It happens quite often that I’ll run a blood panel on a seemingly healthy senior dog, and I discover one or two liver enzymes are higher than normal. How worried should we be? Well, it depends, but here’s some general patterns. The usual culprit is an enzyme called Alkaline Phosphatase, or Alk-Phos, or Alk-P. I […]
There’s something freaky about seeing your dog’s formerly floppy ear become enlarged and painful. Ear hematomas (AKA aural hematomas) can develop overnight, and the severe ones can be quite uncomfortable. But how does it happen? The typical dog with an ear hematoma (pronounced HE-ma-TOH-ma) has floppy ears that can really get going when he shakes […]
Whenever I have a patient that I suspect Addison’s disease in, I always sigh and dread having to explain it. Why? The disease is not straight-forward, can have many forms, and can imitate other disease, making a simple explanation impossible. I’ll try to cover it as reasonably as possible…this might be long and kinda boring […]
Your vet probably said your dog was overweight. Or fat. Or even obese. Carrying around extra weight isn’t cute, it can shorten your dog’s life by a lot of years. As a house call vet, I see my fair share of dogs whom I am putting to sleep simply because they are too fat to […]
Many years ago, I had a client with several cats. He would bring each one in and proclaim what a great pet owner he was, because he vaccinated EVERY pet EVERY year. He would end every exam by saying “I keep MY cats healthy!” I applaud his enthusiasm, and his love for his cats. But […]
You might have seen headlines about grain free food lately contributing to a heart disease in dogs called DCM. What’s up with that? The grain free fad was started a few years ago by marketing companies who make pet food. There was never any real science to back it up, but pet owners jumped on […]
Getting the phone call from your vet telling you your pet has giardia can be un-nerving. If your dog or cat has had diarrhea, this is the likely explanation. If it was a routine fecal test on a healthy pet, however, the diagnosis of giardia can be a bit of a surprise. Most vets are […]
Enucleation. (Pronounced ee-NEW-clee-AY-shen). It’s a much nicer sounding word than “eyeball removal.” But that’s what it is. If you’ve been battling a major eye disease for a while, and the eye is not responding, your veterinarian might have recommended it. We typically recommend removing the eye when it is no longer able to see (so […]
The condition known as “dry eye” can be incredibly frustrating for pet owners and veterinarians. It is the rebel disease that responds to treatment sometimes, not others, for no apparent reason. The symptoms don’t really make sense. The whole package is odd. So, time to explain it! The medical term for dry eye is KCS […]
Dogs don’t need sunscreen, do they? Most of the time they do not. Their fur shields their skin very well. However, there are situations where dogs can become severely burned if we are not vigilant, and we actually need to put sunscreen on our dogs. The first possibility that came to your mind is probably […]
I first became involved in rescuing dogs from puppy mills about 20 years ago. I made friends who had made friends with these breeders. When they had an older dog who wasn’t producing enough puppies to be profitable, it also wasn’t worth the price of food, or the price of a bullet. These puppy mills/breeders […]
That’s right. Your vet might be good, but there are some diseases that she cannot diagnose as well as you, the pet owner, can. So know these, watch for signs, and tell your vet if you see them. While she doesn’t have specific diagnostic tests for these conditions, she can certainly offer treatment or adaptations […]
We all have heard that dogs are color-blind. Is it true? Not exactly. Kinda like the myth that one human year is equivalent to 7 “dog years”. Again, not exactly. So how well can dogs and cats see? In some ways, their vision is better than ours, and in others, it’s worse. Let’s start with […]
Yes, we all know we don’t want our dogs to get heartworm. If you have a good vet, she probably tells you to keep your dog on heartworm preventative every month. You get your dog tested for heartworm every year, it’s always negative, and it’s easy to get lackadaisical. Heartworms. Big whoop. This week I […]
As a practicing veterinarian, I interact with a wide variety of people, from first-time pet owners to the seasoned pros who have owned pets their whole lives. I have noticed some common misconceptions that even the experienced pet owners believe. So, time to end the confusion and lay out the facts! 1 – Cats and […]
Many people think veterinarians have the dream job. Snuggling adorable puppies and kittens – what’s not to love? Fortunately, the public is beginning to understand that our job is actually quite grueling, with life-and-death decisions being made on a daily basis. So with a stressful job, the new puppy appointment on the schedule should be a […]
Everyone with a dog or cat has dealt with it at one point. It’s never pretty. It’s diarrhea. Of course, I could write pages and pages on this topic. Our focus here: when do you start to worry? There are many variables at play. The diarrhea could be a nuisance that clears up easily with medication (or on […]
Here’s one disease that really freaks dog owners out. It can be mild, but some severe cases can be life-threatening, so it’s good to know what’s going on. We’re talking about a syndrome called HGE: Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis. Hemorrhagic means a big bloody mess. Gastro-Enteritis literally translates to inflammation of the stomach and intestines. The primary […]
As busy humans eating less-than-ideal diets much of the time, it has been widely recommended we take a multi-vitamin daily to fill in the gaps in nutrition left by our questionable diets. Many people extrapolate that to their dogs needing a vitamin or mineral supplement as well. In puppies, particularly, this can actually cause harm! […]
Here’s another benign skin problem that can really freak an owner out. Recurrent flank alopecia, also called seasonal or cyclic flank alopecia, is exactly what it sounds. Let’s break it down: Recurrent/cyclic – it comes and goes…..and comes back Flank – the sides of the dog’s belly, behind the ribs Alopecia – fancy word for […]