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starbuck

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  1. Is your dog aggressive in every situation with other dogs? Luke was the best dog in three obedience classes and is never aggressive in an actual nose to nose encounters. And he never even growled once durring our othe BC's puppyhood even though she nearly bit his nose to pieces. However, on our walks he goes CRAZY for a few moments when another dog on a leash directally approaches us (with an off leash dog, he just stands still). I tried all kinds of things to correct this without luck. It might just be BC weirdness.
  2. Now that Natural Balance has issued a recall of one of their formulas (fortunately not the one my dogs eat) my faith in the pet food industry in GONE! What are the best books or websites regarding raw or home cooked diets? If it's not way too expensive I am thinking about making the switch. I'll probably talk to our vet about this but I need to learn more first so I can ask the right questions.
  3. Luke had a TPLO in November but it's a procedure I wouldn't choose again. We found an excellent board certified Orthopedic surgeon who had done hundreds of these but the results are somewhat disappointing. While Luke had no problems with the surgery or recovery and he gets around fine, his gait is off (walks a bit peg-legged) and his foot toes out a bit. Plus, there is the very small possibility that the plate could cause him trouble in the future. I think we took a lot of risk and spent a lot of extra money without any added benifit. YMMV
  4. Thanks everyone. We have decided to do a TPLO next week. Hopefully, we will get the good outcome Luke deserves. I probably shouldn't have spent a couple of weeks thinking about it, but I just had to figure out the best balance of costs, risks and probable outcomes.
  5. I have been monitoring both the orthodogs and conservative theraphy news groups and are having severe second thoughts about conservative. Has anyone had experience with the traditional repair? Luke is a big guy at 55lb and the surgeon still recommends the TPLO ( I have access the a very well qualified surgeon who has performed hundreds of these). However, it still worries me. Even with the best he could still develop problems which could require another surgery. Add to that his other leg could go. I am not sure we can afford that (@3400 a surgery). We are allready at 5k and counting for vet bills this year.
  6. Whether you do your homework and find a dog bred from carefully selected lines or take a chance on a questional breeding, you take a chance. I have done both and either way have wound up with fine dogs with expensive and heartbreaking problems. It's just a chance you take. Wishing the best for you-
  7. I don't know if Luke would have torn his ACL if he had not been neutered so young but I would never consider neutering a male dog again. I think it's time for Vets to start giving their clients better advice on this issue.
  8. Luke has the ACL tear (I don't know how it happened). He was neutered at 3 months (the vet said it was easier for the dog at that age). He is 5 years old now.Starbuck developed her problem OCD in both shoulders (probably from chasing tennis balls) before she was spayed at about 11 months.
  9. I grew up with two Border Collies who lived long active lives and never needed to see the vet for anything other than a booster shot. Yhe two I have now (and dearly love) both have had serious and very expensive orthopedic problems (OCD/ACL tear). I am almost afraid to play with them, wondering if we will be facing another $$$$$ vet bill. What's going wrong with the breed?
  10. Luke has a ACL tear.The orthopedic surgeon has recommended that he has a TPLO procedure to correct it. I have full confidence that he is highly skilled and likely to do a terrific job with this procedure (he performed surgery to correct Starbuck's OCD earlier this year). However, it is a very aggressive procedure (and very expensive). While I think it's unlikely that anything would go wrong, there are some horrific things than can happen with this procedure. The older surgery for this condition is less dangerous but less likely to give good results. Online I have found some reports that conservative theraphy (2-3 months with no jumping, running) has results at least as good as the older surgery. I don't know what to do. I have some time as this is a fairly recent injury. Luke's only 5-I don't want him to be crippled. However, I would have a hard time living with a decision that left him in worse shape or cost him his life. I am thinking about continuing resting him for awhile and maybe not doing the surgery. Has anyone had luck with a conservative apporach to treatment of this sort of injury?
  11. I wouldn't advise anyone to put out rat poison. Years ago, we put some in a locked shed in in our yard which was frequented by rats. Months later, I noticed our little terrier chewing on something. It turned out to be what was left of the block of rat poison we had left in the shed. The rats must have taken it out of the shed through a tiny hole in the back of the shed, a few inches from the fence. Our dog survived but suffered some kidney damage. i hate rats but that stuff is just bad.
  12. Are you guessing that your dog is a double merle, or do you know for sure that his parents were both merles? I have a blue merle with tan, whose mother was tri-colored and father was blue merle. She is a blue merle tri.
  13. I just took another look at this thread and thought I should add another comment, as I responded more to the topic than the message. I'm not sure neutering will stop the behavior you describe. My male, neutered at 3 months, has shown the same behavior on a regular basis since he was neutered (he usually also growls while he is at it). This behavior has greatly lessened as he has gotten older and no real harm seems to have been done.
  14. We had our male neutered before he was six months old because the vet said it was easier to recover from if done early. He's five years old now and the only side effect of this is he looks less developed than a male which had't been neutered so early. It also took him more than a year to learn to lift his leg. However, he didn't get lazy or fat.
  15. Here are a couple of links that might help: http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/ http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...&articleid=1252
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