Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Homoeopathic nosodes are given at regular intervals as a preventative measure but if there is an outbreak of a particular illness in your area and you believe your dog has been exposed to it you can give a nosode prophylactically as well.

As for Heartworm, I will have to look into this more, thanks for the warning.

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

SIberian Husy or Alaskan Malamute ??

Debs does most of the dog shows here in Brissy and did ekka too, she said Siberians arena was HUgeeeeee

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Neither, it's a wolf :) We don't have one but I do love wolves, we have a long haired white GSD who often gets accused of looking like a wolf :D

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

LOLOLOL

<< what becomes of ya when ur bein a smartass lol, wipes egg off face.

I much prefer the term GSD to Alsation, how old is he/she ?

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

He is 20 months old and currently 'doing his time' at the Byford quarantine centre. We can't wait till the 17th when we will be able to see him again :)

Unfortunately we won't be allowed to take him home until the beginning of October though :(

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Thanks Guys,

Getting a bit heated there. My dogs vacinnations are all uptodate and always will be, whatever country they are in, which is important there is a reason to vacinate. As we stand at the mo, if the dog retest comes back as the same level or lower, than this is ok, if it comes back higher then we will have to retest in a month. Results on Friday, Fingers crossed.

As for Heartworm, we have visited australia numerous times, and everyone says to us to protect against heartworm, it kills animals.

Everything we do will always be in the best interest of our dogs.

But they are both looking forward to there new lives in Australia, and say G'day to all they fellow australia dogs and cats(Grrrrrrrrhhhh) :-).


Jo :D

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

On the topic of Heartworm, have a look at this for a different view of the problem :)

http://www.homeovet.net/content/lifestyle/section4.html

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

A very interesting article Trekrider, But I'm not taking the risk. My Aunts 1st dog died from heartworm out here and her 2nd came very close to death last year from getting a paralysis tick in Sydney. She couldn't afford to buy anti tick collars so when the dog picked up one it went unnoticed for a week until it was nearly too late. Then she got a massive vets bill to save the animals life! I'm not a great fan of getting the dogs and children jabbed but jab them I will as for from the dogs point of view it could save them a lot of pain and discomfort in the future and from the kids viewpoint its not fair on everyone else’s kids for mine not to be vaccinated thus aiding in the spreading of diseases that could if everyone vaccinated be wiped out.

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

As far as I am concerned we all have to make our own decisions based on our own research, we all have the best interest of our pets and children at heart (please forgive the pun :) ) and from that make our informed choice. No-one can really say if their decision is the right one in the long, or even short, term. We just do the best we can. :)

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

As a vet I am so not getting involved in this ongoing debate!!
All I can say is a room full of dogs with rabies, does the homeopathic vet take his nosode vaccine before he bravely enters( for which there is no known test of 'efficacy' ie that it will protect him from disease) or does he choose to have the official scientific vax before he is sent to the 'wolves' Always wanted to ask that of a homeopathic vet who went to college with me but never had the nerve, I'm a bit of a pacifist at heart and hate arguing!!

PS Lepto is a 'spirochaete' ie a cute little spiral type bacteria and its vaccine does not stimulate as strong an immune response in the blood as that of the parvo/distemper virus vax which means that in this country as there is a potential risk of inf from rat urine/sewage etc that dogs need regular vax (yrly min) to stim a good ability to fight any sneaky inf they get. In some cases the vax doesn't work well at all and the dog may be open to inf within 6mths but the Antibody blood test routinely carried out for export to Aus is just proving a 'falling' titre of Ab levels proving your dog doesn't have an active inf which would cause his bld levels to go up as he tried to stop the inf. hence a repeat blood test should show a lower level of Ab and he should be OK to go to Aus. A rising titre would be a worry and your dog would need investigation for possible underlying inf, which can be treated with Ab but not definitively eradicated from your dog's system so they might never be able to go to Aus I'm afraid.
Brucellosis is a completely diff story, any positive result with that test must be from infection and Australia do not want any risk to their local population, so that would be a definite NO.

Oh darn it I did get involved, ignore me, I really hate debates honest!
Claire :o

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Thank you Claire thats very useful information. My dog poppy fly's on the 31st October this year - she was due her booster jags in May 2005 (incl Lepto) as we were already in touch with the pet travel agent we were advised for her to have her Nobivac DHPPI and Kennel cough but NOT to give the Lepto jag as this could make her test positive for Lepto when she gets her blood tests done on 5th October. This effectively means she is unprotected from Lepto for 5 months - is this a problem? Vaccination against Lepto is not required for entry to Australia.

The pet travel agent we are dealing with has years of experience with this and it is all very clear in the documentation that the dog should not have lepto vacc within 6 months of travelling - whats your thoughts on this - i'm so worried about all this!

Lynn

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Unless Poppy tends to play in sewage or is really unlucky enough to chase wild rats lepto isn't that common. It is a truly horrible disease if your dog does get it but risks are low,I've only seen 2 or 3 definite cases in 13yrs as a vet in this country, Lancs and Somerset areas, both good pops of ratting terriers!

The hope is that your dog's prev vax history will alow her some protection in that her immune system may have a 'memory' of prev vax and should she come in contact with the bacteria it will react much faster than a prev unvaxed dog. There are 2 types of lepto causing probs to dogs in this country and the liver disease one is nastier and less easy to catch so don't fret, you should be fine and so should Poppy.

Claire

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Thanks Claire

You have put my mind at rest - we don't let her swim in the canal or anything and I've never saw her chase a rat!

As for Brucellosis we have kept her vaccinations up to date (yearly) so surely she shouldn't test +ve for that?

Thanks again,
Lynn

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Liked this google ad at the bottom of this thread... :D

White Siberian Husky
Quality new and used items. Find white siberian husky now!
www.ebay.com

Re: Dogs Disaster
 

Thanks Claire, I wish you were around when we were trying to get our dogs out here. I think all our trouble started 2 years ago because my wife decided to stop giving our oldest 11yr old vaccinations. He had an unblemeshed 11 year vac card but she read somewhere that vac's were no good for dogs and so didn't get him done 2 years ago. It was the break in the vaccination record that seemed to confuse us, the vets and the agents. The Gov Vet and the actual shipping vet couldn't agree over weather he should have a lepto booster 6 weeks after the 6 month to go point had been passed. The official vet took the view that without it the 1st jab was useless and recomended we get it done regardless of the fact there was only 4.5 months to go! Ho Hum.. Its all done now.

Oh we do live on a farm out here with lots of tree rats and river rats!