Real-life Stories

Bloody Vomit in a Dog: Susie’s Severe Stomach Upset

When your dog falls severely ill, foaming at their mouth and vomiting, it is an emergency. It becomes even more concerning when you see blood in your dog’s vomit. Many potential causes can lead to blood in your dog’s puke, such as: trauma heatstroke stomach ulcers inflammation within the GI tract infections poisoning clotting disorders liver failure Associated symptoms might…

by Jana Rade

Weight Loss and Excessive Thirst: Chewie’s Diabetes Diagnosis

Do you know the potential reasons your dog might be losing weight without trying? What if they also become very thirsty at the same time? Four things about your dog’s symptoms that can make your life easier is the realization that: individual symptoms are mostly ambiguous and can have many different causes symptoms are not islands—where there is one, look…

by Jana Rade

TightRope® CCL Fixation System: Dorie’s Knee Surgery

The TightRope surgery was developed as an upgrade to the lateral suture stabilization (LSS) for cruciate injuries in dogs. Is it a better technique with better results? Both techniques have their risks to reward ratio. While stronger than surgical suture, the perception is that the patented braided TightRope material is the main reason for potential complications. It has, however, worked…

by Jana Rade

Rat Bait Poisoning in a Dog: Penny’s Eats Rodenticide

Rodenticides are not poisonous just to rodents. There are two kinds of mouse and rat poisons: long-acting anticoagulants (LAACS) cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) While either of them can kill your dog, anticoagulants have an antidote, while lethal levels of Vitamin D3 do not. In my opinion, poisons that don’t have antidote should not be sold in the first place. Yet, cholecalciferol…

by Jana Rade

What Is an Ectopic Ureter: Frankie’s Urinary Incontinence and Reconstructive Surgery

If your puppy keeps having pee accidents and nothing is working, it is time to consider a plumbing problem. Your veterinarian ruled out or treated for urinary tract infection and the problem seems to go far beyond a house training problem—what is going on? In a healthy dog, urine travels from kidneys to the bladder which allows urine storage until…

by Jana Rade

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of American and an award-winning author. 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 in 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 how to 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 save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners . What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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