DEAR DR. FOX: I lost my German shepherd/chow mix and my Great Dane/Lab mix to cancer within months of each other last year. I immediately adopted Buddy, a 4-month-old golden retriever/Lab mix, from a no-kill shelter because I love big black dogs, and I know they have a horrible time finding homes.

I took him to the vet because he had a sore on his back leg and one on his penis. I wanted to make sure that he did not have ringworm. (He didn't.) The vet looked at some skin scrapings under a microscope and told me that he had a bacterial infection. She prescribed cephalexin. Buddy got diarrhea almost immediately after taking the medicine. His stool wavered between soft and loose. I stopped the cephalexin and called the vet. The vet put him on PVD FortiFlora Canine. The next day, his vet was off duty, but another vet put him on metronidazole. The stools were firmer after five days, so I stopped the pills.

After 24 hours, the soft/loose stools returned. I put him back on the metronidazole for several days. I called the vet to renew the prescription, and this vet informed me that the normal dosage should have been four times the amount I had been prescribed, so she changed that for him.

He was perfectly fine until the cephalexin. One of the vets suggested he be examined again, but I am not sure what good this would do. I seem to get different answers depending on which vet I speak to that day. I gave Buddy probiotics all of this time. Can you help? -- K.W., Imperial, Mo.

DEAR K.W.: I am shocked that the veterinarian prescribed such a powerful oral drug as cephalexin rather than treating the skin infection with a topical ointment.

Clearly, the cephalexin wiped out some of the beneficial bacteria in your dog's digestive tract, causing dysbiosis or bacterial population imbalance. The corrective treatments prescribed were appropriate.

I would give your dog a good-quality probiotic twice daily, along with a prebiotic such as inulin (not insulin) and digestive enzymes. Herbal preparation of marshmallow root, chamomile, aloe vera and cramp bark may help alleviate the diarrhea. Glutamine, N-acetyl glucosamine, lecithin and montmorillonite clay or calcium aluminosilicate are all potential remedies for this kind of diarrhea.

Avoid food with soy or grain. For more details, including my home-prepared dog food and treat recipes and a dog food quality scoring system, check my website, DrFoxVet.com.

DEAR DR. FOX: I am writing for your advice on food for my 16-year-old male cat, Chester. He's feeling the effects of his age with constipation and less-than-ideal kidney function (but not in the danger range yet).

The vet wants to put him on prescription low-protein dry food, either Iams or Science Diet. I'm not a fan of dry food or of those brands. Based on your column's pet food suggestions, Chester has been happily eating Evo moist food with pumpkin and fish oil added for several years.

Do you have any suggestions for alternatives to prescription low-protein food? Anything homemade? What is your opinion of giving constipated cats a laxative? -- M.S., McLean, Va.

DEAR M.S.: I would think twice about forcing an old cat onto a new, unpalatable diet he may loathe, which can make him suffer hunger pangs and a lowered quality of life.

While some of these prescription-only special diets can be beneficial, they are highly profitable and tend to be relied upon too much as the best remedy for various pet ailments.

I would never put a cat with kidney disease who likes moist, canned foods onto an all-dry diet. Low-protein diets are not advisable when the kidney disease causes more protein to be passed in the urine. Supplements such as fish oil (which your cat enjoys), potassium, vitamin D3 and a phosphate binder such as Renagel (under veterinary supervision) should help. The tasty product Laxatone and abdominal massage should help alleviate your cat's constipation.

UNIQUE VETERINARY CALENDAR

The 2013 Dr. ShowMore calendar is a "Calendar Girls"-style calendar featuring 17 holistic veterinarians from all over the world in tasteful, artistic, au naturel photographs with their beloved animals. The Dr. ShowMore project is part of the Center for Integrative Veterinary Care Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and outreach. One hundred percent of all proceeds will be donated toward veterinary student scholarships. The price, $15, includes shipping and handling. Visit DrShowMore.org to place an order.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox's website at DrFoxVet.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: We first wrote to you about our dog Loki in 2008 after we had rescued him from the Animal Care & Control of NYC shelter. He was described as a 5-year-old collie mix. He was actually more like an 8-year-old Lab/pit bull mix, according to our vet. He was very anxious and seemed to be longing for a lost owner. Your response to us helped immensely.

Our reason for writing now is to ask how we can determine Loki's current quality of life. From our vantage point, he seems happy -- but he is blind, often confused and has been diagnosed with Cushing's disease. He is now probably about 13 years old. He weighs 90 pounds, but should weigh 80 pounds.

In 2010, Loki had a benign mast cell tumor removed. In February 2011, he was diagnosed with Cushing's. The next August, he went blind. After a thorough exam by our vet and a canine ophthalmologist, no cause could be found, but the condition -- bilateral optic neuritis and chorioretinitis -- was deemed irreversible and not treatable. It was surmised the pituitary tumor may have grown to impact the retinal nerves.

We do not want to give up on Loki. He responds to us with vigorous tail wags and eats your recipe for homemade food well. He knows his way around the house, but is totally disoriented outside. He is loved and pampered by the entire extended family.

Our vet prescribed tramadol tablets if it seems he has pain, but we really don't know. We have been mildly criticized for keeping Loki alive this long.

What is your opinion? Our vet is noncommittal. We value your suggestions and always appreciate your compassion for animals. -- J. & M.H., Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

DEAR J. & M.H.: Yes, I remember your earlier letter concerning Loki because that happens to be the name of an elephant with whom my wife, Deanna Krantz, became involved in India, resulting in an international controversy.

I regret that your veterinarian is behaving in a noncommittal way. I have had some bad experiences with dogs on tramadol, which can make them more anxious/agitated. Three or four drops of lavender oil on a bandanna may relieve some of your dog's anxiety. A daily full-body massage, like in my book "The Healing Touch for Dogs," an occasional buffered aspirin (with food) and a daily teaspoon of fish oil in his food may help alleviate inflammation-associated pain.

As long as he enjoys life, continues to cope with his loss of vision, feels secure and responds to all the TLC you can give him, I feel euthanasia may be premature. In some communities, there are veterinarians who do in-home hospice care supervision. Perhaps you can find one.

PRIORITY TOTAL PET CARE TREAT RECALL

Carolina Prime Pet Inc. is voluntarily recalling its Priority Total Pet Care All Natural Bullstrips in five-count packaging. This product has yielded a positive result for salmonella when tested by the Colorado Agriculture Department. No reported cases of illness have been related to this product. Priority Total Pet Care All Natural Bullstrips, which are made from bulls' penises, are sold in Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Pak N Save, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Genuardi's and Dominicks stores.

Customers who purchased the recalled dog treats should discontinue use immediately, and return the items to the purchase location.

For further information, please call Carolina Prime Pet Inc. at 888-370-2360.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox's website at DrFoxVet.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I have an 8-year-old Tibetan terrier, Jesse; a 4-year-old Maltese, Sophie; and a 2-year-old Maltese, Dylan.

My vet believes that monthly heartworm prevention is necessary. All dogs get Heartgard Plus every month. Even though I've never missed a month, when it gets close to a year, the vet requires blood work for a negative reading before she will approve more medication. The blood work is $45 per dog. The medication is also quite costly. She requires that I sign a waiver for the meds if I do not buy them from her and get them on the Internet.

According to Dr. David Knight and Dr. James Lok of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, addressing recommendations for year-round meds, "The practice of some veterinarians to continuously prescribe monthly chemoprophylaxis exaggerates the actual risk of heartworm transmission in most parts of the country and unnecessarily increases the cost of protection to their clients."

What do you think? -- C.Z., Naples, Fla.

DEAR C.Z.: In most states, there are flea/tick and mosquito seasons that justify intermittent use of preventive drugs. But in areas like Florida, it can be a year-round battle. Check my website, DrFoxVet.com, for safer methods of flea and tick control.

If you are confident that you can keep mosquitoes away indoors and out, your dogs may stop taking heartworm medication. But since the Heartgard Plus also keeps other parasites at bay and the low dose is safe for most breeds, it may be wise to continue with the monthly preventive medication.

Use botanical insect repellents such as Organic Orange TKO Natural Cleaner (diluted in water) or a water/eucalyptus oil or lemon oil spritz to keep mosquitoes and other biting insects away from you and your dogs.

We must adopt precautionary principles such as keeping dogs off chemically sprayed sidewalks and lawns and fight the use of such poisons in our communities.

Lymphoma and other cancers, even in young dogs, are the main causes of death in our canine companion animals. I attribute much of this to the toxic environments we have created in our homes and outdoors, where insecticides and herbicides are used routinely and by and large unnecessarily for cosmetic purposes. Also, agrichemical contaminants of human food and pet food play a significant, but impossible to quantify, role in the genesis of cancer, some types being especially prevalent in farmers and agricultural workers.

DEAR DR. FOX: We have a 7-year-old male Russian blue cat, Boris, who weighs 6 1/2 pounds. His weight has remained constant, and, apart from what I am about to describe, he has had no significant health problems.

Boris was adopted when he was a year old, and we noticed soon after he arrived that he periodically choked or gagged and threw up food he had recently eaten or bile. We took him to our veterinarian, who advised that the behavior might be genetic but was no cause for concern.

We feed Boris moist food (Friskies) in the form of shreds or flakes. He's a finicky eater, and he will turn up his nose at one form of food or another, even though he relished it the day before. He also gets treats in the afternoon (Temptations), and he doesn't let me forget to give them to him. He rarely gets tuna, but yesterday we gave him a few bits and some liquid from the can. He ate and drank everything and did not regurgitate it. I tend to believe the treats may be responsible for his problem, but he throws up his regular food too.

Lately, he has been throwing up more often, and he always gags or chokes beforehand. We are wondering whether or not we should discontinue the treats, change his food, provide some sort of medication or simply ignore the problem. -- R.F.T., Bonita Springs, Fla.

DEAR R.F.T.: I receive many letters from people whose cats share the same symptoms as yours and have posted many replies on my website.

I do not like the cavalier attitude of the veterinarian who saw your cat. The problem should not be dismissed as some kind of genetic behavioral quirk of no consequence. I would cut out the treats, consider fur balls in his stomach and urge you to transition him onto a raw food diet or one that is grain- and soy-free.

Your cat most likely has a food allergy or hypersensitivity. There are many other reasons why cats regurgitate their food, from eating too quickly and not being fed four to six small meals a day to having chronic renal failure or fatty liver disease. I would not ignore this problem.

NORTH DAKOTA STILL WITHOUT CRUELTY FELONY

In state elections this November, 65.4 percent of voters in North Dakota voted against Proposition 5, which would have made it a class C felony, punishable by incarceration, to maliciously and intentionally harm a living dog, cat or horse. This measure was aimed at domestic pets, and would have been enforced against instances akin to Michael Vick's dog fighting cruelties, but provided exceptions for veterinarians, hunters, scientists and agriculture workers. North Dakota joins South Dakota as the two states in the nation without animal cruelty felonies.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox's website at DrFoxVet.com.)