Dog care, symptoms, health issues, and dog health advocacy from an owner's perspective. In loving memory of Jasmine.
Coughing is a natural response to irritation or abnormality in the airway. A cough is the body’s way of clearing the airway. When the effort is successful, the coughing stops. If the problem persists, so does the cough. Which also tells you when you should be concerned. Our dogs often cough a few times when drinking from a bottle and…
Peritonitis refers to the inflammation of the abdominal cavity that results from injury to the lining tissues. Potential causes include: injuries/wounds bacterial or chemical contamination pancreatitis ruptured bladder or gallbladder liver abscess and the like Thank you, Jen deHaan, for sharing Mort’s story Mort’s story This is the story of Mort’s third brush with death. Mort is a 3-year-old Australian…
For an infectious agent to result in a sick dog, there are two requirements — exposure and failure of the immune system to thwart the infection. Crowded places provide high probability of exposure. Stress can be one of the circumstances that weaken the immune response. To learn how stress increases susceptibility to infection, read The Function of Cortisol: What Happens…
The most common cause of bad breath in dogs is dental disease. Even more serious conditions, however, can be behind your dog’s foul breath. The more severely your dog’s mouth smells, the bigger and more urgent the problem. Did you know that bad breath can be caused by cancer? Thank you, Amy Kennedy, for sharing Lexy’s story. Lexy’s story Lexy…
Let’s address gradual unexplained weight gain in dogs. The potential causes are different than when the weight gain happens suddenly. How fast something happens is an important part of the picture. The more acute the onset, the more urgently you need to seek answers. With weight gain, the faster it happens, the closer you are to an emergency situation, particularly…