cj-b

re irradiation, I know it involves chemicals that can harm our pets, but that aside knowing it doesn't have to be irridated doesn't make me believe its now a better food. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if it isn't irridated, it has to be cooked over and over again at extremely high tempretures to pass AQS. I have read up to 7 times depending on ingredients used I'm guessing, but more often 3 times. It makes we worry how many nutrients are left in the food once it has finished this process. Especially nutrients and EFA, eg. Omega 3 fatty acids in the form of EPA or DHA only last hours at room temperatures before they go rancid, let alone cooked several times over. This is just one reason why I choose to stick with Aus. made products, the dog and human kind. GK, I'm awaiting the arrival of some sample of the BH food, I'm really hoping my boy likes it as I much prefer to buy aus owned as well as aus made. He is currently on Nutro, which works well for him, but thought we would try BH as it's cheaper and aus. owned as well as made. I just wish it would bloody hurry up and get here, lol.

Does anyone know if or where you can buy bone meal from? Thanks.

I have used Oliver at Clear Dog Training, thought he was good, and also heard that Dee at Positive Response Dog training is fantastic, thinking about enrolling my guy in their advanced classes.

Don't feel silly, the person who suggested that should - bloody hell A dog who is allergic to fleas doesn't even need to have any fleas living on them - they can just be bitten as the Flea jumps. Fleas can bite humans and do alot of the times, are some people more sensitive to flea bites to others...yes....just like anything else. If you find fleas on your dog then treat the dog and consider thhis could be causing an allergic reaction. Just head to your Vets. I don't deny that she may have the occasional flea or two and will definately double up on flea treatment to see if that can help with her itching and scratching! Poor puppy! I feel bad! I never realised the Spectrum would only stop them breeding, not stop them being on her and biting her! I know how you feel, it's so hard to watch them scratch when you feel so helpless. Hope she improves for you soon. I think you have a good plan of attack, flea treatments was the first thing my vet and derm asked about when I saw them for my pups condition. Then possible mite infestations (skin scraping), atopic dermatitis, then food. Good luck. BTW, we think my daughter is allergic to fleas, when she gets bitten at my mums, she gets massive swollen welps, that a bright red and very very itchy for her. Zyrtec works wonders for her when this happens, but she gets driven nuts by them, so can only imagine what it would be like for a small puppy.

Says who though? Food allergies aren't that common, before wasting time and money on Diets you can't use in an Elimination diet I think it's more productive to follow the advice of a Vet or Derm. My vet and the Derm. So pretty sure it's safe to say, if your going to feed your dog that is itchy a kibble, it's best to feed them one that is free of wheat, corn and soy, that has been reported to be common culprits in food allergies. It's definitely not an elimination diet, but definitely a better choice to help eliminate possible causes. And they don't have to be expensive, Natures Gift is free of these ingreadients and only $2.36 for a 700gm can of food. I would follow my vets and derms advice when it comes to my dogs health, and would definitely recommend visiting your vet, and see what they recommend about treating her condition. I have also learnt it's also definitely much cheaper to try inexpensive options first before heading straight down the specialist path. I mean your dog has to eat right? So why not try and eliminate the food that CAN be the cause of his itchiness and replace it with a different inexpensive food in the mean time??? Made perfect sense to me when my vet suggested it. Not going to be any more expensive than before. PoppyDog, I hope you can nail this on the head. Good luck.

I totally agree that the flea thing is something I need to get on top of. Like I said, am changing the treatments I use so fingers crossed that works. Your probably shake your head at what I feed but am going to be honest so here goes... She has Supercoat Puppy at dinner (1 cup) with 2 tablespoons of Natures Gift wet food (have only just introduced this - about 2 weeks ago as Pop's had gone off her plain dry food). She also gets meaty lamb bones, chicken thigh pieces, liver treats, carob chip dog biscuits and has in the past minced chicken carcess & chicken necks. She also sometimes gets bits of watermelon & apple. Occasionally I'll give her a little bit of what we are eating (obviously don't do this if I know its bad for her - but have given her bits of sausage, steak, mash potato, rice etc in the past). I'm not overly careful with what I let her eat but maybe I need to become strict and see if that helps? She is due to change from Puppy to adult food (don't you do that at 12 months?) so maybe I need to consider a better quality dry food? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sentenial works great to control fleas long term and if you use it with comfortis you will control them now as well, you can even down grade to the interceptor spectrum and still have control, just save a little money. Nothing wrong with natures gift wet food, I personally think it's an awesome wet food no nasties, just meat, veg, vits and mins, but that's just my opinion. And I also know some show dog owners that feed supercoat. However, they don't seem to have itchy dogs, so I think if she is showing signs of an allergy I would consider changing her dry over to a kibble that is free of corn, wheat and soy, as these ingredients seem to be a common cause for the itchies. Good luck with a few changes. Let us know how she gets on.

Hi, I have just been looking at the ecopet dog food rolls online, and wondering if anyone knows where you can buy them from in queensland, especially the brisbane area. Thanks.

My boy is now fully grown, weighs 7kg about 13 inches to shoulder, is a poodle cross schnauzer. He was done at 19 weeks. I'm curious after reading all the responses, was he done too early? My vet and his Obedience trainer both said to get him done early, I didn't really look further into it. But after reading this I'm wondering if was mature enough. Do you think at his size now, he was done too early? What could be the disadvantages for him being done at 19 weeks?

would tingalpa be too far for you to go? I know of a lovely lady who does a wonderful job. Last night I picked up my boy, she was just finishing a cavilier x poodle, and she looked so very very cute and neat. I could message you her details if it's not too far for you to drive.

Sentinel is great, but like above it doesn't kill adult fleas only breaks the life cycle. You can use Comfortis along with the sentinel, then you will killing adult fleas as well as stopping the cycle. Or you can change the sentinel when it runs out to the Interceptor septrum, as some say using the sentinel with the comfortis is a little overkill, and interceptor is cheaper. Personally, I use sentinel and comfortis together, as my dog seems to have Flea allergy, so the vet has instructed to continue using both together for a double combat effect.

I've been told it's a bugger time of year for dogs suffering from atopic dermatitis (enviromental eg. grasses, pollens, weeds, dust etc), so it may be that flaring up. There are a few good websites I have read regarding the best way to deal with it, when your dog has an outbreak. Just google atopic dermatitis, and read away. Regarding shampoo, I have found Avoleen Shampoo that contains oatmeal to be good, but there are a few brands that do a oatmeal based shampoo that is meant to be very soothing for an itchy dog. Unless of course your dog is allergic to oatmeal, and I know of some that are, then that idea is useless, lol. I would also take her to the vet if she gets any worse, there are a number of drugs that they could prescribe if need be, as well as antibiotics if the hot spots become infected. Fatty acids and antihistamines are effective when used together as well. Good luck and hope you get it under control soon.

Yep my boy had a recent ear infection, and the vet told me to clean 1 hr before the drops go in. This gives time to make sure they are dry.

Geez petstock, don't sound like the most reliable bunch. Having said that though, the pet stock near my parents house, are always lovely and helpful. But have never bought his Nutro from them.

I was just thinking the same thing. Question though, being the same brand, would you still have to do a gradual change over between flavours? I have often wondering when feeding canned food, would it upset a dogs tummy to change between flavours of the same brand food?

That does sound like a big pain in the bum. And how rude that they tried to charge you full price, what was their reason??? I'm in Brissy, and I think just about every pet store I have been into (and that is many :rolleyes: ) has had stock. But I do live in Brissy itself, so that may be why. My boy has been on Nutro for about 10 weeks now, and just recenlty, like in the last day or two I have noticed his skin has improved out of sight, but he also gets Natures Gift and the occassional chix neck or wing. He has had some episodes of vomitting in the past, that I thought might have been from the nutro puppy chix and rice, but I have now come to think it's from eating something odd that the crows drop in our back yard, as it's not all the time, it's only happened about 4 times. So as long at it continues to do great things for my boy, he will remain on it for a long time to come yet. I have enough of the puppy variety to last him until he reaches 12 months. But then not sure if I will use the lamb or the chix adult vareity. Which flavour do your loved ones eat? Or which do you think would be better for a skin proplem, sensitive stomach dog?

I agree, I'm hoping the vomitting is unrelated to the nutro and he can stay on it, because for the first time since we got him, his skin is looking so much better. I will give it another couple of weeks and see how he goes. Thankyou to all who have helped.

Thank you for your advice. I added some to his nutro and for the last couple of days, his poos have been soft and rather sloppy to clean up, thank heavens for the rains, that has washed it into the lawn for me. So I guess, it's back to nutro for now. Hopefully his vomitting will become a thing of the past, and he can stay on it. Once he is out of the puppy stage, I think I might look into changing him onto a chix free kibble and see how that goes.

Thank you. I think my dog sounds similiar to Paige. When he does the occassional vomit, he is very down. So it might be causing him discomfort. But then, he will be completely normal somedays. Strange boy he is ;) I think I might look into changing his kibble. I did look into Optimum Puppy Chix and Rice, but it looks sooo similiar to the Nutro, I think it may cause the same problems. Does anyone know of a kibble for puppies that isn't based on Chix. I know Canidae do an All life stage Salmon, is there any others?

Oh this isn't good, I guess you'll be changing back. I should add, that my boy has always had really good poops, hahaha that sounds so funny. But seriously, his stools have been firm on Nutro, it's just the vomitting. I'm confused.

Do they vomit after EVERY time they eat the other brands or just occassionally? As a guess, because I really have no idea, I would have thought it if it's was the food that it would happen everytime after eating, not just occassionally. That's why I'm interested to know if your guys vomit everytime or just occacssionally as well. Because if it is only occassionally, I think you might be right, it probably is the kibble, but I want to make sure it's the Nutro before I change him, as it's the first kibble that he likes, and we have tried a few.

I was wondering if a dog had a food intolerance, would it throw up after every time it eats a certain meal? Or could it be only every now and then? My dog ever since I changed his kibble over, has had periods where he will throw up about 4-7 times in a row. But then he will be fine for a week or more, than sick again. It has happened 3-4 times now, but only ever since I changed him onto Nutro Puppy Chix and Rice. I'm not sure if it would be the kibble, but what do you think? I should also add, he is fed, Natures Gift, chix necks. But he has only ever been sick after the kibble, and the substance is either whole bits of kibble or a grainy kibble slop, ewww. And about 2 weeks ago, he had a severe ear infection, that was cleared up with drops, but could it also be an indication the food doesn't agree with him. He looks great on Nutro, but just not sure if vomitting and ear infection is saying something. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Poor little fella, and yey for you for adopting him and making his life better. I would take him to see a different vet asap, to check for worms or other infestations. And to give him a full check up to make sure he is o.k. beside the upset tummy. Personally I would ditched the Hills, they do offer a money back guarantee, so you should be able to recover your costs. How old is he? Being 7.5kg, I'm guessing he would be in his prime ;) middle age???? Hopefully someone with a little more experience in dealing with dogs with sensitive stomachs, might be of more help but maybe you could try either one of the Eagle Pack Holistic formulas, Artemis Small breed (would be my pick if it's in your budget), Nutro, Proplan senstivie skin and stomach, or if your on more of a budget, Optimum, Aucle Albers or Great Barko have decent feedbacks. Hopefully someone might be able to help you out more, and I'm sure there is Good luck with him, hope he improves soon.

Good to hear, thanks

This has me really concerned, I think my past luck with this company, might be just that, luck. I think I might change suppliers before I get done. Thank you all for the heaps up

Does anyone feed Optimum to their dogs? How do you find it? The ingredients have recently changed, they are still to update their website, but it looks like a really good kibble to me, no wheat, all natural, lists a meat meal as it's first ingredient as well as some more further down the list. I think I will give it a try as it is much cheaper than Nutro, but has the same Nutritional levels, if not better. Higher zinc, Omega 3 & 6 and same levels of Vit E, which is all important for us with a dog with a history of dry skin issues. Any feedback would be appreciated. I realise all dog do differently on each different kibble, but just after a general feedback while I try it on my guy