[nagdu] A few questions

[minh ha]

Hi all,

I have a few questions regarding issues with Viva's health. Any
insight would be appreciated.

1. Viva has been getting ear infections after every single bath,
whether at the groomer's or at home. She gets bathed every three
months or so and every single time, without fail, she develops an ear
infection 1 to 2 weeks after. At first, I thought it was just a
coincidence, but this is the third time now and I know it shouldn't
happen that frequently. The groomer does clean her ears and so do I
with epiotic ear solution, so I can't really figure out why these ear
infections are happening.

2. Over the past six months or so, her breath has been getting
increasingly worse and worse. It is tolerable but it's not the fresh
doggie breath that she had when I first went home with her. I brush
her teeth daily and she doesn't have any teeth problems. I know that
sometimes bad digestion can cause bad breath in dogs, but besides
this, the food that I give her (natural balance lamb and rice) agrees
very well with her. I also give her flax seed oil with every meal and
it really helps her coat, but not her breath. I stopped giving her the
oil for a few days and the odorous breath lessened a little bit, but
it's still definitely there. What could be other causes of bad breath?
And are there alternatives to flax seed oil that I could give her?

3. She has also been shedding an inordinate amount of hair. Viva is an
extremely short-coated dog and she never used to shed as much as she
is now. Is it just a normal doggie thing where as the weather gets
warmer, they shed their winter fluff?

Sorry for the long post; I'm just trying to cover all my bases and
make sure there's not an imbalance going on. Thanks for any help.

Minh




-- 
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence