sandgrubber

Hello sandgrubber, not sure where you are in Perth but we have been taking our Newf puppy to Rivergum in Willeton for issues with her hind legs caused by a spinal lesion. I would highly recommend them, however as they are specialista you would need a referral. Thanks for the recommendation. She took the pup to Applecross and was told it didn't look serious (growing pains), but he as grown too rapidly -- put him on adult dog food and feed him less. If still limping in a month or two . . . back for Xrays. Sounds reasonable to me. Applecross is very good at taking Xrays, and gives them to you . . . so if that step gets taken she should be in a good position to go on to a specialist if appropriate.

A Labbie pup I sold (now 5 1/2 months old) is limping -- one hind leg. He stands and walks funny, with hocks in a bit, toes out. He is somewhat overweight, and grew very rapidly. No obvious genetic explanation. There are some dodgy elbows on his dam's side but hip scores are excellent for two to three generations . . . the worst score being a grandsire with a 5:4. I'd like to set the puppy buyer on the right track toward getting a good diagnosis of what is going on. Can anyone suggest a vet who is good at working such things out?

I don't think the length of walks is as much of an issue as the degree of strenuousness (is that a word?). You don't want to tear the wound open. I generally find they're fine after four or five days if not in circumstances where they'll go crazy doing puppy play.

We had a contagious chest infection that two vets said wasn't kennel cough go through the kennels two years ago. It had symptoms like you describe for Ella, but the vet said the cough was too shallow (throaty not from the belly) for KC and it wasn't highly contageous. Only one dog in 10 got it, the gestation period was quite long (probably two weeks) and there didn't seem to be any relationship to C5 vaccination. If you've got that one . . . it will probably pass with no treatment and it's likely that only Ella will be infection.

You can find vets that will tell you this, and vets that will contradict them, just as you will find vets who tell you bones are a big no no and vets who are all for BARF diets. I wish some one would do some good research and narrow down the room for debate on the C5 issue.

Looks great! One problem . . . form the site above . . . We currently ship within the United States, Puerto Rico, and all APO & FPO addresses. Sorry, we do not currently ship to Canada or other countries. If we are shipping your order to Puerto Rico or an APO / FPO address or if you specifically request your package to be delivered by U.S. Mail, your order will be charged based on our U.S. . . . I'll play with it and see if I can find a more local source. The product is made by a small innovative company in Southern California. They don't have an organised mail order process. I wrote them a note asking about availability in Australia. We'll see.

It's worth trying Google if the breeder's name isn't common and you have a city or at least a state . . . also following the links on the White Pages (www.whitepages.com.au) pages.

That may have been what he meant. Thanks everyone for saving me from running around and spending a few bickies on another useless gadget! :p

I clean up a virtual earth tone rainbow in the boarding kennel. From dogs who are eating more or less the same thing. Apart from very black stools associated with internal bleeding, I can't say that I've noticed any relationship between health and pooh colour.

God forbid having an undercoat to shave on my legs (and pits) :p

But on Labs, thick undercoat is good. If this happens, I'd think that people whose dogs have substandard undercoats would be lining up to get them clipped.

As a Lab breeder, I wouldn't be the least bit bothered if someone wanted a pet Lab's coat trimmed in the thick areas. Ok, it would look odd. But many Labs suffer from the heat. A dog brought from a cool climate is likely to be miserable. They can't get the mane area wet unless you have a really deep pool for them. If you clip too far, sunburn would be a concern, but you don't have to clip that far, and if the dog hasn't blown its undercoat, you have to go right down to the skin to have a problem. I wish mine were clipped at the moment. Every time they run in the grass they come back with horrid little seeds worked into their coats. Hard to get out even with a rake. Irritating to the coat. The problem is worst in the dogs with coarse, rather rough topcoats (ie, to the standard as opposed to soft, silky coats). If someone, so to speak, clipped off the split ends and left a flat, unlayered profile at the top of the coat, I suspect they wouldn't be so prone to picking up seeds. A rake only work for coat thinning when the dog is blowing coat. If newly imported, the dog's metabolism may not understand when to blow coat. OK. It wouldn't look good in a show. (Although if the dog had a wavy coat it might actually improve the look). But most Labs are pets. edited to make points clearer

There's one worse than vaccination not working and that's the vaccination giving them KC. That happened to one of mine, and it passed it on to a whole litter of pups. I know this has happened to others as well. I still vaccinate for KC. But I wish there was some way to lean on the suppliers to provide a better vaccine.

I have never heard of this. Not saying it isn't possible.... but I have never heard of this and I have come across a bit of demodex with rescue and as a veterinary nurse. It can be a horrid, persistent condition. I have / or had, I haven't seen them for many months / a boarding kennel client from Karlgoolie who has spent $15k trying to clear dermo mange. She works part time to support her veterinary habit. Her dog is only two years old. He has a lovely temperament, but looks horrible. Scabby. Lots of hair loss. Has had associated digestive problems. Been to lots of vets. They give conflicting advise.

I get a few blind dogs in the boarding kennel. An older blind dog is usually pretty much ok, particularly in a familiar environment. If I were in your shoes I'd try natural / herbal / whatever remedies, but steer clear of anyone wieding a scalpel.

I had a client in kennels who swears by electrostatic brushes for taking care of blown coat (he has Akitas). He was a spiffy dresser wearing dark, spotless, uncreased taylored clothes, so I was inclined to believe his assessment. I went to find an electrostatic brush using google and got pretty confused. Can anyone shed (no pun intended) any insight? What is an electrostatic brush? Do they work? Where do you get them?

Sheep necks are less fatty, as are roo tails. But I'd bet rotti's scarf them down pretty quickly.

Fleas can be quite hard to see on a black dog, and some are one mm or smaller. If you're seeing little red bite marks, fleas are likely.

What did dogs do before they mass produced tennis balls? They should call them kelpie retrievers. I find the herding dogs have much stronger retrieve drive than retrievers, in general. Be glad yours hasn't learned the "cute" tricks that two of my Labs picked up. Sprocket was adept at dropping a well slobbered tennis ball in a drink glass. G&T and tennis ball or margarita & tennis ball . . . lovely . Middy, on the other hand, likes to put the ball in the toilet.

Poor itchy beasts!!!! Flea treatment hasn't helped. Then, in the daily scratch scratch rub rub routine, I started finding scads of these bloody little seeds from the horrid red-stemmed grass -- Veldt grass or Mission grass (an African native, also a fire hazard, loves it in perth)--- buried deep in their coats. The rubber tipped brushes I use don't touch them . . . an undercoat rake works, though. The dogs now gather around when I bring out the undercoat rake. Those with a proper duo coat, coarse outercoat, are worst affected. This seems to have been a good seed year for veldt grass. Has anyone else had this problem? How do you get rid of the f####ng grass? Is there a solution other than keeping the dogs in? (or cutting all the grass)?

yes

It happens sometimes in kennels. I run dogs in play groups and it's often hard telling whose is whose . . . but the glaze usually goes away. It may be a problem, but it's not a red flag unless it continues for a long time.

Is that a GSD puppy? If so, you may be better off with a heavy meat cleaver than a grinder. Commercial grinders are big bucks . . . the heavy bone grinders start at about $14k (at least that's what I found when I thought about getting one) and most are three phase. Little ones are a pain in the arse to clean and may pack it in on brisket bones. Largish dogs have built in grinders.

If you're looking for a source of good cheap mince . . . If there are any greyhound people in your neighborhood, ask them. Racing greyhounds eat piles of mince, and they cannot have food additives because it causes them to fail blood tests. My greyhound breeder neighbors get red meat mince in 20 kg packs for a bit over $1/kg.

Studies have proven that working and performance dogs do well on a diet of up to 30% fat.. sled dogs being one of the better known examples. Dogs that tired or tyed up on a diet high in carbs performed far better on a diet high in fat. Horses are the same. Carbs give instant, and fat gives longer lasting energy to dogs. There also appear to be benefits for more sedentary dogs including more regular heat cycles and better whelping rates, better skin condition and hair quality. There are also studies showing the benefits of a diet high in fat to dogs suffering from cancer. Fat, not carbohydrate is the primary source of energy for dogs. Is that 30% of calories from fat (in line with recommendations for human diets), or 30% of food weight as fat. If 30% of food weight is fat, around 54% of calories would be fat, which I think is excessive. But then . . . I have Labs, who are notable in their ability to convert fat to fat. In the kennel, I find that a lot of breeds refuse chicken with a lot of fat on it, but happily eat it when it is trimmed. As for "there are also studies . . . " I'd like to see something less vague. Cancers are highly variable. When my mother was dying of pancreatic cancer they told us to encourage her to eat all the fatty food she wanted, in expectation of a day when she would not be able to eat and digest fat, with the hope of building up reserves. That doesn't mean that high fat is good, say, for breast cancer. I try and make sure the protein content is well above the fat content (by weight) . . . and carbs low.