What’s the best food to feed your dog? Does your cat need to be vaccinated? How about your itchy pup or vomiting cat?
I’m excited to be here to answer all of your natural and holistic veterinary care questions! Many of the readers of this magazine have probably already adopted a holistic lifestyle for themselves. There’s not much question anymore in the general medical community that doing so helps us live longer and healthier lives. 30 years ago when I graduated from veterinary school, there were no readily available commercial raw foods. Vaccinations were given annually (or more often). Reliable natural, holistic veterinary care was been hard to find.
Not anymore.
Leeann from Madison wonders: ”I just received a reminder card from my vet for my 12 year old Labrador Retriever’s annual vaccinations. He also currently is being treated for an ear infection. Is it safe to also give him his vaccines?”
Thanks for writing in Leeann. Most important is to follow your trusted family vet’s advice. I do not vaccinate my personal pets at all (except as required by law). In general, an older dog should already have immune system protection against previously vaccinated diseases. You can double check this by having vaccine titers tested. These are blood tests either sent in to your vet’s lab or sometimes run in the vet’s clinic. Vaccination titer results will better inform your decision whether to “boost” the vaccine. The vaccination decisions area of my website at: http://bit.ly/1fp6VcI should help. I’d also love you to join our online discussion about this subject, which can be found at: http://bit.ly/1SlhLr4
Sharon from Clinton asks: “My 3 year old orange indoor cat has a recurrent urinary problem. He has to go on antibiotics every few months because he starts urinating outside the litter box. I hate having to use all of these antibiotics. Is there any way to prevent the problem?”
Sharon, there are many, many different ways to approach recurrent urinary problems. Urination outside the litter box is often a manifestation of lower urinary tract disease (”FLUTD”). This is also known as FUS (feline urologic syndrome), “FIC” (feline interstitial cystitis), Pandora syndrome, etc. The bladder is a major stress organ for the cat and can become easily inflamed, both by physical as well as emotional causes. These articles give you a few specific suggestions: http://bit.ly/1utF7yk and http://bit.ly/1I5sNZA
Arthur from Norwalk, CT writes: “My five year old Weimaraner spits up a little bit of foam before breakfast a few times/week. A friend’s dog has a similar problem and she gives him Pepcid. Should I do this too?”
Hi Arthur-Morning spit-ups of this sort are often classified among the “a.m. bilious vomiting syndromes”. Pups with this problem often spit up yellow fluid before breakfast due to normal acid release into the empty stomach. Often just feeding a small meal or giving freeze-dried meat treats before bed will help reduce the frequency. Pepcid, Tagamet, etc. will decrease the am acid and reduce the frequency of the spit-ups. However, I’m not a fan of covering up this symptom as it is a clue that there is an internal imbalance that needs to be corrected. Homeopathic treatment can effectively reduce and even eliminate the imbalance. It also can reduce future problems. Here’s more information about how homeopathy can help: http://bit.ly/z3mf3M
Ruth in Woodbridge wonders: “My inside cat is licking all of his hair off. My vet diagnosed fleas, but we’ve never found any. What’s going on?”
Cats lick and lose their fur for many reasons Ruth. Fleas are the most common cause for over-grooming and hair loss – even for inside cats. Daily use of a flea comb will help rule this out. Daily combing will also stimulate his skin to help secretion of natural oils that will help his coat. A dry coat and skin is another big cause for over-grooming and hair loss. Allergic skin diseases are also very common. I will discuss natural and holistic management of these a bit next month. In the meantime, here’s a bit more about natural flea control: http://bit.ly/zmaOw9
For many other answers and to join our discussion, go to Ask Dr. Jeff on the web at: http://bit.ly/GXmLYA
Dr. Jeff is a 1985 University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine graduate. After 1 year working as an emergency clinician, Dr. Feinman started Fairfield County’s first holistic house-call practice. In the mid-nineties, his continued clinical research in holistic medicine led him to study homeopathy. By 2000 he became the first certified veterinary homeopath (CVH) in Connecticut. Dr Jeff’s clinical practice currently focuses on both prevention and treatment of serious diseases in dogs and cats. Dr. Jeff can be reached at: drjeff@certifiedvethomeopath.com.