Super cute orange tabby can’t decide if she wants to cuddle or smack the Carolina Dog (American Dingo).
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Kitty Can’t Decide if She Likes the Dog
Anal Gland Expression and Choosing a Premium Dog Food
Hi, I’m Dr. Fiona Caldwell, and I’m at home today answering questions from Pets Best’s Facebook page. The first question comes from Linda who writes, “I have to take my dog into the vet every two weeks for anal gland expressions or else they leak. Is there anything I can do to prevent this?”
This can be really a frustrating problem. Anal glands are really stinky. They’re basically underdeveloped scent glands that dogs have that are normally used to kind of mark their territories. In a normal dog, a little bit should probably be expressed every time they defecate. For some reason, your dog isn’t doing that the way that it would normally happen. When dogs are really relaxed, sometimes this fluid can leak out a little bit.
Getting the dog in regularly to have the glands emptied is one way that you can keep it from happening. Some other things that you might try, there are some things that you can do to kind of bulk up the stool a little bit so that every time your dog defecates it’s more likely to do sort of some expression and squeezing on its own. Fiber is a good way to do this. Most dogs like canned pumpkin, which is a pretty good source of fiber. You could try that, depending on the size of your dog. You can talk with your veterinarian about how much is appropriate. You could also do human fiber supplements, but, again, talk with your veterinarian about what dose would be appropriate for your dog.
The next question comes from Keshla who says, “Do you recommend premium or holistic foods? Which are better?” This is a really good question. There’s a lot of dog food out there, and it can be hard to know what to buy and what brands to use. A premium dog food generally refers to a dog food that has maybe higher quality ingredients, a little bit more quality control, not as much fillers is in it, whereas a holistic dog food might be more organic, preservative free, hormone free, that type of thing.
I think both types have a great place. I think either one of them are going to be far superior to sort of your grocery store brands that are a little bit less expensive and tend to have a lot of fillers. If the price is too good to be true, it probably really is too good to be true. Whatever works best for your pet and whatever your pet does best on is probably going to be fine, either a premium food or a holistic food.
If you guys have questions for me about your pet, feel free to post them at Facebook.com/PetsBestInsurance.
Dog Pees on Couch; Eating Squirrel Food
Hi, I’m Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I’m at home today answering questions from Pets Best Facebook page.
The first question comes from Kineen who writes, “My older male Weimaraner urinates inside our house almost every day when we’re not home, most often on the back of the couch. I notice this doesn’t happen when the other dog at home is gone. He’s been cleared of any medical issues that might be causing the problem and I have a dog walker that comes out at noon to let the dogs out. We’ve tried a belly band, animal communication, and crate training, and nothing has worked. Anything else we can try to do to stop this behavior?”
Sounds like you’ve done a great job working it up. I definitely applaud that you’ve gone to the veterinarian and made sure it wasn’t something silly like a urinary tract infection or something else that’s treatable.
Because you’ve ruled out the medical issues, it indicates that this truly is a behavioral problem. You’re definitely going to benefit from speaking with a behaviorist, so consider finding a local behaviorist to ask this question.
There are some other things you might try at home. If he doesn’t do it when the other dog is at doggy daycare, you could have the other dog at doggy daycare. If you don’t mind having him there, that would potentially solve the problem. You could also have the dog that’s doing the urinating go to daycare, too, and be supervised all day.
You might try to continue working with the crating. Some dogs will be self-destructive and should not be crated if they react really poorly to it, but if he’s just a whiner or it’s sort of a mild aversion, you could certainly work with it to try and make it a more fun place. Feed him in there. Keep his toys in there. Encourage him to go in when you’re not actually going to close the door and leave him there for the day.
Those might be some things that you could try. You can also talk with your veterinarian about certain anxiety medications or behavioral medications that can sometimes help with inappropriate urination.
The next question comes from Hannah who writes, “We live near a restaurant and squirrels constantly drop food remnants in our yard. We’ve found everything from bread bowls to pizza to hamburger buns and rolls. I try to ensure my dog doesn’t eat any of the food items while she’s outside but she sometimes does. Can any of this food be harmful to her and are there any diseases she could catch from the squirrels?”
This sounds like a really tough problem to deal with. I do think that there is some possibility that some of this food could be harmful to your dog, especially if it’s spoiled, since it was in their trash. There probably aren’t a lot of diseases that she’s going to get from the squirrels, just from them eating the food and then her eating the food that they dropped. Squirrels can have mites and parasites and that type of thing, but she would have to be in pretty close contact to have that happen.
I think you’re probably going to be in a position where you’re going to have to monitor the yard pretty well to keep her from getting hold of this food. You might try talking to the restaurant and see if they can do a little bit better job of disposing their garbage or maybe keeping it covered.
If you guys have pet health questions for me, feel free to post them at Facebook.com/PetsBestInsurance.
The Truth About Low-Cost Clinics; How to Switch Vets
Hi, I’m Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I’m at home today answering questions from Pets Best Facebook page.
The first question comes from Samantha, who writes, “Is there any difference between having your pet spayed or neutered at a regular vet’s office versus a low-cost spay/neuter specific clinic?”
I love this question. I think this is a great question because sometimes I think the general public doesn’t actually realize what you’re getting at a clinic and why it’s more expensive. The low-cost spay/neuter clinics may be subsidized with donations. If it’s a Humane Society, those are non-profit organizations so they have more money that they can put towards that procedure. That’s one way they can keep their costs down. Another way they keep their costs down is by volume. A regular veterinary hospital may do between three and five procedures on a typical surgery day, whereas a low-cost spay/neuter place may do up to 60.
You can see that it becomes much more of an assembly line type of clinic with the low-cost spay/neuters. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad medicine or that it doesn’t have its place. I think that low-cost spay/neuter clinics are a fantastic way to help reduce pet overpopulation. But definitely ask questions. If you’re considering using a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, ask why it’s so inexpensive. If it’s because they get donations, then that may be different than if their answer is that they do 60 a day and can keep the cost down that way.
Talk with your regular clinic as well. Ask, “Why are you more expensive than the low-cost spay/neuter clinic?” They’ll probably say things like, “We have state-of-the- art monitoring,” or, “Every pet gets an IV catheter and fluids, or “We include pain medications or blood work,” or things that your low-cost spay/neuter clinic may not include. Definitely communicate with your regular veterinarian and with the low-cost spay/neuter clinic before you make your decision.
The next question comes from Hilary, who writes, “I’m considering switching vets because I’m no longer happy with my current vet’s level of care. Is there any good way to break up with your vet? How do you ask for files to be transferred somewhere without it being awkward?”
This is a really great question and I think it’s great that you’re trying to be considerate. If you’re not comfortable with your veterinarian for whatever reason, you need to feel free to switch. I think most veterinarians are a sort of close-knit community and we want you to be happy.
If there’s something specific that you had a problem with, consider bringing it up with them. If they have a website with a ‘Comments’ section and you don’t feel comfortable naming yourself, you might comment anonymously. If you felt comfortable with it, you could even talk with the hospital manager and say you had a problem with some things. Most veterinary clinics really want to have that feedback so that they can be the best clinic that they can be for you.
If you are pretty set on switching to a new veterinarian, they don’t have to know why you’re switching. Typically what you’ll do is just call the office and say, “I need to have my records faxed to such and such a place”. It could be because you’ve moved or for any number of reasons. They are your files. They are your records so you’re allowed to do with them what you want. Most veterinary clinics will fax them wherever you want them to go.
If you have questions for me, feel free to post them at Facebook.com/PetsBestInsurance.
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