Home

Puppy with growing pains

My puppy (6mo male Lab/Shepheard mix) has growing pains (vet says). Sore joints in front & back legs. Vet has given shots, no help. Any ideas what to do. Heard change of diet might help - change to what food??? Poor pup limps badly after running.

Note : Dog question from Ask A Vet. Click here for answer (answer available FREE for 24 hours after posting afterwhich you will need to pay $3.95 to view the answer). See other pet questions.

Dog with recurrent hives

My dog (11yo female neutered Labrador) has been on prednisone(2.5-5mg)day for 8 yrs.for allergies(itch).9 days ago developed bad hives on face and body after routine vaccines(aug.9) and extremem itch- 1st time ever).I assumed it was a reaction to shots and treated with benadryl(with a vet’s advice). 5 days later happened again though,(aug 15) and has lasted for four days but I had changed her brand of food that day(Aug 15)(still lamb and rice formula though). My gut says it’s the food but is is just a coincidence that it happend also before the food change due to vaccines? I’m so confused - benadryl helps but head keeps getting hives - body too. My vet says usually vaccine reaction would have under 1 hour after and she was 3 hrs so unlikely from the vaccines. She is so swollen until I medicate her - then hives subside till next day. Nothing else new in her life.Should I go back to previous food? This happend one other time two years ago - we guessed then it was our lawn sprayed for weeds or an insect bite but that time it cleared up after two days. Now has been 4 days. Please help!

Note : Dog question from Ask A Vet. Click here for answer (answer available FREE for 24 hours after posting afterwhich you will need to pay $3.95 to view the answer). See other pet questions.

Cat with torn claws

Last night Oliver (our 5yo DSH male neutered cat) was spooked by our other cat Samantha (who got stuck in a bag). He was so scared by this, that he dug his back-claws into the carpet and forgot to release them and took off running (fronts have been declawed), tearing 4 of them out and damaging the rest of them. It was very bloody and took us a while to get the bleeding to stop. We put him on a blanket and let him lay there all night till he cleaned up his feet and they stopped bleeding. We did try wrapping them in guaze, but he kept getting them off. This morning we soked his feet for 5 minutes in Benatine & warm water and we will continue to do so 2x a day for 5 days or until they look ok.
Are we doing what we should for him?
What else should we do?
Will these 4 claws grow back?
Will the others fall out?
We are trying to avoid a trip to the vet as he gets so tramatized by that. He really is the poster-child for SCAREDY CAT!

Note : Cat question from Ask A Vet. Click here for answer (answer available FREE for 24 hours after posting afterwhich you will need to pay $3.95 to view the answer). See other pet questions.

Dog urine marking and humping

We recently adopted a rescue beagle (2yo male neutered). He is an absolute angel except for two things. One, whenever he enters new territory (indoors), he scent marks compulsively, irregardless of the presence of other animals past or present. Once he is accustomed to the new place, he doesn’t do it. This has happened at our house, friends’ houses, and stores. And if we clap loudly and say, “No, Bernie!” he’ll stop - even in mid-mark! We would like to take him places without having to watch him like a hawk for the first half hour to forty five minutes. The second issue - and probably related - is compulsive humping. He’ll do it once you’ve been playing with him on the floor or ground for about twenty minutes and he’s getting really worked up. He doesn’t do it to other dogs, and he usually only humps human females. He doesn’t respond as well to correction on this one. We’ve mostly tried distracting him or re-directing his focus, but it’s not working too well. He was about a year and a half when he was neutered (that’s when he arrived at a local shelter). Nothing is known about him before that, but it’s quite likely he was used as a hunting beagle because he was found in a part of Louisiana that still uses beagles and other hounds as working/hunting dogs. He spent six months in the shelter and then a few months in foster care where he was with about ten other dogs where he was the smallest (he’s about twenty pounds). We’re wondering if dominance issues might be involved…? He doesn’t like being put on his back to have his belly rubbed, which suggests a dominant personality - but then he cowers a fair amount and won’t sustain eye contact which suggests a submissive personality. Other things that might be useful to know: he loves other dogs, likes humans, completely ignores cats unless they try to eat his food and then he barks, is VERY well housetrained, loves his crate, and is a classic beagle in that he spends our walking time with his nose glued to the ground and will do just about anything - including the classic Snoopy dance - to get food of any kind. Thank you in advance.

Note : Dog question from Ask A Vet. Click here for answer (answer available FREE for 24 hours after posting afterwhich you will need to pay $3.95 to view the answer). See other pet questions.

Dog crying out in pain when shaking head

My dog (10yo male neutered Rottweiler) has been having pain and crying our occaisionally when he shakes his head. He has problems with his hips and a vet told me I could give him aspirin for that. He also has some small knots on his neck area. I have also noticed him cry out sometimes if he bumps his head lightly on something. Any Idea what the problem might be? And what I can do for him?

Note : Dog question from Ask A Vet. Click here for answer (answer available FREE for 24 hours after posting afterwhich you will need to pay $3.95 to view the answer). See other pet questions.