Heart murmur/mitral valve diseaseQ: I lost my cavalier king charles spaniel toby 3 weeks ago today. we don't know what exactly he died from, but we suspect he'd had a stroke. he was 8 years/8 months old. his half-brother skyler, also a cav., was diagnosed a week ago with mytral valve disease and a heart murmer between 3 and 4. he had an echocardiogram. our vet put him on 5 mg. enalapril and science diet h/r dry food. he will be 9 in november. my fondest wish is that skyler will be around a long time, but i am almost afraid to leave him. he is in mourning for toby, sleeps most of the day, is very reluctant to go outside to relieve himself, and i have to encourage him to eat. our vet said before the echocardiogram that he wasn't to have any exercise, so i won't even take him for a walk, and she's delaying any dental work because that requires sedation. we are planning a short vacation and we will need to board him for a few days. i guess i just want to know if we are doing everything we can. is there anything else we can do? my vets are wonderful, but a second opinion might help relieve some of my fears. cavs have a strong history of mitral valve prolapse or disease. what else can you tell me so i might relax and live a reasonably normal life and let skyler live his!? A: I would try making him as healthy as possible with all natural diets such as pet guard or california natural by natura or more ideally a home made diet as described in book dr. pitcairns guide to natural health for dogs and cats by richard pitcairn. also consider supplements for heart such as coenzyme q-10 at dose of 50 mg daily as well as vitamin e at same time at dose of 400iu daily. also consider supplement known as formula cv from company known as rx vitamins for pets centered in scarsdale, new york. this excellent supplement has supportive nutrients for heart such as hawthorne berry and trace minerals for heart
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Any heartworm medicine i can giveQ: I took my dog to the vet the other day and was told my dog had heartworms, and the treatment cost would be $1,000 i am not working and i am unable to pay that much. is there anything else i can do?is there any medicine i can administer and buy myself? help please, i love my dog, but my finances will not permit me to pay for this costly treatment. A: I would ask for retest of heartworm test and have it sent to outside lab. i have occasionally seen in office heartworm tests be false positives. that being said if true positive, then i woudl call around as this sounds very high to me for two injections of immiticide over 24 hours which is how we treat heartworms now. if still not affordable, then you could consider putting dog on monthly heartguard or interceptor which will prevent further reproduction of existing adult heartworms but will not kill adults
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Sores and hairlossQ: My dog has sores all over his body and he is losing his hair. it started on his chest, i thought it was from him tryin to get his coller off, but now its all over his body. i noticed today that he has a rash all over him. is there anything over the counter a can treat him with? A: Not really other than getting good antibacterial shampoo from 1800petmeds such as oxydex or chlorihexiderm which you can use every few days. also can use oral benadryl at dose of 1/2 to 1 mg per pound orally twice daily which might ease itching but he likely needs vet visit and antibiotics, anti inflammatories, etc
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DiarehheaQ: I've recently adopted a pet. she has all of her shots and is spade. she was examined and determined not to have worms or heartworms. but she has very loose bowel movements quite often. i have not noticed any blood in the stool. is there anything i can give her to stop the diarehhea? i bought the pedigree digestive care dog food but she will not eat it. thank you A: If diarrhea persists, then you should have complete workup done at vet for chronic diarrhea to include stool giardia elisa test sent out by your vet to outside lab to check for this parasite as well as cbc/chem blood work to start. sometimes a trial with a medicine like flagyl as well as high fiber diet like hills w/d from your vet also worth a try
Medication interactionsQ: If i applied hartz topical flea drop treatment to my dog approximately 2 1/2 weeks ago and it did nothing, is it safe at this point for me to use the adams flea spray mist, or do i have to wait a specific amount of time. also, will the mist kill adult fleas, eggs & larvae? A: It is ok to apply it now. my own preference is the topical front line or advantage which you can get from 1800petmeds.
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Fleas/wormerQ: My cat has recently got very infested with fleas he is an inside cat but i live in the woods and have ooutside dogs anyway, i 'm getting all the fleas gone but, need to know what all i need to do to make sure he doesn't get sick. please help. thanks A: You need to use flea and tick prevention year round to prevent reinfestation from hatching eggs and larvae.
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