Posted on 04/09/2007 8:36:12 PM PDT by kellynla
Which is why I grovel for a pet quality puppy from a show breeder... the other good thing is they are very particular about whom they allow to adopt these puppies... very few end up in rescue because the reputable breeders will take them back rather than see them in rescue.
Put your rottie on a grain-free diet.... Look at Raw Instint or Natures Logic... dogs do not need grains, grains turn to sugar in their systems... grain free makes for a calmer dog, too..... our friends have a wonderful rottie and two cockers, the first cocker ran ten pounds of their rott....
I have had seven cockers and one thing for certain, each one has it’s own little special personality... one that died last April was such an interesting little dog and our friends have a male that has her same mannerisms and little quirks.... I have yet to forget one of them after they are gone.
BTW — the infection wasn’t pyometria was it?
We weren’t going to sell them. My family wanted to breed these two because, well, we liked both of the dogs and we had some family and friends who wanted pups. Even if they are mutts they would have still been loved (and probably spayed or neutered because most of my family lives in the city.) I guess you could say we married them. idk.
I probably won’t be breeding her again because its too much stress and I worry to much about it harming her. I won’t spay her though because I had a beagle who after healing ran away. We found her at the neighbors a few miles away after hours of searching but she kept running away to them so we let them keep her as long as they promised to take care of her. We usually keep her indoors and watch her whenever she’s outside.
Say what you want about mixed breeds but my last dog, a cockapoo was one of the best dogs in the world.
thankfully no, it was a minor infection. The doc gave us some antibiotics and said it should clear up soon. I will have to get the name from my Mimi as she was the one who took her to the vet as I had college all day that day. We wanted to take her ASAP so thats why I didn’t take her myself.
If I may, I think the disconnect here between you and various Freepers re the pet food deaths and how it has been reported is this:
You appear to be an educated, intelligent, well-informed, well-connected, voracious news hound. So you (rightly) say that published reports by FDA and Menu Foods have generally said "16" is the "confirmed" number of dead animals, and eventually they said "there may be more."
I, and others, are looking at this from the perspective of Joe-Schmoe pet owner who is NONE of the things I listed about you above. The average pet owner gets their news at 5:00pm on their television set while they're busy cooking dinner or otherwise multi-tasking and hearing the news in the background. The pet food recall story on the local TV news says "16 pets have died from the recalled food." It does NOT include all the details of what the number 16 is derived from, what it means, it does NOT state that these are only the confirmed numbers and the true number may be much higher, it does NOT express the severity or urgency of this recall, and it does NOT list every single recalled product, it simply says "brands like Iams and Nutro and others are affected, for a complete list, go to MenuFoods.com"
So the average pet owner says to themselves, "I don't feed Iams or Nutro, so I'm ok." They don't realize there are 100 brands on the list. As a result, MANY pet owners continued to feed contaminated product.
This, in my opinion, is the difference between what you are arguing and what I and others are arguing. Reality isn't reality, Perception is reality. And if the media keeps reporting the "16", that is what pet owners will hear, and they will be lulled into a false sense of security about feeding these recalled foods. They will say to themselves, "16 dead out of 60 million recalled cans? I don't need to worry about it because the odds are soooo low that I would get one of the tainted cans. Here Fido - dig in!"
All our dogs and cats are at risk as it is from poor food and too many vaccinations, we really need to either do rescue or breed for show and be lucky enough to get the puppies who are good quality, but not show quality. There is a difference...
My three girls are all great dispositon and very high qualiity, but I would never breed them because I don't have the knowledge to know what dog would be the best match for these girls to produce an outstanding dog... Would I love a puppy or puppies from them -- yes, but I won't do it... I'll leave it to the experts.
I was wondering if the Science Diet was having the same effect on her as my old diet had on me: too much refined white flour. Cut out the flour and refined carbs and lost 26 lbs. Sounds like it might well indeed.
Thanks for the advice -- I was going nuts trying to figure out how to get the weight off her!
That’s certainly significant, though I can’t find any confirmation that the statistics actually include only cases before the recall was announced. There doesn’t seem to be anything on Banfield’s website about it. The date range you cite is the manufacture dates covered by the recall, which would be earlier than the sale dates, and earlier still than the dates of any significant amount of consumption. It’s pretty hard to evaluate statistical claims when so little detail is provided, so I’m still not inclined to put much stock in Banfield’s claimed conclusions. That could change, though, with more detail — both the exact date range they included in their study, and the date distribution of the increase in cases.
I’m also curious as to why they’re only reporting numbers for cats. Even if they only saw a statistically significant increase for cats, given all the publicity about dogs being affected too, you’d think they’d mention that (veterinary professional associations are reporting more cats than dogs affected but still a significant number of dogs, and the obviously unreliable self-reporting website is running about 50-50 dogs-cats). The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if maybe there’s some statistical cherry-picking going on. Perhaps they provided more detailed information to the FDA and other institutions. Weird that they don’t have anything about this statistical study on their website (or if they do, it’s very well hidden). Perhaps there’s just a bit of lag time between when they put out a press release, and when they post it on the press release section of their website. All the media mentions of this study seem to carry the same limited info.
I’m mildly wary of the degree to which Banfield has been using the recall as a marketing opportunity. http://www.drugnewswire.com/15263/ They’re a business, of course, and it’s not wrong to pursue profits, but there’s something a bit unsavory about launching competitive promotions based on a tragic situation like this. The press release at that link also mentions a charitable foundation they’ve set up, with funds earmarked for treatment of pets with illness related to the food recall, but that’s a mighty muddy slope, seeing as how even the major teaching/research hospitals who’ve put out information about their experiences with this have said they are unable to definitively tie most of the their specific renal failure cases to the food, even though they believe that many are indeed due to the food.
For the record, I will be putting zero stock in any alarmist claims about a sudden surge in renal failure cases in cats over the past week or two. There’s always a surge around Easter, due to the popularity of lilies as holiday decorations, and I’m afraid the annual ritual of spreading warnings about this has been largely wiped out by the pet food recall publicity. For the record, even the pollen can be toxic, so placing the plant or cut flowers out of the reach of kitty-nibbling isn’t enough, if the location allows pollen to fall where a cat can walk in it (and then diligently lick it off it’s paws when it washes).
I don’t think either Arizona Carolyn or I were saying anything bad about mixed breed dogs, per se. There ARE millions of good mixed breed dogs in the world. There are also millions of horribly bad mixed breed dogs in the world. What we’re saying is that if you don’t know anything about breeding, you shouldn't be breeding dogs. And it’s not a valid reason to breed just because you like a specific dog. As AZCarolyn said, the ONLY reason to breed dogs is to improve the breed.
I had an incredible National Champion German Shepherd that I got from my breeder because he produced a litter of puppies with hip displasia. She wasn’t sure if it came from him or the dam because it was that dam’s first litter, so she bred him a second time to a proven dam, and the second litter also had hip problems. So even though he was a National Champion, he did not produce healthy offspring, so she did the responsible thing and never bred him again.
You have NO idea what the offspring of your two pets will produce, other than MUTTS. Have you considered that the offspring may get the WORST of both dogs? Have you considered that the specific combination of that male and that female may produce congenital birth defects such as cleft pallets, heart-valve defects, entropion, cataracts, thyroid problems, allergies, or dozens of other potential health issues? Have you had both the male and the female tested for the appropriate breed-specific health issues before breeding?
MILLIONS of dogs are killed in shelters every year. It is irresponsible to bring more mutt puppies into the world. I’m not saying there aren’t good mutts - there are. I’m saying there are millions of good mutts right now who are waiting to be adopted — have your entire family go SAVE a life by adopting one of the mutts who is already on death row. SAVE a life, don’t CAUSE the death of a life by breeding more mutts.
Male dogs can smell a female in heat a couple of miles away. Letting your dog roam loose outside when she is in heat is irresponsible and asking for an unwanted/unplanned pregnancy. Some females have been known to roam miles to find a male to breed when they are in heat. Spaying your female will not only eliminate unplanned pregnancies and unnecessary/unwanted mutt puppies, but it will also reduce her risk of mammary cancer and it will eliminate the risk of uterine cancer. An unexpected pregnancy by “that hound” could result in your dog’s death when the puppies are too big for her to deliver.
Your Beagle running away after being spayed has nothing to do with the spay. It has to do with you not confining your dog properly.
Please, do the responsible thing and spay your female dog and neuter your male dog. Have your family rescue, SAVE the life of a dog who is already on death row at a shelter somewhere. There are MILLIONS of good dogs in shelters all over the country. Just look on Petfinder.com for a small sample of what is in shelters in this country. You can also rescue a dog from a specific breed rescue group, or a mixed-breed rescue group. Just don’t breed. Please. Please.
I'm sorry for sounding so harsh. But with millions of dogs dying every year, specifically due to thousands of random backyard breeders like you, I have to speak up. Before I was educated, I didn't know any better... so I believe you just don't know any better. If you can become informed, then you can help educate your whole family about the responsible thing to do, which is to rescue a dog from a shelter, make sure it is spayed or neutered, and continue to educate everyone you meet about spaying and neutering and NOT backyard breeding. And whatever you do, do NOT buy a puppy from a pet shop, no matter what the pet shop tells you about the source of their puppies. You don't even want to know the horrors of puppy mills, but pet shops ALL get their puppies from either backyard breeders or puppy mills.
lol labradoodles and cockapoos just don’t fly down here in east texas lol. I mean I can’t think of one person down here who’s paid more than 50$ for a dog. Most of us either adopt or put a collar on the local stray.
Well, I personally have had bad experiences adopting.
and as for my dog running away, we just don’t tie our dogs up out here unless they are causing problems with the neighbors. We do lock her up when she is in heat but we were just trying to cover all the bases. My beagle had always stayed in the yard since we had found her and then just one day up and left. She had a good home with the neighbors so its no big deal.
We may get her spayed but idk yet. It will be a family decision.
My former neighbor had a huge Golden Retriever (130 pounds, when he should have been about 85 !), and they couldn’t figure out why Jake was so heavy when “all they did” was give him about 5-6 full-sized Milk Bones a day, plus about 3 cups of dry food twice a day. Of course, they thought he was just big-boned until I came along and told them otherwise. They still defended his weight until they took him to the Vet and the first words out of the Vet’s mouth when he saw Jake were “That dog needs to go on a diet!”
(1) don’t free feed
(2) give the appropriate amount of food in 2-3 meals a day
(3) choose a healthy, meat-based diet, and as AZCarolyn said, reduce or eliminate grains in the diet
(4) appropriate exercise... if she’s out of shape, you obviously can’t start out with a 5-mile run
(5) if you must give treats, choose a low-cal treat, such as 1 baby carrot, twice a day
It’s true that TV news gives very abbreviated information, and that many people may hear the definite number (16) and pay little or no attention to the statements that the actually number is believed to be far higher (”in the thousands”, etc). I understand that many people aren’t analytically inclined. But I think it’s important to try to keep the focus on the facts, especially those facts that are being missed by a lot of people.
What annoys me about all the conspiracy theory stuff is that it distracts people from factual information that they really need to be paying more attention to in order to keep their pets safe. Nonsense about “notice how their press release says ‘Not for Release in the US’ on it”, and utterly unfounded claims that the Menu Foods CFO knew all about this when selling some company stock on the first day the company conducted tests, steers pet owners away from scrutinizing the important information that IS available, and makes them inclined to think there’s no point looking at that info in detail because it’s all just a bunch of lies put out by people who want to get rich and don’t care if they have to poison your beloved pet to do so.
“I have neither the time or the inclination to read much less respond to your inane posts...”
You responded with emotion, but based on a wrong assumption.
Many gave you the benefit of the doubt.
You didn’t accept the benefit and responded with defensiveness.
You got called out...
It seems to me you could have just said oops and moved on.
Sounded to me like you were both on the same side of being worried about pets etc.
Thanks for the info. We feed her twice daily, but I have to admit, since my daughter started on grown up food, Ursa's been quite the opportunistic cleaner upper. This is something we work very hard to discourage, and our daughter has been good in not feeding Ursa snacks like she used to (she used to have a game where she'd ask for a biter biscuit and then sneak it to Ursa.)
I'm going to see how the grain-less diet works for her. She walks a few miles every day with either myself or my hubby, but since I've got a triathlon in less than a month, maybe I'll bring her along on a few of my light runs (I'm a terrible runner, so she won't be working beyond her ability right now.)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
“Try Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance.
It’s nothing but all natural ingredients.”
We are having VERY good results with our cats and this food as well!
You’re absolutely right. A good breeder cares about every puppy they breed, for life.
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