Let’s say you’ve decided you want a particular breed of dog but you’ve never been schooled in how one goes about these things. You haul yourself over to the nearest pet shop and fork over the proceeds from your new job’s first check. And you’re happy with yourself—you love your puppy.

Fast-forward three years later and you still have that new job—at the vet hospital. You know a whole lot more...

This past Tuesday, I arrived at the specialist’s hospital with my little Vincent in tow, hoping to secure a fit-in appointment for the following day (which I managed, as you may already know). As a referring vet, I’m granted the privilege of standing in the treatment/ICU area while I wait. When I do this (often), I thoroughly enjoy reading the cage cards and treatment schedules. It gives me a...

…and today was Vincent’s. For those of you unacquainted with the [unnecessarily stressful] saga of the quarrel between my dog’s dominant behavior, his testicles, and his cleft palate, let me summarize:

First up, the cleft palate, which he was born with and had surgically attended to when he was an eight week-old mite of a Frenchie. Then the drama of the divot still remaining after the surgery,...

Imagine you were ready for your first dog since becoming a grown-up and having a family. You undertook careful research. Found a breeder by referral. Traveled several hours to view the premises. Picked the puppy of your dreams. Socialized her to the best of your ability and undertook puppy training classes. Then, on her very first romp in the puppy park…she comes up horribly lame.

Now you’ve...

Sometimes even the simplest things can be brutally painful. Ever ripped a toenail? Yow, that hurts! Same goes for pet claws (toenails to you). They limp. They lick. They invariably make a big deal out of this seemingly miniscule injury…because it hurts like hell.

Sure, keeping your pets’ claws to a minimum length is helpful in preventing such disasters—as is the removal of dewclaws in dogs....

Cats can be the snuggliest, cuddliest, most personable of pets…and then there’s the rare deranged feline. No, I’m not referring to feral animals with a biological rationale for appropriately aggressive behavior. Rather, I’m talking about the felid indoor fauna capable of launching a devastating surgical strike at the exposed bit of ankle peeking just ‘twixt your jeans and your sneaks.

Before...

One of my longest-standing clients is also one of my favorites. He’ll consider anything I say—but a smart question is always sure to follow. That’s an admirable trait he’s honed to perfection in recent years as a result of his own illness—one which culminated in a kidney transplant about a year ago.

After dealing with the plethora of specialists he’s been subjected to (it’s like herding cats,...

I have this client…she raises dogs for fun and, occasionally, she profits financially, too. Mostly, though, it’s a labor of love—Rottweiler love, to be exact. Her most recent acquisition to her burgeoning pack of canines includes one very fancy pedigreed Rottie (for whom she traveled to Germany to personally hand-pick for his breeding potential).

Because I have misgivings about his personality...

Every once in a while you get a really fun case. Here’s my definition of ‘fun,’ in case you’re wondering: 1) an even-tempered pet, 2) a willing, supportive owner, 3) a confusing series of clinical findings, 4) the diagnosis of something slightly odd but fixable and 5) getting to see the fix unfold.

Though there are plenty of fun cases that don’t meet these criteria, one kitty I’ve got in the...

OK so here was last week's Miami Herald column. In case you're wondering how I field questions for this column you should know that some of them come from my own clients. This one is about my very own patient, Mr. Beebop.

Q. My dog Beebop has been diagnosed with a rare tumor in his neck called a thymoma. It’s so big the specialists don’t want to remove it surgically. Instead, we’re going to try...