sandgrubber

Scrapings are cheap. I had a client who took her dog into Murdoch Vet School for a biopsy and ended out with a $1500 bill, and a dog with lots of stitches here and there. They didn't find anything.

My hydrobath sits in a corner. I've drilled eye bolts into the brick wall on front and side of the wall. It's a boarding kennel, not a grooming parlour, and many of the dogs I bath have never been in a hydrobath before. If I think there may be a problem, particularly with a strong dog, I clip a line from the eye bolt to the collar (fixed collar reasonably tight, never a choker) from each side. The arrangement makes it almost impossible for the dog to jump out . . . though I can't do a 100% job in the area around the dog's collar. Once the dog finds it can't move more than a few inches and is pulling against a brick wall, it generally gives up struggling. Most of them are fine once they discover the water feels good, and can be unclipped.

If it's bad, I would be inclined to clean and disinfect it and wrap the paw fairly loosely with elastic bandage. If you have one of those webbed pads that become flexible when you heat them, that would be a good base for under the wrapping. Obviously, this won't work if your dog doesn't tolerate bandages and you may have to take additional measures to prevent him from chewing it off.

Everybody talks about chicken frames as a commodity, but having been through four suppliers (I get 100 to 200 kg/week, some for my dogs, some for the boarding kennel, and some for other breeders), I conclude that each source varies, and the sources that leave a lot of meat on also tend to leave a lot of fat, and sometimes fat and skin on. My breed, and a few of my dogs, are prone to obesity. Accordingly, I trim off the main fatty bits and toss them (sometimes to the magpies). Often this reduces the mass by 10%. And I can still see all my dogs' waistlines Do others do the same?

I think they do taste tests with dogs. Smelling bad to humans probably helps get a good K9 reaction. After all, cat pooh and rotting fish seem to be dog attractants.

Chloromide sounds like the active ingredient is chlorohexadine. Chlorohex is a very toxic to microorganisms but not particularly harmful to mammals. I had a dentist perscribe it as a mouthwash. IT TASTES worse than anything I have ever put in my mouth . . . so bad that I changed dentists. Bottom line, could be worth a try. It's also good for cleaning thermometers. (I like to understand what the active ingredient is and go for that rather than buying some commercial spray. It's usually MUCH cheaper, and you end up knowing exactly what it was that worked or didn't work.)

In kennels I find that dogs who won't eat raw foods are often happy to eat them when they pinch them from someone else (little buggers). Once they get over the initial prejudice, they usually take to it big time. Could you convince the dog that the cat is getting the stuff and allow her to pinch it from the cat bowl?

In my kennel I find that many 'little fluffies' go mad over chicken carcass IF you first smash it to bits with a meat cleaver. I prefer to start with carcasses because it's much clearer what you're feeding. I think some places, perhaps some Lennarts branches as well, throw the skin and fat into the mincer, which could end out with a pretty fatty mess. Not to mention guts. As for cooking Lennarts mince, I beg to differ. The problem with cooked bones is that they splinter. If they are previously ground reasonably fine, I think that takes care of the splintering problem. (Happy to be corrected if someone has evidence to the contrary.) I am more comfortable with cooked chicken mince than raw -- particularly for pups -- because chicken is notorious for carrying Salmonella.

I don't understand why you want to blacken snow nose. It is deceptive to do so if you are showing and you could get thrown out of the ring. They should evaluate the dog, not the dog's makeup. I can see no health benefit. But then, I myself don't wear makeup and I can't see putting it on dogs. Different strokes for different folks :rolleyes:

In my experience, "kennel cough" might better be called a "doggie cold". It's a virus, and while you can ameliorate the symptoms with various concoctions to soothe the throat and make phlem come up easier, the infection doesn't respond to treatment. It may open the way for bacterial infections -- which respond to antibiotics (Vibravet preferred, except for puppies). In many cases it isn't serious, and if symptoms remain mild, I wouldn't bother with the vets (but I've got nine dogs and a boarding kennel, and am in regular communication with a vet who often advises me that treatment is not necessary and "let me know if it gets much worse").

I have had pups GET kennel cough from the C5 vaccination. . . and pass it on to the next litter. But on the other hand, I C5 all my dogs regularly, and the pups didn't pass it on to the adults. That's something. I wish someone was doing quality control on K9 vaccinations. Can you imagine the furor if school kids caught full-blown measles from their measels vacs?

"Vets" are an extremely diverse group of Homo sapiens. Some of them know more than others :rolleyes: Some of them were asleep in class when the one lecture on canine body weight was given or failed that part of the exam. To my knowledge, there are no institutions in place to ensure that vets do learn the things they didn't pick up in their short time vet school.

Pumpkin got Kennel Cough from her 12 week round of vaccinations. From there the virus turned up in the next litter of pups, starting when they were 5 weeks old. Lark, who comes from the affected litter, is now 13.5 weeks old and still coughs a few times in the early morning. No other dog on the property has come down with KC though I think some unvaccinated dogs have been exposed. (I run a boarding kennel and recommend C5 but will accept C3). Question: Is Lark still contagious? Can she go to puppy training classes?

I don't remember exactly, but it was around $3 including GST (they quote prices without GST because they sell wholesale). They have beef, mutton and roo.

I have an 11 yr old Sibe in the boarding kennel who loves Mandarins. They haven't killed him yet. Also had a tenant whose dogs used to eat not only the oranges and date palm fruit, but also whole LEMONS with no apparent bad effects.

There's an active thread on cheap dog food meats in Perth. . . lots of good SOR suggestions.

South St has always been a great source, but not always the cheapest. But if you're feeding one or two dogs, low prices are good enough, you don't need to travel distance and buy 20 + kg at a time for rock bottom prices. Leonarts is often the cheapest source of chicken frames. Phone ahead and have them hold them for you. Different branches have different prices/availabilities. Better Pets and Gardens gives discounts to registered breeders, and is often very competitive with City Farmers for a lot of things. I haven't tried them for meats. City Farmers isn't bad for mince. Jurien Pet Foods mince is top quality, but they have a minimum of 40 kg and they have just upped their prices.

Where are you in Perth, and how much do you buy? There are a couple outfits that deliver to the kennel areas . . . varying products of varying quality. Even if you don't live in a kennel area or buy 20+ kg at a time, you can often get a breeder or kennel manager to add a bit to their order and on-sell to you.

Sounds to me like you've got the bases covered. YOu didn't mention the obvious . . . fever, lethargy, looking sick. If she seems to loose the fighting spirit, doesn't eat, or otherwise changes behaviour, I'd be in touch with the vet, pronto.

My first girl got a localised deep pyroderma. Nasty. Scary. A breeder suggested putting her on BARF diet. Six years later and she's never had another serious incident. Or perhaps I've gotten better at dealing with the problem. At the slightest sign of pyroderma on any of my dogs, I get out the clippers and leave a bald spot around the patch and pour on whatever I've got on hand to get rid of bacteria and keep the area dried out.

I think the quality of the walking is as important as the distance. By all means, avoid forced walking. And avoid things that will cause them to jump and twist, particularly on hard surfaces. My pups start going ~ 1 km at 6 months and by a year they're going 3 or more km. They also play a lot of dog tag on two acres of sand. The last four sets of hip/elbow scores I've gotten are 2:1 h 0:0 e, 2:1 h 0:0 e , 3:1 h 0:0 e and 3:1 h 0:0 e. (Most of these are improvements on sire and dam's scores).

I have a 70 kg mastiff X doberman in the boarding kennel who would like to come and join your digging crew :rolleyes: . He's gotten down about 800 mm and the trench is a metre or so long. That's the main trench. There are several others.

I worry more about what shape the dog is in than about how much I feed them. If the ribs and waistline have disappeared, you're feeding too much. Labbies, if allowed to call the shots at mealtime, tend to become blimp-shaped. This is not good for their health. If you can see the individual ribs, a bit more food wouldn't hurt. My big Labbie boy gets one and a half largish chicken carcasses a day, plus two carrots or equivalent fruit/veg, plus a handful of dry biskets (soaked in chicken blood) plus some nutritional supplement -- and if he's lucky a small oily fish or some yoghurt or an egg. The chicken may be swapped for some other raw meat with bone. Your boy may require more or less food than this . . . but it may give you an idea of how much should you move to a BARF-style diet.

Provide a digging area for your dogs. It should have soft soil and be in a shady position and stay somewhat moist in summer. You should be able to train your dogs to constrain their digging to that area. People think dogs like grass, but many of them prefer sand. Avoid rounded pebbles for mulch. Many dogs will swallow them. My eight dogs do not bother the cactus garden much (large cacti). Agaves also survive without protection. Protect young plants or you will never see them grow up.

I, personally, would avoid anything that contains more than 2% salt.