SchnauzerMax

1 hour ago, Deeds said:

my pepper and salt Giant Schnauzers had different temperaments to the blacks.

Same for standards. Pepper and salt are quite different to the blacks. 

Do you think that the claim of 6 litters in 23 months by one bitch might have originated with sloppy record keeping by the “breeders”?

From the little I have seen, they don’t seem to have given 2 ****s about anything - food, shelter, anything. So I can easily imagine the breeding records must be lacking veracity. I wonder if trying to disprove that claim would open them up to even more charges.

Even so, I can’t get my head around 3 years of hell for those dogs.

The problem with putting bags of poo into newly emptied bins is that any subsequent rubbish tends to squash those bags, they split and the bin ends up with dog poo smeared all over the bin bottom.  The smell in summer is horrendous. And the flies! 

And funded by a pro vegan organisation.

Experimental design is a survey - what does your dog primarily eat?

Lots of confounding factors. 

So, maybe the results aren’t as rigorous as the title of the article would lead us to think?

Welcome to the Foster Fail Club Albert! 

Kazam,

the heartworm injection is a version of the drug engineered to stay in the body for about 12 months after injection, which is precisely the reason I don’t / will not use it for any of my dogs. You can’t remove it. Once the dog has had the injection, you have to wait for the drug to be eliminated by the body over the 12 months. 

I hope Molly is feeling better and back to normal soon.

Wolfie eats Lyka for dinner. He refuses to eat the fish version but any of the other varieties are good. 

Breakfast is Prime100 roll. Seems to work for him.

Our foster dog Maggie doesn’t like the chunky textured varieties so she sticks with Royal Canin soft pouches (she’s only 8kg) for dinner and has Prime100 roll for breakfast. Seems to work for her.

Different strokes for different folks 

I think it is a lot of things in combination - increase in dog ownership, using harnesses instead of collars and leads (you might as well hook up a sled and get them to pull something), more dog owners not really knowing what they are doing and choosing inappropriate breeds, etc.  Most of the lockdown times, you could still walk your dog and get about but people who got a dog for companionship during those times most likely would not have got a dog in normal times and probably didn’t even give a thought to training it.

My biggest worry would be the move. Elderly dogs (and people for that matter) don’t “do change” very well.

I have seen quite a few older people, seemingly coping very well in their familar environment, just straight out decline in new, unfamiliar surrounds. I have observed similar patterns with elderly dogs - ours, friends and family. The anxiety that change provokes can be awful, both for the dog and family. If your darling boy is coming with you, you will have to be proactive in getting him familar with the new place and its smells. I wish you luck, in the end you have to consider what is best for him.

2 hours ago, tdierikx said:

Considering nearly all of the pet insurance covers are underwritten by Hollards, there really isn't that much difference between them... and most are not great value for money at all.

 

T.

Insurance is never good value for money. You are essentially paying an amount each year, so that if your pet has a catastrophic illness / accident you can recoup *some* of the cost of treatment. 

You really don’t want the best financial outcome / value for money because that implies your pet is having major, major health problems and interventions.

And putting $xxx a week into a savings account won’t go any where near covering it for those extreme situations.

No Medicare for animals

6 hours ago, Diva said:

One report I read quoted the man attacked, and said the dog ‘was responding to an argument in the house’. He was also referred to as the dog’s owner in that report. To do that severe an attack after 8 years in the same family to family members makes me think there is a long back story we will never hear. 

And they used a cigarette lighter and boiling water to get it away from them … I am sure that there is much more to the story and yes, we will never hear it.

So sorry. Hoover was such a special boy. 

According to the GoFundme page linked from the VSOS Facebook page, Indi suffered 3 heart attacks and has passed away.

2 hours ago, Powerlegs said:

Parvo and leptospirosis seem to go through peaks. Especially this time of year. Rain, warmth, flies, rats. Best call is your vet to see if it's in your area right now or if they recommend waiting until the 2nd vacc. Popping in the car for a drive is a good idea too. There are raised seats that help them see out the windows. And training them to step into a harness is handy for the future. 

 

I don't walk pups for the same distance as mature dogs who have finished growing.  

And if you are in the inner suburbs, talk to your vet about lepto vaccination. It is spread by rats and can be more of a problem in the inner suburbs than parvo. 

There are ways around having someone come to read the meter.

Jemena Gas (gas wholesaler) have an app where you take a picture of the meter and enter the reading. Person in the office verifies it and no-one has to come to your place. I’ve changed gas retailers and the app works like a charm. 

Electricity retailers offered a few years ago to upgrade the meter for free to a fancy new “phone home” meter. It automatically updates the readings every day over wireless (?) and no-one comes to your place unless it malfunctions.

All this doesn’t help the poor guy though. 

46 minutes ago, Loving my Oldies said:

You are missing the point.  These sorts of people consider it a badge of honour to have an aggressive dog and, bugger anyone else, they will take it where they want to.  The person has obviously managed to get away with it for a while as the Council apparently does nothing.  And I doubt anything will happen this time.  Hope I am proved wrong.   

 

Denial is a powerful thing. 

Also councils like multiple complainants because it proves a pattern of behaviour that they can then act upon. 

On 11/10/2022 at 8:03 AM, Little Gifts said:

I have an almost 15 year old and this year she needed the steroid Prednisole. She developed every single side effect in the book and it was awful for her and us but please hear what everyone is saying - this is a drug that needs to be tapered off. You cannot just stop it. I don't know the technical reason why but there is a good reason. So please continue the doses as prescribed but you can also call your vet for their professional advice on how to manage the affects on your dog.

When you give steroids (cortisone or prednisone or whatever) for more than a few days, the body stops producing its own. So stopping abruptly causes a crisis due to insufficiency. The effects of this are really unpleasant and depending on the daily dose can be life threatening.

3 hours ago, Diva said:

Yep it is perverse to limit the age of the male. In breeds where the common diseases aren’t testable, using older healthy studs is one approach to help safeguard the health of the breed. If the boys make it to a decent age without health issues they are better prospects. And it’s not like breeding them over 6 does them any harm. Making it illegal defies logic.  

Um,  not quite true. The older either of the parents are, the more genetic defects. In humans, the older the father the more likely the child will develop schizophrenia or other mental heath issues and the older the mother, the greater probability of Downs Syndrome or other genetic defects. The bottom line is younger eggs and sperm are generally healthier. If you want to cover your bets, you collect from the dog when it is young and then wait to see how it turns out. 

1 hour ago, Dogsfevr said:

I would first research what restrictions the retirement villages currently have on sizes etc etc in the area .
We have had to help rehome 2 dogs this year as they didnt meet the village rules or set up .
Before anyone says Crap owners these 2 homes where amazing owners & they needed to go into a suitable retirement set up for there future ,the ones they could enjoy living at had dog size restrictions & serious barking rules .The owners did the right thing even though it broke there hearts & the dogs had to go through significant change .
I will say both owners said they wished they thought about retirement home restrictions earlier .
So keep in mind if planning to take everywhere it may not do well when left alone .
I would say once you have an idea off potential restrictions then look at what will suit the criteria 

 

Some retirement villages have a blanket ban on pets, not even a goldfish is allowed. 

I think you need to see a vet.

We didn’t recognise that Max was going blind until he walked into a pole and almost knocked himself out, because he could navigate in a familiar environment.

If the loss is gradual, they compensate in familiar environments until suddenly they can’t. 

How is Jodie’s eyesight ? 

My Max is blind and has panic attacks when he encounters things that shouldn’t be where he encounters them. Massive, full on freak out like you are describing with Jodie.

 Wish they could talk. 

5 hours ago, Deeds said:

Anyone who buys one of those dogs will be spending a fortune on the dogs at local & Specialist Veterinary Clinics.

Maybe not. There’s enough crosses in there to make it a very expensive, bone fide mongrel. 

1 hour ago, Deeds said:

I live about 5 kilometres from Sydney.  I go to a large busy Vet Practice.  My Vet had never heard of Galliprant.  From what I read in overseas articles it had good results for dogs.  I was disappointed my Vet had never heard of it.

It’s very brand new. It’s been available in Australia for less than 6 months according to my vet.