Dog symptoms, health issues, and dog health advocacy from owner's perspective. In loving memory of Jasmine.
Will treating their symptom(s) make your dog’s problem go away? A Google search for how to treat diarrhea in dogs returns 61 million results. I couldn’t count how many times people ask such things on my dog health support group. As I’m writing this, I have a pending question asking how to freshen a dog’s breath. The question is not…
Splenic tumors in dogs are not always malignant but are always life-threatening. Buddy is a fierce, brave Jack Russel Terrier; a true representative of his breed. He is in charge of his world. Buddy’s parents observed no red flags about his health except for his belly. Buddy’s belly seemed to be growing in front of their eyes. How could that…
Winston, a neutered male Boxer, got his first seizure when he was 12-years-old. Winston started seizing in the middle of the night, which landed him at a local veterinary emergency clinic. Why do emergencies always happen after hours or on weekends? Our experience confirms that that seems to be the rule. The ER veterinarian ran a bunch of tests on…
by Dr. Jennifer Coates How can you tell whether your dog’s injury or illness calls for an emergency veterinary visit? Dogs seem to get sick or injured at the worst possible times. Of course this is not their fault, but nonetheless, it does often put owners in the position of having to decide whether an after-hours visit to the veterinarian…
Labrador Retrievers are notorious for eating things that have no business making it down the gullet. According to PetFirst insurance, Labrador Retrievers are the top breed likely to get in health trouble by swallowing inedible things. Is that because they are such a popular breed that it influences the statistics? Maybe but it seems there is more to it than…
Cody was an 11 months old female Labrador Retriever when she became lame after hitting a shed. A veterinary visit produced a scary misdiagnosis. You would figure that diagnosing lameness is a straightforward process. From my own experience, I can tell you that it can be far from it. I have been through most of them–a foot injury, foreign body…
Why is my dog panting so much? Dogs pant. They pant when they exercise, when they are hot, they pant when they are excited. Panting is your dog’s way to cool their body. Because dogs don’t sweat, the only effective way they can cool themselves is by panting. All dogs do that, and it is perfectly normal. So if panting…
Tootsie is a happy little cuddle-bug Yorkie. Her family loves her dearly and her mom would do anything for her. There was an issue clouding their happiness, though. Tootsie was suffering from chronic ear infections. Tootsie’s skin and ears wouldn’t give her a break. Tootsie is haunted by allergies. And you know when a flare-up is coming from Tootsie’s ears–that’s…
Flossy Border Collie2 years old at the timeintact female Flossy was a young, energetic girl with no health issues to speak of. She would always get the odd people food treat and was handling them fine. That morning, however, when she got a small piece of her dad’s toast, it immediately came back out–as if it literally got catapulted back.…
Why is my dog drinking so much? Since you’re asking that question, the issue isn’t really how much your dog drinks but that they are drinking more than they usually would, correct? Because it is the change that it’s significant, not necessarily the amount of water they consume. How much water your dog needs depends on their size, diet, activity,…