Thursday, May 22, 2008
Dear Dr. Fox:
In a recent column, a reader asked about his dog, a Hurricane Katrina survivor, sucking on the bedspread. You asked to hear about other Katrina-rescued animals.
We adopted two Katrina Labs a couple of months after the flood. We were planning only to foster, but fell in love and kept them. They are housebroken, neutered and get along with our cats, two other Labs and a poodle.
One of the Katrina dogs, Beau Jack (a yellow Lab, 1 1/2 years old), had bad nightmares. For months, he would howl loudly two or three times a night or during a daytime nap. I put a large dog basket by my bed to help comfort him.
Then I remembered that when one of our other Labs was a puppy and we put him in his crate, we would put a stuffed animal in with him and called it his "sleep baby." He would even pick it up and take it into the crate with him. So I bought several stuffed animals and put one with Beau Jack in the bed. He started sucking it and used it like a pacifier. When he had a nightmare, I would wake him up and hand him a sleep baby. The nightmares have lessened to about two a month.
He had very good manners when we got him; someone must have really worked with him. He now has a collar with tags and a microchip. I tell him that he will never be lost again.
-- J.R.
Houston
So good to receive your letter and hats off to you for taking in these lost souls. I would like to hear from more readers about their animals' long-term reaction to severely traumatic events such as tornados, earthquakes and floods.
Your story proves my point that animals have emotions that they can recall. The feelings might surface when they are asleep, causing nightmares. This means that animals must have rich inner emotional lives not unlike our own.
Dear Dr. Fox:
I am curious about whether one of your letter writers, whose cat, Miss Bean, was overweight, was feeding her wet or dry food. Our cat also had a weight problem. I began feeding her organic wet food, and she ate less, was more satisfied and became leaner. This might work with Miss Bean.
-- N.B.
Front Royal, Va.
Thanks for your sage conclusions. Cats on high-cereal diets eat more because they are nutritionally deprived of essential amino and fatty acids. So they become obese and mirror the metabolic syndrome so common in the human population today.
Dear Dr. Fox:
At 2 1/2 years old, my male Maltese, Toby, had a calcium-oxalate stone in his bladder and one in his urethra. His vet operated and removed both stones. Toby then was put on a prescription diet food called Urinary SO, manufactured by Royal Canin. Now, two years later, his recent urinalysis came back with crystals.
In addition to the half-cup of Urinary SO, I add two tablespoons of boiled boneless and skinless chicken breast and a tablespoon of poached green beans. For a treat, he gets a tablespoon of dried turkey jerky and a small strip of a dental chew. The Urinary SO's first five ingredients are rice, ground corn, chicken fat, chicken meal and corn-gluten meal.
I feel that something he is eating is contributing to his production of crystals. Should his diet be changed? Also, he is not fond of drinking water.
-- C.M.
via e-mail
Genetic susceptibility and the acidification of the manufactured pet foods that your dog was raised on probably contribute to this difficult-to-prevent situation.
Calcium-oxalate crystals can also be associated with cystitis and bladder infections. But antibiotics should not be given if there are no indications of infection in the dog's urine samples.
Prescription diets, such as the one you describe, are really of dubious scientific and clinical validity, according to some veterinary nutritionists. Also, most animals find them highly unpalatable. Corn and corn gluten have no place in dogs' and cats' diets. Shifting your dog to a partial raw-food diet might help considerably to prevent further crystal formation.
Discuss using the Amazon rain forest herb chanca piedra -- the "stone breaker" -- with your veterinarian. It can help rid animal and human patients of bile and kidney and bladder stones. It's available in capsule or tincture on the Internet from Raintree Nutrition and Amazon Herb Co.
Dear Dr. Fox:
I have a 13-year-old, neutered, 10-pound tabby who is in good health except for involuntary shaking and twitching.
The movements began a little over a year ago and have gotten progressively acute. My vet described the movements as "seizures" and wanted to do a complete workup, including blood samples and MRI. My cat does not manifest symptoms while in her office. The shaking and twitching occur when he is relaxed and awake, not when he is sleeping.
His coat is glossy, he eats well, he plays with his toys and he does not drool, so I chose not to put him through the trauma of all the tests. Have you encountered such symptoms in an otherwise healthy cat? What could be causing the reaction?
-- J.L.B.
Alexandria
First, I would never give shots (vaccinations) to a cat in this condition. Avoid all pesticide dips and flea-prevention drugs. Try a home-prepared diet for your cat, such as the one on my Web site, http://www.doctormwfox.org. In addition, give your cat about a quarter-teaspoon of a human multivitamin tablet crushed in her food daily, plus up to one teaspoon of cod liver oil.
Little is known about feline neurological diseases. It could have been a prenatal viral infection. Have the vet test for toxoplasmosis -- in rare cases of this disease, serious neurological symptoms can develop.
Dear Dr. Fox:
I have a 3-year-old shorthair male cat who is long, lanky and full of energy. He came to me a year ago from a foster home in good health. He is neutered and has had all of his shots.
Since I've had him, he has been energetic and affectionate. But he has a recurring rash, scattered mostly over his back and sides, in usually one or two dime-size areas at a time. The areas are red and the fur comes out. They heal, and then new ones form. Sometimes there is a little crusting. My vet cultured the rash, and there was no evidence of fungus or bacteria. He is mostly indoors, but goes outside occasionally. I see no relationship between his outdoor jaunts and new lesions.
I do not think he is scratching excessively. I suspect his thin, short fur makes him more vulnerable, but he had no such problems when I first had him. Our other cat has no such problems.
We have tried applying Bactroban, which he mostly eats off, but for a while I put some on his head so that he could not lick it off. I also tried a topical corticosteroid cream without effect, which he also licked off.
I give him a mix of wet and dry foods. He probably only had dry food at the foster home. Do you have any suggestions?
-- S.H.
via e-mail
If external parasites and bacterial or fungal infections have been ruled out, you need to consider the possibility of food allergy. So-called miliary dermatitis can be triggered by hypersensitivity to certain food ingredients. Other skin conditions are associated with dietary insufficiencies.
I would put your cat on a home-prepared diet such as the basic recipe on my Web site. Also helpful would be a few drops of fish oil daily and a daily supplement such as Platinum Performance Feline Wellness Formula, an amino acid, vitamin and mineral supplement.
Michael W. Fox, author of a newsletter and books on animal care, welfare and rights, is a veterinarian with doctoral degrees in medicine and animal behavior. More pet care information is available at Dr. Fox's Web site,http://www.doctormwfox.org. Write to Dr. Fox at United Feature Syndicate, 200 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.
Copyright 2008, United Feature Syndicate Inc.
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