Food and Health Q&As

Mr. Frawley: I wrote to Cindy, and wanted to copy you on the same request for comment. I was referred to your site by a friend who thinks my 11 month old Mastiff's diet might be contributory to a 6 week limp on his front right paw. A round of x-rays of his entire front yesterday under anesthesia and a lime test, were negative. Yet, the limp is pronounced. The examination yesterday followed two 2 week rest periods with anti-inflammatories. I suppose I am next looking at a specialist and an...

My dog has septicemia, and he has stopped eating completely. He was originally on a raw diet but I took him off for the summer and because he wasn't eating. Currently I am force feeding him with a syringe: sweet potato, vet recommended A/D and organic chicken broth. I am going to trade out the chicken broth with pedialite, and was wondering if you had any other suggestions as to what I can add to the food I am currently processing for him to get him as much nutrition as possible. T...

Cindy, I read your article about raw diets on the Leerburg site. I am very interested to know if any of the GSDs at the Leerburg Kennels have been diagnosed with Perianal Fistulae (a non-healing abscess adjacent to the anus). And if so where any changes to the normal diet made because of this condition? This condition is very common with GSDs I am told. My Irish Setter [7.5 yr.] has been treated for the condition for over two years with little result. Because some research i...

Thank you for spending the vast amount of time I am sure it took to build your site. It is the most complete and non bias site I have found in a year and a half of surfing. I would be great full for your help on this issue. I have a one and a half year old Boxer named Copper who is experiencing hair loss, itchy and flaky skin on his ears head and neck. I am sure you can guess, the vet wants to give him steroids which I adamantly refused. But I am still left with a miserable itchy d...

HI Cindy and Ed, Why does a dogs urine make yellow spots on the lawn? Is there vitamin or supplement that we can give the to help stop or minimize this. I have a 11 month Shepard mix and sometimes his urine yellows the lawn and sometimes not at all. I have mentioned this to my vet and they said not to worry about it.. I feel different with out making a big issue of it and before it leads to maybe something else.. I would rather prevent an illness then having to deal l...

First and foremost-thank you for what you do...but more importantly a BIG thank you to your son for serving! I'm an avid "reader" of you web site and have instilled many of your lessons into my obedience routine with my two Weimaraners. I have a male and female. My male-Harper is a rescue (yes, he's full of problems). We've conquered the aggression and dominance factor---It took forever to establish me as alpha...but we did it! One thing that I cannot break, and have sought beh...

My GSD pup had intussusception (with Giarida as the culprit) and had about 12? of intestine removed. Since that procedure, her stomach/digestive tract gets out of whack often (watery diarrhea). She seems to handle rice and small amounts of protein fine, but relapses when I try to increase the protein amount. Is this a result of the operation or does it take a long time for a pup to recover from this type of operation? I feed my older dogs Honest Kitchen and they are doing very well...

I am desperately seeking information/advice for my 11 yr. old German Shepherd. Our Vet says she has arthritis; could be in the hips or in her back. He started giving her cortisone shots last month. I really don't see where it's helping her a whole lot, but I can't stand to see her in pain. Do you know of anything that can help her? I know it can't be cured, but I'm not ready to give up on her. She still has spunk and tries to run and play her hips just won't cooperate. Any advice you can ...

Hi and I just want to say a really big THANK-YOU for your site and all the info you provide. I have bought several of your videos. I have been breeding/showing and training dogs for about 35 yrs. I currently have Bernese Mountain Dogs and Tibetan Mastiffs. You can never have enough knowledge! I have a female Tibetan I have a question on. She was OFA prelimed at 14 months. She was rated a GOOD and NORMAL. Well many things happened at her 2 yr birthday and I just did not get her 2 yr...

Cindy, Three months ago we rescued a three-year-old GSD. He was starving to death, because his owner had not been giving him medication for pancreas insufficiency. He had other serious health issues including allergies. He is recovering well, but even on a diet of Hill's Prescription Diet ZD for food allergies, he is still itching. Which brand of natural kibbles from your site's list would you suggest for our Julius von Narnia? Thanks in advance for your help, Cynthia

Hello Ed: I hope you don?t mind but I need some advice and always enjoy reading your advice. I have a 1-3/4 year old male German Import out of "Negus Holtkamper See." I imported him at 7 months and for the first time, he is exhibiting fear of thunder. I dealt with this for years with a German Short Haired Pointer and it was a living hell. What do you suggest to strengthen his mind to overcome this fear of thunder? I want to nip this in the butt before it become...

Cindy, I have been purchasing your veggie mix Honest Kitchen and it is wonderful. However, I have a coonhound female dog who developed bladder stones and had to have emergency surgery to remove them last week. I think maybe she got them from the lamb and beef lung treats from CO that I was giving her. She devoured them instead of chewing them. Anyway, I feed her mainly the raw extra lean hamburger beef or turkey or chicken and your preference mix along with my ...

I have a new lab puppy that is sick with diarrhea and vomiting. I've taken her to the vet 3 times in the last 2 days. She has had parvo and parasites tests. All came back negative. The vet gave her a shot for vomiting and two different injections under the skin to rehydrate her. She's 8 weeks old, but I got her at 6 weeks. The breeder told my husband and I that she was 7 weeks old and that she could eat normal puppy food, so we immediately began feeding her Purina Pro Plan puppy food for ...

Hi, You have an awesome website. Obviously I have a GSD, 5 month old female who still has a few more puppy teeth to lose. She is from the Czech line and long hair. Her right ear likes to stand when running outside or sometimes just playing. But when it's back inside, the ears are just floppy. She's beautiful either way and my 2 GSD males love her too. What is the latest you could go without trying the taping/skin gluing procedures? We will be going to the breeder in June when she'll hav...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have a question I haven't found answered (so far) on you website (for which I'm very grateful, same goes for your great DVDs). My GSD (pure German working lines) is now nearly 4 months old. How much walking is safe for her now and when she's an adult? I used to own a Gordon Setter who accompanied me either while on horse back or on a bike, she got about 2 hours of walking/day and lived to a ripe old age of 16. While I understand not to exercise a GSD too much before she...

I recently found out that a hound someone abandoned 8 years ago and we took in has contracted mange. The vet gave him a shot of ivermectin. The problem is I have 3 german sheperds that we love. The vet gave us advantage and said this would take care of them. Although they have a beautiful lustrous coat of hair they are scratching their chest area especially in the morning. I don't know what to do but I have little faith at this point in the vet. The vet does not want to give the sheperds ...

I recently took my 4 year old Australian Shepherd female in to get her hips x-rayed. The vet wanted to speak to me about the x-rays and said they were not going to pass. There was a little arthritis and she was spastic. A few days before the X ray I ran into your article and her and I talked about good positioning. The first one seemed to be decent but could have been better but it was extremely over exposed so she took a second one and my dog was crooked but you could see the problems in...

First of all, I rely heavily on your website and am purchasing 2 of your DVD's for training my white GSD and you have been a godsend in good advice! Now to my problem: I read Q&A number 47 "My 14 month old GSD favors a back leg after playing..." My 5 year old 110 pound mastiff mix also has knee problems. The orthopedic specialist said she needs an $8000 surgery (for both knees) called TLPO and that she has tears in her cruciate - he said both knees are blown and will never heal o...

My 7 1/2 month old Dutch Shepherd only has one testicle that dropped. I have been told to neuter him now because of health complications. I do some schutzhund training with him and he is a pet with my wife and daughter. I am also working with a trainer to work on Mold detection with him. Before this was discovered I was going to wait awhile and determine if I would neuter or not. The breeder offered to buy the dog back but I am attached and don't think I can let him go. Do you agree and w...

Hi, I would like to know if there is anything else we can do for our dog Libby. We took her to our local vet today. The Doctor wants to refer us to see a cardiologist (Dr. Wood) out of Portland. Libby is hyperactive at times. The last couple weeks when she gets excited she starts to huff or hyperventilate along with ramming into things in a drunken state. She snaps out of it but it's happening everyday now. The vet say she is fainting & going into seizure episodes. The docto...