Question:

Two weeks ago, I followed a faint mewing sound and discovered a newborn kitten in my garage. The day before I found the newborn, the painter left the garage door open when he left. I suspect a neighborhood feral cat had a litter and didn''t get the last kitten out before I locked up.I immediately started feeding the baby. I kept it warm and in a box. It responded well. I''m an ASPCA volunteer and we have several cats in the house. Pip is an unspayed female, not quite a year old. Pip got very excited. Later, she went to the box and moved the baby twice. After the second time I found it, Pip seemed to settle down. I put the kitten back in the box; Pip jumped in, too. Well, it seems Pip is producing milk. She has adopted the infant and is an excellent mother.I''m at a loss to explain this. I''ve heard myths about mammals that produce milk apparently at will, but I didn''t really believe it. My vet says she''s heard of cases of "immaculate lactation," but has never seen one. The kitten expert at our local ASPCA chapte

K.J., Bowie, Md Sep 26, 2004

Answer:

Many readers will enjoy your account of Pip''s "immaculate lactation." A kitten can be a potent stimulus in triggering a female cat''s hypothalamus-pituitary gland to produce prolactin and other hormones, which cause her to produce milk.False pregnancies in cats (which are more common in dogs) can also lead to spontaneous lactation. I theorize that, in the wild, social animals who do not conceive may act as wet-nurses or surrogate mothers for other females who give birth and either die, have many offspring, or do not produce sufficient milk for all their offspring.

Question:

I never miss your column. Have you written a book?I have two neutered Pekingese littermates who are almost 5 years old. They have two problems: 1) They''re retching bile-colored saliva, and 2) there''s mucous in their stools.Feeding earlier in the day may have corrected the retching. Time will tell. The mucous comes and goes. What is the cause of these symptoms? Does it portend a dangerous disease?I would appreciate enlightenment. My veterinarian has little to say except "give them this antibiotic." I''m leery about so many antibiotics.There is a table of symptoms in my dog book, but it isn''t very helpful. There is no apparent blood or undigested food. They are happy, active, eat well and have good coats.

B.F.W., Winston-Salem, NC Sep 26, 2004

Answer:

Yes, the routine prescribing of antibiotics by many animal and human doctors is deplorable. The overuse of antibiotics is bringing on a major animal and human health crisis of antibiotic resistance to infection-causing bacteria.Consult with another veterinarian who has a less cavalier attitude, especially since your two dogs are otherwise active and healthy. Consider making home-prepared meals for them since what you are feeding them is probably the cause of their retching and abnormal stools. There are ingredients in some commercial pet foods that I wouldn''t even use as garden fertilizer. For more details and a basic recipe to start you off, visit my Web site at http://DrFoxVet.com/info/Dr-Fox-Homemade-Dog-Food and click "Recipes for Dogs and Cats." My published books are also listed on this site.

Question:

I have a question that my vet cannot seem to answer. I have a 4-year-old Yorkie-Pomeranian mix that we love very much. You''ve written before not to give dogs grapes or raisins, as they''re toxic. My vet has never heard of this. My dog loves to have a few grapes when we eat them, which is often. We stopped giving them to her after reading your column, but started giving her a few when our vet said it shouldn''t hurt her (our dog was very sad when she couldn''t have any).

K.M., Houston, TX Sep 26, 2004

Answer:

Your veterinarian must have missed the recent articles in the professional veterinarian journals documenting how a cupful of raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs. Hence the importance of keeping raisins out of dogs'' reach (and chocolate and grapes, too).It is most unlikely that two or three grapes will harm your dog, and I see nothing wrong with sharing a few with her. All things in moderation. Food sharing is a bonding ritual for dogs -- just keep the grapes out of her reach at all times.

Question:

I have two problems with my Jack Russell terrier. The first is a very dry nose that cracks on the outside edge; one nostril will swell up because of the dryness. I treat it with Vaseline or cream, but if I miss a day it gets worse again. I have another dog of a different breed whose nose is normal.The second problem is excessive licking of her front paws, and also the couch, throw pillow, etc. She is 6 years old and started this about a year ago.I have asked two local vets about this and they couldn''t give me a reason or treatment for either problem. What do you suggest?.

L.M., Brandsville, Mo Sep 26, 2004

Answer:

The nose and paw problems may or may not be related. Obsessive licking of the paws can be linked to boredom, fungal or bacterial infection, or some irritation elsewhere in the body (possibly the nose, in your dog''s case).As for the nose, your veterinarian should consider vitamin A and zinc supplements in your dog''s diet. Two over-the-counter products in health stores -- Bag Balm and Bee Balm -- may help her nose to heal.

Question:

Our vet has diagnosed our 9-year-old cat as having a thickening of her bowel wall. She is constantly vomiting all over our house. The vomit has the smell of bile.She is currently on prednisone, but it is not helping much. Our cat is very skittish and seems "out of it" quite often. Her coat and demeanor even seem different. Any suggestions?.

M.C., Waterford, MI Sep 26, 2004

Answer:

Many cats suffer from what afflicts your feline companion, namely inflammatory bowel disease (the scientific name is lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis). The cause of this and similar diseases that result in abdominal pain, vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea and thickening of the intestinal wall may be food allergy, hypersensitivity to bacterial antigens, parasitic infection or immune system dysfunction.Consider changing her diet and have fecal tests for parasites performed. You may also have to treat your cat with chlorambucil if the prednisone doesn''t help improve her condition.

Question:

My 4-year-old longhaired apricot tabby, Roxy, has developed a rapidly growing cancerous tumor on her right rear leg. It has gone from the size of a grape to the size of a baseball in just four weeks. I''m told the only option is to amputate the leg, which I am not really in favor of as there is no guarantee that this will cure her. I would really hate to put her through that if it won''t cure her.The vet told me that it could have been caused by her rabies vaccination. How common is this? If I get another kitten sometime in the future, how will I know it won''t happen again?.

L.T., Alexandria, Va Sep 19, 2004

Answer:

I am sorry to hear about your cat''s affliction, which could, as your veterinarian suggests, be the result of an injection. Cats can develop this kind of cancer following a rabies vaccination or other injection, and the only treatment is, indeed, amputation. And there is no guarantee that the cancer has not already spread to internal organs. Chemotherapy may or may not help after the leg is amputated.Some veterinarians advise giving only the canary pox vectored rabies vaccination to cats -- it''s considered safer than other types. Also, injecting the vaccine under the shaved skin one-third of the way down a cat''s tail may be preferable, because if cancer develops at the vaccination site tail amputation would be less traumatic and less costly.

Question:

I have a large dog that has digestive problems. Sometimes she won''t eat unless she goes out and chews the tops of fresh grass. Later, she will eat. What makes her want the grass?.

E.C., Freehold, NJ Sep 19, 2004

Answer:

Grass-eating is part of a dog''s natural behavior, and possibly reflects some inborn nutritional wisdom that warrants scientific study. Of course, dogs also eat grass when they are feeling sick, but the quiet, deliberate "grazing" of healthy dogs like mine (who enjoy eating a dozen or more blades of grass -- un-regurgitated -- many mornings before they are fed) does raise the question of why. My theory is that grass stimulates the digestive system and is a tonic, and that it also possibly contains beneficial nutrients the way wheat grass juice and barley sprouts do for humans.So let your dog graze a little. In this instance, I believe that nature knows best.

Question:

I have a 6-year-old male Pekingese dog. We got him when he was 4 years old. We discovered that he gets seizures -- about one every six months. My vet knows about this and says it is fairly common.But now Pooh Bear is getting these attacks at least five times or more a week. He has stiffness and muscle spasms. We took him to the vet and he was put on 3ccs of lactulose/Enulose twice a day, but it doesn''t work. How can we help Pooh Bear with this problem?.

S.A.P., Glenville, NY Sep 19, 2004

Answer:

The veterinarian treating your dog must have diagnosed a condition called portosystemic shunt in order to prescribe lactulose/Enulose to help alleviate your dog''s congenital disease.This disorder (which, in some cases, can be surgically corrected) is caused by ammonia and other toxins coming from the liver through a circulatory defect, and leads to impaired brain function and a host of health problems. But your dog should also be put on a special diet low in animal protein and high in vegetable protein and easily digested carbohydrates like white rice and pasta.Since this additional treatment (coupled with oral antibiotics) is not mentioned, and therefore presumably not prescribed, you should seek a second opinion. Your dog could simply be epileptic and have fewer seizures once an appropriate dosage level of phenobarbital or other anti-seizure medication is determined.

Question:

My son has a 1-year-old Jack Russell terrier. He got the dog when it was 9 months old. The dog was kept in a cage 24/7, only to leave for duty calls. Now, although the dog is kept in a cage for the time no one is home, he is let out as soon as someone arrives home. He is put back in the cage for nighttime. If he escapes to the upstairs quarters he immediately relieves himself, even if he was just walked. Upon visiting another home with upstairs quarters he does the same thing. What is it about these upstairs areas that causes this, and also leads him to tear apart shoes and destroy whatever else he can find? He has been reprimanded every time, but he continues to act this way. Is there anything that can be done to alleviate this problem?

B.M., Jackson, NJ Sep 19, 2004

Answer:

I feel sorry for this poor dog, having been kept in a cage/crate for the first nine months of his life. Such abhorrent treatment is all too common, often resulting in physical deformities and chronic psychological/behavioral problems. "Upstairs" in this little dog's psyche probably equates to "freedom," so he acts out all his repressed energies and emotions by destroying whatever he finds, and urinates out of excitement or to mark his territory. Your son should make the upstairs off-limits to the dog for a while, and sleep downstairs beside the dog's cage with the cage open so that the dog can use it as a den and not regard it as a prison. It is too traumatic to shut him in the cage for the night -- and also during the day when no one is home. Make the room dog-safe (no items within reach to destroy), turn on the radio and leave the cage open. Give him his own toys and marrow bones stuffed with peanut butter, and have a dog walker come over to take him out at least once a day during the workweek.

Question:

I have a 6-year-old common gray cockatiel. He laughs, plays knock-knock-peekaboo, talks and whistles. Jake is the love of my life. He rules the roost, I obey.Question: Why would he try to mate with his perch on top of the cage? I tried removing it, but he also does this on the edge of the cage. He''s never been with a female. I "baby-sat" another male for a short while -- they got along great. Then my caregiver took my bird home with her for a while I was ill once. But he started this business before he was ever around another bird.Is there anything I can do to discourage this embarrassing behavior? A spray bottle of tepid water stops his screaming (he screams for attention) -- I say "squirt bottle" and Jake says "no."He''s never flown -- he''s had clipped wings from the beginning. He likes to try to feed the "bird in the mirror" for about 20 minutes in the morning. He tosses paper onto the floor and he loves his head, neck and back scratched.

L.W., Springfield, Mo Sep 19, 2004

Answer:

This avian love of your life seems to be a happy, active bird who is coping as best as he can with various instincts that have no material outlet in his environment because he is deprived of a feathered friend and mate. Please let him behave as he chooses (so long as he does not risk harming himself), and do not discipline him for engaging in sex play with his perch or whatever.The real embarrassment surely is in keeping a bird (no matter how loving and loved he may be) isolated from his own kind. Why not adopt another healthy cockatiel? Give them time to get used to each other in separate cages for a few days before letting them spend more and more time together.