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Mahalo nui for taking the time to detail your experience with Dr. San Fillip and congratulations on having a beautiful, cancer free dog. I keep meaning to come by. I have heard good things about Dr. Nakamura as well (and others have had good things to say about East Hawaii vet.
If anyone has experience with pet dental care, please chime in. My girl came to be with problem teeth from very bad nutrition.
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quote:
Originally posted by Kelena
Mahalo nui for taking the time to detail your experience with Dr. San Fillip and congratulations on having a beautiful, cancer free dog.
I keep meaning to come by.
I have heard good things about Dr. Nakamura as well (and others have had good things to say about East Hawaii vet.
If anyone has experience with pet dental care, please chime in. My girl came to be with problem teeth from very bad nutrition.
Harbor, who survived the cancer has awful teeth and seems to need the dental cleaning every 6 months, but I hate to put her thru that. Anyway, when she was having the tumors removed I had her teeth cleaned by Dr. San Filipo and they did a great job. However, that was 8 months ago and now it looks like it was never done. Guess some dogs and cats just produce lots of tarter. Harbor is one of the major tarter producers. What I hate about the teeth cleaning is the animal has to be anesthetized which is a shock to the system.
yes, stop by, anytime. Would love to meet you (and Mindy).
hawaiideborah
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Guess what I found in the yard tonight. Yep, Senor Frog. While I was on the lookout, I was not prepared for what I would do if I saw one. I made him jump to a place where I could see him clearly and where there were no plants around, I ran into the garage and grabbed two plastic grocery bags and I placed those over him. When he jumped into the bags, I secured them as best I could (these frogs are big), walked nonchalantly into the house so as not to arouse the interest of my dog, grabbed a one-gallon plastic ziplock bag, threw the whole thing into the bag and put it in the freezer.
Yuck. It doesn't help that I am the most squeamish person on the face of the earth. I washed my hands again and again, although I never touched Senor Frog.
I managed to keep her safe from rattlesnakes in San Diego (although we had some close calls as our suburban neighborhood was full of them), but these little "rattlesnakes" come out every single flamin' night. Against all odds, I am going to try and create a completely bufo-free zone. And, if she goes out at night, I will be right with her.
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quote:
Originally posted by Kelena
Guess what I found in the yard tonight. Yep, Senor Frog.
Against all odds, I am going to try and create a completely bufo-free zone. And, if she goes out at night, I will be right with her.
Good luck with that. Our lot is absolutely full of them. Tried hitting one with a shovel and thought it was dead, went to get box to but it in to throw it out and when I got back, it was gone. They seem to be able to go catatonic. My puppy finds them at least 3 times a week, but luckily they stop and do the catatonic thing, so she just sits and watches. We can tell when she is just sitting there cocking her head that she has found another one of them. The cat is great at finding them, but she looses interest. The cane toads can outlast the cat at remaining like a statue with no movement. Any given night they can be found underneath the house.
There are MANY cane toads here on our property which is why I was so upset that the neighbor's dog died. His dog was a terrier and I guess that breed is more persistent than my pup is. It is a serious problem if you have a curious dog or cat.
edited for typos
hawaiideborah
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That is upsetting about your neighbor (I don't think you mean Carey, as her dog is alive and well). A guy over on 8th lost his dog, too. That dog was also small I think. Not sure what mine would do if she saw one and I hope never to find out. Although I am told it is impossible, I am trying to create a bufo-free zone in the patio area (not the entire lot). Right now there are gaps, but I am going to do my best to close those gaps and at least make it more difficult for them to get into the patio. I am also going to clear the brushy areas of the patio. These areas look wild and tropical, but safety first: No hiding places, and I will take no prisoners. Thank you for raising awareness of the issue.
The bufo are attracted to water, any kind of water feature like a pond, no matter how small. Not sure about swimming pools, don't think chlorine is their friend.
I have posted this before -- if you want to kill them, it is easy to do with a Windex sprayer filled with Parsons ammonia, undiluted. One spritz and even a large bufo will be dead when you awake.
I discovered this when chasing coqui. There were a bunch of bufo out and I spritzed some. In the morning, a bunch of dead toads. My cats know to leave the toads alone after 7-8 years of co-existing with a large toad population, but I have read that dogs don't necessarily learn the lesson.
Your best weapon against bufo is the BB-MA10 annihilator equipped with a net. Short for Bloodthirsty Boy Mental Age 10 (exact age irrelevant). I borrowed one and the results were astounding. Captured hundreds within a short time. Then the problem is what to do with the toads.
Recommend borrowing or renting the BB-MA10 short term only, as it is a high maintenance tool.
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Just a thought has anyone tried using a muzzle on your dogs?
We plan on bringing our parson russell next year .
He will go after anything that moves to him it's just another play toy.
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When we first moved into our place the weeds, grass and brush were armpit high and we had buffos all over the place. The brush is more whacked back now, although no one would ever mistake it for a golf course, and that has reduced the amount of damp dark places for them to hide. We use the freezer method to dispatch the toads, then they go to the dump, and now we have virtually no buffos left on our place. African snails got the same treatment and are virtually gone too, even with all the rain we've had. Because we have a toad sucking dog, whose loyal and protective sister alerts us whenever Maia goes for a buffo, we have been determined to get them off our place. Persistence helps.
"Cane toads, an unnatural history" (1988) is a video documentary available out there on the internet and well worth watching. It is a very Australian, very funny take on the cane toad, who has been disastrous for Australia after they brought them there from Hawaii. Same deal as the mongoose/rat adventure in Hawaii. They were brought in to go after a pest they never crossed paths with, but wrecked havoc on the native ecosystem. There is another more recent documentary, "Cane Toads the Conquest (2010) that is more serious, but still good.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Another bufo bit the dust tonight to the hilarity of my guests. I took it quite seriously though and didn't appreciate the levity. He was huge. And dangerous to my dog. Used the grocery bag method. This was a sloppier catch and I may have got a little on me, but none ingested. He is very cold right now and getting colder. I am determined to close all openings in this very discrete space and I will scan every night and kill every one I see. I am nothing if not persistent, so it is good to know it pays off. I am also at war against African snails. Eat up my little pretties. I left a present for you that will not harm my dog.
Where do I get one of these BB-MA10's, KathyH? Craigslist? I do think I need a net. You get too close to them with the grocery bag. They slime it; you reposition the bag and probably get a little of the bad stuff on ya.
quote:
Originally posted by KelenaWhere do I get one of these BB-MA10's, KathyH? Craigslist? I do think I need a net. You get too close to them with the grocery bag. They slime it; you reposition the bag and probably get a little of the bad stuff on ya.
lol, the one we used belonged to a friend who came by. The net we bought at Stacey's pets by the Ben Franklin's in Hilo, and they might have them at Walmart.
You have a choice of a sturdy but fairly expensive net that can handle large koi, or a cheap net made for wrangling aquarium fish that is about five bucks.
Another alternative to grocery bag is a plastic utility bucket that doesn't have a spout. They sell them at Ace and also Home Depot, and they are cheap. If you get one with some substance, it will stay there and pin the bufo under until you are ready to deal with it.
I don't know if Carol has a water feature, but I can tell you from my experience as a pond owner at three different homes that the bufos will make a point of migrating to your property if you have a water feature, because they spawn their nasty tadpoles in water and they love to hang out in and by the pond, fountain, etc.. So forget getting rid of them if they are attracted by the spa facilities at your property. You have likely observed by now if that's the case.
The upside to the toads is they eat bugs, but that doesn't count for much when they endanger the dog.
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