Health

Does your dog suffer from allergies, joint pain, epilepsy, recurrent ear infections, or other chronic health problems? Have you tried lots of treatments – alternative and conventional – but you just can't seem to help your dog get well and stay that way? You might want to look a little closer at the diet recommendations of John Symes, DVM.

In August 2011 my friend Tory felt a couple of small lumps on the throat of her 13-year-old mixed-breed dog, Scout. Within a couple...

and from the sores on his back. When the veterinarian gave Bailey a vitamin K injection to stop the bleeding

To most people, the word “house-trained” refers to a dog who has been trained not to urinate or defecate indoors. For my parent’s generation, this bit of training was usually accomplished by Mom, who stayed home while the rest of the family went to work or to school. As double-income families became the norm, the home-alone dog was faced with a serious problem. By the time you add a lunch hour and commute time onto an eight-hour work day, a house dog may have to “hold it” for as long as 10 hours before someone finally comes home to let her out. Her legs are probably tightly crossed for at least the last two.

Usually when mass-market, celebrity herbs are born, oceans of research and published introspection soon follows to satisfy the curiosities of the consumer. One of the best examples of this is yucca – a succulent, cactus-like member of the lily family that inhabits desert areas and garden landscapes throughout America. Anyone who has studied natural dog and cat food labels, shampoo labels, and ingredient lists for livestock feeds has seen the name of this important plant food and medicine, yet very few of us can cite its intended purpose, much less a broad view of its holistic potential.

Treatment for a heartworm infection is critical, but it's not without risk. By being prepared for what can happen, you should be able to bring your dog through safely. Whether or not you choose to use conventional heartworm preventatives, there is always the possibility that you may one day find yourself with a heartworm-positive dog, and be faced with the decision of how to treat her.

however

What’s it mean when your dog yawns? Humans are more likely to yawn when bored or tired, but dogs tend to yawn more when they are mildly stressed. If he yawns when you pet him, he’s probably a little uncomfortable.

Here’s an indisputable fact: Vaccines have saved millions of lives. The vaccine discoveries of medical pioneers such as Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur introduced a new era of health care for humans. Smallpox, once the most feared disease in the world, is thought to be eradicated. Ask any senior citizen to name the great medical advances of this century, and he or she will invariably list the polio vaccine.

Every year rattlesnakes bite more than 100,000 dogs in the United States, with an estimated 40% of bites resulting in severe reactions and fatal...

Leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria shed in the urine of infected wildlife. Deer, skunks, and raccoons are the biggest reservoirs, although rodents...

I just finished reading my June issue of WDJ and, as usual, loved it! I just have one comment/question regarding Vaccine Titer Tests" where you state