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Go easy on new food - you've seen the results with the milk. There is a lot of stress going on right now. If I were in your place, I would skip a meal (or two) until the diarrhea stopped, and then try feeding boiled/poached boneless, skinless chicken breast with some white rice and canned pumpkin. It's very bland and easy on the stomach. If she eats that well (and several small meals a day might help initially), then you can start mixing it with Sam's kibble (maybe 1/4 kibble and 3/4 CRaP mixture to start) and gradually over several days progress to the point where what you are feeding is just the kibble.

 

Poor girl has gone from a life of worry and uncertainty and minimal care, to one of constant care and love - and that is stressful in itself but, as you are seeing, she is already beginning to realize that she has stumbled into a very good situation with you and your family.

 

Take it easy, being a bit thin is okay and adjusting to a new, better diet and putting on a little weight is best done gradually.

 

Very best wishes to you all!

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Go easy on new food - you've seen the results with the milk. There is a lot of stress going on right now. If I were in your place, I would skip a meal (or two) until the diarrhea stopped, and then try feeding boiled/poached boneless, skinless chicken breast with some white rice and canned pumpkin. It's very bland and easy on the stomach. If she eats that well (and several small meals a day might help initially), then you can start mixing it with Sam's kibble (maybe 1/4 kibble and 3/4 CRaP mixture to start) and gradually over several days progress to the point where what you are feeding is just the kibble.

 

Poor girl has gone from a life of worry and uncertainty and minimal care, to one of constant care and love - and that is stressful in itself but, as you are seeing, she is already beginning to realize that she has stumbled into a very good situation with you and your family.

 

Take it easy, being a bit thin is okay and adjusting to a new, better diet and putting on a little weight is best done gradually.

 

Very best wishes to you all!

 

Hi Sue, i will definetely try the chicken and rice you suggested, this is the type of meals my wife makes in the evening for us, so it will be really easy to make a little more for Mel.

 

Do you know what we can do regarding her dull looking dry coat?

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If you see how she 'was' i.e., wouldn't even come near anybody when on the farm, and how she is now, i don't mind her feeling a little dominant if it will bring her out of her shell a little, i can always calm her down a little once she settles in.

I wouldn't worry about the feet on you thing. I doubt she's trying to assert dominance. I actually encouraged Willow to put her feet on me--she was so shy when I got her that I took her putting her feet on me as finally meaning she was comfortable in her relationship to me. This is one of those situations where you have to know a bit about the dog's personality to decide if the behavior is acceptable to you or not. While I don't generally let my dogs jump up on me, I do allow them to put feet on me at times and I'm certainly not worried that they're trying to "take over the kingdom" when they do so.

 

As for her coat, it will improve with a good diet. She will have to shed off all the old dull, icky hairs and grow in new hair that will look nicer thanks to her improved nutritional status. There are no quick fixes for that. You can add extra fat to her diet, or give her something like fish oil capsules, both of which will improve hair coat, but you'll still have to wait for the old dead hairs to be shed and the new shiny ones to come in. FWIW, I have one medium/rough coat dog who looks positively horrible when she blows her coat twice a year. So hormones could also be playing a role in the condition of Mel's (new name?) coat.

 

I don't know what to tell you about the burping. It could be stomach upset from stress. I don't know if you have a product like Pepcid AC over there, but I might try giving her something like that (make sure the vet says it's okay). Of course her general GI upset from the milk could be adding to the nasty burps too.

 

Like I said earlier, instead of throwing a bunch of different foods at her, give her something bland and easy to digest for a few days and then gradually switch her on to what you want to feed her. Canned food alone is not nutritious enough to sustain a dog (it's mostly water) and would be good for a top dressing or mixed with her kibble, but I wouldn't feed it exclusively. It would probably be cheaper to buy a chicken or two and boil them and then feed her the meat (no bones or skin) until her stomach settles.

 

J.

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Love the pictures!!! She is gorgeous and it's only going to get better from here! No wonder Sam is smitten!

 

Do you know what we can do regarding her dull looking dry coat?

 

Feed her, bathe her, groom her... and wait. The mats have to come out and new fur has to grow in. Vala came to us with the same problem: brittle old fur, matted, the white fur was yellow and/or pink. That's what a life of living outside with no grooming will do. So it takes time but good food and grooming will do it.

 

Week One, August

post-9869-1265076293_thumb.jpg

 

Week Two, August

post-9869-1265076333_thumb.jpg

 

Week Three, September

post-9869-1265076369_thumb.jpg

 

Week Eight, October

post-9869-1265076464_thumb.jpg

 

Four months, December

post-9869-1265076584_thumb.jpg

 

Five months, January

post-9869-1265076514_thumb.jpg

 

Keep us posted about her behavioral and health progress. I love to hear about a dog acclimating and blossoming!

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I suppose the Chum is going to cause her more tummy problems tonight then by the sounds of things?

 

Chum is very rich and isn't a tinned food I would choose.

When her guts have settled down a bit, if you're going to feed tinned food Chappie is probably the best (even for dogs with iffy digestion) and although it is cheap, vets often recommend it. Otherwise Butchers tinned is OK.

 

Putting weight on if you want to feed kibble - our BC was skeletal when we got him. I took advice from Ceri here

 

http://www.csjk9.com

 

and fed him 50/50 Command Performance 21 and CP Xtra which worked like a dream. She did say that Champ could be substituted for the CP 21 as a cheaper alternative but as his skin was a bit flaky from poor feeding in kennels I went for the premium variety to start with. She's very helpful and the food was developed by her for working BCs so you get an expert.

 

Julie recommended fish oil capsules for the coat. Make sure they are fish oil and not cod liver oil as cod liver oil (unless specifically made for dogs) can contain too much Vit A which can damage the liver. Grizzly Salmon Oil is good but I'm sure there will be cheaper alternatives. If you fed CP 21 you probably wouldn't need any supplements though.

 

Pam

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Don't know if it will help but can't hurt.

Mick and a bout of horrible diahrea when I started him on glucosomine. Just horrible. All I had available at the time was pro-biotics (acidophilus)

I really think it helped sooth his nasty tummy. We still had to run through the time it took to get the gluco. out of his system but he seemed more comfortable.

THey make dog pro-biotics, you might try that for her burping and just to help get things working in a better fashion.

 

BTW...very cute dog. Sounds like she's coming around quite quickly from where she was.

As far as feet on you...

Some dogs I'd not allow it, some I would encourage it. Just depends on the nature of the dog. For Mel it sounds like a good thing.

Raven could not be caught when I first brought her home. Took her about 3 months to decide being "caught" by humans was a good thing. After 6 months she really started coming out of her shell. She'll never be an outgoing dog like some, but you'd never guess she spent her frist 3 months with me in a closet. I bet you'll be pleased with her change in a very short time when you think about how she's already coming around.

 

Nice pictures.

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Hi everybody, thank you for all your advice, Mel's burps seem to have stopped and so has her watery stools!

 

She has also started drinking water and also eating dried food (Bakers but intending to change).

 

I have just got back from the vets with Mel, i walked her to the vets to get her injections done and also had her micro-chipped and also got some worming tablets.

 

We then walked back home via an engraving shop to get her a name tag for her collar.

 

 

She is very sensitive to noise from cars and also the slightest bang (from lorries/trailers) whilst they are driving past sends her into a state of panic.

 

The vet said that she is slightly under weight but she should soon put weight on....

 

He has recommended Arden Grange Foods or Hills Active Breed, my Director at work has recommended BEETA, and obviously the above recommendations also...there are lots of different foods to consider/investigate!

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The vet said that she is slightly under weight but she should soon put weight on....

 

He has recommended Arden Grange Foods or Hills Active Breed, my Director at work has recommended BEETA, and obviously the above recommendations also...there are lots of different foods to consider/investigate!

 

I'd bin the Bakers without finishing it.

Arden Grange OK.

Hills - no. They do invasive testing on animals and it's overpriced for the quality - plus your vet will get a good mark up on selling it.

Beta OK but there are better foods.

Vets are not the best people to get nutritional advice from. They do very little on the subject during their training and most of the info they get is hard sell from the food reps. (Talking about the UK here.)

Do have a good look at the CSJ site - and check out the people who work their dogs who use it.

 

http://www.csjk9.com/profiles

 

You'd be in good company if you tried it. Bear in mind that you wouldn't be paying for heavy advertising - the food sells itself amongst people who know dogs, and BCs in particular.

 

Pam

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I'd bin the Bakers without finishing it.

Arden Grange OK.

Hills - no. They do invasive testing on animals and it's overpriced for the quality - plus your vet will get a good mark up on selling it.

Beta OK but there are better foods.

Vets are not the best people to get nutritional advice from. They do very little on the subject during their training and most of the info they get is hard sell from the food reps. (Talking about the UK here.)

Do have a good look at the CSJ site - and check out the people who work their dogs who use it.

 

http://www.csjk9.com/profiles

 

You'd be in good company if you tried it. Bear in mind that you wouldn't be paying for heavy advertising - the food sells itself amongst people who know dogs, and BCs in particular.

 

Pam

 

Hi Pam, my wife has gone to Pets At Home today as they have BEETA on a special Buy 1 and get 2nd 1/2 price deal.

 

We thought we would give this a try 'first' as my Managing Director swears by it as he has some German cart pulling working dog and he claims its really good, so thought would give this a try, if our dogs don't take to this or don't appear content then we'll give the CSJ a try above.

 

P.S. Mel has started waggling her tail! :rolleyes:

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P.S. Mel has started waggling her tail! :rolleyes:

Just the thought of that brings a smile to my face - she is beginning to realize that her life has taken a most definite turn for the better (at least now that that first bath is just a memory)!

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Just the thought of that brings a smile to my face - she is beginning to realize that her life has taken a most definite turn for the better (at least now that that first bath is just a memory)!

 

:rolleyes:

 

I still can't believe how good she was with the bath, she didn't growl or snarl and was really well behaved all the way through her ordeal... :D

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After having a foster whose tail was firmly stuck between his legs for nearly three weeks, I know just how it feels to see a wagging tail.

 

When we first got her it looked like she was deformed.....as there was no evidence of a tail on her where it was curled right up under her stomach......

 

Although i don't think the matted hair and sheep poo helped that was stuck all around her personal parts.

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HELP HELP HELP HELP!!!!

 

We started noticing blood on the floor around the house today and shortly afterwards Sam started trying to ride Mel.

 

We managed to stop him on each occasion, however tonight we noticed them at it again in the Conservatory, we shouted but this time Sam didn't respond, we got up and by the time we got to them they were turned around with their bums facing each other but tied together!!

 

Sam has somehow managed to get his male part stuck in Mels female part, we were really really worried and were at first trying to separate them, however nothing was working, so i ended up Googling it and apparently its normal??? To ensure good egg fertilisation? I read on one site that its the female who is responsible for it until the sperm fertilises the egg, problem is Sam won't have any because he's had the chop!

 

I hope this doesn't mean they are going to be like it forever!

 

It can apparently take up to 1 hr for them to separate?

 

This is really frustrating not to mention inconvenient, as its presently 00:16 her in the UK and i will now have to wait up until nature has taken its course....

 

Is there any way we can stop Sam trying this again? As he's already been chopped? I thought the chop was supposed to stop him trying this?

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I don't know what to do in this case but I'm sure other can help with the current problem- BUT

yikes it sounds like you should really, really get her spayed- I truly don't understand your reluctance to do so. It's good that you got him neutered, but spaying her will reduce the likelihood of mammary cancer as well as help prevent urinary tract infections. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this on this thread. Not to mention the fact that it's possible an intact male dog could get to her at some point.

 

I hope things resolve themselves naturally and they are "unstuck" soon.

 

HELP HELP HELP HELP!!!!

 

We started noticing blood on the floor around the house today and shortly afterwards Sam started trying to ride Mel.

 

We managed to stop him on each occasion, however tonight we noticed them at it again in the Conservatory, we shouted but this time Sam didn't respond, we got up and by the time we got to them they were turned around with their bums facing each other but tied together!!

 

Sam has somehow managed to get his male part stuck in Mels female part, we were really really worried and were at first trying to separate them, however nothing was working, so i ended up Googling it and apparently its normal??? To ensure good egg fertilisation? I read on one site that its the female who is responsible for it until the sperm fertilises the egg, problem is Sam won't have any because he's had the chop!

 

I hope this doesn't mean they are going to be like it forever!

 

It can apparently take up to 1 hr for them to separate?

 

This is really frustrating not to mention inconvenient, as its presently 00:16 her in the UK and i will now have to wait up until nature has taken its course....

 

Is there any way we can stop Sam trying this again? As he's already been chopped? I thought the chop was supposed to stop him trying this?

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Oh gosh what a terrible ordeal!

 

Hope they have gotten unstuck by now... sorry I have no advice to offer about that.

 

As for her noise sensitivity, do try ignoring it at first - she may simply model your behavior and realize the sounds aren't a threat - esp. if you bring Sam with you (after you get this other situation under control).

 

In contrast to the above post (did I miss something?), I do think I remember you saying you were planning on getting her spayed yes? Even though Sam is already neutered. That you'd get them both done. I do hope I'm right and you are planning to make the appointment but just haven't gotten around to it yet. However, do please wait until 3 months after her heat ends to get her spayed as doing it too soon may cause very severe behavioral problems. (My late dog Pan was spayed just after she went out of heat and the vet behaviorist speculated it may have frozen her in a weird hormonal state that caused her to be VERY territorially aggressive and resource guardy...and that I then accidentally reinforced the behavior and itmade her that way permanently... trust me you do NOT want that problem...)

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