Living With Dogs (25 page)

Answer:
The Australian Veterinary Association commissioned a study on this and it identified that the continual feeding of soft foods does lead to gum problems. It recommended that this could be prevented if the animal was fed something chewy, like bones, three times a week. The bones should be raw meaty ones. Every time I see gleaming white teeth in a nine-year-old dog I know it’s been eating bones all its life.

Our dog’s gums are bleeding, but it is not due to poisoning. What is the cause?

Answer:
As poisoning has been ruled out the bleeding must be caused by a problem within the mouth cavity. First, look at dental health. Decayed teeth or exposed tooth roots are a frequent cause of gum disease and bleeding. Second, look for signs of infection of the lips which may have spread into the mouth cavity. Third, check for tumours of the gums. Lastly, the bleeding may be cause by damage to the mouth by bone chewing or stick catching. Your veterinarian will advise.

I have two little terriers which are two years old, brother and sister, and the girl has become very fussy in her eating. She loves to stand around me at dinner time and smell what I’m cooking. She turns her nose up at the canned food I put out for her, and ultimately the other dog finishes it off. She likes people’s food. We’re also finding she’s going into the spare room and making puddles, and we’re wondering what’s causing this.

Answer:
She’s only food fadding to ensure she gets special treatment from you. When you produce the food for the dogs, put it out for 20 minutes. Either she eats it, or she doesn’t. When she doesn’t, you remove it, and it is not given to her until the next feeding time, even if it’s 24 hours later. Unless you do that, you’re going to be controlled by her, at the expense of the other dog, and then you create a whole lot more behavioural problems. The male dog’s getting fat because you’re allowing the female to get away with food-fadding, and she’s too lazy to go out and urinate. She’s got you right under control. You’ve got to be a tougher mother than you are now. Remember, you’re the boss dog, not her.

I’ve been treating my two-year-old Cocker Spaniel for fleas with a rinse once a fortnight, and the dog is still scratching itself to death. What more can I do to get rid of the fleas?

Answer:
Fleas don’t live on dogs. The reason they get onto dogs is to suck blood on the last day of their life. Sucking blood triggers the release of 1500 eggs, which are usually laid in earth, so you need to check those spots in the back yard where the dog likes to lie, where he may be picking up the fleas. Earth is the main source of fleas, and the second source is bedding and carpet. Fleas will be jumping off the dog onto the carpet.

Watch the dog and discover where it’s picking up the fleas. Hose down the soil, fence off the part where the dog likes to lie, or use an insecticidal spray on the area once a week. Wash the dog’s bedding once a week in the flea season, and use a can of insecticidal spray to kill fleas and sterilise eggs in the carpet. The carpet will remain free of fleas for nine months.

Once you’ve controlled the source of the fleas I don’t mind which product you use to kill the fleas on the dog. There’s no point using a rinse if you can’t bath the dog, or if he swims every day, and washes off the rinse. If you can’t find the source of the fleas, use a spot-on internal insecticide. Whatever you use, you must follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

I have two English Cocker Spaniels and for some months now they’ve had this allergy. They’ve been scratching, and they have sores, and the hair is coming off their ears. It’s mainly on the face and ears, and the skin gets dry and flaky after the sores dry up. I can’t figure out what’s causing it.

Answer:
The symptoms you describe sounds very much like mange caused by the sarcoptes mite. Fortunately, it is very easy to cure with the right insecticidal treatment. You need veterinary advice to confirm the diagnosis.

Are there any dog breeds which are not allergic to Wandering Jew creeper (Tradescantia spp.)?

Answer:
Most dogs are allergic to the milky white sap of the creeper and the usual areas affected are the nose, lips, feet and belly. There are individual dogs which are not allergic, but not particular breeds of dogs.

Our Maltese–Shih Tzu–Poodle cross, who is 13 years old, licks his paws. The vet says it is an allergy to grass. What can I do?

Answer:
Always walk your dog on a leash and confine it to a paved footpath. Alternatively, you can buy dog boots for the dog to wear when walking. The aim is to ensure no contact with grass.

My four-year-old Australian Terrier has been scooting on his bottom lately, and this morning when I took him for a walk I noticed that he passed a creamy-pink worm with his droppings. Should I give him worming tablets?

Answer:
What you’ve seen is a segment from a tapeworm. The dog would have been passing other segments, which irritate him and cause him to scoot on his bottom. Tapeworm cannot be caught directly from another dog, like roundworm. It is usually caught by city dogs eating an infected flea, and the segments commence being passed about 28 days later.

Your dog needs to be wormed with a good quality tapewormer. All adult dogs such as yours need regular worming, particularly against roundworm and tapeworm, every three months.

How can we overcome the problem of hydatids?

Answer:
All tapeworms have an intermediate life cycle. A dog which has a hydatid tapeworm will pass eggs and these will be picked up usually by grazing sheep. The cycle is completed when a dog eats sheep meat or offal infected with hydatid cysts. Humans can be an intermediate host with the cysts being found in the chest and abdominal cavities. It is a ghastly disease in humans. You must tackle the hydatid problem through stopping the cycle through dogs. All dogs exposed to sheep — even city dogs visiting the countryside — must be wormed specifically with a tapewormer that kills the hydatid tapeworm, every six weeks throughout the year. Secondly, these same dogs must never be fed sheep meat or offal. Use only canned or dry commercial dog food. Lastly, dogs living in sheep areas must be confined so that they do not chase and kill sheep and eat the abdominal contents.