I’ve been treating Bomag for six years or so now. He’s a huge black lab mix with a lumbering disposition and a sweet stare. He’s the kind of dog that will give you his huge paw when you need to take his blood and gaze deeply into your eyes as you lay him down to take an X-ray. In a word: lovable.

When Bomag was sick to his stomach last week I made sure to take an X-ray. Apart from the...

Finally, it had to come to this. Three months after sustaining a fracture, Kitten’s leg made its final exit from the world swaddled in a surgical tube sock. When we tossed it into the freezer (for cremation along with more complete examples of cat-dom) we did so ceremoniously, yet pleased to see the matter done with.

Kitten’s leg has been a sore subject around the hospital for weeks. None of us...

I wish I could lie to you and tell you that Piglet is out of his oxygen cage and doing well—but I’m a terrible liar.

Piglet’s appearance was improving hourly until 4 PM yesterday. He collapsed at that time—and died soon thereafter. This happens frequently to post-surgical cases. This is why we say the first 24 hours are critical. More than likely his body couldn’t process all he changes it had...

Piglet’s fever finally broke this morning with a 101 reading at 8 AM. The night had been rough with highlights including an episode of collapse and a 104.8 spike in his temperature early in the morning.

Today he spent the entire day in the oxygen cage at Miami Veterinary Specialists where he was under the care of Dr. Alvaro Larin. He looked positively healthy at times, especially when his...

Monday. Yesterday I spent my morning with a Piglet (that’s his real name). He’s not really porcine, just a pudgy little four-year-old Yorkie with a vivacious personality—but not on this Sunday morning.

I had seen him the day before during regular office hours for what we in the vet profession call ADR (as in, he ain`t doin` right, doc). Poor Piglet had a low-grade fever (103) and a slightly...

Little Suzie, a ten-pound, ten-month-old terrier mix, had been warned on several previous occasions to keep her snooping snout out of the bathroom wastebasket.

Like any self-respecting terrier, Suzie had never been a good listener. So it was that on this most recent occasion (a day when her mom knew exactly what she’d added to that little wicker basket in the bathroom) little Suzie took matters...