DiarrheaQ: I have a 4-year old labrador. each spring (usually around the month of may) he develops severe diarrhea - often a reddish/brown jellylike substance is mixed in with the stool. i notice this change in stool when i started giving him heartgard medication. do you have any alternative suggestions or another medication to recommend? he has been diagnosed with inflamatory bowel syndrome. i have been succeussful giving him nature's recipe - vegetarian formula and dick van patton's duck & potato formula dog foods. any help would be appreciated. thanks, cynthia champa A: If your dog has ibd, then he indeed could react to actually any of the monthly heartworm preventtives. you could try the other known as interceptor. if that no help you could even consider herbal alternatives like black walnut added to his food daily at dose of 1000 mg daily
Shop for: heartgard, interceptor
Skin disorderQ: We have four dogs, only two are having skin problems. biteing, scratching and itches. large areas will become hairless and raw. been to vet's, no sign of mites, have spent a fortune already but nothing seems to work. can you help? A: Could try various antihistamines like benadryl at dose of 1/2 to 1 mg per pound twice daily. sometimes these dont help. then left with cortisone or newer drug known as atopica which is expensive alternative. best for long term control is allergy testing with blood test so that allergy vaccine can be made
Shop for: antihistamine
Feeding and vitaminsQ: A litter of kittens have found there way in my heart, as well as my home. there are four of them and they seem to have lost there mother they look very young they do have teeth but are very tiny too small to eat yet so i took them in and fed them my 4 month olds baby milk? is that okay ? how can i tell how old they are ? one of them follows me around they are less then a pound each and are as small as my hand , well i concerned if the formula is okay for them and should i give them any supplements other than the milk and is there anything special i need to do to take care of them . someone told me they wouldnt go to the bathroom on there on they had to simulated to go by there mother! is that true. i am going to take them to the vet but that take s time and money and at the moment i do not have alot of it. i order from pet meds all the time and they are great but they didnt seem to know very much about young kittens if you can give me any info on what to do it would be so helpfull i love my pets i spend alot of money at petmeds i put flea meds on my dogs and on my sisters dogs but if you could help me out her i would be so greatfull. anything i should know to properly treat them would be usefull donna A: I cant address all questions in brief space here. you need to have vet go over with you in office and show you directly with kittens how to stimulate bowel movements, etc. i cant tell you old they are without seeing them. baby milk is not best thing for them. i would get some sort of feline milk replacer such as kmar which you can get at local pet store and bottle feed them every few hours as much as they will take until can have vet visit.
Cats and frontlineQ: I just want to make sure i can use frontline on my cats as well as my dogs. is it okay? A: You can, as long as you use frontline for cats on the cats and frontline for dogs on the dogs.
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Most efficient allergy treatmentQ: My dog is a shar-pei, lab mix and she weighs about 63lbs. she's had five ear infections and she's only a year and a half old. she's constantly licking her feet and her groin. we believe she has allergies, but i can't afford to give her allergy immunization shots. i'm leary of giving her too much steroids. (my sister's cat was given steroids for allergies many times and he died of liver cancer) aren't there pills for dogs similar to zyrtec of allegra? what can i do? A: If it is an allergy there are antihistamine such as benadryl, clemestine or chlorpheniramine that you can use.|you can check our website for the doses and details.
Shop for: antihistamine, chlorpheniramine
Ear mitesQ: I have a 5 year old 75 ld male dog, his right ear has a lot of dark brown build up and it has a very pungent odor, in the past my other dog had the same symptom. the vet diagnosed as ear mites. what can i use and can i order it thru petmed. A: I would not be so quick to call 5 year old dog with dark brown wax in ear as ear mites as more common in this age to have overgrowth of yeast or bacteria. if you want, you coudl try mitaclear from 1800petmeds but i would certainly recommend vet exam of ear for best treatment. also see article i wrote on ear care on education part of this website
Shop for: ear mites, 1800petmeds
Over weight dogsQ: I have scottish terrier & schnauzer(mut). they get walked daily. recently put them on hills r/d foot for weight reduction. first week. they both did well switching foods cost is @ $3.00 a day. is there an equal product less costly available through you? both dogs weigh 23 to 25lbs. schnauzer is 12years old. scottie is 8 years old. A: Sorry, currently we do not carry dog food.
Hypo-thyroidQ: Hi - i have a 13 year old red dobe - she has been on solixine .06 for quite some time now, for a thyroid condition, which if memory serves me correctly, is for a condition called "hypo-thryoid". she was recently tested again and the dosage is appropriate (60lbs). my question is, i am looking for an alternative place to purchase her medicine. the local vet seems to be making a fortune off us! (monthly dosage = $30). it seems high to me, any suggestions? -jamie A: We have both soloxine and the generic equivalent levothyroxine in our pharmacy. please call for our price. also be aware that if you choose to go with the generic, it will probably be necessary to re-titrate your dog after a short adjustment period to be assured of proper blood levels.