Diagnoses

Examine Your Dog’s Pee: Color Changes, Urinary Habits, and What They Mean

Examining your dog’s pee can provide a great deal of information about their physical condition and health. Your dog’s urine contains compounds produced by the body, and monitoring them can provide valuable diagnostic clues. Changes in urination and urine quality don’t only indicate problems within the urinary tract itself. They can signify a systemic disease. Urinary habits If you notice…

by Jana Rade

Dog Poop Color: Why Is My Dog’s Poop Weird Color?

Healthy dog poop is typically brown. What makes poop brown is bile—fluid from the gallbladder. Bile aids in the digestion and absorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins. It also helps eliminate certain waste products from the body. There can be some variation in color depending on what your dog ate. You might notice that particularly when you’re feeding a variety…

by Jana Rade

Canine Fecal Analysis: What Can Your Dog’s Poop Reveal About Their Health?

Believe it or not, any wastes that come out of your dog’s body carry useful information. Gross is in the eye of the beholder. Our dogs feel about poop quite differently than we do. To a dog, poop can be a source of intel, a snack, as well as sometimes a source of missing nutrients. What can your veterinarian learn…

by Jana Rade edited by Dr. Joanna Paul BSc BVSc

Foreign Body Ingestion in Dogs: Levi Eats 200 Gauze Squares

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…

by Jana Rade

Canine Anal Sac Infection: The Always-At-Hand Diagnostic Tool—Whoa, Girl Dogs Have Anal Glands Too!

Anal sacs in dogs can easily become impacted. An infection is fast to follow and can result in an abscess. The typical sign of anal gland problems is scooting–dragging the rear along the ground. Your dog might also lick or bite at the area at the base of the tail. Would it be possible to discover an anal sac infection…

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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