Question by Marina D: My beautiful female shihtzu is in heat for the second time and she’s almost 3 in August.. Is this normal?
My beautiful female shihtzu is having her second heat cycle and she’s almost 3 years old in August. I have not had her spayed because she’s been having issues with food allergies and is on medication. She survived parvo at 10 weeks of age and after going through treatment. Did the parvo mess up her cycle? She had her first heat at only 6 mos and its been a while and she’s in her second heat cycle and like I said she’s turning 3 years old in August.

Has anyone had this happen to their shihtzu?
I know the heat cycles are different on some dogs but could the parvo caused her cycle to be irregular?

Best answer:

Answer by Night_owl
I have known plenty of dogs who had parvo at a young age who didn’t have long lasting problems in adulthood.

No, it isn’t normal that she is only having her second heat cycle at an age of 3 years- generally female dogs have two heat cycles per year. Your pup should have had at least 4 of them by now.

Food allergies aren’t any real reason to avoid spaying your girl- I have seen plenty of allergy prone dogs make it through surgery just fine. As long as your vet is confident they can spay her without a problem I would get her spayed- she will be healthier and happier in the long run.

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Question by Cash & Gage’s Mom: We feed our 2 female (manchester mix and aussie mix) Blue Buffalo and we used to feed our male (pit bull mix)?
the same thing. He all of a sudden would vomit the food up right after he ate it so we stopped feeding it to him. We started on Blue Buffalo in the first place because he had skin allergies that he would get ichy bumps on him and lose the fur around it. They cleared up immediately with the food. But now that we switched him to iams he doesn’t vomit but his allergies are back. Do you know of any good brands for allergies? I hear it is the corn in the dog food that they are allergic to. Thats what our vet said.

Best answer:

Answer by Dog Lover
Iams is chuck full of allergens, fillers and nasty by-products.
Here’s a great website to help you find a good food.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

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Question by Sandy K: I have a 16 year old female Pomeranian named Pumpkin who bites herself and has sores on her body.?
When I take her for a walk or even when she’s home, she spends most of the time scratching herself and rolling on her back and spinning on her rear end.

Pumpkin also barks a lot now and I know she’s in distress but every time I took her to the vet, all he did was give her a shot of prednisone and antibiotics. That had only given her temporary relief. The vet felt she had an allergy and had termed her skin condition as “moist eczema”. I then heard that prednisone is a steroid and too dangerous for dogs so I stopped that.

I wash her with SulfOxyDex. I don’t think it’s fleas or anal glands because I take her to a groomer who said she does not have fleas. I also tried applying benadryl gel with not much success. Pumpkin also has her teeth cleaned once a month.

Now she spends most of her day in the closet or under the bed . The only peace she gets is when she’s sleeping. Do you have any suggestions on how to treat Pumpkin?
I appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.

Best answer:

Answer by guardangelpi
You need to take her back to the vet and tell him that the medicine only worked for a while,nd you have hear so much about prednisone, I think you will find its better to let her finish the whole percription also take to your vet about changing her diet because it might to strong for her now and she might need a adult food.You must find some relief for her she is in pain along with the itching. I had a Jack Russel that did tr he same way and I got her on a better food and she now is great, no scratching or crying.She might not have fleas but she could be allergic to fleas and if one got one her and jumped off. That is what was wrong with my little dog and after I changed her food and she finished her medicine,she was fine.Good luck!!!!!!

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When I take her for a walk or even when she’s home, she spends most of the time scratching herself and rolling on her back and spinning on her rear end.

Pumpkin also barks a lot now and I know she’s in distress but every time I took her to the vet, all he did was give her a shot of prednisone and antibiotics. That had only given her temporary relief. The vet felt she had an allergy and had termed her skin condition as “moist eczema”. I then heard that prednisone is a steroid and too dangerous for dogs so I stopped that.

I wash her with SulfOxyDex. I don’t think it’s fleas or anal glands because I take her to a groomer who said she does not have fleas. I also tried applying benadryl gel with not much success. Pumpkin also has her teeth cleaned once a month.

Now she spends most of her day in the closet or under the bed . The only peace she gets is when she’s sleeping. Do you have any suggestions on how to treat Pumpkin?
I appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.