cazxxz

Lots of pet supply stores have the Kong Cloud Collar. Call around to find the right size before you bother going out.

As others have said, your dog may still be able to get to the stitches, but I'd still try it first. And I had a good giggle at Darcy (little Westie) wearing his collar. He looked like he was wearing a haemorrhoid cushion XD

Does anyone have a recommendation for RMBs, poultry, or offal in the Pascoe Vale/Glenroy/Broadmeadows/Coburg area? I have been travelling to Preston but if there's a decent supplier closer to my new home, I would love to try it.

The Coles in Pascoe Vale is pretty rubbish for raw dogs... they just have chicken necks. Nothing else. However, there is a butcher next door that I am yet to try.

Have you turned this place in Essendon?

http://www.petandaquariumwarehouse.com.au

Helpful staff who can offer diet advice.

Cheers,

Thanks for that. I hadn't seen them. I will check them out!

Does anyone have a recommendation for RMBs, poultry, or offal in the Pascoe Vale/Glenroy/Broadmeadows/Coburg area? I have been travelling to Preston but if there's a decent supplier closer to my new home, I would love to try it.

The Coles in Pascoe Vale is pretty rubbish for raw dogs... they just have chicken necks. Nothing else. However, there is a butcher next door that I am yet to try.

Sorry I don't have a recommendation for you but I would love to know where you recommend in Preston?

Preston Market! Turkey necks, turkey chops, pork bones, beef, chicken... all the good stuff. I also love Psarakos (corner Normanby and High) for chicken (offal is same price as at the market, but the rest is more expensive - though not by much), and salmon heads there are very good value. There's EA Salce on High St, and they won't let you look at what's in their freezer but they have some good value stuff. I liked going there for frozen roo tails. I think they have VAN refrigerated food, and maybe Big Dog BARF.

Does anyone have a recommendation for RMBs, poultry, or offal in the Pascoe Vale/Glenroy/Broadmeadows/Coburg area? I have been travelling to Preston but if there's a decent supplier closer to my new home, I would love to try it.

The Coles in Pascoe Vale is pretty rubbish for raw dogs... they just have chicken necks. Nothing else. However, there is a butcher next door that I am yet to try.

Poor Pebbles!! That would really hurt :/

Someone near our small local park keeps dumping bread. I know they want the birds to eat it, but is that species appropriate? Now I try to pick it up and put it in the bin before the dogs eat too much of it. It annoys me more than I know it should!

Thankfully I haven't seen any needles lately, but I do see the odd needle wrapper. Ick.

Also, a little off topic, this is going to sound strange but our puppy school talks about a common problem whereby dogs who are car sick are commony found to have their spine out of alignment (in paricular I think its called an 'atlas' which is the big bone around their head). This didn't mean much to me until I decided to take the advice of the breeder of our second dog and go to the dog chiropractor with both of them - turns out Asti has had a massive headache and spine out of alignment for pretty much her whole life and when she was little she used to get car sick - i just didn't know it was because of her spine I thought it was the playing at the dog park

I would say that's completely on topic and I was going to mention the same thing. Other threads in this community on the subject of motion sickness in dogs have mentioned that an adjustment to the atlas bone can be a cure!

I don't know who you live with so this may be irrelevant: Talk to other members of the household so that they understand the goals, rules, and can cooperate by not feeding the dogs anything outside of the diet you have prepared.

Also, think about whether there might be overly friendly neighbours sneaking treats to your dogs when you're not around. My dog lost a bit of weight when one neighbour moved - she was very difficult to convince to stop feeding him!

I know what you mean about the small meals. I have a Westie who loves his food (and it shows). Most days he just gets one chicken frame, which would weigh less than 200 g, and he is at a good weight and isn't starving. Chopped kangaroo tails are good too - the larger pieces (>200 g) go to the big dogs, and a smaller piece is the right size for one day of food for the little one.

I found a place to buy green tripe! I have some in my freezer now, and the dogs have all had a serve today. I will be interested to see if there is any improvement to their health.

The shop is in a northern suburb of Melbourne - this thread has put me off broadcasting its name, even though the owner said to tell people they've got it. So PM me if you want details! It cost $9.35/kg and will be frozen by now (I got it raw - it's not as gross as I was expecting, but is still not pleasant).

EDIT: The pet supply shop I was getting tripe from has now closed. As others have said, tripe is available in the K9 Naturals range, and I think I have seen it in Vets All Natural packaged food. I'm not sure if it's green tripe in the VAN though.

Have you tried other bones?

The 10+ year old malamute I live with loves salmon heads, spines and tails.

I'm pretty biased because I've seen a chiropractor my whole life, but I don't know what I'd do without chiropractors. They're not all great, unfortunately.

My dog, and the other two I live with, are lucky enough to see a chiropractor regularly. The Westie (~10 years old) was not putting weight on one leg, and sometimes he was limping so badly that he had to be carried home. He had a few adjustments, and now he is weight-bearing and he runs around the park, never needs to be carried. He still sometimes favours the leg (like he'll put it down for one step, then not the next, and so on), but the improvement is great and he seems a lot happier.

Northcote Leader article

DAREBIN Council rangers will doorknock owners who have previously registered restricted-breed dogs, following a dog attack in Reservoir that killed a staffordshire terrier and injured its owner.

Darebin Mayor Diana Asmar said that any unregistered and restricted breeds would be immediately impounded.

“I think the community, whether that is other dogs or residents, must feel safe at all times,” Cr Asmar said.

“The responsibility is on the owner to ensure that they abide by the law, and register their dogs, and make sure their dogs are secured.”

The State Government’s restricted-breed amnesty ended on September 30, meaning restricted breed dogs - including American pit-bulls - can no longer be legally registered or kept in Victoria and will be destroyed if found.

Dog owners can appeal against breed classification at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. “If there are other pit-bull dogs in our community and they are unregistered, I am asking all owners to surrender those dogs as per state legislation,” Cr Asmar said.

The crackdown followed the death of four-year-old Ayen Chol, killed by a neighbour’s pit bull-cross after it ran into the girl’s St Albans house in August.

Cr Asmar said if residents had any worries about American pit-bulls in their neighbourhood they should call the council on 8470 8888. Residents could also report a dog they believed to be a restricted breed.

They can phone the dangerous dog hotline on 1300 101 080 between 8am and 6pm.

This is my council. The headline got me worried, but it's not as witch-hunty as I anticipated. Surprisingly, there is only one pro-BSL comment.

We have made the cells even cheaper now, so the cost can be even lower than the $1500 - $3000, obviously depending on investigative work your vet might have already performed (ie x rays).

Are these stem cells being used for any other joint conditions? I have only done a bit of research, but I only found cases of bilateral cruciate ligament disease in horses that were treated using stem cells.

I also use whole chicken hearts that are great for big dogs.

Where do you get them from? I can only get beef and sheep hearts.

Some chicken shops sell them. If your local one doesn't have them, maybe ask if they can get them in. I know the nearest chicken shop to me is happy to order things they don't stock, e.g. turkey necks.

Whole chicken hearts are great for small dogs too! The little guy here gets two as part of his raw diet once a week, while the bigger dogs get five times that.

The suggestion of a power dryer is good for separating the coat and being able to view the skin all over (and it will remove a lot of dust and dirt from the coat too!)

What kind of power dryer? Is this specifically for groomers? I'm guessing my hair dryer won't cut it

Just cut food intake by about a third..and exercise more

This.

I know it's simple, but it's the most effective.

Humans who need to lose weight should adopt this approach too - smaller meal portions, more exercise. There is no healthy quick-fix. Our dogs are fortunate in that we control what they eat, so they can't give in to any cupboard, cafe or supermarket temptations.

When my dog needed to lose weight, I kept reducing the amount of dry food he was fed, until he was only getting 1/3 of a cup and a bone each day. Then I changed him to completely raw (starting on the diet meal sizes) and he slowly (and healthily) reached his ideal weight, while eating more food (in terms of mass/volume). If you're worried that your dogs will be too hungry on reduced meal sizes, you can add bulk by giving them grated carrot.

Edited to add:

If you give your dogs treats (ANY treats - a bit of your meal, training treats etc), remember to reduce the size of their next meal. I know too many dogs who are overweight, and might be normal sized if their owners realised how fattening dog treats can be. Another thing is to make sure all members of the household are aware of your goals. When I lived with my parents, there was a lot of sabotage :D

I know a little Westie who has had regular seizures. He's not on medication, but gets weekly chiropractic adjustments, which I'm told have helped a bit. I think he had three consecutive seizure-free months. Interestingly, one chiropractor was able to trigger the seizures, leading him to believe that the seizures were caused by a subluxation I think in the dog's cervical spine.

And recently I pointed out one in the butchers that still had the whole head!

Bonus!

Have you shopped around? I agree with KateAndDuke, it just takes time to get into a routine.

I have been feeding my dog raw for four years or more, and just switched another two dogs that I'm now living with to 100% raw. My plan is to keep the freezer stocked with some bones, and buy the "extras" regularly. I guess the two dogs are easier to feed, though, because they are older and can't really handle bigger, harder bones. They're limited to kangaroo, chicken, and fish.

If you have an industrial area nearby, and there's a meat processing place, they might have reasonably priced stuff.

Shin bones are too hard for daily consumption anyway, aren't they? So maybe they could be an infrequent treat.

Maybe just keep it coz it's so damn cute............

+1

Psarakos in Thornbury has really cheap chicken frames and necks (can't remember exact price, but frames might be about $1/kg). The liver and other offal is the cheapest I've found - $4/kg. Fish shop next door has salmon heads for $1 (they are at least twice that everywhere else I've found them).

EA Salce on High St, Thornbury, has frozen kangaroo tails (and I think bones) for $4/kg.

Pet Maniacs on High St, Thornbury, has frozen Big Dog BARF, which I think is just under $30 for 3 kg. Also has 1 kg containers of BARF made by one of the shop owners for I think $7/kg.

Preston Market has been hot and cold for me. I got pig trotters for $0.60 each, which is great, but I don't always go at the best time for other bones. I saw a poultry shop with a big box of chicken bones for $4 - I will ask what's in it next time I see it (they were closing last time).

Any ideas where to get Chicken Feet from? ... I have called Lenard's Chicken (well they sell everything other bit of the chook so why not the feet) - but so far it is a no-go. Waiting to hear back from Lenards at Brookside as it has been suggested their supplier may be able to get some.

Any suggestions? Looking for 6 to 10kg at a time ...

I saw heaps of chicken feet at a poultry shop run by Asians at Preston Market, in Melbourne. I know you're not in Melbourne, but if there is a market with a meat and poultry section, that'd be worth a try.

Link removed by Troy

"dam is 45kg at 16 months"

Am I wrong to infer that the dam gave birth at just 16 months of age? Is this acceptable practice for registered breeders?

hey FTPO i get mine from Greyhound Products Direct as well, they are friendly and ship really quick.

Hope Benson is ok. xoxo

eta: from what I have read sasha's blend has a smell to it, joint guard doesn't...

Joint Guard has no smell or taste

Mum's Lab gets the powder & my boy gets the treats in his kong every morning

I don't know if JG has a taste or not, but it doesn't smell. SB, however, ...

And Jake agrees. I thought he'd eat anything until I bought SB.

Get well soon, Buster!!

Hello, I have a quick question. My 6 month old gsp pup is raw fed. I'm kind of playing around with amnts but have a question. How do you measure weights of foods?? I feed chicken carcuses but the amnts of meat on them varies. Their weight also obviously includes bone. I have the same issue with meaty bones. How do I measure weights? Does it include bone weight too? Eg I need to feed approx 600g meat a day. If I feed a chicken carcus that weighs total meat and bone 600g is that a correct feed. I feed minces, offal etc too but just can't work out how to balance it with the meat and bone meals. I hope this all makes sense.

I used to struggle with this one too. If you feed a variety of bones, it doesn't really matter. The "best" meat to bone ratio according to prey-model diets, from what I gather, is the lamb shank. Chicken carcasses have a good m:b. You will be able to tell if the ratio is good by looking at the faeces. If it's too dark, the bone content isn't high enough. If it's too white, the meat content isn't high enough.

Except for heart ("muscle meat"), I don't feed my dog any meat off the bone. Does your dog really need 600 g of just meat each day? My dog gets a meaty bone weighing around 500 g, but he is a 30 kg adult.....