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Medication Pros & Cons
Also..OCD, coughing, skin problems and suggestions for kenneling for harsh winters.
By Tom Holcomb, ,DVM
(Question)
I have been a reader of Gun Dog magazine for a number of years now and have always enjoyed your articles and insight and thought you could help me through this situation.
I am concerned about kenneling my spaniels outside during the winter. I am from Sudbury, Ontario, and our winters are rather harsh with gusting winds and extremely cold temperatures. I moved recently and I have to construct a new kennel design and am considering types of bedding and other factors.
Are there any other added precautions I should be taking? I would appreciate all recommendations and will likely put as many as possible into practice. Thank you . --SC
(Answer)
Spaniels should be able to stay outside under most cold weather conditions if given a few essentials. Protection from the wind is important. This may be accomplished with high board fences and placement of the runs on the south side of a building, away from the prevailing winds.
The dogs should also have small nest boxes, just one-third larger than the dog. This lessens heat loss, minimizing the amount of heat the dog has to generate. I feel the best bedding material is prairie hay; I call it sweet grass hay.
Obviously you can insulate the doghouse to reflect the climate that you are in. Avoid using aluminum as a construction material for the doghouse as it is a great conductor of cold and can cause frostbite if a dog is lying directly against it.
Think about your feeding and water scheme also. If you force the dogs to drink cold water and eat cold food they then have to expend extra calories to warm that food up so that it can be digested and utilized by the body. It is just as easy to offer water that is body temperature and food that has been stored in a warm house as it is to give cold stuff.
(Question)
My seven-month-old female Deutsch drahthaar pup was diagnosed with OCD of the front left shoulder. They took x-rays to make sure, which showed the flap or mouse. My veterinarian informed me that surgery was highly suggested, the sooner the better. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory for her while I took her to hunt for a week out west. She did very well on them and I just see a slight “hitch” at times in her gait when she is walking.
I informed the breeder about the situation and he said not to have the surgery; that “she would grow out of it.” He told me that he had only one other case of it in his breedings over the years and that he didn’t think that OCD was a hereditary problem.
Is surgery the best way to take care of this problem? What is the professional opinion regarding whether it is genetic/hereditary? What percentage of success goes along with this type of surgery? Should I keep her on the anti-inflammatory until hunting season is over? --TS
(Answer)
I am reluctant to use anti-inflammatory on young dogs just so they can be hunted. I think this dog should be rested while the underlying condition is diagnosed and corrected. If there is a loose flap on the head of the humerus or a piece of cartilage floating around in the joint then I would recommend operating on the joint.
This surgery is highly successful in cleaning up the defect and encouraging it to fill in and heal. If you don’t do surgery these dogs often go on to have chronic arthritis. Prevailing opinion is that these defects are hereditary. I have seen multiple cases of OCD in certain bloodlines and my recommendation is that the dogs not be bred.
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