Ask us your Maltese health questions! Answered by registered veterinary technician

[royalpetclub]

Tell us what health issues you have been having with your Maltese, and Cate, our degreed, registered veterinary technician on staff will answer your questions! Cate will be answering health questions for the next week, and for select SpoiledMaltesers, we will provide some of our products at Royal Pet Club for free if we think it can help out your pet! So post away and we will get back to you as quickly as we can!


About Cate Burnett:
Cate Burnette, RVT, is a degreed, registered veterinary technician with both small and large animal clinical experience. As the owner of two cats, four dogs, and one ex-racehorse, she now writes about her passion for animals in hopes of sharing her knowledge with pet parents everywhere. Her articles on dogs and pet health have appeared on eHow, Livestrong, Answerbag, and The Daily Puppy.

Disclaimer: Our responses are for informational purposes only. In order to get an accurate diagnosis, we recommend seeing a local, registered veterinarian that can evaluate your pet in person.

[munchkn8835]

Is this for real?

[royalpetclub]

Yes, it is. My name is Cate Burnette. I'm a registered, degreed veterinary technician and I'm here to answer any questions you might have about medications, health, nutrition, etc. Any questions I can't answer...I'll tell you honestly and refer you to your veterinarian.

[bailey02]

What type of shampoo would you recommend for skin allergies? Bailey has been licking her paws like crazy recently and I have noticed a rash under her 2 front legs. I recently bought her some priobotics because I heard it was good for skin.

[Furbabies mom]

My Violet was seen by my vet and I was told that she had conjunctivitis. An ointment was prescribed to use it for three days, twice a day. Her eyes cleared up right away. Now 1 week later she has the yellow goo in her eyes again. Can I use the ointment again? Should I wait awhile to use it?

[romeo&juliet]

Ok i will definetly give this a shot at least i will get my question answered

Romeo is my male maltese he is 22 months. He eats grain free natural balance Potato & Duck hard food and i mix Mericks Cowboy cookout wet food with it.. he will only eat once a day doesnt matter how small i tried to make his meals so he will eat more. Bottom line is hes always scooting on his but or constipated takes him 15 minutes to poop. I bought him pumpkin and i give him 1/2 tsp in his meal everyday for the last week. Is it his food? what causes him to become so constipated and scoot so much hes always had this problem since i can remember. I dont have the groomer express his glands because i was told thats not good to let it happen normally. He doesnt have worms he gets checked for that every 6 months when its time for a check up.

[royalpetclub]

Originally Posted by bailey02

What type of shampoo would you recommend for skin allergies? Bailey has been licking her paws like crazy recently and I have noticed a rash under her 2 front legs. I recently bought her some priobotics because I heard it was good for skin.

Hi, Bailey.

I would suggest first trying an oatmeal based shampoo and conditioner to sooth her skin. Oatmeal treats inflammation (the redness and rash you're seeing), helps the skin retain moisture, and will soothe the itchiness. Its similar to the old-time treatments of an oatmeal bath that people used to treat kids who got chicken pox (you may not be old enough to remember that, but I sure do.)

The other thing you might check is to see if she's allergic to grass. This is particularly common in these little dogs with fair skin and fine hair. Try wiping her feet and underneath her belly and groin with aloe-treated baby wipes every time she comes inside from being on the grass. That will get rid of a lot of the allergens that she may be picking up from outside.

Good idea on the probiotics by the way. That works on both the inside and outside of your little dog and allows the nutrients in her food to better serve her body.

If you notice her starting to get sores or hot spots, please be sure to take her to your vet for treatment. Your vet may also be able to recommend an allergenic food -- of course, if its food allergies, she will need to be tested.

Hope this helps.

Cate

[maltese#1fan]

I have two issues with Bella (who will be six months old on June 25th):

1. She eats her poop. We have tried "For-Bid" which we got from the vet and have also tried the stuff from PetSmart. Neither worked. We just started putting hot sauce on her poop in the hopes she will not like the taste of that. It makes her sneeze, but if we let the hot sauce dry (by not picking up the poop right away), she will still eat it.

2. She has horrible tear stains. Have tried angel eyes and we wash her face every day. She is still teething -- could that be what's causing the staining?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[royalpetclub]

Originally Posted by Furbabies mom

My Violet was seen by my vet and I was told that she had conjunctivitis. An ointment was prescribed to use it for three days, twice a day. Her eyes cleared up right away. Now 1 week later she has the yellow goo in her eyes again. Can I use the ointment again? Should I wait awhile to use it?

Hi Mom,

Go ahead and use the ointment. It appears the conjunctivitis did not clear up and is back from what you're telling me.

But first, I would suggest buying a sterile saline solution at your local drugstore (find it in the contact lens aisle) and clean her eyes with the saline first. This will get rid of any yellow discharge and clear the way for the medication.

If you'll let me know what kind of meds your doctor prescribed, I can tell you how long and how often to continue medicating with them.

Cate

[royalpetclub]

Originally Posted by romeo&juliet

Ok i will definetly give this a shot at least i will get my question answered

Romeo is my male maltese he is 22 months. He eats grain free natural balance Potato & Duck hard food and i mix Mericks Cowboy cookout wet food with it.. he will only eat once a day doesnt matter how small i tried to make his meals so he will eat more. Bottom line is hes always scooting on his but or constipated takes him 15 minutes to poop. I bought him pumpkin and i give him 1/2 tsp in his meal everyday for the last week. Is it his food? what causes him to become so constipated and scoot so much hes always had this problem since i can remember. I dont have the groomer express his glands because i was told thats not good to let it happen normally. He doesnt have worms he gets checked for that every 6 months when its time for a check up.

Hi R&J,

The food you're feeding Romeo may not have enough moisture for him. I might suggest mixing in a little water with it and letting it sit until the hard food has slightly softened before giving it to him. The pumpkin is a good thing, and, if he likes it like most dogs do, just continue giving it. It certainly can't hurt if it helps him stay regular, plus it also provides with him with vitamin C.

It really sounds like his anal glands may be impacted and not producing enough of the liquid necessary to help his feces leave his body. That is the function of those glands -- the nasty smelling liquid they produce serves as a lubricant in the anus to help feces come out.

I suggest that you take Romeo to your vet to get his glands expressed. The vet will probably do an internal expression which is more likely to get all the nastiness out of those glands -- and might be something your groomer doesn't know how to do, or is reluctant to perform. The liquid can actually dehydrate to the consistency of peanut butter and be very hard for you little dog to express on his own.

Normally, you won't need to do this ever on some dogs. On others, with anal gland issues, the glands need to be expressed by a professional on a fairly regular basis.

Hope this helps,

Cate