DOG HEALTH AND MEDICINE

Spaying or neutering may cause some dogs to gain some weight, but it should not make a dog morbidly obese. That tends to be more a matter of the family’s feeding style.

Does Spaying or Neutering Really Lead to Weight Gain?

If you’ve recently had your dog spayed or neutered and it looks like your pet has put on a few, you’re probably not imagining...
Virtual veterinary visits

Veterinary Visits By Video

Back in December 2019, before anyone had ever heard the term “social distancing,” telemedicine remained largely at the margins of veterinary care. The concept...
dog with arthritis

Is Your Arthritic Dog Depressed?

It is well known that depression is a hallmark of arthritis. Pain leads to a chemical stress response in the brain, and over time,...
The color of the discharge — and the color of the eye itself — provides clues to what might be wrong.

Eye Gook: When to Worry

The color of discharge coming out of your dog’s eye can tell you a lot about whether something is wrong or if the “gook”...
Vet examining dog

Dear Dear: Worried about abdominal surgery

Q. My dog is supposed to undergo abdominal surgery, but I am worried about putting him through it. When my husband had abdominal surgery,...
The cranial cruciate ligament, or CCL, connects the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia). If the ligament tears, however, (see inset), the two bones slide past each other during walking and running. That's what causes the pain.

A Tear in the Knee

Perhaps you have heard of athletes who tore their ACL — the acronym for a ligament in the knee called the anterior cruciate ligament....
A reverse sneeze looks very uncomfortable, but the dog will be back to himself as soon as it’s over.

Reverse Sneezing

During a regular sneeze, air is rapidly pushed out through the nose. But during a reverse sneeze, which sounds like loud snorting, air is...
Dogs who live in desert terrain have an increased chance for developing for Valley Fever.

Valley Fever

Veterinarians in the Phoenix area are reporting a rise in canine cases of Valley Fever, a potentially deadly fungal disease. As many as 10...
This beautiful Great Dane is at least 10 times as likely to develop bone cancer as many other breeds.

Bone Cancer Risk Extremely High for Certain Breeds

The risk for bone cancer is at least ten times higher for large breeds like Rottweilers, Great Danes, and Rhodesian ridgebacks than for mixed...
arthritic dog

Keep a Pain Diary!

If your dog is experiencing pain, a very important step for relieving it is to keep a pain diary once your veterinarian has put...

Blind Dogs Pave the Way for Blind People

There’s no effective treatment for a common form of blindness called inherited retinal dystrophy that affects millions of people worldwide. It’s going to take...
Are female dogs more feminine, or do we just decide they are?

Male Pattern Dog-ness

People often wonder which makes a better pet — a male or a female dog. Part of it is that different personality traits are...