Paws Home   Paws Nanny   Paws To Daws   Healthy Paws    Paws Galore Shop   Muddy Paws   Paws Testimonials   Paws Contact     Active Paws    Paws 4 Probs Problems Solved Dear Nanny……… Our Qualified Veterinary Nurse Helen-marie Pipe, founder of Paws In Daws and who has been nursing for 16 years in small and large animal practice, more recently critical care and emergency. Is here to answer your problems and offer suggestions on how you can improve the quality of life of your pet. Please feel free to write or ring in, should you need some guidance or advice. Please note that not all questions will be posted on our site. All advice offered within this page is purely an aid, circumstantial and based on common sense and educated opinion; gathered from experiences in practice over the years. Any Veterinary advice should be sort from your own Veterinary practice. Q: “We have had our dog for 2 years and recently he went off his food, so we tried different brands. He now has really bad diarrhoea and despite changing the food several times to see if we can find a food that agrees with him, nothing works. It is becoming very expensive and depressing and we don’t know what to do next, any ideas?” Patrica, Folkstone. A: Yes Patrica when a pet gets diarrhoea the simplest and most effective way to calm if not stop the problem, is to starve them for 24/48 hours depending on age and severity of condition. Ensure that they drink plenty of fresh water if there is no vomiting. Once that period had passed and if they have not produced any more diarrhoea, then you need to feed boiled chicken breast or white fish (with or without boiled rice) and keep feeding it until they produce a solid motion. Once a solid motion has been produced, start to introduce very small amounts of their old diet (or chosen new) into the chicken or rice decrease the chicken/rice gradually whilst increasing the new food. You continue to do this until they are totally back to normal and on the chosen diet alone, only one brand should be used not several. Causes: The lining of the gut becomes inflamed from bombardment of different food materials and needs a break to let it recover. This method is not always failsafe however and more serious stomach issues need to be treated and monitored regularly by your Veterinary Surgeon. Whenever vomiting is involved, it is advisable to not give anything at all by mouth and contact your surgery asap. It is important to remember that these days many pets have food intolerances, some to chicken and wheat products. If you think that your pet could be a candidate use turkey and/or pasta instead of chicken and rice and once on a chosen diet, choose one that is gluten free e.g James Wellbeloved or Burns. Q: “Our unneutered cat is 6mths old and appears to be in discomfort, she keeps crying and rolling around in pain. She doesn’t do it all the time and is still eating and craving affection normally. What can we do, as although one and off it is distressing to watch?" Jane, Croyden. A: From your description Jane, it sounds as though your cat is in season. They are extremely vocal during this period and can be mopey or look like they are in pain, sometimes they can be off their food too. Keep an eye on her, but if there is nothing obviously wrong and she is bright in every other respect I would strongly advise keeping her indoors and getting her checked and neutered asap by your Veterinary Surgeon. Q: “I have a new puppy and am finding it very hard to house train him because the front door is so far away. We do have a back door, but it only leads to a concrete patio there is no grass out the back. Any suggestions?” Paul, Sussex. A: This is one of the most commonly asked questions Paul and very easily solved. Go along to your nearest garden centre and purchase a piece of turf, sometimes they give it away at end of season. Place it outside, as near to the back door as you can and this will keep it free from wildlife. You could cover it up or fence it off, if you felt the need. When you house train and get to the stage of nearing the door with your newspaper or puppy pads, start to encourage your puppy to go out onto the turf everytime he urinates and defecates. This is whenever he sniffs, wimpers, starts assuming the position or actually goes, you still take him out and routinely take him out anyway after sleeping, feeding and playing. Believe me he will soon get into the habit of asking to go out onto it and the task is soon accomplished. Q: “My Labrador has just had a lump removed from her shoulder and she won’t leave it alone at night, I have tried sleeping with her but she does it when I fall asleep. My Vet gave me a big lampshade for her head, but it does not stop her stratching with her back feet. Is there any anything else I can do, as I’m terrified she is going to rip the wound open?” Trish, Kent. A: Again you are not alone Trish, many clients encounter this problem and it causes many a sleepless night not to mention costly vet bills. Our trusty friend in practice is the ‘old t-shirt’, this doesn’t always work but for 7/10 clients it helps tremendously. Take a correctly sized t-shirt, place the neck end over the tail of your dog and your dogs hindlegs through the arms. You should then have an unside down t-shirt on your dog, with the open waist end flapping around their neck. Tie the loose body part of the t-shirt in a knot, preferably incorporating the dogs collar and there you have it a protected body. This works for any wound from shoulders to base of tail and includes abdomen and genitals. For male dogs you may have to cut a hole for his penis, but for defecation and female dogs just ensure neck end under tail is accessable. Some people have referred to this method as ridiculous or cruel, but believe me for the ten days that your pets wound is healing you will be glad to have saved them from complications and yourself of expense. You can also pop a cotton padded sock on the hindlimb which causes most damage at night time, should this method not protect fully from self harm. Just remember to keep it loose and DO NOT use elastic bands, string or any other form or tournequet to hold it in place. Fully Qualified & RCVS Listed Veterinary Nurse 16 Years Experience Appropriately Insured Fully Equipped Transportation Any Situations Considered Police Checked and Pet Registered Paws In Daws is recommended and supported by: Edenbridge Veterinary Clinic Skinners Lane, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6LW. and other local practices: Elands Vet Clinic Sevenoaks, Kent Tanhouse Veterinary Clinic Oxted, Kent Medivet Oxted, Surrey North Down Referrals  Caterham, Surrey Kings Road Veterinary Surgery, Biggin Hill, Kent Dier & Johnston Crowborough, East Sussex