sandgrubber

In my breed (Labrador) there is very strong pressure for hip and elbow testing . . . and Labs are often regarded as a breed particularly affected by HD (not supported by statistics). I ask this out of curiosity about how seriously HD scoring is taken in other breeds . . . also out of curiosity about the ability of radiography to predict whether a dog ends out suffering from HD.

Not all hormones come from the testes or ovaries! No one is talking about taking out the pituitary gland. It's not rocket science . . . but biology. And biology is often extremely complex. If it were as simple as you imply, research results would be unambiguous, and there would be clear guidelines that everyone could agree on. Note, females develop with very little testosterone and males develop with very little estrogen. The two sexes have somewhat different health problems . . . but neither sex can be seen as healthier than the other. Kittens are commonly neutered at a very young age, yet live long healthy lives without obvious consequences of desexing.

Yes. Pyrantel pamoate aka Pyrantel Embonate. Very mild. Works well for round worms. Easy to administer. Sold for human infants. Google it and for dogs to get dosage. I paid $35 for a quart of the stuff -- enough to last a lifetime.

Thanks for the opinion. Glad to have my vets opinions confirmed. Strangely, Bonza's energy level has picked up. She's back to doing zoomies and playing dog tag with her daughter. The angle at which she holds her head and tail is once again perky. AND the lump seems to have vanished. She's still pee'ing more than usual, though. She goes back to the vet for palpitation early next week, and ultrasound + exploratory if necessary on Wednesday. She has been a healthy dog . . . maybe her system has begun to push whatever it is back. (Guess that rules out the sponge hypothesis). Fingers crossed.

PITA vs PETA

Facebook is full of gossipy nuance. If you take things personally, it will provide you with lots of things to find disturbing. Personally, I got so pissed off by being wished Happy Birthday that I stopped looking for FB friends. (I don't like the heat and stay out of the kitchen). As Brightstar says, the veterinary evidence is mixed for spay/neuter. For a review that treats the different diseases supposedly affected by desexing, see: http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2013/04/benefits-and-risks-of-neutering-an-evidence-based-approach/ For most claimed risks or benefits, the results of multiple studies have been inconsistent. Findings vary with breed, with study design, and probably other factors.

Bonza was spayed at a spay/neuter clinic on 10 December. Around New Year's Day, I noticed a lump near the incision area and well below her skin, also below mammary tissue around. Seemed large (wide and long), but it didn't stick up much and thus wasn't noticable. No pain, redness, soreness or other symptoms. I took her to the local vet; got the junior vet in the practice, who told me it was nothing and sent us on our merry way. On 9 January, Bonza presented symptoms looking like a urinary tract infection. Squat, squat, squat, squat . . . just a trickle of pee coming out. No leaking in the house. I took her in to the vet again and insisted on seeing the senior vet -- who I trust. She acted a little shocked by the size of the lump (she called it a mass) and took X-rays. She said ultrasound would have been better but their radiographer wasn't available. She wanted me to rebook. I opted first to go back to the clinic that did the spay. They gave Bonza an appointment with the vet who did the surgery on the same day. Unfortunately, they don't have ultrasound either, though the vet that did the surgery is friends with my vet and they did share the X-ray and notes. The vet who did the surgery was stumped by the symptoms. She named three possibilities: granuloma with adhesion of uterine stump or omentum, panniculitis, or a sponge left in the surgical area. She has done several thousand spays and says she has never seen anything like this before. She says they did count sponges; it was a messy spay and there was a lot to clean up; but she has never before sewed a dog up with a sponge inside . . . but it was possible. I've googled granuloma and panniculitis and they don't seem to match. Does anyone have any thoughts on other things that might be going on? Btw, the vet who did the surgery agreed to take responsibility for getting the problem treated at no cost to me. This is going to mean a two hour drive for each trip . . .which I am quite willing to make. Bonza is sleeping a lot and less playful than usual; still pee'ing a lot; but showing no fever, loss of appetite, or other alarming symptoms.

When I had a kennel I was pretty sure we could defend the space against fire. Irrigated lawns, lots of open space with low fuel loading, good pump and sprinkler systems, etc. However, there was no way to ensure that dogs wouldn't be asphyxiated by smoke from adjoining properties. CFS/SES and local authorities need to do more than tell people what they should have a plan. It requires a deep and full understanding to devise a workable plan, and plans would be much more workable if they were coordinated through the SES.

Look over this site, Wildthing. https://www.greenharvest.com.au/PestControlOrganic/Information/NematodeControl.html Eelworms is their other name. :) Nematodes are a large group . . . probably as many species as, say, carnivores. Some of them are plant parasites and something you don't want to have in your veggie patch . . . as noted in the link above. But there's another group that infect insect larvae. I found a couple Australian sources, but there may be others. http://goodbugshop.com.au/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=46 or http://www.ecogrow.com.au/How_it_works.html This one seems to be linked to CSIRO and gives clearer descriptions Yes . . . timing of application matters. They are living animals and require a moist dark soil environment, not roasting but not too cold, to get established. They need to be watered in.

My sweeties are so good about this. If I grunt at them and tell them 'too early' they'll doze off for another half hour or so. Sometimes I get to sleep past dawn (in winter),

I would say food grade or livestock grade. Just avoid the pool stuff. My local feed store sells it in 50 lb bags for chicken farmers. That's in the US, but I imagine Ozzie feedstores carry it too. If you're going to do your whole yard, you'll need a fair amount, so buying local will be more economical than paying the shipping for an online purchase. Another non-toxic approach, which I don't know if you can find in your area, is beneficial nematodes. They will kill fleas, ticks, and ants! eg,, http://www.arbico-organics.com/category/beneficial-nematodes They work well in the American South, so would probably work in northern NSW.

p.s. here is the sort of finding you can expect from scientific study of such a subject. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22647210 J Small Anim Pract. 2012 Jun;53(6):314-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-5827.2011.01220.x. The effect of neutering on the risk of mammary tumours in dogs--a systematic review. Beauvais W1, Cardwell JM, Brodbelt DC. Author information Abstract A commonly-stated advantage of neutering bitches is a significant reduction in the risk of mammary tumours, however the evidence for this has not previously been assessed by systematic review. The objectives of this study were to estimate the magnitude and strength of evidence for any effect of neutering, or age of neutering, on the risk of mammary tumours in bitches. A systematic review was conducted based on Cochrane guidelines. Peer-reviewed analytic journal articles in English were eligible and were assessed for risk of bias by two reviewers independently. Of 11,149 search results, 13 reports in English-language peer-reviewed journals addressed the association between neutering/age at neutering and mammary tumours. Nine were judged to have a high risk of bias. The remaining four were classified as having a moderate risk of bias. One study found an association between neutering and a reduced risk of mammary tumours. Two studies found no evidence of an association. One reported "some protective effect" of neutering on the risk of mammary tumours, but no numbers were presented. Due to the limited evidence available and the risk of bias in the published results, the evidence that neutering reduces the risk of mammary neoplasia, and the evidence that age at neutering has an effect, are judged to be weak and are not a sound basis for firm recommendations.

SCIENCE DOES NOT PROVE THINGS!!!!!! Scientists try to falsify hypotheses. The scientific evidence is all over the map for health consequences of desexing. You can pick and choose your articles to 'prove' your point of view, but the scientific picture is ambiguous. For a good synopsis see http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2013/04/benefits-and-risks-of-neutering-an-evidence-based-approach/

Those milk teeth hurt, no? My experience has been that they grow out of it faster than you can train them out of it. Solution: wear shoes. Or is this an older pup?

Agree. That dog doesn't look the least stressed. If the kid was really putting weight on, it would move or object, not sit there relaxed with tongue lolling out. Not that I want to be caught siding with Sara Palin ;)

I would use an e-collar before I used a vibrating collar. But not until the dog is at least 6 mo., and only with help from an experienced trainer. I used to have a collar that both did electric stim and vibration. The dogs were fine with the electric side of the thing (always used on very low setting) but they HATED the vibration function. You're likely to find the pup learns most commands well using hand signals. Recall is the hard one to teach a deaf dog. . . and the place where a remote signaling device is useful.

Many years back I tried to work out evacuation plans for a boarding kennel in WA. The sorts of problems AlphaBet described in her excellent post had me tearing out my hair. Others didn't seem to think it was much of a problem . . . dogs could go to the showgrounds or to other kennels . . . problem solved. Seems to me that prevention of catastrophic kennel fires requires more than individual kennels making evacuation plans (which they may or may not be able to execute). Laws should be changed to permit evacuation in sheep or cattle transport vehicles in case of fire emergency. Even a stakebed truck would be better than leaving animals to be killed. Livestock transporters might be willing to volunteer services for emergency evacuations. .. or is that unrealistic? I don't know any livestock transporters. Some location (fairgrounds? showgrounds? racetrack? fenced sports fields?) should be designated as an evacuation sites. Phone trees or the internet equivalent should be set up to call in volunteers in case of such emergencies . . . to take in animals or tend to animals kept at evacuation centers. Some sort of network of kennel owners might allow for accommodation of animals that must be evacuated. Maybe councils should require an evacuation plan before granting a kennel license and state or national organizations should work up a basic plan format that was logistically workable..

I wouldn't want to comment further without better facts. Looks like a minefield of prejudice. AR nut. Middle-Eastern owner. Pet shop. Selling puppies in pet shops should be banned. But false accusations -- if the staff were, indeed, changing the water -- are not helpful.

Oh you people who love to criticize and who assume others are doing the wrong thing. The chooks are now running free in the yard. The dogs aren't bothering them. It's taken months to get the dogs to realize the chickens are 'our' chickens and not something to chase. It can be done.

Also list the pups that died because the some idiot did homeopathic vax and his dog got Parvo, spreading the infection far and wide.

If I remember correctly, stage one generally doesn't require treatment and many dogs don't progress. Not saying it isn't realistic to save. See video

Was there a lot of booze at the BBQ?

Someone asked about cancer back on page one of this discussion. Yes, Flatties have high risk of cancer. See: Review Article Breed-Predispositions to Cancer in Pedigree Dogs Jane M. Dobson Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 941275, 23 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/941275 Dodson's data crunching lead to the conclusion that somewhat over half of all flatties die of cancer, putting the breed at #2 for cancer mortality after only the Portuguese water spaniel. Histiocytic Sarcoma is particularly common, mostly affecting older dogs. See also Mortality in a cohort of flat-coated retrievers in the UK J. Dobson*, T. Hoather, T. J. McKinley andJ. L. N. Wood http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-5829.2009.00181.x/abstract;jsessionid=96EA63B5BA3B5944627A599240F7FB76.f03t02

I doubt the research has been done. It would be a difficult study to design and very expensive to execute. In the end you'd have some information about one breed or a few breeds . .. many many health factors vary greatly between breeds, and even between bloodlines within a breed. Who would sponsor such research? On the other hand, many breeders prefer older studs for health reasons. If an old guy is still vigorous at 8 or 10 or 12, you have a strong indication of good overall health. In my opinion, an older bitch who has thrown a few litters has the advantage that you have an idea of what she throws. If the breeder is conscientious about keeping tabs on the pups they place, the health information gained via this route is (IMO again) of the same order of importance as basic health testing. For example, it's possible that a bitch has good hip/elbow scores but tends to throw pups with HD or OCD. You can't know this on the first or second litter unless litters are spaced more than a year apart.

This is a deviation to the "Puppy Farms" topic that has been running in the News forum. People seem to talk a lot about bitches being "bred to death". I associate these words with regulations limiting a bitch to three or four litters. My experience as a breeder tells me that well cared for bitches love having puppies, and the fourth and fifth litter does them no harm whatsoever. Personally, I've never pushed it to a sixth or seventh litter, but I certainly wouldn't condemn someone who did. As I understand the science: 1) the over-use of popular studs does and has done far more harm to the genetic diversity of different dog breeds than does using a bitch to produce, say, 50 pups. 2) breeding back on back is actually healthier for the reproductive system than long pauses between litters . . . presuming the bitch receives good nutrition, gets exercise, and lives a happy dog life between litters. Breeding until a bitch is six or seven years (for a breed with an expected lifespan of 10 or 15 years) causes no health problems, though it may end out with saggy boobs that don't do well in shows, and fertility is likely to begin declining. As I understand the breeder aspects, excellent brood bitches are few and far between. By this, I mean you may have to run on several pick of litter bitch pups and do a few trial litters from some of them before you get a girl who has excellent conformation, excellent temperament, and passes health tests . . . and on top of that, free whelps without problems and is a good mother . . . and throws quality pups. Of course, this will vary, depending on lines and breeds, but you get the general picture. If you find that rare, ideal brood bitch, why not give her all the love and care you can, and let her have several litters? That is NOT breeding her to death!!!!