Dry skinQ: Thank you for your assistance. my husband and i just purchased a female cocker spaniel before thanksgiving and she is now 5 months old and is scratching quite a bit. she is not bothered by fleas and we have already started her on frontline for puppies with our vet last month and she has received all her shots. q1. what could be causing her dry skin irritations and scratching? q2. what other nuturtional support or products can we use for dry skin? thank you. A: I suggest you have her checked by your veterinarian. there are many causes of itching in dogs. your veterinarian can determine the cause and recommend appropriate treatment.
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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
Leg weaknessQ: My 12 yr old mixed breed has been having weakness in his back legs. he has been on glyco.flex i for about 2 yrs. as he gets older, he is having more difficulty getting up & down stairs. should we stay with the glyco i or is it time to go to glyco.flex 2 or 3 ? also he is on zubrin. thanks ! A: I would indeed graduate to likely glycoflex iii from your description. also add flax seed oil to food at dose of 1 tea per 20 pounds of body weight daily and give antioxidant vitamins like vitamin e at dose of 400iu daily and vitamin c in form of ester c at dose of 1000 mg twice daily
Shop for: vitamin, zubrin 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
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