DOG HEALTH AND MEDICINE

Epilepsy, a condition of recurring seizures for which a cause most frequently cannot be found, is the most common neurological disorder seen in dogs. It affects an estimated one in 20 of them. In the past, veterinarians often prescribed unapproved phenobarbital tablets from the human drug marketplace to help control seizures. But the Food and Drug Administration has just conditionally approved phenobarbital for our canine pets. The drug manufacturer has five years to be granted full approval by moving evidence for the drug’s effectiveness and safety from “expected” to fully “demonstrated.”

For the very first time, recreational drugs have made the ASPCA’s top 10 list of toxins for dogs and other pets. This includes not only marijuana-based products but also hallucinogenic mushrooms and cocaine, although marijuana makes up the lion’s share.

Something’s terribly wrong with your dog, and you take her to the off-hours emergency clinic. But how long will you sit there before she gets seen?

In developing countries where vaccination against rabies is not readily available for dogs, thousands of people die of rabies every year because the disease can be transmitted from canines to humans. In the U.S., only a handful of people contract rabies from their dogs each year. But that could change.

“There’s a patient I’m seeing right now, an 8-pound Chihuahua who has horrible neck pain,” says Alicia Karas, DVM, “but in one session I can turn him from a hunched, tense mess to a head-up, tail-wagging dog. He just unfolds. When you see an animal transform from miserable and quivering to relaxed and happy, it means everything. I can give a dog pain medication,” she says, “but imagine being able to do that with your hands.”