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Below are questions and answers posed via the Ask the Vet Web form. You can also view questions and answers on specific topics by clicking the links below.

Submitted 11/03/2007:
Q:
I have a three-year old Large Munsterlander female. She is a real tail wagger and has a long tail according to breed standard. She almost chronically has a bloody tip on her tail as she bangs it on stuff constantly. The worst problem is in the woods, but of course she hits it on the table, the walls, the dog house, etc. It is a problem no only for her, but also because of the bloody pant legs, walls and other stuff. I am wondering if it is reasonable to consider docking her tail? Any advice would be appreciated.

A:
This is a tough situation and can be a frustrating one to get back under control. Two problems that I have seen contribute to this are dogs kenneled in areas that are just wide enough to allow the tail tip to constantly be traumatized. Sometimes a slightly smaller or slightly larger area will keep the tail tip protected.

The second issue I see is a low-grade infection of the tail tips, which makes them prone to constant breaking. This combined with the fact the infection is never cleared, leaves the tail vulnerable. I have had some success with a longer than normal course of antibiotics, regular cleaning, and the application of a collagen based product like EMT Gel. The key is that once the damage has been going on for a long time, it takes a very long time to attempt to get things back to normal.

Lastly, and I do mean lastly, I have had to amputate tails to varying degrees. While this may seem like an easy fix, the incision has to heal correctly and there is not a lot of extra skin to protect the area. In a dog that is already suffering tail trauma this doesn’t put the odds of healing well in our favor. This means you will have to be even more vigilant than in my above recommendations for medical treatment. Many of these dogs with a “happy” tail become problem healers after surgery, and so I save that option for when there are no other medical treatment options.

Submitted 11/04/07:
Q:
My three-year old setter is in good physical condition and has no known health problems. When I take him out for conditioning or hunting he breathes very loudly when running. He’ll sometimes stop to chew grass, but shows no other signs of being distressed or uncomfortable; he doesn’t quit hunting. He recovers after exertion fairly quickly. The dog doesn’t snore or have unusual breathing or swallowing at any other time. Do you think we might have a problem or is this just something that is particular to my dog’s make-up?

A:
My hunch is to say it is likely due to your dog’s make-up. My oldest setter, Maggie, is the same way. This past season my Dad commented how he doesn’t have to watch her some days, because he can hear her breathing from a great distance. With her I think it has always been this way, but I can’t say for sure. One speculation I have had is that she did have a traumatic injury to her nose a few seasons back, with a stick lodged up her nose for more than a month. My theory is that it potentially caused some damage that contributes to the breathing noise.

If it doesn’t affect his performance or appear to be affecting his health, I likely would not be too concerned. With that being said at the first sign of any changes I’d want to perform some diagnostics.

Submitted 11/04/07:
Q:
I have a 13-month old male GSP that develops cracks and splits in the webbing between his toes on the bottom of his front paws after running in the snow. They split and bleed and he will take turns holding each paw up when he’s not running. He really seems to opens his paws up and grab with the when he runs so the snow makes contact with the webbing. His pads seem fine and nails are short. One paw also bleeds slightly at the spot where his dew claw was removed and has not fur to cover that small patch of skin. My younger pup is out for the same time and has not problems. I so far have soaked his paws in warm water with a touch of Epsom salts and applied a vitamin E Vaseline type cram, as well as ordered him hunting boots. Is there anything I can do as a preventative once they heal up for hunting in the snow?

A:
This is a fairly common problem in this part of the country, and as you have noticed seems to affect certain dogs more than others. I know you have already ordered your boots, but if I may make a suggestion on that front I can’t say enough good things about the products from www.dogbooties.com. I have had tremendous success and I think they are greatly underpriced. I usually order them a dozen or two at a time so I have multiple pairs on hand and am able to rotate. My preferred model is the 1000-Denier Cordura with the  Velstretch fastner. I previously would apply vetwrap to keep these in place, but with the new closure system I did not lose a single booty this year.

With the current condition of the feet it might be worthwhile to have them checked by your veterinarian. It is possible that the snow and subsequent wetness actually caused a skin infection of the webbing and that it wasn’t from the mechanical damage of the snow. We see a fair number of dogs with bacterial and/or yeast infections of the interpad area. Treatment can range from some topical sprays/shampoos to longer term oral medications.

As for something preventative, I think the booties will be your best bet on that front.

Submitted 11/05/07:
Q:
I have just had my seven-year old English pointer female bred for the first time as she would not allow a male to breed her, but this time in went off without a hitch. My concern is that I think I am seeing some blood drops on the kennel floor, is this normal?

A:
Since she is a little older for a first time female, I would recommend erring on the side of caution and have her checked out. While some discharges can be normal, others can indicate some very serious problems. I would particularly be concerned about the possibility of a pyometra, which could result in an emergency surgery situation.

With these breeding females it is better to find a problem early, because the later it gets, the more severe and potentially dangerous the problems can become. Also, if all is normal, you’ll sleep a lot easier at night.

Submitted 11/07/07:
Q:
About one week ago I inherited a rescue English Pointer. Every morning the dog wakes up and scratches at both ears for a half hour or until I get up and scratch his ears for him. The ears look clean and there aren’t any signs of mites, but I noticed a small amount of pus and redness around the pinna. Sometimes it is painful to the touch. I looked in a book and they recommend 70% isopropyl alcohol with 10% iodine, does this sound reasonable? I really can’t afford a vet visit right now so I’m hoping to try something else first.

A:
A couple of things from the soapbox. If the ear is irritated to the point of being inflamed with pus, alcohol is going to burn like crazy and the dog likely will become head shy. You mention no evidence of mites, and while they are not as common in older dogs, you can almost never see them without the aid of a microscope. Lastly, if it is infected to the point of visible pus you NEED to go to the vet, and you are beyond the window of home care.

While it would be great if everyone could own pets, the simple fact is that they do cost money and sometimes we have to spend money in order to seek appropriate care. Whether we buy, adopt or find these dogs we are making a contract with them as a living thing to provide appropriate care, and sometimes that entails a vet visit for correct diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately with homecare, in some situations, you can end up in a worse situation than had you just went in initially.

Some ear problems are manageable at home. That being said, a dog that can’t sleep, has pus in his ears and is very itchy needs to be seen and treated by a veterinarian.

Submitted 10/17/07:
Q:
I have an 18-month old yellow lab who went for his first hunt last weekend. He had a scar on his leg from when he was a pup. On his first hunt he must have rubbed it on some brush and it opened up. He developed an infection and the vet treated it with some antibiotics. I have since taken him hunting again and his scar opened up once again. The hard part is that the scar is right above where his leg bends so putting any type of protection over it is difficult. Short of having surgery is there anything else I can use? What about stretchy athletic tape? If he has to have surgery at the end of the hunting season to clean it up I am fine with that, I just don’t want to lose any valuable time in his first year of hunting. Any suggestions?

A:
This is a conversation I have just about every week during hunting season with dog owners. I take a different approach to the situation than most, because I cherish the short time we have in the field with our dogs and even a two-week period on the bench recovering becomes a huge portion of a dog’s hunting career.

Without seeing your particular wound I’ll speak in generalities on how I handle injuries of this nature. First, as far as an ideal healing scenario, rest and the appropriate treatment will almost always result in the best cosmetic results. That being said I try my best not to lose any time in the field, which likely will result in delayed healing and the likelihood of a scar; however, I never promote anything I feel is detrimental to the health of the dog. My recommendations are usually much more liberal in trying to get a dog back out in the field than the recommendations from a non-hunting veterinarian. I recently had a conversation with a gentleman from Wisconsin at a motel game cleaning station. His dog had went through a fence and had a simple laceration on its chest. The vet that sutured the dog up recommended more than a month of rest which I thought was insanely long considering it would essentially take the dog out of most of the waterfowl season and good, early-season pheasants.  With the proper care from the owner many of these dogs can return to activity much, much sooner.

The key is your willingness to manage the area to maintain it in optimum health in order to continue hunting the dog and ensure the injury doesn’t get worse or become infected. If it is an area that just gets rubbed raw and oozes, then I’d probably just make sure it gets thoroughly cleaned after each hunt and protect prior. The area you describe is very difficult to bandage or wrap and no matter the material it likely will be an exercise in frustration. One thing you might try is to apply a layer of EMT Gel to the area prior to the hunt. You’ll want to do it long enough before going into the field so that it has had time to dry and form a barrier, yet not too long prior so that the dog could lick it off. Keep a close eye on the situation and monitor for infection. I’m not a big fan of long-term use (more than a day or two) of antibiotic ointments, if it doesn’t stay nice looking with cleaning and EMT gel then you may need a course of oral antibiotics.

Depending on how the wounds are handled in the field, if I see lacerations on Monday morning it is my goal to have the dogs back out hunting the following weekend, and at most only missing one weekend. If these wounds are properly managed during the season, most of the minor ones will heal up fine during the off-season when the dog has plenty of time to rest.

These dogs are put through extreme conditions and do experience some minor and nagging injuries throughout the season. With minimal effort on the part of the owner many dogs can hunt through these conditions without any detriment to the dog. The important points are to know when it is more than a minor annoyance and to have the dedication to manage these injuries for the best benefit and health of the dog.

Submitted 10/22/07:
Q:
Our seven-year old lab has developed a swollen right foot just below the joint. At times when the foot is swollen she can’t put any weight on it. Our vet has her on Doxycycline twice a day. After a couple of days she is fine but the swelling is still pronounced. After a series of tests which were negative, could it be a tick bite or heart failure?

A:
With your description and your vet’s treatment choice, I suspect a tick-borne disease is highest on the list of possibilities. The one concern I’d have is that the swelling is still present. In my experience with Lyme disease and anaplasmosis (the only tick diseases I’ve treated), typically the dogs respond to antibiotics within 24-48 hours and most of the symptoms resolve, including swellings. Of course not all dogs read the textbooks.

With the swelling still present I would strongly recommend x-rays to see if there is something else going on to cause the swelling at the bone/joint level. If the x-rays check out it may be worthwhile to repeat some of the tick panels to see if there have been any changes. If everything checks out to be normal, then I would wonder about an injury to a ligament, tendon or muscle which won’t necessarily show up on x-rays but can definitely cause swelling and discomfort. Regardless of the test results, because she seemed to improve on the antibiotics I would strongly suggest finishing the course your vet has prescribed and resist the urge to discontinue them early.