Mr Tiddles

Australian terriers always for me, too used to them.

There is a Best Friends in Melton where I have taken my two Australian Terriers to, they seem ok.

We just recently got one of these stores in Melton ( built right across the rd from the Melton petstock )

I went in it for the first time yesterday & it seems pretty good....It is a pet suppy store, Vet & grooming salon all in the one buiding. The man that served me also said they also do work shops in pet care like grooming ect...

He also gave me a 10% VIP card.

I wonder if they will take business away from Petstock. Our Petstock sells birds & small animals like rabbits...where this new store does not sell any animals at all.

Does anyone else have one of these stores near them? What do you think of it? & has anyone used their grooming & Vet services.

I have been to the Melton store as well. Not 100% sure about the freshness of their Ecopet but they have a great range of products.

Bobby was groomed a fortnight ago and Mr Tiddles is booked in on Friday. The grooming seems pretty good.

Might bump into you in there one day....I brought Bailey in there with me yesterday, so if you ever see a woman in there with an Aussie terrier it could be me.

I would love to see some pics of your Aussies all nicely groomed.

I will be the guy with the two nicely groomed albeit plump boys.

We just recently got one of these stores in Melton ( built right across the rd from the Melton petstock )

I went in it for the first time yesterday & it seems pretty good....It is a pet suppy store, Vet & grooming salon all in the one buiding. The man that served me also said they also do work shops in pet care like grooming ect...

He also gave me a 10% VIP card.

I wonder if they will take business away from Petstock. Our Petstock sells birds & small animals like rabbits...where this new store does not sell any animals at all.

Does anyone else have one of these stores near them? What do you think of it? & has anyone used their grooming & Vet services.

I have been to the Melton store as well. Not 100% sure about the freshness of their Ecopet but they have a great range of products.

Bobby was groomed a fortnight ago and Mr Tiddles is booked in on Friday. The grooming seems pretty good.

Hopefully the Ecopet will be ok, they do love it.

The weight loss seems to be working. I am going to weigh them on Wednesday so m crossing my fingers for a little bit off.

Just wondering about Ecopet.

I have bought a 2.5kg roll and the boys love it but I was wondering about the meat itself.

When I cut a slice, it is red/pink mostly but on the perimeter of the slice, it is grey. Almost like it is off. The whole outside of the roll is grey.

I know that there are no preservatives in the roll so is this colour normal?

Neither will chase balls (my fault, never taught them to chase) although Mr T spends a lot of time in the kitchen watching for the mouse that lives behind the fridge to come out then he makes a mad limp towards it.

Haha maybe get them a toy rat to chase, what about a game of tug-of-war, just need to keep them moving, as with people small amounts often and build it up.

If you want to meet up at Bulla let me know and I will bring along sample of what I would feed my two for the day and see how yours compare with their diet.

That would be great if I could check what you feed your dogs.

I went to my local Best Friends warehouse today looking for kibble and couldn't decide on what was best. Decided upon what I had been told was the best kibble Purina Supercoat Lite and Mature. Hopefully they like it.

Neither will chase balls (my fault, never taught them to chase) although Mr T spends a lot of time in the kitchen watching for the mouse that lives behind the fridge to come out then he makes a mad limp towards it.

Once Mr Tiddles is back to full health (another 2 weeks, perhaps a bit more), I will get him groomed and follow your suggestions, which do sound better than what was done.

Next time you see my boys at Bulla, you will be impressed by their slenderness (I hope!).

I haven't entered any shows at Bulla for a while but there is one on Sept 4th that I would be happy to come and do a groom for you, if you want to meet up there.

How are the boys doing with their weight loss?

That would be great if you could do a groom but Mr Tiddles does have a lot of fur. Maybe I could just watch you brush one of your dogs?

The weight loss is going slowly. Bobby has dropped 600 grams which is good, he is down to 14.2kgs and I am weighing him again this morning but the exercise has been less for the last few days as I hurt my back so I am walking very gingerly.

Once Mr Tiddles is back to full health (another 2 weeks, perhaps a bit more), I will get him groomed and follow your suggestions, which do sound better than what was done.

Next time you see my boys at Bulla, you will be impressed by their slenderness (I hope!).

so I thought that he might as well be happy and limp around the house.

Confining him to a crate/room not only allows the bad leg to rest & heal..it also prevents too much load being put on the OTHER knee ..and risking that one being injured as well. ..esp as he has extra weight on him.

True but he is walking around the room anyway. Very difficult to keep him still as he is an active gentleman. I am keeping him very quiet, when I take him into the backyard, I make sure the other dog is not with him, so he doesn't get excited.

sometimes dogs don't use the operated leg for a fortnight or more but for him, he takes about 2-3 days then puts a bit of weight on it.

Just curious, what did the vet say as to his post- op care?

I was under the impression that dogs who have had knee surgery should be confined/crated and NOT use the leg. It takes weeks for knee joints to recover...

The vet said that he should be confined to a room for about 10 to 14 days, and should not do any running.

He doesn't do any running but was being driven crazy in the room and was walking around anyway, so I thought that he might as well be happy and limp around the house.

Thank you for the info on grooming, I am going to give it a go on Mr Tiddles when he is a bit stronger. Bobby will be an easy groom now as he has very little fur at all. The one problem with the grooming is that it has made his weight problem quite noticeable. :D

How did Mr Tiddles go with his operation?

Mr Tiddles has the cruciate and patella done on his right back leg on Monday. Took him 3 days and he is now using the leg again, admittedly he takes a few steps then just lifts it and hops around. He is going very well, sometimes dogs don't use the operated leg for a fortnight or more but for him, he takes about 2-3 days then puts a bit of weight on it.

Mr Tiddles, why don't you come along and watch the Australian Terrier Club of Vic specialty show this Sunday (31st July) at Bulla, starts at 11.30 am.

By the way I would ditch the My Dog too as others have said. Look at foods that are more natural but filling, canned foods are high percentage of water.

Went to the show on Sunday and was in love with all the dogs on show (admittedly one couldn't love my two more). Will have to drop the weight off them though, there was a massive (literally) difference between my two and the show dogs (who mostly were blue and tan - aren't reds popular anymore?)

It was good meeting you, learned a lot just from the few minutes.

Keep up the good work with the diet, they will feel like new pups if you can get them down to a reasonable weight, although they are very much on the larger side general build wise (probably why they were selected to go to pet homes originally)I would tend to think 8-10 kg a suitable weight to aim for, hope you now have bit more knowledge to advise your vet too.

The blue and tans are much stronger in Victoria but NSW and Qld have quite a few reds being shown (have a look at the profiles on DOL).

If you would like to learn how to groom them sometime let me know, lot of dead coat on them at moment, that would get some weight of them too ;).

I did notice the difference in the coats of my two (who get regular brushing) and the show dogs.

There is a new Best Friends franchise opened up near me so I am going to take Bobby there to have his first ever grooming. They are supposed to be very good.

Hi, Here is a link about grooming an Aussie http://australianterrierclubnsw.com/grooming.html

If you take them to be groomed at a salon, see if they will hand strip, clipping will soften the coat and your guys look like it will strip out very easily. What do you use to groom them now ie brush, comb, stripping knife, grooming block? Also, what shampoo do you use?

Just got back from the grooming. Took Bobby and he is a new dog now. He was clippered at a size 3 and looks pretty good.

Normally I use a brush on them but the thing is that the boys go walking in the grass at least daily and their undercarriage gets all knotted. Bobby is totally shaved off underneath now.

Mr Tiddles, why don't you come along and watch the Australian Terrier Club of Vic specialty show this Sunday (31st July) at Bulla, starts at 11.30 am.

By the way I would ditch the My Dog too as others have said. Look at foods that are more natural but filling, canned foods are high percentage of water.

Went to the show on Sunday and was in love with all the dogs on show (admittedly one couldn't love my two more). Will have to drop the weight off them though, there was a massive (literally) difference between my two and the show dogs (who mostly were blue and tan - aren't reds popular anymore?)

It was good meeting you, learned a lot just from the few minutes.

Keep up the good work with the diet, they will feel like new pups if you can get them down to a reasonable weight, although they are very much on the larger side general build wise (probably why they were selected to go to pet homes originally)I would tend to think 8-10 kg a suitable weight to aim for, hope you now have bit more knowledge to advise your vet too.

The blue and tans are much stronger in Victoria but NSW and Qld have quite a few reds being shown (have a look at the profiles on DOL).

If you would like to learn how to groom them sometime let me know, lot of dead coat on them at moment, that would get some weight of them too ;).

I did notice the difference in the coats of my two (who get regular brushing) and the show dogs.

There is a new Best Friends franchise opened up near me so I am going to take Bobby there to have his first ever grooming. They are supposed to be very good.

Mr Tiddles, why don't you come along and watch the Australian Terrier Club of Vic specialty show this Sunday (31st July) at Bulla, starts at 11.30 am.

By the way I would ditch the My Dog too as others have said. Look at foods that are more natural but filling, canned foods are high percentage of water.

Went to the show on Sunday and was in love with all the dogs on show (admittedly one couldn't love my two more). Will have to drop the weight off them though, there was a massive (literally) difference between my two and the show dogs (who mostly were blue and tan - aren't reds popular anymore?)

It was good meeting you, learned a lot just from the few minutes.

Mr Tiddles has dropped 800 grams in the last fortnight from the diet, going well.

I feed my aussie raw meat/bones/vegies. He is 9.7kg - but skinny as he is slightly bigger than standard. I think you can give them less dry food; however maybe better increase the activity. Do you walk them every day? How long? Is it just walk or plenty of running, playing together?

I walk them every day but the 6 year old (Mr Tiddles) has had arthritis since he was a pup and on Monday, he will have his third leg operation (three different legs) so he is a little slow. Bobby at 4 years old is a bundle of energy but plump.

I take them both swimming once a week and now that I am on holidays for the next 6 weeks, Bobby will get two swims a week.

Mr T likes the roo meat, Bobby is a little more wary of it.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

They had their last My Dog last night and I have bought some lean roo meat for them to try tonight.

Hadn't heard of the specialty show at Bulla, they are only 40 kms away from me, so I will take my boys and go on Sunday if I can.

Try calling Kepala Pet Resort. They look after dogs after their owners have passed on. Not sure if they do it often or how much it costs but the resort is very good.

Hi,

My two boys - Mr Tiddles and Bobby - are a touch plump and I am looking for a good diet for them.

They are aged 6 and 4 so should be in good health (Bobby is in great health but is 14kgs while Mr T has bad legs and is 12.6kgs)

Currently I give them a handful (maybe 10) little biscuits in the morning, just kibble biscuits from Optimum. For tea, they get half a bowl of grated carrot, 50 grams of My Dog and half a cup each of the Optimum biscuits.

Is there a diet they should be on? Something that is perfect for small terriers?

Thanks,

Peter.

I use Richard at the Ballarat Vet Practice in Howitt St Wendouree,,have used Richard for the last 10 years or so,, never had a problem, he actually listens to me lol

I have been to Richard before and he is very good. Knowledgable and has also written a book on dogs, so he knows what he is talking about and cares.

I went for PetPlan today on the budget package of about $40 a month for my 4 year old Aussie terrier.

http://www.pawsitiveanimaltherapies.com.au/

Try Melissa, she works out of Sydenham, Albert Park, Brunswick and Diggers Rest, and can do home visits.