• Growls
• Barks
• Shows its teeth
• Stares right at you
• Tucks its tail between its legs
• Holds its ear down flat against its head
• May shake or tremble
• Drops to a crouch

Also stay away from an angry or frightened cat – you may get hurt. Dangers signs from cats that tell you to stay away:

• It runs away or hides
• Its ears are lying flat
• It hisses showing its teeth
• It twitches its tail or holds it stiff
• It raises its back up in the air
• It growls
• Its fur is standing up on end, puffed out
• It stares at you

If your child is bitten or scratched by a strange dog or cat, contact your doctor for the appropriate treatment. Always keep in mind dogs and cats can transmit rabies, and bites can become seriously infected if not treated properly.

Below is a list of the different products that are available at East Dallas Veterinary Clinic.

Advantage Multi® from Bayer
This product is available as a topical for either dogs or cats. Advantage Multi® is a prescription drug that also is a heartworm preventive. It provides flea knockdown in about 8 hours. It is susceptible to wash off, therefore outdoor active dogs and dogs that swim may benefit from a different product.

Capstar® from Novartis
This is a prescription tablet for dogs and cats as young as 4 weeks of age.  It offers extremely rapid and complete killing of adult fleas on the pets after administration.  It is safe enough that the tablets may be used as needed, as often as once per day, whenever you see fleas on your pet.  This is designed to be used in combination with an insect growth regulator to knock out fleas when these slower products are being used for long-term control.  It can also be used when the pet has visited a flea-infested environment for rapid protection.

Comfortis ®for Dogs from Eli Lilly
This monthly prescription tablet for fleas represents a completely new class of drugs in flea control.  It is available for use on puppies and dogs 14 weeks of age or older and is available flavored (soy and pork) chewable tablets. It is meant to be used once a month and preliminary results show it to be very useful for flea allergic pets as it has a rapid kill rate.

These products along with Frontline and Advantage are available on our online pharmacy.

In dogs xylitol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. It then acts as a strong promoter of insulin release, which causes profound low blood sugar. In dogs, xylitol can also cause liver failure, bleeding, and death.  It takes very little xylitol to cause signs of toxicity in dogs.

It is often difficult to determine exactly how many grams of xylitol were ingested. Although the xylitol content is more commonly listed on food products, this is not the case with many chewing gums. In general, we estimate that one or two pieces of gum could cause hypoglycemia in a 20-lb dog.

Diagnosis is made on history of ingestion, symptoms, and blood work. Because of the rapid progression of the toxic effect, testing for xylitol in the blood is not realistic.

• Vomiting is often the first symptom. 
• Signs of hypoglycemia (lethargy, weakness) occur rapidly.
• Diarrhea, collapse and seizures may be seen.

Dogs that develop acute liver failure may not show signs of hypoglycemia immediately after ingestion of xylitol. 

Because of xylitols rapid absorption pets exposed to it should be evaluated by a veterinarian immediately.  Remember that even 1-2 pieces of xylitol-containing gum can be toxic to a dog.