Living With Dogs (26 page)

Our dog has started having epileptic seizures. Why is this happening and what can we do?

Answer:
Epileptic seizures can be caused by a genetic defect or an acquired fault in the tissue of the brain. Some conditions of the liver can cause fitting that looks like an epileptic seizure. It is important that you seek veterinary advice, preferably very soon after the dog has had a seizure. Your vet will want to know the history of your dog’s condition: when the seizures started; what form they take; the time intervals between seizures; and the time of day that they have occurred, including what the dog was doing in the hours leading up to the seizures. Blood tests will be taken to establish the overall health of your dog. Epilepsy is a word that describes a set of symptoms.
Petit mal
and
Grand mal
describe the intensity of those symptoms. If a diagnosis of epilepsy is made, your vet will guide you on treatment to successfully control the seizures.

Our male Cairn Terrier has Cushing’s disease. What will treatment do to his quality of life?

Answer:
Regrettably, Cairn Terriers are one of a small number of dog breeds that are often afflicted with this condition. Adult to aged dogs are affected, usually caused by a benign tumour of the adrenal gland causing a chronic progressive excess release of naturally occurring cortisone. Once diagnosed, dogs are placed on treatment that will rapidly reverse the symptoms of cortisone poisoning. Frequent follow-up tests will be required to ensure that the treatment dose is correct for your dog. All of this is expensive, but your dog will return to its normal self for the remainder of its life.

We have an 11-year-old Pomeranian diagnosed with diabetes. She has been put onto a special diet but we cannot make her eat it.

Answer:
The commercial production of prescription diets over the past 20 years to assist with the treatment of progressive degenerative disease has provided the veterinarian with an excellent tool in the treatment armoury. I suspect your Pom has largely only eaten human food to date and is now rebelling about the new food regime with an entirely different taste. No well dog has ever starved in the presence of food and you must now lay down the law. Provide access to the prescription diet for exactly 20 minutes twice a day. Remove all uneaten food. Expect your dog to refuse this food probably for up to 14 days (yes, you heard correctly!). Once your dog understands that the prescription diet is the only one on offer, it will eat it with relish.

My Cocker Spaniel has developed puffy eyes. What is causing this?

Answer:
Anything to do with the eyes should be regarded as a medical emergency. Cocker Spaniels are noted for eye and eyelid problems and your dog should be examined and treated without delay.

I have a female Labrador who is almost five, and for the past three weeks she’s been more subdued, and she yelps when she makes particular movements, or climbs up, or when we touch her in certain places. What is wrong with her?

Answer:
She’s giving the game away that it’s spinal back pain because she is having difficulty getting up. Only a clinical examination will tell you whether it’s from the neck area, affecting the whole of the body, or from the lumbar area, affecting the hind quarters.

I have an eight-year-old Collie–cross who seems to be very distressed with the heat. Should I have his coat clipped to make him more comfortable during the summer?

Answer:
Most of the dogs in Australia were originally bred in the Northern Hemisphere, and they find our heat and humidity hard to cope with because dogs can’t sweat — they simply radiate heat. On a hot day you can cool them down by putting the hose on them. The closer the temperature gets to the dog’s normal body temperature of 39 °C, the less radiation takes place from the dog, which then becomes hot and bothered.

If you clip the coat, the dog will feel much better, far more energetic, and less distressed by the heat. The bonus is that you renew the coat, and it slowly grows back looking better than before. I clip my terriers three times a year.

Our three-year-old female, spayed Rhodesian Ridgeback leaks urine. What causes this and can it be fixed?

Answer:
Some desexed dogs, usually female, will develop urinary incontinence characterised by the owner finding a small amount of urine where the dog had been lying, or the coat around the vulva opening being constantly damp. It is important to ensure that no other disease of the urinary tract is involved. Hormone replacement therapy works very well, but other episodes may occur.

We have an eight-year-old Jack Russell which suffers from seasonal skin allergy. Cortisone is prescribed. He has now developed epilepsy, but refuses to take phenobarbital tablets. What can I do?

Answer:
I am sorry to learn of your dog’s problems. It seems your veterinarian is on top of things regarding treatment schedules, so the real problem is the difficulty in you treating your dog. If it is too dangerous to administer the pill to your dog then you need to place the required tablets within a small piece of food that he cannot resist. All puppies should be taught very early in life to accept being examined by their owner, especially the mouth cavity.

Are there specific defects in some breeds of dogs?