Slovakian Rough Haired Pointer Discussions

Hi Kim

Bo is at the end of hers now, thank goodness. I'm definitely going to have her spayed, most likely this July. My preference was to wait until after the second one but frankly, this last 3 weeks has been a pain in the backside (no pun intended!). We live in an area with a lot of dogs and although I know the area well enough to know what times/places to avoid, it really isn't practical with a dog like her. As I'm sure you'll know with Cheska, she isn't the type of dog that would cope with not going out and exercising for 3 weeks.

Hi
Am Laughing, can just imagine no exercise for 3 weeks, no house after 3 days! Lol
We too plan on getting her spayed in July, will make life easier. The new photos of Bo are gorgeous and so to of Anya, i will try and take some this weekend of Cheska out & about, i think she is more like Bo in height, i reckon she is 25 or so inches to withers and i think she still has some filling out to do.

Exactly... I hear of people putting their bitches under 'house arrest' for 3 weeks. I could do that, but I wouldn't have a house to come back to!!

Look forward to seeing more pictures of Cheska.

Grey hasn't been offlead now for almost 3 weeks! It's getting tedious now. Hopefully this weekend. Good luck girls! It's quite hard to decide when to spay isn't it.

Hi Lou,

I've heard back from the specialist and he says it can't be genetic but it could be a genetic trait. Which to be honest means nothing to me! He says there would need to be much more investigation into the condition and the dogs. I have notified the breeder and she was very glad to hear from me, which is good.

Indy had really a really bad stomach for months but never presented with any other symptoms and was otherwise a healthy young puppy. He definitely has a sensitive stomach and does not eat too varied a diet. We recently started him on food from CSJ and it is the only one that we have been able to feed him every flavour without repercussion. I've had both a weimaraner and a GSD with similar issues before so perhaps it's me! lol.

Indy only weighs in at 25kgs and I always worry that he is too skinny but no amount of trying puts any more weight on him. Keeva (1) on the other hand weighs in at 31kgs - oops - but is very solid and almost as active as him. Their coats are both very different but they both have a lovely laid back nature and get on with every dog they meet. Which in my book is the best thing.

Keeva has now been to both DD and Crufts for the SRHP Club and we have met a few other Slovaks and it seems to me that they are all different but the same if that makes sense.

Do you know why Freya's owner rehomed her? I hope Gunner's problem doesn't turn out to be too bad, it's horrible to see them in pain and just not being themselves. They all seem to have such a zest for life.

How did Grey get on at AHT. They are absolutely brilliant there and I would have complete faith in them.

i've tried to post some photos of my two but had no joy working out how to do it, if anyone could let me know I would love to share.

I hope Grey is back to normal soon.

Take care
Tania

Three weeks is nothing! Come back in 3 months and tell me how you are both coping! lol

I've bitten the bullet and had both mine spayed recently.

Take care
Tania

Hi Tania

To post pictures you need to host them online first. I use Photobucket:

www.photobucket.com

Sign up and just follow the instructions. Then you can upload your pictures onto an online photo album and then copy and paste the link here.

What kennel is your 1 year old Slovak from? might be the same one as ours...my Bo will be 1 year old on the 14th May in 2 weeks.

I wonder if what your vet means is that the infections are not genetic, but they might be predisposed to being affected by infections i.e. weakened immune system? I think being poorly from being little can't help. Indy's symptoms sound identical to Grey's. He was happy in himself but had constant runs until we fecal tested him. he did almost fade away at 8 weeks old though and ran a huge temp.

Freya was up for rehoming because I think the lady couldn't cope. I saw her at the breed club funday in 2008 and she was rehomed to someone there. You can see from her posts on this thread that Freya's tummy was really bad and she was messing her bed.

Nick Elder in Ireland has done some research on campylobacter. Most vets I've spoken to say it's nothing to do with a breed but that they pick it up from their environment. You should absolutely blitz a place with disinfectant if you hear a dog has had it that has been with you. it's really infectious. At the time I was looking at Reiters Syndrome which is an immune condition following infections.

There is a slovak photo gallery on the slovak group for that well known social networking site called the face and the book. Wonder if this site will let me post that! So you have two slovaks? How old is keeva? I was trying to ignore the fact I've heard of another one possibly coming up for rehoming (might be same age as the youngsters on here actually) Not sure my OH would appreciate us having two of the hounds.

Hope you lot have a happy slovak filled weekend!

Glad you let the breeder know. I guess we should see the health stats updated then with mine and your dog's info.

I think losing hair and thin.

We had to go back to the vets on Friday as Grey started yelping in pain again on his neck. Damn it! I thought we were getting the all clear and he was fine. It's so weird this thing. So he's now on metacam as well as everything else and of course house arrest until further notice.

Oh dear, poor Grey. :-( How is he at the moment?

he's ok in himself. I think he's used to not going out now. He's a bit more barky. He hasn't destroyed the house as he's quite sleepy most of the time. I just want my dog back! Thanks Labradork!

Hi Lou,

Sorry to hear Grey is in pain again but that is so similar to what Indy went through, in the end I videoed him while he was actually moving and screaming so that the specialist could actually see and hear it for hmself. Has he seen a neurologist? Indy was originally referred to an orthopaedic specialist and it was only after blood tests, x rays, a spinal tap and joint fluid tests that he was referred on to the neurologist, who ordered the MRI. That took six weeks from our first visit to the specialist. We then had six weeks of two lots of antibiotics to ensure that all the infection was cleared up.

I don't know how Gunner's diagnosis came about but Indy's was very difficult and long in coming. I hope that this isn't the case for Grey! We shall all keep our fingers, toes and paws crossed for a speedy recovery.

I was told that Indy could only be lead walked during this time (13 weeks in total) but on the two occasions I tried it it was too stressful for all of us so in fact he didn't go out at all after the first week. I was expecting him to turn into a crazy thing but I think he was in too much pain to care and then he just got used to it, mind you there was someone home with him 24hr a day to keep him occupied. We survived it much better than I thought we would although I must say it is so much better to see him running around like a lunatic, hunting the pheasants and rabbits and once more enjoying life.

I'll stop now as I feel I'm rambling a bit. I really do hope all returns to normal for you soon.

Tania

Hi Tania,

Thanks again for the reply. It's so great to hear from someone else so we can get a clue to what is going on. Of course would rather be talking to you about running around with him like a lunatic and having fun finding stuff and rolling in smelly things. Hopefully we'll get back to that soon. That's Grey rolling and me being a lunatic!

I think we've been incredibly lucky in knowing about his brother's experience so we were ahead of the game when we spoke to the vets. We didn't take any chances because we knew that Gunner's diagnosis had been a process of elimination that had been drawn out and as such his infection had taken hold like Indy's and had caused a lot of pain.

We had gone to our local vets as soon as the pain happened on a Thurs. They prescribed broad spectum antibiotics and a painkiller. We went back to the emergency vets on the sunday and he had the morphine shot and a change in antibiotics. Then the monday he had regular xrays, spinal tap, joint fluid tap, bloods. In reality my mistake was not taking him asap to the vets a but further away who referred him to a specialist for his bite fault. but at the time it seemed like a pain issue caused by injury or they said cancer!

he then recovered but results were showing something happening in terms of immune response, but joints and spine all clear. I kept mentioning re his brother, but they were just interested that he had started to recover. So I transferred him to the other vets who agreed we should try to find out what was going on. He went to AHT a fgew days later. We had exptensive MRI scan of the spine and all clear. Also another spinal tap. So we were expecting him to be better. then came the pain but this time on his neck. So straight back to the proactive vets and we spoke to AHT on the phone. They put him on metacam as well as the opiate based painkiller and antibiotic. This was Friday, so we speak to them on Tues. They think one possibility it that we have caught this acute paint so early that visible damage on MRI might not show. But this is opinion of our vet not the lovely neurosurgeon we saw at AHT. Or it's possible that he still has some level of inflammation and it will go away.

I agree with you that they get used to not going out if they are not well. he's more of a handful in terms of barking at every little noise he hears. but I think this is indicative of him not being well and not feeling secure. I just take him out for 5 mins of lead training in front of the house, so keep him very occuppied. but because he's slightly more reactive than usual and I can't risk a dog coming up to him and jumping around we're also not going out and we're doing bits of home training stuff. he gets his food in kongs and the dog pyramid. I've been working teaching him more impulse control and can now walk him over dropped cheese. See there is an upside to this saga!

Latest Photo's Of Cheska!!









And finally tired!

Indy

Keeva 4mths



It was love from day one

Hi Lou,

Indy kindly rolled in two dead rats friday morning and I can honestly say I hadn't missed it at all, especially bathing him at 6.30am before I could get ready for work. lol. I'm sure it wont be long before you can share your adventures with us all again.

The knowing must be a great help because I know how worrying it is not having any idea what is wrong and watching your dog suffering.

Seems like you and Grey have been through exactly the same stuff as us. We went to Davies' in Hertfordshire but I would have much preferred to go to AHT having been there previously with my GSD and they were so good to her. We thought it was due to a fall he had taken in the snow although he wasn't limping at all. Indy was on metacam but that didn't touch the pain from what we could tell but once diagnosed he was given Gabapentin which worked brilliantly and he only had to have them for two weeks along with a double dose of antibiotics for 6 weeks. I don't think there was much showing up on Indy's either from what I remember but to be honest I was so relieved with a diagnosis that I may not have heard right.

Well done with the training I'm very impressed, Keeva at least would have it before it even hit the ground, lol.

I'll be very interested to hear what AHT have to say tomorrow, not too long to go now, thankfully.

Take care
Tania

Lovely

Bo and Cheska look so alike. I know that mad face anywhere!

Indy and Keeva are of course lovely too.

Hey guys! Lovely seeing these lovely slovaks!

Am I right in thinking these girlies from Rosetinted came out very big? They look bigger gals than Grey and even his bro Gunner! Wonder if that's because of the Aucassin T. blood?
Cheska is looking really good.

Also really nice to see Indy and Keeva. I must say I;m quite jealous of those of you with more than one dog, but terrified of it at the same time! LOL!

I'm just crossing fingers and toes that Friday was a blip and we'll be ok now.

Onwards and upwards.

Lou

Hi Lou,

I don't know about the Rosetinted girls but Keeva and Indy are both Stormdancer and have Clooney for their dad but Keeva is much heavier than Indy. She is heavier boned and has a much squarer head and even though she is only 1 compared to Indy's 2 she weighs 6kgs more than him.

I don't think having two is any worse than having one but perhaps I'm just mad! They both have a brilliant recall, walk fairly well on the lead and play really nicely together. The biggest problem for me is bed time, I made the mistake of letting them sleep with me and I am so glad I have a king sized bed otherwise I'd probably be on the floor night after night. At the moment they are both curled up asleep on the floor having been chasing around the house playing toys. Sometimes they drive me insane but I wouldn't be without them.

I say 'go for it' but then most people think I'm insane! lol

Tania