How Do Dogs Love Us?
Youve got to like a guy who asks potential employees whether theyre a dog person before hiring them to work in his lab. (Second best is a cat person, he says, and an answer of neither is worst of all.) Youve also got to like a guy who decries what he calls the disgusting industry of breeding dogs solely for the purpose of using them in research experiments and who in fact will enroll…
Clues to Your Dogs Health Can Be Just a Whiff Away
They say that dogs can smell cancer on people, and apparently, its true. Preliminary studies have indicated that due to their keen olfactory abilities, they can pick up the scent of compounds generated by malignant tumors. But were you aware that people can smell a certain type of cancer on their dogs? Not just cancer but other diseases as well. Granted, a dogs sense of smell is many, many times stronger than ours. But…
Color Can Provide Clues, Too
Just about all dogs have either pink tongues or at least some pink on their tongues. If that pink color appears to fade somewhat, take your dog to the veterinarian. It could be a sign of anemia. If the tongue literally goes gray or bluish-gray, he could be suffering from oxygen deprivation as a result of heart disease or a lung problem. …
A Urinalysis Could Help Identify a Serious Medical Condition
It was the perfect pet storm. Danielle and Matt Buczek were about to leave for a long-awaited vacation in the Caribbean when their 13-year-old chocolate Lab, Coco, developed an ulcer on her eye that required drops three times a day. She also had to wear a cone to keep her from pawing at her eyeball. Her eye wasnt working right, and we didnt even know at first if it was an ulcer that was…
Interpreting Your Dogs Blood Chemistry Profile
In this article, we look at a second blood test thats virtually as routine as the CBC. Called the chemistry profile, it analyzes the blood minus the red and white blood cells.
Dealing with Cataracts
While cataracts are not inordinately common in dogs, they do occur. Certain breeds appear particularly prone, cocker spaniels, poodles, miniature schnauzers, terriers, and golden retrievers among them. And those with diabetes definitely have a higher incidence than other dogs.
Dear Doctor
Letters to Tufts Veterinarians - Yes, but are they really warts?; Treatment of one disease causes another
If Your Dog Has Addisons Disease
Whatever the cause of Addisons, young and middle-aged dogs, like one-and-a-half-year-old Jedi, are the most likely to be affected. There are also some breeds for which there appears to be a genetic predisposition. Standard poodles are the big ones that come to mind, Dr. Mahony says, but also wheaten terriers, Leonbergers, and Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers. But as border collie Jedis case makes clear, any breed is potentially susceptible.
Atypical Addisons Disease – Only One Hormone Missing Instead of Two
With standard Addisons disease you have relatively classic findings, and its easy to confirm the diagnosis, says Tufts internal medicine veterinarian Orla Mahony, MVB, DACVIM. Once you have a reasonable index of suspicion, you should be able to pinpoint it. But theres a type of Addisons disease called Atypical Addisons, which is a deficiency of just cortisol, not cortisol and aldersterone, and that may be harder to recognize, Dr. Mahony explains, because it doesnt produce.
