Top frequent symptoms

Itchy skin | Diarrhea | Vomiting | Ear infections | Scooting
Drinking more water/ urinating more | Blood in the urine
Hair loss | Limping | Smelly breath

Itchy skin

One of the most common reasons for itchy skin in dogs and cats is allergies. Your pet can be allergic to many things including most often: pollen/mold, fleas and food. Flea bite allergy typically causes itching, hair loss and skin inflammation on the back near the tail. Topical or oral flea control is extremely necessary to help control this problem.

Pollen/ mold allergy typically causes itching around the face, ears and on the bottoms of the feet. This allergy is more difficult to control because it is impossible to remove all of the pollen and mold that your pet breaths and contacts. There are many treatment options including symptomatic therapy with medications such as antihistamines, steroids and a medication called cyclosporine. Your pet can also be allergy tested to find out what he or she is allergic to and then start on an allergy vaccine protocol.

Food allergies typically causes itching under the tail. This allergy can be determined by a food trial with a protein and carbohydrate source that your pet has never been exposed to.

Other causes of itchy skin can include: secondary bacterial and fungal skin infections secondary to allergies, mites, metabolic and endocrine diseases, drug reactions and many others.

Please, contact us for an appointment to evaluate your pet’s skin to determine the best possible treatment.

Diarrhea

One of the most common causes of diarrhea is intestinal parasites. Many of these parasites can be transmitted to people. An intestinal parasite exam is needed to determine the type of parasites and the necessary treatment. Monthly heartworm prevention will protect your pet against intestinal parasites as well as heartworms.

Other common causes of diarrhea can include: dietary indiscretion, viral infections such as parvo, inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies and many more.

Diarrhea can cause dehydration and weight loss. It is a serious problem that requires prompt attention. Please, contact us for an appointment to evaluate your pet’s diarrhea to determine the best possible treatment.

Vomiting

A common cause of vomiting is gastritis from eating something outside of the normal diet. This is very common in pets that like to chew on things or eat people food.

Other causes can include: foreign body ingestion, pancreatitis, hairballs, food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, organ disease and many more.

Please, contact us for an appointment to evaluate your pet’s vomiting to determine the best possible treatment.

Ear infections

A common cause of ear infections is allergies. Pollen/mold and food allergies often cause inflammation in the ear canal allowing secondary yeast and bacteria to overgrow. It can be very difficult to get the ear infections resolved when the underlying allergies are not.

Other causes can include: ear mites, abnormal formation of the ear, and others.

Let us know when you would like to bring your pet in for an evaluation.

Scooting

The common causes of scooting include: anal gland disease, allergies and intestinal worms.

Anal gland disease can occur when the glands near the anal opening are unable to express normally. They will fill excessively and can be very uncomfortable. They can even form an abscess/infection in the gland. Your pet will scoot to try to empty the glands.

Allergies, especially to food, can cause the area around the anus to be very itchy. Your pet scoots to scratch the itch.

Intestinal worms such as tapeworms will come out of the rectum and irritate the anal opening. This can be very itchy.

Let us know if your pet is having a problem with scooting.

Drinking more water/ urinating more

Drinking more water can lead to increased urination and visa versa. There are many problems that can cause this issue such as kidney disease and endocrine diseases such as diabetes.

This can indicate a very serious underlying problem. The earlier that this problem is discovered the easier it is to treat.

Please, let us know if your pet is having this problem.

Blood in the urine

Blood in the urine can indicate a urinary tract infection. It can also indicate that your pet is going through a heat cycle or is having a uterine infection. This can be a serious problem that can potentially be life threatening.

Please, let us know if your pet is having this problem.

Hair loss

Hair loss is commonly caused by allergies, mites or underlying endocrine disease. Allergies will cause your pet to be itchy and they will scratch until the hair breaks or falls out. Please, refer to the above symptom.

Mites such as demodex and sarcoptes can damage the hair follicles so that the hair falls out and then does not grow back until the mites are gone. A skin scraping is needed to determine if your pet has this problem.

Endocrine disease such as hypothyroidism in the dog can cause hair thinning and loss. A blood test is necessary to screen your pet for underlying endocrine problems.

Give us a call to find out more about your pet’s hair loss.

Limping

Pets can limp because of joint, soft tissue or bone pain. This can include problems such as damaged ligaments, trauma, fractures, arthritis and foreign bodies in the skin. We also must consider some of the more unusual causes such as tick born illnesses.

A thorough exam must be performed to see where the pain is and why that pain is occurring.

We do now have therapeutic laser which will help with many of these problems.

Smelly breath

Dental disease is a leading cause of bad breath. The dental tarter which is a mix of saliva and bacteria, forms a cement like plaque on the teeth. This will lead to gum recession, tooth loss, bone infection, heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease and of course, bad breath.

Other causes of bad breath are: eating things that they shouldn’t, metabolic disease, tumors in the mouth and the back of the throat and others.

Let us know if your pet has bad breath, there is something that we can do for this problem.