Elaine

Hi, first of all I have 3 dogs, I work full time and spend most my free time with my dogs. My house mate has 1 dog that I feed, walk, water and clean up after 6 days out of 7. This dog spends 23 hours a day in the kitchen waiting for his 'dad' to come home. My house mate works 5 days a week, goes out straight after work and comes home around midnight then goes straight to bed. On his days off he can't be arsed to stay in with the dogs so he goes out for the day. He feeds and walks my dogs on a Sunday.

His dog is larger than mine and pushes my dogs out the way when we are playing or I am fussing them, I have my hands full with mine and do not want the responsibility of his dog. I've tried talking nicely to him and asking him to pay more attention to his dog and take him with him some nights when he goes out, this has fell on deaf ears and I swear I've seen happier dogs on death row.

In the last 5 months his dog has started having fits, he has been to the vets who could find nothing wrong with his blood test and believe it may be bought on by stress, nothing has changed. A couple of nights a week he pees in the house even though I have let him out and he is slowly loosing weight even though he is well fed.

I've thought about telling him to find a new home for the dog as he obviously has no time to look after him or I could tell him to feed, water, walk and let his dog out when he wants to go 7 days a week and I will give him no responsibility with my dogs (which is just a Sunday morning) but I don't want to fall out over it, but I also am sick of seeing this dog suffer.

What would u do?

Hi, do you know the artist and name of the track to the music of this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqG4PNbmSfQ&feature...

The info I've got from a homeopathic vet suggests.....

Homeopathic sulphur 30c twice a day for one week.

Then, homoeopathically worm the horse for 1 week.

One week rest

Homeopath Arsen alb 1m daily for 10 days.

The treatment continues if skin is broken or infected.

This horse has had numerous treatments over the last 4 years, all of which have had little or no effect. He is so itchy he will stand on three legs and scratch his mane with his hind foot resulting in nasty open wounds.

Have you used any homeopathic remedies before?

Did they work or you?

Any other suggestions I can use?

Note.. He lives in his fly sheet. He is sprayed with fly spray but this may contribute to irritated skin. He is also clipped all summer so we can get to his itchy bits. This horse has had countless vet visits, every injection going and just about every lotion and potion ever invented. I'll try anything to give this poor guy a break.

Is tendon firing and blistering still in practice in the UK? Just having a random conversation with someone and we've not come across it for a while.

Hi guys, I'm just recovering from a case of MTS (multiple tank syndrome) and am reducing 7 tanks to 3. One of them tanks is 185g so most of my fish will end up in there. The problem is I have a beautifull breeding pair of bristlenose and I can either house them with 5 small angel fish or three large ones. I have read elsewhere that the pleco fry are mainly gristle and although the angels will take a few they shouldn't hunt them down. Also there are guppies with the angels at the moment that will be moving with them so they'll have plenty of tasty guppy fry to eat instead.

So what do u think? Have you housed these together before? What % of pleco fry will prob be eaten?

Ps. It is a VERY heavily planted tank, and I can provide lots of hiding places the angels can't get into.

Hi, I'm picking up a 185g tank next Sunday with a 1ft long sailfin pleco in it. Obviously I need to house the pleco somewhere else for a week or so while I set it up. I am fully aware 50g is far too small for him but other than doing regular water changes and offering him good hiding places is there anything I can do to make it more comfortable?

He'll be with some guppies and fry and some baby bristle nose.

One week tomorrow I picked up a stray dog that had been wandering up and down for months alongside a main road. A member of the public managed to shut her in their garden and after a lot of coaxing we eventually got her to come to us (dog wardens).

For almost a week she's been sat at the back of the kennel shaking, I went in with her today and she growled at me but didn't move (other than the shaking) she's is absolutley terrified of people and will probably be destroyed when her 7 days are up. I feel aweful, I got her in the van and put her that situation, I know I couldn't leave her roaming cos she'd eventually have been hit by a car. So I've got 3 options...

1. Take her chance in the kennels even though it doesn't look good.

2. Try and move her to a rescue kennels which may just be prelonging the inevitable, or

3. Take her home.

I already have 2 dogs, 1 of which was in the exact same situation 18 months ago, I can't plan to take her on full time because I think 3 dogs (and a horse) is just too much, but I am capable to rehabilitating her and then looking for her a new home.

What do u think? I come across hundreds of dogs in the shelters, many go to dogs trust but they won't take her because at the mo she isn't suitable for re-homing.

I don't know what to do :(

One week tomorrow I picked up a stray dog that had been wandering up and down for months alongside a main road. A member of the public managed to shut her in their garden and after a lot of coaxing we eventually got her to come to us (dog wardens).

For almost a week she's been sat at the back of the kennel shaking, I went in with her today and she growled at me but didn't move (other than the shaking) she's is absolutley terrified of people and will probably be destroyed when her 7 days are up. I feel aweful, I got her in the van and put her that situation, I know I couldn't leave her roaming cos she'd eventually have been hit by a car. So I've got 3 options...

1. Take her chance in the kennels even though it doesn't look good.

2. Try and move her to a rescue kennels which may just be prelonging the inevitable, or

3. Take her home.

I already have 2 dogs, 1 of which was in the exact same situation 18 months ago, I can't plan to take her on full time because I think 3 dogs (and a horse) is just too much, but I am capable to rehabilitating her and then looking for her a new home.

What do u think? I come across hundreds of dogs in the shelters, many go to dogs trust but they won't take her because at the mo she isn't suitable for re-homing.

I don't know what to do :(

I use to until about 2 years ago when somebody drove into the back of my friends horse who I was with at time. The driver tried overtake us before an oncoming car blocked that side of the road, she couldn't make it. Luckily the horse only sufferend minor injurys and my friend stayed on. I haven't been on the roads since and as a result have lost a large amount of hacking area, but I feel mine and my horses safety are more important.

I also drive and am very cautious of horses on the road but I think it should be shared space, how do you feel about it? Have you had any accidents or near misses?

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/304992.htm...

When I say stole a duck I mean he had been shot by a local farmer and left for dead on his land. (just needed to grab your attention)

Also, I have no problem in ppl shooting but there is no need to leave an animal alive to suffer a slow painful death. So I took him to the vet!

Vet was brilliant, gave him painkillers and antibiotics, apparently he's lost a lot of blood and I have to keep him somewhere warm and quiet and hope he'll recover.

So, he's in a large box with water and mixed duckling/duck food (advised by pet shop) and I'm trying my best not to disturb him too often but keep checking on him every couple of hours.

Questions.....How well do ducks cope with stress, is he likely to die anyway :(

Do ducks have a 'crop' like pigeons to store food?

Will he eventually get use to me? it'll be easier to care for him if he stops panicing when I look at him.

I have full intention of letting him loose at the local duck pond if he gets better but are ducks territorial? Will he get bullied?

Sorry for the long question, any help is appriciated and those of you who think it's funny to suggest pancakes or cranberry sauce believe me I've heard it all today.

Hi, I keep fancy guppies because I enjoy their colours and characteristics in my tank. One problem, they keep having babies. At first it wasn't a problem as I had room for them to grow and then take them back to the pet shop but now I have so many the majority are too small for them to sell. They live in a 30g tank with my bristle nose pleco fry so putting any predatory fish in there is not an option.

However, I also have an aggressive tank which are fed frozen, dried and live food. Would it be mean and immoral for them to have a couple of guppy fry every now and again? The guppys are healthy and have no illness or disease. Also, the guppys are small enough to be swallowed whole so it's not like they're going to be ripped to pieces.

Hi guys

I have 2 female and 1 male bristlenose in a 45g tank, I assume the larger female has produced the first lot of fry, I was just wondering if the male will mate with both the females or just the one?

So we all know the problem. 1000's of dogs each year (uk alone) are kicked out, left to roam or passed from house to house until they are picked up by the LA and send to kennels where they await re-homing or destruction.

So breeders, why do you continue to breed your dogs? Would you be willing to chip each of your pups before you sell it so if it ends up in kennels you are responsable for paying the kenneling fees and taking the dog back?

Or, the dog owners out there, do you think it's upto the irresponsible owner, if found, to pay fees and take the dog back? (poor dog!)

I'm just curious about what the breeders think mainly and wether or not they'll accept any responsibility to the growing problem.

Hi, just set up a new tank and set the heater at about 25 degrees, I've watched the heat of the water slowly creep up on the thermometer for the last 8 hours and now it's stopped at about 20 degrees. I put another themometer in to double check and that said 20 degrees too.

About an hour ago I raised the temp setting on the heater to about 28 and now the temperatues rising again....

Anybody else come across this problem?

Hi guys

I want to drastcally upgrade my 50g tank. At the mo I've got a common pleco, a silver shark cat and a couple of angels in there that are growing pretty dam quickly. I was fully aware when I bought these fish that I would have to get a huge tank. And of course it's not gonna be cheap.

Anyway, I've got room for 8ft long x 2ft wide x 2 or 3ft high. Can u buy these or should I get one custom made? Also I can go the 10ft long if need be.

I'm gonna start saving now and will probably have a £1000 by summer. How much do u thing it would be fo the tank and hood? I'll get to lights, filter and heater later.

I've just come back off holiday a couple of hours ago and went to check my tanks, the fish have been fed as normal while I've been away. Anyway one of my platys appears to have ich, I've Done a bit of Reading on this and learnt it's a parasite that is generally in every tank and attacks stressed or ill fish and is common in aquariums that aren't fully cycled??

The tanks been cycled for well over a year now, the platy is over a year old and I've recently introduced some new platys to the tank (about a month ago) some of these were males. No other fish are showing any signs at all.

Is it possible that due to her age and harrasment by the males this has lead to the ick?

Also, I was hoping to upgrade the tank this weekend, what do I do regarding the ick?

I posted this question late last night, thankyou to the person who replied but I need a little more info.

I've just come back off holiday a couple of hours ago and went to check my tanks, the fish have been fed as normal while I've been away. Anyway one of my platys appears to have ich, I've Done a bit of Reading on this and learnt it's a parasite that is generally in every tank and attacks stressed or ill fish and is common in aquariums that aren't fully cycled??

The tanks been cycled for well over a year now, the platy is over a year old and I've recently introduced some new platys to the tank (about a month ago) some of these were males. No other fish are showing any signs at all.

Is it possible that due to her age and harrasment by the males this has lead to the ick?

Also, I was hoping to upgrade the tank this weekend, what do I do regarding the ick?

Ps. It's currently almost midnight so anything I can do will have to wait till tomorrow.

I was wondering if anybody has got their hay on for winter yet, I know ppl have said hay will be short this year and I've spent all day desperatly trying to get a supplier. My regular supplier hasn't got enough for his liveries and it seems to be the same eveywhere.

I've ended up buying large bales at £40 each, or I could of had small ones at £4 each. That's double last years prices, I hope to god it's an easier winter than last year, I've no option but to put straw in the field.

(sorry, rant over) do u have your hay yet??

http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae337/Aleeni_20...

he was sold to me as a Tapajos pleco but all the ones I've found on google have stripes. He was quite expensive and I am just intrested in finding a little info on him. He's about 2in long and have been told he's not going to grow much bigger.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.