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Blog posts Categorized under ‘Veterinarian Advice’

Kevin and The Cat Doctor Part 2

Posted on: September 19th, 2011 by


Hello, I’m Dr. Jane Matheys from The Cat Doctor Veterinary Hospital and Hotel in Boise, Idaho. Today I’m answering some questions from the Facebook page of Pets Best Insurance. Also, we are continuing our series that we call “Kevin and the Cat Doctor”.

Some questions here from Kevin. The first one, “The animal shelter insists on fixing my kitten before I can take her home. Is it really that safe at such a young age?”

Yes. The shelters are very good at doing these early-age spays and neuters on the kittens. There are a few more possible complications because the kittens are so young and so little, but done with the proper anesthesia and proper monitoring of the anesthesia, it is very safe and we have good results. Most importantly, it assures that the cats will no longer be able to reproduce and it can really help to reduce our problem of pet overpopulation.

Next, Kevin asks, “I got my cat chipped for her protection, but do the RFID implants have any long-term negative health consequences?”

I’m happy to say that no, we have not seen any problems with those microchip identifications. It is a very good way to permanently identify your kitty-cat in case she gets outside or lost. I do highly recommend them for all cats.

Then, Kevin asks, “My cat will tell me when she’s happy and when she’s mad, and even when she’s sad, but why not when she’s sick?”

Actually, Kevin, your kitty does tell you when she’s sick. We sometimes just don’t notice it. The signs can be very subtle, so it’s really best to watch your cat carefully. Know what your cat’s normal behaviors are so that you’re more likely to be able to identify when she’s acting differently.

Some of the main things that you want to look for to indicate that she might be ill are backing off on her food, not eating as much or if she totally stops eating. Another thing to watch for is any type of weight loss. Sometimes if they are pulling away from you, hiding or not interacting with you as much anymore, that can also be an indication that she’s feeling ill. You want to, of course, be looking for things like a smelly mouth, odors, diarrhea, vomiting, and things of that sort.

Cats are pretty stoic and they can often hide their illnesses very well. You have to pay close attention to what your kitty-cat is doing so you can identify problems early and get her to your veterinarian.
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Kidney Diesease Diets and Spooked Dogs – Answers from a Vet

Posted on: September 14th, 2011 by

Hi, I’m Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I’m a practicing veterinarian at Idaho Veterinary Hospital. I’m at home today answering Pets Best questions on their Facebook page.

The first question comes from Nicole. She says, “I have a five-year-old Chessie with kidney disease. I need to switch food and I’m considering going to a raw diet. What considerations should I take into account when switching over and with a raw diet?”

First of all, with kidney disease, I definitely think that you should get your dog on a kidney-formulated diet. These diets tend to be lower in phosphorus and have balanced amounts of protein, making it easier for the kidneys to function at their optimal level. Typically, the best thing for kidney diets is to use a prescription diet that’s formulated for kidney disease. There are some homemade diets that can be done this way, formulated for kidney disease as well. You probably need to talk to your veterinarian about those homemade diets.

I’m not a huge fan of raw food diets for the same reason that you don’t eat raw meat. Dogs can get salmonella and all kinds of other GI diseases from raw food. There are some veterinarians out there who are more of an advocate for it, but personally, I see so many food-borne illnesses with raw food diets that it’s not something that I would recommend.

The second question comes from Carrie. She writes, “My dog has suddenly become terrified of loud noises and trucks on our walks. He will start shaking violently and drags me home. What can I do to help my poor baby?”

This is really unfortunate. Noise anxiety can happen at any time and with any dog. It can be triggered by any number of different things. My advice to you is going to be to work with a behaviorist. I think that’s going to be your best plan to get him over this fear. There are some things that you can try to do, such as desensitization, which can be a little bit tricky. I would talk with your veterinarian about how desensitization towards noises works.

There are anti-anxiety medications that can be used. You might try walking him in an area that’s not as noisy or maybe taking him somewhere completely different, like a park that’s a little bit quieter. If you’re interested in desensitization or anti-anxiety medication, contact your veterinarian.
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Cats Chewing Corners and Hot Flashes in Felines

Posted on: September 2nd, 2011 by

Hello. I’m Dr. Jane Matheys from The Cat Doctor Veterinary Hospital and Hotel in Boise, Idaho. I’m going to be answering a few questions today from the Facebook page of Pets Best Insurance.

Our first question is from Molly. She asks, “My [inaudible 0:17] Mason has gotten in the habit of biting things; the corner of my wooden cabinet, knobs on my drawers, sponges, and my sink faucets in the bathrooms, which is the strangest thing. Could it be a dental issue or just a weird habit he’s picked up along the way?”

I don’t often see kitties with dental disease chewing on things but I would definitely recommend that you have your veterinarian take a look at the teeth and give your kitty a physical just to make sure there are not any medical problems going on. Quite often it’s just a habit that they pick up for who knows what reason.

A lot of times kitties can be destructive if they’re chewing on things so what I recommend is that you try one of the products from the pet stores that is a bitter-tasting spray that you can apply to those objects. That will teach him not to chew on things like that and hopefully break that habit of his.

The next question is from Mimi, and she says, “Do female cats get hot flashes like us women do?”

Thankfully for the kitties, to our knowledge, no. We don’t really know for sure, though, because first of all, the cats can’t tell us whether they’re going through hot flashes, and secondly, most of our kitties are spayed so they don’t have their reproductive organs and we don’t see any symptoms like that. Thanks for the fun question.
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Senior Pet Activity Levels, Cat Eating Carpet

Posted on: August 31st, 2011 by

Hi, I’m Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I’m a practicing veterinarian at Idaho Veterinary Hospital. I’m at home today answering some questions from Pets Best Facebook page.

The first one comes from Tony, who asks, “I have a mixed breed Chihuahua/Pekingese that will be 20 years old in October. She still wants to play but tires out easily. Is this normal?”

Absolutely. 20 in dog years is probably over 100 in people years, so you’re definitely doing something right to have your dog around for as long as she has been. She’s certainly an older geriatric dog, and I think having a little less energy and tiring more easily is pretty common. Definitely keep up with your regular vet checks for older pets so you can make sure everything’s going well.

The next one comes from Crystal who says, “My 13-year-old male cat eats the fuzz off the carpet. I’m worried this will clog his system.”

I’m a little worried about this, too. Carpet fuzz and other cloth and string and that type of thing really aren’t great for cats to ingest. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great solution for you other than getting rid of your carpets, which may not be something that you’re interested in doing. In the meantime, things you want to watch for would be excessive vomiting and not eating anything. If he seems like he’s off, I would definitely get him checked out.
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Pets Eating Foreign Objects

Posted on: August 24th, 2011 by

Dr. Caldwell offers solutions for a dog who eats rocks and a cat who eats bags.
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