Recent Questions by Dr. Jo

i have a 13 yr old male choc lab. been in generally good health. developed a tooth abcess 2 wks ago. to our vet. drain in head for sev days to remove the infection. home on po abs. within 36 hrs abcess had returned larger than the sz it was before the first trip to the vet. they again put the drain tube back in his head, added a second ab and sent home. i have been giving two abs BID, irrigating the drain tube twice a day. and now he has a horrible cough. sounds like he is in quite a bit of distress. keeping him calm of course helps alot but any movement makes him get extremely SOB. cough is non productive although he soulds like he would feel better if it would be productive. thus far i have spent > $1000 to help him get better. when will i know enuf is enuf for my "fudge". Lisa Wagoner, West Virginia

My dog got into garage and ate a bunch of pork rib bones and corn cobs, yesterday he was throwing up bone splinters, today he pooped all over house with very light colored poop with splinter (& corn) in it. He is listless and looks miserable. Will he be ok?

We got a kitten from animal shelter on 05/21/11. Kitten was 8 weeks old. A week after we got him, he was coughing and sneezing and its activity level was low. It looked tired. After couple of days, he was back to normal and playful. Last Wed, he was not playing and then we noticed he was falling down while walking. We took him to a vet and vet prescribed antibiotics. We took him again on last Fri and vet told his condition has worsened. Friday evening vet left a message saying there is a 1% chance that he could be having rabies and stay away from it. Kitten has not got rabies vaccine yet. We were told to wait till 12 weeks before giving rabies vaccination.Sat evening it looks like he is getting better. He is walking and playing. But still falls down sometimes when we walks. But he is playful and looks much better. I've to take him to vet tomorrow morning. Vet told only way to test kitten for rabies is to put him off and send brain part.
I'm really confused what to do. I've 2 kids 9 and 6 who played with him before he was sick. We all got some minor scratches here and there before he was very sick. But no one got any bites from him.
My question is should we be worried about getting rabies if he has rabies. He is not drooling. He is playful right now. He is eating food. Not drinking water himself. When I give water using a filler, he is drinking it. Vet called the shelter and they told his mom & siblings are doing fine. We never left him outside of our house. We put him in basement and I don't know he ate something poisonous. I didn't find anything poisonous in the basement.
I read if cat is walking unsteady and falling down, it could have rabies.
I need your advice. If vet tells me there is 1% chance that he has rabies, should I go ahead and test him? Or keep him and see whether his condition gets worsens and dies. But in case we got infected from his scratches and if we are not testing him and something happens to him later, wont we be in danger with rabies? Please advise. I dont know what to do.