My pups lower membrane that is pink is swollen in one eye, how can i diagnose what it is and proper treatment?

Answer:

Dogs have a third eyelid that people don’t possess.  It is called the nicitating membrane.
It can swell because of infection, trauma, or if there is a foreign object lodged behind it (dirt, grass etc), but in puppies it is most often visible due to a condition called Cherry Eye (prolapse of the third eyelid and gland)
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_eye
for more information.

Often surgery is the best way to correct for this condition, if it isn’t corrected there is increased risk of recurret infections in that eye.
I would first flush the eye liberally with a balanced saline solution like regular visine, to try and remove any thing that might be stuck,
then I would head to your vet to get the problem diagnosed correctly.

My 8 yr old lab has developed a few “lumps” on her body, just under the skin.  One recently opened and is oozing a blood/fluid mix.  I have cleaned with peroxide and covered with anti biotic ointment, but it keeps opening and oozing.  I can’t afford vet bills, any other ideas?

Answer:

The lumps you are describing may in fact be a tumor, in which case the best treatment is to visit your vet to see if it can be removed.
If the lump is truly an infection, or a ruptured cyst, you should keep the affected area nice and clean, trim away the surrounding hair, flush the wound with lukewarm water (or peroxide as you have done)   I would then take a good teaspoon of regular honey and put it right on the affected area.  Honey has wonderful antibacterial and healing properties.  Cover the area with a bandage made from clean gauze squares and tensor wrap.  Change the bandage every other day while reapplying honey as needed until healed.
Again, if the lump truly is a tumor a visit to your vet would be the best course of action to let you know what you are treating.

I just got 2 new puppies within about a week of one another, and both are female. One I believe to be very young,  maybe 6 weeks now (she is really small at this point and wasnt wanting any solid food when we first got her. We had to go out and buy some puppy milk in order for her to eat and keep anything down) we were told when we got her that she was already almost 10 weeks old and that she had been dewormed twice. The second puppy is about 11 weeks old and I was given a record of her shots, 4/22(kwks) progard 5, and 5/17 (9wks) progard 5 also for both dates, deworming of memex 2. First are these shots okay? and also yesterday found poop containing worms,  and I am not sure which pup it came from, now for either dog, would it be okay to buy the stuff at petsmart for deworming(called safeguard)? Not quite sure what to do here, vet will be too expensive for both dogs.

Answer”

The vaccine schedule seems ok for your dog.
The fact that you are still seeing worms concerns me,   you need to have the worms identified in order to treat them properly, I would not just deworm with Safeguard.
I’d recommend asking your vet if you can get one of the pups feces checked for parasites….  this will help you identify the types of worms present (Safeguard won’t take care of all worms) and if one puppy has them you should go ahead and treat both of them, as your vet for prescriptions for the medication for both dogs.

My seven-year-old Scottish Terrier-Poodle mix recently had “senior pet” labs run and his results came back with slightly elevated Alk Phos levels. That combined with slightly low thyroid levels and a small amount of protein in his urine led my vet to suspect Cushings Disease, so they set up an ACTH Stimulation test. They found his starting cortisol level to be 3.8 (I was told normal is 1-5) and after stimulation the level was 22.5 (I was told that usually they don’t go higher than 17, but Cushings is not automatically assumed unless a level of 30 is reached). They still think he probably has Cushings and now want to do an ultrasound. I am wondering if your interpretation of the test results would lead you to the same conclusion? I am specifically asking because my dad is a physician and he said that with humans - and this is the question, if dogs are different - Cushings would not be indicated with a normal starting level and a stimulation level of double or more - usually in Humans the Cortisol level would start high and then not increase as much… Being as the two interpreatiosn are completely different, I would just like another vets opinion, given the results…

Answer:

A very interesting question,  a mild increase in Alk Phos can indicate a lot of different disease including Cushings disease, liver disease, bone tumors and more so it’s not straight forward.  If in fact your dog has Cushings it would account for the slightly decreased thyroid value (also know as euthyroid sick syndrome).
Interpreting test numbers is tricky because different labs have different normal reference ranges.  However, dogs can indeed start off with normal resting Cortisol levels (3.8 in your case) and still have Cushings disease.
The test results you described are suspicious of Cushings,  there is another screening test called a Low dos Dexamethasone test that could help to confirm Cushings…. this test also gives the added value of helping to differentiate whether the problem is originating from the Adrenal gland or from the Pituitary Gland in the brain. I always perform this test first as it gives more information.
Your vet is not wrong in wanting to do an ultrasound, but cost wise it might be cheaper to run the low dose Dex test first.
That test can also be a bit tricky to interpret but if it suggests a Pituitary gland problem you are wasting your money on the ultrasound.
The other problem is that if you do an ultrasound as your next test, and do not find any adrenal tumor… it doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t one.  This is because some adrenal tumors, esp. in early stages are difficult to image and the test depends on your vet’s skill level.

Also ask your vet if the senior profile included a test for bilirubin, if that is elevated you may be dealing with a primary liver disease.

Are yearly vaccines absolutely necessary for pets? My dog hardly ever goes outside the yard and isn’t really in contact with other dogs?  The vet office is always sending me reminders for the rabies shot.

Answer:

To fully answer the question about the need for vaccines and the frequency that they need to be given I would have to write a book.  In short, I recommend that all dogs get their full set of puppy shots (typically 8, 12, 16 wks) and booster them in a years time.

An up to date rabies vaccine is required by law just about everywhere in North America.  You’ll have to check your local laws to see how often the rabies vaccine needs to be given.  There are rabies vaccines that are now listed as effective for up to 3 years available from your vet.  As far as the other vaccines go : currently they are recommend every year… but in the future as more studies are performed on their long term effectiveness this may change.

If you don’t want to give core vaccines every year you can have your vet check your pet’s vaccine titer  to ensure that they have protective levels of antibody in their blood.

I have been treating myself with natural a homeopathic medicines for years and have found that they work far better than anything my doctor gives me.  I recently visited my homeopathic healer with arthritis trouble, among other things she recommend that I rub my joints (esp. knees) a tea tree oil solution.  I was wondering if I can do the same for my older dog and cat as it seemed to help me and it smells wonderful.

Answer:

Thanks for your question, tea tree oil has many uses in human medicine as it possess numerous anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.  I would advise you not to use it as a rub on your pets, especially not on your cat.  Although effective there have been credible reports of tea tree oil toxicity in cats that have resulted in death.

As cats and dogs tend to lick and groom themselves ingestion is a real possibility. It can certainly cause an upset stomach and in a worst case scenario it can be fatal.

I’m currently using a cranberry supplement for my older dog because she’s gotten a few urine infections in the past year.  I put her on it because they recommend it in people, does it work for dogs the same?

Answer:

In both people and in animals cranberry has been shown to reduce the incidence of urinary tract infections in patients that have chronic problems with infection.

Cranberries work by decreasing the ability of bacteria like E. coli to adhere to the wall of the bladder.  E. coli just happens to be the most common bacterial pathogen associated with urinary infections in pets.  If the bacteria can’t become attached to the bladder wall there is a greater chance they will be removed with the next urination.

Cranberries are also a great source of antioxidants!!! Also consider adding some Echinacea, Goldenseal, and Uva Ursi to your supplement regime as they are also potent urinary infection fighters.

These ingredients are readily available in naturopathic veterinary urinary supplements.
Just be sure to check a urine sample with your vet to make sure there aren’t other abnormalities in the urine like crystals, sugar, and other things that can be picked up with a urine test.

I have a pack of hunting hounds that I run in the thick stuff here and at least a half dozen times they run into a skunk.  Got any good ways to get the smell out without chemicals?  I tried tomato juice but it don’t work.

Answer:

The best shampoo I can recommend that’s chemical free is Natural Vet Blends: All Natural Odor Eliminating Shampoo.  It gets rid of the scent in 1 or 2 washes, smells good, and best of all doesn’t have the harsh chemicals that can dry the coat and irritate the skin.   Check it out at www.naturalvetblends.com

I have a 4 month old yellow Labrador Retriever and he’s healthy in ever way.  I’ve heard that you shouldn’t feed them chocolate or grapes from some of my friends.  I’ve given him grapes once in a while as a treat since he was a puppy and haven’t noticed any problems.  Should I be worried?

Answer:

Good question, your friends are right, both grapes and chocolate can be poisonous to dogs especially in large quantities.

I would certainly stop feeding grapes to your dog as they have been known to cause kidney failure in dogs.

However, some dogs are more sensitive to grapes than others and certainly there have been dogs that have eaten grapes regularly their entire lives without a problem.

If you are concerned, contact your veterinarian and they can perform some test to make sure Casey’s kidneys aren’t damaged. As a rule grapes, raisins, dates, prunes and chocolate shouldn’t be feed to pets.

My dog drags his bum on the ground from time to time and I think that he has worms,are there any good natural treatments for this? He also chews at the side of his hind end as well is this related?

Answer:

Thanks for the question, the behaviour you are describing is commonly know as “scooting”.  In the vast majority of cases “scooting” is caused by an irritation in a dog’s anal glands rather than by intestinal parasites.

The anal glands are two glandular sacs located beside the opening of the anus.  They normally secrete fluid and pheromones and are expressed with bowel movements.  In some pets the exit duct of the gland can become fully or partially blocked leading to a build up of fluid and debris within the gland which is quite uncomfortable.

This problem results in “scooting”, chewing at the hind end and in severe cases, a complete rupture of the gland.  If you see you dog “scooting” it’s a good idea to take him to your vet to have his glands expressed manually, some groomers are also comfortable with this procedure as well.