Leenie

This is a great website where you can look up different ingredients commonly added to pet foods.

http://naturapet.com/display.php?d=ingr-wiz

Holistic approaches to this problem:

* chiropractic and/or acupuncture and/or reiki

* natural anti-inflammatories - bromelains, fish oils, etc.

* joint support supplements such as glucosamine, msn, vitamin c, green lipped mussel extract, etc.

In my experience annual heartworm is not safe. Think about it - something designed to stay in the system all year must be pretty toxic. You are better to give daily or monthly treatment - even though it is less convenient. Herbal heartwormers are available also.

Easy ear cleaning remedies:

1 part white vinegar to 1 part water - wipe out ears with this.

Or

Crush 2 cloves garlic and mix into 1/4 cup olive oil. Leave overnight. Strain the garlic out and use the oil to clean the ears.

A good general rule when giving natural supplements to an animal is to divide the recommended daily dose according to the size of the animal.

ie. Adult dose 1 tablet twice daily.

less than 5kg 1/4 tab once daily

5-10kg 1/2 tab once daily

10-25 1 tablet once daily

25 + 1 1/2 tab once daily

But this can also depend on the supplement itself. Water soluble vitamins like vitamin C are safe - even if you give a little too much - worse that will happy is some diarrhoea for eg. Fat solubles like vit E, A, etc. should be used with caution. Consult with a vet, animal naturopath or natural therapist who has previously had veterinary experience if you aren't sure. And you can always ask me.

I promote and sell Greenpet nutritional supplements (I see they have been mentioned here already). I believe they are up there with the best on the market and reasonably priced. I have lots of doggie and kitty clients on their products and they do well.

I don't recommend the HW injection at all. Just researching it to back up my opinion. Thanks.

Is this Proheart 6 or only SR12 in Australia ??

I can't remember.

Do Pet Goods Direct have a website? Yep they are owned by Pets Paradise. I've been told that Pets Paradise has a contract with Natura USA who make Innova, California Natural and Healthy Wellness to be the only Australian distributors. I think that is sooooo wrong, esp. since I want to be able to sell it!!

Eucalyptus is only toxic if ingested - it is safe in shampoos.

I've never worked in a surgery where the room wasn't cleaned between patients - no matter how busy we were! If a VN couldn't get to it, the vet cleaned it.

Dick van Patten's Natural Balance Organic dog food is now available in Australia.

PM me for the information. Excellent food certified organic everything! No soy, no corn, no dairy, no eggs, no sunflower oil and no wheat.

Cheaper than Innova.

I still only recommend Innova for cats (hopefully DvP's NBO will have a cat food available in Australia soon).

Grade I -- The patella can be manually luxated but easily comes back into normal position. Patient may or may not occasionally carry the affected leg.

Grade II -- Patella luxates on flexion of the knee joint and remains out of place until manually replaced or patient extends and rotates joint. Patient intermittently carries the affected limb with the knee joint flexed.

Grade III -- Patella remains luxated most of the time but can be manually reduced (placed back into position). Flexion and extension of the knee joint reluxates the patella. Patient transfers most of the body weight to the front legs, bunny hops or carries the affected legs, and appears bowlegged or knock-kneed.

Grade IV -- Patella is permanently luxated and cannot be manually repositioned. The quadriceps muscle group starts to shorten, making it difficult to extend the leg fully. Patient transfers most of the body weight to the front legs, bunny hops or carries the affected legs, and appears bowlegged or knock-kneed.

Add an anti-inflammatory and joint support supplement to the diet. Technyflex Canine is great - green lipped mussel extract, glucosamine and essential fatty acids. A bottle of 80 capsules is $45.

Also, who uses Supercoat and what do you think of it? How does it compare to other brands? I have a client whose dog is exhibiting aggressive behaviour and he is on Supercoat. I'm trying to get an ingredient list and some advice from Supercoat feeders to eliminate anything it contains as a possible cause.

Hi - does anyone have a bag of Supercoat handy? If so can you please type out the ingredient list, in the order that it appears on the bag or can anyone point me to a website that has this information?

Thank you! Any help would be muchly appreciated.

Flea Free - contains vinegar, garlic, anti-parasitic herbs - add to food and water and allow 3-6 wks for it to work. Repels all biting insects.

Adding garlic to the diet every other day may also help.

There is a herbal pet spray available containing aloe vera, herbal extracts, macadamia oil, witch hazel, peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil, lemongrass oil and fennel oil only. No pyrethrum or tea tree.

PM me if you would like more information or email me at [email protected]

Try changing the food over from old supercoat / my dog diet to fresh meat like Haven suggests and if you really want to feed a dry food because you feel he'd be more likely to eat it then have a look at a more natural based recipe, eg. Innova. Avoid anything with by-products, colourings, flavourings, sugar, etc. Purchase food that has an actual meat as the first ingredient, ie. chicken, turkey, lamb and vegetables. None of this "meat and/or meat by-products" garbage.

Oh oops - sorry I should have been more clear! Apologies.

Tea Tree oil medicated cream / shampoo / spray Aristopet brand. This is safe for dogs & cats. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. How embarrassing!

Ivermectin dosed orally daily

I'm not a big fan of Ivermectin because it is quite toxic and is immune-suppressive. This isn't very helpful when most cases of demodetic mange are due to immune deficiencies. Try applying tea tree oil on the affected areas and address the immune deficiency by providing a natural diet and immune support through natural remedies / supplements. Good luck!

Good advice Haven. Colourings, flavourings and preservatives in pet foods can cause serious behavioural problems - just like when people have too many additives too.

You could also consider rescue remedy, herbal calming tonics, pet aromatherapy sprays... and if they don't help then try drugs. Also, what is he fed?

Natural flea treatments:

Mix 1 cup of borax in about 4 litres of water and add half a dozen drops of peppermint essential oil. Mop the floors with this mix. Put a tissue soaked in peppemint essential oil into your vacuum cleaner bag and go over the floors and couches well. The peppermint will kill any live fleas that get sucked into the bag. Mix about 1 tbsp of borax and a couple of drops of peppermint in 500ml of water in a spray bottle for difficult corners and surfaces.

www.natraspray.com.au is a Brisbane natural pest control company using only pyrethrins.

Flea Free is a combination of apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, herbs, citrus and more natural ingredients, which you add to your pet's food and water. It's a much better alternative to chemical based treatments like Frontline, etc. and works really well against all biting insects / parasites. It is also a great natural tonic for general wellbeing.

I'm so glad to see that some people are feeding their dogs more natural choices, ie. BARF, Eagle Pack, Nutro Choice. I give my cats BARF and occasionally Innova dry food (www.naturapet.com). It has the best ingredients, and only human-grade. No by-products and corn grits!

Don't rush into surgery, one op will not be the finish, your dog will need 2 or 4 with bilateral. Get your dog as well and fit as you can then look at surgery. Try the C, give everthing a go, even the swimming.

Excellent advice!!

That doesnt seem like a lot of vitamin C, do you think it needs to be supplemented? Do you just use Vitamin C tablets for humans?

Hello. Yes 15mg is too low of a dose, especially for a malamute. I would be adding another 1-2 tsp a day of C powder to meals. If the stools become loose, cut back the dose and then slowly increase until you find a rate that works well. Talk to your vet about dosage rates if you are worried. Excess levels of vitamin C can affect a dog's calcium balance but excessive levels of vitamin C would also cause diarrhoea and you would know about it! It is difficult to overdose on this vitamin.

Miracle Cure for Hip Dysplasia?

Dogs Don't Lie