Subscribe

The best in health, wellness, and positive training from America’s leading dog experts

Home Health

Health

How to Best Utilize Your Dog’s Next Blood Test

0
Why a blood test is an integral part of your dog’s requisite annual wellness exam, and how to get the most out of the blood chemistry test results. Most of the dog’s organ systems can be targeted by one chemical analysis or another, and with proper interpretation of one (or a combination of) these analyses, I can, at least in part, assess the dog’s current health/disease status. From this interpretation then, we can often derive a treatment regime, whether it is based on Western or alternative medicines. Isn’t science wonderful?

Identifying Tumors on Your Dog

0
anyway. In this case
Liver cancer in dogs is a slow process that requires you to pay attention to your dog's quality of life.

Liver Cancer in Dogs

0
True liver cancer tends to grow slowly, but your dog can be uncomfortable and feel sick. Many metastatic cancers that settle in the liver, such as hemangiosarcoma, have shorter survival times and may be painful. Keep in mind your dog’s quality of life.
Hookworm in dogs is a nasty disease that spreads between untreated dogs.

Hookworm in Dogs

Hookworm in dogs is a nasty parasite that can coexist with an adult dog for quite sometime, and spread. Recognizing the signs of hookworm infection is the best way to protect your dog, and other dogs too.

Case of the Missing Hormones

2
Incontinence in spayed females is fairly common. The problem is caused by a lack of estrogen, which, of course, was brought about by the spay surgery. Many people assume that when females are spayed, the veterinarian simply “ties the tubes,” that is, cuts and ties off the fallopian tubes so that the ovum can not travel from the ovaries, down the fallopian tubes, and become fertilized. Actually, the veterinarian removes the ovaries and usually, the uterus, too. The reason for this is that you not only want the female to become incapable of becoming pregnant, but also, you want her not to exhibit symptoms of heat.

Dog Drooling: The Juicy Truth About Why Dogs Slobber

8
It is not abnormal for your dog to drool sometimes. Pavlov showed in his famous bell experiments that anticipating a meal can make a dog salivate. Fear can also cause dogs to drool, as you will see in a storm-phobic dog. Drooling is a form of heat control for dogs called evaporative cooling. So, the answer is yes! Drooling can be normal and in response to the dog's emotions or environment.

Blood Transfusions for Dogs

0
Denise Mankin, DVM, was on duty late one night in a Des Moines, Iowa, emergency veterinary clinic when Yeller, a Labrador Retriever, was rushed in sporting a fresh wound to his back. Yeller had been shot after escaping from his rural home. After stabilizing Yeller with IV fluids, antibiotics, and pain medications, Mankin opened up the dog's abdomen to find blood filling his abdominal cavity. A bullet had perforated Yeller's small intestine in five different locations, and two of the sites were hemorrhaging profusely. Within moments, his blood pressure plummeted. As Mankin worked desperately to tie off the blood supply to his damaged bowel, Yeller went into cardiac arrest. Cardiac drugs restored Yeller's heart beat, and donor blood, having been warmed for transfusion, was pumped into him.
Closeup the disease on cat skin, Dermatitis in dog, skin laminate and dog hair fallen

Folliculitis in Dogs

0
Bacterial folliculitis is an infection of the dog’s hair follicles and superficial skin. It can be precipitated by a number of conditions, so successful treatment depends on finding the cause.
Limber tail syndrome is a condition whose causes are a bit mysterious.

Limber Tail Syndrome

0
The syndrome seems to be caused by muscle injury possibly brought on by overexertion, says Janet Steiss, DVM, PhD, PT. Steiss is an associate professor at Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine and coauthor of the 1999 study on limber tail that pinpointed the nature of the muscle damage.
Beautiful puppy dog lying belly up with a pronounced "outie belly button," showing an umbilical hernia in puppies.

Umbilical Hernias in Puppies

0
If your puppy has an umbilical hernia it looks a lot like an “outie” puppy belly button. When the hole where the umbilical chord attached doesn't close properly it allows fat to poke out and create a bulge.
Cleaning dogs ears can help prevent ear infections later on down the line.

Prevent Dog Ear Infections by Cleaning Your Dog’s Ears

As a small-animal veterinarian, I see dogs for “check ears” appointments daily. Ear problems are common in dogs – the basic anatomy of the...