Montage

Glad to hear that good news!

Update: Well the ultrasound has come back. The good news is that tumour is not on Isa's heart. The bad news is they couldn't determine type of cancer/tumour because the lungs were in the way of the u/sound. I was given the choice of going for a CT scan or MRI which would give us more of an idea of what we're dealing with. I have decided against all these tests because I am not putting a dog of her age through chemotherapy and surgery, if she was younger I'd want this treated more aggressively. She's been slowing down a lot over the last 12 months and I think what Isa deserves is to be comfortable. She is on oral steriods which we've been told can halt the tumour growth. There may be side effects and the dosage may need to be changed. This has been a very difficult decision for me and I want to thank all of you on here who have offered me support through this.

I started another thread a few months ago. We took Baxter in for a check up and I mentioned one of his back legs was a bit sore. The vet strongly encouraged us to have our puppies hip x-rayed and started pushing the procedure onto us. We immediately got another opinion and there is NOTHING wrong with our dogs hips. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same clinic.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I guess we'll just have to take this one day at a time. If this is the worst case scenario then I'm grateful to have had 13 years with her which is more than some people. It's just breaking my heart to see her coughing like this.

My 13 and a half year old SBT has had a really rough 12 months. She was diagnosed with Grade 2 mast cell carcinomas in August last year has had two rounds of surgery but for 8 months there has been no sign of any more tumours. She's slowed down a lot but she's still very active for a dog of her age and loves her walks, cuddles and most of all, food. We were hoping she'd still be with us for a few more years. Unfortunately for the last three days she's been coughing a lot, mainly in the mornings after exertion so we took her to the vet. A chest x-ray has picked up some sort of growth in her mediastinum (chest cavity). They are unsure of what it is and she needs a special ultrasound. The vet said the best outcome would just be an enlarged thymus gland but warned us it could be nasty. I've had Isa for 13 years and I can't imagine life without her. I can't stop crying and I'm getting married in 6 weeks and don't even want to go through with it now with this happening.

There's a current ad that gave me a good laugh because the breeder is obviously taking the piss out of the blue SBT breeders. The ad states 'rare coloured puppies' ......they are black/brindle so getting rarer by the minute! Goes on to describe that they are bred for improving the breed not the bank account. Love it.

I can see the appeal but at the end of the day give me a healthy dog that has been bred for quality NOT colour. I prefer brindle SBT anyway Some of the ads for blue SBT advertised here on DOL tick every box in RSG list.

You shouldn't be providing someone elses dog with medication unless you're qualified to make that judgement. Unless of course you're happy to take responsibility if the dog dies.

I just hope that this doesn't impact on us getting pet insurance. If Baxter does not have a problem now but later on in life gets arthritis will this mean it's a pre-existing condition?

These were taken yesterday, he's now 17 weeks old. As you can see he's mastered the 'I'm a big sook' expression

I think there are probably quite a few of us like that. I've got an old girl across the road who lets her dog out to shit on other people's lawns. It's really bloody annoying. I'd be returning their dog poo through their letterbox with a little note saying 'I believe this belongs to you'.

Believe me I had alarm bells going off in my head as soon as this vet started talking about it. They did not ask to see Baxter walk or anything. The other vet did a much thorough examination and said there were no signs of luxtation. So here I have a dog that does not limp, can run with no difficulty and simply because he wiggled when they extended their back leg they want to put him under sedation and are talking about surgery already? . Ummm thanks but no thanks. I feel really uncomfortable going back to this place now.

Maybe try leaving it generic and say something like 'I feel that our dogs didn't really get along that well and I found it hard to relax and enjoy the BBQ'. That way you're not apportioning blame to their dogs and less likely to cause offense.

All I can say is don't visit Paris! We live opposite a park that also provides poo bags and bins but you still see people not cleaning up after their dogs. There's no excuse for it but unless they're caught in the act there's not much you can do about it.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

If we have any reason for concern we will get Baxter looked at when he's fully grown. But for now he's fine and as the other vet says shows no signs of HD . Maybe I brought this on myself because I asked this vet to look at his legs during his first checkup? I just though it was part of assessing the dog, looking at the hips for soundness. Anyway from now on we certainly won't be taking any of our animals back to the junior vet. Not only would this have cost a lot of money but would have put my pup through an unnecessary procedure.

Thanks for the responses guys. I certainly wasn't going to have my dog sedated and x-rayed before getting a second even third opinion. We don't walk Baxter for very long-10 minutes at max and it's usually every second night with this weather. He's not jumping much yet but he loves running around with our elderly dog. The stairs can be managed with a barrier. I prefer he stays downstairs because it's our cats territory and she doesn't like dogs very much

Update: The second vet could not find anything wrong with Baxter's hips. I'll keep an eye on anything unusual but for now I'm not going to have him x-rayed unnecessarily. RSG-How long would you keep his activity limited?

Well today we had our third round of vaccinations for Baxter. The vet who treated him today saw him last month and said his back leg was a bit sore. They talked about x-rays etc and to see him in a month. I didn't want to see this vet again because they're junior and I wanted the senior vet who treats our older dog and is qualified in orthopaedic surgery.Unfortunately the senior vet was called away to an emergency and I got stuck with the junior vet. They extended his leg again and believe it's sore because he wiggles. They didn't even ask to see him walk or anything. They wanted to book him in for x-rays and the possibility of a juvenile pubic symphiodesis on Monday but I'm getting a second opinion from another vet in about an hour. My sister who is a breeder, show person and judge hit the roof when I told her about it and got me a last minute appointment with a senior vet she trusts. The breeder thinks this is all BS because Baxter is still growing. Baxter does not exhibit any signs of limping, pain, he runs up and down stairs and is an active boy. I'm a bit upset right now at the prospect of putting my four month old through orthopaedic surgery. If this other vet concurs with the vet I saw earlier then I'm happy to go ahead with x-raying him. I just don't feel comfortable putting him through a procedure recommended by a junior vet. I realise this may sound a bit snobbish but as an RN who works closely with surgeons I'm only too familiar with the differences between a consultant and a registrar. Has anyone here had any experience with JPS?

It's amazing how one vet clinic can have a vastly different attitude to another. The vet staff where I take my dogs are absolutely fantastic and honestly seem to care about the animals they look after. 11 years ago when Isa was a young dog she was attacked by another dog. I still to this day have no idea how it happened or who the dog involved was. She had some deep lacerations to her leg and I rushed her into the nearest emergency vet. The vet staff quickly came to the conclusion that because I was young, wore adidas trackies and had a SBT I must have been involved in the dog fighting industry. I was accused of fighting my dog and in the end I just let them have it. I told them that a dog fighter wouldn't pay the ridiculous costs of saving my dogs leg on a Sunday night that they were charging me and that they'd just put their dog to sleep rather than bother with all the vet bills. The nurses and vets at this particularly place were cold and nasty to me and I had a hard time even taking my dog to other vets after this.

Last nights episode was a bit heart wrenching with that little lab pup who ended up having an amputation. If we had this type of vet surgery here in Australia I'd be tempted to give up human nursing and become a vet nurse.

I don't know how they can do it either. I'd be way to judgmental when cases like abuse to animals come in. Whenever I watch those tv shows and I see stupid owners who have no idea I get so angry. I think it would be difficult seeing animals pts but as an RN there have been times when I've seen humans suffering who want to die in peace and I always think you wouldn't put an animal through any of this.

My 12 year old Stafford has urinary incontinence, they believe it's either related to age, the fact she has MCT or she's been desexed. She is currently on Incurin which stops her being incontinent but if I forget to give her a tablet she'll start up almost straight away.

We don't have a huge backyard for our SBT's, it's about 15m long by 6m wide. They get walked regularly when it's not too hot.

On a facebook discussion page (English vs American Staffy) I made the terrible mistake of correcting ppl that there was no such thing as an English staffy. I guess I should have known better.