Dear Dr.Billie

Hi Pet Lover,

If you have a question about your pet, please fill out the form below.  Remember, this is for general  questions and not for a diagnosis for treating your pet.  If your pet is sick, please call your local vet.  Remember, I can give an opinion but I cannot treat your pet over the net.   

Here are a few questions that have been asked before. 

• drinking and urinating more than normal
• alarming behavior in a cat -- de-clawing your cat  
• rabies carrier?

Dear Dr. Billie,

I need some advice regarding my eleven year old female Maltese.  Chelsea has always had really bad problems with her ears and has required antibiotics and Otomax quite frequently so she goes to the vet a lot.   It's very stressful for her to go to the Vet because she and her sister never go out of the house except to go to the Vet.

For the past couple of weeks she has been drinking a tremendous amount of water and, of course, urinating a great deal. I was timing her and it doesn't seem like she can go more than an hour without drinking. She wakes up at night to drink -at least twice. I'm not sure if she can control her bladder because she has been going where ever she wants which is very much not like her. She has a specific place where she is suppose to go and has never varied.

She's a larger than normal Maltese. She's always been about 16 pounds. The last time I took her to the Vet for her ears her urine had blood in it. She had been drinking a lot of water then, too. After the antibiotic treatment the blood in her urine stopped and she stopped drinking excessively. This was probably six months ago - maybe a little more.

I'm really worried about her.  Except for all this drinking and urinating she seems okay. 

Can you please help me? I really don't want to take her out of the house and upset her. Please tell me what I should do. Are there any medications I can get for her over the internet that would relieve her problems? Both my dogs are very dear to me. I can't imagine what I'd do if anything happened to either of them.

I eagerly look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Sandi



Dear Sandi,

Your dog may  be very ill.  Excess drinking (polydypsia = pd) causes the excess urinating (polyuria = pu).   Any time an animal has Pu/Pd (too much drinking and too much urinating) there is usually a serious underlying problem causing it.  There are several things this could be : diabetes, cushing, addisons.  None of these can be treated at home or with products off the net and all of these are potentially life threatening if not treated!

The risk of you not wanting to take Chelsea into public due to being "nervous" or "scared" should not be the deciding factor as to weather or  not to go to the vet.  Being scared is nothing compared to the fact that your friend may be dieing.   No one likes to go to the doctor, don't forget that, but we all do it, scared or not.

Call your vet for an appointment as soon as he/she can see Chelsea.  The vet will most likely start with a urinalysis (check the urine) and possible blood work to determine the cause of the pu/pd.  The sooner the problem is diagnosed, the better chance there is of treating the disease with success.

Good Luck

Dr. Billie
 

Sandi's Reply:

Dear Dr. Billie,

I thank you so much for your response to my email. I spent four hours Friday at our Vet and another three hours Sunday while they ran numerous tests on my best friend, Chelsea. We are waiting on the results of the ones taken Sunday but it looks pretty certain it's Cushing disease. Your email really shocked me into action. Thank you so very much. I'm not sure you are aware of how wonderful the service is that you provide.

It looks very certain that Chelsea can be treated for her sickness and she will have several more wonderful years. Thank you again!!!!

Sandi

Dear Dr. Billie,

My husband and I are consummate animal lovers - we live in a wilderness area and enjoy our inside and outside critters to the max.

For obvious and various other reasons our choice of indoor pets are just that - indoor animals - due to the exposure to cougars, bears, foxes, et al. that they would have if outdoors.  Last fall, we adopted a 3-month old silver tabby from a shelter; he is in excellent health, has had all his appropriate vaccinations and is neutered and declawed on the front feet.  Karnak is approximately a little over a year old now and just started some alarming behavior that is escalating.

He has QUITE the temper and if he gets angry about not being able to go out onto the screened porch, if we have other people over, if we don't go to bed when HE decides we should or I feed him something he doesn't like, he uses the bed as his sandbox in protest! We couldn't believe it! It also depends upon who the "offender" to him is - he will choose the appropriate person's side of the bed to "deposit" his statement. He also gets angry and attacks us - which is 'cat stuff', but his ambushes are really full of rage - his expression in his eyes and growls are not playful - and he knows just about how far to press fangs-to-flesh without piercing through to deeper layers.

This cat has oodles of toys, diversions, attention, clean water, fresh food daily and ALWAYS a clean litter box.  This is new behavior and for now I am closing the bedroom door and that helps, but I hope I don't forget....otherwise, he has complete run of the house which is large enough for a good long run, if he chooses. Also, he shares his space with our umbrella cockatoo, Kramer, and they interact while supervised - he's not too interested in the bird as I don't believe he's aware that he is now larger than the bird - still thinks he's kitten-sized as he was introduced to the bird when he was smaller than he is now.

Is this sudden behavior change going to get worse?  What can we do?  A chemical imbalance as he's matured or what?  I have had cats all my life (although not this wild spirited tabby breed) and haven't seen anything like this before.

Thanks in advance for your reply - and I LOVE your site, by the way!

Marlene King
Murphy, OR

Dear Marlene,

I have seen the behavior you describe and 99% of all these cases are de-clawed cats.  I am FIRMLY AGAINST de-clawing.  I perform the procedure only as a last resort to keep the cat in its home and not to get euthanized. 

Marlene,  I am not chastising you but simply wish to educate you and others.  You were probably not properly educated as to how traumatic and brutal  a surgery this is.  Imagine going into a hospital full of trust and love and then waking up  later that day with the end of all 10 or your fingers missing!   Not just the nails but cut off at the first joint!  That would be a horrible, life changing event.   Now, after every finger has had the last joint cut off, you take the cat home.  Every step is excruitatingly painful until the toes are healed.  After that, jumping is no longer fun but painful as the end of the toe is missing and the paw pad is no longer held in the proper place on the end of the toe to act as a cushion while jumping and walking.  As walking and playing are no longer fun, all the cat does is lay around and eat.  The the cat gets fatter and moving becomes even more painful due to the extra weight.  Also, what if the surgery was not performed properly and all of the nail bed removed?  This means the toenails continue to grow but under the now closed over skin!!!  I have repaired numerous of the "botched" de-claws on cats that have been in pain for years before the owner got a second opinion.   

 I tell you and all of my clients that request de-clawing all of this so that you, and they,  understand my theory on these berserk cats.  I think cats that act this way have 1 of 3 main problems:

1. truly psycho due to trauma and
2. painful due to continually growing nails under the skin.
3. kids 

I have explained #1 in the description of the surgery and after affects.     In this instance, yes, there are "mood altering" drugs that can be used.   I first use Diazepam or megestrol acetate.  If this doesn't work, then I try Prozac. 

As to #2.  It must be determined if there are any toenails trying to grow back under the skin.  This is a very common problem with these cats due to improper amputation of the phalanx.  If any part of the nail bed is left, toenails will continue to grow UNDER the skin.  I also counsil on weight control to help with pain control  I also use joint supplements and pain medication to help these cats keep their remaining  toe joints as healthy and pain free as possible. 

Number 3 is a little trickier.  Everyone wants to get offended about this one. Kids of all ages must be taught the proper way to handle cats.  They must be taught not pull their tails or and to let them go when they wish to be free.  I have seen cats rebel against children in very viscious ways.  They can only be expected to accept so much  before they must protect themselves.   I adopted a cat that was in just such a home.  The owners came in and said "put him to sleep, he is to mean".   My first question to the owner was, "how many kids do you have?"  Sam was a very large, obese orange cat that had been de-clawed several months earlier for scratching the kids.  Well....this did not fix the problem and Sam started biting and attacking the kids.  The problem was, the owner had 5 young kids that were a holly terror to the cat!!  She had such huge blinders on that she could not see it was the kids and chose to kill the cat rather than teach the kids to quit abusing him!   If you have children, make sure they are not handling the cat improperly. 

My advice to you is to take your cat for a check up to a veterinarian that did NOT do the surgery.  Make sure they check every toe for any problems.  Make sure they check for any urinary tract problems that could explain the abnormal urination/defecation.   Watch the children or grandchildren to make sure no one is "abusing" Karnak in any way.  If there is no evidence of any cause of pain or mistreatment, you may truly have a permanently, mentally damaged cat and need to try the drugs.

I hope this helps you.  I also truly hope you (and anyone who reads this to) think long and hard before ever de-clawing another cat.  I wish all veterinarians would tell clients exactly what is involved in this surgery.  I have 4 cats in my house, they all have their claws, and all of my furniture is intact.

Dr. Billie Boyd

P.S.  Sam came home with me and after a few months of simple love and positive reinforcement, became a beloved part of the family.  Oh, by the way, all my kids have 4 legs!! 

Dear Dr. Billie,

I did a presentation for my school about rabies. And some kids were asking "If an animal can carry rabies but not have rabies." So if you could tell me or tell me were to go to find it.

Thanks,
Liana Markham

Dear Liana,

Yes.  An animal can carry rabies and not show signs.  This animal is called
a "carrier".  The most common carrier is the skunk followed by the raccoon.
These animals can live for years without sucombing (showing signs of or being affect by) to the disease.  This is why you should always stay away from any skunk or raccoon or any other animal you may find in the wild.  If you need more information,  click on the link below. http://www.ph.dhr.state.ga.us/epi/disease/rabies.shtml

 This is the department of human resources for Georgia and they have all kinds of information and facts on rabies.

By the way, that was a good and interesting choice for your presentation!

Dr. Billie

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