One of the most common questions I get asked is, "What should I feed my pet?" It seems like a simple question to answer, but it's not. The most basic answer is, "Feed the best food that you can afford." And if you answer the best that you can afford is Ol Roy, I'll try and convince you that no, you can afford better. A lot of time people ask this question but what they want to know is, "What should I feed my pet that I can easily buy at the grocery store/Petsmart/Walmart", which is a different ... Read more »
Health
Pet pick of the week
I live in a pretty warm climate, and it's a common occurrence for me to be in a hot parking lot calling the cops on a dog panting away in a boiling car. Conversely, it's hard for me to forget the story of the dog abandoned in a van in a New Hampshire airport parking lot in the dead of winter, who miraculously survived. It amazes me how many people seem to think non-humans are somehow immune to the effects of temperature. Granted, the types of people who make poor choices like that are not the ... Read more »
Gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em….
Today, Pinkie arrived for a dental cleaning. Pinkie first came in a few weeks ago for an examination, and in the brief glimpse I got of her bared teeth before having to place a muzzle it was obvious that she had some pretty bad teeth. Unfortunately, when I placed my stethoscope on her chest, in between "grrRRRrrrrRRRRrrr" I heard the classic 'whoosh-whoosh-whoosh' of a heart murmur. Heart murmurs are a common condition in older dogs. There are several causes, but the most common cause in ... Read more »
There’s a reason the Marlboro Man doesn’t own dogs
There is a touchy question I have to work in whenever a client brings in a pet with a chronic cough. Somewhere in between the "how long has it been going on"s and the "what medications have you tried"s I have to find a way to tactfully phrase, "Are there any smokers in the house?" Most of the time it isn't really that hard a question to pose. I just ask it, and get either a yes or no. I don't ask if it is them personally who smokes, so that leaves the door open to blame the roommate, which most ... Read more »
Got Salmonella?
Dogs and peanut butter go together like, well, people and peanut butter. Peanut butter is a well-loved product. Remember that Got Milk commercial with the dog with the peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth? (I couldn’t find it, but this one is almost as good.) I used to use it to glue Mulan’s pills to her palate. It’s like doggy manna. Given its status as Most Favored Flavor, it’s hard to find a dog treat out there that doesn’t come in a peanut butter ... Read more »
For the gulper in your life
In my day, we didn’t have all these fancy schmancy dog bowls with their non-tip shapes and their fancy stalagmites sticking up out of them. We used plain, tippable, flimsy plastic bowls and we liked it! If your dog ate too fast, too bad! Seriously though, modern ingenuity never ceases to astound me. What appears on first glance to be a large Duplo is in fact a very cleverly designed bowl designed to reduce the risk of bloat by slowing down a dog’s ingestion of food. Although bloat ... Read more »
Say cheese!
Sometimes, in the wee hours of the morning, I lay curled in my bed and dream of Geroge Clooney -er, I mean my husband- whispering sweet nothings into my ear. I turn my head to him and smile. “Wow,” I say as I lean in, “Did you eat sardines last night?” He just stares at me, breathing heavily, until I open my eyes and realize it’s Emmett blowing dog-breath into my face. There are myriad causes of icky breath, but the most common cause is icky teeth. Most of us know ... Read more »
Some days are great, and some are like this
Mr. Randall is one of my favorite clients. He and his wife adopted a kitten about six months ago from the shelter; over Thanksgiving they got a second kitten to keep him company. Both the cats and the people are just tremendously nice and pleasant, and it’s always a bright spot in my day to see them. He came in to see me because they were concerned that Pawsy, the newer kitten, had worms. His belly looked a little big to him, he explained to the tech. My tech came out of the room shaking ... Read more »
