How to Fix Your Dog or Cat

Let's talk about spay and neuter of your dog and cat. Spay and neuter is very very important for many reasons. One it prevents reproduction. We have lots and lots of stray cats and dogs in the United States and it is very difficult to keep up with them. There are thousands and thousands of dogs and cats that get euthanized every week due to just over population so spay and neuter prevents that so that is the number one benefit.

Number two is medically. Dogs male dogs as they get older can have prostate problems and lots of male dogs have behavioral issues as in roaming aggression, territorial aggression things like that, so neutering is of utmost importance for them for those reasons. Cats as far as males are concerned it is better for them because they tend to spray and have a real foul urine and can reproduce obviously. As far as females are concerned female dogs tend to have a very high incidence of mammary carcinomas or breast cancer and as they get older that can be a major incidence of problem.


They have a much higher incidence if they've even gone through one heat cycle so that's very important for them. Breast cancer is very difficult to manage especially in an older pet and they can actually die from that so it is very important to do that. Also females can get uterus infections as they get older after they have had heat cycles and that can also be life threatening so that's another reason to spay your female dog and/or cat.

How to Perform the Heimlich Maneuver on a Cat or Small Dog

Let's talk about the Heimlich maneuver in dogs and cats. The Heimlich maneuver we think about in people all the time, getting choked on a piece of food at a restaurant and something like that. In veterinary medicine it is not something that we use routinely, however, it does come to play in the home setting on rare occasions. Dogs and cats can get choked on items, can get choked on pieces of food and things like that.

The first thing you need to do is recognize are they actually choking on something or are they trying to gag or vomit. The way you know is typically if an animal is choking on something they are going to be opening their mouths, they're going to be retching over, they're going to be pawing at their face. So it is very difficult and you can get injured if you look in the mouth but that is the first thing to do is if you can look in there, look at the tongue and gum color and make sure it is nice and pink and not blue.


If we do think that there is absolutely a choking mechanism happening that there is something lodged in the back of the throat then we might pull out the Heimlich maneuver and the way you do that is basically is take your hands and ball them up and or one method is to ball one fist up with your palm over the other one, right below, or actually right in the upper abdomen and below the sternum and then use a quick just kind of gentle but firm upper motion to try to dislodge that. The next recommendation is to get your animal to a veterinary clinic as quickly as possible. It may not always be a choking situation or it may be something that you can't do on your own.

How to Get Rid of Cat Odor

Let's talk about how to get rid of cat odor. Cat odor comes from two sources, one urine odor and two, fecal odor. Litter boxes are very important to keep clean. There are many types of litter that are on the market, some work better than others, some cats rely on better than others.

Some cats don't like certain types of litter so always experiment initially to find out what your cat prefers. There are also many products on the market to help with urine odors, urine staining and things like that. Also some cats that are long haired may retain a little bit of urine or fecal material on their fur so keeping their fur under their tail trimmed or clean, baby wipes work very well for instance, can help urine and fecal odor.

How to Detect Skin Cancer in Cats

Let's talk about detecting skin cancer in your cat. Skin cancer is actually fairly common in cats. It almost exclusively shows up as being a raised plaque or a raised lump somewhere on the skin. In cats, especially, they are prone to getting skin cancer on the face - especially the nose and on the ears. The reason that is especially for outdoor cats is that they're getting sun damaged chronically, just like we think about with us.

Cats that are white color or tan color cats or have pink noses are much more susceptible to getting sun damage and sun damage can chronically lead to skin cancer. So the most common skin cancer we see is squamous cell carcinoma just like it is in people. It will show up as a lump or a bump and so if you see anything like that and you're concerned, then obviously get your veterinarian to check that and see if that is some sort of cancer or problem that they need to investigate further.

How to Treat Cat Acne- Cat Health Care Tips

Let's talk a little about feline acne. Feline acne is very common in cats. It involved the chin. They can get lots of pustules, lots of inflammation and infection on the lower part of the chin and it's kind of poorly understood. It's mostly thought to be an immunologic type of response to something or nothing. We commonly recommend non-plastic bowls to eat out of, just so there is not any type of external stimulation to keep feline acne going. It can kind of sometimes come and go, despite therapy and it can be long and chronic and quite frustrating. Talk with your veterinarian if you think your cat has feline acne.

It looks like black discharge on the chin, and also red pustules that can be very irritated and these cats don't like you messing with them a hole lot. Sometimes we use benzyl peroxide pads to clean these chins out from time to time on a weekly or daily basis. Also topical medications can help reduce that inflammation over time. Basically a lot of these cats are going to resolve feline acne potentially on their own and again it may come back and become chronic. Feline acne would appear as being black discharge and crusting discharge on the lower part of the chin and also very commonly red swollen pustules and it generally obvious on cats that have feline acne to talk to your veterinarian clinic about treating and managing that disease.

How to Stop a Male Cat From Spraying

Let's talk about how to prevent your male cat from spraying. This can be actually quite challenging, and the first thing you have to do is figure out what is going on, and get a diagnosis from a veterinarian. The spraying can be generally one of two things. A; a cat that's a male that is spraying, we've got to know; first off, is it a neutered cat?

If it's not neutered, that's the first thing to do. Number two is a urinalysis needs to be performed to figure out is there an infection or inflammation occurring that's causing him to feel like he needs to urinate outside of the box. For instance, cat's are pretty smart, and what they'll do sometimes is if if their urine or urination hurts them in a litter box, they think the litter's doing it, so they will go outside of the box and spray; versus, if the urine does not contain an infection or anything like that, it's probably behavioral. So, working with your veterinarian, you have to figure out what that problem is. If it's behavior, is it another cat in the environment? Is it not enough litter boxes?

Not the right litter? Not a hood on the litterbox? And so there is lots of information that your veterinarian can provide for you to help you figure out what that problem is and how to treat. Now, some cats, some male cats that are behaviorally spraying and behaviorally urinating outside the litter box can be psychological, and there are actually synthetic hormones; pheromones actually, that are used to spray an environment that can calm these male cats down. That can work quite well. Sometimes we rely on anti-depressive medication, such as Prozac, Elavil, things like that to help these cats kind of calm down and forget why they're spraying, and after a while most of these guys do very, very well, and you can stop the medications.

How to Manage a Cat's Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Let's talk about managing your cat with inflammatory bowel syndrome, or IBS. IBS is quite common in cats actually. They can react to foods, environment, all sorts of things, and the underlying cause sometimes is not known. But the end result can be a cat with chronic vomiting, chronic diarrhea, weight loss, things of that nature. IBS has to be diagnosed by your veterinarian first, and once that's diagnosed there are certain things that can be helped, or given to help IBS in cats.

For one, anti-inflammatories can help; either orally or by injection, over time, and not every cat requires something like that. So that's one method of treating IBS. Number two is going to be dietary management. IBS cats never need to get lots of treats, lots of different foods, things like that. Basically, IBS cats need to go on a hypoallergenic, or special foods that are die are are basically designed to to have the body not recognize their proteins as well. And what I mean by that is it's it's sort of like having an allergy. If your body can't recognize a protein that you're allergic to, then you're better off, and not going to react to that. So, your veterinarian should help you also manage IBS, because it is a chronic condition.