Oh, Cesar, it’s due to your aggressive techniques and dominance-based methods that we’ve come to require such explicit recommendations on punishment in pets. But “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Milian is not the only target of this edict issued by The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB).

Titled, Position Statement and Guidelines on the Use of Punishment for Dealing with Behavior...

OK so after this week’s post on rough clients and tough situations in pet healthcare, let me offer this heartwarming story of a truly giving client trying her hardest to make a difference in the life of one sick pet—mine, in this case.

Ever since she heard Sophie was suffering from debilitating neck pain, this client began offering weekly sessions of Reiki to ease her obvious discomfort. She...

Aside from the ten learning points I addressed in the previous post, you should all know about some new products on the horizon for your pets. Conferences like this one are where the big companies roll out their new stuff. That’s big news for vets…and for you, too. At some point down the road you’ll be hearing about some of these so get ready.

Drum roll, please:

1-Vetmedin: The new “miracle...

There’s no end to the havoc one’s own body can potentially wreak. Autoimmune disease (where the body’s immune system attacks itself) is one example. Colic in horses, where intestines slither and twist into unnaturally painful contortions, is another.

I mention colic because today’s disaster case was kind of like the dog’s version of colic. I guess you could also call GDV (AKA, “bloat” where...

Yep. Not only do I find this disease of slow-metabolism to be one many of us humans wish we had (especially when at a loss to explain why we gained so much weight over the holidays)—hypothyroidism is an illness pet owners increasingly want their overweight pets tested for.

Wielding the “I only feed this much” hammer I’m so commonly hit with, they want Fido or Fluffy screened for the disease...

I’ve got this cute-as-a-button Jack Russell from puppy mill origins (sense a theme in this months posts on my patients?). His first visit: Mild upper respiratory symptoms, for which we prescribed augmentin (Clavamox) ASAP. Second visit (one week later): Heavy duty fever and runny nose in addition to sneezing. Bloodwork: Highly suggestive of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV).

Canine Distemper is a...

My poor Sophie Sue. She’s had a rough couple of weeks. Every morning she gets up feeling creaky and stiff. When she finally gets to walking her head is low to the ground, her sizable ears are pinned flat against her head, angry horse-style and she takes slow, shuffling steps so as not to flex her neck and back at all.

Sophie’s probably got IVD (Intevertebral Disc Disease). I don’t know for sure...

Unfortunately, being a conscientious vet involves knowing when to apply a judicious touch of sadism to your work. Whether it’s yesterday’s Muscovy duck, whose broken limbs and puncture wounds I had to assess (sadly, before euthanizing him), or the circumspect exploration of a cat bite abscess (by way of determining whether surgery is required), inducing pain is a standard part of my...

The obsessive-compulsive collie that licks deep wounds into her forelimbs. The obese, food-obsessed chocolate Lab unable to relax in the presence of any potential meal. The dominant aggressive Maltese cross that rules her family’s roost with snarls and lunges. The severely thunderstorm-phobic GSD who impales herself on windows as she tries to escape her home’s confines during a storm. And the...

M.ethicillin R.esistant S.taphylococcus A.ureus, AKA, MRSA. It’s all over the news and the news is not so good. Though this group of bacteria has been with us for decades, alarming the medical community with its recalcitrance in the face of our most useful antibiotics, its newsworthiness has suddenly soared. That’s partly because of its increasing incidence in the general population (94,000...