FD26

My staffordshire bull terrior puppy (12 weeks old) just had a bit of foam in his mouth. We came outside as we do every morning and about 10 minutes later he had foam coming out of his mouth, not coughing or anything, just making slurping noises trying to get rid of it...so I got the hose and a towel and washed it out. He seems fine now, the foam hasn't reformed and he's happily playing.

I can't think of anything that could have caused it except cane toads or bloat. I would have seen if he were after a cane toad as I'm out here with him so that's very unlikely, and his stomach seems fine.

I'm a bit concerned now though as I have to go to work in 45 minutes and I'm worried about leaving him if something is wrong.

We're not giving Joker (11 week old staffy) much dry food really, only in his kong with other things like stock etc. for lunch while we're not home. He's getting bones of some sort for brekky and raw barf (the pre-packaged stuff because we're time poor) for dinner.

But I can't figure out which dry food is best for him. I've heard Artemis and EP holistic are good? Does it make a difference for breed? For those of you who use them or others what is your reasoning behind it?

I'm also thinking of changing my cats' diets to raw at the moment, with some dry food as well, perhaps a different one (they're on science diet atm) so if anyone has any opinions on that I'd like to hear it, too?

Thanks.

Funnily enough, the blue colour on a Stafford looks pretty - add that to the advertising saying that they are "rare" (as rocks nowadays) - and the average person on the street will actually pay ridiculous amounts of money to have one...

Personally, I think a jet black Stafford is a thing of true beauty... *grin*

T.

Yep. Not at all bias but so do I.

Well some good news - hubby really is a lost cause so after more chatting with my friend she has decided to take things in hand. She was reluctant to do this as it would make hubby cross ("his" dog) but she thinks it is SO unfair on the poor pooch she will give hubby the finger and just take charge. She stayed overnight last night (we had a big party to go to) so this morning we went out with my two and gave her some training basics. She's now set off home to set things in train. Hubby is at work so much (he's working today) he might not even notice she's taken over until dog (miracleously) starts behaving beautifully.

I really do wonder about him - they were both here before we went out and he totally ignorned my two gorgeous dogs. What sort of dog person does that?

Ah, dear. That is so funny. We all love our dogs so much that we can't understand how anyone else could not also think they are gorgeous and want to interact with them. A friend of mine was over recently, and he is NOT a dog person and his body language and whole lack of interest in the dogs would make you think the dogs didn't even exist.

Maybe your dogs' fur colour didn't match his outfit

Meh. I'm not a "dog person" I just love my own pets When my OH and I got our first dog all of his family said "how is she coping, we know she's not a dog person" lol. It's the same way with children though, I love my son and the children of my family members and close friends, but I definitely don't gush over all children I see - quite the opposite. Some dogs I fall in love with, like my neighbour's bull arab, I could watch him in awe all day..but there are other dogs I would prefer not to even be near! It doesn't have anything to do with how I treat my own animals (who I am obviously in awe of or I wouldn't have picked!)

I'm glad your friend has decided to take charge, when I first read the thread I thought it was a bit strange that she could live in the house with a dog and just think "not my problem"..

UGH what a horrible situation. I too would be talking to the tenants union or whatever it's called (can't remember now) and trying to seek some sort of absolution of the lease. If you got your bond back in full would you be able to afford to move?

I too share the view that buying a pet should involve the same consideration when having a baby - only do it if you have the money. Fact is, veterinary bills come part and parcel with animals and certainly aren't 'luxuries' or 'extras', and people need to be prepared. There is really no excuse to be ignorant about that even if your viewpoints are a little different. A pet is a living, breathing, feeling thing that is under your duty of care as much as a child is. They depend on you and it is your responsibility to cater for their needs, which certainly aren't as 'extravagant' as a child's.

At the very least she put the poor young creature out of its misery rather than just leaving it to suffer.

?? So only have middle to high income offspring?

I don't think that's what she's saying at all. We're middle class now, but I used to be a single-parent student on a pension when I had my last 2 cats. Money was TIGHT, but I had my priorities straight. I knew that having pets could mean unexpected vet bills, and made sure I had plans in place for if that happened. Before I was able to do that I didn't consider having pets.

I have been in a situation where I had to relenquish my dog to the pound, which was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I was going through a divorce with an 8 month old baby in tow and had to beg and borrow to get plane tickets to get out of a situation where we were living on $100 a month - there was no way I could have forseen that when we adopted him (we found him on the road, actually..when he was a pup).

I know sometimes things become out of our control. But not 6 months after deciding to adopt a dog. And not when your situation hasn't changed (hers hasn't). And not when your pet has definitely eaten something and needs ONE surgery. We're not talking mysterious illnesses here.

If one of my lot was ill and the vet told me it would cost a large lump of money, I would have to seriously think about it for a while.

You cant blame a person for not being able to pay.

Its just a fact of life.

I know that if one of my lot got bitten by a snake I couldnt afford the anti-venom.

I know I would have to make the hard decisions.

Im lucky I have only really had one op with my three, I was lucky the vet understood I couldnt afford a lot so she charged me a minimal cost.

But in a situation where it was a big outlay of cash I would have to really think on it.

But why not have insurance then?

Easy to judge people BUT you dont now the facts .

Do you now what survival rate was given with the surgery??

Do you what condition the dog was in when at the vets??

Do you now what long term damage may be there & what the future may hold for the dog??

What did it eat that was there fault?

Im sorry but people say they will beg,borrow or what ever BUT i doubt everyone would without truly understanding the dogs situation at the time.

I would guarantee most people on DOL would have trouble putting money together like this,are they all bad owners??

Dogs should never be disposable BUT i can appropriate that everyone has there own limits & the fact these people took the dog to the vet doesnt exactly equate to being heartless.

After owning 2 dogs that we did everything for i have now decided there is a right thing & wrong thing & the dogs best interest comes first .

Also having a dog that ate something & no money spared & dying 2 days latter haemorrhaging to an awful death i would never judge anyone without the facts

No, I get that it doesn't always make sense. We've had to put a cat down because he had nuerological problems that we decided not to see a specialist for because it would have cost thousands and thousands and there was a high chance it was genetic and untreatable anyway. He was in absolute agony for weeks, and I stopped going to uni to nurse him, in the end it wasn't right to keep him alive looking for answers and the money did play on our minds, too, sure.

BUT this was $1400 down the track and the way her situation has come off is that this was it, a one off $1100 that could have been put on a payment plan and nothing more to it, that's what really bothers me. She's even said they can't afford insurance, and that's what $40 a month? It just really rubs me the wrong way. I've had to make hard choices with pets, but that to me isn't even a choice - not 6 months in when your situation hasn't changed anyway.

I feel incredibly sad for the poor puppy

But I don't know if I think it's right to judge the owners... We don't know them, their situation, or how they feel about this emotionally....

Personally I would do absolutely everything in my power to save my dogs. Who knows maybe they exhausted all their options before coming to this very sad decision too

I agree with Aussie3 I hope they don't "replace" the dog until they are better able to deal with the expense

Oh she was absolutely devo, don't get me wrong...they were very upset about it and I do feel for them because I know it can be a hard decision. But, at the end of the day it was their irresponsibility that got them there in the first place and it's hard to hold my tongue. I did say something to her, too about ensuring she had pet insurance next time, maye not very tactful, but I had to for my own sake.

Turns out it was with the RSPCA too, UGH just makes me madder! Think it's letter writing time.

The poor people are probably feeling like shit. Not everyone can afford the expense, and it may have been ongoing.

Have you got all the facts or are you just interpreting one comment? Not everyone has assets or friends and family to borrow from in the bank account was low.

Interpreting, but it seems pretty clear cut to me and she hadn't mentioned anything about it before. Fair enough not everyone has assets, but why get a pet if you can't afford to pay it's medical bills if something happens?? You wouldn't adopt a child with that logic..

Because things happen to people out of their control. Humans have help services and Government handouts. With animals they do not. I know I will never be in the position this person has been in due to strong family support.

Yea, but it's reasonable to say with a pet that something will at some stage happen out of your control which is why you plan for it by insuring your pet or having a contingency if needed. It just breaks my heart, for such a small amount, and turns out they could have done a payment plan if they'd paid half straight away! $550!!!!! That's just an insane amount to kill your pet over, in my opinion.

The poor people are probably feeling like shit. Not everyone can afford the expense, and it may have been ongoing.

Have you got all the facts or are you just interpreting one comment? Not everyone has assets or friends and family to borrow from in the bank account was low.

Interpreting, but it seems pretty clear cut to me and she hadn't mentioned anything about it before. Fair enough not everyone has assets, but why get a pet if you can't afford to pay it's medical bills if something happens?? You wouldn't adopt a child with that logic..

An acquantince of mine just posted on FB that she's very sad to have had to put her dog down today. Turns out she had him put down because he'd eaten something and needed an operation that was going to cost $1,100 and they "just didn't have the money lying around". She also says "it's a lot of money for a dog" I know not everyone sees animals the same way I do but I can't help but feel incredibly appaled. To make matters worse the dog was only 6 months old. UGHHH just had to vent, sorry...

Thanks guys, you've pup (haha, funny slip...put, rather) my mind at east a bit. I'll still be bringing it up with the vet, but might not worry quite so much for now!

The original plan was to show this guy, but I'm not so sure now as I don't have much spare time with working and my studies, so I'll wait til the end of the semester and re-assess whether that's something I want to do. I'm really not sure if this would be the best pup to start with though now, as he's very high-energy and accident prone lol.

I'll try to get a pic on the weekend. Can teething cause that? I thought it could only cause drooping? I'm freaking out that he'll need cosmetic surgery.

I've just noticed that my 9 week old staffy Joker's ear looks a bit wonky. Upon closer inspection there's a crease fairly close to the tip that looks like some sort of "break" or injury. I'm sure it wasn't like this just a few days ago, and it's not causing a droopy ear, but a sort of wave in it.

He's a very accident-prone puppy and I wouldn't be highly surprised if he's done something to himself, but I've never heard of breaking an ear before. He'll be looked at by the vet soon, but until then does anyone have any clue if it could be broken or...?

Oh...I just thought I would add that it doesn't seem to be causing him any kind of pain.

FD26 - he's not biting us but poor Lola's face is looking a bit worse for wear. But she's a little stirrer and gives it straight back to him.

His sleep is getting better though he wakes up every morning like clock work at 4:30am for a pee and then again at 6:00am for pee and breakfast. I really do wish that as time goes he will be able to miss the 4:30am pee as it's the killer. Specially having to work. I've also noticed that they're rough housing is settling down a lot which is great and he seems to be picking up on Lola's sleeping habits (now just to get rid of that 4:30am wake up call).

Boss is slowly getting to know his name, just working on it. The breeder used Pup Pup so he responds to that wonderfully. I still reckon that he should have been called Wilber as when he's in his crazy mode he runs around jumping like a little pig (but he's my husbands puppy and he didn't get a choice with naming Lola).

So glad that everyone's puppy is behaving and can't wait to see all the new puppies to come.

Oh don't they just look like little piggies? haha I love that about staffies.

I agree, I can't wait until the early wee break dissapears! I have some good news here though, not a single stir when he went into his crate tonight!!

Hiya everyone, sorry for the delay in reply. We're alive and well. My goodness what a weekend! We picked Boss up on Friday night and he and Lola got along like a house of fire. They didn't stop playing until around midnight. Poor Lola looked like she hadn't slept in a week. We're finding that Boss doesn't eat his food as quickly as Lola so that is proving to be a bit of a problem. Also he is a crier at night time. Friday night he woke up around 4 times (every hour from midnight), Saturday night woke up 4 times. From Friday night we worked out a bit of a program. Put Lola to bed at 9:00pm so that she can get a bit of a head start, then 9:30pm Boss has his warm puppy milk and a bit of a play (we have to try and keep him awake) then 10:00pm we put him to bed. We've found that if we do this he sleeps til 4:45am, take them both out for a toilet trip and then back to bed til 6am. Boss is now getting better with his crying (only now doing it for 15 mins before giving up and going to sleep).

It really did make us think just how wonderful of a puppy Lola is, from the very first night she slept from 10pm til 6am without a problem.

The joys of having two puppies

Oh wow Krital, he sounds identical to Joker lol. Joker has settled down now with his sleeping, he doesn't cry at night anymore and if he does it's only for a few minutes. He also wakes around 5 for a toilet break and then sleeps until 6am, hoping this will get longer soon as I miss the extra 30 minutes in the morning, especially since I've started working lol. Just imagine how it must have been for the breeder with the lot of them, wow! lol Glad to hear he's getting on with Lola.

Are you having any trouble with biting? Joker is such a nippy puppy and we can't seem to get him to stop, it's quite irritating!

I've used JetPets before.....what a bad experience THAT was!

Really? They were great for me..

Poppyx - make sure you call around for quotes on the flight. Ours was really reasonable - $140 with jetpets.

i i shopped around alright! i emailed every one i could find someone quoted me $400! the cheapest i have got so far is $220 so we think we'll go with them, jet pets were $50 more expensive than these guys .

140 is cheeaaap! did that include crate hire?

Yea, it included crate hire. I think I may have gotten it when it was on special though. That's a shame you can't find anything cheaper, $220's alright though, who's that with?

Petflyers,

I literally submitted quotes to about 8 different carriers, some couldnt do the area, some were too expensive and some just havnt answered me

You may be better off calling? Either that or I just got lucky lol

Poppyx - make sure you call around for quotes on the flight. Ours was really reasonable - $140 with jetpets.

i i shopped around alright! i emailed every one i could find someone quoted me $400! the cheapest i have got so far is $220 so we think we'll go with them, jet pets were $50 more expensive than these guys .

140 is cheeaaap! did that include crate hire?

Yea, it included crate hire. I think I may have gotten it when it was on special though. That's a shame you can't find anything cheaper, $220's alright though, who's that with?

Hi Everyone

I have been watching this thread for a few weeks now and thought it was about time I posted.

It is so wonderful to hear the news of everyones new pups and being able to follow there development.

We are getting a Hungarian Vizsla pup on the 25th March, Costa. We live in Darwin and there are no breeders here so he is coming from South Australia.

He is also 9 weeks today like a lot of the other pups on here, but we weren't able to take leave from work until closer to Easter so we have decided to wait till we have time off to welcome him into our household. His litter mates have left, but he gets on well with the breeders dogs and the breeder has started training him so he won't miss out during this important stage of his life.

We decided back in October last year it was time to get a Vizsla, we have always loved the breed and promised ourselves that when the time was right we would get one, and that time is finally here, I can't wait!!!

I have bought a few toys, dog bowls, ordered the crate online (hasn't arrived yet), just have to get a bed to put into his crate, any ideas?

Thats all from me for now.

Cheers

Costa's Mum

Welcome to the thread. It's nice to see more people from Darwin joining..

Krital - how's it going with the new addition?

Poppyx - make sure you call around for quotes on the flight. Ours was really reasonable - $140 with jetpets.

Toilet training is getting there slowly, littlehoot.

Joker has been going in the grass on his own more often, which is great...but he still has no concept of waiting until he's there. If he's in the house and the urge strikes him he just goes lol. I'm getting better at reading him though, and when I see him sniffing around I'll bring him out. He's covered our back porch in wee though lol...but, slowly getting there! How's it going for you?

Niques - we're having a problem with biting too, he broke skin on OH yesterday!! Nothing we try seems to be working, but instead of ignoring I've been playing with a rope toy with him and holding that in one hand and my other hand out, if he chooses the hand he gets "uhuhuh" (which he always gets for no) and if he chooses the toy he gets praised and I play with him. No progress yet, but hopefully he'll catch on soon.

We're having the same problem, he doesn't seem to read us very well, especially when excited.

Two good bits of news though, he's got sit down pat which is awesome, and he's learning to skateboard Last night I looked over and he's riding the skateboard along the porch, standing on it with 1 foot down pushing himself, I'll try to catch that one on video or in pics soon haha.