SymptomsQ: What are symptoms of heartworm? should all dogs be taking heartworm? A: Symptoms include exercise intolorance or shortness of breath; dry gagging or wet cough; swollen abdomen or difficult breathing and other vague signs of illness such as lethargy, loss of appetite, etc. some dogs have no signs. others display only one or a few of above. all dogs should be on once monthly heartworm preventative meds
AgeQ: Whats the best way to treat fleas? my dog has never had them but since we have moved to the south he gets them all the time? also he will turning 5 hes purebred cocker spaniel i worry about his weight and joints? A: I like the product called advantage. as for his joints, try a product called glycoflex from 1800petmeds which is natural preventative
Shop for: 1800petmeds, advantage
Lucky, my dogQ: Who is avma? i am in the 310 area code. thank you, p.t. A: The acronym stands for the american veterinary medical association.
I live in maQ: I live in ma and we have lots of dogs in the neighborhood and i am not sure if any of them are on heartworm preventative medicine. i was wondering if you recommend my cat who is in and out 50/50 to be on it? thanks A: I would hope that the dogs in your community are on heartworm preventative. if your cat is out of the house a lot, i would discuss heartworm prevention with your veterinarian.
Pimple/massQ: My fiance and i have a 7 1/2 month old english springer spaniel. i have a habit of massaging our puppy. one day i felt what seemed to be a little pimple on his left upper chest. within one to two weeks, this little pimple grew the size of a pea or little larger, looked pinkish or reddish in color. it was also hard, nonmoveable. it felt like it was on his skin, but hard to say. we took him to the vet, which the same day, he had emergency surgery, which we are waiting for the results of the biopsy at this time. the vet informed us that if we let it go, the mass could get bigger and start to bleed, which would be hard to stop the bleeding. i am afraid it may be cancerous, even thou he seems to be doing fine....his incision is about 3 or 4 inches long. it is a pretty big size with several sutures. the vet also informed us that if it is cancer, it can spread thru his body. can this be a hemangioma? are springers accessible to tumors? cancer? can you give me a little more information? i've been searching thru all kinds of animal books we have since having 3 different types of dogs..and none on english spring spaniels. in the meantime, we're still waiting for the results which will hopefully be this week. thank you so much. linda A: I would wait until you get biopsy back any day before i can comment or make recommendations. i can only tell you that in my experience most of these growths in young dogs are benign histiocytomas, which are very common, and actually sometimes can go down on their own. if that is what it ends up being, then you were alarmed needlessly
Tried homeo-now whatQ: Yes, my dog has the worms that look like rice. i purchased the homeo drops from you and they haven't worked. what is the next strongest thing. i have a shih-tzu that weighs 13 pounds. A: You will need to buy panacur c. order enough to repeat the treatment two to three weeks after the first time.
Shop for: panacur, homeo
Housebreaking horrorQ: I recently rescued a small puppy from a dumpster behind a shopping center. being so small i knew he wouldn't be housebroken in anyway. but since i brought him home my older dog who has been house broken for almost 6 months now has started to use the bathroom in the house which she never did before i got the puppy. do you have any suggestions how i could get ther to stop this? in addition do you have any housebreaking tips i could use for the puppy? thanks in advance kassandra canfield A: Use crate or pen to housebreak puppy. older dog may be stressed by new puppy or feel threatened so you could try a low dose of a mild sedative like acepromazine until he is used to the pup
DogsQ: Ive got 3 dogs 1husky 2 mixed breeds. they scrtch off and on during the day every day. ive checked for fleas,and every otuer parisites i can think off and yhere free from any infection as far as a rash or any skin disortor.i brush them all the time.there inside dogs.but they love to be outside off and on all day. there coats are nice and healthy shine really nioe.i got them some pet tabs cause i thought they might need vitamins and would stop hat scraching.. there food i feed them pedigree dry dog food for years they really love it and it seems to satisfy them. im at a lost trying to figure it out.maybe im not doing something right hope you can help me,thank you wanita jackson A: Make sure no mites on skin by having vet do a skin scrape on them. if negative then likely allergies. try a low allergy diet like california natural lamb and rice diet by natura. also could try digestive enzymes added to food like prozyme in addition to flax seed oil at dose of 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds of body weight daily
Shop for: vitamin, prozyme
