DEAR DR. FOX: I have a 13-pound, 6-year-old neutered male Brussels griffon. He has had three surgeries (every two years) to remove oxalate crystals in his bladder and urethra. I have changed his diet several times to no avail. He is on Hills Prescription Diet g/d Canine Early Cardiac-Healthy Aging dry food.

I have had two other male griffons who also had several surgeries for the same problem. Those two were not neutered, and both died of kidney failure relatively young. All three dogs came from Australia, from different breeders. I brought them to Hawaii to raise.

Dr. Fox, have you any recommendations for a diet that might help my little dog avoid future stones? -- F.A.V., Honolulu

DEAR F.A.V.: Several factors are at play in the genesis of oxalate urinary calculi in dogs. These include genetics/breed susceptibility, high cereal content diets and artificial acidification by manufacturers to reduce struvite crystal formation. Also, many dogs do not drink adequate quantities of water, especially when they are on a dry-food diet.

I find it borderline malpractice when dogs with bladder stones/calculi are put on special prescription dry foods with no instructions to keep their urinary tract well flushed with copious fluid intake! For details, see the book I co-authored with two other veterinarians with expertise in pet nutrition, "Not Fit for a Dog."

Give your dog water flavored with chicken or beef bullion (make up your own, salt free), and transition him onto a raw food or lightly cooked home-prepared diet, such as my own recipe on DrFoxVet.com. (Use about one-quarter of the amount of rice in the recipe, or use quinoa as an alternative.) Herbs such as gravel root, stone root, shepherd's purse, plantain and marshmallow are said to help dissolve stones, making future surgeries unnecessary. You may want to explore this with a veterinarian with interest and expertise in such holistic/integrative medicine. To contact a holistic veterinarian in your area, visit holisticvetlist.com.

DEAR DR. FOX: Our 4-year-old schnauzer has been diagnosed with dry eye KCS. This came on suddenly, and after three weeks of erythromycin with no results, she was switched to cyclosporine. I have been applying it twice a day, and after three weeks, I can see no difference. I have heard surgery is sometimes necessary for this. What is your opinion? -- G.B., Arlington, Va.

DEAR G.B.: There are many causes and predispositions -- such as breed and being spayed -- that can contribute to dogs developing this distressing and potentially blinding condition of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), a chronic deficiency of aqueous tear secretion. Drying of the corneas can lead to opacity and ulceration and can be extremely painful. Your dog will need to be on the cyclosporine two or three times daily for the rest of her life.

Changing her diet gradually to a whole-food, organic formulation with omega-3 fatty acid supplements, such as my home-prepared diet on my website, www.drfoxvet.com, or a commercial raw-food diet may provide some benefit. Artificial tears and eyedrops containing eyebright may also help and can be used once daily as a substitute for one cyclosporine treatment. Your dog's eyes must, of course, be constantly monitored, and any rapid blinking (blepharospasm) or rubbing of the eyes calls for a veterinary eye examination for possible corneal ulceration.

(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 three cats -- ages 1, 2 and 3 years old. They have never had their teeth cleaned. I took my previous cats to a veterinarian who would clean their teeth while he gave them their annual shots --without putting them under. I no longer have that veterinarian. I am concerned that the new vet wants to put my cats under general anesthesia. I'm worried about the cost and the danger.

What do you think about cats and teeth cleaning? -- S.F., St. Louis

DEAR S.F.: I am receiving more and more letters like yours, and it does concern me that veterinarians are putting cats and dogs through the risks of general anesthesia. In many instances, putting the cat under is not warranted when the teeth cleaning needed is minor and the animal is amenable to gentle and effective restraint in a blanket wrap. In some instances, a mild sedative must be administered.

It is true that the older veterinarians did not routinely put cats and dogs under for minor dental work. With new equipment, rising practice costs and a new generation of graduates more aware of the high incidence of dental diseases in cats and dogs -- in part due to the kinds of manufactured pet foods these animals are consuming -- giving a general anesthetic for any and all dental procedures is becoming a standard practice. But it needs to be questioned, especially when animals die as a consequence.

Very often only some tartar and scale on the back molars need to be removed, and this can be done with a fingernail.

Applying PetzLife Oral Care spray or gel formulated for cats can help loosen scale, fight any gum inflammation and reduce infection (oral dysbiosis). It should be used, in my opinion, for three to five days (closely following the manufacturer's instructions) before any dental procedure is done on cats and dogs. This may help reduce post-anesthetic complications associated with oral dysbiosis by reducing the inflammation and bacterial infection prior to dental surgery.

Such products can also be used on a routine, short-period basis as a way to prevent dental problems in pets. Try it along with safe chewy things cats and dogs enjoy, like scalded raw chicken wing tips and thin strips of beef shank meat for cats and organic rawhide strips (processed in the U.S) and scalded raw chicken or turkey necks for dogs.

For more details visit my website, DrFoxVet.com.

LAWN CHEMICALs AND THE RISK OF CANINE MALIGNANT LYMPHOMA

Malignant lymphoma is an all-too-common cancer in dogs. After adjustment for dogs' age, weight and other factors, the use of specific lawn-care products was found to be associated with greater risk of canine malignant lymphoma (CML), according to a recent report in the journal "Environmental Research" by Dr. B.B. Takashima-Uebelhoer and associates. Specifically, the use of professionally applied pesticide was associated with a 70 percent higher risk of CML. Risks were also higher in those reporting use of self-applied insect growth regulators, but the use of flea and tick control products was found to be unrelated to risks of CML.

(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 two littermate cats whom I adopted as kittens in 1997. One was diagnosed with chronic renal failure (CRF) last March when he stopped eating dry cat food. He didn't eat much at all through April until I gave him Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Frozen Diet chicken. He ate one to two medallions per day along with some Temptations treats and a little milk. He tried to eat high-quality canned food by licking the liquid, but he always went back to the raw. Now my non-CRF cat also prefers frozen raw.

Are my cats showing that frozen raw is a better cat food, especially for the CRF cat? Is it better for the kidneys? -- D.L, Maryland Heights, Mo.

DEAR D.L.: You can thank your cat for showing you what will help improve his health. He is exercising what I call his "innate nutritional wisdom," which is so often thrown off when cats become addicted to certain manufactured cat foods, especially dry kibble. Dry food has been implicated in some kinds of CRF and lower urinary tract problems. For more details, see the new paperback edition of "Not Fit for a Dog."

I have long advocated whole foods for cats and dogs, and that includes frozen raw and freeze-dried raw foods. Always give your pet probiotics, and transition him or her slowly over a seven- to 10-day period from conventional diets to the better ones, like those on my website, DrFoxVet.com.

Some believe that because of its close ties with some of the big pet food manufacturers that see the raw food movement as a threat, the American Veterinary Medical Association, of which I am an Honor Roll member, has come out in opposition to raw food diets because of alleged public health concerns over bacterial contamination. But the fact is that cooking does not kill all these potential pathogens, and most pet food recalls due to salmonella and other bacterial contamination are with dry foods and treats, and rarely with the frozen raw foods!

MANUFACTURED DOG FOODS MISLABELED

The following PetfoodIndustry.com statement was given after the industry posted findings from tests it conducted to determine the accuracy of content labeling. It calls for greater vigilance and accountability, especially when dogs need to be put on a single-protein diet or a rotational diet because of possible food allergy/sensitivity:

"As in the human food industry, this type of mislabeling is typically not intentional on the part of the manufacturer. Rather, it is most often the result of mistakes during formulation or the receipt of mislabeled product from a supplier."

Twelve formulas listed no gluten source on the label, and five were labeled either gluten-free or grain-free. However, five of the 12 -- including two labeled gluten- or grain-free -- contained gluten at greater than 80 parts per million (ppm), a level much higher than the Food and Drug Administration's limit of 20 ppm to qualify for labeling as gluten-free in human foods.

Eight formulas tested positive for an animal protein not listed on the ingredient label, with two foods containing undeclared beef or sheep, five containing pork and one containing deer.

Two foods labeled as containing venison tested negative for deer, but instead contained beef, sheep or pork.

Two foods labeled as containing "meat and bone meal" (rather than a specific protein source) tested positive for pork. Because pork can be considered meat, these formulas were not technically mislabeled.

One may wonder about the accuracy of labeling of cat foods and foods from companies without their own manufacturing plants that contract out and share facilities with others using different ingredients. For those foods, cross-contamination is another issue.

COMMERCIAL RESTRICTED DIETS MAY HAVE HIDDEN ALLERGENS Commercial diets advertised for dogs with allergies may not live up to their labels, according to a recent study by Dr. D.M. Raditic and associates. The team evaluated the content of four over-the-counter (OTC) dry venison dog foods and found each contained common food allergens, including soy and beef, despite claims to the contrary.

If these four OTC venison products are representative of OTC products in general, then OTC venison dry dog foods should not be used during elimination trials in suspected food allergy patients.

(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.)