pboae

goodnight Jet

I'm so glad he's hanging in there!

It's a start at least. Here's hoping that once people know the truth about this business it starts to affect their profits.

Any news on this little one?

Bebe, if you trust the guys who run it, take their word on whether or not to carry on. Sully is frightened of water, even now he doesn't like it if he is more than ankle deep, though he is learning to paddle in still water. On top of that the first time he ever 'swam' was when he fell into a swimming pool (not a hydro pool, he walked out onto a pool cover in someone's garden). Although he didn't swim, he just sank, and I had to go in and haul him out. So I knew when I took him that it was going to be hard work. My vet said that I had to take him 10 times before I made a decision, because most dogs take a few sessions to get used to it, and one that hates water to start with would take longer. The woman who ran the pool agreed. The first time he swam was at a different pool and it was horrible, they were completely unprepared to cope with a dog his size. He did swim, but he was in shock when he came out (it took 5 of us, including me and OH to physically haul him out of the pool) and it took him days to recover. At the new pool he was much less scared *outside* the pool, but he still hated being in the water. We had to force him in, and the guy there would go in with him, and come out covered in scratches were Sully had tried to climb up him to get out. The first session there I cried because he was so panicked by it. I got sent out the room in case I upset Sully further. After that I was brave and didn't cry till I got home. The owner gave us rescue remedy and valerian for him but that didn't help. Despite having signed up and paid for 10 sessions, the woman who ran it canceled us after 6 sessions and gave us a refund. She said there was no point him carrying on when he was showing no improvement (he never really swam, just spent the whole session trying to hang on to things) and the stress of it was doing him more harm than the swimming was doing him good. Even though it was a pretty unpleasant experience for him, at least I know now that he *can* swim now (which he couldn't before) so if he ever does fall in water he has a fighting chance. I may even try him with hydro again in the future, as he is a lot more confident these days, and I trust the hydro staff to give me an honest decision if they don't think he is going to learn to cope. They've seen hundreds of dogs go through this process and they ought to be able to tell how any individual dog is coping.

poor pup, keeping everything crossed here.

That sounds VERY promising Bebe

In terms of actual swimming Sully did better in a little pool than a big one, but I didn't like the way he was treated at the little pool, and in any case he hated swimming so I had to stop taking him anyway. But in terms of the actual pool size, the little one was better for him. It's hard to imagine but because of the jets they can paddle hard and not go anywhere, so they can swim.

Our old dog was about 4 when he came to us, he had been run over several times and left untreated, leading to arthritis in his back legs. Supplements didn't make a lot of difference and he was on Rimadyl on and off for a couple of years, and then daily from about 6 onwards. I know some people have a lot of problems with Rimadyl, but he was fine on it, and it kept him going till he was about 11, when he succumbed to cancer. He wouldn't have lasted much past 6 without it. My current dog has been treated for HD and arthritis for nearly 2 years, he is about 4 now. He has responded really well to supplements and also to Cartrophen injections which have been nothing short of a miracle for him. Initally he was on daily Rimadyl, but now he just has them very occasionally if he has had a fall or is having a particularly bad day.

Sully got massive swelling and bruising after he was castrated and it got worse before it got better after that pic. It was just filled with fluid, but he needed regular antibiotic injections to stop an infection taking hold, although he didn't seem to be in much pain, but he was very sorry for himself and depressed. It was weeks, maybe even a couple of months, before it all settled down. If he isn't showing any sign of improvement after a couple of days I'd go back for a check up. My vet thought I was fussing over nothing, until we actually got to the surgery, but his jaw dropped when he actually saw Sully.

You can also freeze cheese sandwiches, (as long as they don't have lettuce and stuff in them cos it goes soggy). If you get them out of the fridge in the morning they should be defrosted but chilled at lunchtime, or you can stick them straight under the grill to make a toastie.

In so few words there isn't much else you can squeeze in. If you can cut the descriptions down a little and expand your compare/contrast into an additional paragraph, it would be a little more balanced, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. You've packed a lot in already!

The quote and a summary are here sorry to be so brief but I am on someone else's PC and it's useless.

You haven't got enough words to be that descriptive Kathy, are you allowed to use bullet points? With so few words, cut straight to the chase and start comparing and contrasting, you start by telling us where psychoanalysis came from, next para should be telling us about behaviorism. Be explicit about any differences (e.g. emotion vs behaviour, scientific method vs analysis), and any similarties, i.e. both were interested in cause and effect. If you have a look on google, there is a really famous quote from John Watson around 1913 (I think) where he essentially slates introspection. It sums up the fundamental differences between the two approaches, and might be a good place to start.

I think it may have been me that pointed people here indirectly, but they found the auction by themselves. I wouldn't send newbies straight into madness on that scale! But Murtle is doing a stirling job drumming up support on MSE. What a star!

Just to let you all know what's happening. We were back at the vets today, and his paw is starting to heal, but the vet re-opened it again :-( She said she can't risk it sealing across the top until it is healed inside, cos an infection could build up inside as the hole is so deep. She thinks it'll take about a month, so I have a huge pile of anti-biotics to keep him going and we have to keep going back to have it reopened untill it's healed inside. He didn't want to go in the vets this time though, and he used to love going to the vets, I'll have to take him better treats next time. He is definitely much brighter and more like his old self though. He's sleeping well and he less fidgety and stressy. We've been on a few short walks with his boot on, but I'll keep his exercise to a minimum for now. He's also hardly bothering his paw, which is really good as he does have a tendency to bite himself when he has a sore. So he's being very good and enjoying all the extra fuss.

OK, these are rubbish pics, but it is the most awkward place to photograph on your own! This is it with the sticky strips, you can just make out the bruising round the centre. Then I took them off and it looks like this The cut they make is less than 0.5cm long. I had this done on Wednesday morning. My arm has been a bit achey, and no heavy lifting for a couple of days, but it is no worse than having given blood. One thing that is a bit odd, I seem to get different side effect each time. The first one, I had none at all. The second one I bled for about 6 weeks, then I went back the Dr and they put me on low dose HRT for a month and that stopped it, and it never happened again. This one I've felt a bit queasy since it went in, but I used to get sick (i.e. vomit) with periods anyway, so I guess it's related. The Dr said if the bleeding starts again not to leave it so long this time. I felt a bit daft last time, they obviously thought I was crazy for putting up with it for 6 weeks, but I didn't realise they could do anything about it. Plus, although I was bleeding, it wasn't like a proper period, very light and no cramps or sickness with it. EDIT: oops sorry, resized them now. No, I didn't have to wait I just went straight on to an implant the day my Depo was due.

I've just had mine replaced and I'll take a photo later. It's really not that bad at all. Mine is a bit more awkward than most because I had the Norplant previously. That was 5 or 6 'sticks' and I was the first one my Dr had done (she was still training) and she made a bit of a bodge and there is a lot of scar tissue in my arm. That was about 12 years ago now. After that one I switched to Implanon, which is soooo much easier. They give you a local anesthetic in your arm. Make a tiny cut and it goes in as an injection, very similar to how they do microchip. Then yoiu get a pressue bandage (like after giving blood) for 24 hours to stop bruising. Which I take off after an hour cos they drive me mad, I'd rather have the bruise, and some of those sticky strips over the top. As I said I'll take a pic (just pretend not to notice my flabby arms). I lost a weight when I moved to the implant from Depo (but I've put a lot more back on since, that's from eating too much crap though, much as I'd like to blame it on the implant ) The benefits for me are that my hormones are much less crazy on the implant, I was all over the place on Depo. I don't have to go the doc's after 3 months, which I used to stress about in case I forgot, and also if you have it taken out you are meant to revert to 'normal' within months after the implant, but it can take over a year to get it out of your system with Depo. Oh, the other negative with it, you can feel the implant under your skin. It doesn't bother me at all, but that really freaks some people out.

Kathy, have you looked at the Implanon implant? I had a dreadful time with Depo, but I love the implant. I don't have periods either. Just had my 3rd one fitted (and I had a Norplant before that too, but Implanon is a lot better 'cos it is just one 'stick').

Thanks all. I got him a mikki boot today. It's OK for now, but it's not going to be a long term solution. It only just fits him and was a right palaver to get it on, and then he just tried to get it off again. I couln't make him wear 2 every day. I'm also a bit concerned as the seams inside felt a bit sharp to me, and it looked like they had rubbed his foot a bit. But I might be being paranoid, so I'll just keep an eye on it. I'll look into horse boots as well though! Alexis, that's interesting because the vet said it could burst internally, because the outer skin is so tough calloused. I'm not sure about shaving it, as the patch is virtually bald already. How does shaving help?

Thanks for all the suggestions, Muriel, I am sure he would appreciate some reiki I am pretty sure there is nothing left inside it. The vet was very thorough, (i.e. poked around inside with tweezers) and removed several hair follicles as well, just to be extra sure. The hole is about 1cm deep from where she pulled the gunk out. It still looks very nasty today though, but I suppose I have to give the anti-biotics a chance. I would definitley give boots a try if they make them big enough, at the moment I am struggling to get one of OH's socks on him to keep it clean. Does anyone know where I can get Sully-size dog boots from? Supafrisk, that's v interesting, thanks very much. Is magnesium sulphate something I can buy easily?

Sorry this is a bit of an epic! Sully has not been himself for a couple of weeks. Nothing I could quite put my finger on, a bit more whingey, and bit more grumpy, fidgety, things like that. He was also getting choosy about walks, normally he loves going for walks, but lately if it is somewhere like the park, he's not interested and just wants to come home. If it's somewhere new or there is a chance of scavenging (e.g. past KFC), he's enthusiastic and keen to walk. But his routine was up in the air (we all went to France, then I was away for a few days, etc), so although we were keeping an eye on him it didn't seem too odd. Yesterday morning he seemed to be favouring his back paw a little, and OH thought it looked a bit red. He often bites himself, although it is usually his legs, so we cleaned it up and put some Fuciderm on it. He didn't mind us touching it. About 3pm we were going to take him out for a walk, and thought we'd better check his paw. It was a horrible mess, an open wound with pus and blood, the full works. I rang the vet and they said to leave him overnight if he was OK. I took him in this morning and the vet said it had been started by an ingrowing hair inside a callous. Sorry for the poor pics, but I don't want to pull him about too much. This is his 'good' paw, if you can see at the back/bottom there is a white patch. I thought this was part of his pad, but the vet said it is a callous where he has turned his feet out because of his bed legs. This is it in close up. Hopefully you can make out little 'blackheads' around each hair. The vet said they are caused by the hair struggling to get through the thick skin. She thinks one hair didn't make it through and turned into an abscess but because the skin is so tough it didn't show on the outside, and has probably been making him feel poorly for a while. Eventually it got too big and burst taking most of the callous with it. She cleaned it all up (and he was good and gold, though it was obviously hurting him, but he just whimpered, didn't snap or grumble), and said to leave it open and keep it clean. He has antibiotics to try to clear the infection. OK, if you are still with my after all that... I am really worried about this now he has one of these callouses on his other paw, and once this one heals the skin will thicken again. Surely this is going to happen again and again? If there is no outward sign of an abscess how can I tell if it happens again? Is there something I can do to prevent it? I was thinking I could moisturise the skin to stop it being so tough, but then if he is rubbing that patch when he is walking it might get sore if it isn't thick. But if that abscess had burst and the skin hadn't given way, he could have ended up with Septicemia or something.

Ah, sorry 'how do you update' only shows when you are replying, not when you are just viewing the thread.

When you use the back button, you go back to the page you already looked at, just as it was when you first looked at it. As BC says to see it updated you need to press F5 which reloads/refreshes the page, and any new information on it. You can also click on the thread or forum header to do the same thing. So in this thread, above this box is another box that says 'about this forum', above that is a row of links: The Refuge > General > Chats > Non Animal Chat > How Do You Update? You can click on any one of those and get an updated version, so 'How do you update' will reload this page, Non Animal Chat will reload that whole forum, etc etc.