poochiemama

got the beds! they look wonderful and very sturdy...charlie tried to dig/chew the bed to pieces, but the bed defeated him!!! he's now relaxing on it and seems to love it. their website is kennelsolutions.com.au

Just a quick note - I bought 2 kuranda beds from kennelsolutions.com.au this week. I was just really impressed with their service...i ordered the ones with the PVC frame because they are heaps cheaper than the aluminium ones. I called the lady up and wanted to make sure the beds would arrive on Friday and she said they should. Then they got their supplies in and it turned out that the PVC beds had not arrived but they only had aluminium bed frames...so she called me and apologised and upgraded me to the aluminium bed frames free of charge just so I could receive the beds by Friday (rather than wait for the PVC frame ones to arrive next week). I just thought it was great, and it's nice to receive good service once in a while ...Highly recommend them. And no, I have nothing to do with their business.

Oh I love this one, cracks me up . It's good to have a laugh sometimes, especially when there are so many depressing stories sometimes of dogs mistreated, aggressive dogs, aggressive dog owners etc

YAY!!!!!!

I need a laugh and just saw a clip of the trailer for Red Dog, which was cute. What are the best youtube dog clips? I'll start...my favorite ever (most of you have probably seen it) is Carolyn Scott and Rookie's dance routine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM.

yes, i'd be worried about some sort of tumour as well, with the thin stools and previously blackish colour stools. i think a barium swallow would be a good idea...hopefully this is just grieving, but it seems quite intense for just grieving alone...

Right now they are as skinny and as long as your little finger. Had them checked aswell as urine, again nothing came back. Oh I'm glad - thanks for keeping us posted.

how are indie's poos going? Are they still blackish? I don't mean to worry you, but black poos in humans can mean a gastric or oesophageal lesion that's bleeding, and that may not show up on blood tests if its a more chronic blood loss ( i don't know about dogs but humans would need scopes to have a look). it could also explain his weight loss or lack of appetite. Just a thought, I'm no vet. Fingers crossed for you and I do hope Indie picks up.

Poor thing...i am anxious to hear what's happening to him. Old blood can turn poo a blackish colour , so i'd be taking him to the vet as soon as feasible in case there is some internal bleeding.

hannah does this really weird thing...i don't know if other dogs do it...but she gets all excited when she knows its cuddles time...then she'll flop her head on the ground, put her bum in the hair, rub her face into the carpet, with this MASSIVE smile on her face and excited panting and her tail will be wagging furiously - I have to keep scratching her on her lower back area to keep her this happy.

hannah does this really weird thing...i don't know if other dogs do it...but she gets all excited when she knows its cuddles time...then she'll flop her head on the ground, put her bum in the hair, rub her face into the carpet, with this MASSIVE smile on her face and excited panting and her tail will be wagging furiously - I have to keep scratching her on her lower back area to keep her this happy.

I've just read this story in horror and also read the twists and turns in this thread... It's a terrible story, we don't really know the facts. It makes me sad though, all this talk about 'Buster wouldn't be cut so much slack if he wasn't a golden retriever'...so WHAT if people are supporting Buster because he's a golden retriever? ALL dogs deserve this sort of support; just because certain breeds don't get this sort of public support does not mean we should begrudge golden retrievers or labradors. Sometimes I think goldies/labs get a sort of reverse-racism from the restricted breed dog owners and that really annoys me ; I have a golden retriever and a labrador and I also love bully breeds. My point is that the same standards should apply to all dogs and if we, as dog owners, are split amongst ourselves in this debate, talking about 'why should goldies get this treatment when other breeds don't' , then there is no hope for the general public to become more educated. Saying it's unfair for goldies to get a second chance and to have public support when other breeds don't get this chance is like saying 'it's not fair to feed the children in Australia, because the children in India are starving.' I really do hope Buster gets a fair go and I'm praying that he gets some sort of behavioural assessment at least.

I get rugs from Ikea - cheap and cheerful and look good too. I have one in a maroon color, which hides a lot and is hardwearing (it's wool) but we have to vacuum regularly.

of COURSE chocolate labradors and goldie pups!!! i'm going to try and attach a photo, first time i've done it, so fingers crossed...

I want to get some long-lasting rawhide bones/chews - but I'm sick of getting the made-in-china ones, when you don't know what's really in them. Anyone know of Aussie rawhide chews which I can get online? Our local pet shop says there is no such thing, but I am doubtful. Also on the topic of longlasting chews- i got them some roo tails; are these safe? We had an incident with smoked bones once where Charlie got bowel obstruction, so I'm always cautious. Thanks!

just got mine too! I love them, especially the leash, it's so soft and better than leashes i paid hundreds for!

She LOVES wet food, so i might try the grinding it up and putting it in wet food...thanks!

thanks tamara and everyone else...got some good ideas. will try to get her used to us opening her mouth up to give her treats, it will make life easier. she's a little princess prima donna sometimes; i think it's probably true that she picks up on our anxiety because we dread 'pill day'.

hehe, maybe it's me who needs to toughen up hey?

you'll be amazed at what i've tried - i've tried the cheese slices, she eats the cheese then spits out the tablet. i've tried sticking it in a sausage, same thing. I think it's the smell or something, she KNOWS it's hidden in the cheese, can't trick her into it.

My goldie FREAKS OUT everytime she is given her flea medication. She used to be on revolution, but she would run away from us and HATED the smell, she would start hyperventilating and banging at the screen door to get out. After a while, we just couldn't bear it so we got flea tablets instead. But she refuses to eat them and kicks up a fuss, and again starts freaking out and breathing fast, trying to get away. We have tried putting the tablet down her throat but it seems to scare her so much when we do this and she clenches her mouth tight. Is there an easier way???? there has to be ...it's so painful watching her go through this every month.

Just a note on medibank private - i used to be with them but ceased the contract based on some very bad customer service. The thing is that they are underwriten by Hollard insurance , and the staff at medibank couldn't draw up my pet insurance contract quickly, they had to go through hollard and kept me waiting there for 20-30 minutes whilst they were attempting to get through to hollard (they were on hold). They couldn't tell me anything about my insurance policy, it was all 'We don't deal with that, we need to ask hollard'; this happened time and time again and it was just too frustrating. I couldn't get a simple question answered, so I was quite doubtful that claims etc would be paid on time. And you can't call hollard directly, you have to go through medibank and pay medibank.

I think pet insurance is an absolutely must, especially with labs!! My labrador, when he was 1 year old, swallowed a massive chunk of bone and had bowel obstruction ; he was extremely ill, to the point the surgeon was kinda preparing us for the worst. He pulled through thank god, but we had to suddenly come up with $5000 as we had no pet insurance. We learnt our lesson and soon after signed up with Bow Wow Meow. He was recently diagnosed with hip dysplasia and he had TPO surgery for that which I think cost $5500 in total - to our enormous relief Bow Wow Meow reimbursed us the full amount; they were prompt and no questions were asked, so we were very happy with them. There are certain small things they don't cover eg they didn't cover the physio costs for Charlie after his surgery and I don't think they cover routine vaccinations but we didn't care because they covered the big ticket item. I think labs are particularly liable to have injury because they are kind of clumsy (as much as I love them) and they put anything in their mouths . Also they are prone to hip dysplasia so if your labs' hips haven't been checked, it might be worthwhile getting the insurance before you have them checked (so they don't count it as a 'pre-existing' condition) because they may or may not need some form of surgery on their hips at some point.

I think pet insurance is an absolutely must, especially with labs!! My labrador, when he was 1 year old, swallowed a massive chunk of bone and had bowel obstruction ; he was extremely ill, to the point the surgeon was kinda preparing us for the worst. He pulled through thank god, but we had to suddenly come up with $5000 as we had no pet insurance. We learnt our lesson and soon after signed up with Bow Wow Meow. He was recently diagnosed with hip dysplasia and he had TPO surgery for that which I think cost $5500 in total - to our enormous relief Bow Wow Meow reimbursed us the full amount; they were prompt and no questions were asked, so we were very happy with them. There are certain small things they don't cover eg they didn't cover the physio costs for Charlie after his surgery and I don't think they cover routine vaccinations but we didn't care because they covered the big ticket item. I think labs are particularly liable to have injury because they are kind of clumsy (as much as I love them) and they put anything in their mouths . Also they are prone to hip dysplasia so if your labs' hips haven't been checked, it might be worthwhile getting the insurance before you have them checked (so they don't count it as a 'pre-existing' condition) because they may or may not need some form of surgery on their hips at some point.

Thanks for the replies guys, I have a few options now, will check them out!