Prydenjoy

Holly, certainly not rude, a great help really! I will go and do that now

I guess sometimes you never know what the owners of a pup will turn out to be like, some people are just clueless and don't have any common sense at all. Greytmates idea is really good, I think I would do something similar if I were breeding. Fin, sounds good but maybe you could try adding in a few different types of bones and some offal? That would probably add to the variety, remember, variety is the spice of life! Aatainc, thanks for that, I had no idea! I'm very sorry

Rappie, I would certainly not say too skinny. Skinny is best if you ask me, my sisters Lab x has been kept on the lean side since Claire got her from Dad when Dad moved to Fiji, lately she has been eating the fruit off a fruit tree in the back yard, which gives her the runs and makes everything go straight through her. You can see most of her ribs and she is very skinny, fact is, she is happier and livelier than she has ever been, even when she was lean before (could see two of her ribs, not practically all of them like you can now), she has got so much energy and endurance - other people may say she is too skinny, but isn't it how the dog feels that counts? Also, apparently slightly underweight dogs live longer than others, probably because there is less strain on their heart etc. As long as the dog is getting enough nutrients from its food that it is active and healthy, that is the most important thing.

I think no matter what the owners of that dog were feeding, they would get it wrong, they weren't even sure what type of dry they were feeding! Why would you feed senior dog food to a growing dog? It is my understanding that senior foods have restricted calories also. I would have emphasised bones, lots of bones, the worst thing a person can do is add calcium supps to an already unbalanced diet, if they were so clueless about diet, they were probably supplementing with WAY too much calcium, especially considering the bulk of the diet was veggies, and there was barely any meat! I'd give a friendly call back and just make sure they'd cut out the calcium supplements asap!

I've just started using Advocate, seeing as my dogs need to be heart wormed now (they didn't before as we don't get heart worm here, but seeing as Diego is travelling around to shows I need it now). I figure its cheaper and easier than doing heart worm, frontline and worming, it also means I don't forget one or the other because its all in one, the only thing I have to remember to do now is tapeworm! Apparently it doesn't do ticks though (we don't get ticks here anyway, so its not an issue for me!). I have never heard of Sentinel before, but will probably use that too, I like to rotate things so that resistance to one product doesn't build up. Does anyone know anything about Revolotion? Does it do tapeworm or ticks? All I know about it is that it is more expensive than Advocate, the vets told me that aside from that it's pretty much the same!

Hmm... let me just say that I am a fan of LEAN dogs, the leaner the better, as long as you can't see any more than two ribs (I believe a good weight is when you can see the last two ribs, but in certain breeds even two ribs is too skinny). So although I wouldn't say she is "fat", I would say that maybe a little bit could come off :rolleyes:

I am so sorry to hear Jaqui. Treasure every second with her, make sure she knows she is the most special thing in this world, and at least she will leave this world a very happy dog.

I'm always worried when I introduce a new type of seafood to my dogs, I know with some people that just a mouth full (even less) can kill them and I'm paranoid of this happening to the dogs. Does anyone know if some dogs react as violently as some humans? We have had the sardines in spring water taken off the shelf (no idea why, maybe not enough people bought it?), so I'm forced to feed it with veggie oil. I rather the ones in spring water because there is too much oil in the ones in oil, and I hate tipping it down the sink, plus I add my own oils to the dogs diet (eg cod liver, salmon, EPO etc), so they don't need the extra veggie oil.

Salli, the worms in kangaroo meat may be harmless to dogs, but if the dog eats them and licks you, or even poo's in the backyard, it can be transmitted to humans and be potentially deadly. My dogs get wormed very regularly, every month or two, living on a farm, and having dogs that find and eat dead roo's, rabbits and sheep, I don't want to take the risk with hydatid tapeworm.

Toohey, I hope you don't mean a human brand of no more tears - humans have a different acidity to dogs, and using our shampoo on them can lead to itching and irritating in the best case scenario, to severe life scarring for a worst case scenario. I find the oat meal shampoo and conditioner that you can get at vets to be quite gentle and pleasant smelling. I wash my guys in the bath, on a rubber mat, with a shower attachment for the tap - this way they get properly washed and rinsed with a good temp of water. For their ears I pull them back, put my thumb over the ear canal so no water gets in and just wash them that way. With their eyes, well when I start their forehead they know to close their eyes because they are next!

Do you think we have any "big" pet shops here? Will have to wait until I go on holiday next, probably when we go to pick up our puppy next year! :rolleyes:

LOL, that would be great... except.... I'm allergic to garlic! Capanash, I was wondering weather there was any emu oil dog shampoo's available, I was actually going to email the site and ask about it! Is there a web page for it? Where do you get it? I have Mac OS X - not a single problem yet, so simple to use, no angry moods at a stupid computer that wont do what I want it to, just pure excellence!

Christina, first off I want to say I love your avator and signature! LOL, I just emailed it to my dad, I'm sure he'll have a good laugh! We are Mac lovers all the way :D Yes, it is fairly expensive, but well worth the money! I used to spend up to $15-20 a week on creams and stuff, I've changed my diet etc now so its not as bad, but the Emu oil will last a long time if you use it sparingly (which I haven't been, but I will be now!). You need to use a little bit more when you first start using it, but then when you start getting better and there are only a couple of itchy bits you only have to use a tiny amount and rub it in once or twice a day. Also, taken internally it helps the itchyness not crop up at all, and you only take a little bit that way. I also recommend the soap, provided you don't have dry skin on your face you can even use it to wash your face, it is light and works well. You'd need one of those soap things though if your soap holder fills up with water at all, it goes mushy pretty easily. (Did that last bit just make any sense??? I know what I mean! )

Myszka, you can order it from the web page. I'm glad I found it, Diego has a show this weekend, I just noticed some red on his belly, probably from speeding through the long grass at like 50km/hour, so I just rubbed some on and its already looking better

I've got a catalogue and I think when anyone asks me what I want for christmas I will say anything out of that! Did you use it internally or externally for your pup? I'm actually amazed at how quickly its cleared up my eczema! I emailed the company, asking if it needed to be refrigerated to prevent the EFAs from going rancid, they called me back today and were very helpful! They said just to keep it out of the sun, in a cupboard was a good place Do you use one from a different company, or a different type of emu altogether? Its all very confusing, but in the pamphlets its got some studies done preparing it to different emu oils (there was the Emu Spirit, Emu... Outback or something, etc) and it rated better than the others in all areas. I would assume though, that if any company were to market Emu Oil they'd be using the good one!

Thank you so much Mita I think Emu oil and fish oils are two oils that you could rotate for maximum benefits. Fish oil is higher in omega 3, which is important to add to their diet as otherwise there is an imbalance of omega 3-6! When mum gave me the Emu oil she specifically said it was for ME, not for the dogs... she knows everything I get ends up being used for the dogs!

Mum bought me some Emu Spirit Oil for my eczema, I was reading the pamphelts and thought I'd buy some for the dogs! It is rich in omega-6 (and 9) and seeing as it is animal based I figured it would be better than EPO for dogs! Just thought I'd share

Thanks for the tip My little kitten needs her necks bashed up, I'm hoping that one day she'll learn to chew because at the moment even a tiny speck that hasn't been bashed is left in the bowl, the meat chewed clean off it! I don't think dogs have this problem though!

"Give Your Dog A Bone" also has tips for pups in it. My advice is just to keep it simple, wait a week or two before adding any veggies or organ meat. From what I remember, too much calcium isn't that much of a worry as they are getting it naturally, its a lot easier to over dose on something if you are feeding it in a synthetic form.

No wonder they get sick on canned food, it wrecks havok on their digestive system. Raw meaty bones would make a much healthier, satisfying addition to their diet. Chris, what breed is Tyson? My guys are all BARF fed, they get two walks a day and are extremely healthy. They are two Papillons and a Whippet and are all extremely athletic.

My guys are always getting a varied diet, and I'm always revising it too. I'll go on their latest diet though. 1. what do you feed? 5 x a week - veggie mix (3kg veggies, 500g fruit, 1.5kg offal, 500g muscle meat, 1kg ground chicken carcass, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, garlic, 4 eggs) 1 x a week - Either fresh fish or sardines and egg. 1 x a week - "Free day" - Recreational bone, giblets, turkey wing, brains... what ever I pick up from the supermarket! Every day they get RMB's for dinner, which is usually chicken or rabbit, once or twice a week they get lamb (too fatty to feed more often) 4 times a week they get a powder which is kelp, brewers yeast, spirulina and wheat germ. Twice a week they get a vitamin C and Ginger powder. Every day they get yoghurt and vitamin E. Twice a week they get cod liver oil, twice a week they get salmon oil and twice a week they get evening primrose oil. They usually get an extra egg once or twice a week and just recently I've been adding cottage cheese twice a week. 2. how often? Twice a day. 3. how much? The Papillons get 100g a day, the Whippet gets about half a kg 4. what breed, age, sex and weight is your pet? One 3kg female Papillon, 5 and a half years old. One 1.7kg Papillon, 2 years old. One 6 month old Whippet, about 10kg, just over I think (he's still growing so I don't know!). Oh, and a Devon Rex kitten, but thats a different story! 5. where do you purchase your ingredients from? Butchers, supermarkets. 6. have you always fed your dog this diet, or did you change over to it gradually? if yes, how did your dog react? Montie and Diego had a gradual change, Cassie went cold turkey. They all did fine. 7. what have been the advantages and disadvantages? The advantages are numberous, I also changed my sisters dogs over while I was living with them. Advantages range from dissapearing skin allergys, reduced levels of arthritis, returned pigment to coat in grey animals, all the complements I get while walking them, happy, healthy dogs, no doggy odour from chronically stinky dogs, clean teeth, NO vet bills (aside from Montie getting attacked by a husky, then a staffy...), less shedding ie no fur around the house, no more depression for chronically depressed dog, less aggression, fresh breath... shall I go on??? Disadvantages are: Need to buy another freezer just for the dogs, forget to defrost, have to make up their food every couple of weeks, difficult to travell. 8. have you seen changes in your dog, ie. coat, energy levels? HAVE I EVER!!!! Cassie, the 5 year old, came to me as a scraggy dog, with a rough coat which was about 2cm long. Her fur now is close to 20cm, wavy, soft, beautiful, thick, EVERYONE who saw her when I first got her doesn't believe that she's the same dog. She's got so much more energy too, its great. Since I've started adding more veggies + yoghurt to the diet Monties fur has gone really thick, he looks round but he's not fat! He was healthy before, but I've gotta say he's looking tops now. Diego is the softest dog you'll ever touch, I'd put money on it, his fur is so thick for a Whippet! His muscles are much well developed and distinguished than any other pup his age, not for lots of exercise, just from his good diet. My last Boxer was extremely aggressive, it reduced her aggression levels, unfortunately not enough, but if it had only been a mild aggression to start with it would have sorted it out completely. Also, although they have more energy, they are less hyper and better behaved, kinda like taking fizzy drinks out of a childs diet. I couldn't be happier