Food and Health Q&As

Hi Ed, Our female GSD was diagnosed with pannus about 7 months ago (we live at almost 7000 feet). The vet said in order to prevent her getting blind we have to put one drop twice a day of "neomycin and polymyxin B Sulfates and Dexamethasone Ophtalmic suspension" in each eye for the rest of her life. We are worried about the steroids. Please let us know what you think, if you have any experience about that disease. Thanks so much, Steffi

Hi Cindy, took my dog Nika to vet for skin problems. She said she has subcutaneous cyst. Her pores aren't releasing the natural oil so it is plugging leaving a lump on her bum and some are scabbing over. Is there anything different for shampooing or combing that can be done to prevent it. What do you wash your dogs with? Some people use baby shampoo and then conditioner, others use medicated, what is the best at least for you. Thanks so much Cindy. Michelle

Cindy, As always, your website and numerous available resources are extremely helpful. I have a question regarding the timing of neutering a male puppy. I know the 8 weeks to 8 months DVD recommends 6 months of age, however, on my last vet visit with my 4 month old male, she recommended taking care of it at 5 months. Her rationale was that the dog was large enough for the procedure. I would estimate my male puppy's weight to be approximately 50 lbs. at 4.5 months, which could mean...

I was looking up on-line about possibilities for natural joint pain and arthritis management in dogs and came upon your information. I just had a few questions regarding the alfalfa supplement you carry: 1) Is this formulated through a veterinarian or someone who knows about supplements? 2) Is this product tested and considered safe? 3) Can pain meds be used with this product if a sudden injury took place and the animal needed stronger medication? 4) Is this sa...

Out of our litter of 10, I noticed one female with what I believe to be an inguinal hernia. She is 4 weeks old, acting just like the others. Our vet said to watch her closely and will examine her at her 8 week checkup. But I just wanted your opinion on this matter... 1. Do you agree on waiting to have her examined? 2. Is it ok to wait until she is spayed to fix it? 3. Do you believe this is a hereditary birth defect? 4. Is there anything I can do to hel...

My 8 month old GSD pup was diagnosed with giardia. He is currently on his third dose of panacur and metro. He seems to be maintaining his weight and has a healthy appetite. In doing some reading, there are cases where the dogs die from heart or kidney failure with this parasite condition if not treated. In your experience, will most dogs eventually respond to the meds or build an immunity to the giardia? I am concerned as the previous two treatments were not effective. Thanks so much for any ...

Hi Cindy, I came across your site tonight on a Google search re above, fascinating as I have golden retrievers, you are now in 'favourites' I need time to read and absorb so much information on HD. We do not have so much in UK. My question is, & I seem to have something in the back of my mind, not to x ray nor put a bitch near her season under anesthetic but cannot totally remember the reasons why, some-one called and asked for advice, had been told by receptionist that ther...

Hello, I have three pugs, one of which is having some problems right now. I didn't realize it until recently, but his knuckling over (pretty minor) is probably caused by too much protein. I have tried several lower protein dog foods and have not found one that has solved the problem. I had him on Eagle Pack (not the holistic) for about 3 weeks and he turned up with blood in his urine. I immediately switched him to the holistic Solid Gold food and added Apple Cider Vinegar with ...

Dear Cindy, I have a female German shepherd, born March 29th 2004. She has developed a limp in her left rear leg. I have been a dog owner for at least fifty years. I have had two other shepherds. We live on a fairly large ranch. She is very active most of the day and evening I might add. Our land adjoins some pretty wild country. Needless to say she stays busy. She is about 5-10 lbs overweight. She is big dog, weighs in at 88 lbs. I have never been satisfied wi...

Ed, I just wanted to run something by you and see if you have any ideas about what may be going on with our male GSD, Samson, who will be 2yrs old in April. The other day he was walked as usual in the morning w/ our female ? walked fine, and then later in the morning we noticed him limping. He also seemed to be very lethargic, wouldn?t eat much, and was taken to the vet. The vet took some blood and later a urine sample and everything seemed ok. She said he had a slight fever and...

Hi Cindy, My name is Leslie, my family and I rescued a Dobie last year he is 7 years old and a pretty good dog. I run him everyday 3-4 miles, so I don't think he is bored. The problem is he eats everything, everyday, the minute I turn my back. Socks, panties, small dolls. He just went to the hospital for his second obstruction removal surgery. I'm not sure yet, but I think he ate a t-shirt. So my question is there a way to train him to not do this, or should we get a ...

Hello Cindy, I am a pet sitter in NJ. One of my clients has two wonderful GSD rescues. The other day after heavy rains the backyard where they are let out by me was pretty muddy. They needed to do their business and so they were out having a grand time for about 20 minutes. I brought them into their kennel room and did my best to get the mud off, but they were quite muddy. I contacted the client to give her a heads up that the dogs were muddy and might need a bath. She came h...

I am enjoying your web site so much, and I thought I would return the favor by mentioning something that I have not seen elsewhere. I adopted a twenty pound six month old pomeranian mix from the shelter about a year ago. Great dog, no real issues. There was one issue that did bother us quite a bit. When we first got him he would throw up and have diarrhea all the time, making it very hard to house break him. We tried different dog foods and finally went with Evo, even then he still...

I have a 10 month old male lab. I recently read information on the risk of bone cancer, thyroid issues and other issues that could be related to neutering your puppy too young... 4 to 6 months. The research (studied with medium to large dogs) showed that the dogs that were neutered at one year had a 65 to 75% chance of not having some of these issues as they age. Our lab is very active (teenager). How do I know if I have an aggressive dog? I am watching your video on Pack structure... I l...

Cindy, Ok, so, I have asked you and Ed lots of questions and to my knowledge all have been legit and decent. I hope this question doesn't end up on your dumb, or questions that make me laugh area. I was speaking to some people and they told me they clean their dogs anal glands and told me how they do it as a necessary maintenance on there dog, spoke to me about like they would groom there dog on a daily basis. I did some research on this and even found some youtube vi...

I have wondered for some time if a joint supplement could be added to my 8 month old gsd (f) food, too maybe help with hip and joint development while she is young, so as to maybe repair any stress if incurred, or to insure proper development for adulthood before, or to help prevent, a problem that may develop that would necessitate the need for supplements such as joint oats or grand flex. I have read the description of these supplements, but seems they are all given to an older dog that exh...

Cindy, love the pics of Rush! I'm not sure who else to ask about this but in various places on your website you + Ed talk about teeth wearing down from bitework and the textures of various toys/ bite sleeves. We have a 2.5 year malinois who does agility. He always has something in his mouth and tugs like a maniac. Anyway, we stupidly let him have tennis balls, which he chomped on and carried around night and day and by age 2 we realized he had obvious wear to his teeth. Consulted ...

Hello, I got my dog when she was about a month old and when she was about 4 months old we added a new dog to the family that was about a year old. When we got the older dog we found out that she was eating fresh poop in the backyard. She has now taught our young dog to eat poop as well. This is absolutely disgusting as they will come in the house smelling like poop. I am also concerned for their health. We have picked up the yard everyday and increased their food intake (thinking ...

I have 6 shepherds and live in the country. I have an outside allergy/food allergy question for you and am looking for some advice. 3 of my 6 dogs chew on their feet. I did blood testing for food and environmental testing on one of them twice to see if I could get any information to pinpoint the cause. The results were different for both tests, which leads me to believe its less than accurate (first test showed her positive for duck, second test showed negative). What is your belief on t...

Hi: I had sent a question asking about rabies vaccine yesterday...but we made it thru the vet visit ok...she was very adamant though that I get the Leptospirosis vaccine. She said its because we live in a remote area with a lot of wildlife and it can be transmitted to humans. The lump my dog has ended up being a sebaceous cyst. My dog is also underweight so they think it may be E.P.I but want me to up her food intake first to see if that helps her gain weight. She is fed a raw ...