Forget about H1N1 for the moment. Let’s talk H3N8.

Now that more states have experienced this nasty strain of the Canine Influenza Virus (there was an outbreak in Virginia last week and now New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Colorado are seeing it) the so-called “dog flu” is again in the news media.

Despite the occasional lull in the general press, you’ll be gratified to hear that for us...

Smoking is every bit as dangerous for pets as it is for you. This we know. It’s possible they’re even more at risk than you and me. This we suspect.

Patients with asthma and chronic bronchitis are the tip of the pulmonary iceberg in households where smoking happens indoors. Lung cancer (and maybe other kinds of the cancerous greeblies) are also possible.

The tip-off for me? A pet that smells...

When the largest veterinary practice in the world refuses to crop your dog’s ears and dock your pups’ tails, you know the times they are a changin.’

Can there be any companion animal veterinary issue as contentious as the availability of cosmetic surgery for pets? Probably not. Surgical procedures that carry medical risks and the possibility of significant pain should be exclusively confined...

Anyone who knows me even slightly well outside of my silicon and stainless steel-infused professional environments can tell you something not-so-secret about me: I love to cook. 

Every day, almost without fail, I pore over online food porn, scour the contents of my pantry and refrigerator, devise menus and stop off at my local farmer’s market for another few ingredients to add to my stash....

Given this title, you might assume I’d oppose the slaughter of horses. And yes it’s true, I don’t believe that equines raised as family pets, racehorses and once-beloved recreational companions deserve the dinner plate as their final resting place. 

Yet ever since the last three equine slaughterhouses in the US ceased operations in 2007, it’s become clear to me and others in my profession...

You might find it distasteful for your neighbors to keep a backyard flock of chickens. What’s next, you muse, goats and pigs? A line for air drying laundry? Vegetable gardens in place of front-yard annuals? Work trucks in the driveway? What’s your neighborhood coming to? 

Environmentalism, health and gastronomical concerns should only go so far, you say. Animals have their place and it’s as...

Mercedes the dog killed Slugger the cat. The fact is not disputed by Mercedes’ owner. But the law that sentences Mercedes to death based on one incident alone is currently under review.

Because the attack happened in Broward County, Florida, the “dangerous dog” laws that apply (among the strictest in the US) offer zero tolerance for pets that commit a fatal act against a “domestic animal” or...

Apart from putting up a privacy fence, rerouting hoses to new plantings, clearing brush, designing a new coop and preparing to move the sizable goat pen (all under the hot Miami sun), I spent the weekend catching up on some of the last seven days’ veterinary news. 

For starters, here’s some catch-up news on my chickens and goats: I took your advice and spent some hard-earned cash on some...

Your veterinarian hands you a bottle of antibiotics after treating your cat’s abscess. "You’re to finish them all,” he urges. If you don’t, as the implication goes, you may be contributing to antibiotic resistance. And it won’t be your cat's health alone that suffers, but potentially YOURS, too. 

Antibiotic resistance is an emerging threat that has accelerated in recent decades. The rise of...

Here we go again. The veterinary establishment continues to find ways to tackle the increasing prevalence of raw food diets for pets. Yet another study is out on the adverse effects of raw feeding on animals. This time, however, it’s not the Salmonella that can make your pet sick. It’s about the Salmonella that can make YOU sick when you feed your pets a raw meat diet. 

Actually, this study...