Here’s a popular subject in my place of employ: For every single one of my patients diagnosed with allergies, I’ll recommend a “food trial.” Here’s when we ask you, the pet owner, to either purchase ungodly-expensive bags and cans of foods...or to spend inordinate amounts of your time (and maybe even more of your money) whipping up pet cuisine at home. 

Have you ever received such a...

So what’s that embarrassing caca test for, anyway?

It’s stressful enough to have your pet’s backside violated by a plastic rod, right? So what’s the point? 

You say: If the goal is to make my pet healthier and parasite-free then I’ll trust your judgment, but I have to say, stool checks are a kind of cruel and unusual sort of punishment. I don’t get that sort of humiliation until I’m...

One of my patients will die within weeks. Her congenital portosystemic shunts, presumably the result of a pre-birth complication or genetic defect, have led to almost complete liver failure after three short years of life.

Lily is a pet shop Maltese. Her true origins are as unknown as the exact cause of her liver disease. But we do know her liver doesn’t work. And we know it’s the result of a...

Got a pet with a cruciate ligament injury? Well then, get ready, I’m armed with information and opinions. 

This time it’s not about the injury itself or specifically about the cost of its repair (check out parts one and two of this series for more info). No, this post is about the new pup on the block, the so-called TightRope technique for cranial cruciate ligament repairs (“cruciates” for...

One of my favorite client recommendations involves the use of a small, spiral-bound notebook (or a handy PDA, depending on your taste) and a pencil (or a set of quick thumbs). Keeping a log is so simple...and bears such magnificent fruit when carefully employed.

In case your veterinarian has never suggested it, you should know that many chronic, episodic or as yet undiagnosed pet diseases...

Have you ever spied a fleshy protuberance between your dog’s toes that looked either like...

a) a fleshy welt

b) an ulcerated sore

c) a hairless bump, or

d) all of the above?

If so, you more than likely ran (fast!) to your veterinarian’s place only to be told your pet probably has a “simple” interdigital cyst (more correctly termed an “interdigital furuncle”). Your veterinarian may or...

Have you ever had cause to have your veterinarian undertake a necropsy? Has your veterinarian ever offered one? Maybe you have...but you’re still not quite sure what the word “necropsy” means.

“Autopsies” are for humans as “necropsies” are for animals. It’s a procedure we undertake by way of gaining more information on your pet’s disease...after he’s dead, when we no longer have to tread so...

If you listened to the [horrible] audio on my decidedly amateur YouTube video attached to yesterday’s post on the Florida Black Bear, you may have heard me exclaim: “Veterinarians are the most resourceful...because we have to be.” 

I don’t know who it was I meant to compare veterinarians with, but my off-the cuff outcry was the result of a small success in that ultimately demoralizing day....

No, you don’t have to get rid of your pets during your pregnancy. You don’t have to fear interacting with them as you did before you conceived. I don’t care what your OB/Gyn says. I respond to a higher authority...the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 

The CDC has issued statements that reflect the most well-reasoned recommendations for the prevention of infectious diseases. I...

Got mites? I certainly hope you don’t...but if you’re like some of my clients you may be convinced your cat just can’t get rid of her ear mite infection (though it’s been years now). Or maybe he lives mostly outside and he is chronically exposed and constantly infected, in which case you should really be doing something about it.

Whatever the case...there’s help. 

In fact, ear mites don’t...