More Dog Questions
Answered by
Dr. Gregory Herndon

Q. We have an aging dog that just lies around and sleeps most of the time; he shows little interest in his toys. People say if we get a puppy he would enjoy the company and have a new lease on life.

I am afraid it would make him sad because he couldn't keep up with the puppy and miss the attention he would have to share.

A. Many dogs will become more sedentary as they age.

Some dogs will perk up with another dog in the house as well, especially if there were two dogs originally. I would advise some caution as that each dog is different and it is impossible to predict how one is going to act with a new addition the "pack".

Use your best judgment on this one and consider the financial aspect of having another dog in the house.

Q. My 7-year-old female cocker spaniel has been on high doses of penicillin and now she has a vaginal yeast infection. What can I do for her here at home?

I started feeding her yogurt as soon as she started the antibiotics, but it didn't work. My vet never heard of a dog getting a yeast infection! Thanks

A. Yeast infections are not common but they do occur.

One thing you can do is to try and keep the area clean and dry. This will involve clipping the hair around the area.

If she has excess skin back there that may be contributing to the problem as well and there are surgical procedures, episioplasty, that can help with vaginal problems that get a skin fold dermatitis (infection) around the vaginal area. You may want to seek the opinion of an internist or dermatologist for this condition.

Q.Thanks for the chance to ask a question. Our family is the proud owner of a 3 ½ year old female German Shepherd. She has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia.

We gave her 100mg of Rimadyl a day for 3.5 months. It did not seem to help. My mother had an older dog and her vet recommended a children's aspirin a day. I gave this remedy a try.

I gave our 100lb dog a 325mg aspirin tablet every day with her food for two weeks. There was a noticeable difference almost immediately. It seems to have helped her a lot. Am I hurting my dog? This is the last thing I want to do.

A. Most Non-steroidals - Aspirin, Rimadyl etc. do have potential side effects the most notable are GI (stomach upset), but others such as rimadyl have been shown to affect the liver adversely.

If you are giving Aspirin to you dog this should not be a problem if she is handling well at this point.

A couple of important things about aspirin that you should know; I always recommend a buffered aspirin, i.e. Ascriptin, this will help prevent stomach upset/ulceration.

If you pet has any liver or kidney issues any NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) should be used with caution.

Q.I have a Great Dane puppy that is almost five months old. At the time of her spay, I am considering doing gastropexy. At what age can this be done safely without complications from further growth of the dog's stomach?

A. Prophylactic or preventive gastropexy is a relatively new procedure that is being performed.

There are no set rules or research out that recommends at what age this should be performed. Many are beginning to perform this procedure at the time of spaying and no reports of problems have been seen.

My only recommendation is have the procedure performed by someone who is comfortable with a type of gastropexy procedure (there are several different ones).

There are practices in the country performing this procedure with laproscopy, which is a minimally invasive procedure, and I do not know if this is available in your area.