Muscle spasms and lamenessQ: My mini dachshund is 5 years old. she recently had severe muscle spasms in her back left leg. after several spasms she began having problems walking. she is very stiff in the morning & after napping. she doesn't seem to be in constant pain, but if my other dog bumps into her she howls & cries. she is normally very active & happy, but now is lethargic. she can't even step down a 2 inch ledge, i have to pick her up. vet diagnosed pulled muscle & gave pain pills/muscle relaxers, which helped a little but she is still not acting normal. what else could be causing her problems? i know dachshunds have issues with their backs-could she have a disc problem? thank you. A: Sounds like a disc problem to me which actually is not always seen on routine x rays but you should have complete spinal x rays done. if continues may need mri for accurate diagnosis. some need low dose prednisone to help. you also may want to check out altvetmed.com for alternative ways of treatment including chiropractic and acupuncture
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Sleeping pillsQ: I have a 14 year old male boston terrier, and he wakes me up at 1 am every morning, would giving him valerian root help him sleep ? he has also been diagonised with blastomycocis, so will the valerian root be ok to use, he weighs 31 lbs. A: I have not used this herb in my practice. i would try some natural flower essences like rescue remedy from health food store
Blood in stoolsQ: Several months ago after my border collie was in heat she started with loose stools and ended up with blood in her stools. the vet said she had ulcers and gave her charcoal and some other pills. she seem to start to straighten up then we wormed her and she started in with the watery stools this time brown not dark like before. the vet put her on charcoal pills and cimetidine 800 mg twice a day is there a vitamin or something else we can give her to help her get straighten up. she is one year old. i am so thankful i found this web site to be able to ask this question. A: I would concentrate on providing her with good natural diet like pet guard or innova or wellness or lifes abundance. i also would supplement her with digestive enzymes like prozyme from 1800petmeds as well as adding flax oil to her food at 1 tea per 20 pounds of body weight daily. if diarrhea is recurrent she should be worked up for chronic diarrhea by your vet
Shop for: vitamin, prozyme, 1800petmeds
Dry skinQ: I have a border collie, austrailian shepard mix. his skin is very dry and flakes. he doesn't like to take pills is there anything i can give him to stop him from scratching? i have used a dry skin shampoo with aloe in it but he still scratches. A: Purchase the brite coat xs capsules. puncture a capsule with a pin and mix the liquid in with his food.
Female dogQ: My female dog thatwas fixed wehn she was young and is now 12 years old all of a sudden started leaking while laying down and leaving wet spots and sometimes a big big wet spot not even knowing it. i saw her lay down and in minutes there was a big wet spot. i took her to the vet and she said sometimes it happens early in there life or later. she gave me phenylpropanolamine and said to give it to her every 12 hours. she said if this worked she wouldn't have to come back for blood work ect. seems to be doing the trick so far and she said if it does she would have to take it the rest of her life. is this true that she has to stay on it or can i take her off of it after the pills are finished? thank you so much for you time. a concerned pet owner A: In most cases, pets that are placed on phenylpropanolamine therapy for urinary leakage will need to be on this medication for life.
Unfinished tabletQ: My 13lb shi-tzu would not consume the heartgard plus tablet by itself so i broke it up in her food. unfortunately, she only ate about half of the tablet( can't be sure of exact dose taken) and would not complete that serving of food all day. the tablets are for dogs up to 25 lbs...will half a tablet protect her? should i give her another tablet? she is quite lethargic and slow moving since eating the heartgard plus but is in heat.... thanks for any advice you can offer... i just rescued this dog about two weeks ago and am already very attached! A: I would not use these pills when she is in heat. better off skipping a month as can have reactions to drugs, vaccines, etc when given during heat period. dont worry for now but if note lethargy, upset stomach again next month then i would consider switching heartworm preventative pills to interceptor Shop for: heartgard, heartgard plus, interceptor
Proin dropsQ: I see you have chewable proin tablets. my almost 17 year old doxie has very few teeth and has always had trouble with pills and tablets. i'm currently using proin drops that i got from our vet before our moving. by any chance do you carry the drops? thank you, A: We do not carry proin drops.
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Mistletoe poisoningQ: Our 75# lab and 20# beagle ate a small amount of dry mistletoe ( a few leaves each), will this be harmful? A: Should not be a problem. watch for digestive upset but should be ok if only tiny bits
