Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
My cats always choke on hairballs in their throats (without vomiting) so I would prefer (if available online/in your local store) a dry cat food brand that eliminates/controls the hairballs in my cats’ throats in addition to the food being completely FREE of BY-PRODUCTS because 2 of my 3 cats have suffered from Meow-Mix (which contains by-products).
He is a 10 week old golden doodle with an approximately 1 day duration of diarrhea and soft stools. Sometimes the stool is pudding like in consistency, other times it’s been firmer at first then got watery at the end. Volume has greatly increased as compared to previous days. No know foreign body ingestion, but it is possible.
My cat was taken into the vet yesterday at around 4pm to get checked for a UTI as she has been having some urinary incontinence. We were sent home with Buprenorphine and Maropitant(cerenia) 24mg 4PK For Pain and Nausea.. Since we have been home she has not been wanting to move much or use her hind legs.. when I fed her food she ate it but I am unsure if she has had much water since the fluids the vet gave her.
Is there a reason she is not wanting to use her back legs much and is sitting on her side instead of her butt?
Hi Krista,
I did call our local 24 hour emergency hospital and they said to monitor her for any signs of severe lethargy since her appointment yesterday she has seemed fine.. but when I got back home I noticed that she was not normal and was not sitting or using her back legs properly.
Will continue to monitor her until tomorrows appointment. Do you think it could be because she is in pain?
Okay will do, Thank you so much!
One more thing. Would you suggest me to give her some plain chicken broth and rice until her appointment in the morning or shall I continue to feed her her normal cat food?
Okay I will pick some up after her Urinary Analysis tomorrow morning… Thank you again Krista!
I have a great Dane puppy who is almost 4 months. When he arrived he had a few little wart-like bumps speckled across The back of his neck and the top of his head. Over the past eight weeks since he’s been with me the bumps are spreading and they seem to be growing bigger in size.
He’s not losing hair and the bumps are not pussy. They are dry and flaky. The breeder says that she’s never had puppy mange in any of her dogs and that she thinks it’s a bacterial infection. The vet wasn’t sure and just said to keep an eye on it to see if he started losing fur.
My puppy doesn’t seem to be in too much discomfort. He’s eating and drinking well. I feed him Diamond brand large breed puppy food. That’s what the breeder fed him and the nutritional levels are right on par with what you suggest on your website. Sometimes I feed him cold apples or carrots from the fridge, to help with teething. It seems like his gums are driving him crazy so I also give him bully stick to chew on.
The bumps have spread all down his side and his leg and even on the skin by his genitals.
Did the vet do a skin scrape?
The same thing happened with my cat he was eating a lot he was skinny he stomach looked full I didn’t now why was wrong with him the vets thought he was fine.i thought she had worms I’ve given her worming tablets they haven’t worked
How thin is thin? Maybe get a second opinion? Did the vet confirm she had worms, or did you worm her unnecessarily?
We have had our female Shitz Tuz Mandie for 3 years, she was a rescue dog from a nasty place. She came to us scared of people, it took us a full year to gain her trust, and she can still be skiddish around others. The 1st yr we had her we noticed what looked to be a bug bite, a few days later we had a home visit from a local vet who checked her out, gave her shots etc. We pointed out the bite which had by that time turned into what looked like a boil, which had popped earlier that day. The vet said it was due to fleas, and gave her drops, which we keep current. Ever since that bite she has been chewing herself raw on that spot. We couldn’t find anything there, no bumps or marks that would cause it to bother her. We did notice that her skin in that spot discolored a little. We thought it could be from her licking and chewing. A few months went by and she continued to chew, we switched her shampoo to low sud/oatmeal soap, and switched up her diet to Nutro dry food, no chicken or corn. and that hasn’t helped. Its gotten to the point where she doesn’t want to play, and she sleeps more, may be because she sit up at night after we are sleeping chewing. Her skin is now bright pink all over and her chewing has now moved to any spot she can reach. Any ideas on what is causing this? And, what I should do. Our vet’s here are extremely high dollar vet’s and we just can’t afford a $1,000 vet bill. Please help I feel so bad for this little girl.
Thank you
Lori G
Hi Krista, Thanks for your advice, we figured as much. I guess we all have to pitch in on this one and get our baby healthy again. And being so hot right now I’m sure isn’t making her feel any better either. I’ll give her a nice cool bath tonight and take her in first thing tomorrow.
Again thanks for responding so fast. We all need more vets like you!
First get all grain out of her diet, including treats. Go to a good pet store (not the grocery store, or big box) and ask to be shown to the grain-free dog food and start reading lables. Pick a grain free dog food that has real meat as the first 2 , or even better 3 ingredients. Real meat is easy to spot it says lamb, elk, bison, turkey, salmon meal or whitefish meal (meal is the entire animal ground up and dried). Do not buy any food with by products listed in the ingredients – this is and indication of inferior goods. The worst grains for dogs are: wheat, corn, corn gluten, rice, soy, oats. Many dogs do alright with buckwheat since it is not a grain.
Dogs may not be allergic to grain, but it impacts their ability to fight other allergens. Most dogs do much better when grain is removed from their diet.
Next, stop washing your dog (they only need a bath if they have rolled in something!) and just rinse her instead with a mix of 1/3 vinegar (cider vinegar is her coat is colored, white vinegar if her coat is mostly white) and 2/3 water. Work this into her coat and skin and allow her to shake and dry. Do not rinse it out. You can rinse her with this every day, and if you have her coat cut very short, you can do it 2 times per day. Just be sure she dries out between applications, you don’t want her staying damp since that will lead to other problems. The vinegar smell will disappear as she dries. I recommend you do keep her coat short for the time being – it will help you keep allergens out of her coat. Brush her daily. You can keep her tail hair long since that is one of the best features of this breed!
Keep a bowl of this mix beside the door (make it fresh every day) and rinse her paws in it when she comes in from outside – this will help reduce the amount of allergen she tracks into the house.
Cover every place she sleeps or naps with towels or sheets and toss those covers in the wash once a week. This helps remove the pollen and mold spores that may be making her itch. Wash her dog bed weekly too if she has one. Vacuum the house daily with a HEPA filter in the vacuum.
If she has any raw or ‘hot spots’ dab on witch hazel with aloe vera – you will find this in any pharmacy.
If your vet told you to use Benadryl, switch to Zyrtec instead – it seems to work better. Same dosage, and generic is fine.
I agree with Dr. Krista’s advice to get the help of a vet – but after 22 years of dealing with itchy terriers I know that I have to take these other steps along with what the vet recommends.
I think you need a vet as this dog has been suffering long enough. You have tried hard to treat it at home and unfortunately it hasn’t worked. The next step is a vet and preferably not the same vet that saw her the first time. It would be no wear near $1000. Probably less than $200 including the meds. You did a great thing by rescuing this dog and to continue being a great pet parent it takes sacrifice and some occasional money with a vet. Where I live a vet consultation is a mere $39. At that point they will tell you what needs to be done. You will be feel so much better once you help this poor dog.
My 5 yr. Old chihuahua has a tick in ear ,can I safely flush it out and with what ?
How far down in the ear is it? If you take a q-tip and dip it in rubbing alcohol then rub it around where the tick is attached it will help release the tick. You want to do this before you use tweezers and pull it out because you don’t want the head to get stuck in the ear! Hope this helps, we get ticks all the time. Make sure to get your dog on some flea and tick meds, it will keep ticks from attaching and releasing their toxin! 🙂
I have adopted a dog from the pound about 4 or 3 moths ago, he is a very good dog but when someone enters my room, my dog starts growling and he won’t stop. The behaviour has gotten worse when my fathers partner hit him with a leash with a metal spring on it, now whenever he hears someone walking outside of my room (going upstairs or to the bathroom) he immediately starts growling, his growling got more loud and now when someone passes him, he’s scared and walks away. Another thing is when I leave the house, he starts howling and it’s annoying my father he wants me to sell him but I still believe there is something to help my dog. He is a sheepdog collie mix and 2 years old, he is a very good dog and I presume his previous owners must have been abusing him since he’s scared of everything. Is there a way to teach him not to do it?
Have you spoken with a trainer yet?
No, there isn’t any trainers around where I live so it’s hard
Well hitting has made it worse. Your dog has several anxiety/fear issues. you can teach a dog confidence but it
takes time and dedication. Start by always having your dog on a leash with you. when he lays quietly, tell him good dog. start teaching him to sit on command. then start teaching him to sit in place on a carpet or matt. All this will teach him proper behavior, and make a bond. once he and you have developed a bond, start asking a friend to come over to help work with your dog. Put a bowl of treats outside of the door, have your friend come to the door, your dog on a leash, you ask your dog to sit, treat him. the friend comes in, no eye contact, talks to you, if dog stays sitting, no growling treat him. Once dog accepts friend, let friend treat him.
Start teaching your dog that all good things come from you when he listens. Get what we call High value treats, something he ONLY gets during training, cheese, chicken, moist dog treats, whatever, but he only gets it during training.
Collie and shepherding dogs have such a strong desire to be with their people, to please them, that you should be able to train him.
As for crying while you are gone, he should be crated, with a cover over the crate, and give him a large Kong to work on while you are gone. He only ever gets the Kong in the crate. Fill it with dog food, and mix in some peanut butter, plug the whole over with peanut butter and freeze, give it to him when leaving, but make sure you feed him less so he doesn’t get fat lol.
Take time, he will be a good dog, dogs know when they are rescued.
Good luck!
We want to adopt a 9-month-old dog. The only thing in his medical history is a mild case of demodex that was treated with Bravecto. He has since been cleared off all mites. Is this a red flag for adoption? I read online that it can be an indicator of an underlying immune system problem. We have fallen in love with him, but if there are sure to be ongoing health problems, I’m not sure that we’d go ahead with adoption.
My 19 y/o dog has kidney disease. He is on a rx low protein kidney diet food & has started to experience discomfort. Wondering if hemp product w/ 23% protein (Canna-Pet) would be better or worse on his kidneys than Tramadol rx’d by vet.
Unfortunately, we don’t really know what’s available in Turkey. Can you give us a list of what you can get there?
Sorry if I startled you but I’m only visiting Turkey for this month (I actually live in Jordan) but I’m willing to order/ship cat food online because the available foods in Jordan are Meow Mix, Le Chat and Royal Canin. I’ve tried all these (both the wet and dry food versions) and my cats never seemed to like them.