hushpuppy

I tried to vote and it said I'm not allowed to. I don't understand why not and it's not the first time this has happened. Will someone please explain to me? Please..............

Me too!! Maybe we should all get together and have a Wirksworth walk. Is anybody interested? Lesley

The poor dog is deaf and blind, just 'cos he doesn't respond it doesn't mean he's dead. He just can't tell if anyone is trying to get him out and probably exhausted himself crying and wriggling around. They said it takes an hour to dig a metre, I know if it was my dog I would dig with my bare hands if I had to and I wouldn't rest until I got to her, alive or dead.

I want to buy some thinnning scissors for my Sadie's very thick coat. I've been looking on the internet but I am baffled by the amount of choice there is on offer. I don't want cheapie cheap ones but at the same time I don't want to pay too much. I just want a good quality pair of scissors up to about £30. Does any one on here know which are the good makes?? Thanks in advance for any replies.

I am appalled that the lady's vet wouldn't help out with this dog. I read somewhere that the average vets income is more than £100,000 a year. This vet obviously thinks more of money than she does of animals if she can't spare a little bit of time and care for a case like this.

That poor dog must be suffering so much. I don't know much about pounds - will she get any treatment for her skin and claws? My heart goes out to the little darling. I know there's a lot of sad cases but if anyone deserves a happy ending it's this one.

Pleased to hear that you both had a great time. Ambleside looks gorgeous and so does Mr Mal

the link just goes to photobucket home page

Drool - I'm not a very squeamish person but for some reason drool always makes me feel pukey.

I voted for Teija and I would love to see her win. But I want her to be joint first with little Sweet Pea!!!!

What happened to the Beardie x? I felt for him, poor guy looked so messed up!

I'm sorry to hear about Malcolm's bad news. But it's been caught early and there's every chance he'll be just fine. My Sadie had exactly the same thing a few months ago as I've already told you. She showed no symptoms at all and sailed through the operation. She had a section of her lower lip removed and now looks a bit weird, a bit goofy, but she's not aware of that and I don't care what she looks like. She eats well and you wouldn't know there had ever been anything wrong with her at all. She goes for check ups regularly and so far so good. We were told that because we'd dealt with it so quickly there was an excellent chance that there would be no recurrence. So take heart from our story. I sincerely hope that Malcolm comes through as well as my darling girl has. Wishing you both all the very best of luck. Just to add, Sadie had lymphosarcoma.

I went through something very similar about three months ago with my Sadie. She had a sore looking patch on her lower lip that at first I thought was caused by her love of picking up sticks on walks. However it didn't heal and seemed to get bigger over the space of two weeks or so. I took her in and the vet said it was an epulis, which is a growth that is nearly always benign. This is a hard lump attached to the gum/bone inside the mouth and the sore patch had been caused by the epulis rubbing on her lip. They did a biopsy of her lip, reassuring me that it was bound to be ok, and it turned out to be a very malignant cancer. I was told that because it had been caught early there was an excellent chance of removing it all and a very good prognosis. She had the operation, where they removed a section of her lip, and fingers crossed, she is absolutely fine. She looks a bit weird, a bit goofy, but she's still beautiful to me, and I don't care what she looks like as long as she's well. Her eating has not been affected at all. I don't want to freak you out, there's every chance that Malcolm's case is completely different to Sadie's, but my point is that, if it does turn out to be the worst thing then you have caught it in time and something can be done. My vet told me that so many people put these things off, don't get their dogs checked out until it is too late to do anything to help them but you're on the case. I wish you the very best of luck for Monday.

It's really good that this dog is sorted out but what about the cat?

It's really good that this dog is sorted out but what about the cat?

That is so tragic. I am thinking of Jo at this terrible time.

Your tribute to Katy was very moving and I feel for you and your wife. It's hard not to have favourites. My Sweetie was my favourite and I lost her last year. Her photo is the wallpaper on my computer and I talk to her every day. Even though I have a dog and two other cats I can't imagine ever loving an animal as I loved and still love Sweetie. Katy will live on in spirit with you as Sweetie lives on with me. My heartfelt sympathies to you both.

My ex-partner has a GSD that is a bit, well, mentally ill, I suppose. He's fine with people he knows but when out and about, as Lee says, if it's smaller than a tower block and bigger than a peanut he'll go for it. Because of his problems the dog only gets walked at the dead of night and is closely monitored at all times. When he goes to the vet she closes the surgery to all other people and dogs for the duration which I think is really good of her. A point I wanted to make about what you witnessed is that the dog may not appear to be cared for but there is obviously some caring going on for him to be at the vets in the first place. For all we know he could just have been rescued from somewhere. If the owner didn't care he wouldn't bother to take him in and I think if the vet is prepared to treat a dog such as this then the surgery staff should make appropriate arrangements to keep the dog away from others.

I live near Cromford and sometimes walk down the canal path. I'll look out for you and your mob!

Out in morning, got a bit wet but it started when we were about 15 minutes from home so we were lucky. It then rained solidly here from 11am to 10.30pm so no afternoon walk, just let Sadie out for toilet breaks. She was not happy with me. I got the hopeful look every time I went near her lead then the disappointed, 'you're so cruel to me' look when I didn't pick it up. She was raring to go this morning and made me walk twice as far as usual!

I lived near that area of south London until recently so I know how dodgy it is. It's unfortunate that your Mum can't walk with other people because Missy doesn't like other dogs. However, when I walked in Brockwell Park I used to go at roughly the same time each day and nearly always saw the same people there. Maybe your Mum could mention to other dog walkers what has happened and ask them to keep an eye out while she is around. Then if she sees anybody acting suspiciously she can shout to someone for help. Probably not foolproof but the more people who know the better, and I found most of the dog walkers in Brockwell Park to be a friendly bunch who looked out for one another so hopefully this is the case in Myatts Fields.

This will probably over complicate things but if Smirnoff can take her for the week I could have her for the one night when Smirnoff is away (also on the understanding that she is ok with cats). I also live near Ashbourne so travelling would be minimal. I have 2 cats who are well used to dogs and one dog who will tolerate other dogs in the house. Also I have hard floors downstairs so if she wouldn't mind sleeping in the kitchen then I don't mind the cleaning up! Upstairs is carpeted and it's a rented house so I couldn't really have her up there. Let me know if the offer is feasible.

My first foster Rocky was with me for 3 days as he already had a home to go to. I cried and cried when I had to let him go and would have loved to keep him. Then came Rodger who was a potential adoptee but sadly my little brain damaged cat was terrified of him and I had to return him to the rescue. More copious amounts of tears. Then came another foster Hattie. I was going to help rehome her honestly, just kept saying 'I'll start tomorrow'. She never went anywhere else. Then Sadie who I took in as an emergency pts case with the intention of moving her on. 18 months later guess where she is and where she's staying! One day I will adopt my perfect dream dog German Shepherd but in the meantime I suppose I'm a foster addict. Never mind, there's worse things to be addicted to!

So how do you tell how old an adult dog is? I ask because I was told be Sadie's previous owners that she was about 12. I believed them at the time 'cos she looked old and had trouble walking but this turned out to be wasted leg muscles due to lack of exercise. My vet judged her to be about 5 or 6 but I'm not sure that is correct either. I am now left not having a clue how old she is and it would be nice to know how to judge her age. Can anyone help?

If you pass on details of how to donate I will be happy to.