Does your beloved cat spend an inordinate amount of time grooming?…the same spot over and over again? What’s up with that?

Some cats just groom a lot—not to worry—unless that one spot starts to look like the back of your husband’s head, all fuzzy with thinning hair (you know the look). In some severe cases it even appears that the skin is being licked off as well—because it is.

A few cats even...

Sophie and I would like to wish all of you a happy and safe Halloween! Stay away from your little brothers' and sisters' chocolate and other candies (especially the xylitol-laced variety!). Wear reflective clothing if you're going trick-or-treating. And send me your best Halloween costume pics (I'll put up the best one).

Last week I received another issue of the glossily produced, University of Pennsylvania Vet School quarterly magazine, The Bellwether. Its last two issues have sported Barbaro, the school’s most recent poster child for its success in cutting edge medicine, on its cover.

As you might expect I have a few opinions on the subject of Barbaro and, although this may not be the ideal forum (since pets...

Did you know? The White Rhino is on the endangered species list for one primary reason—its horn is prized as a potent aphrodisiac. I’d venture to guess this horrible trade in animal-product sex potions would dry up mighty quick if Pfizer would just spread the love around. For the love of God just send the Viagra to China! Who would drink a dubious rhino horn tea when a little blue diamond can...

At the outset let me just say that our hospital performs low cost feline spays and neuters ($30 for neuters and $50 for spays) almost every day of the week. We do so as a special service to our clients—people we know well and whose work in the community trapping cats is something we choose to support. What I’m about to say about pet overpopulation may sound callous but it’s an accurate...

Ever pick up one of those foul, fake, Sara-Lee sugar-free cupcakes? It contains a substitute for a surrogate of a stand-in for sugar whose danger to dogs confirms a belief I`ve always held dear: once we humans start to simulate things, a certain number of generations later we’re bound to f--- it up.

Case in point: What do Vioxx, the space shuttle and the 2006 Mustang all have in common? They...

If there’s one class of client that gives us pause more than any other it’s the human physician (and his or her spouse/partner). This may sound profoundly unfair (and is certainly not a hard and fast rule) yet many vets agree they are among the most difficult group of clients to handle.

While I was in vet school, our professors drilled us on issues we should specifically explore should our...

Sometimes you’re picking through the millennia of Web logs (as I try to do on a regular basis) and come up with some truly horrific stuff posted there. Most sane people reading the occasional ignorant thing posted on a random blog simply laugh and move on. That’s me—usually. Today, however, I read a blog post with a graduate student animal rights group logo prominently displayed and was met...

As a vet I completely understand why someone might have to rely on a kennel to manage their dogged lives. Not every dog nor every home is amenable to a pet-sitter’s ministrations. Friends and family can be flaky or non-existent. I understand.

Where I live there are NO high-end kennels. I`ve even considered opening one, given my vet degree and avocational drive. What I lack is funds. ( I’m open...

There’s nothing more frustrating for a cat owner than a cat that urinates inappropriately all over the house.

The corollary: There’s nothing more frustrating for a veterinarian than dealing with a exasperated client who wants nothing less than a cure for this complicated, potentially cure-less problem.

This week was typical. I saw three cases of inappropriate elimination in cats. The saddest?...

OK so let me say this at the outset: IMHO it’s an icky way to make some extra cash. Taking one’s clothes off for general consumption in a sex-themed magazine is not a moneymaking activity I’d choose for myself.

That said, I once posed in the nude for a polite audience of MIT photography students while I was in college. I was a little uncomfortable and chose not to do it again. But it was good...

To continue the series on indecent exposure (there will be three installments) I’m going to tell you all about the amazing things our clients tell us about themselves and their lives.

As vets we are in the unique role of hearing things we wish we’d never heard. Ever heard the three-letter acronym TMI? It stands for too much information and it’s what we’re both subjected to and blessed with on...

From the annals of strangest clients ever in small animal veterinary medicine comes the sad story of a woman convinced that every vet she tried was utterly blind to her cat’s true problem.

A well-dressed, older woman arrives at his hospital with her cat, Ginger, bundled in a large blanket. She sits down and fills out the paperwork necessary for new clients while the receptionist eyes the bundle...

The declaw, a surgical procedure where the first bones in a cat’s front toes are amputated, is perhaps the most controversial routine procedure in veterinary medicine. Sure, most cosmetic procedures have their foes, but nothing seems to scream "cruelty!" like multiple toe amputations.

I embark upon a treatment of my approach to the declaw only by special request and not without significant...

I’ll bet you didn’t know this but veterinarians are in a unique position to see things they wish they hadn’t. I’m not referring to the obligatory blood, guts and gore—that’s acceptable and usually fascinating, as a matter of fact. I’m referring to the unnecessary exposure to human flesh that occasionally mars a vet’s idealistic vision of his or her clients.

Yes, it’s true. Occasionally they...

Dr. Allison Cannon is one of those idealistic, hard-working super-women we’d all love to be. Young and energetic, she just completed her internal medicine residency at the University of California at Davis (a top-tier vet school and an impressively grueling program) and has just started her real-work career at Miami Veterinary Specialists. When she talks about her patients she has that...

I adore my neighborhood specialists. Not only do they make my life more pleasant and educational with their open-door policy, they also make me look like a rock star when a client receives a special procedure or amazing, state-of-the-art care. I love that.

The heartfelt thanks my clients shower me with when I send them away to a specialist seems a little odd considering I did none of the hard...

Friday. What a sorry end-of-the-week experience I`ve just had. Fridays, as usual, never fail to disappoint. After waiting nearly 45 minutes (after-hours) for my emergency patient, he arrives. Covered in blood and saliva, Huey makes a spectacular entrance.

Huey is a long-haired housecat of seventeen years. He’s lived a long, indoor life of endless naps, frequent pettings and delicious treats....

One blogger I just discovered made a great statement on her blog (Girls Who Wear Glasses) yesterday. OK, I wear glasses too so perhaps I just like her for her style. Nevertheless, her post was a well delivered (if exasperated) sermon on the stress of socialization—her puppy’s…and hers.

Years ago, a new pup was cause for celebration. New parents armed themselves with a collar, leash, food bowls...

A growing movement spearheaded by the American Bird Conservancy and other environmental groups has taken the issue of cat overpopulation by the tail. They have a descriptive (if not terribly catchy) name for it, too: Cats Indoors.

This primarily environmental PR campaign for promoting indoor life for felines was initiated by native wildlife advocates to help curb the feral cat problem as well...

Illegal drug intoxication is more common than you think. While most pets won’t consume alcohol (willingly) in sufficient quantities for intoxication, other mind-altering drugs don’t provide the same degree of safety. Some vets in Canada are now becoming increasingly alarmed about the rising tide of marijuana toxicity and are calling for owners to curb their sloppy drug use. In other words, if...

I’ve wanted to be a vet since I was seven years old. This seems pretty typical if I’m to believe all the smarmy stories my vet friends tell of their first pets, first jobs, first loves, etc. (I tell those smarmy stories too).

Most of us were simultaneously encouraged by our families and goaded by life’s bystanders who told horrible stories about their children having to enter medical school...

A collector, in the world of human psychiatry, is an individual who takes an obsessive approach to animals, often strays, typically collecting far more animals than they have the capacity to adequately care for.

A twenty-first century version of the "Crazy Cat Lady" there is nothing remotely humorous about these individuals and their obsession with rescuing and keeping large numbers of pets....

You may have heard the old adage: 20% of clients bring you 80% of your business. The somewhat converse statement is also true: 20% of your clients provide 80% of your stress.

In our hospital both pithy versions apply. We love our top 20% for their willingness to pay without fuss, make their appointments on time without fail, and respond to our recommendations with intelligent questions and...

One of my earliest memories is of my father slumped in a chair with his head in his hands. I was four years old and had accompanied him to the vet hospital with our cat, Marsha.

Marsha was my first cat. She was a stray Siamese who had borne her young the same day my mother delivered me into the world. In a sentimental act of feminine solidarity she had squirreled her newborns into my crib on...

Friday. The day began inauspiciously with my son’s cracked braces and an impromptu visit to the [ever-vacationing] orthodontist (I should have been an orthodontist. It’s not as sexy as being a vet and you have to touch people’s mouths—but that Maserati!). Next up was the death of my beloved, twelve-year-old Lexus. I only hope the mechanics can resuscitate her so I can get one more year out of...

Yesterday I spent more than fifteen minutes on the telephone with the owner of a diabetic, severely arthritic, nine-year-old Schnauzer discussing the merits and pitfalls of Rimadyl. Gruffy has been taking Rimadyl twice a day for more than a year. If Mom doesn’t give the medication, Gruffy can’t climb the stairs or sleep well. Yet she’s been reading so much about the dangers of this popular...

Imagine my shock and dismay when one of you, a dear reader and knowledgeable cat owner, had no idea that pain medication was available for her felines. Perhaps that’s because pain control in veterinary medicine has come such a long way in the past five or ten years. I’m sure she’s not alone. How sad to think that patients might be going without the humane use of drugs due to the slow adoption...

One of my veterinarian colleagues at work, an older vet perhaps not so in touch with pop culture as he should be, recently adopted one of his client’s sick pups. This pup needed special care due to his cleft palate, a congenital defect in which the embryo doesn’t fully develop, leaving a wide open gap in the ceiling of the oral cavity.

My colleague wasn’t willing to euthanize the pup (the...

Do you ever wonder why it is you administer heartworm medication to your dogs (and some of you, to your cats)? If you’re reading this I know you’re not illiterate. You can surely tackle the print on the side of a box with ease. However, did you ever wonder how common these wormy creatures are and whether you actually need to give a drug each month to kill it?

An increasing number of my clients...

Heartworm is a tricky thing. This long white worm vets proudly display on their exam room shelves (nestled within those lurid plastic models of dog hearts) is a wily beastie. It not only has the ability to wreak havoc on your dog’s heart and your cat’s lungs, it can have a similar effect on your finances should your pet become infected. Prevention, indeed, is the mainstay of medical management...

Friday is always busy, especially in the afternoon, what with the mad rush of OMG-I-just-noticed-Fluffy`s-been-vomiting-all-week-and-I-don`t-want-

to-end-up-at-the-emergency-clinic-over-the-weekend emergencies.

Yesterday was no different. We had two critical cases come in simultaneously (different clients): one geriatric cat and one small dog. Both had been attacked by dogs—two days before.

The...