Question: Hi. My parents occasionally watch my dog for me when I need to go out of town and they have a huge fenced in back yard with lots of trees. My 9 month old dog will grab sticks around their yard and chew them and sometimes eat them. She has thrown up stick pieces due to this before. I was wondering if this stick eating is harmful behavior and if you have any suggestions for how I could stop her. Giving her a filled kong or another edible chew while she is playing in the yard is really not an option because it causes fights between my dog and my parents dogs. Thanks!

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: Although anything non-digestible can be a foreign body and cause obstructions, in our experience a lot of dogs chew on sticks without an issue. It depends on how fine the pieces are chewed and how many pieces are swallowed. Risk of perforation is a possibility if there is a sharp enough splinter but the intestinal tract has a thick fibrous layer that resists puncture.

How to prevent the behavior? We hate to state the obvious but stick removal (at least the tempting big ones) and/or preventing access to the sticks are the sure fixes for the problem. Maybe another boarding or house-sitter option will suite your little one better (we can recommend both). Since your pup is so young it still might outgrow the chewing phase but that doesn’t help much in the interim. Will the dogs still have issues if the toys offered are not edible ones? There are some great hunting training toys that chewers tend to love (the ducks seem to be a favorite). Could your parents split the time outside so your dog could have its own chewing toy? Maybe your parents could have supervised group playtime at some point during the day.

So, in short, the vast majority of our stick chewers have no issue passing the pieces they ingest but there is always a risk with ingestion of foreign material. We still have time that your little one might outgrow the stick chewing behavior so try some of the above options in the meantime. And as always contact us again with your questions!

My pet has bad breath. He’s obviously not painful or he wouldn’t eat.

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: True, some dogs and especially some cats will stop eating when the periodontal disease becomes bad enough. However, when it’s that bad we almost always have to extract some diseased teeth. Pets have such a strong instinct to survive and appetite is usually the last to go. They might be swallowing their food whole or only chewing on one side. Some show no signs at all (survival of the fittest).

Bad breath is a sign of infection. A healthy mouth does not have a bad odor. How many 1 and 2 year old labs do you know with stinky breath? Most importantly this infection can harm 3 very important organs. The liver, heart and kidneys can all take a big hit from chronic periodontal disease. Take a look in your pet’s mouth – Odor? Red gums? Tartar accumulation? These indicate that treatment is indicated.

My dog is 13 years old. I’m afraid of the anesthesia.

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: Years ago I’m sure you heard horror stories of senior dogs going under anesthesia and not waking up. If I were in your shoes, I’d still be haunted by those stories too. But times have changed and so has veterinary medicine. In the past, veterinarians did not have the option of inhalant anesthesia and the unpredictable injectable agents were used. Inhalant isofluorane is now a standard of care in almost every veterinary hospital. Unique to our hospital is our pre-anesthetic blood panels and our extensive anesthetic monitoring.

Prior to each procedure we evaluate the internal health of our patients with a pre-anesthetic panel tailored to the individual. This has caught many underlying conditions that owners were not even aware existed. During each procedure we have a thoroughly trained anesthetic technician whose sole responsibility is monitoring temperature, ECG, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and depth of anesthesia. This ensures that any problems which occur are caught early and can be properly addressed. This level of monitoring is another example of why our hospital exceeds the standards of care for our patients. Remember, age is not a disease.

Question:I’ve heard of other places offering “sedation dentistry.” Why can’t this be performed?

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: Ahh, don’t get me going on this one ). I’m always so excited when owners ask about this because I love to talk about it! In my opinion (and in the opinion of the American Veterinary Dental Society), this process could be considered malpractice. The reasons are vast but a few of my favorites include:

~ The high risk of aspiration. Think of all the suctioning that occurs during your dental cleaning. Your pet MUST have a protected airway to prevent debris and fluid from traveling into the lungs.
~ Subgingival cleaning is next to impossible to achieve without full anesthesia. This is the scaling and polishing that occurs underneath the gumline where a significant amount of tartar and bacteria can develop.
~ The safety of our staff. A non-anesthetized patient can be roused easily.
~ The thoroughness of the treatment. It is impossible to perform thorough charting, radiographs, scaling and polishing without full anesthesia.

If you’re having your pet’s teeth cleaned it is obviously because you want what is best for them. Sedation dentistry is no where near the best. Whew! Can you believe that is my shortened version!?!?

(Check out this great article for a more thorough explanation. Beware there are some slightly graphic pictures at the end.)

Question: My dogs rabies tag has gotten lost from his collar. Do I need to have him get another rabies shot in order to get another tag?

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: This happens all the time! Give us a call (336-227-9979) and we’ll get your little one a new tag in mere moments. You can pick it up at your convenience. – Dr. Bolynn

Question: Why do Boxers “smack” their lips? Mine does this a lot. Is this normal?

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: Smacking lips can indicate a number of different issues almost all of which are physical. Of course there are the obvious issues which may be in the mouth – dental disease, gum masses, ulcerations, etc. These are best found during a physical examination.

We can often see lip smacking behavior in dogs with longer hair. When the hair gets in their mouth they smack their lips in order to get it out. This is obviously not a concern in your case.

Now, for the not so obvious – diet. What is your dog eating? Nausea, acid reflux, and a lower quality diet can all be a culprit. All of these cause an increase in the saliva production in the mouth which leads to lip smacking. It is actually a common misconception that dogs such as boxers, great danes and bull mastiffs are supposed to have long ropey drool.

So, what to do now? If there is no outward physical evidence of a cause for the lip smacking, I would begin with a diet upgrade. Upgrade to a premium grain-free diet such as Nature’s Variety Instinct. If you don’t see an improvement in about 4 weeks, give us a call and we can discuss other medical options including antinausea and antacid medications.

This is a great question which often goes unasked since most owners don’t see it as an issue. Although likely a mild issue, it is one that should be addressed to make sure your dog is getting 100% of what he needs. – Dr. Bolynn

Question: If I don’t give my dog a bath as regularly as I would in the summer months, now that it is colder, and continue to put Frontline on him monthly, will it work as effectively if he is in the presence of a dog that has fleas?

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: Frontline and Vectra are topical spot-on flea preventatives which are used once monthly. The frequency of bathing will not affect the efficacy of the product. So, whether your dog requires a bath once a week or once every 6 months the products will still their job. If your dog is in the presence of an animal which you know has fleas, it will be likely that you will see fleas on him. This is because the fleas must jump onto and bite your dog in order to die. The fleas will die and your dog will not “get fleas” from the contact. Vectra might be a better option for your dog since it does have some repellent activity. Great job on keeping up with your monthly flea prevention! Its a common misconception that you don’t need the prevention in the winter months. In North Carolina you do! – Dr. Bolynn

Question: I was wondering if you would recommend giving any supplements to a large breed puppy? My 5 month old Akita mix just switched from eating Solid Gold Wolf Cub to Candidae and a friend suggested I look into supplements to help prevent hip dysplasia or other joint problems. Also, I currently still mix hot water with my puppy’s food to make it easier for her to chew- when should I stop doing this? Thanks!

Answer from Dr. Bolynn: Great questions! I’m thrilled to hear you’re feeding your little girl such great quality diets (a topic that I could go on and on about but we’ll save that for another time). The most important thing you can do for her first year of life is to make sure she is on a high quality LARGE BREED dog food. Especially with the size of your little one this will be important. Large breed foods have a different ratio of Calcium and Phosphorous than other puppy foods which are important in the development of the bones in larger breeds.

Basically the bottom line on joint supplements is that there is no proof that they are effective, they can make great differences in some dogs already experiencing arthritis, and they won’t hurt if given. So, many owners opt to give them in the event they will help. We don’t routinely advise them until the dogs are showing signs of arthritis or are getting to the age when they will begin to develop arthritis.

One other note, is to make sure you’re getting your supplement from a trusted source. There is no FDA governing body on these, so you must depend on knowledge and research to know you’re actually getting what you pay for. Dasuquin is an excellent supplement from a highly trusted company.

It’s great that you’re already looking ahead at preventing any disease you can for your little one. You’re doing great work!