Q: My cat has the same thing. Again a rescued kitty, she pulls her hair out in clumps. She then gets her hair back and looks beautiful again, and then she starts all over pulling it out. The people I rescued her from say the vet said she just had bad nerves, I would too if I lived in one room with 3 big dogs and 2 bother cats who were all mean, probably because they were neglected! She is not the same cat I got 2 years ago. A lot of love and now she gets up in peoples laps; she is not scared of anything now! She lays all over me; she thinks I’m her pillow! What do you suggest? I am on SS disability; I only get $674 a month that really limits what I can do. Her hair is back right now, I think it’s because I switched her to Friskies can. Let me know what you think. Thank you and god bless all of you @ halo every animal deserves to be spoiled!

A: Your kitty is lucky to have found you–bless you for rescuing her!
Pulling out hair can be a sign of several things in cats: 1) Nervousness/anxiety; 2) Behavioral problems; or 3) Allergies (most commonly inhaled allergy or food allergy). My recommendations are as follows:

• Identify any stressors in her environment. Sometimes it isn’t an obnoxious dog or a bully cat that stresses a cat out. Sometimes it is the lack of proper play items in the environment or something not even as obvious. Visit The College of Veterinary Medicine web site to read details on the Indoor Cat Initiative. This initiative gives tips to identifying possible stressors for indoor cats and ways to enrich their environment to minimize nervousness and possible behavioral and medical problems.

• Begin a natural diet (like Halo)–free of artificial colors, preservatives, or other synthetic chemicals that sometimes lead to allergic skin reactions.

• Begin a fatty acid supplement (like Halo Dream Coat). Fatty acids are essential to soft supple skin and an excellent hair coat. Fatty acids have been proven to have beneficial anti-inflammatory effects within the skin and may be “just what the doctor ordered” for your kitty. This is especially true if she has allergies that may be contributing to her pulling out her hair.

Give these things at least 8 to 12 weeks to work. If she is still pulling out her hair, you should make an appointment with your veterinarian to discuss the next steps for her. Read my article Allergies in Cats for ideas on what might be necessary at upcoming vet visits.

Good Luck
Dr. Donna Spector

Q: What do you think of testing my dog every six months for heartworm instead of giving monthly heartworm pills?

A: This practice is not advised. To understand better, read the following scenarios.

If you get a positive test result on your dog, this means your dog has already been infected for 5-7 months and by definition, has adult worms living in their heart and/or lungs. A positive test result means you and your dog must face treatment of a potentially fatal disease. The treatment is expensive and dogs can have severe side effects from the medications used or from the dying heartworms.

If you get a negative test result, most likely your dog is not currently infected, but remember—no test is 100% and although uncommon, false negative heartworm test results can occur. This most often happens if dogs are infected with very few worms, the worms are still immature (common if you miss the right date for testing), only male worms are present (the test is only accurate for female worms), or the test was done incorrectly. This may mean that your dog goes incorrectly diagnosed as “heartworm negative”, increasing his risk for fatal complications from heartworm disease and serving as a source to infect other dogs.

No one likes to give medication unnecessarily, however, heartworm disease is prevalent in every U.S. state (except Alaska ) and kills dogs and cats every year. The best news is it is completely preventable. There are many options for heartworm prevention and many of the available medications also include routine dewormers for other common parasites affecting dogs and cats. Ask your veterinarian what prevention plan is best for your dog or cat.

Visit the American Heartworm Society for more information on heartworm disease in dogs and cats and to view current recommendations.

Q: I am looking for a food recommendation for a 2 year old highly active Gordon Setter who needs to put on some weight. He has a lot of energy and his preference is to be outside. He is 27 inches at the shoulder and skin and coat is in great condition. We have had him on a variety of foods trying to find something he will like and eat. Most recently he has been on Kent Native #4 food, which has a high protein and fat content. Of all the foods we have tried, he will eat this one most of the time. However, we find that we still supplement in some way. His preference is cooked chicken livers but there are times when this doesn’t do the trick either. He doesn’t like canned food and he is not overly fond of fish. We joke that because he has European bloodlines that he thinks he is a gourmet, but I am really concerned that we cannot get any weight on him. He does not seem to be in any distress health-wise that would indicate a thyroid problem. For his size and weight, he should be about 80-85 pounds, but barely touches 70. This breed does take a long time to mature. I have in the past had dogs on Burns, Pinnacle and Solid Gold, but I am reluctant to put Stewart on any of these if he cannot maintain his weight at the lower protein and fat ratios. Is it better to have a food where these ratios are closer together such as 20/15 or one where the ratio is farther apart such as 42/18? Thank you for your assistance.

A: Thanks for your nutrition questions Kathy. A few thoughts on Stewart…even though he seems overtly very healthy, I would have your veterinarian check him for the possibility of malabsorption. There is a medical condition called EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) in which the pancreas does not make enough enzymes to properly digest the food and can lead to poor weight gain/lack of weight maintenance in an otherwise healthy dog. Also, it sounds like Stewart is outdoors most of the time. Chronic parasitism with the protozoal organism called Giardia is a common cause of malabsorption in outdoor pets that otherwise feels normal. I would ask your vet to check him for both of these things…just to be sure.

As far as options for a diet for Stewart, it is important to remember that fat has more calories per gram than either protein or carbohydrates. Fat has 9 calories per gram, whereas carbs and protein have only 4 calories per gram. With Stewart’s heavy activity schedule, he is likely better suited to a higher fat diet. When comparing diets, it is critical to do so on a dry matter basis (ask your vet to help you with this calculation if you are unsure). The Kent Native 4 you have had him on has 38.9% protein and 27.8% fat. There are many other diets that offer higher fat percentages.

It is also important that you look at the source of ingredients from a digestibility standpoint. The Kent Native 4 diet has “chicken meal” as the first ingredient. “Chicken meal” is a product made through a process called rendering. This always means it is considered “unfit for human consumption” because of the variability and quality of the end product. Rendered meals have lower digestibility than whole meats so even though the food is relatively high protein, it may not be highly digestible protein. Obviously Stewart needs a highly digestible, high quality food to gain and maintain weight with his active lifestyle.

For more information on reading and understanding pet food labels to choose the best food for Stewart, please see my article Pet Food – What You Need to Know – For Your Pet’s Sake.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.
Dr. Donna Spector

Q: I have two Shih Tzu’s already on Halo but have a few questions for you. Buddy is a muscular intact male (the vet says in great shape!) who weighs 16 pounds and turns 3 in October. Pookie is a 1 year old female who weighs 8 pounds (a little thin for her) and just had 3 puppies 3 weeks ago who are nursing (which I am not keeping but would love to know how I can pass on a food plan to the owners of each puppy once they get them). I didn’t know Pookie was pregnant until almost the last couple of weeks in her pregnancy and the doctor had me switch her food to Royal Canine from her Halo food. I want her back on Halo food. Is Halo food high enough in nutrients for Pregnant dogs? She also has a lot of red marks on her belly and around some of the nipples. I believe it’s the puppies nails. Should I be putting something on her? I would like to breed her one more time but not too soon. When is it ideal for her to have puppies again? I want her healthier before she gets pregnant again. Buddy has also been eating the Halo puppy food…is this ok? When should the puppies start the Halo puppy food?

A: Halo natural dog foods are complete and balanced for dogs in all healthy life stages (which includes pregnancy and lactation)! Halo also recognizes the special needs of puppies and has created a dry food that is complete and balanced for their unique higher requirements. Halo is an excellent choice for all of your dogs!

Buddy: At 3 years old, he should not be eating the Halo puppy food. He does not need the additional fat, calories and minerals that young puppies do. An intact male dog does require more than a neutered dog and his daily calories should range from 400-490 calories per day based on a 15-16 pound body weight. This is just a calculated estimate. You describe him as slightly inactive, so you may have to decrease this amount by up to 30% (which would be around 280 calories). This 280 calories is what we call his resting energy requirement and dogs that are very inactive often need to eat only this amount. Likely Buddie will be somewhere between the 280 and 400 calorie range. This would equate to 3/4 to 1 cup of the Halo adult dry chicken or salmon per day if that is his only source of calories. Remember you have to cut back the amount he eats in food if you are giving treats or other calories.

Pookie: Her resting energy requirement at 8 pounds is 180 calories. While nursing 3 puppies, we need to multiply that by at least 4, therefore she should be eating close to 700 calories. That seems like a lot, but her little body is busy making fat, proteins and calories for those babies! Again, this is an estimate…she may need more or less. Try the Halo Healing Salve on her belly around the nipples. It can help with the scratching and chafing associated with nursing. You should ask your veterinarian when the best time to breed Pookie again is. He or she has the advantage of examining Pookie and assessing her body weight/condition and determining the best breeding date.

Puppies: The process of weaning is usually started by 4 weeks because most often puppies are placed in new homes by 8 weeks of age. It is good to start them on a “mush” which typically is a blenderized mixture of dry puppy food soaked with liquid puppy milk replace and water. It is blended until it has a gruel or mush texture similar to human infant cereal. Typically 3-4 very small meals a day are given and the amount of food gradually increased (and water/milk decreased) every week so that by 8 weeks of age they are eating the dry food. Your veterinarian can advise you on the best products to use during this transition.

A couple of other thoughts/comments….

I recommend that dogs and cats eat a combination of dry and canned food everyday. Their bodies are made of 75% water and they rarely drink enough water to support excellent hydration (very much like their human counterparts here!) and organ function. I recommend anywhere from 25-50% of their daily calories come from canned food. You can feed it all at one time during the day or break it up into 2 meals…whatever is easiest for you.

I recommend a diet transition time of 7-10 days anytime a dog’s diet is being changed to Halo. Their intestinal tract has a unique set of bacteria and enzymes that need to adjust to the proper digestion of the new food. Days 1-3, 75% old food, 25% Halo; Days 4-5 50% old food, 50% Halo, Days 6-7 25% old food, 75% Halo and then 100% Halo thereafter. If your dogs have any digestive upset during the transition, return to the amount that was not causing problems and keep them there for a few more days before continuing with the diet change. Once they are eating Halo, you can change between the flavors if you would like. There is no need for a transition period. However, you can also just stick with one flavor…personal preference.

Hope this helps.
Dr. Donna Spector

Q: What to do when our cat bites a lot?

A: Aggressive behavior toward people is very common in cats. Biting is usually play-motivated or part of a “don’t pet me anymore” behavior complex. Cat owners whose cats have “playful” aggression describe their cats as turning vicious during the act of play. Play often resembles predator activity with stalking, pouncing, hit-and-run attacks, etc. It is common for these cats to exhibit aggression when the owner gets out of bed, comes around a corner or is playing with the cat when suddenly a bite will be directed toward a hand rather than a toy. This can usually be easily dealt with by providing opportunities for your cat to stalk, pounce, carry objects in its mouth, bat and swat with appropriate toys. NEVER allow playful behavior (batting, swatting, etc) directed toward hands or any other body parts. If the behavior is already established, you may need to learn more about “time outs” or even a squirt of water to discourage inappropriate play aggression. You may have to consult a behavior specialist if the problem is more severe.

The other form of aggression to watch for is the “don’t pet me anymore” aggression. This usually occurs when the cat is being pet and suddenly turns and bites. If this sounds like your cat, you have to learn to read your cats cues. Most cats give some warning like ear flicking, tail swishing or thumping, skin rippling or quick head movements that are indicators that they do not wish to be pet anymore. Learning to read their body language can avoid most of these attacks.

Hope this helps.
Dr. Donna Spector