Please can you put my mind at rest. My 12 year old yorkie terrier has had high protein levels in her urine and now our vet wants to run a special urine test to determine what might be going on with her. Any suggestions as to what it could be?

G Westbrooke, Oxfordshire

Protein is normally not present in the urine in detectable quantities. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that protein in the urine indicates kidney damage/inflammation, and although this is very likely, it can be caused by conditions which do not directly involve kidney damage like high blood pressure, bladder infection/inflammation, red blood cell rupture, disease in other organs like the liver.

Your vet will do further tests to find out exactly what is going on.

Most of these conditions are controllable but, as with most problems, the sooner you get a diagnosis the better.

I have a dog that has recently developed ‘cherry eye’. I understand that it’s a clogged tear duct. One eye did this and became really bad, did not respond to ointment, so we let the vet cut out the tear duct. I read online that there was some procedure that could tuck it in instead of cutting it out but my vet didn’t want to do this. Is the removal of the duct going to affect him later in life? Now the second one is doing it. Is there something in my house or environment that could be causing this? Could this be hereditary, should my dog’s breeder be concerned about this? What could be causing this?

Anonymous, Oxfordshire

Cherry eye is a problem with a tear producing gland which is part of the third eyelid, not the tear duct itself.

When this gland prolapses (pops out) it becomes visible as a red swelling in the inner corner of the eye.

This condition is thought to be hereditary in certain breeds of dog e.g. mastiff, beagle, bulldog, cocker spaniel. Inherited red eye is very likely to occur in both eyes and breeders should be informed if puppies they produce are suffering from this condition. Treatment involves either tucking the gland back in or complete removal of the gland. The surgical tuck is the better method but the success rate can be frustrating. The condition will not resolve itself without treatment. There is no Ask the Vet next Tuesday, but the column will return on Tuesday, January 4.