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Messages - chaos270

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1
General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Re: DIAGNOSIS: SPAYING INCONTINENCE - Pee Pee Accidents 10 mo. St. Lucy
« on: October 12, 2009, 06:42:18 pm »
We had issues with Proin when we used it for our aussie's spay incontinence.  It did work after she was on it for awhile but the cost was high (still no leaking 4 yrs later).  It took her slight fear aggression and turned her to the point she went after a close friend and other friends then she went after us a few times.  We stopped the meds but the damage is done...she has gotten better but she's now on Prozac and still cannot be trusted with people outside the immediate family.  Our vet found it caused hypertension and rapid heartbeat which can make an anxious dog snap. There was a female Saint on it and she was having issues too but she had other underlying health issues too so it was never known what the Proin may have done to contribute to her problems. I would be very careful with it and maybe discuss your concerns with your vet. Lacey was on it for a long time so maybe the shorter dosage won't be as much of an issue.  I know I posted about Lacey's issues shortly after we found the cause so search the forum for "Proin" and you should find it. Good Luck I hope you can find a solution that works!

Modified to add the link to my previous post:
http://www.bigpawsonly.com/index.php?topic=8827.0

2
Newfoundland Pictures / Re: zeus
« on: August 25, 2009, 02:32:51 pm »
Zeus is looking great!!!  Has he been trying to swim to England again lately? LOL!  And OMG your little boy has gotten sooo big!

3
Food Discussion & Information / Re: Need help feeding my newfie, please! (warning, graphic poop description)
« on: August 18, 2009, 06:20:32 pm »
Have you tried putting him on a bland diet to give his tummy a rest ie boiled chicken, rice and canned pumpkin(regular not the pie filling kind)? You need to do at least 4 days for it to be effective then slowly integrate his food back.  Also you may want to have another stool sample done.  Kaden my berner puppy ended up having coccidia with fairly similar symptoms and it took 3 samples before my vet found it.  It tends to be cyclic and the Rimadyl could have set it off. You could also give him a little yogurt once he's feeling a little better to help balance the bacteria in his stomach.

As for kibble you could check dogfoodanalysi s.com for food pros and cons.  Orijen is a good food but can be a bit rich...it's often referred to as raw food in kibble form.  I have Kaden on the Orijen Large Breed Puppy but may be switching him to Canidae ALS soon as it may be too rich for him. Kali my brother's newf and my mom's aussi have been doing well on the Canidae. Innova Adult is also a good kibble.

Good luck hope he feels better soon! 

4
Food Discussion & Information / Re: Oh no. Tucker's well-puppy check up = hubby & I arguing about diet. Stupid vet.
« on: June 14, 2009, 04:32:26 am »
Quote from: Berner_Mom on June 14, 2009, 03:57:56 am
Quote from: chaos270 on June 14, 2009, 02:53:32 am
My berner breeder swears by orijens as it is a very good food.  Hill's is a crap food and has a lot of allergens so if your puppy was already having problems you'll have a hard time with it.  I second the switch vets any vet who stirs up that much trouble over your dog's diet choice to switch a good diet (that is obviously working) to a crap diet just for profit is not a vet I'd want my dog seeing. Maybe you could look into another quality kibble until you can talk hubby back into raw if that's what you'd like to keep feeding just until you have time to rediscuss it with a level head. Maybe stick with just the Orijen for now?

If you want ammo for why Orijen is good go to dogfoodanalysi s.com as it's one of the few 6 star foods. Out of curiosity which are you feeding your guy?

ARGH!  I am so frustrated right now.  We feed Tucker Orijens by alternating the adult formula (teal & black bag) with the 6-fish formula (light blue and black bag).  So we'd feed one whole bag of one, then switch to other flavor, then back etc...

I absolutely know that Dr. B is telling us to feed Hills Prescription because she gets paid to sell their food, but getting hubby to understand that right now is pretty much impossible.  He is running scared right now, for lack of a better term, from anything I'm suggesting, or even from really talking about it, because he's convinced the vet is right.

I've been researching on internet, and found this analysis of Hills Prescrip. D/D.....This is the one hubby bought.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1064&cat=all

OMG! We are going to have to switch vets, because this is ridiculous.  Hills is CRAP, plain CRAP food.

The main concern of the vet (not that I really care) was the amount of protein Tucker is eating, because Orijens is 70% protein (plus then we were feeding raw on top of that) so my question now- what is the RIGHT amount of protein content we should be looking for?  Personally I see no problems with keeping him on Orijen (that's what he was being fed when we got him) but I'd be willing to try switching to Evo large bites (I've heard good things about that, plus its grain free) or something if hubby is dead set against Orijens now.

Oh my word.

Orijen is very high protien that's why I'm leery of feeding it to my guy when I get him.  The protiens range I've heard as being good for large/giant breed puppies is in the 20-30% range but that's to ensure slow growth.  If he's not having any growth issues like pano or growing too fast I wouldn't be too concerned about the protein cause he'd be showing signs of trouble by now. One vet in the practice I go to says protien is important the other said the calcium to phosphorus ratio is more important I think max is 2:1 but you should check that out.

5
Food Discussion & Information / Puppy Food
« on: June 13, 2009, 08:26:24 am »
Okay I'm having a really hard time deciding which food to go with for my berner puppy. I want something that's low on allergens and is a good quality kibble. My breeder's starting them on the Orijen Large Breed puppy, which isn't available in my area and I'm not sure about it's really high protien levels. I may be able to order it at a local feed store so I'm not totally counting it out. She has her adults on Orijen and she swears by it.  She used to give her puppies Innova Large Breed Puppy but it gave her dogs some problems after the formula change so she's reccommending against it.  The other options I've been considering are the Solid Gold Wolf Cub and Canidae All Life Stages (which is what Kali and Lacey are currently on). So if anyone can give some advice I'd appreciate it.  I'm willing to consider other foods too if I can find them.  I went through dogfoodanalysi s.com but their reviews weren't all that helpful when considering Large Breed puppy choices.

I know this has been discussed before but most of the foods have gone through formula changes so I figured I'd ask again.

6
Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Re: Getting a Puppy!
« on: June 07, 2009, 02:08:17 pm »
I'll probably go up and see them again before I bring mine home and I'll take more pics.  I totally spaced on getting a pic of the mom so I'll have to get one next time. Here's some video of them too.  Warning there are puppy cries which may drive your dogs nuts LOL!

Falling asleep from all the overstimulatio n:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/wyldchyld87/Puppies/?action=view&current=MVI_2468.flv

All awake cause mom came back in:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/wyldchyld87/Puppies/?action=view&current=MVI_2473.flv

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/wyldchyld87/Puppies/?action=view&current=MVI_2472.flv

7
Bernese Mountain Dog Discussions / Getting a Puppy!
« on: June 07, 2009, 01:13:48 pm »
I found the perfect breeder for me.  She has been awesome and does have puppies on the ground.  So I went up to meet the pups yesterday and discussed contracts, feeding, health clearances, pedigrees and the whole nine yards.  I met the mother who is petite but a sweetheart. One of the breeder's tests is how the mom reacts to potential buyers and she ran right up to me. I also got to meet the 7 puppies (1 girl, 6 boys).  I'll be getting one of the boys.  They are 3 weeks old and about 3 lbs. She had me help her trim nails so I could get lots of hands on time with the puppies. We stayed for about 6.5 hours playing with the puppies for awhile then her adults.

The adults were the second test her 1 yr old came and sat in my lap immediately.  The big male went straight to Tim.  Then the rest of the gang mobbed us.  Her 3 yr old wild child was running laps around the cars and wiped out into her sister.  They were all awesome dogs the male sat in all of our laps and the others came and sat on him so we had quite the dogpile going LOL. We had a blast between puppy breath and snuggle time with the bigs paws.

Here's a link to my pics of the day on facebook.  Sorry they're a bit dark and blurry but the puppies just opened their eyes last week so we didn't use the flash.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2304477&id=9021896&l=adf446ab39

8
FAQs about puppies / Re: Questions to ask a breeder???
« on: June 03, 2009, 08:52:46 am »
I do have the answers for some of the questions I listed.  Unfortunately she doesn't have the mom's info on Berner Garde but she did tell me they were all passing and I didn't write down the male's name so that I have to get so I can look him up.  She feeds her adults Orijen and keeps track of any problems litters have as far as allergies which I think is pretty good.  This is her female's first litter so no past info on her. If I remember correctly her brother had one questionable hip or elbow but the breeder said her vet said her hips and elbows are some of the best he's seen. I haven't met her but I met her mother who has the best temperment and is beautiful. The breeder also gives a puppy book with her puppies with all info about what you need and the breed.

And I'm looking for a pet puppy to maybe do some drafting and therapy dog work with if the puppy is suitable once it's old enough.

9
FAQs about puppies / Questions to ask a breeder???
« on: June 02, 2009, 01:26:29 pm »
Okay I'm going to be meeting with the bernese mountain dog breeder this weekend and want to know if anyone can think of a few more good questions to ask.  I figure this may also be helpful for other members in the future too.

Ones I have so far:
What are you looking for from this pairing?
What are the health clearances for both parents?
Any problems that are in your lines(HD, cancer, allergies etc)?
What are you doing to rectify them?
What is your contract like (specifics on gurantees and neutering)?
Do you temperment test?
What have you done for socialization or plan to do before the pups leave?
When do you let the pups leave?
Food/vaccine recommendation s?

So can anyone think of anything I'm forgetting?  I plan to talk to my vet to see if she can think of anything but figured you guys may think of stuff too.

10
Treatment & Preventative Meds / Re: Leptospirosis, Lyme, Kennel cough vax's in Newf in New England?
« on: June 02, 2009, 08:33:54 am »
Definitely get the Lyme...it isn't 100% effective but some coverage is better than none.  There is a killer Lyme strain in my area that has been killing dogs so definitely vaccinate because who knows when it will spread and even the regular strains have been known to kill dogs so be careful. I'll ask my mom about the Lepto and Kennel cough.  I don't think we do the kennel cough and I'm not sure on the Lepto.

**editted to add** We do Lepto but not kennel cough because there aren't any bad kennel cough strains in our area and if they get it it'll clear on it's own in a month.  Lepto because we live in the country (wild animals) and my mom works in a vet clinic. And we haven't had any bad reactions to the Lyme vaccine you just have to watch for any adverse reactions.

11
General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Re: New Puppy - Travelling
« on: May 26, 2009, 09:14:02 am »
Every 30min to an hour would be good for stopping. Stop about 5-10 minutes after giving water and I'd avoid giving food prior to the trip.  I'd also bring some puppy pads maybe so if the puppy has an accident it won't be as big of a problem and bring some paper towels for clean up if necessary.  Also if you hold the puppy during the ride put a puppy pad in your lap so you don't get peed on LOL! My mom learned that lesson the hard way with Kali on her 5 hr trip home.

12
Newfoundland Pictures / Re: A day at the river
« on: May 25, 2009, 12:58:31 am »
It looks like they had a blast.  They are both adorable!

13
Newfoundland Pictures / Re: An update on Kali and life in general
« on: May 25, 2009, 12:57:04 am »
Thanks everyone...les s than 2 weeks to meeting the puppies and the breeder!!! I'm very excited LOL!

14
Newfoundland Pictures / An update on Kali and life in general
« on: May 21, 2009, 02:54:32 pm »
First an update on me...senior year was amazing but hectic.  We designed, built, and raced a concrete canoe for concrete canoe club.  It was sooooo much fun.  I've officially graduated as a Civil Engineer from UConn the ceremony was May 10th. We're cleaning and repainting all the rooms in my brother's house (tspanos) cause I'll be renting it and hopefully moving in before I start my job June 1st.  The other big news is that I'm planning to get a Berner puppy....I found a litter with 2 males left and I go meet the breeder and puppies June 6th to find out if the breeder thinks one will work for me. I am beyond excited though Kali's nose will be out of joint when she learns she's not the youngest anymore LOL!

Okay without further ado the pics:

Graduation


the family


friends in front of the Civil Engineering building (our home LOL)


Kali and me






And the canoe if you're interested



Now hopefully I'll be able to post more frequently and when I get a puppy I promise to post tons of pics  ;D

15
General Board for Big Dogs with Big Paws / Re: Bubs will be the death of me!
« on: May 19, 2009, 11:23:07 am »
Forgot to mention if it happens again which knowing your two it might  ;) and you can't get ahold of anyone try calling the fire department as they may be able to come out and help you.  They help stranded cats so why not a 150 lb newfy LOL!

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