Looking to get a NI General Chat

I don't usually post much in these threads , but I just had to say that my boys get Goats Milk as a treat every other day and they are sighthounds and can still see perfectly.

So Borderdawn is right as regards this Goats milk has not caused catterachts(sp)

Sorry, in your example they shouldn't have had a nutritional deficiency although another form of non-hereditary cataract is still possible. The only way of knowing of it was hereditary or not is to get an opthamologist to do an eye test.

Were they raised on a goats milk formula though? It normally only causes a problem if it is the sole milk formula a pup is raised on (it will cause absolutely no problems when given to older pups or adults who are already weaned and can get the required nutrition from other sources).

Yes he was and I assisted with this a number of times!

There is risk with everything from what I can make out, does that mean you should give up and let the pups die?

No they were not, they were also give stuff like, eggs, cottage cheese, yoghot etc. as were Sandras pups cos I saw it my self! And if you look bk someone said that two pups were killed by Cloud and then a further two, how can this be when there was only 4 in the litter and scou1t was the only one to live, I myself have pic's to prouve it!

As I said they were 2-3 weeks old where else do you think they got their milk from :? As I have also said, Scout and the rest of his litter WAS on Whelpi puls other stuff when they were ready for it, I know this cos I was there to help as and when!

No dawn is NOT my mum,I have never met the woman, tipical of you to come up with somthing like that

Hi "mum" long time ever see, how ya doing?

What are you on about and what is with the hostile tone?? I was asking about your mums pups that were fed goats milk, who are Cloud and Scout and what on earth has that got to do with rearing pups on goats milk??

Excuse me?? I thought I asked a perfectly valid question, some bitches don't/can't produce milk and therefore the pups have to be hand reared, that is where else they get their milk from

So from birth they only received goats milk, eggs, cheese etc?

All I asked if if they were solely fed goats milk from birth.

I will post when and as I feel, this is a puplic forum isn;t ? just because you disagree or misunderstand what I am trying to put out across does not mean to say you can tell me/advise me not to post!

Sorry poeple I am a stoppy mare , and let things get to me more than I should, and often react wrongly. All I want is the best for ALL dogs and do what I can for my chosen breed.

Is this what you mean when you say 'often react wrongly'?

Hey!

Abbie was just joking.

Just to go back to the OP. Are you still thinking about getting a puppy? Only i see that you can;t rehome a NI X from a friend as you say he only wants to play which your other dog doesn't like because he is very grumpy. I just wonder whether getting a puppy is a good idea then as a puppy will be very playful as well?

Sorry I'm a bit late on this one, but I haven't been online since early yesterday morning. We had a litter of Siberians born by caesarian about three years ago. The mum rejected the pups and they were handreared. Since then, one of the pups has developed cataracts in both eyes although both parents were tested clear for HC. Luckily he has been successfully operated on and is doing very well. Anyway, when we were discussing this on a sibe forum, someone remembered an article from the SHC GB magazine from about 10 years back and rooted it out for us.
This is the important bit from the article:

"Another type of cataract is the congenital or nutritional cataract. This is caused by the lack of the amino acid arginine in the milk given to puppies when they have to be hand reared. The syndrome is well known in wolves, which are often hand reared in zoos or by people who wish to keep them as pets, although this is thought to be because the composition of wolf milk is different to dog milk. Nutritional cataracts have been known to occur in arctic breeds and a case in Samoyeds is described in the scientific records. A recent case has occured in Siberians and a possible case has been identified in a litter of Siberian/Samoyed crossbreeds, so it is possible that the arctic breeds have a milk composition more similar to wolves than dogs. This matter is still under investigation, but the problem is well known in wolf hybrids, so anyone having to hand rear a litter from a very early age should investigate the possibility of obtaining an arginine supplement from their vet."

If the article is accurate, it is quite possible for a dog bred largely from sub-arctic breeds, to develop such non-hereditary nutritional cataracts as a result of handrearing.
Hope this clarifies the situation as far as the cataracts go!

Mick

Thanks for that Mick its really interesting. Do you have a link to the full article? Could be a good read.

When we got Fido in january he had a whole list of problems including Fear agression. We have managed to sort almost everything and he is a happy dog but doesn't get on with 10% of the dogs we me due to him being intimidated by them. We have started working with a local behaviorist too see is she can help him with this.
My reference to Kai just wanting to play was when Fido snaped at him he just wagged his tail and kept trying to play with him.
we have had him with puppys and he is very gentle and playfull. he also plays a lot with dogs he likes.

I don't have a link to the article, but if you google "canine nutritional cataracts, arginine" - you get several articles and scientific papers about the phenomenon.

Wish we'd known about it when we hand-reared our pups!

Mick

Cheers Mick, Ill do that.

hi we have a ridgeless ridgeback and he is great. However he recently tore his acl tendon (?) and will need surgery. wonderful dog, from a rescue but surgery will be expensive. Not sure if the breeder saw his NO RIDGE as a defect and sent him to a shelter for family pet ownership. dave