Does anyone fancy a "puppy survival" thread part 2

[Soubriquet]

Here we are again

Just jump in and join us

Thanks Bitey he's in good health and fine weight wise for a Whippet. To be fair most people here (Australia) are used to Labradors, Goldies, Collie types and various Oodles. Whippets aren't as common as in the UK and lurchers virtually non-existent so pointy types are a bit of a novelty.

It's hard keeping weight on growing puppies but I think especially whilst growing, being a bit leaner isn't better than being too fat.

Lexa is a right skinny Minnie. You can clearly see her rib shape abs there is a definite tuck between the ribs and pelvis. But I know she's healthy, just a bit skinny

Some quick photos of Lexa. Hoping you can see her body shape there too

The inevitable 'wow your pup / dog is really skinny' comments have started.

Most people are so used to seeing overweight dogs and puppies that it's not at all uncommon for someone to freak out a bit when they see one that's actually a healthy weight. Even in areas where sighthounds are fairly common you're much more likely to see fat ones accepted as "normal"

Whippet puppies do tend to go from a decent weight (which doesn't mean roly poly) to looking like toast racks overnight when they have a growth spurt. I don't feed mine up in preparation for growth spurts (which can result in them putting too much weight on if the spurt doesn't arrive when you think it will), I aim to keep them at a healthy weight then up their food a little once a spurt has obviously started.

These photos are two of mine when they were roughly 14 weeks-ish.

The particolour is the sort of weight I aim to keep puppies at. His ribs are just visible but not protruding and his hips/spine have a good covering.

The brindle is just a touch under ideal. You can see his ribs are more prominent and although you can't see it on the photo some of his vertebrae were just about starting to become visible. He'd just had a growth spurt and so his food was increased slightly to bring him back to a similar weight to the particolour, which only took a matter of a few days.

Soubriquet Lexa looks absolutely fine to me.

There's not many body condition score type resources for puppies about but this one is pretty good and Lexa certainly doesn't appear to be much under ideal, if at all.

Obviously different breeds will have slightly different shapes and I'd expect a chihuahua to have a bit more of a tuck than the lab puppy used on the chart.

I actually got given a condition chart at the vets. Giant girl was rather skinny when we picked her up and gained pretty rapidly. At one point she was at the "don't put any more on" stage! Still a healthy weight but wouldn't have wanted her gaining more.
Dropped meals since. (She was on 5 to start with. Milk, kibble, kibble, kibble, ready brek!) She's now looking good.
Oh and her colour? She's a red brindle.

Well another tick removed from DDog, poor thing is being bitten by everything at the moment

Poor biteypup

Have you thought about using a tick spot on as a preventive?

this is what we have

Wasn't cheap at £50 for 4 pipettes but it will do her 4 months against fleas, ticks and other bitey bugs

What makes Bitey so blasted attractive to ticks! Is it where you walk? I haven't found one yet!

We have just started using nexgard spectra which kills ticks but they have to bite him before they die so I have a feeling this is going to be a frequent occurrence. We originally used the seresto collar but still found lots on him but the tablet is much more practical for us.

Poor thing now sees me coming at him with a tick twizzler and tries to hide . This one was right close to the base of his tail and was driving him mad with itching.

Wolf they are rife where we are so I am resigned to it but I hate the bloody things and they make my skin crawl just getting them off him (I spend hours scratching myself afterwards)

Ouch! Poor pup.

Soubriquet We had thought about a spot on but he likes to also throw himself in streams (spaniel) or roll around in poo so spot ones are a bit problematic

We live in a tick infested area. Our late cat is testament to that! Our vet prescribed Bravecto (3 month treatment) for Cocopup given where we live. So far, one year on, no ticks, no fleas, nowt! i do groom and brush daily anyway because of her coat and she has sardines and mackerel weekly to maintain good condition.

Do the spot on in the evening before bed. By the time the morning comes around it should have soaked in nicely.

Could get it on there for a bit longer by doing after his last walk

Should have said, Bravecto is a tablet treatment rather than spot on, I don't like too much chemicals but this seems good and I only worm three monthly, keep an eye on stools, give good food and this seems to work for us!

They are just horrible nasty things. I was out gardening last year and had been amongst foliage whilst cutting off tree branches. Found one buried in my stomach afterwards as my tshirt must have risen up whilst reaching up to the branches

Ewwwww

Luckily, out of all my animals, I've only ever had one tick on a cat.

But when I was at college, a ferret turned up. Don't know if it was dumped or it escaped (it was an animal college)

He was covered in ticks. We pulled off at least 80 before we stopped counting

Sorry to sound stupid, but do ticks tend to live in long grass?
To date I don't believe Daniel has come across them - from the sounds of you guys I'd know if he had!
He does still have fleas though, he was treated when we got him, has no grit at all in his fur but I keep finding the odd one each day. We have a cat with a severe allergy to fleas and he's fine so I'm convinced they aren't in the carpet but have bought carpet spray anyway but I dont know why I keep spotting the buggers

Wooded, grassy areas, in bushes etc. We have a lot of animals such as cows and horses around where we walk so we get many more ticks because of that. Fortunately I have had no issues with fleas, just the bloody ticks

We spot ticks either when stroking him as we keep his hair short or when he starts biting areas as they make him scratch like the one yesterday.

Thanks Bitey - we do have quite a few cows, horses and sheep round us so im looking on Amazon for these tick twizzlers you're all talking about, sods law if I dont buy one he'll find one :/

He's had a weekend of excitement, first walk - he cowered from most dogs. Went to my sister in laws, and the poor thing was argued over constantly by her two youngest. I'm glad training classes start Tuesday because anything he'd had learnt would have been undone.
They had a dog show in the village so he went for a walk there, seemed to get a bit braver round the other dogs - FINALLY he went to the christening, he was allowed in the church, he got tagged in and the church liked his photo!! It was an immense weekend and he took it all in his stride - im very proud of the little bitey bugger

I tried using tweezers but always end up with bits of the tick left in him. The tick twizzler makes it a bit easier to get them off him whilst wrestling the dog one-handed

AmIAWeed glad DPup was allowed in the church after all