Dog care, symptoms, health issues, and dog health advocacy from an owner's perspective. In loving memory of Jasmine.
Many times throughout my career, I have felt I should just change my name to Dr. Poop. It is a big part of my unglamorous yet rewarding profession, and I often feel like I am a genuine poop doctor. There is hard poop, liquid poop, soft-serve poop, even blue poop! Just upon smell, I can tell you what species of…
Blood in your dog’s poop is always a reason for concern. While the amount of blood matters, it is better to overreact than waiting too long to get help. The level of emergency depends on the amount of blood and other symptoms. Potential causes behind bloody stool in dogs include: dietary indiscretions stress allergic reactions autoimmune disease poisoning GI injuries…
Parvoviruses are a species-specific single-stranded, non-enveloped DNA virus. The canine virus appeared by a mutation in the early 1970s. Subsequent mutations brought about the epidemics of canine parvovirus disease in 1978 – 1979. Since this was a new virus, the pet population did not have immunity to it. Most exposed dogs became very ill and many died. The virus invades…
Diarrhea and vomiting can have a myriad of causes. However, when more than one dog in the same household come down with upset bellies, it narrows down the potential causes. It boils down to something they all got into or an infection. We had that happen once when daughter’s Chi caught a bug someplace and then gave it to our…
Gastrointestinal foreign bodies that don’t like to show up on imaging can be the most dangerous. Did you watch the Needle in a Haystack House MD episode? A toothpick almost killed a perfectly healthy teenage boy. Not visible on imaging but punching holes through nearby organs. A teenage boy becomes gravely ill and a cause cannot be found. He bleeds in…