sproggie14

I was hoping to get in touch with Vashti but it seems she hasn't been active on here since last May. Does anyone know if she's still doing readings and, if so, another way of contacting her? Thanks

Sending healing thoughts x My in-laws dog Zoe recently had her spleen removed along with a nasty tumour which was making up 2 of her 11 kilos! She has recovered very well so everything crossed that Onion will too x

I'm so very very sorry. Tessie and Archie were incredibly lucky to have such a devoted Dad to care for them during their time on earth. Huge (((hugs))) for you xx

Just wanted to say huge thanks for this recommendation. We got some of the sleepytime tonic and used it for the first time this morning. Maybe it's a coincidence but for the first time he didn't escape the area he's supposed to stay in and create mischief, and his whining, pacing and barking was greatly reduced. After a bit of a play when we got home he's now snoozing soundly in his bed

That sounds interesting. Do they have a website or could you pass on the email address? I've been thinking about it. I tried a DAP previously for Tess without much success but I did wonder if, being a puppy, Bert might be more susceptible to one. The only thing is there isn't a plug where they sleep (on the landing). But I think they do collars now so maybe I'll have a look at those.

Thanks guys Well, the good news is that the kong wubba survived. the bad news is that it's because, when left alone, Bert cares nothing for toys and can think only of trying to escape and find us I guess it's going to take some time before he trusts that we're coming home again.

Thanks all I havent' tried nylabones. I have a feeling the others would be interested but I'll get one and give it a try. He loves tuggy rope type toys but shreds the rope very quickly so I'm wary of giving him anything fabric based without supervision. Cardboard I thought would be ideal but a) he eats it and b) Begley decided it was tasty too which triggered Bert's possessiveness plus Begley can't be trusted with edible things as he tends to do silly things like try to swallow hide chews whole Loving the mop And the cuz toys are dead cute so I'll look out for those. Sounds like the kong wubba is a good bet then. We've left him with that this morning and set the video camera up so we'll have to see whether it and the others are in one piece at lunchtime and whether it seems to have kept him amused

Those of you who are friends with me on facebook will know that, two months ago, we had a very unplanned arrival in the form of Bertie, a terrier puppy. Totally not our "thing" but it's all going pretty well and he's breathed new life into the collies. That said, we have a few issues we're working through, one of which is his separation anxiety. Bertie was badly treated and then tied up in the middle of town, clearly abandoned in the hope that someone would take pity on him. So it's not hard to imagine why he gets a bit anxious about being left. Add to this young, intelligent puppiness and we have a little man who gets quite restless when left. He squeaks a lot and becomes destructive but doesn't get on with a crate (he becomes very distressed and messes in the crate). We've tried a few things to keep him amused while we're out. He loves kongs but he becomes possessive over them when the others show an interest. He adores his toys but is a typical terrier and everything has to be killed and dismembered so we're concerned about safety. Essentially what we're looking for is something with the strength and safety of a kong but without any food aspect. The others don't do toys and will only show an interest and trigger Bert's possessiveness if there's food involved. Something squeaky would be ideal as this really gets Bert interested. We're trialling a kong wubba which seems to fit the bill but any suggestions would be gratefully received. Oh and I guess you'd better have a pic while you're here I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on his heritage too. He's currently 7kg at 6/7 months. He hasn't gotten much bigger in the last two months so I don't think he'll be more than 7.5 - 8kg fully grown.

The usual one is..."you have a lovely face". Which basically means the rest of you is a vile mass of blubber but not too much of it has spread to your face

Well I just watched this and was rather disappointed and confused. Neither of us get it all all Could any kind soul PM me an explanation or put it in spoiler tags maybe?

We've always had sparrows hanging out in our rather overgrown hedge but we'd not had much luck getting them to come in for food. Until we bought a new feeder a few weeks back and since then we've had sparrows, blue tits, great tits, a female blackbird, a robin and woodpigeons visiting regularly. I was very happy to see a dunnock join them recently and this morning we had out first visits from a starling and a pair of collared doves. Last year we had a fieldfare too

I've got it set to record and will also be watching it during daylight About 15 years ago I made the mistake of watching a scary Christmas thing whilst on holiday in a rather spooky and reputedly haunted house (Toby, my dog at the time, kept looking up the stairs and growling at nothing!). I was literally hiding under the bedclothes and thinking about it still makes me a bit silly now

Oh how awful Hopefully it looked worse than it was and no trail of blood has to be a good sign. Sadly it seems to be cat's natural instinct to hide when in shock. Hopefully once she has had a short time to gather herself she'll head home. We'll be sending her lots of healing and come home thoughts.

Aww bless him Twice a year doesn't sound too bad really. Overall it's got to be less stressful for him than me attempting to brush him every few days. Plus he'd be so much more comfortable in between. Not that it matters but what sort of amount do you generally pay for Beau Alex?

Thanks both x Alex, when you get him clipped, roughly how long does that last before his coat is long enough to get to a difficult length again? I'm just trying to get a feel for how often we might need to do get him done to keep on top of things. Is there any special sort of clipping that this sort of coat should have or is it just shaving (honestly, I'm a total noob, I have no clue!). He loves to be stroked, can never have enough of it and is even reasonably happy for me to finger brush him but I tried the glove and he just knows it's a brushing device and does a runner I'd be terrified to clip him myself, I'm sure I'd either make him look a right wally or do it wrong and hurt him. I have some clippers I do Dave's hair with but his comfort and appearance are obviously much less important than Begley's (plus he has less hair) Amy - We got him a furminator but we didn't really get on with it, I can't quite remember why but I think it was quite pully on his fur. I'll give it another go though and see how we get on I like the idea of the noose, perhaps I should ask around some local groomers and see how they deal with scared/wiggly/snappy dogs. I know our vets do grooming so I might start there. I think he'd be better being groomed elsewhere and by someone else. Begs is a bit odd - he arrived very scared and wouldn't come near us but we found for a while he was more outgoing with strangers and/or outside the house. So I think he would actually behave better for someone else. I'm not sure he'd be any less scared, but I think he might be on best behavior for a new person.

I wonder if fugees can offer us any advice on this. Begley is (we think) a collie cross sheltie. He has a long, very thick coat. Really it needs brushing every day to keep it good but he HATES being brushed. After six years we've got him to the point where he doesn't mind his shoulders and back being brushed so they're ok, his neck (which is very fluffy) I can usually do but not enough but his bum, which is the worst bit, is always matted. And when I say he hates being brushed, I mean he literally poops himself with fear when we do it We've kept on top of it a bit by bathing him and really going for it while his fur is wet which seems to help but he still poops himself when we do this. He has a chronic ear thing going on and I'm sure this isn't helped by his coat being a mess and he really can't be comfortable with his coat the way it is. I've often pondered taking him to a groomers but I know he'd hate it, poop himself and he'd need to be muzzled as he will snap if it hurts (it's a very half hearted attempt which I take no notice of and I know he'd never draw blood but I'd have to tell the groomer and they'd have to muzzle him as I can't expect them to trust that a dog they don't know won't actually bite them). It's certainly not something I'd want to put him through very often. At the moment the only solution I can think of is to have his coat cut right back professionally and then see if we can keep on top of it if we start from scratch. But I've never had a dog which needed professional grooming before so I have no idea what the right thing to do would be. So, can anyone give me an idiots guide to professional grooming, what sort of thing might work for Begley and how often we'd be likely to need to take him in order to keep his coat a bit shorter and more manageable? Thank you x

Syrians are quite easy to sex so if their bits look the same fingers crossed all should be ok. If you get a chance to look at the adults, you could use them to compare perhaps.

What concerns me here is that if they're old enough to fight then they're old enough to breed. Did I read right that the babies were one male and one female? If so then it's likely the female is pregnant

Mine also love a little greenery especially herbs such as parsley or basil. Also a little piece of bell pepper goes down well. But, as Owl says, very tiny amounts not least because they have quite sensitive tummies and are prone to diarrhoea.

I'm at work so I'll come back for a proper look later but just wanted to say big thanks for lots of really useful info, thanks guys

Brilliant, thanks Re Royal Canin, apparently they're part of pedigree so not not likely to be ethical. I rang them anyway just cos I think it's good that these companies know consumers care about such things. Apparently their chickens are barn reared

Thanks. Does anyone have any info on the ethics of Royal Canin? There didn't seem to be much on their website. We were looking specifically at the fish based Burns. I'm not sure on their exact policies but they are CIWF approved. The other thing is to have a low phosphorus level. The veggie food is about average in protein level, it's just vegetable rather than meat based protein. Just to add to the confusion, there is even some talk that a low protein diet doesn't help and can even make it worse. Nothing's ever simple!! I would be up for doing a home made diet but I don't know much about these things and would hate to get it wrong.

Cass is currently being investigated for a possible mild kidney issue. The vet has suggested that we consider changing her diet to on suitable for a kidney problem. Of course the obvious one is Hills K/D but I loathe the company and their "ethics" and the fact that the food is made from battery farmed meat. Our guys usually have a vegetarian diet. I'm reasonably content to move her to a meat or fish based diet if it's necessary for her health (which of course comes first) but it must be an ethical food which uses ethically sourced animal products and is not involved in animal testing. Burns was our first port of call but their lowest protein is 18% compared to 13% for Hills so I was hoping to find something with a lower protein level or specifically tailored for dogs with kidney issues. Does anyone have any knowledge of such a food? Ta

Well to update on this, I've not been able to find a single vax and it looks like this isn't available in this country. So I did some more research and had a chat with our vet too. Cassie's titre test came back at 45 which was in the mild immunity bracket. The lab usually recommend a booster at less than 60. However, all the most recent research, the view of the WSAVA and some of the leading researchers in the field seems to be that the actual level of titre is largely irrelevant. The fact that she showed some antibody response shows that she has protection. The vet was happy that as distemper is quite rare these days she was safe with the immunity she has shown. Had it been parvo she showed a low immunity to then that would have been different as it is still around. In case anyone is interested I'll post the links to the info I have found. I've mainly been looking at the research of a guy called Ronald Schultz who is head of pathobiology at Wisconsin University and on the WSAVA Vaccine Guidelines Group. He has been researching this issue since before I was born and has done numerous studies into vaccines and immunity. His own personal view is that dogs should have their puppy vaccinations, then be titre tested before a year old to make sure it's taken, and then never vaccinated again for the three core diseases (parvo, distemper and hepatitis) and this is the approach he takes with his own dog. In the WSAVA guidelines he puts forward a more conservative approach based on the wide variety of approaches and circumstances in different countries. Even so, their view is that, after receiving their puppy vax, dogs should not be vaccinated against the core three more than every three years and that any antibody result suggests protection. With regard to what they call the non core vaccinations - lepto and kennel cough - they suggest that each dog be assessed individually based on their location and lifestyle. For our dogs we've decided against both since they don't go to shows, are not kennelled, and don't swim in ponds etc. For ours I think the risks outweigh the benefits personally. For the core three, we'll be testing them all and, if they show some antibodies, we won't vaccinate again. Anyway, the links... WSAVA guidelines (updated last month) http://www.wsava.org/PDF/Misc/VaccinationGuidelines2010.pdf Various articles and bits of research by Ronald Schultz http://www.eskievet.com/Articles/vaccine%20duration.pdf http://www.kanabvet.com/articles/Schultz_Vaccinations.pdf http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2002&Category=&PID=19539&O=Generic http://www.puliclub.org/CHF/AKC2007Conf/What%20Everyone%20Needs%20to%20Know%20About%20Canine%20Vaccines.htm Bizarrely we got chatting to someone in the vets this evening and when we said Cass was there for her vaccinations, she said Oh we don't vaccinate after they're 7 anymore, there's lots of research to suggest it's harmful and not necessary. So it seems like word is getting round! Thanks everyone for your views. I find it very difficult when making choices which could affect their health but I'm happy and confident now that we're making the right choice.

Thanks guys, I'm really torn on this to be honest. The WSAVA guidelines now say not to vaccinate more often than every three years so ours have all waited three years for their core vaccines. And now we're obviously titre testing to see whether each needs a booster. I hate the idea of having to vaccinate her for two conditions she is already immune to, I really do. But if she ended up with distemper I'd never forgive myself. And then there's the question of the lepto and kennel cough. The WSAVA now only recommends vaccinating dogs whose lifestyle puts them at risk of contracting lepto. Well we live in a town but none of them go swimming or hunting so I'm really not convinced that's necessary. They don't go to shows or kennels so likewise with the kennel cough. They're all getting older now and have their little niggles so I really don't want to put their bodies through vaccinations they don't need but we do so much in their lives to make sure they're safe I really don't want to gamble with their health. Either way, since I know that over vaccinating can be just as bad as not vaccinating at all. I'm so undecided