PrincessC

I'd agree entirely and I hope Caitlin soon heals. With luck both parties will have learnt from a rather frightening experience which could have been far, far worse for everyone ...

How can you be totally against the death penalty but not condemn it in this case? You're not going to disagree with what amounts to murder of a human being on Eid because it is not part of your culture, but you're against the slaughter of sheep because that's not part of your culture? So is your entire argument against the US then, or do you accept that Saddam was an evil dictator before he refused to be a 'US lacky'?

Have you talked to your vet about Vivitonin, which can be helpful for ageing dogs - it's for senility..I found it good when my oldie springer started to develop strange habits. Aktivait is a nutraceutical that also might help. Is there anything in the room the dog sleeps in that might be disturbing it in the night? New fridge/freezer? Does your dog sleep near the boiler with a time clock? Could you try letting him have more freedom in the night and allow him to choose where to sleep? I'm sorry you feel that you can't allow this to continue, my oldies get the same respect that I would give to an elderly human and I would do everything in my power to find the source of their issues

I don't believe in the death penalty, full stop. He was an evil, evil man, but so are many others. I don't think his execution was right and proper and I would say the same about any other person facing it, however evil their crimes.

So sorry My thoughts are with you

I wouldn't mind having some of the deeper furrows on my face filled in with something, but I'd be terrified of the thought of botox in case it all went horribly wrong. Of course I would like my baps not to be so far south as they are, but that's gravity for ya! I am concerned that when I put on weight now (I'm 42) it appears as a muffin top round my middle, nowhere else, and my bottom seems to have gone completely flat as a result of spending too much time sitting on it. I would consider electrolysis for hair removal though...I wish someone had told me that when you hit forty your eyebrows disappear and the hairs reappear on your chin, and bizarrely your lower leg hairs migrate north and hang around on the fringes of your bikini line - what's that all about then?! I'm not convinced that surgery can ever truly change the person you are on the inside, and I'd be worried if I had something 'fixed' to boost my confidence, then I would find something else about my physical appearance to dislike...

The 'What have I missed, we had another power cut!' bump

I completely disagree, if you are not prepared to consider all the evidence (ie, 'what other folk say') you are not making an informed decision. 'Your gut' instinct will not protect your dog any more than deciding on the toss of a coin or the throw of a dice, BUT weighing up the pros and cons, understanding the percentage risks on both sides for your own dog and your own particular circumstances (including the sort of area you live in) and making an informed decision on that basis, may do. Before some people assume that I am out to make everyone vaccinate everything, I don't. When my vet and I judge that the risks are low enough relative to the exposure to disease, then my dogs are only vacc'd against lepto, based on their individual known vaccination history and their health. Some of the friends that I most respect as experienced owners don't vaccinate, whereas others that I put in the same category do. What they do all have in common is that they make their decisions based on each dog individually, in conjunction with discussion with their vet, and they make an informed decision based on circumstances. They don't operate blanket decisions in isolation, not do they trust to gut instinct.

I haven't missed the point, I actually don't believe it to be true, and I know a number of people who are active in rescue and have watched previously healthy adult dogs die from parvo. I have a dog who is hypothyroid, so I do know something about auto immune conditions and that is why I have taken particular care to reach the conclusions I have about vaccinating my dogs, judging each on an individual basis, knowing what I do about their health and their vaccination history, with my extremely competent vet. I'd agree with that, but would still rather have them protected, particularly my oldie. Since three of mine joined me as adults, I have no idea what their vaccination history was prior to them joining me, so we have had no alternative but to hazard a guess. I'd agree, it is slightly different if you have puppies. As you have already said, lepto is not judged to be valid for a full 12 months, and neither it or the kennel cough vaccine cover all strains but your dogs will probably have those? My concern is that people will read the poem and then decide not to vaccinate their dogs. THAT is not an informed decision.

Of my dogs, the ones that I and my vet jointly judge to be 'safe' if vaccinated on a three year protocol are, I'm not prepared to put my others, or my fosters at risk from parvo (they are all vacc'd annually against lepto, however old or 'immune' they are judged to be - I live in the country, they all swim in the local streams) My concern is that people read articles published in the US and assume that the same applies here, which it clearly doesn't or people don't investigate properly or rely on titre testing, which can't read memory cells, only current antibodies I consider myself to have investigated the facts and have made an informed decision, thank you

It would be interesting if this thread had a poem written by someone whose dog had died from parvo

And now for the 'Is there anyone out there because I have jet lag and have been prowling round the house for hours waiting for the northern hemisphere to catch up with me and wake up'

The 'I've been on holiday and cannot be bothered to read the whole thread bump because I have way too much to catch up on but if anyone would like to give me a precis of what has happened on The Refuge in the last three weeks, I'd be very grateful' because then I can use the Thanks guys! bump

Can't find a piccie of one on a dog, but here is one on a human...