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...

Gus was my suburban lizard medicine project. Unfortunately, I’ve not got much happy news on this patient's update.

After a couple of weeks of attempting to medicate this backyard lizard with antibiotic-infused crickets (put the buggers in a bag with a hefty dose of injectable Baytril, shake ‘em up and release in front of the sick lizard in question), it was clear Gus’s illness had bested us...

In case I ever needed one good reason to be a vet, Minino is it. I always promise you updates on the cases I highlight and I’ll admit—sometimes I forget to comply. Today, however, I’m not only updating, I’m giving you some more happy news (as if the dog rabies success story wasn’t enough).

Remember the little blind kitten I told you about in this bittersweet post about a month ago? He was

Yesterday’s client wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. All on staff had fumed when she failed to arrive the previous day after reporting, by phone, that her dog had gotten into her bottle of Advil (ibuprofen). The woman failed to heed the receptionist’s direst warnings, claiming she couldn’t bring her dog in until the next morning. Period.

So I called her back and explained exactly...

Tuesday brought an unexpected little miracle. It arrived in the guise of voraciously hungry little stray male kitten. He was riddled with fleas, sported no fur over his ears, face feet and tail and suffered raw pink patches over his back and belly. The tiny white and gray 8 week-old thing was a pitiful sight more reminiscent of Pinky (of Pinky and the Brain fame) than of any earthly feline.

So...

Have you ever heard of a teacup cat? I saw the first two examples of these at the hospital today (yesterday by the time you read this). They’re littermates—little ragdoll “teacups” (roughly 30% smaller than they should be). They were twelve weeks old and looked little bigger than your typical eight-weekers.

They were cute as a button—you can well imagine what two tiny ragdoll fluffballs would...