Ask the Vets this week!

[Karen]

Anyone have any questions they'd like to ask a vet this week? I'll have a "new" - to the show, anyway veterinarian on, and Dr. Carol and Dr. Don as well, so any questions will be appreciated, and I will ask the cranberry juice for kitty UTI's question I didn't get a chance to last week!

Any nutrition or food questions are also welcome!

I need them by 1:30 Thursday afternoon, we're recording starting at 2 this week!

[katladyd]

Thank you so much for remembering, Karen. I saw you post and was just getting ready to ask that question again!:)

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I know that I already asked a question a few weeks ago so if you don't receive enough questions for this week here's my question: My cat Ziggy Stardust was at the groomers and they always check the animals anal glands. She's been checked before and has never had any problems. This time they said she had a small problem with her anal glands. I guess when they squeezed them, some stuff came out. My question is how do I keep her from having any more problems with her anal glands? She'll be 7 years old in June so she's not even a senior cat yet. I feed her both canned and dry food which is grain free.

[Karen]

Thanks, I will add that in!

[Moesha]

I wonder what the vets think of checking your diabetic animal's blood sugar at home, specifically a cat in my case.

[phesina]

Karen, would you please ask the vets what they think about giving cats tap water to drink?

I use a Brita filter pitcher for my own drinking water. The water tastes better, if nothing else. For a while I was giving my cats this water too, and then I happened to think: Wait a minute, they use their tongues as toilet paper! And surely tap water wasn't going to be worse than that, so I started giving them the tap water instead.

Then one day a few months ago someone said to me that the chlorine in tap water can cause real serious harm to cats ( kidneys maybe? I forget which organ she said), so I've been giving them the Brita filtered water again since then.

My question is: is that true? or are there other impurities in tap water that are potentially harmful to them?

The tap water in Ann Arbor is supposedly very pure as tap water goes.

Thanks very much,
Pat

[Karen]

Will work these in!

[phesina]

Thank you!

[Karen]

So, besides the anal glands question I missed last week, anyone with any new vet questions this week?

[Karen]

So anyone else any questions?

[Karen]

Bumpity?

[Karen]

Okay, Tracy! As for Miss Ziggy and her anal glands, they said as animals get older, the muscles can weaken a bit, and make problems more likely to develop. Getting some more fiber in her diet will help - Dr. Kevin gives his cats a tablespoon of canned pumpkin in its food a couple times a week as an easy preventative. Try that!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks Karen.:) I'm not sure if she likes canned pumpkin or not. Some of my cats do and some don't.;)

I already have another question for next week. Some of my cats have dandruff. How can I help to prevent this or at least help to clear it up? Both of my long haired male cats Alani & Blaze have some white flakes. They will be three on April 30th and they look like they're Maine Coon mixes. They currently only eat dry grain free cat food and they get some chicken broth every night. I wish I could also feed them canned food but every time I've tried to give them some they end up getting diarrhea.:( They had giarrdia as kittens before I adopted them so maybe this scarred their intestinal tract.

[Karen]

Thanks Karen.:) I'm not sure if she likes canned pumpkin or not. Some of my cats do and some don't.;)

I already have another question for next week. Some of my cats have dandruff. How can I help to prevent this or at least help to clear it up? Both of my long haired male cats Alani & Blaze have some white flakes. They will be three on April 30th and they look like they're Maine Coon mixes. They currently only eat dry grain free cat food and they get some chicken broth every night. I wish I could also feed them canned food but every time I've tried to give them some they end up getting diarrhea.:( They had giarrdia as kittens before I adopted them so maybe this scarred their intestinal tract.


Okay, I'll send you the audio files when I get them, because they discussed other things than pumpkin, that's just the one that stuck in my head!

[cassiesmom]

Karen, would you please ask the vets what they think about giving cats tap water to drink?

I use a Brita filter pitcher for my own drinking water. The water tastes better, if nothing else. For a while I was giving my cats this water too, and then I happened to think: Wait a minute, they use their tongues as toilet paper! And surely tap water wasn't going to be worse than that, so I started giving them the tap water instead.

Then one day a few months ago someone said to me that the chlorine in tap water can cause real serious harm to cats ( kidneys maybe? I forget which organ she said), so I've been giving them the Brita filtered water again since then.

My question is: is that true? or are there other impurities in tap water that are potentially harmful to them?

The tap water in Ann Arbor is supposedly very pure as tap water goes.

Thanks very much,
Pat


What was the answer to the question about water? The water in my building has an odd chlorine-y smell, especially the cold water. Sometimes I buy drinking water at the supermarket and sometimes I boil tap water and let it cool, which seems to help. We get Lake Michigan water. Other residents in my building have noticed the same problem and a lot of people use bottled water.

Thank you,
Elyse

[Karen]

What was the answer to the question about water? The water in my building has an odd chlorine-y smell, especially the cold water. Sometimes I buy drinking water at the supermarket and sometimes I boil tap water and let it cool, which seems to help. We get Lake Michigan water. Other residents in my building have noticed the same problem and a lot of people use bottled water.

Thank you,
Elyse

The answer was basically, if you don't want to drink it, don't make your cats drink it. Getting a filtered pitcher is better, less expensive than bottled for the long run ...

[krazyaboutkatz]

Okay, I'll send you the audio files when I get them, because they discussed other things than pumpkin, that's just the one that stuck in my head!
Thanks Karen.:)


The answer was basically, if you don't want to drink it, don't make your cats drink it. Getting a filtered pitcher is better, less expensive than bottled for the long run ...
I saw something similar on the internet. A doctor was asked the question is tap water better for you than bottled water? His answer was that tap water was better for you because it's tested much more thoroughly than bottled water. He said that if you hate the taste then just get something to filter it with. I have very hard water and I don't drink my water. I do filter it by osmosis sp? and then I drink it. I give my cats this water in the main area. I've been just giving my cats in my bedroom plain old tap water. They all seem to like the water that I've been giving them.

[Karen]

Thanks Karen.:)


I saw something similar on the internet. A doctor was asked the question is tap water better for you than bottled water? His answer was that tap water was better for you because it's tested much more thoroughly than bottled water. He said that if you hate the taste then just get something to filter it with. I have very hard water and I don't drink my water. I do filter it by osmosis sp? and then I drink it. I give my cats this water in the main area. I've been just giving my cats in my bedroom plain old tap water. They all seem to like the water that I've been giving them.

The more complete answer, which will be in the audio files is, the quality of tap water varies from community to community, and can even vary from home to home depending on whether people use a municipal water source or a local or individual well. So whether "tap" water is okay really depends on your own situation.

[Karen]

So anyone else have any questions this week? Big or small, dog, cat, bunny, budgie, all are welcome!

[Casper]

I have a question concerning which sunscreens are safe to use on dogs. Towser's face burns if he is outside in the sun all day, so I've been looking in to sunscreens that I could apply around his nose and eyes. I'm concerned about all the chemicals that are in most sunscreens you see on store shelves. I've heard baby sunscreen is fine, but I also know a lot of sunscreens have zinc oxide in them, which is -- from what I understand-- toxic for dogs to ingest. Since it would be near his mouth, and he might lick some off, should I be concerned or is it not a significant amount to harm him?

[Karen]

I'll be sure to ask that! Anyone else?

[Karen]

We will have the next "Ask the Vets" show, after a 1-week hiatus! Any questions, folks? Big or small, I'll ask them!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Can you ask about the dandruff problems in my long haired cats Alani & Blaze? Also can you ask why Alani & Blaze can't tolerate canned food? They love it but it always gives them diarrhea or very loose stools. I've even tried to give them canned food with more fiber in it but this still didn't work. My vet suggested that I mix water with the canned food but this didn't work either. They now eat dry grain free food and they also get some chicken broth every night.

[Moesha]

Don't know if I am in time for this week or not, but I just learned that Vetsulin insulin is back on the market and is half the price of the Prozinc. The vet said that the dosage would have to be readjusted for the switch. Morgan was on Vetsulin when he was diagnosed with diabetes. That was about 6 or 7 years ago before it was pulled. Maybe the vets could discuss the difference in these insulins. I wonder if they have a preference.

[Karen]

If I can, I'll sneak that in if we have time!

[Karen]

Moesha, didn't get that one in this week, but will hold it for next time!

[Moesha]

Thanks. I just got a refill last week on Higgins' Prozinc, so I won't have to decide about the vetsulin for a couple of more weeks.