Diagnosis: A lifetime of pain.

Treatment plan: Euthanasia.

It’s hard to describe the mixed emotions attached to this news. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. You’re saddened, no doubt, by the death of an amazing animal who’s saga we’ve all watched played out since he won the Kentucky Derby and went on to shatter his leg in the Preakness’s first furlong. But perhaps you’re also compelled to...

“I wish I could quit ewe” and “He’s just not into ewe” are but two of the tasteless puns to make the rounds of headlines after a researcher at Oregon State University got some untoward PETA press. The scientist has been trying to figure out if there’s any genetic difference between the 8% of rams that prefer rams and the balance of ewe-seeking rams.

It may sound silly but the researcher is...

Cold as the title may sound, there’s plenty of evidence to show that permanent brain damage from seizures, near-drowning, head-trauma, anesthesia-related hypoxia (low oxyxen in the blood) and high fevers (among other possibilities) can lead to perfectly normal lives for pet survivors of such tragedies.

Sometimes even the worst situations can have excellent outcomes—especially when we’re...

It happens. You see a sick animal and you try to make it better: You plan to give it a drug or perform a procedure you expect will help. You inform the owners of the risks. They agree. You proceed. Then it all goes to hell when one of those risks, some bizarre reaction or any number of random wrenches thwarts your perfect planning.

Humans plan. God laughs. Too true. Read on…

Today’s disaster...

The controversy is decades old but the volume of discourse on the subject is still turned way up high. Plastic surgery is still debated as hotly as it ever was when ear crops were banned in Great Britain. Despite the ongoing movement against cosmetic plastics in vet practice, they’re still done every day in almost every city in this country. And not all are the dreaded ear crops and tail docks...

Last night’s houseguest was not exactly sick; she was pregnant—somewhere between 64 and 70 days pregnant. Darn near overcooked, I’d say. And no nine-year-old, ten-pound Shih-Tzu deserves to be in such a predicament without expert attention. So I took her home for the night in case her overlong labor came to fruition in the wee hours of the morning.

I don’t know what percentage of vets engage...

A couple of months ago a child was attacked by a “pet panther’ here in Miami. Although the term I offer in quotations should be an oxymoron, the state of Florida doesn't agree. While it's legal to keep a pet panther (with a permit) it's illegal to make a pet of any pit bull--at least in Miami-Dade County where I live.

Wild animal pets and wild animals-for-hire are not uncommon here in South...

It happens. In fact, it happens a lot to some of my less discriminating patients. I’m talking about their often bizarre dietary habits. Technically referred to as pica, the eating of stuff not meant for dietary consumption (though usually this terms is reserved for soil-eaters and sand gulpers), the malady can become a truly expensive habit.

Today I stopped into my friendly neighborhood...

The importance of blood in my everyday life cannot be understated. Beyond my own biological need for the red juice that provides my every vital cell with oxygen, it’s a substance we vets deal with daily for a variety of reasons. Its messiness is similarly inestimable (as those of you who shunned vet work for that very reason well know).

Bloody messes are impressive, no doubt. Blood has a way...

Unbelievable! In a recent story out of Auburn University, a vet student takes on a role better suited to a Tom Clancy novel than to an ivory tower academic setting.

Employing hidden cameras and defying confidentiality agreements regarding care of privately owned animals, this vet student at Auburn University made news with his underground association with PETA. His mission? Expose the canine...

Advice to the neurotic, clean-freaky new parent: You don”t have to find your dog(s) a new home now that baby is on the way. But keep reading if you’d like some commonsensical guidance on combining human and canine husbandry in your household.

Finally, there’s a study that proves my Cuban grandmother wrong (not to mention all those surgical mask-wielding new parents): Dogs really can make a home...

Stats show that new parents of human babies are getting older in our country. That’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned. It usually means they’re better educated, have more resources and are generally better equipped to handle the stress and angst that often comes with having children.

But [IMO] some new parents have also taken things a little too far in recent years. The evolving paradigm...

I’m sure you’ve all heard of pancreatitis—the notoriously painful inflammation of the pancreas that occurs commonly in dogs. This organ is so sensitive that swelling in the stomach, intestines, or any other abdominal organ can make it swell, too. And when the pancreas swells, things can get very complicated very quickly.

Here's a pic of a pancreas nestled between a slice of small intestine and...

Should you happen to find yourself among the thronging minions living for the possibility of one day getting into vet school—please don’t go to a veterinary conference for inspiration.

Should you, on the other hand, be one of those wandering souls feeling depressed that you never went to vet school—then perhaps a big conference is just the thing to assuage your misplaced sense of guilt over...

As any self-respecting service worker well knows there’s nothing worse than an angry customer. Our workplace is no different. It’s just that our customers come in a variety of species. Given the choice, though, I’ll take my chances with the ones wielding teeth and claws over the ones with very loud voices brandishing checkbooks.

Irate clients are the stuff of any service industry. And just...

You’ve all heard the gag. It’s the one about the guy who goes to the doctor with an unidentified malady then has a cat walk around him and a Labrador retriever sniff him before the doc hands him a big bill for a “cat scan” and “Lab test.” (I know. It was funnier the first time.) But as all jokes go, there’s a bit of truth behind the humor.

As most of us pet watchers already know, pets are...

I’m pretty sure that’s not what Dorothy Parker had in mind when she penned this [paraphrased] irresistible witticism. But (as usual) I couldn’t resist…

I wear glasses every day of my life. Parties and boating are the few exceptions to the rule I set down when I graduated from school. My concession to the real world: tone down your look with a pair of librarian-evoking specs. It’ll make your...

If you thought it had been a long time since you heard about last year’s would-be Triple Crown champion, it’s because it has been a long time. Barbaro had been doing remarkably well for a long stretch. A recent bout of laminitis, however, means Barbaro may not be long for these earthly pastures.

Not that Barbaro’s seen a pasture for the better part of nine months. The “luckiest horse in the...

Have you ever fallen madly in love with a vet (professionally, of course) only to find that he’s up and gone to greener pastures? Finally you find out where he’s gone…six months later…after Fluffy’s cancer has finally claimed her life.

This is a big deal for a lot of clients. And a really big deal for most vets, whether we’re the one staying or going. Years past this wasn’t such an issue. Vets...

I recounted this ten-year-old Yorkie’s last crisis in my tale of three Yorkies. He was the one who kept turning blue and wanting to die—but didn’t. Lots of drugs and beaucoup oxygen later he managed to manifest his curmudgeonly old self again. 

Sometimes I think dogs hate us so much they’d rather die than live under our care. This is definitely true of cats. But that’s usually more of a...

Whether it’s the twenty-something who comes in with the pet named FUBAR (if you don’t know what it stands for—Google it, I can’t say that on a family blog) or the newlywed couple that registers their first pet as Mabel, vets usually get the picture. We know that what you name your pet speaks volumes about what your pet means to you.

Sure, it’s different for every generation, ethnicity and...

Whenever I get cases with two or more seemingly unrelated problems I automatically start looking for the possible connection. It dogs me (no pun intended) until I figure it out (or the specialist does it for me).

First thing Saturday morning I saw a ten-year-old Lab named Luby. She looked like a bar fight survivor. And her nineteen-year-old owner was convinced she’d been bitten by a rat in her...

How is it that something as potentially simple as a nail trim deserves its own post when I still haven’t offered you entries on important diseases like pancreatitis, chronic colitis or prostatic enlargement? What’s up with that?

It’s because nothing has the potential to go so horribly wrong (relative to its miniscule risk) like a simple nail trim. It’s no wonder vets are expected to trim nails...

It’s the miracle we’ve all been waiting for! And damned if our dogs don’t get to it first. I’m, of course, talking about the pet weight loss drug that’s made headlines across this great nation’s front page fluff corners. (We love our dogs but let’s face it, they’ll never get top billing—even with a magic diet drug story.)

For those of you hiding under a rock since yesterday, let me be the first...

No. You’d better not. Highly visible signs are in place in every exam room announcing our policy: “Thou Shalt Not Hold Thy Own Pet For Examination”. And it’s not just our own little peccadillo. It happens to be the law—sort of.

Should your pet bite you within the confines of any animal hospital the facility is liable for your injuries. And workman’s comp won’t help. The expensive property...

Every hospital, provided it’s been in business long enough, has at least one story about The Fugitive. Usually reserved as a cautionary tale for all new employees, it’s one most of us don’t want to relive.

Our hospital has one famous case of a dog who escaped its collar and leash, tore through the hospital in a panic and fled through the back door at the exact moment the back door had been...

One of the most common questions we vets get in cocktail party conversation goes something like this: What is the wildest animal you’ve ever had to deal with?

I expect they’re hoping to hear something about the Wallaroo I artificially inseminated (once) or the Bush baby we ultrasounded for cancer in vet school. But, truth be told, the wildest are usually not the zoo animals that arrive...

There’s something about the first day back after a holiday or long weekend that brings out the crazies in people. While their pets are legitimately sick and in need of medical attention, they have a way of over-dramatizing their need to see the vet—immediately. It’s especially annoying to us since they’ve sat with their sick pet all weekend avoiding the e-clinic like the plague and saving it...

Ah...the AVMA...

I most always stay far far away from this issue because I have mixed feelings pertaining to the organization that tries hard to unite vets. However, I'm a little fired up today and may well offer you a little political post-- especially since Stefani lit that fire under my butt with her comment on my animal terrorist post from 12/30.

I am an AVMA member. The vast majority of...

Sophie Sue and I wish to offer you and your entire families the best for the new year. For my part I resolve to continue to bring you all kinds of fun new reading material--without skipping even one day.

Happy New Year!