~Anne~

You are a champion! Thank you so much for your help. I'll check out the links.

Wow - thanks for that! Does Barbara have website or any published articles that I may be able to peruse?

*bump* still desperately seeking ideas and solutions.

However, Monte is not eating his poo because he has an enzyme deficiency...... he is eating it because he is a Pig... I mean a Pug. He is on heavy medication for epilepsy which increases his already large apetite. Also - he is already overwieght because of his condition so he certainly doesn't need to put on weight... if anything he needs to drop about 1.5kilos. Poo is not the only odd thing he eats, it is just the most disgusting thing he eats though. He also eats rocks, twigs and in fact anything on the ground that he can hoover. He has a particular penchant for gum nuts and for grass and even mushrooms (growing in the backyard). We try to monitor him as much as possible and we remove whatever is possible that he may ingest but apart from him living in a sterile cage for the rest of his life there isn't much I can do about the majority of it and it looks like this may be the case with his caprophagia. EFTypos

I see someones been talking...... Edited to add - yes, perhaps you are right. Perhaps I should give the Thrive a whirl. Afterall what can it hurt apart from spending a few more dollars on him... in for a penny- in for a pound as they say.

Thankfully mine doesn't want to roll in it but he stinks of it still all the time! It is sooooo sickening.... he also has a strange licking fetish and licks my legs, clothes or whatever part of me he can get to. This too is amplified becuase of the drugs and the thought that he has just eaten poo then ciome inside to lick me grosses me out... I already have mild OCD that is germ and dirt related and this dosen't help!

Thanks Pers.... I have always given him pumpking as part of his diet so I guess I can rule that one out already. Milk og Mag was already mentioned and someone said it was banned in Australia? Perhaps I should check with my vet on this one? It's not the vigilance that is the problem it is the fact that before I realsie that one of them has been to the toilet he is already eating it! Plus, during the day they are outside while I am at work and so I would also miss these. At night I have to put paper down as his conditon causes him to not be able to hold all night and every morning I find eveidence that he has done a number 2 and eaten it! Errrgggh....

HHHHHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLP MEEEEEEEEEE PLEEEEEEEEEASE!!! Sorry to rehash an old thread but I am now getting very desperate to stop this disgusting behaviour. I spoke with my Vet and we have determined that Thrive is not warranted as Monte's issue is hunger and not an enzyme deficiency. Basicaly being a Pug he is has a tendancey to be a glutton and on top of this he medication for his epilepsy increases this tendancy. I have started using fresh pineapple on the advice that this will make his (and everyone elses) droppings distasteful....... but it hasn't worked. Am I perhaps not using enough? I add approx a heaped teaspoon of freshly and finely chopped pineapple to his meals twice a day to his and to the other Pugs food. I haven't bothered to try adding to the cats yet as I do not think she will eat it. Apart from picking them up (but I can't get to them quick enough as he eats them immediately), putting something like Tobasco sauce on them (if I am going to be quick enough to find one and do this to it I may as well just pick it up) I can only think of one other option but this one worries me...... and that is to put a muzle on him providing I can find one to suit a brachy face. Does anyone have any more tried and tested sugggestions???

I use a tea tree oil shampoo quite regulalry on mine and have never had a problem with it.

I'm glad to hear she got through the soft palate resection ok. Elongated soft palates is very common in Pugs. Just out of curiosity - did you purchase Meg from a registered breeder? Please let us know the results of the blood test.

Are you sure she is a Pug! I've never yet met a fussy Pug. My boys would eat paper if I offered it to them as food.I'd suggest you see what the vet says and then I'd be getting in control of her eating. It takes 28 days (give or take) for a dog to starve and I will guarantee she'll be eating whatever you offer her within a day if you do not offer anything else. The pimples certainly sound like an irritation of some sort. Is her skin or pads of her paws hot to touch?

I thought perhpas you were inferring I was prick or was being prickly

Um no I still don't..... feeding raw bones and barf are two different things.......... oh.... and for thr record - where do you keep geeting 'cactus' from? Is this perhaps a freudian slip?

Yes and I believe this was what the acronym did actually stand for originally.

But this site is a mere miniscule drop in the ocean compared to the dog world in general. The catch cry in general is 'feed raw meaty bones' and that barf stands for bones and raw food - is it any wonder people are getting it wrong? Two things - I feed fresh meat and vegetables but I don't claim to feed 'barf'.... I term it 'raw' feeding but what I term it is not really relevant. My dogs are getting no less of their nutritional requirements then any other dog feed this way or on any commercial 'barf' product or home made barf product. Secondly - the article does not say don't feed barf.... or this is what barf is.... or this is what raw is for that matter. It is now you, instead of the un-educated, that is confusing the different styles in the minds of those uneducated feeders by misinterpreting what is being said. The article, from my perspective at any rate, simple discusses the pros and cons of feeding raw meaty bones. Again, I don't believe the vet was condemning barf or raw - he was just stating facts about feeding bones *shrugs*

I don't believe this vet was condemning a raw diet poodlefan. I feel he was just merely trying to be factual and to uncover and expose a few mistakes that are being made. If you read what is thrown around on this site and what I myself have heard many, many people say is simply "feed raw meaty bones" and in my mind this can be and would be construed as 'any' bones. My first insticnt when I heard it was to feed raw beef bones, not chicken or turkey.... I, along with millions of others, had grown up with the chant of 'never feed chicken bones - they are too small and pose a choking risk'.

Ummm.....why?

Both poultry and poultry product carry salmonella. Not sure about dogs reactiing differently.

Salmonella is just as common on raw chicken as well as eggs Dougie...... so if you risk one you may as well risk the other and feed the eggs raw....

Yes, someone else just recently said the same thing to me and had her dog tested - and it was the dogs thyroid. He has now commenced new treatment and all is going well.

That is EXACTLY what I do!

*nodding head* Sorry - but you are not telling me anything I do not already know .... perhaps I have given indication that I don't understand the disease???? Also - when I say that Monte twitches it is actually seizure activity (a partial seizure)- just not a tonic/clonic seizure. He does this most days. It isn't an indicator of an impending full seizure. We do record his seizures and other symptoms purely to see if we can locate a trigger :p As I said, he was diagnosed some time a go and as a former veterinary nurse I have some understanding of medical problems and terminology and I have researched his condition till the cows came home. I was merely confirming, with this thread, something that I had stupidly not believed before and that is that you can 'talk' them out of a seizure.

I am quite close to my Monte Bear and I have never seen anything to indicate he was about to have a cluster or single seizure until about 5 - 10 minutes before he starts. And when I say close, I mean from the minute I walk in the door, Monte is glued to my leg - literally. I stop, he stops. I go to the toilet, he sits on my feet and waits. I have dinner..... he drools all over me I habitually watch him because he twitches, I worry about him and because he is sooooo darn cute! Monte clusters, usually around 5 each time, and currently has only been seizure free for a maximum of 24 days at a time in the last 4 months. But being idiopathic epilepsy this could alter at any time. His last seizures were on Sat just gone. To date, we have never narrowed down a trigger to his seizures. He is currently on the highest dose of meds he has ever been on and he is still experiencing clusters. We have an appointment to see Neurologist to see what more can be done. He was first diagnosed more than 2 years ago.

It certianly does Debbi! Thanks! :rolleyes: I have actually received quite a bit of advice on this with most of them saying exactly what you said (but maybe not quite as clearly as you have just said it). My only problem is that he normally starts a seizure set at about 4am......... I have become attuned to listening for them while I am asleep as I always manage to wake up but this is usally after he has had at least one full tonic/clonic. If I could stop that first one I would be much happier but I intend on trying the focus technique next time, regardless of how many he has already had before I get to him. As he only manages 5 minutes or so in between each one I watch his every movement (usually I am holding him anyway) and so I will make sure to catch when he first starts to zone.

Thanks for the tip. I currently switch the air-con on to freezing and up high and have several soft freezer packs that I use - the ones that you use for sprain injuries. I just wrap them around him and it keeps his temp down.