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skycat

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Everything posted by skycat

  1. skycat
    Good on you for giving the old dog a chance. They are amazing animals though aren't they: makes you feel a bit guilty sometimes when you know they've been working their socks off with some unseen nasty lurking inside them: hope he comes good.
  2. skycat
    I take it hares must be in pest proportions round your way if you have to cull them at this time of year. Not trying to be funny or anything, and I know that in some areas hares are a pest: but if they are not then it seems a shame to be killing them at this time of year. There again, with coursing now illegal there is no other way of reducing their numbers: sad world we live in!
  3. skycat
    And refuse to pay!!! Bloody idiot shouldn't even be working in a vet's if they can't even get vaccinations right.
  4. skycat
    I know a lot of people swear by Beta puppy, but IMO it is the biggest load of crap going! A pup will crap as much as went in the other end! That should tell you something about the amount of undigestible waste that this product contains: cereal based: DOGS NEED MEAT: on a raw diet pups can go all night without crapping as the amount of waste they produce is half what a pup on a complete food ejects from its arse! Also, you will be feeding far less food all round as the pup will be utilising much more of what it eats rather than shovelling the complete rubbish straight through its system
  5. skycat
    If you only just got the dog then FFS don't start treating it harshly: any dog,no matter how good its temperament is going to take some time to settle in: harsh treatment coupled with the strangeness of new owners and habitat is going to take some getting used to. Spend as much time as possible with the dog: go and sit in the kennel with it, read a book or listen to music while your'e in there, fuss the dog, feed it in the kennel and stay with it while you feed it, take it in and out the kennel over and again. What your'e trying to do is make the dog realise that the kennel is a nice p
  6. skycat
    You'll never know for certain as he could just be lurcher to lurcher for generations! Even that way bred you can still get the odd pup throw back to a particular breed way back along the line. As long as he works well and your'e happy with him then that's all that matters IMO.
  7. skycat
    What are you feeding him on? Pups fed on raw meat/bones etc don't crap as much or as soft as dogs fed on complete, especially the cereal based foods. When they eat raw food they use much more of what they eat so less comes out the other end and is much firmer as well. Also, adjust your feeding times. Definitely DO NOT free feed (food down all the time) as that means not only does the dog not learn to properly fill its belly at one meal, but it also means that there is waste in transit all the time and they crap more often. How old is the pup? How many meals a day? And what time is
  8. skycat
    I've not had a huge amount of experience with pure Greyhounds, but the ones I have seen/owned, like Allgame says, didn't last long round my way. Barbed wire fences, lumps of fallen trees, dips and bumps in the ground. Open flat ground: not a problem, but speed isn't the only thing that catches you quarry in the areas I work my dogs. Field craft, common sense, agility, BRAINS (lots needed!) and that all important sense of self preservation: without that a dog wouldn't last a season with me. What about the German Shepherd, Dan? OK, so a first cross would be too heavy and overheat like mad,
  9. skycat
    OBE: goosegrass is that sticks to everything stuff that climbs: not actually a grass though; when its mature it has those tiny little brown ball type seed heads that also stick to everything! I'm sure if you google either name you'll find some photos of it.
  10. skycat
    Anal gland problems? MIght need emptying. If you can't empty them yourself then get the vet to do it.
  11. skycat
    Surely you must have heard of having a spring clean? LOL Seriously though, mine are all guzzling cleavers (goosegrass) and young shoots of couch grass at the moment: do it every spring: some gets vomited back up and some goes right through the dog. I've been feeding mine stewed nettles recently and I've noticed they don't eat grass etc when I'm giving them stewed nettles, so although a dog's system can't utilise raw whole vegetation it must be doing them some good or they wouldn't be doing it. Agree about binding the bile to vomit though>makes sense.
  12. skycat
    Best of luck: and remember, even busy people would rather you asked than end up with a dead or ill bitch and or pups.
  13. skycat
    Malted Kelp tablets from Dorwest Herbs help stimulate the appetite: kelp contains iodine: I don't know if that would interfere with any medication she is on so give Dorwest a ring and ask them for advice before trying: I know they work: had a very faddy odd eater of a rescue dog: really helped his appetite. Cooked meat is better than no meat IMO: have you tried frying minced beef? Not many dogs can resist that!
  14. skycat
    It sounds to me as though your'e very lucky she hasn't seriously damaged herself: yes: do please go on a mega guilt trip for making the bitch so tired and stiff and sore: at 6 years old she is now heading towards middle aged. As a middle aged old thing myself, if I had to even walk over rough ground for 4 hours I'd be stiff and tired as well! As a dog gets older it is more difficult to maintain fitness, and it sounds as though your bitch wasn't even fit at all before you lamped her. Your bitch needs steady regular: twice a day: exercise for at least a month. Road walking and a little gal
  15. skycat
    Not being funny or unkind, but if you have very little idea of what to do (you ask if the bitch will let you feel her tummy) then I'd advise getting in touch with your vet to let them know that you have a bitch expecting pups: that way if there is a problem then they'll be ready to help if needs be. Now rush out and buy The Book of the Bitch: ASAP! Read it from cover to cover at least 6 times and use if as your bible: it is one of the best books about pregnancy, whelping etc. Make sure you have lots of newspaper, clean towels and a heat lamp or radiator depending on whether the bitch
  16. skycat
    Get Raspberry Leaf tablets from Dorwest Herbs and give her the correct amount for her weight: phone them at Dorwest Herbs or pm Reload (he works there). excellent stuff for helping bitches whelp and keep in good condition. Don't over feed the bitch: same amount as normal but divide into smaller meals as she gets bigger: the time to chuck food at her is once she's had the pups: over weight bitches have more problems giving birth than lean fit bitches. Don't feed cereals or manufactured crap: give her chicken and rabbit carcases and beef and a bit of tripe: I found that bitches fed on n
  17. skycat
    What are you feeding the pup? The best food for pups is meat and bone with a bit of veg: if you are feeding a cereal based (more cereals than meat) food then too much food will give a lot of pups the shits as a dog's digestive system isn't designed to cope with a lot of cereal: wheat etc. Some dogs are almost allergic to cereals, plus the fact that you have to feed twice as much of a cereal based food to give the dog the nutrients it needs, means that a pup won't put on weight or grow properly. As for any wormer bought over the counter: they simply aren't man enough to do the job prop
  18. skycat
    I once bred a litter and a dog pup that was a real retard was still here at 15 weeks: always sat at the back, seemed scared of his own shadow: I sold him to a good dog man who to this day still says its the best lurcher he has ever had: took everything. The slow starters are often the best: the teachers told my parents that my sister was a 'bit slow' mentally: at the age of 8: she took a long time learning to read, but she was the one that went on to do A levels, university etc etc: just goes to show that the early fliers aren't always the ones with the grit to stay the course: and this ap
  19. skycat
    Even on raw bones etc some dogs will get a thin line of plaque along the gum line of their top canines: I just chip it off with my nail: get the edge of your nail above the plaque and lever it off, levering AWAY from the gum line. If your nails aren't strong enough then carefully use a small penknife: but be careful NOT to scratch the enamel. Don't use files etc as this will abrade the enamel's surface making it even easier for plaque to stick to! If you make examining your dog's teeth, nails etc a daily habit, then they won't mind you doing their teeth. I generally sit on the sofa, or
  20. skycat
    the problem is that virtually all the anti propoganda is focused on fox hunting, so the general public only see fox hunting as the issue: the question is do we, the other sort of hunters, lay low, say nothing and carry on as before, or do we try and draw attention to the fact that it was not only fox hunting that was banned?
  21. skycat
    I usually put a gutted rabbit in for the pups to suck on. leave the fur on. This is one reason I don't bed pups on shavings, paper or anything that the pups can swallow along with their meat. If you haven't got a rabbit or several LOL, then minced beef with a bit of hot water poured on to make it really sloppy will do fine, but I do like to see them slurp away at a carcase: you won't get a pup that sits back and says it doesn't like a carcase, whereas some pups are reluctant to stick their heads in a bowl of slurry type mush.
  22. skycat
    The problem with lurcher breeding is that say a person who buys a pup is told it is XYZ, they then tell everyone the dog is XYZ, dog eventually gets used as stud to another supposed XYZ and as far as the people who own the parents are concerned, the pups are also XYZ. So even when one pup is smooth and the rest of the litter hairy, or maybe one is a lot smaller than the others, no one thinks, hey! Maybe one parent wasn't XYZ after all! After all, they've been TOLD that the breeding was XYZ! So of course they believe it. Unless you have been breeding a long time, been around a lot, an
  23. skycat
    I fitted the perch (a bit of branch) almost on the floor of the cage and his comb brushed the top of the cage when he was perching: he still crowed though, but not a lot, and yes, they can even crow perching and NOT standing up! Seen it with my own eyes. As for crowing in the garden during the day: we have gardens almost like allotments: its an old part of the village and there's lots of trees, wild birds which make a racket all day, pigeons, collared doves etc: crowing might pose a problem if you were in a more modern housing estate where it was pretty quiet: best thing to do is ask your
  24. skycat
    I live in the middle of a village, and a miserable git of a neighbour complained about my cockerels: when the environmental health bloke came out he said as long as the birds didn't crow at unsociable hours there was no problem. What I had to do was catch up the cockerels at night after they'd gone to roost, put them in a cage in my big shed, cover the cage with a thick towel to cut out the light, then let them out each morning: 8am weekdays and 9am weekends. You have to make sure the cage is big enough so the birds don't overheat in a shed in summer covered up with towel or blanket.
  25. skycat
    Just a question: why get her spayed? Yes, I know that there will never be any chance of unwanted pups, but there is also the risk of urinary incontinence (supposedly increased risk if the bitch is spayed before her first season as the vulva is not mature: waterworks science!) It can also adversely affect the temperament of some bitches, particularly in a multi dog household.
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