We have a small dog that is unable to be put under for a dental cleaning due to health concerns. Is there any other procedure that can be done to clean his teeth?  Thank you

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded

question:

I have a german shepard, He just turned 3 last week. Is it to late to get him fixed?

Dr. Tracy Barlup responded:

Staci asked:

Hello! My 6 month old puppy is due to be neutered in about 2 weeks. I feel so bad for having to leave him alone in the vets overnight. Is there a reason why they are kept overnight? It seems a little strange to be kept with no one to watch over them.  I know he needs "fixed" for his own good but I am really starting to feel apprehensive. I don't know if   some of its cause I feel bad about him being alone overnight or what. We are very attached to each other and I'm very worried if something was to go wrong and no one is there to notice. Thanks!

I have an 8 month old yellow lab who has recently started shedding excessively.  In October he went through his seasonal shedding which lasted about a month, and after that i could rarely pull a loose hair out of his coat for a good two months.  His coat is also looking a little duller than it had been.  Nothing has really changed to cause this new shedding and I was wondering what the problem could be.  He doesn't scratch or appear to have irritated skin, and he seems pretty happy so I don't suspect it is stress related.  I feed high quality food and he is inside all day.  We have been grooming with a shedding blade daily.
Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

MY 3YR OLD LAB STARTED HAVING WHAT I CALL "BOBBERS" ABOUT A
YEAR AGO.  ONE NIGHT HIS HEAD JUST STARTED INVOLUNTARILY BOBBING UP AND
DOWN.  I HAVE RESEARCHED IT ON THE INTERNET AND NO ONE KNOWS WHAT CAUSES
IT.  HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF IT OR KNOW WHAT CAUSES IT?  IS THERE
ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE FOR IT?  HE WILL GO SEVERAL MONTHS W/O GETTING
THEM AND THEN HE MAY GET THEN SEVERAL NIGHTS IN A ROW.  THEY ALWAYS SEEM
TO START WHEN HE IS AT REST.
Dr.Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital Responed

I adopted a dachshund mix at the Humane Society several months ago.  He loves to play and shake his toys, and tries briefly to tug when I take something away from him.  I would like to play "tug," but I've read that since dachshunds are susceptible to spinal injuries, you should not play tug with them?  Should I avoid this?  Thanks.

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded

My mother in law has strays at her house and one gave birth to a litter of 4 kittens. The mother at 3wks stopped nursing them so she brought the kittens in and has been caring for them. 2/4 died. Out of the two that remain one just won't eat. I can force it to eat and it will eat with a syringe. Shed been giving them whole milk mixed with egg yokes? It wouldn't eat that at all. It has yet to have a BM so I don't know the outcome of that. I'm headed today to get some kitten milk at petsmart. I just obtained the cats last night so today I'm headed out to get them different food. The one looks listless. It just sits there. It doesn't interact with the other who is quite playful. It cries when its hungry I guess yet won't half eat. I have them in a box with towels and a heating pad  on low underneath! It doesn't purr, or kneed, or anything. It just sits there. thinking it could be sick? Not sure what I can do for it. I'm unemployed right now and can't afford a vet but know if it doesn't get help it will die.
I have a home for it if it makes it..just wondering what I can do for it.
Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

Pat wrote to Dr. Barlup:

Hi.  I have Chewie, she is 4 years old.  When she sleeps she
does snore loudly.  She also sounds like she stops breathing for a short time. This really scares me.  Is this normal in a Pug?

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital Responded:

Chuck asked:

My dog is 14 years old. He is a mutt, around 30 pounds. His
age is now bothering me. I can tell that he is losing his sight and his
hearing. He has trouble with steps and as you can imagine, he does not
have a lot of energy anymore. I'm not sure how to begin preparing for
what I fear will happen in the near future. Is there something I can do
for him to make him more comfortable, and what kind of things can I do
now to ensure he is taken care of when IT happens?
Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

Chuck asked:

My dog is 14 years old. He is a mutt, around 30 pounds. His
age is now bothering me. I can tell that he is losing his sight and his
hearing. He has trouble with steps and as you can imagine, he does not
have a lot of energy anymore. I'm not sure how to begin preparing for
what I fear will happen in the near future. Is there something I can do
for him to make him more comfortable, and what kind of things can I do
now to ensure he is taken care of when IT happens?
Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

The question from Jerry:

I have a 2 year old female Rottie and she is having problems with her skin. We have had her to the vets numerous times with no results or answeres. She is very itchy, and sucks her paws continuously! and she is now starting to lose hair. We had her on Nutro all her life and just switched her in hopes it would help and put her on Beneful by purina. This has been a problem for about a year or more, can you suggest anything to help? Thank you

Response from Dr. Tracy Barlup:

Helen asked:

I have a four year old Manx. I do play with him a lot,
throwing his mouse for him to retrieve.  I have had two other Manx
kitties over the years, he is the first one who chews on electrical
cords.
Is there any thing I can do to stop this habit? He
almost ruined the cord on my cd/record player.  

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responds:

Audrey asked:
I put Frontline flee protection on my dog beginning of this month.  I used another like product two previous  months.  What  month should I discontinue use until next summer.  I asked because on TV I saw that flea protection should be used year around.  What is your advice since we live in the colder climate.

Dr. Barlup Responded:

My cat of 6 years has been doing #2 upstairs in the hallway,
only when I am home, randomly.  After doing it he doesn't come up to sleep with me.  He does use the litter box, even if i'm in the room,
where it has been since the first.

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

My dog has what looks raw and sore in all moist areas, including his eyes, nose and outside of mouth. It does not seem to hurt him, two vets looked at his eyes when it first started about 9 months ago and basically blew it off as not a problem. It is getting worse not better. Have you ever heard of this happening?  Is it possible to have Lupus a blood disease.  Someone told me this was a symptom.

Dr. Tracy Barlup Answered

What Can You Do To Get Rid Of Dry Skin On A Dog?

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

We had a pregnant cat show up about 3 months ago.  We fed her
on the back  porch and she disapeared for a couple of days, when she came back she was obviously not pregnant any longer.  Long story short we have 5 kittens in our garage.  Juding from the time she left to now the kittens should be about 4 weeks old.  We are finding good homes for them and will be keeping at least one.  What kind of shots, nutrition, etc. should we be obtaining?  Is there a program to do this at a discounted price?  Thank you for your time.

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded

Dr. Barlup,

I have an adult female short hair cat that has for about a year now been urinating lets just say outside the litterboxes.
We have had her since a kitten (approximately 6 yrs). She was the sister to her brother of different generation and did fine with her brother here as indoor cats, spayed and neutered and front declawed.  We introduced an outside cat that has for two + years, is a male, and has established as the alpha male and has terrorized the female into submission and now what I consider severe behavioral issues.  We rarely see the female as she is too afraid to come out from underneath beds or up from the basement.  We have been eliminating spots she urinates for over a year to the point that her only alternative, other than the litter box, is nice carpets and furniture. 
We have tried pheramone plug ins and nothing works.  Litterboxes are cleaned daily so the fouling of the box is not the issue.
My wife and I are at our wits end and simply cant have the cat ruin the carpets and furniture.
Short of euthanization, do you have any recommendations?

thanks in advance,

(Please note the same question was posed to Ms. Pat Miller of Peaceable Paws at our TrainerTalk section)

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded

My cat just 1 years old, had he's shots,and is fixed. He is an indoor cat only. Never was outside. We notice a quick change in him like over-night. We thought it might have been caused by our weekend quest we had(puppy). But after a couple days even after puppy had left, Mittens still wasn't eating,not using liter box, no energy. Just wasn't our normal Monkey. I took him to a vet. And he has anemia. He's ears/nose/and gums are white. Then he was tested positive for leukemia.

Yet the vet still couldn't really tell me what is going on w/ him. It's been well over a week since he's eatin' and he has went #1 but not always in his liter, but no #2 for a week. Can you explain to me what is really happening to my Monkey. I don't want to have him put down if there is no need for it. But I don't want him to suffer, if that's indeed what is going on.

Please Advise or point me in the right direction.

Dr. Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

I have a HUGE problem...my cat! He's 6 yrs old, has been a big boy ever since kittenhood, but now he's 20lbs. When he was a year old, he was "blocked" due to crystals in his bladder according to his vet. He eats Science diet(light),and he averaged 15lbs until Feb. when I no longer allowed him to go outside. That's when the weight really creeped up on him. He does have others to play with, and he's still active. Do you have any advice? Thank you so much!

Dr. Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospital responded:

Dear Dr. Barlup,

  My dog has red spots on her belly. They don't seem to bother her but they don't look healthy either, sometimes they open up a little or peel.  She also has things that are like scabs on the bottom of her chin that used to open up and bleed when she got excited...they haven't for a while so I was wondering if it was possible that they were stress related...I recently left my husband whom she was terrified of.

Her left ear has brown stuff that smells...she'll scratch at it until she yelps. I tried the rx7 or 8 ear cleaner but it only helps for a little while.

I love my dog very much. She had been through three bad homes by the time I got her and was still a puppy. I can't part with her and was wondering if there was anyway to get her vet attention at a reduced rate or maybe on a payment plan. Please if you have any advice or can help us please write back. Thank you very much. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Dr. Barlup Responded