Conditions

Diagnosing IBD in Dogs: New Way to Diagnose Canine Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

Inflammatory bowel disease in dogs is as nasty as it is difficult to diagnose conclusively. Often, the diagnosis is made by eliminating other issues. That’s because the only way to properly diagnose it is by biopsy of the gut. Which means getting in there and grabbing a chunk. That is about as far from non-invasive as it gets. And it’s…

by Jana Rade

Dog Arthritis Acting Up? If You Catch Yourself Using These Words, Consider an Abdominal Ultrasound

What the heck am I talking about? What does arthritis have to do with the abdomen? Just had another friend, whose dog’s arthritis started acting up, facing a diagnosis of a splenic tumor. Yes, arthritis can get more painful on some days, particularly if your dog overdoes it, or is a weekend warrior. For some dogs, weather can play a role…

by Jana Rade

Ataxia in a Dog: What Turned Out Not Being An Adverse Drug Reaction After All—JD’s Story

When your dog suddenly becomes unsteady on their feet, it is a scary thing to witness. The medical term for it is ataxia but that is not a diagnosis. It is simply describing the situation. What can cause ataxia? The problem can originate in: inner ear brainstem spinal cord brain There can also be systemic causes such as changes in…

by Jana Rade

Simitri Stable in Stride: Islay’s Knee Injury and Repair

Islay’s mom, Judith Brown, shares their experience with Simitri Stable in Stride to repair a ruptured cruciate ligament. Islay is a 7-year-old Gordon Setter female, she is the fifth generation of my own breeding program. I have been breeding GordonSetters under the Sassenach Prefix for 35 years. Islay is an extremely active athletic dog, she’s my competition girl. I’ve not…

by Jana Rade

Veterinary Cock-Ups: On Vets, Competence, Attention, Trust, and Misdiagnoses: Cookie’s Lumpectomy–The Unpublished Bit

What do you do when a veterinarian diagnoses a lump that doesn’t exist and misses one that is actually there? Veterinary cock-ups happen. There are poor outcomes due to things one cannot predict, there are mistakes, and then there is just not paying attention. When I wrote the article about Cookie’s lumpectomy, I left out some stuff because it was…

by Jana Rade

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of America, and an award-winning author in my spare time. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Endless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care into my own hands. I learned the hard way that simply seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to finally get a diagnosis for her initial issue. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to use 20 years of hard-earned experience to save others from the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way, as I did.

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