Anneski

Do Albion or DAF have websites, please?

Right, I can certainly see both of those viewpoints, many thanks for that. For myself I feel more comfortable feeding my dogs an animal that's had a good life in the wild, such as a deer, rather than a farmed animal that may have been fed all sorts of chemicals.

Nobody can answer my venison query then?

What's wrong with venison? I buy wild venison (and rabbit) for my hounds - obviously I get the general feel of vegans about eating any animal/product, and especially veal with the history of crating, and the fact it's a baby and may make it worse somehow, I get, but not why the lady who feeds her dogs meat won't use venison?

Wendy, I'm so sorry to read about Fin, I will have everything possible here crossed for a full recovery for him.

Maybe she'd forgotten his name? Maybe she couldn't remember how long ago it was, but wanted to mention it so's you knew she'd remembered? Maybe she's concerned about you and called Max 'the dog' because she too is a bit upset and she doesn't want to use his name in case it sets you or her off? Distancing yourself from the subject can be a way of coping with grief, both in yourself and with others.

Have to say I agree with Fee. I have an elderly and disabled mother and elderly and chronically ill dogs dependant upon my income. For just an accident then fine, if I wasn't off work for long, or at all, no worries. But if I needed an operation and extensive time off, I effectively would be earning no money, so I would have to consider suing. I certainly wouldn't take it amiss if I was sued should any of mine caused a serious injury, albeit by accident, as knowing that we are living in a society that likes to sue that's one of the prime reasons I have insurance!

But, as this thread is about what our opinions are, it is exactly up to us to say what we think

I have to confess I stopped watching after season 2, as I found it annoying. I'd loved it and watched it avidly, but then one night something just flipped in my head and I got annoyed and stopped watching it. Too confusing, too many stories within stories, nah, not for me any more.

Yes, it was. They do it every so often. As the boxes are around 25 quid each normally I thought I'd make the most of it! The offer's over now though

Ange, I've just bought two big boxes of the fish jerky, (buy one get one free!) so if you want to pm me your addy I'll send you a few chunks to try, if you like? Willow - and you KNOW how fussy she is!! - loves it, as does Sam. Holly (new girl) has the redfish rolls, as they're slightly softer and she's mostly toothless

Err, beg to differ but as a diabetic I most certainly am NOT aiming for zero, but between 4 and 7

But as you say, you ARE disabled, so I'm glad you're better off! As to your question, I would - as I do - work. In theory I could get attendance allowance (I think it's called?) or carer's allowance or something and stay home and do nowt and claim I'm looking after mum, who is registered disabled. However, she's feeling very well right now, and can do most things herself, so I go to work and only take time off when she needs me, which right now is hardly ever. She's also not renewed her disabled driver badge, because she can walk well right now and says she doesn't need a parking space close to anywhere. She's 76, and an inspiration to me So neither mum or I would sit on our bums and be paid for it, though obviously the couple in question are happy to.

Well I get my meat from Somerset Local Food Direct, who deal - as the name implies - with famers in Somerset. The meat I buy is raised ethically, slaughtered locally (sometimes actually on the farms) and there are no hormones or chemicals involved, slower growing 'traditional' breeds are used so there're no pigs with arthritis from being too heavy, or turkeys who can't support their own weight etc... I find although it's more expensive to buy, it goes further, partly because I'm aware it's dearer and partly because without exception it tastes better!

Ah come on though, we're always hearing about how rich and priviledged they are, but the flip side of the royal coin is that they're always on show, always on duty, aren't allowed to have a life of their own and are generally not free to choose what they want to do. The Queen and Prince Charles and the two young princes are always under scrutiny, and cannot do a thing without the media trying to report it. What priviledges do they get that they can actually enjoy, really? The Queen has so many functions to attend I doubt she can even have a headache in peace and quiet. Even her holidays usually involve state dinners and sitting for hours at functions that she probably can't wait to get away from. Yes, reckon the likes of Anne and Edward (and possibly Andrew) can do what they like pretty much, as they seem to manage to have lives of their own, but I doubt the Queen and Charlie boy do, really. I know I wouldn't like their lives. I admire the Queen greatly, though I think Charles could do with getting a backbone quite a few years earlier in his life. Then again, if he had, we wouldn't have William (and Harry I suppose). On the whole I don't mind most of the real royalty.

No, but it was a decision to have at least 7, or 8, depending on which list you refer to, as they seem to vary! I mean after having one set of twins you know there's a likelihood of having more, after the second set then surely you're brain would tell you to stop there or there might be more.... I'm going to make myself very unpopular here I'm sure, but speaking as someone who has THREE jobs a day to make ends meet, and who's husband drives 2 hours to and 2 hours from work every day because we cannot afford to live where he works - which, coincidentally is Newbury.... - and who also has her disabled mum living with her, it would be nice, just once, for the people who don't have dozens of kids, but do have jobs, but still struggle, to have a little bit of benefit come our way. I don't necessarily mean benefit as in housing/child etc context, just a little something from someone somewhere to recognise that it doesn't half grate when we see people sitting on their arses popping out babies and seemingly getting paid and given houses to do so. And yes, I do know that it's not REALLY like that for the majority of people, so please, no one take offence, you all know who I mean, the types who really DO laugh at the system, and work it and milk it. I get fed up seeing certain people have holidays abroad, newish cars, smoke and drink, whilst hubby and I can't afford to do any of that. So I'm afraid yes, I am bitter about this family getting a house in Newbury when they don't even work there!

Memory foam, but the 4" thick type as opposed to the 2" - huge difference for any dog above small whippet weight Brilliant for pointies and dogs that need heat. Not so good if your dog likes a cool bed though, my collies haven't liked them at all because they do hold the body heat.

The lamping I know of is where you do indeed shine a light onto a rabbit, or deer, and lurchers chase and catch it. Not heard of it being done with spaniels or labs, though if you were doing it with permission of the landowner then I guess you could shoot it and use one of the retriever breeds to do just that.

I've used the babies toys before now, especially the octopus ones where each leg has a different noise/texture! They're great!

Is there any news on what happened here? I hope something can be done for the poor dog

I've sent Yeti the first batch from his year's supply of biccies

Oh yes please Carole! That would be lovely, thank you I didnt' realise about too much niacin, I will definitely have to look out for that then. Is there a top end figure I should be looking out for with the niacin?

Thanks Judith I cooked him liver along with kale the other day, and added orange juice, but hadn't realised about the oily fish, so will add in some of that too, as I'm not sure about giving too much liver. This is the lad himself btw

Ok, a quick rundown for those of you that don't know our new boy Sam is a 10 years + collie lad that we adopted from the pound a couple of months back. He has a few lumps we've found that appear to be growing, and so had routine bloods done in preparation to remove them for testing - but the bloods came back abnormal, showing liver damage and a very low red (and white) blood cell count. So they were sent off for further study last week, and I got the results today. It seems that Sam is suffering with a non - regenerative anaemia, which basically means something is suppressing his bone marrow, and no new blood cells are being made. The good news, tentatively, is that the lab didn't spot anything obviously scary, such as cancer cells, in the samples sent to them. This kind of anaemia can be caused by many things, best case being a chronic infection of the liver or similar, worst case being a cancer. So, today we're starting Sam on a course of antibiotics to knock any infection on the head. I'm also starting him on milk thistle to help with the liver damage and a multivit & iron supplement for the iron deficiency. Then, when the abs are finished he's going to go in for a couple of hours one morning to have more bloods taken and sent off, and at the same time they're going to do needle aspirations of the tumours to see if they are anything more than just fatty lumps. Obviously we need to check on them in case any of them are nasty, and are what might be causing the bone marrow suppression. Then we'll take it from there! Does anything spring to mind here for anybody? I should just add that in himself Sam seems fine, with a shiny coat, good appetite and he is always up for a game with us or Willow. In fact he initiates a chase with her at least twice a day! He doesn't look like an ill dog

I won't use Runaround because of the shark cartilage - there are horror stories backed up with pictorial evidence about the way this is obtained for some products (though I don't know specifically about Runaround), and I will not risk supporting that. Anyway, as regards medication, there are more choices than just Metacam and Rimadyl these days - such as Zubrin, which is meant to be much gentler on the liver than either of the previous two. I had to change Dixie to it when we got to his maximum Metacam dose, and he started having liver problems. I suggest asking about alternatives if you do decide to go down the medication route. With us we did wonders with alternatives for quite some time, but eventually had to go down the medication route, and it definitely gave Dixie a new lease of life.