Saturday 23 May 2015

The Animals Today ... Baffled, Sleeping and Poorly


Rosy was peering into the Eglu watching one of the Hylines busy laying her egg .....


... this shot shows Rosy watching the hen running off at great speed just 30 seconds later :-)


Yin and Yang, or in this case Ginger and Mavis.



And poor Suky is not well at all  :-(

She went to the vets yesterday for her annual booster.  She went in a completely healthy dog and after the vet messing about with her knee repeatedly before she gave her the vaccination (she limps slightly after long walks as she has a loose kneecap, which we do know about and hence we don't overwalk her if at all possible), she came out obviously in pain with her leg and for the rest of the evening she was obviously very off colour and had the runs.  This morning she has refused all food and is fast asleep in her bed.  The vet is talking about an operation on her leg, but I think losing weight will do more to help the situation, and be much less traumatic and invasive for her.  I have signed her up to 'Doggy Fat Club' at the vets, which will no doubt mean I get lectured about her food, but I'll trot off to the first one and see what they have to say., 

After reading various articles about vaccinations (see HERE for one) I think I am coming to the conclusion that we will not continue to vaccinate the dogs.  They will of course continue with other treatments, flea and worm things, but no more yearly vaccinations for the time being.  Seeing Suky so poorly and totally at our doing is not nice.

Sue xx

22 comments:

  1. Aw bless Suky. I hope she is better soon.

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  2. My daughter does the vaccinations for her dogs on a very spread out schedule because doing them all together makes him sick. But backing down the extra vaccines makes a lot of sense.

    And getting the weight off the pug makes sense before doing any surgery. Pugs have a tendency to gain and hold exta pounds. But, oh, how they love their food and cookies.

    I have a grand dog pug. I just love him deeply. And he loves me with a passion. They are such wonderful dogs. Hate to see them feeling poorly. Hope your baby is feeling better soon.

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  3. Poor Suky, I hope she feels better soon x My collie has arthritis and the vet recommended he lose weight and I was worried it would mean buying special food and stuff but the vet said that all I had to do was give him smaller meals, no need for expensive food and it really worked. He takes glucosamine tablets for the arthritis too, also recommended by the vet. Nothing special just normal human ones not special doggy ones but I'm sure it's best to check with the vet to find what the dose should be and he also has bioflo magnets attached to his collar. A combination of all these things and I have to say he's doing brilliantly. Here is a link to the brodpod magnets in case you want to check it out.

    http://www.brodpod.co.uk/discoverymagnets/prodisp.php?prodcatind=4&subcatind=7

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  4. Sue, I was advised to try homeopathic 'boosters'. Apparently they will accept this in kennels too, not that we use kennels for our dogs. One of our dogs is so absolutely petrified of the vet that recently the vet said that now our dogs are 7 years old, they should have built up plenty of immunity as they've had boosters every year of their lives. Or, the alternative is just to give her an injection every 3 years. I got in touch with a breeder and she said she had owned kennels and would accept dogs on homeopathic boosters instead of the usual annual injections.

    I wormed our dogs with Drontal a couple of weeks ago and one of the dogs was really ill with diarrhoea the following day, so I'm not using that on her again. I will try another brand.

    Our other dog has a funny leg which swells up after twisting it occasionally. It has been fully investigated, X rayed, manipulated etc and they can't find anything wrong. It doesn't impede her movement even when swollen and goes down on its own a couple of days later.

    Best of luck and hope Suky is back to normal soon xx

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  5. Poor Suky, I hope she feels better soon. When we inherited Rocky hound the vets did a lot of ringing around to find his vaccination record. He only had one set of jabs so we started again as he was over 5 years old when we got him so certainly the next few years will see him getting his booster shots. I do know a few people who have stopped the boosters for their dogs x

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  6. If we do not vaccinate our cats each year, their insurance policy will not pay for treatments, please check your policy, just in case.

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    Replies
    1. We don't insure any of our animals. We just pay for treatment as and when they need it.

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  7. In america and many other countries boosters are done every 3 years. Its the same injections our dogs have to have every single year. An alternative is titre testing which moniters the amount of immunity in the dogs system.
    As said previously kennels can only take vaccinated dogs and insurance companies often use the excuse that the dogs not had yearly boostes to avoid paying out - for anything.
    So sad when many dogs are succumbing to vaccination poisoning at an alarming rate.
    I show, breed and judge and won't give any of my dogs boosters after having them have bad side effects.

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    Replies
    1. Sharie, do you know anything about the homeopathic alternatives to immunisations? I would love to find out more. Thanks

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  8. we find that they do not need to be vaccinated as often a vets recommend, there is a test a vet can do to see if the vaccine is still present in the dog. i don't remember the name of the test bu if i do i will post it for you.
    Agatha Mantanes

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  9. here it is ----------http://truth4pets.org/2012/06/titer-testing/
    Agatha Mantanes

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  10. That's interesting you say about giving up on vaccines. If Suse wasn't mixing all the time I would. I only deflea when really needed and have hardly ever wormed her. I thought worming was a preventative but read the other year that it's done in case. She never picks up food when we are out or anything like that. Maybe I am wrong but I try to avoid chemicals in my body and so it seems fair to do the same for her. I'll have a read of that article and the comments for more , thanks.
    Hope Suky feels better soon poor little darling. Loving the pet pics x

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  11. Deer Suki, I busstid up my legge BIG TYME. Bowth me neez are badd but I lossted sum wayte and itt helpss. So, gett MUmm to helpp wiff a dyeut.
    Luv Duncan xxxxx

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    Replies
    1. Hi Duncan,

      I have things in order ..... are you dyslexic by any chance ;-)

      Suky xx

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  12. We don't vaccinate our dogs, as they don't mix with other dogs. They just run about our property. Our oldest is 15 and 5 years ago we were told she would need an operation on her leg due to a limp. We were told itvwas urgent and due to her age there was a bog risk she would die under anaesthetic. We couldn't afford the surgery and felt awful about not being able to give her the help she needed. A month later she was all better and she has been healthy ever since. To think we could have lost her during a surgery she never needed still angers me today.

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  13. Many years ago I realised that our Bearded Collie was 'not himself' for about three months after each annual "booster". Because he had a long-term condition that Pet Plan were paying for I had to have vaccinations done but I used to 'forget' to make an appointment and stretched it to two years between boosters.

    With Daisy we had no choice at first because the rescue centre vaccinated her but since then I have paid for a blood test to measure titre levels. Our vet doesn't really want to do it and last year charged double the cost of the year before. We are self-insuring Daisy so no need to comply with the Pet Plan rules any more.

    We don't give children another MMR every year, why are we putting our dogs' immune systems through so much unnecessary stress? I have this sneaking suspicion that it's all for the benefit of the drug companies, not the animals. Bit like statins?

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  14. Poor Suki, hope she is better soon, I wish our Jack russell got on with chickens and cats so well, he could learn a thing or two.

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  15. Poor little Suky ! I am glad you raised the discussion about pet vaccine's as well . I agree re not immunising her again . Hope she comes good soon .

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  16. I'm inclined to agree with you about the vaccinations. Same things happens with horses - who have flu and tetanus jabs each year and the flu jab can have repercussions. Our horses rarely came into contact with others as we didn't show or anything, so just had their tetanus shots. If your dogs aren't mixing with other dogs a lot then reconsider - as Jayne said, it's a big hit for their immune systems. I hope she is better today, and her diet will help her joints rather than an op.

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  17. Poor Suky; she doesn't look her usual happy little self.
    I don't vaccinate any of the animals.

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  18. I decided after my JRT's last set of vaccines last November that I wasn't going to do it anymore. He was so poorly each time that it was awful. I now have another JRT who is just 8months. She had her puppy ones before I got her, but I won't be giving her anymore.

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  19. Poor Suky. I test titres instead on my itchy dog. That way I know she still has immunity and I don't have to vaccinate her again unless she loses it.

    I have a ginger tux kitty too! He's the best!

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