DOG HEALTH AND MEDICINE

As much as physicians warn against using a cotton-tipped applicator such as a Q-tip for cleaning debris from your ears because of the risks for puncturing an eardrum and impacting wax, using one for cleaning a dogs ears comes with even more risks. The canine ear canal is long and tapered and takes an almost 90-degree turn about halfway in, going abruptly from down to across. (See illustration.) If you insert a cotton swab, the fluffy tip will begin to fill the entire width of the ear canal as soon as it approaches that tight turn. That means you end up pushing wax and dirt deeper into the canal rather than removing it. Theres no room to do a bit of scraping along the sides and pull out the gunk. In fact, if you apply just a little too much pressure, the material you want to get rid of can be pushed right through the eardrum. Sometimes the cotton-tipped swab itself gets pushed with enough force to perforate the eardrum.

Taking your dog to the vet on a regular basis is one of the most important things you can do as a responsible owner. If your dog is scared of the vet - or worse, if your dog is terrified of the vet - youre not alone. This is a big reason why some owners put off or avoid altogether the recommended wellness checks.

Its an-all-too common question from pet owners: Whats the best flea treatment for my home? A research study discovered that in the average flea-infested house, the adult fleas represent only about one to five percent of the flea population! So where are the rest of the pests, you may ask? Flea eggs make up about 50 to nearly 60 percent, flea larvae makes up about 35 percent, and the pupae (a life stage of the flea that comes after larvae and before emergence as an adult) about 10 percent.

The ravages of bloat, or gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), often occur extremely fast. A dogs human family will leave early in the morning, then return late in the day to find their dog extremely ill or even dead. GDV is a condition in which the stomach twists in place, cutting off its own blood supply and compromising the blood supply to other organs.

You know that a long-haired dog like a Bernese Mountain Dog or a shih tzu needs to be brushed frequently. But were you aware that short-haired breeds like beagles and boxers need regular brushing, too?

Injured tails on household pets are not just reserved for cats relaxing too close to rocking chairs. We definitely see tail accidents in dogs, too, says John Berg, DVM, the editor-in-chief of Your Dog and a veterinary surgeon at Tufts. Dr. Berg has sewn up his share of dog tails that have been through the proverbial ringer.

Your dog is limping out of nowhere. You can tell hes in a good deal of pain. Perhaps hes even whining a bit. Do you get him to the doctors office without delay?

For us, daily tooth care and regular dental visits are basic things that we do to stay healthy. But did you realize that our pets require regular dental care, too? Truly bad dog breath (not normal doggy breath) is one of the most commonly ignored problems in our dogs - and a sure sign of canine dental and gum disease.

Eleven-year-old bichon frise Cooper was feeling, well, not quite himself - a bit lethargic. His mom, Cherylann Hanrahan of Norwalk, Connecticut, was worried that it was her fault. A while back, she had started putting 1/4 teaspoon of crushed eggshells into his food on the advice of someone who told her it would improve his diets nutritional quality. Then, when she took him to the vet to see what was wrong with him, he had high blood calcium - 16 milligrams per tenth of a liter of blood as opposed to a healthy 9-to-11.7 milligrams. That made her concerned that she had put some kind of awful chain of events into motion. Egg shells are high in calcium, and the vet said that high calcium in the blood sometimes means cancer.

As more states legalize medical marijuana (31 as we went to press) along with recreational pot (nine so far), more dogs are getting sick from it. They scarf down a discarded joint while out on a romp, for example, or snatch some unguarded marijuana-laced food off the kitchen counter. The Animal Poison Control Center says marijuana-related calls to its Pet Poison Hotline (855-764-7601) have increased 448 percent over the last six years. The ASPCAs Animal Poison Control Center (888-426-4435) has also seen a significant increase in calls about pets poisoned with marijuana. Ninety percent of the calls have been about dogs, who are much more adventurous eaters than cats.

To date, diagnosing liver disease in a dog has meant performing an expensive and invasive biopsy. Thus, it often has not been found until late in the game, making treatment more involved and lowering the chances of survival. But a new finding at the Royal School of Veterinary Studies in Scotlands University of Edinburgh is about to change all that.

Even the most loving dog owner probably wouldnt list mouth-to-snout as the preferred way of expressing affection for his pet. But what if it could save the life of a companion animal who has stopped breathing?