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Health Care Veterinarians’ prescriptions for what ails your pooch. Plus, a healthy dose of prevention advice.
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by Alexandra Anderson Canine hemangiosarcoma is a disease of extremes: staggeringly swift and almost uniformly fatal. Accounting for about 7 percent of all forms of cancer in dogs, this highly aggressive sarcoma arises from cells that line blood vessels. It occurs most commonly in the spleen, but can also appear in the heart and the subcutaneous tissue. Middle-aged and senior large breed dogs, especially German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers, are its usual victims. |
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by Sarah Wooten, DVM According to experts from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet), 60 percent of dogs over the age of seven suffer chronic discomfort from degenerative joint disease, more commonly known as arthritis. It often goes unnoticed by the dogs’ owners, however, because they are not familiar with the signs. Humans talk about pain, and express it by crying or wincing. Dogs will rarely vocalize unless the pain is acute—a toenail cut too short, stomach distress, a broken bone. |
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JoAnna Lou | 4/26/2017
If you were an animal lover as a kid, everyone probably told you that you should grow up to be a veterinarian. Working with animals is rewarding, but people seldom talk about the challenges. When N ew York Magazine interviewed Dr. Jesse Terry, a small animal surgeon in Utah, it gave an interesting peek into the changing veterinary field and lessons learned over the course of his career. |
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by Sara Greenslit, DVM The first thing you notice is hair loss along your dog’s neck, spine and thighs. The skin is flecked with scabs and hot to the touch. Then there’s the scratching: automatic, back-foot-reaching, irrepressible. You may—or may not— see live fleas, or only scant flea dirt (specks of digested blood).
Often, a client will say to me, “But my other cat/dog is just fine.” |
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by Karen Atlas, PT, MPT, CCRT My career as a physical therapist shifted dramatically 11 years ago after I adopted a dog named Teddy. Teddy came to me with a limp, so naturally, I wanted to help him. The first step was to find out what could be done. Several veterinarians later, the conclusion remained the same: rest and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs). As a licensed physical therapist, I knew there had to be something more; after all, bed rest and medication for the treatment of human conditions had fallen by the wayside decades ago. |
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by Sara Greenslit, DVM My first dog, Ouzel, a Lab mix, spent his last year worrying at a wart on his leg until it became a rough, raised, red patch—an acral lick granuloma. I tried bitter sprays, socks, steroid creams and an Elizabethan collar. I could not get him to stop. I was frustrated, he was obsessed. He died before I finished vet school and had learned about other treatment options. |
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by Sarah Wooten, DVM Let’s just get it out there: for a dog, coughing is never “normal.”
As a small-animal veterinarian, I hear this all the time. Clients tell me that their dog has been coughing for a while/off and on/when he’s excited/after pulling on the leash/after going to the groomer and so forth, but that they think he’s “okay.” However, a healthy dog should not cough, and a history of coughing always raises a red flag with me. |
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by Jess Elliott THE CANINE KNEE—known as the stifle—is a large, complex and vulnerable joint. Damage to one of its four main ligaments, most commonly the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL), results in pain and lameness and is the reason many dogs wind up in their vet’s exam room. The CCL connects the thigh bone with the lower leg bone and helps stabilize the knee. When it’s torn or ruptured, surgery may be required, particularly for large or very active dogs. |
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