SheddingQ: Hi, i have a mixed breed housedog, part german shepherd, not sure of the rest who weighs 80 lbs and sheds excessively. she checks out fine. is there anything i can give her to help? thank you A: You can try addind lecithin granules to her food daily. this sometimes help with shedding. i like a product called lecizyme which also contains other nutrients and enzymes to make sure she is adequately processing her foods. |shedding occurs at different times of year, and is usually harmless, as long as there is no other signs of illness. if you cant find the above product, one called prozyme can help with this as well.|i also like to add essential fatty acids like flaxseed oil to the food daily, which can be dosed at 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds of body weight daily. then see ifit helps over a few month period.
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Pregnancy and heartwormQ: My dog may be pregnant and i was wondering if it is safe to continue to give her sentinel heartworm medication? A: Sentinel is safe to use in pregnant and nursing dogs.
Shop for: sentinel
My daughters dogQ: About 6 months ago my daughter brought home a mixed breed puppy that her friend gave her. about 3 months ago we noticed that the puppy had started scrathing all the time so we thought the puppy may have fleas so we gave her a bath with flea shampoo and put a flea collar on her. about a week or so after we noticed she started loosing her fur on either side of her stomach and there are little black dots on her skin and she still hasn't stopped scratching since. my daughter is convienced the puppy has cancer. what should we do for the poor thing, that wouldnt be to exspensive, money is an issue being a single mother of 4 but still wanting to give my kids the joy of having a puppy in our home. A: Have puppy checked for mange at your vet via skin scrape. if no mites then could be simply an allergy which would need allergy medicine to control
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.
Using advantix & revolutionQ: Hi, i have a 6 month old basset hound who has been on ivomec, 1 shot every 2 weeks for the treatment of sarcoptic mange. she is doing much better; however, during her last visit, she had a tick attached under her neck. my husband had one also on his leg when he and the basset came home from a walk. my vet administered advantix for my basset. i also ordered revolution at her (my vet) recommendation. my question is, can i use both medications at the same time, or should i wait a month? my vet said its o.k., and if i start my dog on the revolution, she would not need one more shot of the ivomec. (the vet suggested 3 shots every 2 weeks) please advise. i have had a bad experience with one vet at banfield already and now i'm so paranoid that they don't know what they're doing. i had dachshund that i adopted from the local pound and had the sarcoptic mange. (although i did not know it at the time) even when my basset began to develop the same symptoms, the vet kept insisting it was allergies and just kept pumping us for money. finally, she said there was nothing else that could be done and my dachshund was put down. i took my basset to another banfield and was diagnosed with the mange. so as you can see, as a first time pet owner, i'm getting off to a bad start. thank you, araceli A: Since revolution will also protect against fleas and ticks, using k-9 advantix may be using too much medication. i would double check with the veterinarian to make sure he wanted you to use both. also, these products do not stop ticks from getting onto the pet. they prevent the tick from biting.
Shop for: tick, revolution, ivomec, advantix
Cushings diseaseQ: I recently was told by my vet that my mini dachshund may have cushings disease. i will have the test to determine for sure this is the case, but i want to know what my options are for treating the disease and also what complications could occur if untreated. A: You should have multiple diagnostic tests including considering both blood tests and ultrasound to look at adrenals. acth stim test or low dose dex suppression blood tests are ones to consider but some dogs have false positive test results which is why you want to also have ultrasound. options for treatment include drugs known as lysodren, ketaconazole and anipryl all of which have pros and cons. if untreated some dogs develop secondary infections from excess blood cortisol as well as being more prone to diabetes, and blood clots to organs due to hypertensive state which can lead to organ problems as well
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.
SafetyQ: We have a 5 year old chocolate lab and are considering giving her frontline plus for her fleas however, we also have a 21 month old son who is constantly crawling all over her. what side effects, if any can occur to my son should he come in contact with the medication that has been applied topically? A: Keep your dog apart from your child for about 24 hours after application. once it is dry there is no problem. it would only be a problem if your child came in contact with a lot of the product while wet on the lab.
Shop for: frontline plus, frontline
