blacklabrador

The recovery period for my boy has been 4 weeks. He's been crated except for toilet breaks and walks around the yard on lead for a month. He has coped amazingly well and I am so proud of him. It is a testament to his sound temperament that he hasn't developed any bad behaviours while he's been locked up. His jail sentence ended 3 days ago and he is one happy boy ETA He's still looking for a home if any one is interested :laugh:

My pup was thought to have OCD but ended up with OCD being just one of the three symptoms of Elbow Dysplasia. He also had fractured coronoid process on both sides. The prognosis for surgery with OCD alone seems to be quite good. The vet will remove the flap of cartilage and the dog should do quite well after a period of rest post op. I know what you are going through - I was absolutely hysterical the day my boy was diagnosed. The vet could barely understand me through my sobs and hiccups. I had to wait for a few opinions before my boy was done. The top guy who does elbows at the University of Qld sent us to a specialist vet who uses an arthroscope to operate. This means that the work was done through keyholes rather than open joint surgery. It's much better for the recovery of the dog, although it's not cheaper. Total costs for surgery and physio and rehab will come to well over 3k. (surgery alone was $2700)

I agree that Rowan is very good - however it's a long drive from the central coast of NSW (about 9 hours I think ). Hopefully someone can recommend a chiro down that way.

Has she been watching your pornos?

Name: (ham) STAR. Name meaning: She looks like a Hamster Sex: Female. Date of birth: 29/6/07 Age: 11 weeks I think Colour: Black Breed: Pomeranian Hobbies: Licking labradors ears, licking everything, playing with her teeny cat toys and running around like she's on speed. Loves: Lamb, cuddles, labradors Hates: Being bathed.

I really feel for you. I am just coming to the end of a month with a crated Lab puppy who had surgery for elbow dysplasia. He is a bit older but it's been really tough on him (and me!). We certainly went through a few tough days while he adjusted. He was great for the first week but then had a couple of very unsettled days where he barked a lot. Puppies adjust very quickly to a different environment. Your pup hasn't had a real taste of freedom yet so it should adjust quite quickly. I do understand your concerns about missing out on important socialising time though. The Kong type toys are excellent - as are bones and treat balls/buster cubes etc. I keep my boy entertained with all sorts of bones and chew toys and pigs ears. We only have a few days until he can run free again and I am very glad to be at this end of the month rather than the frustration and guilt I was feeling a few weeks ago.

I am sure she thanks you for making the right decision for her. RIP Tango. What a beautiful girl. I hope your pain eases with time but your memories stay strong.

My lab bitch had the hiccups regularly as a pup (up to 6 months or so). Don't know why! But like human babies - it's probably a developmental thing.

I use an "Ezydog" life jacket with Guido for his hydrotherapy. Great design of lifejacket - very sturdy. We use it a few times every week so we need it to last. It was $55 for Labradog size. I would wait until I wanted to take the dog swimming before I bought the vest. Buying one for an 11 week old pup means that you are going to have to upsize a few times before your dog is fully grown. You might find that your dog isn't so keen to swim as a pup - often they will just want to paddle and splash until they get confident with the water.

I think humans probably have this situation with their kids quite often. Except that the solution is called "Pizza, Mc Donalds or Subway" etc I remember having to whip up an egg and adding some grated cheese for my cat one night when I was run off my feet studying and working shift work full time. He thought it was brilliant!

Thanks Kitkat. No I wasn't targetting anyone in particular. Just looked like a good opportunity to say what I wanted to say ;).

Yep a few people do say that. There are a teeny 3% of puppies who aren't immune after the second injection which is why the 3rd injection exists. It's entirely possible that those 3% will never become immune at all, even after the 3rd injection. Certainly with human injections there is a small percentage of the population who won't gain immunity through vaccination. Some people don't bother with the 3rd injection at all. It's entirely your decision about when your pup is socialised but there are hundreds of indoors vet clinic based puppy schools operating and there are thousands of exhibitors who show their pups from 12 weeks onwards and outdoor obedience classes starting at 12 weeks. I doubt this would be happening if the risk was significant. What is significant is that a pup who isn't taken through these steps misses out on vital socialisation with other pups from the age of 8 weeks until 16 weeks. That's a very important period of social development that a puppy spends on it's own .

Puppy preschools are held inside vet surgeries on clean floors. They are designed for puppies from 8 weeks onwards You can take him now if you like. You can start taking your dog out to proper obedience lessons in a grassed environment with other dogs after their 12 week vaccination. (many of us start showing our pups at that age too).

Optiumum is sold in regular supermarkets in an 8kg bag. Produce and pet stores have it in 15 or 20kg bags (can't remember).

For those people who buy Optimum... it is much cheaper at Big W than anywhere else I can find it. Coles and Woolworths have it for $31.99 for an 8kg bag. Big W have it for about $27. More likely to be on sale too. For some reason Woolworths have higher prices on the same pet items than Big W. Same company so I don't know why. In my case they are within the same building so it can't have much to do with demographics or rent!

Labradors are a breed who are notorious for being out of control if they aren't trained. I've rehomed lots of young labs who've become too much for their owners. People somehow expect them to go from cute puppy into docile adult and that just doesn't happen!! Lab puppies get big very quickly and therefore potentially harder to control. I make sure my puppy buyers know that I EXPECT them to take them not only to puppy school but to a proper dog obedience course after that for at least 8 - 12 weeks if not longer. Most labs need firm and consistent training. Obedience lessons will teach you how to train him.

I would seek out the advice of a good animal chiropractor before I considered surgery. My Vetchiro says he has about 50% success rate with chiropractic care and special exercises.

I grab their muzzle from underneath, one finger firm tap to the nose and say "NO" very gruffly. It's always done the trick for me except with my first boy who I wasn't tough enough with as a pup. He still takes my whole wrist in his mouth and has a gentle mouth when he's being sooky.

Most people who feed BARF have never been near BARF patties. If they care about the dog's wellbeing they will find an acceptable way of feeding him natural food. I agree with the minced chicken frames etc. It may take a couple of weeks of mixed feeding until he is totally on the new food but it will be well worth it. If a dog (or a human) has bad allergies it takes MONTHS to detox their digestive system. They need to put him on a new, completely natural, raw diet and stick with it religiously for over three months. The dog may get worse for the first couple of weeks as he detoxes. His gut is probably extremely inflammed from all the grains he's been eating and it will take time to settle. A natural diet sounds a helluva lot better than painful, expensive surgery. The natural diet will cure all his allergy problems, not just the ear ones.

Yes because dogs totally sort through skin and guts when they eat a whole chicken. I find Leonards chicken mince is very finely ground - it actually seems to be "whipped" and pasty. It is so finely ground I am feeding it to the 800g Pom puppy with total confidence. It is ground carcasses with nothing else (no sausage meat or preservative) added. Why would you bother cooking it? Why waste the time just to ruin it and make it less digestible? I've been feeding raw meat as part of the diet for years without Salmonella problems. I would see the risk of feeding cooked meat long term as much larger than the risk of food poisoning. Dogs are designed to eat rotting meat in the wild - they don't get sick as easily as us weak humans do! They are scavengers and opportunists and their guts haven't evolved too far in the past few hundred years. My local Leonards sells four large chicken carcasses (lots of meat still on) for $2 per bag. They are big enough to be a meal for a fully grown labrador at about half a kg each. I wouldn't and don't feed them exclusively but if you were running short of money it's a very cheap way to get by for you if you want to keep feeding the more expensive food.

Optimum is the middle of the range brand from Masterfoods. They also sell Pal (poop city economy range) and Advance (premium range). Optimum isn't bad. I wouldn't buy anything else from the supermarket. Certainly less poos than the Supercoat I used to use.

Does anyone know what is in Biolac Coat Improver?

Well done Bruno. It's such a relief when they finally mature isn't it? Good on you for all your hard work. You now have a great companion for several years. You will look back on his first year and laugh (well maybe not yet )

If you are right about the cause then there is no reason to give anything. An upset tummy from change in diet just needs to run its' course. I am guessing you'll soon know if it's something more serious in which case a trip to the vet would be warranted. Giving dogs (or humans) some rice water usually helps with upset tummies. Just cook up some rice and give them the water you'd usually drain off.

Sorry to hear that Tess. RIP Thomas.