blacklabrador

Based on what Cal? Your dog might be doing well on high quality kibble but how do you know it wouldn't be doing better on natural food? Dogs haven't evolved in the past fifty years or so since kibble was produced, how do you think they cope with cooked meat + grain? Cooked meat is more difficult to digest for any carnivore (esp dogs and other animals who can't rub two sticks together to make a fire ) and grain is very difficult for them to digest.... how do you propose a dog would gather large amounts of grain for itself in the wild?

Yep... that sounds like the kinda stench we are enduring over here. Ollie quite often will smell his own fart, get up and leave the room! Oh dear... farts are a sign that the dog isn't digesting properly (in the bone case I beleive it is just an overload). Time to change foods! Grains ferment in a dog's gut because they aren't designed to digest them.

OMG my dogs STINK if they have too much bone at any one meal. Their farts are deadly... leave the room ones Actually vacating the house often seems like a good option if Poppy has just let one rip in that circumstance... and she looks so innocent and cute and all "how could I possibly stink that bad?" It just means that I have to regulate how much meaty bone they get at any one meal.

That's cute. I don't let my cat eat corn as she is small, and I didn't let the Hamster eat it either (she was < 2kg). I suspect that a couple of pieces of corn stuck together could cause obstruction in a small bowel so I don't risk it. My labs eat it a few times a week (cobs are well hidden though as Boney steals them out of the bin). I can't be bothered pureeing it but that would be the only form in which I would feed it to a small animal.

Inflammatory bowel disease is conditions such as Ulcerative Colitis and Chrohns disease. They are autoimmune disorders. Irritable bowel disease is due to liver overload/gut sensitivity and is easily controlled with diet (easy for those who can cut out the foods which are irritating it).

First thing to remove is the very thing that dogs aren't built to digest - grains. As far as I know Orijen is the only dry food that doesn't contain grains. Better still (and cheaper) feed your dog on what nature intended - a bone and raw food diet. Until Orijen gets fresh, raw food into a bag it will be a poor second.

I think most breeders wouldn't do it any other way. It's an easy way to encourage them to hold on over night. At 8 - 12 weeks I set alarm to get up half way through the night because their bladder capacity isn't big enough to stretch all night. Not all pups will whine to go out and if they have a lot of accidents in their crate it can become a habit. You don't want the pup to be in a situation where they have no choice but to pee in the crate. I gradually wean them out of that by then getting up after 6 hours or so and letting them out early morning before going back to bed.

I don't think most of dogs skin problems are related to washing at all. Dogs do not get bathed in the wild - it is not part of their evolutionary requirements! It is generally done for our good, not theirs. I think many dogs have skin problems from being allergic to the food they are given or to a flea allergy. Healthy skin, the outer covering on a heatlhy dog, is much more resilient to chemicals than the irritable skin that dogs with food and skin allergies have.

That's excellent! I remember the first few weeks home with my first lab puppy. It's a steep learning curve when you're doing it for the first time.

Take him out to the grass and tell him the toilet word BEFORE you bring him in. He's got no idea that you're about to take him to an area where he's not allowed to pee. Puppies have no way to anticipate such a change in environment!

RIP Rosie. She obviously lived out her last years in comfort - it would have restored her faith in humans. I take my hat off to you for loving her for the last 2.5 years. It must be terribly painful but you gave her a dignified life and a dignified death.

OMG Michelle - I'm so sorry to hear that Will was a lovely boy and I can't imagine your pain. He was Guido's half brother and had that same happy dog temperament. RIP two boys.

If you want a thin one in particular just make your own. Easy peasy! No point paying for brands and postage. Get the clip from an old lead and a bit of nylon that's sold at the hardware shop or camping supplies.

Horse lunging lead is the cheapest. I bought one for $10 from horseland.

Puppy schools are often held in vet surgeries on clean floors and attended by other vaccinated dogs. If you don't take him to puppy school between 8 - 12 weeks then he's missing out on a vital socialisation stage and spending that period on his own with no other dog contact. Puppy school at the vet is pretty safe before the second vaccination.

The pup is safest on your property until ten days after the 12 week vaccintion. Parvo virus is constantly at epidemic levels, lives in the soil for years and will easily kill a pup of that age. The more public footpaths he comes in contact with the higher his chance of picking it up. Keep him in your yard and hope that no parvo virus has been shed there by dogs living in the yard previously. If you want to lead train him properly keep the lead out of his mouth. It's cute when they take the lead but it teaches them all the wrong lessons about being on lead. Lead training should initially take place over about ten metres. If the pup follows then you praise it and take the lead off. Do it again later in the day and increase the distance gradually. If you don't teach the pup correctly from the start you may end up with a dog that you can't walk easily on lead. Enroll in puppy school at your local vet so you have some guidance. Once the pup is 12 weeks old take it to obedience to do the basic puppy course. This is the minimum you should be doing with a labrador pup.

You don't have to get rid of the coffee table... just everything on it I had a beautiful red wine stain on my cream carpet where OH put his wine glass down just before I let Guido in for some inside time. He had a big waggy ass (the labrador.. not the OH) I just have tiles now and it's much easier. I wish I'd gotten black tiles though :D

So sorry to hear about the old boy. He was so beautiful. RIP Spike.

I got a quote for my kitten today. AWL = $86. Local Vet = $185 Local Cat Vet = $196 It's worth taking the day off work to have her done at the AWL!! ETA I will pay extra for pain relief. I think that animals are very good at hiding their pain and don't accept that major abdo surgery is not good reason for extended pain relief.

Oh what a beautiful little dog! RIP Katie.

When the problem is chronic it often takes a few treatments to get it to hold. I know personally if I ignore my pain for too long and then have it treated I usually require two treatments a week apart rather than the usual single treatment.

You need to investigate fully to make sure there isnt a reason. Check between her toes (you will have to clip the fur if it's long. Look at the skin for redness - they can get fungal or bacterial infections of the skin. Check for bindis and anything else she might have stuck between her toes. Investigation of the foot by a vet and possible an X ray to check for broken bones would need to be done before you could really diagnose compulsive licking. I had a rescue with lick granuloma. Nothing worked for her. Aloe vera gel from the plant is very bitter and non irritating to healing skin.

If you "test her milk supply" after there's been a puppy on there you will find there won't be much. The amount of milk you can draw out with your hand IS NOT the same as what a puppy can get from the teat. They have a sucking action designed to provoke let down reflexes where milk flows. Baby pups do feed almost constantly - their requirement increases on a daily basis and their constant sucking keeps the milk supply up. Quickest way to reduce the milk supply is to start supplement feeding simply because you reduce the demand. If the pups are putting on weight daily, weeing and pooing, then you can assume they are getting enough.

Where there is a case where a percentage of vets won't do a procedure at a certain time I would have to question why. I don't know the exact reasons but I suspect that pelvic congestion and swelling of tissues is a contributing factor. (Consider how they look from the outside at this time!!). Obviously some vets are happy to take the risk and some aren't.

I think you will find that the vet they see won't do the surgery. We were initially sent to the University of Qld where there is a vet who specialises in the open joint surgery. He referred us on to Richard. This surgery needs to be done by a joint specialist rather than your everyday small animal vet.