AK dog doc

Thanks, guys! I don't know about I-rod coverage... I'll try (if Tranq isn't available, since I think he does a better job), but it'll depend on available time. We currently have a new-grad Doc, which means there's a certain amount of slack to pick up, so it's hard to say how much time I'll have. Now, everyone cross your fingers that I don't do something stupid, like get pneumonia....!

I think you have to decide on a per-case basis. I think it's much worse to leave a dog loose if it will harm itself (by, say, eating things that might take it to surgery or kill it) than it would be to crate it. I also think that if you have a dog that OTHER dogs might injure (as in Julie's example with the epileptic dog), crating is smarter than taking a chance on coming home to a gruesome disaster. Of 4.5 Bc's I've had (one a BC cross, hence the 0.5) I could leave 3 out without worrying TOO much (although one day I came home and on entering my bedroom wondered how it had managed to snow INSIDE my house... Oh, wait, that's DOWN FROM MY COMFORTER, thank you very much for that $150 replacement cost). Two I would not trust - one, an inveterate ingester of toys, the other an epileptic who has severe pica following her seizures. For like 8 to 10 hours. Non-stop. (This has actually turned out to be an excuse to take her every place I go, because I have to, you know, monitor her for seizures and pica. Really. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) So she is either in my truck, at home with me, at work with me, or (if it's not appropriate to leave her in the truck), at work without me, stashed safely in a run. That mainly only happens if the weather is extreme or I have to be someplace for a long time that she can't go (like a veterinary meeting or something.) Since I am down to one BC right now, that works out fine. When I had more, I generally took them in the truck. I had a capper on the bed and would fill the bed with straw if it was cold (although there is obviously a temperature limit, and once you pass that, dogs stay home.) I could also segregate a dog into the cab if needed. That said, there is one other thing I tried to be aware of: My 0.5 BC and my male BC didn't always get along. Because I had to crate the male to keep him from suicide by ingestion, and he was already jealous of the 0.5 BC, it would have been a Bad Idea to leave the 0.5 BC loose to wander tauntingly back and forth in front of his crate. So if one was crated, they both were, or I excluded the BC cross from the crate area. This was in order to prevent death, destruction, war, devastation and horror (and also incessant cheap shots and sniping), and it worked pretty well. If I had more than one BC right now I'd re-make the decision based on the dogs and dynamics that evolved with those dogs. I don't think crate training is cruel - in fact, it has been a Godsend at times - but I'd just rather have my dog(s) with me. They're social, I'm social, we need our hanging-out and doing-stuff time. But I am responsible for making the decisions to keep them safe, and a crate can be a giant help with that, so long as it is a bedroom, and not a prison.

The very one. She's turning into a lovely bitch. Mind you, they haven't started training her for sheep yet - she's due to go into heat any day, and I think they'd consider that to be a potential distraction so not the best start-time for that* - but she's in all reagards a charming, beautiful dog. They tell me nearly every time I'm there how much they love her and they thank me over and over, most sincerely, for helping them find her. She appears to be a perfect personality match for the primary owner. As an added bonus, I was there last night and the owner said she wasn't going to breed her unless she turned out to be a good worker. So, two more converts to the "We will breed no dog unless it's a proven stockdog" fold. *Also, we got almost a foot of new snow and the off-road going is tough for people right now.

FWIW, it isn't hopeless. I have a good friend who has had Aussies forever. She had toyed with the idea of a BC for a long time, but was afraid to get one because "they're too hyper", because "they require constant attention and activity", becuase "they're too intense", because "they're too smart and learn stuff you don't want them to". She also likes a cuddly dog and she was afraid that a BC would be all about what's "out there" and not at all about her owner. I never tried to talk them into a BC or out of one. I just told them what my experience has been. I DID strongly caution them that if they were going to get a BC they needed to get one from working parents and to avoid the AKC and sport lines, because everything they feared in a BC would be more likely in a dog bred from anyting other than working parents. The upshot is that they did in fact get a puppy from working parents - from a reputable breeder who has (and needs) working stockdogs. She's a lovely young bitch, and I've thought many times of dognapping her (except that if the dog ever disappeared, the FIRST place they'd look would be my house, because they know what I think of her.) They LOVE this puppy. However... the owners did one day query me when the pup was about 5 months old because they were worried that she was a bit lethargic for a puppy; she wanted to do stuff when outdoors, all right, and raced the pants off their Aussies, but when she came in she would spend a lot of time laying down or playing quietly with a toy while the owners work at their desks, and cuddling on the couch or sleeping during movie time. I looked at my friend in exasperation. "Weren't you afraid that a BC pup would be too hyper, not cuddly enough, and constantly bugging you for attention and activity?" I asked her. "Well, yes," she admitted. "So here you have a puppy who is always up for activity, but when you're not doing something she's willing to lay down and relax or cuddle on the couch, right?" She nods. "So what's the problem?" I asked. Hm. Turns out there's no problem after all. Imagine that. So it's not hopeless. Don't give up. Not everyone can be reasoned with, and not everyone will learn... but some people do.

Thanks (and you're welcome)... and sorry about the being-a-stranger thing; it's not just the blog, it's the three books I'm writing. That sucks up an AMAZING amount of time - like having a second job without the income. Maybe someday it will actually be worth it, though! [goes to browse some more, playing hooky from the books...]

Opening my big fat mouth here... (sorry!) 1. Raw feeding has no known link, positive or negative, to true urinary incontinence. 2. Ditto protein. 3. Cranberry is potenitally useful for unrinary tract infections, not because it sticks to the bladder wall, but because it helps prevent bacteria from doing so by inhibiting pillus formation (a sort of "grappling hook" structure that allows bacteria to cling to the bladder wall). It is, however, correct that it may potentially act as a urine acidifier, and this is often helpful for UTIs. It makes no difference to urinary incontinence, but since many dogs with urinary incontinence may have bacterial issues secondary to the incontinence (either in the bladder or in the vaginal vault, which in dogs is part of the fmale urinary tract), it may have some utility. Typically it isn't going to hurt anything, so it's not a problem to try it. (If you are not sure, check with your vet about anything else your dog might be on to make sure there are no harmful interactions.) 4. PPA is indeed the active drug in Proin. 5. Many females (usually spayed, but sometimes older unspayed females) with true urinary incontinence are etrogen-responsive; in my hands, DES has been more successful at controlling those than PPA, but use whatever works for you dog. Some DO repsond better to PPA. If yours does, there's zero need to change meds. 6. Being "licky" may indeed be the beginning of a UTI, or simply a response to the "internal diaper rash" effect from urine leaking. Or it may be that the dog is aware of a small amount of leaking at that moment and is just grooming. Either way, it's a useful observation. 7. Okay. I'll shut up now. Sorry about that.

Health certificates do NOT require proof of distemper/parvo vaccine. It ONLY requires proof of rabies vaccine, AND THEN ONLY in animals that are past a certain age. Having a health certificate does NOT require that any vaccines have been given EXCEPT for rabies in age-appropriate animals. Parvo is not a persistent infection. Either the animal dies of it, or it recovers, in which case it would have eliminated the virus from its body (although it may shed in the stools for three weeks or so following recovery). There may be permanent injury to the gut as a consequence of the firal infection, but there is NOT a permanent parvoviral infection. Properly-handled and reputably-produced parvo vaccines work just fine. Testing on the vaccine I use proves that eighty precent of pups are seropositive after the first vaccine. The problem with vaccinating against parvo is that you have to sidestep maternal antibody (passive immunuity acquired across the placenta or via nursing). Maternal immunity fades at some point in all pups, but the exact time at which that occurs varies from one pup to the next. Because of the highly infective nature of the parvo virus, there is a potential for maternal immunity to be high enough to clear the parvo vaccine from the pup's system before it mounts an adequate response to the vaccine (and therefore to the naturally-occurring virus), but NOT high enough to prevent infection if the virus is encountered in the environment. This is why we have a three-vaccine protocol for puppies, AND why we sometimes have incompletely vaccinated pups get parvo after one or two vaccines. There ARE antivirals available and some of them have shown some utility in parvoviral infection, but there are caveats: One, they're not inexpensive (a single dose can cost $30 or more, depending on the size of the dog); two, timing is important. My personal feeling is that if you have a really sick pup, it's worth a try. HIV is a retrovirus. Parvo is not. They do not act the same in the body. HIV is a lot more like FeLV than it is like parvo, in that HIV and FeLV ARE persistent infections. If the OP's puppy was shipped to them younger than 16 weeks, then it was the OP's responsibility to complete the vaccine series - not the breeder's. In my hands, about 70% of agressively-treated pups will survive parvo, but about 70% of UNTREATED pups will die. Less-agressively treated pups (home care, but not hospitalization) go about 50%. I certainly hope that the OP's pup falls into the 70% of recovering dogs. Odds are in their favor, for which we can all be hopeful.

Hmm. There's something almost terrier-like in her first pic. Something about the stance and the coat. Extra-cute, though, whatever she is!

My personal opinion is that the front dew is a functional toe, and I don't usually advise removing it unless 1) the dog is a sled dog that will be wearing booties (booties and dew claws don't mix, because the booties rub them raw) 2) the dew claw is abnormal in some way that is creating a problem 3) the dog will be worked in such rough terrain that the dew claw will be frequently injured (this is actually pretty rare). The article that Stella linked has some good information on it. I'd also add that the risk of toe dislocation in dogs that turn at speed (like sighthounds and BCs) is greater in the absence of a front dew. I own a sighthound/BC cross, and let me tell you that when he makes a right-angle turn at his usual pace (which is approximately 47 mph, unless he's, like, running, in which case multiply by about 10), you can actually see his toes spread to grip the ground, and if you're quick you can see that dew is engaging the ground as well.

Jeez, I missed it all too. Oh, well! Luckily Melanie and Julie are now back to keep things in line. Or something.

1) There's no kickback. In addition, I personally do not receive income from prescribing any Hill's Rx diet. I cannot speak for other vets. 2) We (our clinic, I mean, not vets everwhere) have a limited amount of space to stock and carry diets, so we ONLY sell Rx diets; no maintainance, light-maintainance, hairball control, senior or puppy. 3) Hill's DOES have a lot of good science for the Rx diets, and they're always doing further study. Not every Rx diet has the same amount of quality study backing it, but I'm always comparing them. 4) Depending on the Rx diet we're talking about, there are often OTHER Rx brands available, so there is a choice if you (or your pet) don't like Hill's/SD. HOWEVER: in AK, it is literally impossible to get some of those diets unless you special-order them directly from the company, as there is no distributor in AK. Sometimes you can't even special-order them. Even if you can, they cost about 2x as much because of the special order and the shipping. 5) There have been several times I've had another brand's Rx diet fail to accomplish the desired results in a given patient; more rarely, I've also had Hill's diets fail in an individual patient. This is somewhat dependant on which Rx diet you're talking about (as in, what disease or condition the Rx diet is intended to treat). 6) Every dog/cat/hamster/cow etc is different, and the best diet for that animal is the diet that that animal does best ON, regardless of the brand or lack thereof. There is NO diet - not one - that is perfect for every animal. This includes home-cooked and raw. 7) The proof is in the pudding. An example: when I was in vet school (where we did NOT get food for free, but we did get it at a student discount, like everything else in the hospital) I had a 10-year-old dog that was 10% overweight. My roomate had a 10 year old dog that was 10% UNDERweight. Both dogs were put on SD Senior, free-choice. My dog lost 2# (which was 10% of her body weight) and the other dog GAINED 6# (which was 9.1% of her body weight.) Same diet, free-choice intake, OPPOSITE (but appropriate) changes in body weight and condition. That means that BOTH dogs did better, in exactly opposing ways, on that diet. However, YMMV. JME, of course.

I personally would not re-home a dog with this kind of problem. It's too big a liability. What if he does worse than a puncture at his next home? I wouldn't want to be responsible for that, and couldn't take the risk professionally. On a personal level, if I rehomed a dog who later bit someone I'd be devastated by guilt, and I'd feel like I just passed my problems along to someone else. It's up to you what you do, of course, but really think about that before you make the move to put this dog and his problems in someone else's hands. And I echo the sentiments of those who advise seeing a behaviorist.

It's never easy saying goodbye to a dear friend, but maybe there's some consolation in knowing you did right by Flick all her life. Hang in there.

I accasionally milk my neighbors' goat for them. She lives in a big pen with a little barn. The milking stanchion (homemade, but very functional) is outside the fence, and consists of a platform with a head-catch and a feed tray. There are no side gates to keep her in place, no chute to run her down to force her onto the stanchion. If she didn't want to be milked it would be very easy for her to run away when someone goes to catch her (the pen has a lot of trees to dodge behind) or to hide in the barn. She also has horns - which she knows very well how to use - and would be a right pain to get onto the stanchion if she wanted to. She has to exit the pen, jump up on the stanchion and stick her head into the catch (which she does vonluntarily, as she is a greedy wench and wants her FOOD.) Now, I WILL say that she can be a pain to get back INTO the pen.... which proves that if she didn't want to be milked she could make it a big giant hassle. And: Sheep dairy. Mmmmmmm. (I'm giving this some thought for next spring....!) P.S. I might point out that I've never once head-butted the goat's udder whilst milking her. The kids, however, have no such compunction.

The cells lining the gut replace themselves every three to five days. Those cells aren't going to Mexico on vacation. They slough in the stool. I'd expect that the stool surface would have the highest concentration, since the cells sloughing from the surface of the colon would probably be there.

Well, he should have done. That means either A) he's already neutered, 2) he's a bilateral cryptorchid (has both testes retained) or iii) his testes are there, but small and shy.

Ask your vet to estimate age for you. That'll be a guess, but it'll be an educated guess. USUALLY the puppy teeth will shed and the adult teeth will come in at particular average ages, although there is some individual variation in this. Generally the upper canine tooth is easy to check and relatively consistent; it typically begins to erupt at 5 months of age, and is fully erupted at 6 months of age. If there are still baby incisiors, the puppy is probably under four months old. Very cute, regardless of age or breed!

Kinky thread title. I like rolled leather collars because they're strong but narrow, so they don't mat up the ruff hair as much and are less likely to cause hotspots, due to the decreased surface contact area compared to a flat collar. I also find them easier to clean. That said, I DO have some nice nylon ones I do like and will still use at times. It's a moderate preference for me, but I will say that if Finn is scheduled for a photo shoot, I leave the flat collar off for at least a week so his ruff looks good. This is partly out of respect for the photographer's time - she makes her living this way, and I want her time with Finn to be productive for her. It's partly out of respect for Finn, as well. He does his job at the photo shoots willingly and with good cheer (as he does nearly everything); the least I can do is make sure he presents at his best. He has no control over how he looks (nor does he care), but I can at least make sure he's clean and unmatted. Leads... definitely prefer leather. I have one that I totally LOVE, nice bridle leather that feels good in my hand, can be easily saddle-soaped up if it (say) gets dragged through sheep crap, and is soft, strong, flexible and durable. It also has a good-quality, decent-sized snap on it. I have two other leather leashes that are not as good (the leather quality isn't as good and the snaps are too small and lightweight, IMO, for easy use on many collars). Maybe it's my years in the saddle or hanging around barns and grooming racehorses that make me prefer the feel of a leather lead in my hand (I always preferred leather reins and leather shanks in the horse barns); I admit I have a prejudice there. I never liked the rubber reins... I couldn't feel the horse through them. It was like my hands went dead. I didn't realize how much information I was getting that way until I tried the rubber ones. I'd always read that in horse books - how you feel the horse through the reins - but I never really got it how true that was for me until I tried the alternative. I'm not sure if I have that same suliminal feel of the dog through the leather lead, or if it's a simple prejudice because I just prefer the leather in general, but I DO have a marked preference there. I'll use nylon leads, but given a choice, I want my nice black bridle-leather one. ETA: I used to have a dog that would snap a brand-new plastic quick-release buckle in about 10 minutes, no matter how sturdy it was. From that experience (after throwing away three nylon collars with quick-release buckles in rapid succession) I came to prefer the more traditional buckle type.

In that case, and especially if you don't get resolution of signs, you might consider following the metronidazole with some fenbendazole (aolso called Panacur). It's a wormer that also will kill the resistant strains of giardia. Up here, at least, about 30% of giardia resists metronidazole, but the Panacur usually gets it... and any other intestinal parasites that have scooted under the radar. Watery, urgent diarrhea is usually coming from the colon, and often causes the stomach to be upset (there's a reflex arc between colon and stomach, so if one is upset, the other often is too.) This may have something to do with why you're seeing grass-eating in tandem with the diarrhea.

Yup. I just diagnosed a case this morning. I had one other I suspected (negative on the float) but I'm treating it presumptively, as it is notoriously difficult to find on a fecal sample. Also, it's been quite the summer for giardia-favorable weather up here, which raises my index of suspicion. Not the worst thought to consider treatment so you can assess response. Treatment could be diagnostic AND theraputic, and is luckily not very expensive. Just a thought. Run it by your vet and see what they think.

Or not. My 9 year old Westie, spayed at 5 months (prior to the first heat), has no issues with incontinence. Dave's 12 year old BC, spayed at 2 years (after her third heat), has been on meds for incontinence for over 4 years. I see PLENTY of dogs spayed later in life (as in, after they've been through heat cycles - sometimes MANY heat cycles) who develop incontinence. I also see tons who were spayed prior to the first heat who never have an issue with it. Growth plates are a separate issue. JME, of course.

CRAP! Now I need to go borrow Tranq's screen cleaner....

(With apologies to Root Beer, who shows a great deal more punctuational restraint than I am about to....) I don't know if excessive exclamation points are a red flag for a bad breeder!!!! But the only person I've ever known who did that was a really bad PERSON!!!! I don't mean occasionally putting in a couple of extras!!! That might just be enthusiasm!!! I mean ending every single sentance with at least three!!! EVERY sentance!!!! It's very annoying!!!! I wondered if the person in question was trying to fake sincerity!!!! Or was just so impressed with her every utterance that she thought it deserved at least three exclamation points!!!! Could be both, since she thinks nothing of trying to steal BFs and husbands of women who have befriended her and who she professes to like and respect!!!!! Maybe breeders who do the extra exclamation points are trying to fake sincerity as well!!! They certainly don't seem to care about the puppies or their foundation dogs or the breed or their potential buyers!!!!! They DO seem sincere about making money and pretending they are ethical people!!!!! Even though that clearly isn't the case!!!! Ugh. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming, which with luck will have only the usual amount of exclamation points.

Just as a BTW.... What was your friend's purpose in asking you not to spay the 6 year old? I hope this is not the one you "might" consider breeding "way down the line"; six is getting up there for breeding (especially if it would be her first litter), and "way down the line" sounds like a lot older. Pretty hard on the bitch, assuming you even manage to achieve a pregnancy. At any rate, the dog is yours, now; surely it's YOUR decision if you spay her or not? Having just today had in yet another middle-aged bitch to be spayed (with a pyometra and at least 10 mammary tumors that the owner couldn't afford to have removed), I find myself wondering what your friend's thought process is here. Maybe there's some legit reason for keeping her intact that I'm just not seeing. However, if it was me, and it was my dog, I'd be making my own decisions about it - especially where my dog's health was concerned. Just a thought.

So, just to clarify.... a blue merle is a color, not a breed. Could be you knew that, but the way the title reads (to me) makes it sound like you're laboring under the misapprehension that the breed choices are 1) BC, 2) Aussie, 3) mixed breed or 4) merle. Likewise the statement about being told by the shelter that your dog was a BC/Aussie mix, but someone else said he looked "more like a blue merle", which implies that they were substituting "blue merle" for the breeds mentioned by the shelter. (Did this person speak of the "blue merle" as if it were a breed, thereby misleading you? Or am I just misinterpreting your statment? - Wouldn't be the first time I've done that...) To me it looks like he has a little red in his coat near his ears; maybe on the left front leg as well. If so, I would agree on tricolor merle as his color; as for breed, he could be all Aussie, all BC, or a mix, either of BC X Aussie, or of BC OR Aussie mixed with something else. I'd say BC/Aussie is as good a guess as any. Realistically, though, he's a beautiful dog regardless of what breed(s) he might be.