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Paws & Claws

Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas. She lives in Blacksburg now, and answers local pet owners' questions every week in The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com.

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Q We have a 2-year-old Scottish collie mix dog. He has a funny-colored nose -- part of it doesn't seem to be pigmented. The unpigmented part seems to get sunburned. I have tried putting on sunscreen, but he licks it off. He also licks off the Vaseline I put on to help the sunburn. Any suggestions?

A The parti-colored nose is called a Dudley nose and is common in Scottish collies.

The condition your dog has is also very common in collies, so much so that it is called "collie nose" and is, in fact, an autoimmune disease causing the unpigmented part of the nose to become raw and scabby when exposed to sunlight.

It is a type of localized lupus erythematosus. Simple topical cortisone lotion helps reduce the inflammation. Apply a few drops to the nose just before feeding, so that there is less chance of it being licked off.

Check with your veterinarian that there is no other complication such as bacterial or fungal infections. When your dog goes out in the sun, apply calamine lotion or zinc oxide ointment to the nose to prevent the photosensitivity and resulting sunburn.

Once the nose is completely healed, ask your veterinarian about the relatively simple procedure of tattooing the nose with a protective pigment to prevent a recurrence of the problem next summer.

Q Our boxer bitch has suddenly become incontinent. When she gets up from her bed, there is a damp patch, and sometimes the area round her vulva appears wet. In all other aspects she seems quite fine, full of life and eating and drinking normally.

A Your veterinarian should check your dog to make sure there is no systemic reason for this incontinence, for example cystitis or inflammation of the bladder caused by bacteria or stones, kidney disease or diabetes.

Incontinence in spayed bitches is not uncommon and is due to a weakening of the bladder sphincter's ability to retain normal amounts of urine when the dog is sleeping and relaxed. It occurs more often in middle-aged overweight bitches and those that are under-exercised.

Treatment consists of a course of oral hormone replacement tablets containing a synthetic estrogen. Most cases respond quickly, although there may be relapses from time to time that will require further hormone therapy.

If your boxer is overweight, try increasing the amount of exercise and reducing the amount of cereal-based food in the diet.

Q I wanted to share our terrible experience with you and the readers of your column. We bought a very expensive gorgeous Blenheim cavalier puppy from a breeder, and when she was 18 months old, she became hydrocephalic and developed back pain and in-coordination. We eventually had her euthanized. Apparently this condition is hereditary, although the breeder denied it.

A This condition is called the Arnold-Chiari malformation, and is similar to hydrocephalus in people. It is a hereditary condition brought on by two recessive genes, one carried by the dam and one by the sire.

The condition is becoming increasingly common in Blenheim cavaliers because of inbreeding or line breeding (this is mother-son or father-daughter breeding, or even when siblings are bred together) to obtain their characteristic orange-and-white coat color.

The symptoms of this condition include aimless reflex scratching at the tummy, in-coordination and intense back pain together with the typical "apple head."

Treatment consists of a surgical procedure to place a permanent shunt in the spinal canal to drain away the excess spinal fluid. It is not an easy surgery and should be done by an expert.

The cavalier breed club in Britain is trying hard to eradicate this and other problems in the breed, but there is no penalty for breeders who breed unhealthy puppies.

And, unfortunately, there are still respectable breeders, as well as those who run puppy farms, who cannot or will not admit that they may be breeding less than perfect dogs.