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skycat

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Everything posted by skycat

  1. skycat
    6 to 8 weeks for me. Pups settle in better into a new environment before they reach 8 weeks. After 8 weeks they start to view the outside world with more fear than curiousity. Obviously if you are out at work all day this is not a sensible thing to do, but then again, I wouldn't want a pup of mine to go to any home where it is going to be left for 8 hours a day with no supervision, alone or with another dog. Pups do learn a lot from their dams, but many bitches won't stay more than a few moments with pups once they are past 5 or 6 weeks, and its down to the breeder to put the time in so
  2. skycat
    What a total stunner: I am green with envy: look forward to seeing more of him as he grows up.
  3. skycat
    Easy: de stone as many damsons as you want LOl Took me an hour while I was watching TV to do 6 lbs. If you are using quite unripe fruit (too late for that now) then you can add about 100 ml of water, but if the fruit is ripe don't add any water. Simmer very slowly until the skins are soft. Weigh the simmered fruit and add 12oz suger to each lb of simmered fruit. Sorry I keep hopping between decimal and imperial: can't quite make the conversion total LOl Stir frantically whilst heating up until sugar is completely dissolved then boil fast until it reaches setting point. My fruit
  4. skycat
    quote] will you use her for breeding Skycat?? its a cracker that bitch In a year's time hopefully: she's not 2 years old yet and I want her to have a seriously hardworking season this winter: all being well I shall breed from her when she is 3. She is still a bit immature in some ways yet and I don't want to risk breeding from her until she is mentally as well as physically mature. Work wise there is no doubt in my mind that she will do the business: already retrieved foxes (dead), rabbits and birds (undamaged )and up for anything. The hunting drive is one of the most powerful I ha
  5. skycat
    The roundworm takes 3 weeks to complete its life cycle, and yes, I've tried worming at 2 weeks but got nothing. Worm at 3 weeks and you'll probably find a couple of very young round worms: just little threads of things. IMO sticking a bit of a tablet down a pup's throat is a damn sight easier than syringing liquid down its throat, and less likliehood of it going down the wrong way. I've always used Drontal Plus on pups from 3 weeks: divvy up a tablet after weighing the pup and smear a bit of marg around the tab. Then just poke it to the back of the mouth with your finger: once at the ba
  6. skycat
    Here's my Redline Airedale, now with a summer haircut: she wasn't woolly coated before, more like a thick Lakeland type jacket, and a mane like a lion. She's not that fast but very tough and goes all day: I'd say pretty indestructable: check out those legs!
  7. skycat
    I've messed about a bit over the years with jams and the trick, IMO, is not to use very ripe fruit: if its too ripe it won't set and all the boiling in the world won't do it. Also, if you over boil then it goes past the setting point anyway. Just made 8 jars of damson jam from the tree in my back yard: the fruit was a bit overripe but its set pretty well, and I only used 12oz sugar to a 1lb of fruit: but eGods it took some time to de-stone the little b*ggers LOL
  8. skycat
    The main problem with people like that is that if they are prepared to rip off/mess about a fellow human, their attitude is often (not always I'll admit) the same to their animals: just things to mess about.
  9. skycat
    Worm him first with a good from the vet multiwormer. If the dog has been miserable or not treated right that can affect their appetite: get some pics up so we can see what he's like. Sometimes dogs don't eat well until they get used to their new surroundings, but if he's skinny I'd have thought that he'd be really hungry. If he doesn't perk up a bit within a few days then I'd get him to the vet to see if there is an underlying problem.
  10. skycat
    Very often a pup late born will be still born: happened to me a couple of times. Providing the bitch has not got a temperature, is happy, relaxed and eating, drinking peeing and crapping normally then I doubt there will be anything wrong with her. Chances are she will still be panting a bit a) because the uterus is contracting, and because of the warm weather. Just keep an eye on her temperature and her glands at the back of her jaw: if they get enlarged then she is fighting an infection. Discharge of blood varying from bright red to dark brown but no offensive smell is quite normal
  11. skycat
    Get the pup trained first: make sure you have a good recall in different situations: like on his own, in open fields, and even when there are other dogs around. A dog without a good recall will do your head in if you get it out on the lamp with loads of bunnies around! With a very fast type of lurcher like yours I'd make sure he is well used to getting around in the countryside too: let him learn about hedges, brambles and barbed wire before he is actually chasing something, or you're likely to take him home in your arms and straight to the vet to be sown up! If he is steady and sensi
  12. skycat
    WEll done that bitch! Have you got puppy rails in side the box? They are great for the pups to sqeeze under rather than getting squashed by the bitch. Best of luck with them.
  13. skycat
    Get the dog to YOUR vet fast: if septicaemia sets in you lose the dog, or at the least. the leg. I once, many years ago, lost a dog cos the vet put the bandage on too tight and gangrene set in in the foot. Take off any bandaging immediately and get the dog to the vet now.
  14. skycat
    Just a thought: if this is the bitch's first litter: expect problems at her age. Not saying that problems are guaranteed and I don't know if Mastiffs are easy whelpers or not, but don't be surprised if you need that trip to the vet. Big heavy built bitches, especially those who are past the ideal age for whelping sometimes suffer from uterine inertia: where the uterus doesn't contract properly so the pups aren't pushed out. Watch for signs that she is contracting but no pup: if this goes on for more than an hour before the first pup arrives get her to the vet fast. A Caesarian will prob
  15. skycat
    If there's only one pup in there I'd be very surprised. A scan will only reveal the pups well down in the uterus. Not so long ago a friend of mine had his lurcher bitch scanned at 6 weeks pregnant. They thought there were 5 pups in there: she had 10! No pup, even a single pup, would be so big as to make the bitch look huge like your's does. Best of luck!!
  16. skycat
    Get some homeopathic Sulphur from a health food shop. Tip a couple of tablets directly into the dog's mouth (don't touch tabs with hands as it makes them lose their effectiveness: don't ask me why I don't know) Always works a treat on itchy dogs if all other causes have been eliminated.
  17. skycat
    NO: make a poultice with brown bread. Get a piece of stretchy bandage, or some very thin material like muslin: even a cotton handerchief would do. Wrap the bread in it, a the size of your palm, put some preboiled water in a bowl, let it cool so you can just put your hand in it: dunk the bread bandage into it then squeeze out the excess water. Place the poultice over the pad squishing the bready bit around the abscess then hold the whole thing in place with another stretchy bandage or elastoplast. Don't be tempted to use elastic bands as they would be too tight and cut off the circulation
  18. skycat
    Its' funny how the phrase 'pecking order' has come into general use: but of course it started with the pecking order of a chicken flock: they can be nasty little sods to eachother and even with only 4 chickens there is always a clearly defined hierarchy. Newbies can get a rough time of it to begin with: just make sure they have plenty of room to get away from the nasty bullies and plenty of food scattered about so that there isn't just one feeding place for the top hens to guard. Also consider alternative places to roost if the top dogs won't allow the underlings on to the perch and sever
  19. skycat
    Looks very much as though a foreign body has gone in there and the body has walled it off to avoid infection: which is what a cyst is actually! Try poulticing it with a hot poultice, as hot as your own hand can stand: soaked brown bread is a good home recipe for a poultice, or try Animalintex (from horse shops) but only leave on for half the reccomended time. Poultices soften the skin and help the abscess come to a head so they can burst and drain. Once it has burst then flush it out with salt water and leave the dog to do the rest by licking and keeping clean. Obviously keep the dog aw
  20. skycat
    Even at night in this weather it is far too warm to be runing a dog unless it can get in water every few moments. I've just come back from walking mine when it was almost dark: they ran a few rabbits and were panting like mad: its not just the heat, but its so humid at the moment as well: even my Saluki types are finding it too hot with this humidity.
  21. skycat
    Try getting one of those hard rubber balls you can stuff with food, or a giant bone, or a rawhide chew that is 3 times the size the dog needs: all sorts of things to keep the dogs occupied and quiet, and gives them hours of occupation. You could even try hanging a tyre in the kennel if the dog wants to chew something that is not edible, or giant rope balls: anything is worth a go.
  22. skycat
    That's a very useful and informative post, BUT jumping down especially, though up is not good either for a dog of under 12 months old is very dangerous. My local back man says he sees more injuries to lurchers from jumping than just about anything else! Leave the high jumping (anything higher than the back of the dog) until it is physically mature: 12 months in very small dogs and 18 months in anything over 23 inches. Believe me: I've learned this hard fact through experience. I even lift my big pups down from the van after a walk, even though I've let them jump in: its the jumping d
  23. skycat
    Lovely! Great pics too: I haven't seen a slow worm for years: used to have loads in Cornwall when I lived there.
  24. skycat
    Feed twice a day. As a rough guide, divide his food into quarters weight wise: quarter minced beef or horse, quarter rabbit or chicken: (whole carcase preferably not minced), quarter breast of lamb, as it is, and a quarter minced veg and fruit with a handful of oats or muesil type food thrown in if he gets constipated. Oily fish once or twice a week, couple of eggs twice a week, whole natural yogurt, large pot over two days. SA 37, only a teaspoon a day despite what they say on the packet. The above is what I feed my dogs and they thrive on it and half of them are on slimming diets (IE
  25. skycat
    Relatively few dogs suffer from genuine motion sickness, and most that are car sick are sick because they're stressed. Feeding the dog in the stationary vehicle (not just before a walk!), sitting in the switched on motor with the dog, read a book or whatever for 20 minutes or so, will help to reassure the dog that nothing nasty is going to happen. Very short trips of less than 5 minutes to begin with: once round the block or whatever: always end the trip with something nice: a titbit, a play with a toy etc.
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