No, vaccinating a pet while ill is not recommended. And yet I hear tell of this practice constantly. As in, “Yeah, my pet just went to the vet and she was treated for X, Y and Z. Oh, and, by the way, I also made sure she got her shots at the same time.”

Even some of my own clients, who’d I’d never make out for two-for-one types, often ask me to vaccinate their pets, “as long as they’re here.”...

I’ve been asked on several occasions to lend my veterinary skills to the cause of pet wellness in an online Q&A format. I’ve also seen numerous announcements looking for vets to fill this function on several “ask the expert” websites.

In these cases I invariably ask myself, “Why would anyone like me do this?”

So you know, it doesn’t pay dividends in bucks-per-words. The biggest return is in...

Here’s a story on how listening to the radio can improve your veterinary knowledge.

Last week I was listening to Dr. Nicholas Dodman (Tufts veterinary behaviorist and vet personality extraordinaire) on NPR. He was letting us all know how critical behavior is to the success of the human-animal bond.

And we all know that.

But did you also know that higher protein foods may be associated with...

No, I don’t own a veterinary practice. I can give you a very long list explaining this lapse in my traditional vet career trajectory.

And while on paper it’s a justifiable life choice, I’ll confess: Eschewing practice ownership doesn’t make me feel particularly virtuous or successful as a small-animal practitioner. I suspect the same is true of many of my ambitious colleagues.

Here’s why I’ve...

Since I'll be kayaking in Key Largo far away from my DSL modem for the next couple of days, this and the next post are reprints of the last couple months' Veterinary Practice News columns.Enjoy and comment away--I'll be back on Tuesday to respond.

I’ve suffered the disgrace of a malpractice lawsuit--no, not mine. But I served as a witness in a case brought against another veterinarian. The...

Sick pet…surgery…biopsy…what’s next? How long does it take for the faraway pathologist to render a diagnosis?

Some clients call every day—twice, even—hoping to catch the fax as it hits my email inbox.

They’re justifiably on edge, wondering if that scary oral sore is a squamous cell carcinoma, the toe mass a melanoma, the skin mass a grade III mast cell tumor…or something they can finally big a...

Let me first say that I‘m not one of those vets who denies her clients written prescriptions. Nor do I begrudge them a savings on products they can buy elsewhere for less. I do, however, have a problem with unscrupulous merchants who sell products that are diverted from the normal chain of distribution.

Here’s a story that illustrates my frustration on this:

Mrs. Savapenny arrives at the...

Last weekend kicked off this years’ AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) convention in New Orleans. I was meant to attend but, sadly, it fell casualty to my own pets’ needs. Luckily, I have Mr. Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS to keep me informed on how the AVMA’s House of Delegates voted on the issue of veal calf confinement (see below for the link).

I checked on this myself and read that...

A journalist-acquaintance recently accosted me with an unwelcome conversation on the merits of my sideline writing. “And yet,” she lamented, “how unfortunate that your topic of choice isn’t more juicy—marketable, you know?”

“But then again,” she pressed on, “how sweet to tell such wonderful stories (not a one she’s ever read, I’m sure). It must make it easier for you to sleep at night.”

After...

In a recent editorial in Veterinary Medicine magazine, a California veterinarian named Dr. Robert Miller had a thing or two to say about the red-headed stepchild of the veterinary profession that is “behavior medicine.”

In it, he bemoaned the dearth of knowledge and available services at the high end of the spectrum—at all levels of the behavior spectrum, in fact.

While more and more...

It’s that time of year again. Every summer, usually mid-sizzle, I write an article about my first Frenchie, Marcel, and his accidental death in a swimming pool.

I really don’t need to say much beyond the basic fact of his death (at a barbecue with over ten people in attendance, poolside) to hammer home the point that dogs die in pools every day—even when people are watching, playing with them,...

Front and center (if below the fold) in the New York Times this morning (Sunday!) is a story on the wild mustangs of western American lore. There they are in an accompanying color shot, speeding ahead of a banking helicopter as it readies for the final maneuvers that’ll add these four glorious animals to the 30,000 already in custody.

Adding fuel to the debate on equine welfare that rages in...

Ouch. Hits home on this, my Sophie’s first week of radiation for her brainstem tumor. This article was emailed to me by a dozen or so supportive parties, some shocked, some impressed that I’d agreed to submit my dog to brain cancer treatment.

None of us here should be too shocked, however, that owners are willing to pony up—big time—for their pet care when conditions prove treatable. It’s a...

In a country in which supposedly 93 percent of pet owners describe their pets as members of the family, where 70 percent of its pet-owning citizens sleep with their dogs and 78 percent with their cats, in which almost three out of four married pet owners claim to greet their pet before their spouse at the end of a long day, I say…where’s the humanity?

No, I’m not complaining about the high...

It’s perhaps one of the ugliest tumors we see, a knobbly blackish gray multilobulated lump that looks something like the fungal outcroppings your neglected refrigerated foods might suffer. When melanoma masses get to breaking and bleeding they’re even less likely to compete against Miss Venezuela for the coveted sash and crown.

Last week I cut one of these bloody suckers out of a...

Spain may soon become the first nation to elevate the rights of some non-human primates to that of some humans. It’s a big deal, this seemingly sudden move of the Iberians, not least because Spain doesn’t seem the likeliest candidate to advance this kind of novel animal rights legislation (Ferdinand the Bull and all that).

As you’ve probably already heard, apes are the target of this law....

Help! I need to find some way to get my Sophie to and from her radiation appointment every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next six weeks!

The one-time gamma knife procedure is out of the question due to the shape of her brainstem tumor (funky dimensions confirmed on last Friday’s CT scan). This [relatively] fast slice-n-dice procedure was my preferred approach due to the alternative’s...

This is a story of how two consecutive cover stories in Veterinary Economics conspired to boost my ego… and later burst my bubble.

In case you’ve never heard of this magazine, rest assured your vet has. It’s his or her version of a personal finance magazine. Though it’s geared to helping vets manage their practices, it sagely recognizes that not all vets own them. Consequently, it produces...

Oops, I did it again! Last week it was the kitten (now healthy and living la vida leche with a feline foster mama), this week it’s a six month-old, mixed-Dane puppy who managed to find himself dumped, presumably after contracting a nasty case of demodectic mange (AKA, demodex, or “red” mange).

That’s how it happens. A pup can be cute as all get-out for the first couple of months but after a...

At the risk of stealing thunder before you catch the lightning, let me just tell you how the cover story in today’s New York Times Magazine unfolds:

This glossy “Animal Pharm” piece has a mouthful to say on the so-called “modern phenomenon” of using psychoactive pharmaceuticals on our pets, railing at times against their use but more often against the sentiments that provoke humans to apply...

Much attention has been paid to this bit of weird science from the hallowed halls of none other than my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. Out of thirty-three breeds of dogs, this study concludes that Dachshunds were the likeliest to grace a human hand with an unwanted nibble.

The study talks a good game about the 6,000 thorough surveys conducted but let me state now for the record...

Yes, really. I’ve never heard anything like this since the Chupacabra hit Mexico. I was living in Monterrey, Mexico at the time and found the shocking news hard to believe. Goats were found dead and drained of blood with puncture wounds decorating their dessicated hides.

Ultimately, the Chupacabra thing proved to be an overblown local phenomenon with no legs beyond the superstitious spheres...

by Marc Wosar, DVM, MSpVM, DACVS

Miami Veterinary Specialists

Dr Khuly's note: This great article was intended as an informative piece for veterinarians but I think it works well for anyone whose pet suffers severe ear canal disease. If you find yourself medicating ears for a significant percentage of your pet's life this information is FOR YOU!

Chronic otitis is a common and frustrating disease...

With today’s post Dolittler turns 1,000!—measured in posts, that is. Considering that my average post is about 600 words long that’s 600,000 words, all submitted in your honor, my Dear Readers.

To celebrate this milestone I’d like to thank my most influential readers, supporters and other helpers-along-the-way:

PetConnection: No single entity has contributed to the success of Dolittler as...

The Association of Shelter Veterinarians recently completed a 7,000-plus word document printed in July 1st’s JAVMA. (To view entire doc, click on FREE Special Report after following this link.) This comprehensive set of guidelines answers a question that seriously needed asking: What is the standard by which veterinarians should sterilize cats and dogs under shelter conditions?

This paper is of...

I’m hitting the stacks of my local library tomorrow in the hopes of uncovering some new gems in the genre I call “pet-lit.” In the past, I’ve explained that I can’t get enough of great pet-lit…perhaps because there ain’t much of it out there.

The White Fangs and Black Beautys of the past are exactly that…way in the past. Why is it we can’t find great new pet-lit now that books are so...

It’s a good thing I have the weekend off. Unfortunately, I’ve been doing little with it beyond feeding a five day-old kitten every hour…on the hour.

Sure, I’ve been reading, cooking and organizing my house, too. Too bad I’ve also been suffering a breakdown in my central AC…in Miami…in July…with every AC repair service asking triple-overtime rates…ouch.

So maybe that’s why I’m feeling...

In my case, all you have to do to be a sucker for a kitten is get home late from work and nearly trip over the mangled body of a maggot-ridden rat—oh God no—it’s a kitten!

A well-intentioned neighbor, apparently desirous of anonymity in case kitten stress should befall him, must have left him on my doorstep. How NOT to Be a Sucker for Kittens 101 is clearly something this individual has down...

It’s the Fourth of July and all you U.S. readers know exactly what that means…NOISE! To suitably celebrate the anniversary of our country’s violent birth our neighbors will be out on their lawns sending up illegal flares likely to ignite nearby tinder and frighten our pets into sub-couch submission.

It’s an annual feast for the pyromaniacal among us. Too bad our noise phobic creatures can’t...

With the R-word in full-on over-usage across the US, the news media is grasping for any kind of story to prove that we’re really truly, honest-to-God suffering. With this American penchant for black news to back up our basest fears, some outlets are using pets to illustrate the economy at its worst.

If last year was all about low quality pet food ingredients this year it’s foreclosure...

Hot on the heels of last Saturday’s comedown (see the previous post) came an angry phone call from a client displeased with his pet’s health certificate.

This was Saturday morning and the health certificate had been issued the previous day. Unfortunately, the flight (a Delta Airlines jaunt from Miami to Salt Lake City) was a couple hours off—and it didn’t look like the dog was boarding it.

The...

OK so I did a bad thing last Saturday…a very bad thing.

A client I know well from years of stray cat care brought in a stray six month-old kitten so I could treat its ostensibly broken leg. Instead, I determined that a small abscess (probably from a bite wound) was the cause of his lameness.

Because the kitten was a tad on the wild side, I sedated him and proceeded to clean the area and debride...