Health

I am going to be blunt; I have a strong opinion about this. There is absolutely no chance that I would allow any of my dogs to be taken into the back" at a veterinary clinic for anything short of surgery. Our new vet does go above and beyond with her clinic's degree of owner involvement

We often pay attention to our dog’s teeth, but the gums supporting those teeth are just as important. Unfortunately, they’re frequently ignored. As a...

Scented candles, or any candle, can be hazardous to your dog.

A dog’s eyes can appear red or bloodshot for many reasons—some of which are minor and will quickly resolve, and others which are much more serious.

A health exam for all adults includes a blood-pressure reading. So why not for our dogs? There are a few reasons that veterinarians save blood-pressure testing for only certain cases. Although an estimated 20 percent of humans suffer from white-coat syndrome" (temporary high blood pressure caused by the anxiety associated with visiting the doctor)

There are over 400 lymph nodes in your dog but only a few are close enough to the skin’s surface to be observed. Though few, these key nodes are important indicators of illness.

Many people tend to see flea treatments as unnecessary. Those people have never seen a seriously flea infested dog.

Pyometra in dogs is a life threatening infection of a dog's uterus, most often in un-spayed dogs. It can rarely occur in spayed dogs too.

Adequan is an injectable medication for the treatment of osteoarthritis in dogs. It is a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD), meaning it can reverse some of the damage that occurs in arthritic joints.

The supply of Immiticide (melarsomine dihydrochloride), the only drug approved to treat heartworm infections in dogs, has been low since December 2009, but now it’s completely gone. Merial confirmed that it was officially out of the drug on August 9, 2011. The current situation is due to a new and separate manufacturing challenge related to technical issues with the company who provides the finished product, according to a Merial spokesperson. Merial said the company is working hard to make the drug available again, but cannot speculate when that might happen.

DHPP stands for distemper, canine viral hepatitis, and parvovirus (three “core” vaccines that every dog should receive), as well as parainfluenza, a “non-core” vaccine that is recommended by veterinarians based on a dog’s medical history and lifestyle). These are not the only vaccines that dogs need, however.

Uh-oh. What’s this lump? Any growth on your dog’s body deserves attention, especially one that wasn’t there last time you checked. It could be a sebaceous cyst (a sac filled with sebum, a cheesy or oily material, caused by clogged oil glands in the skin), an abscess (a pus-filled swelling caused by infection), or – everyone’s worst nightmare – a cancerous tumor. But in most cases, the lumps we discover as we pet and groom our dogs are lipomas, which are benign (non-cancerous) fat deposits, also known as fatty tumors. An estimated 1.7 million dogs are treated in the United States for lipomas every year, and according to one survey, American veterinarians average 25 lipoma removals annually at a cost to owners of $635 million. Lipomas tend to emerge as dogs reach middle age and increase in number as dogs get older. A dog with one lipoma is likely to get more. Lipomas are most often found on the chest, abdomen, legs, or armpits (axillae). These fatty lumps aren’t painful and they usually stay in one place without invading surrounding tissue.