Mary Arnesen, DVM, of Complementary Veterinary Services in Stillwater, Minnesota, is a small-animal veterinarian whose specialties include acupuncture, chiropractic and the Penn Hip method of evaluating and grading a dog's hips.

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Question: Every fall while pheasant hunting my dog gets weed seeds in his eyes. Sometimes these don't present big problems — they just fall out on their own or during a simple field examination by me. Other times he really has a problem with them. Any advice?

Answer: If your dog is squinting, his eye is tearing or he is pawing at his eye, you need to check it out. First, give a cursory examination to see if you can see anything in the eye, especially the corners. Then look under the lids. If you don't see anything obvious, and the problem remains, my suggestion is to see a vet. This is not something you should wait for if the dog is squinting and obviously having a problem.

You might have some luck using a finger in the corner of the eye to remove an obstruction if you can see it. Sometimes a moistened Q-tip also works well. You can also try to flush the eye with a saline solution. If you only have water to use, you might try it, but it will sting the dog's eye.

These can be serious problems because weed seeds, which look like tiny bananas, get caught underneath the dog's third eyelid and rub on the cornea, causing an ulcer. This is very painful to a dog.

Weed seeds in the eye is not something that can be prevented. You just have to get them out when it happens.

If you do succeed in removing the seeds, apply an antibiotic ophthalmic ointment, with NO steroids, to the eye.

Once a weed seed is removed, the eye should be treated hourly while the dog is awake for the first day, using the smallest amount of ointment you can get out of the tube. Then see a vet. You want to be extra cautious here. If the eye improves markedly, you perhaps can wait to see a vet until the trip is over. But be careful.

Question: More than once while hunting I've had my dogs tear their toenails. This is very painful for them and in some instances has put them up for the rest of the trip. How should I address these when they occur?

Answer: Torn toenails are very painful for dogs, and they bleed a lot. But lots of times a dog injured in this way won't stop hunting.

You really want to examine the injury first to see whether the nail has been torn off or whether it's just cracked. Even if it is just cracked, you should muzzle the dog to prevent a biting accident — the pain for the dog is that severe.

In your field first-aid kit you should have some Kwik Stop to stop bleeding. Get that ready. Then take your toenail clipper and cut off the nail right at the crack. Do this fast. Painful as this is for the dog, it's less painful than having the toenail stay on and have it wobbling, irritating the quick, which are the nerves and blood vessels in the center of the nail.

Now use your Kwik Stop on the remaining end of the toenail and hold it there with pressure to make it stop bleeding. Apply a bandage to help prevent further bleeding, and to keep the dog from hurting himself unnecessarily when he inevitably bumps it.

My opinion with an injury like this is that it's best to put the dog away for the day, checking the injury later in the evening and the next morning. Check also to make sure the bandage isn't too tight, because we don't want to cut off circulation to the foot. Also check to make sure the bleeding is stopped.

If you elect to work the dog the next day, do it with a bandage on. Note: The bandage needs to stay dry. If the dog is going to be in water, take the bandage off and after you have finished hunting, clean the wound and apply a clean, dry bandage. Antibiotics in these situations can be a good idea; check with your vet.

Question: My dog suffers from allergies, particularly in fall. Is there anything I can do?

Answer: It‚ been dry in many parts of the country, and dryness can make allergies worse. Any yellow-skinned dog, pure-bred or not, will be more susceptible to inhalant allergies, so watch their ears and feet for redness. Allergies tend to present themselves in these areas.

Ragweed, trees, flowers, hay, mold, dust — all of these can contribute to allergies, especially when it's dry and windy.

It's best in these situations to consult your vet. A frequent bathing with mild shampoo can help in some instances. Sometimes switching foods can help. And sometimes, allergy testing and weekly hypo-sensitization shots can help. See your vet.

Previous Questions and Answers

Question: What should I do if my female Lab comes into heat just prior to hunting season, or during hunting season? — Will Smith, Willmar, Minn.

Answer: If the dog’s purpose is not for breeding, I would advise spaying her. In fact, the sooner the better, so you avoid conflicts with the hunting season.

If, on the other hand, the dog’s purpose if is for breeding, you have a few choices. If possible, you can use another dog that you might own, you can breed your dog now and still take it hunting, at least for the first month, provided precautions are taken around other male dogs. Or you can go ahead and hunt the female that is in heat while either going alone or selecting hunting partners who don’t have male dogs.

Also, there is a product called Cheque drops that when given to the female dog will postpone a heat cycle for an indeterminate period of time. The downside is that you don’t know when the female will next come into heat. It might be right after you stop the medication, or it might be three or six months or more.

In general, my recommendation is to spay females that are not being considered for breeding. Or breed them or leave them home.

If the worse-case scenario occurs, and your great bitch is accidentally mated to the local basset hound, your options are to spay or let her have the puppies and find them homes. Abortion is also possible. In the past, vets would give a single shot of DES, a high dose of estrogen. This approach isn’t used anymore because there is a high incidence of infection in the uterus, which likely would require spaying to resolve.

The alternative is to have your bitch undergo a series of Prostaglandin injections. But results can vary. In the best case, the litter would be re-absorbed and there would be no side effects. Second best would be that the litter is reabsorbed and the dog still goes into labor at 60 days or so after breeding, has contractions and produces milk. But there will be no puppies.

A third possibility, and the least desirable, is that the litter is mostly reabsorbed, the dog goes into labor and produces just the parts of puppies that were not reabsorbed.

None of these outcomes harm the reproductive tract, and, if desired, the bitch can be bred again at a later time.

My bottom-line advice is this: Be sure to talk to your vet in detail before choosing a course of action.

Question: Are ticks more active in the fall than summer? They sure seem to be, given the number of ticks — deer ticks especially — that I find on myself and my dogs in fall. — Rick Netko, Crosslake, Minn.

Answer: Ticks are quite active in the fall, when warm days are followed by cool nights. This is a time especially when Lyme Disease, which is carried by deer ticks, can be a real problem for hunters and their dogs.

Tick repellents are an excellent idea. Frontline is one that works well, but there are many other products. It’s important to note that not all products work for all dogs. Variables such as their coats and the oil content of their skin can affect the utility of repellents. I personally am not a fan of flea and tick collars because I don’t think it’s a good idea to hang that much insecticide by a dog’s head.

You should also know that the Lyme vaccine offered by vets affords SOME protection against Lyme disease. But it is not 100 percent effective. The vaccine typically lasts seven to eight months. So if a shot was given to a hunting dog in spring, the owner might want to consider a booster in fall.

In my practice, I do occasionally see young dogs with steroid-responsive pain, which could be the result, in some cases, of the Lyme vaccine. It seems to me that I see a fair bit of this, so I use the vaccine judiciously. Other veterinarians might have different views, and I would urge dog owners to consult their vets for further advice.

Question: My dog is having difficulty getting up on her back legs. She also can’t get up stairs very easily anymore, and can’t get up easily after playing outside or retrieving.

Answer: Most likely, you’re dealing with arthritis. Take the dog to your vet and have X-rays taken of the dog’s back, hips and knees. Arthritis can also exist in the elbows, neck and elsewhere. But most dogs I see, when they do have problems getting up, have them in the back, hips or knees.

The most important part of treating arthritic dogs is keeping their weight down. You want muscle, but no fat. So you are in a bit of a trap, in that you want to exercise the dog to maintain muscle. But you don’t want to overdo it and aggravate the arthritis.

Usually, the x-rays will help determine the source of the problem. Then, under your vet’s directions, you might choose to relieve your dog’s pain with plain buffered aspirin. A typical dose is one or two a day, with food, depending on the weight of the dog, and as recommended by your vet.

Aspirin, like most pain-relieving drugs we give dogs, can cause stomach or other intestinal problems, including bleeding. If the dog is not eating, vomits, has black stools or black tarry stools, stop the pain medications and see your vet.

A final note: Don’t give your dog Advil or any over-the-counter painkiller other than buffered aspirin as recommended by your vet. You can damage the dog’s liver and kill the dog.

Question: Mary, I'll be getting a new Lab soon to replace my old boy who died. Will it be OK to exercise him by running with him, or having him trail alongside my bike, so long as he doesn't get overheated? —Christian Walker, New Orleans

Answer: Young dogs should not go jogging with their owners or running alongside bikes. It's too hard on their young, developing bones, and too hard on their joints. Instead, they should be exercised in fields, where they can run back and forth on soft ground, not in straight lines. And/or they should be taken swimming.

When dogs are over 2 years of age, they can handle more of the straight-line running. But work up to it slowly. Just like a person would, you want to exercise a dog during the cool part of the day.

Remember: Sporting dogs generally won't stop on their own to protect themselves. They will work until they overheat.

Question: What should I do if my dog overheats?

Answer: Get them cooled as soon as possible. An overheated dog probably won't drink right away. If you can, get them into a pond or river to bring their body temperature down. If you have a choice, get its neck, legs, head, belly and rump cooled, but not the lower loins where the kidneys are.

Chances are, however, you will have few options in such a situation. So cool your dog as best you can and contact your vet immediately.

Question: My dog is one of the most important things in my life, and I want to recover him if he is ever lost. What's the best way to identify him, so if he is lost, whoever finds him will know he's mine and can contact me?

Answer: Most people today are implanting microchips in their dogs. That way if he's taken to a shelter or vet after being lost he can be scanned and his identification, in most cases, determined.
Tattoos can help, too. But if a dog is very frightened, he might not allow you to roll him over to check for markings.

Of course a collar with the dog's name on it and your name and phone number are the most important. Over and above that, I would implant a microchip. They cost between $35 and $45. Several brands are marketed.

Question: I know I should carry an emergency veterinary kit with me when I go into the field. But I often forget. My goal this year is to put one together. What should I include?

Answer: My husband is a bird hunter who often travels to North Dakota in the fall. He's a veterinarian, too, and even he forgets sometimes to bring a field vet kit. Maybe it's because he's a horse vet, I don't know. Anyway, this is what I'll be packing for him this fall:

A toenail clipper and some Quik-Stop to stop bleeding. A common injury in the field involves torn, ripped and bleeding toenails. Sometimes the injury is so bad the nail either comes off or has to be taken off. Either way, the Quik-Stop can help stop the bleeding.

For this reason and others, you'll also want a variety of bandage materials. Ointments for the eyes are also very important. Dogs hunting the uplands in particular suffer a lot of abrasions to the eyes and the areas around the eyes.

Also, for the chapped areas under a dog's legs or “arm pits,” I would bring a topical spray containing cortizone. A tube of Panalog, an antibiotic cream, is also good to have along.

Of course for low-running upland dogs such as springers and Brittanies, and also some Labs, a good idea is to look in a sporting catalog for a “jacket” or other protective clothing for their undersides. I have some customers who use small T-shirts on their dogs to protect them.

You also want a bottle of ear wash and a general antibiotic and antifungal ointment.

Some Neopredef powder is also good for small cuts or infections that can develop between a dog's toes - Neopredef is good for anything on the skin, really.

Also always bring some shampoo, some Flagyl pills for diarrhea, some Amoxitabs in case you need to put your vet on antibiotics after an injury, a pair of pliers to pull out porcupine quills, and a simple suture kit.

The fact is, most injuries to hunting dogs occur in places far from veterinary offices, and many of these injuries occur on weekends, when many vet offices are closed.

When you're dog is injured in these circumstances, often the hunter is the only one who can help, at least until a vet can be seen at a later time.

Ask your own vet what else they would recommend and what they feel comfortable arming you with. Good hunting.