LobelleQ: I was wondering if you had ever heard of a drug called lobelle? a freind of mind told me that someone they new had a dog that tested positive for heartworms and she gave her dog lobelle , which is an herbal drug i believe and it got rid of the heart worms and now she gives this to her dog as a preventitive. have you ever heard of this. it is sold at health stores i think. A: I am not familiar with this preparation.
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.
Which one?Q: We live in north carolina and have a golden retriever. right now we are using hartz flea and tick spray but it doesn't seem to be working. we want to get him on some other kind of treatment. he also needs something for heartworms. what do you think the best product would be? also, to use the heartworm medication does he need to be tested for heartworms first? thank you! A: If you golden is an outside dog we recommend the k9advantix. if mostly indoor, you can use frontline plus. |in response to your question about heartworm preventatives, most veterinarians would require a negative test first. you can then mail us the rx, or ask the office to fax or phone the rx in for you. you do have a choice where you have your prescriptions filled.
Shop for: advantix, tick, k9, frontline plus
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.
Shop for: prozyme
Anal leakageQ: My cat is 2 and fixed, but lately when he sits down, he leaves, there is a clear wet spot from his butt. and it really smells! he doesn't act sick and eats well. is this normal A: He might have impacted or infected anal glands. i would have vet evaluate and possibly express the glands if needed.
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
Choosing low cost alternativesQ: Hi, i'm on a fixed income and need to cut expenses. is it ok to switch from sentinel to iverhart for heartworm prevention? is it ok to switch from frontline to proticall for flea & tick prevention? also, my dog won't take the heartworm med without it being hidden in peanut butter or cream cheese but she swallows the heartworm tab whole. is it less effective when administered that way? should i crush tab first? thanks! A: Iverhart is an option. however, this medication is not equivalent to sentinel in that it will not protect against fleas or whipworm. you can use proticall instead of frontline. swallowing the tablet whole should not make any change in effectiveness.
Shop for: frontline, sentinel, tick
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
