Health

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...

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Owners sometimes want to give their dogs some almond milk, coconut water, orange or cranberry juice, or broth. Which liquids are safe for dogs?

A dog can get a bacterial infection in many ways, through an injury, a disruption in his gut or skin good bacteria, or secondary to another illness.

If you feed an AAFCO-certified “all life stages” food, your puppy is getting everything he needs nutritionally, so puppy vitamins are not needed.

Viral dog papillomas are contagious from dog to dog. With the dawn of dog parks and doggy day care veterinarians are seeing more cases of viral dog papillomas, especially oral papillomas in dogs.

Many raw dog food diet proponents claim that the nutrients and/or chemical composition of a raw diet keeps dogs from developing gingivitis or periodontitis. We’re not aware of any studies that have proven these claims, but the persistence of the anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon (to say nothing of its evolutionary success) suggest that there are dental benefits to a diet that includes raw, meaty bones.

Just like a good skunking doesnt stop most dogs from going after those black-and-white critters again the next time (darn it!), there are many dogs who seem goaded into more intense bee-chasing behavior after an unfortunate encounter of the stinging kind. Conversely, there are also dogs who become literally phobic about all small, flying creatures after a stinging incident. Then there are those who develop an obsessive-compulsive behavior known as fly-snapping.

Dogs shed for different reasons, from genetics to seasonal hair loss, illness, stress, skin issues, allergies, and insufficient brushing.

To prevent injuries – or even your dog’s accidental death – when driving with your dog, restrain your dog with a safety harness and seat belt or a properly secured crate, and don’t let your dog sit on your lap, or drive with his head out the window.

How often your dog should be seen by your veterinarian, and what sort of routine screening diagnostics should be conducted, are highly dependent on...

Water plays a critical and complex role in the health of all mammals, constituting 55 to 75 percent of the body mass of warm-blooded creatures. A fetus develops in its mother’s amniotic sac and, from birth till death, water bathes and fills every one of a mammal’s billions of cells. In essence, the bodies of people, dogs, and other mammals are water-cooled engines. Releasing water vapor by panting and sweating through its paw pads induces gentle cooling in a dog’s body. Water also lubricates a dog’s joints and muscles, cushions the spaces between each individual cell, and fills up all of the minute hollows in a dog’s body. The principal element of blood, water transports oxygen to all canine body tissues, and helps the white blood cells produced by a dog’s immune system move about its body and fight infections.