DOG HEALTH AND MEDICINE

On Whether Being a Therapy Dog is Safe for Your Pet – and for...

But a new Tufts study led by veterinary nutritionist Deborah Linder, DVM, MS, DACVN, and colleagues just published in the American Journal of Infection Control provides evidence that those visited by therapy dogs - especially the elderly and those with compromised immune systems - are put at risk by a lack of rules about a therapy dogs vaccination status and other health parameters. Likewise, lax rules potentially compromise dogs safety.

Dear Doctor: October 2017

Our small cockapoo Bailey always sleeps on the bed with us. And he always ends up on my pillow, curled around my head with breaths from his little nose going right into my ear. Curiously, in the middle of the night, I almost always wake to find him furiously licking my face, especially my eye sockets and scalp. Once he did it so long and hard that he scratched my cornea. If I have a nick from shaving, he will literally lick it until the scab is gone. These episodes can last as long as 30 minutes. Is he grooming me as his master and trying to please me? Whatever the reason, its so cute that I never cut him off. Its good to be loved. Hes a great dog and tends to my every emotional need. I should note that he doesnt ever do this to my wife. Whats going on here?

Is It Motion Sickness or Anxiety in dogs?

Most dogs love car rides, so much so that even though were not supposed to let them stick their head out the window because gravel can fly up at their faces (and also because it means theyre not secured safely in place), many owners take the risk. They allow their pets the joy of looking around and feeling the wind on their faces as the auto rolls along. Happy dogs looking out car windows as their owners chauffeur them around are a pretty common sight, in fact.

Coming to a Veterinary Hospital Near You: A Social Worker

The man was a Korean war veteran, pretty elderly, but his PTSD was still very severe, says Eric Richman, MSW, LICSW. Thats why his Labrador retriever was both a service dog and a therapy dog. The dogs presence helped keep him calm and able to go about his business. So when his pet became sick - bloody diarrhea - his anxiety level started escalating rapidly. Thats when the dogs veterinarian asked me to step in."

Laser Therapy for Dogs

Dogs, like people, experience all kinds of pain because of conditions that range from arthritis to neurological disorders, and their owners want to do what they can to relieve their discomfort, and sometimes out-and-out suffering. Can laser therapy help? The answer is not a straightforward yes or no.

Homeopathic Treatment for My Dog’s Cushings Disease?

My 12-year-old Scottish terrier, who has been ill for over a year, received a diagnosis of Cushings Disease in the spring. Her doctor did not prescribe any pharmaceuticals for her. Is there a homeopathic treatment available that will lessen her symptoms?

When Cancer Strikes the Blood Vessels of Older Dogs

There are six types of cancer that make up the majority of malignancies striking older dogs: lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes), osteosarcoma (bone cancer), mammary cancer, mast cell tumors (mast cells are immune cells found all over the body), soft tissue sarcoma (cancer that takes hold in connective tissue like muscles and nerves), and one called hemangiosarcoma. Hemangiosarcoma, with its grim prognosis, may be the diagnosis a dog owner least wants to hear. Chris Stickell of Monkton, Maryland, has now heard it twice - first with one of her golden retrievers, and then with another one from the same line, 10-year-old Bailey.

Best Case Scenario: Not a Dry Eye in the House for dogs

Gloria Mooney is worried. Her dog, Sparky, all of a sudden began to have trouble opening his eyes. It was not completely out of the blue. Weeks earlier, he had what she calls a skin breakout, with ulcers (open sores) appearing all over his body, including inside his mouth, his nostrils, eyes, and so on. Those areas were breaking and failing to heal. Sparkys veterinarian assumed some kind of allergy was responsible for the problem and prescribed steroids and other medications, which cleared up the open wounds everywhere but in the corneas of Sparkys eyes. The cornea is the clear outer surface of the eye, and problems there are serious. The cornea accounts for more than two thirds of the eyes optical power.

Sticking Points in dogs

Weve talked in these pages about the famous Japanese dog Hachiko, who went to the train station every day to wait for his owner to come home from work - even for years after the owner died, until his own passing. The dog, who became a national symbol of loyalty in Japan, was found to have had four meat skewers in his stomach (think kabob sticks) at the time of his death. They didnt kill him - cancer did - but they could have.

Mite Infestations on Dogs

Say mites, and many people think mange, a highly contagious disease often referred to as scabies or sarcoptic mange. Caused by a species of mite known as Sarcoptes scabiei, it occurs when the microscopic animals burrow through a dogs skin, causing severe itching and irritation. Treatment consists of oral and/or topical drugs that kill the mites, with the dog perhaps being dipped in a medicated shampoo. Ongoing treatment over the course of several weeks is critical, as the drugs kill only living mites, not eggs that havent hatched yet. The eggs need to mature so the continued drug administration can take care of that next generation of mites, too.

Massage for What Ails Your Dog?

Great Dane mix Menace had survived myriad allergies, gastrointestinal problems, mange, bloat, and a blockage in his intestine but kept going. In his later years, says his owner, Cathy Sutton of Franklin, Massachusetts, his back end was giving out. He started to lose control of his bowel. And his neck always had a huge strain on it and was tight all the time because he was compensating with his front end for his weakened back end. When he was 12 years old everybody told me that was as long as he was going to live.

Making Medical Care Easier

I know Ive told you guys a couple of times already that our shiba inu Rosie takes a drug called Proin twice every single day. It increases the tone of the sphincter in her bladder so she doesnt dribble urine in the house by accident. Normally, we have no problem getting it into her. We call out, Rosie, Franklin, its time for your meds! and both dogs come running, Rosie to get the pill wrapped in a tight little wad of American cheese and Franklin just for the tiny wad of cheese. (There aint no way Im not gettin in on some of that, he told us early on.)