerant dog. Would she have recommended this if her clinic stocked something else?

Thanks for your suggestions. I will probably use the rest of my epiotic and give one of your suggestions a try because I really hate the smell of it. I would prefer not to have alcohol in my ear cleaner as I would think this is very dryng.

We were quoted 6000 for the TPO on both hips and haven't been quoted on the elbows yet. At first we just thought he had the hip problem but unfortunately the elbow issues showed up. We are probably going to have arthroscopic surgery on both elbows and one hip done all at once. I think this is what they suggested but quite honestly I have found all this so overwhelming. Initially we thought OK bad hips deal with that, but when the elbows went bad I just though this is too much. I am worried about after care from surgery as we have two dogs and will have to keep them seperated. We have bought a new crate big enough for Mokha to stretch out in and see the ortho in two weeks. All I can say is thank goodness I have pet insurance. I just hope they pay up. Still have to find the cash in the first place. Mokha penn hip scores showed he was in the worst 20% of Labradors tested. Even though his hips at this moment aren't giving him to much trouble. His ortho is hoping that perhaps the hips will be ok with conservative treatment but we see him every 6 weeks to keep track of Mokhas progress. I would love to not have to put him through that operation but I know dogs who have had it and it has been very successful. Don't know what to do. I really feel for you and hope that whatever you decide to do you can be satisfied that you did the right thing for your dog. Only you can decide what that is.

I was just reading on another thread and some mentioned this ear cleaner and that it is no good. My vet has me use it on both my dogs who have both had yeast infection in the ear recently. If this is no good can you please recommend an alternative. My dogs are labs and love to swim so I do want to keep their ears clean and dry.

You could try to use boy jocks with the front opening to put the tail through to hold absorbent pads in place.

My dog Mokha as several allergies including to floor cleaners, some grains, some proteins(lamb, beef, fish).I feed a combination of raw and kibble. Thankfully he can tolerate chicken and turkey. We have found this by food elimination and reintroduction of suspected problem foods. He reacts very quickly so it doesnt take long to work out. We feed raw chicken necks, chicken breast,California Natural Chicken and Rice kibble made by Natura in the US. It is all natural preservatives too.It is a single protein and grain being chicken and rice and it is the only kibble Mokha can eat. We also give Mokha pureed apple and carrot and pumpkin if his gets runny poo. On any other diet he just bites and itches and his fur falls out and it is very severe and fast. We realized the floor cleaner issue when I briefly changed from an all natural cleaner to handy andy . I could not get the usual cleaner and as there was no diet changes at this time and he started scratching that day I changed back. I did not realize until I had used the floor cleaner for a couple of weeks and put two and two together. Seeing a dermatologist is a great idea otherwise it is so hard to work out what the real problems are. Tests can be done for allergies too. I wish you luck in tracing what is setting your dog off because an itchy dog is definitely not a happy dog.