Dogs and other family pets


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You have to take things in prospective with dogs biting. All dogs bite whether they are soft or aggressive They are protecting themselves. All adults should know when its not a good time to touch their dogs and should always warn children. Most vicious dogs are the fault of their owners and I agree if they bite they should be put down. Ive had a bad experience with a pitbull who attacked our small  dog a min pin and broke 2 ribs and punctured a lung. The PB held our dog high and I went towards him and tried to open his jaws which I managed to do as my nephew kicked him in the where it hurt. The owners took me to the hospital and my husband to the vets. They were insured but I didnt want to know what they did to their dog. My bigger chihuahua has bitten me . Yes it was my fault as she warned me and i wasnt quick enough to get my hand out the way. I would never have forgiven myself if id put her down just for a small cut. I wouldnt think twice in more serious cases. The rules are dont touch animals whilst theyre eating or sleeping. I agree with Lizzie that the dog who attacked her grand daughter should have been put down. 

My husband hated these big dogs as he was bitten as a child. But his cousin who we saw in Sicily has a pit bull and a rottwiler. They are as soft as grease. His 9 yr old grandson plays with them and is quite rough as children are sometimes. They just lie down exhausted. In fact my grandson wanted to bring the PB back with us. They were beautiful tempered dogs and so obedient. On word or look from their owner and that was enough.

Those who put all dogs in the same context aren't really lovers of dogs. Most cant understand the bond that dogs have with their owners

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Wll said Mary. In this last week we've had a lovely experience with a Rottweiler and a Pitbull. Both were like babies.

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IMG-1953-Original.jpgCherie the PT always rested her head on my knee at the table until her name was called and she went away.

IMG-1969-Original.jpgI

Ivan was a big one for cuddles.

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Hi nonna if every you don't want Ivan let me know I have just fell in love again.

I think it should be compulsory for any one who gets a dog to do basic training, you get a lot of enjoyment from it and the dog enjoys it, plus it tires the dog out, not just physical but also its useing its own natual parts. eg tracking nose being used, given it commands its using its brain. Long ago I went to a dog training session and there was a little chihuahau must say she put all the other dogs for want of a better word (in the dog house) so it just goes to show all dogs can be trained.

Looking on the other side, walking out with Rotti pip one thing that i can recall. Rotti yes!!! big dog but when she came to a puddle she would sit down and cry, never would she put her paw into the puddle. So one day I put on my wellies and went down to the stream, Bulwell Hall. I probley looked a right P!!!!!!!!! jumping up an down, waving my arms in the air, but it worked, never did she walk around a puddle again.

Next dog Sammie a working cocker after taking  her for a walk on the field near me, she started waking sidesways, and backwards, her eyes were rolling in her head. (Sammie was only about 8/9 months old) I did not know what to do.  Next door friend then said Oh by the way be carefull if you take your dog on the field as its full of magic mushrooms. Sammie recoverd and  has been working and had 2 litters of puppies.

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Sorry the rottweiler isnt mine although think we could have made a sacrifice, but we have enough with our 3 dogs and my daughters dog we look after when she at work.

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  • 1 month later...

Jj is now getting quite big So we are able to take him on longer walks exploring new paths we find. On Sunday we went through Strelley village past the pub and Strelley Hall but as the wood seemed busy we carried straight on past the Mulberry, a way we haven’t been for a while. Jj was on his flexi lead which means he can sniff to his hearts content but we still have him under control. Everything was fine when his tail suddenly dropped and he didn’t want to go any further, after much coaxing we did manage to get him going again, although reluctantly, and after a bit he was back to normal. We found a field that was just grass and he chased his ball about for a while and then we turned back to go for a late lunch. 
On the way back the same thing happened at exactly the same place. We then realised it was beside the property that has the lions, puma etc. in the back garden so presumably he could smell them and it registered as a threat? 
He is doing very well with his training, with the help of treats and cocktail sausages (his favourite). The only problem at the moment is that he gets really excited when he sees another dog and jumps about a lot. We are trying to get him to calm down with the aid of making him sit and giving him chicken. This is sometimes successful but is dependent on the other dog owner not letting their dog approach him. Saying “he is friendly” and letting their dog approach isn’t much help when we have a jumping jack on the end of our lead! 

 

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Ignore the ones that tell you that their dog is friendly. It doesnt help when youre trying to train.

 Our 4 terrors are outside most of the time and go berserck when next doors dog starts to bark at them. The owner just calls him from the balcony and it leaves us trying to collect 4 small dogs and put them in disgrace in the house. This doesnt happen all the time but only when the alsation comes up to the fence/wall. The smaller chihuahua becomes a lion, its funny but not so funny. Shes all of 2 kg. Shes not frightened of anything. She s the bigger chihuahua s shadow, follows her everywhere and when she comes in shes first through the door and hides until her " sister" comes in then she raises up on her hind legs and plunges on her. Lily the big sister just lets her and they get on with fighting play.

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  • 1 month later...

Jj has not been too well recently. We noticed a few weeks ago that his poo was solid in the morning but then got looser & looser through the day. I did mention this to the vet at least twice whilst he was being treated for an ear infection related to his rather bad teething experience. She told me it would be the meat he was on and just to change it as it often happens with puppies.  Hence I now have 3 lots of different dog meat and 2 different types of biscuits. 
It was getting worse and he wasn’t eating properly so we bit the bullet made an appointment and took a poo sample with us. We saw a different vet, she gave him a check over, he wasn’t impressed with having his temperature taken, and told us they would need 3 samples taken on consecutive days so that the lab could test them. In 3 days I went down samples in hand, well in vials in a blue plastic bag actually, and we had to wait a week before we got results. 
They came back that he tested positive for giardia, a parasite that burrows into the intestine wall hence the diarrhoea. So armed with medication we went home and he had his first lot of wormer, antibiotics and probiotic. The next day I got a text saying the medication that had to be ordered had arrived and I could pick it up, they had also only given me 10 antibiotics instead of 20 (2 a day for 10 days). When a I got to the vets it was the wormer not the antibiotics although I thought I had got enough of that, 6sachets for 2 a day over 3 consecutive days. Anyway I took it and sorted out the missing antibiotics (which I had already paid for) which they had to order.
When I got home I noticed on the new wormer packaging it said he was supposed to have 4 sachets over 3 days not 2. I rang the vet and queried this as on the sachets it said for his body weight he should only have 2 but was assured this was right for treating giardia which meant he didn’t have the right disage the first day. Managed to get the stuff down him, it was granules and it wasn’t easy, tablets were hidden in cocktail sausages and finally in dairylea cheese which he is partial to. The probiotic was a thick paste and ended having to open his mouth and smear it on his tongue, a process which would have been easier if I had 3 hands.
The wormer purged him, made him really poorly, he didn’t eat anything for 3 days and he had explosive diarrhoea. There were 1 or 2 accidents in the house, something he has hardly ever done since I had him and he was a bit upset about it, think he thought he would be in trouble but it wasn’t his fault. We had to take another 3 samples in to see if he was clear after 10 days, made an appointment as well to get him checked out with him not eating although luckily he hadn’t lost any weight in fact he had put a very small bit on. Got some dog food from the vet which was expensive, they certainly know how to charge, £1 cheaper per tin on internet.

Got a voice mail on my phone from the vet asking me to call as they had the results. Rang back and the receptionist spoke to the vet and relayed the message that the samples weren’t big enough so the lab couldn’t test them but as he was feeling better (?) to leave it for the time being to see how he went on and they would refund the money for the lab tests. I was totally confused, firstly the sample sizes were the same as the first ones and I hadn’t yet paid for the lab tests, plus the last time they saw him he definitely wasn’t getting better. Left it that the vet would ring me back, however later on we decided to go to the vets to see what was going on. Actually managed to speak to the vet and the message we got was about another dog not Jj and his samples were actually clear. He is still not eating properly and has loose poo so she advised us to get some Hills special meat and if he hadn’t improved in 2 weeks to bring him back. She asked if he was insured (he is - bit of a warning sign there) and said he might need blood tests and possibly a referral for a biopsy.
I must admit by this point our confidence in this vet practice had waned somewhat so ordered the meat from them but did some research on the internet about this. Found out it can take a while for the digestive system to go back to normal and a bland diet is recommended for a while, chicken & rice etc, then slowly introducing the meat back into the diet. So that is what we are trying at the moment which seems to be helping a bit although we haven’t started with the meat yet. He is definitely back to normal in himself and his stomach has stopped gurgling etc. Found the probiotic on the internet that the vet gave us (a lot cheaper again) and have ordered that as well. 
So hopefully we can get him back to normal without any invasive procedures if we can avoid it as he is only 9 months old at the end of this month. Obviously if this doesn’t work we will have to go back, just hope the catalogue of errors Is over with. 
The other thing the vet didn’t tell us is that whilst he had it you have to steam clean everything in the house including dog beds etc. as they can keep reinfecting themselves. She did tell me to get tested as I could get it as well, which I have done just waiting for the results from the doctors.

 



 

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Poor JJ. I'm sorry to hear he is not well. Giardia can cause much trouble in cats, too.

 

A friend of mine has been through all this with her cat. They feed Hill's special diet which they order in bulk from Kennelgate, although it was difficult to obtain supplies earlier in the year.

 

The cat isn't keen on Hill's and it doesn't seem to fill her which means she pesters for other food but, if her humans give in and feed her any other type, there is explosive diarrhoea!

 

In the initial stages of diagnosing the problem, tests and procedures costing many hundreds of pounds were recommended but, eventually, as the cat was stressed out with it all they called a halt and just let her recover. She seems fine now but there are still occasional off colour days.

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Sorry to read about all the troubles with Jj (and the vet!). I hope everything will settle down completely now.  Where do you think he picked up the parasite?

I hope your test comes back clear as well!

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It can be picked up from a lot of places. Dog poo from an infected dog, water, woodland etc. The infected animal sheds it in the form of cysts with a hard shell. We are not sure where he picked it up from. We take him to Wollaton Park, on some bridle paths and through some woods and meadows where he can be let off to chase his ball could be from any of these places. So many don’t clear up after their dogs which drives me mad especially after this. 
I added some mashed carrots to his chicken & rice yesterday and he also had some porridge with live yoghurt mixed in (which he wasn’t that keen on) as they were on the list of bland foods and he has had an upset stomach today. So it’s back to scrambled egg and chicken & rice with a bit of live yoghurt (not all together I might add). 

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Our Yorkie dog, who we had for 19 years, used to love yoghurt, Greek was his favourite. But he would only eat it off a spoon, but I blame 'er indoors for that. She used to offer it on a spoon from when he were a little pup.

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Wow ... hard to believe that when we had dogs it was usually given to us out of a litter, lived in the yard or kitchen, me Mam kicked him out in the morning & he ran the street in packs until tea time, sometimes went missing for days, when he did come back he ate our scraps, not even sure vets existed? I was thinking PDSA in Lenton, but I remember me Dad taking a rake of bricks up in the yard & that’s where the dogs ended up? 

 

I’m sure Jj will make a full & happy recovery @Stavertongirl 

 

I would love to see the mansions & double/triple garages of these vets, license to print comes to mind :wacko:

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 RR you mentioned the PDSA and that reminded me that we took our dog there in the early 1950s, when he couldn’t put weight on one of his front legs.  The lady there bandaged a splint on his leg.  He managed to walk around on 3 legs while wearing the splint and was fine after a few weeks.

I too had never heard of vets at that time - maybe they were only used by farmers or the ‘well off’?

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Years ago, vets mainly dealt with farm work. Nowadays, most vets don't want farm work because of the unsociable hours involved and the mess!

 

I recall a retired vet I know shaking his head at the current crisis in recruiting vets as many of them only want to work office hours and don't like getting their clothes dirty!

 

This particular retired vet had to give up practice early due to health issues brought on by the stress of the job. He trained, after leaving veterinary college, with a one-man practice where his mentor was an alcoholic.  Many farmers who called his tutor out recall him staggering from his car because he was so drunk he could hardly walk!

 

The retired vet went on to set up his own practice and was regarded as one of the best available. To him, it was a vocation and he was well known for his pro bono (as opposed to bonio!) work. He had a rare affinity with animals and wasn't averse to punching farmers who ill treated their livestock! Good for him, say I.

 

I know of one chap whose dog suffered a bad accident and the response of most vets would have been euthanasia. The retired vet asked the owner for permission to try some experimental surgery over a period of time and eventually 'rebuilt' the dog. He charged very little for the initial treatment and nothing for the subsequent surgeries. He did it purely to see what he could do for the animal.

 

His practice is still going, run by a relative who is, likewise, a very good vet but he's also a businessman...and he knows how to make it pay.

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When I was 13, dad got us a pedigree boxer dog. I remember going to the breeder up on Mapperley Plains to pick out a pup, who actually picked us! Even though he was pedigree, he would be let out in the morning and wandered Bells Lane Estate all day long. He too was fed scraps and lights we'd got from the butcher, I don't ever remember him having tinned dog food, or dry food, only Bonio Dog biscuits. If he was unwell, up to the Cocked Hat car park to the PDSA van for a few coppers donation. He was a lovable popular dog around Amesbury C ircus, I remember once yelling his name for him to come home, and a neighbour across the street came out and said Kim was curled up in front of her fire. Their first grandchild was named Kim after our dog.  As boxers go, he was a big one, built like a brick s@#t house, as the saying goes. 

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We decided to take Jj back to the vet earlier this week, not because he was unwell again but we were totally confused by the “advice” we were getting from different vets. We had him on a bland diet but one vet we saw advised us to get him on a Hills dog food, when I got it it said for food allergies and skin conditions and that he could only have it and nothing else. At nearly £24 for 7 tins it was very expensive as he should have 2/3 tins a day, and he doesn’t have food allergies or a skin condition he is recovering from the giardia and all information says it takes a little time for the digestive system to settle down again and to give a bland diet.

We saw a different vet this time and I must say she was amazing. She listened to what we said and answered all our questions, confirmed a bland diet at first, sorted out the correct digestion biscuits (they refunded the amount for the other stuff, which was wrong, and I returned it the next day) and advised how to gradually get him back on the biscuits very slowly. He will then be on these for a little while to make sure everything has settled down and we can then slowly transfer him onto our preferred biscuits. She also picked up that he had infected anal glands, we had queried this with another vet and she had said they looked okay. How she could tell by just looking I don’t know.
So he is happily munching on chicken and rice, eating a few biscuits (I am only putting 6 in at the moment) and spitting some out and is a lot better. We have to take him back end of December/beginning of January for another check up. We got her name and will be trying to only see her in future as I don’t have a lot of confidence in those we have seen especially the one who was talking about blood tests and referrals for biopsies etc. 
He has also seen snow for the first time today. He wasn’t sure what to make if it but decided it was good for eating! 
I have also had the results of my test and it was normal.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just seen a description of a spaniel on a twitter video of dogs at a Dogs Trust picking their Christmas toys (it is worth a watch) as a “vortex of frantic joy”. As an owner of a young spaniel cross I can concur that is an apt description of my boy:Shock:

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SG glad you decided to change your vet. There are some that profit by recommending brands of dog food. We have a partnership of 2 vets in the village. They are ok for basic visits, one is especially kind but the other one only likes to see cats. In fact she was treating our dog a few years ago and I had an inkling what was wrong with him. She said no way and went ahead treating him for something or other. When we got outside he crouched down to poo and it was mostly blood. I shouted for her to come out to see and the reply was” oh it’s ok” We told her exactly what we thought of her and her diagnosis, asked for all his records and travelled to Asti to another vet who lives just for animals who was so mad with her diagnosis and said she should be struck off .An overly full waiting room means that everyone is waiting for Gianni and the other vets hang around waiting for their turn. If your vet is good and kind and answers all your questions stick with her.

Youve gone through enough worry to trust an irresponsible vet like the one you saw.

Hope Jj is recovering fully and enjoying his new diet and his extra cuddles.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our with a Jj this morning, temperature was -3. Takes ages to get to the park as every blade of grass, hedge, weed etc has to be well sniffed and we are doing more heel training, which slipped a bit whilst he was ill, which involves turning round when he pulls on the lead so sometimes we get nowhere fast. Finally made it to the park and there was no-one on there (if they had any sense they would still be tucked up in bed) so was able to let him off for a run. It was frosty so that had to be thoroughly investigated, by this time my fingers were starting to go dead and I couldn’t feel my face, but he was having a good time. 
Finally managed to get him toileted and made it round the perimeter of the park back to the gates, got him back on lead when a french bulldog + owner came through the gates, this caused much excitement, he thinks every dog wants to play with him but he can be a bit “full on” , not aggressive just very enthusiastic. So I had a 2 legged dog, he can walk on his back legs like a performing poodle!
Walk back like the one going, everything well sniffed again, walked a lot better so we were back a bit quicker. Hot tea for me and meat for him, sat down to enjoy my tea and he was in front of me with his ball. I hadn’t thawed out from the walk so we played fetch in the kitchen which luckily is long as the dining room was added to it to make 1 long room. Played with him until he had enough and then gave him his split antler to chew on for a couple of minutes peace to finish my (now lukewarm) tea. Standing in front of me wanting me to hold it whilst he chewed it. At this point I gave up on my tea.

He is now fast asleep on his back with his legs in the air on his chair with the occasional gentle snore.

Peace for an hour or so, then off we go again although looking at the weather think the park might be given a miss. I am informed by other owners of the same breed that they do calm down a bit by about 18 months old so just 8 more months to go:ohmy:

 

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  • 1 month later...

Nice surprise this morning. Just happened to be looking out of the kitchen window when who do I see scurrying up the garden path? Horace the Hedgehog!

 

Worrying, seeing him out in daylight, but he seemed a good size, very purposeful and looking a bit sleepy and disoriented...rather like yours truly first thing in the morning.  Presumably, the mild weather has caused him to wake from his winter nap.  He was coming from the bottom of the garden where the feeding station is. He disappeared into the shady border and then under the shed where, presumably, he's nesting. I've put a large dish of food out. Get stuck in, Horace, and welcome back. I've missed you.

 

Lovely to see him. It's made my day!

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