Jed

Sometimes pups go through growth stages, and don't eat well for a while. However, 6 weeks is a bit long. I would suggest more variety in the diet - ie, chicken mince, beef mince, mixed with table scraps, and perhaps change the dry food. They can be fussy eaters, and a change often produces dramatic results. The are simply signalling that they are tired of the same old, same old. Chance to a premium dry food - simply to have a change. Perhaps try cooking the mince, with a few veges in a frying pan, and feeding it warm. Also try 1/3 can sardines, and 100g of liver, heart or kidney once a week. If none of that works, try 1/4 packet of My Dog (the one in gravy) mixed in with the food. Put the food down, leave for 15 minutes, and remove. Cavs at that age have lost their puppy fat, and are usually growing, so they are a bit lean looking.

How long has he not been eating? What is he being fed? How often is he being fed?

I would not hesitate to use Vit C on an animal with a tick, or bitten by a snake. But, I would also take the animal immediately to the vet. There are a lot of variables - toxicity of the tick, site the tick is lodged in, paralysis, susceptibility of the animal. As far as I am aware, there have been no scientific tests done which establish that Vit C is effective in treatment of ticks. I have read Pat Coleby's books, and was particularly interested in snake bites and dogs. However, again, there are a lot of variables. Perhaps the animal would have recovered without any treatment - some do. I think what she has to say is excellent, and as Morgan says, the information on feeding horses is spot on, I think. Any animal here with a tick has had injectible Vit C. The cat dragged itself in at 1am - hindlegs paralysed, and lost her voice. I injected with 5m of vit. c. I was unable to raise a vet, so left her until 5am. She looked better, so I injected another 5m of Vit c. By lunchtime she had nearly recovered. By night she was fine. Would she have recovered anyow? I have no idea, but I think not. In fact, I thought she would be worse at 5am!! However, there is always the problem of side effects of ticks - such as inhalation pneumonia etc. and the animal is better at the vets.

Karen Have to disagree with you - most are giving you advice, with perhaps one (or two) jumping down your throat! Unfortunately, there are people who ought not to be put into some situations, because they allow the situation to over-rule their common sense and wider view, becoming quite pedantic and Hiteresque on their pet subjects, to the point of not being able even to debate a point impartially, or to acknowledge other points of view, or research which does not agree with their particular viewpoint. Which viewpoint is often formed by very limited circumstances and experience. Then, lacking empathy or judgement, they attempt to ram their view down the throats of others, which leads new posters like you to say "jumping down my throat". Which is unfortunate, as a lot of others on the forum have a great deal of expertise and experience. They also continually research canine matters which are of interest to them, and are happy to share. So, take the information you want, and ignore anyone you see as "jumping down your throat". You'll find most reasonable and helpful, particularly some of the more experienced owners.

With a larger breed, providing you are able to contain her during her season - I would wait. If you have been able to contain your earlier dogs, I can see no problem. There seems to be sufficient evidence that letting them have a season, or waiting until around 12 months, is a better option, particularly for a larger breed. Vet opinion changes on various matters, but dogs do not. There seems to be growing evidence that medium to large breeds are better left to mature prior to desexing. However, rescues have pups neutered at 8 week or so, without problems. The only reason for early speys is to prevent unwanted litters, and if that is not going to happen, might be better to leave it. The risk of mammary cancer increases if the bitch has a season. If they are speyed pre-season, they are less likely to develop mammary cancer later. However, as dogs seem to randomly develop cancer of all sorts, for no good reason that there is any proof of, whether neutered or not, I wonder if the mammary cancer argument is a valid one!!

I hope a chihuahua breeder will respond. Some lines of chihuahua's do this. Can be triggered by stress etc. Hypoglycaemia brought on by stress ... and not necessarily stress which is readily recognizable. By your description, I don't think it is epilepsy.

4uKaiser Get him checked again at 12 weeks, chances are it will have disappeared. Sometimes, if they are checked following a meal, a murmur can be heard. Advise the breeder of the murmur. If it persists at 12 weeks, I am sure a reputable breeder would take the dog back and give you a refund or another pup. My cocker had a bad double sided murmur at 6 weeks, and still had it at 12 weeks. He is now almost 6 years old, and it has not altered his quality of life at all, or interfered with his activity levels. He lives a normal doggy life. I suppose he may need medication in old age, but so far, so good. Try not to worry too much, but please do speak to the breeder. Even if you wish to keep the dog, the breeder would probably like to know, for their own information.

When you call him, and he comes, what happens? Do you call him because you want to do something with him - ie, groom, put outside etc. that he may not want to do right then? When you call him, and he comes, make a big fuss of him - stroke him, say "good boy" in a happy, encouraging tone a few times, and give him a treat (ie, dried liver). Call him sometimes for no reason, except to reward him for coming. Now that he wont come, you have to walk up to him, make a big fuss of him, and give him a treat. If you could go to obedience, they could show you how to use the "come" command, which would help. Also, if you call him, and he doesn't come, try walking away from him, and see if he will follow.

You haven't had him very long, he does not feel very secure in his new home yet. It probably still feels new and strange. He has always been inside, now he is outside. Which is a big change, and probably, in his eyes, a bad change. He may think he is being punished. When he wakes up, he is lonely and probably doesn't feel too secure in his new home, so he howls as a means of expressing his lonliness and unhappiness. He will probably get over it when he is a little more settled, and accepts that this is his home now. It takes a while for a dog to settle into a new home. He had his home, was settled, went to rescue, and was settling and was uprooted and went to a third home.

Even if a male dog has mated with her, she can be desexed a week or 2 after she has finished her season - that is, when the bleeding has stopped. However, it is better not to let a male dog near her, and if you have secure fences which will not allow her to escape, and you watch her when she is in the backyard, she should be safe. If you are not able to watch her, keep her inside, she only needs to go out to go to the toilet, and for a little exercise.

Steve Get a yorkshire canary this time - they are bigger, and wont fit into the wand!! I used to regularly vacuum the bottom of the cage - no problems. One day he did a bit of a flap, and suuuuuuuuck - up he went. Luckily the yorkshire is a wide shouldered bird and his shoulders stuck, and surprisingly enough, he was ok - a bit glassy eyed though!! I'd like to vacuum the cockatiel's cage, but he witnessed this, and if I can within 20 metres of his cage with the vacuum, he shouts 'NO NO NO, Georgie's a GOOD boy" - and I don't have the heart!!

What breed is the dog? Hypoglycaemia presents in a lot of ways. The ears and gums turning blue suggests a heart problem to me, where there is not enough blood circulating - and the rest almost sounds like a stroke. However, it could be hypoglycaemia, but it rarely causes pain. How long after he ate did he have the seizures? I would suggest feeding him something when he wakes up in the morning. I would also try 5 small feeds a day, and leaving something out for him overnight. Hypoglycaemia can be caused by some internal problems (ie, pancreas, liver etc) and the vet should do a blood sugar test if the dog has another seizure ... the problem will be getting him to the vet in time. Vet probably needs to do bloods anyhow, to even begin getting to the cause of the problem.

Steve The ingredients list is always a conundrum. But, I like to see meat (any type) as the first ingredient, and meat (any type) or meat byproducts as the next two ingredients at least. Why would I pay all that money for a heap of grain and tallow?? Hogwartzboxers Go on, you loooooooooved it!! :p

isavis Well, one would hardly expect a short haired dog to suddenly develop a long coat!! :p The shepherd and f. boxer were not exactly juvenile speys, were they? As to the male boxer, he was not exactly neutered at 8 weeks either - and it may be that he retained a testicle, so would show no changes from desexing at all. Don't quite know what you mean by "juvenile desexed" - but if it was prior to puberty, one would expect him to be hairy and tall .... naturally, but he may be so because of genetics. NO ONE that I can see is against neutering per se - what most of the breeders here are against is neutering, BY LAW at 8 weeks. The only way to ascertain whether juvenile desexing does cause taller, hairier dogs is by checking siblings. 98% of my (long haired) breed is desexed following sale as pets. Most are done prior to 6 months, but after 3 months. Every single one is taller and hairier than undesexed brothers and sisters. From one particular litter, the brother (desexed at 4 months) is twice the size of his undesexed sister - which may simply be that he threw to his bigger father, and she threw to her smaller mother - BUT he has the most enormous coat. My problem is that pet owners have problems dealing with the coat. Clipping some hairy breeds leads to grooming problems. Pet owners choose a breed on numerous things - size, temperament, personality, and ease of keeping, which includes grooming. I tell them the dog will need grooming 2 a week. Then they have the dog desexed, and it grows 3 times more hair that the breed average. It grows more hair than the photos in books, and on the websites. Guess where the turn to complain? Yep. It's my fault. Now I tell them what will happen with the coat and desexing, and they then know what to expect. So, I have now worked out a regime that most of them can cope with. Exactly the same thing happens with Cocker Spaniels - to the point where breeders tell responsible pet owners not to desex under 12 months - and why. If you work in a shelter, you see the bad side of dog ownership, and you naturally want to stop the slaughter. I have lots of empathy with this. I want to stop the slaughter too, as do most responsible breeders. However, making mandatory something which causes your average responsible pet owner a lot of grief is not the way to go. And, if some dogs develop other problems following early desexing, how many will then be abandoned? How many irate owners will return to the breeder, apportioning blame? I am extremely careful where my pups go. Always have been. I am extremely careful about what I breed. I am objective and honest with potential buyers about the good points and problems with the breed. I offer lifetime help. I assess potential buyers extremely carefully. And - I get it right 99% of the time. In the past 20 years, I have sold 4 to homes I am not happy with, although they looked ok at the time. None of these dogs have ended up in the pound. I fail to see how anyone on this forum can accuse people like Morgan and others, who only want the best for the dogs they have spent years and endless time and money breeding, of being anti neutering, and adding to the abandoned dog problem. And who are only trying to ensure that the pups they planned and produce go on to fulfill their full potential. People who buy a speyed pup from a pound do not bitch as loudly or as long about problems as they do when they pay a lot of money from a reputable breeder for a pup from good, and healthy lines, which are health checked. They pay more because they want the best ......... they don't want a dog which has problems caused by early speying.

I have noticed that the pups I sell which are desexed around 6 months are ALWAYS hairier than those not desexed. My male desexed Cocker (which I did not breed) is desexed and has twice the coat of my unrelated female cocker. It is accepted that desexed dogs grow more hair. And most of the desexed males are taller too.

Forget Barkbusters, too expensive, and not very good. Ask your breeder for help, or for the name of a good trainer. Or try your local obedience club. He is a teenager - they do behave badly, but a lot of these problems can be easily eradicated by training. It's up to you to provide the training - he wong suddenly become a good dog. He is only a baby too, what you do with him in the next couple of months will decide whether he is a lovely, responsible, loving member of your family, or just another bit of pound fodder to be put down because he is so badly behaved. If he is eating the laundry door, he has some separation anxiety - and you need to work on this. You could also try giving him a big bone in the laundry when you go out. To keep him occupied. He already knows "sit" and "down" - when he goes to jump on people, give him the sit command, give him a treat, and maybe keep him on lead when people come - ensure that he remains quiet when they are there. Don't get him too excited, or "razz" him when visitors are there. No pats or attention until he is sitting, and remains sitting. Uh, tried shouting at him in a growly voice - EVERY single time he does it? He's a puppy - that's what they do. Stop him demolishing your things - and if he is demolishing his toys, get him more/others. Try those big ropes with knots in them, try proper dog fluffy toys, which are hard to wreck. Balls, kongs etc. He's only a baby = you arent going to get him obedient and like a staid older dog for a few months yet, but by being consistent, and steady with him, and making sure he knows what is acceptable and not acceptable you will have a good dog. Cockers love people, are not hard to train, and are generally obedient. And that would be because your oh is razzing him, flapping his hands, making funny noises, rough housing the dog, would it not? He needs to stop. Play at present should be restricted to the dog sitting/lying still, and you talking quietly to him or stroking him. Other play should involve chasing and retrieving balls or other toys, not mouthing your oh. He will only be as silly as you make him

He's eaten the bed because (a) he's 6 months old, and they do things like that (b) he's bored and lonely He has been inside, he is lonely outside, he doesn't understand why is he outside. Sitting or sleeping on the concrete is very bad for him. Concrete is a "heat soak" - that is, it sucks the heat from bodies. Buy him a sling bed with a bag cover, he can only eat the bag, and the only cost $4.50, or buy him a proper Ferplast bed (which looks like a plastic basket, but is indestructible) (from good pet shops) and buy an old bedspread/blanket from an op shop, and line the bed with that. When he eats the blanket, buy another one. Best practice would be to allow him inside, with some training about not stealing from the table, and allow him to sleep in his own bed, in your bedroom. If you train him, and allow him in regularly, he will behave in the house. Oh, and best advice - ditch the partner, keep the dog. Bargain!!

Maybe you should begin another thread, Border Lover, as this one is about choosing between the 2 foods Steve offered, and once the thread goes off topic, it will be difficult for Steve to assimilate the answers.

I had a cav with generalised demodex (caused by stress), and she was treated with ivermec for a long time. The results weren't very good, so the vet suggested a change to cydectin (same drug, different base), and that did clear it, but she was on the drugs for months. No ill effects. She was so bad I was beginning to wonder if we would even be able to save her life. Things like aloe vera (cold pressed) can help too. Do some internet research on immune systems, and you will come up with things other than Vit. C, which will work.

Hi, Cinniespider, that's great news. I have been checking back to see how he got on. Presumably he got some relevant treatment from the second vet. Do you know what the problem was?

Tramissa But, what should she report? As I read it, the breeder did everything possible to rectify the situation.

I apologise, you did not say it was HD. Someone else did. It's not HD. I stand by what I said - it was more likely to be an injury, maybe acquired at the breeders, or the new owners - it may in fact have been a muscle weakness from being ill. From what you wrote earlier, the breeder took the pup to the vet - and presumably paid the bill - returned the pup to your friend. Your friend decided she didn't want it any more, so returned it to the breeder, presumably for a refund. I don't understand this - "no help from the breeder". What sort of help exactly did you expect? As far as I can see, there wasn't much else to be done? The vet cured the pup, the breeder paid the bill, the breeder took the pup back, and refunded the price. But you are complaining. Whats the problem? And as far as the corona vaccine goes, it's not terribly effective anyhow, and the pup may well have contracted corona even if it had been vaccinated. The only way to vaccinate against corona is to give the pup a C7 - which means SEVEN live vaccines at once. In a 6 - 7 week old pup. Frankly, as a breeder, I'd prefer the pup to take it's chance with corona than to vaccinate with a C7. Most vets are not enthusiastic about vaccinating with C7 as a first vaccination. The vaccine is quite likely to cause damage to the immune system - and has done on a lot of occasions - in 12 or 16 week old pups.

Your vet is following "best practice", which is to get rid of the demodex as soon as possible, and to prevent any bacterial or other infection of the areas. The demodex may heal by itself, but there is the possibility it will get worse. There can be problems with ivermec, but the main reason it is not approved for use in dogs is that no one got around to it. It was originally approved for use in horses everywhere in the world EXCEPT Australia, for something like 4 years. It finally was approved for use in horses in Aus, and is now the main ingredient of 90% of horse wormers. Ivermec is widely used by dog owners and particulary breeders, for intestinal worms and as a preventative for heartworm in dogs, approved or not, and is also regularly recommended as the best treatment for demodex.

I can't see what the problem here is. If the vet wouldn't tell your friend what the problem was, that's a problem with the vet - so the breeder did. I presume the breeder was paying the vet bills? So, the vet was heeding the privacy laws, and not telling someone who was not paying the bills. Whilst it is not ideal that the pup had corona virus, it does happen, and mostly, it is no ones fault. The breeder then took back the pup at your friend's request, and I presume, gave her a refund. There should be no probem with that. You seem to be concerned about the breeder's blase attitude. Maybe her attitude was blase because she understood the pup would fully recover. You might also tell us what the virus was doing to the pup's stomach? The puppy was limping. Pups DO NOT limp from HD at 8 weeks of age, so there was probably something else wrong with the pup - the limp presumably was not diagnosed, so it's not very fair to say it was HD, unless there is proof. And there isn't, because it is not HD. Why do you think it "was going to get a whole lot worse"? Are your qualified to make that statement? Do you have extensive experience with HD? A pup is not a bicycle, it is a living organism, prone to ailments which which any living organism can have. Corona Virus is highly contagious, and can be caught from people's hands or shoes, or contact with another dog which has the virus, but may not be showing any symptoms. It is rarely fatal, and is like numerous other viruses that dogs or people can contract - such as the cold virus. I don't think it is very reasonable to come onto a public forum and paste a breeder because the pup caught a virus, and then blame the breeder because the pup had an undiagnosed limp, which may have been due to someone standing on it, falling off something or any number of other causes. Something which probably happened when it was in your friend's care, incidentally. The breeder was there for the buyer - she told her what she thought the problem with the pup was - and took the pup back and gave a refund, at your friend's request. What more did you expect? I think the breeder did the right thing, but you are looking for someone to blame - get over it, things happen to living organisms which no one, and no care in the world, can prevent. Your friend decided to return a pup which was sick, but which would recover, and which had an undiagnosed limp. The breeder took it back, and was probably pleased to do so, because, imho, your friend's attitude to the pup did not show the caring attitude that dog owners should exhibit.

And, of course, your sister's dogs and pup, not having been wormed, and having fleas, will be happily passing on tape and hookworms to your dogs, via the ground (hookworm) and the flieas (tapeworm), so in addition to everything else, you must worm her dogs, and you should worm your dogs, before they become ill. The fleas will happily migrate to your ground, and breed, giving you an ongoing problem, so treating all the dogs for fleas is a must too.