What plants are poisonous to my pet?
The winter and spring holidays are prime time to answer this question! There is a story commonly repeated that poinsettias are poisonous – not so – they will, however, make a dog or cat drool excessively. By contrast, eating an Easter Lilly can be fatal, as with many...
My dog had calcium oxalate stones – how can diet help him?
There are a few things that go into the development of calcium oxalate stones (struvites are the most common type of stone). Calcium oxalate stones come from the urine being too acid (struvite is too alkaline) and our dogs not drinking enough, and a genetic...
Explain more about how diet affects bladder infections
Most pets these days are not eating a species appropriate diet. “Species appropriate diet” is the current buzz word to say our dogs and cats need to eat meat. Instead most pets eat foods based on corn and other byproducts of the human food industry. Don’t get me...
All of a sudden, my dog isn’t eating his food. What should I do?
There are many, many possible causes for this. So, let me go through a few of the most possible. First, how long has it been? If everything else seems to be “normal” with your pet, it’s okay to go up to 24 hours without eating. It’s possible he has the flu. Of...
What do you recommend for flea preventative for my pet?
Whatever is the least you need to do to control fleas. Don’t you hate that I don’t have one pat answer? Problem is, different households have different issues. Some homes have used the same flea preventative for years and it’s not working anymore. Some homes can’t get...
My veterinarian wants to do an expensive treatment on my dog because she has heart worms. What is your opinion about that?
Heartworm disease is deadly. The worms sit in the valve between the right side of the heart and the lungs, interfere with blood flow, make the heart bigger so it works less efficiently and can have some unusual side effects, and can lead to death. However, there are...
My dog occasionally has bloody stools, but after a couple of days, it goes away. What could that be?
Bloody poo is certainly alarming and reason to do further investigation. Here are a few things: it could be giardia, an intestinal protozoan (dogs drink dirty water, ingest giardia from another animal who has pooped nearby and had giardia). Giardia can cause off and...
Do you need flea medication year round, or can you stop when winter arrives?
Fleas!?! Yuck!!! About 10 years ago, the answer was: when the first frost hits, you are good until next spring. Conditions have changed. More pets, increased use of the same product year after year after year (for the last 10 years); things have definitely changed! I...
Newsflash: recall of common thyroid medication for dogs with low thyroid function (hypothyroid) – what do you recommend in lieu of thyroid medication?
You gotta ask WHY does my dog have low thyroid? Did your veterinarian run the full panel (T3, T4, free T3, free T4, TGAA that gets sent off to another lab, ideally Hemopet http://www.hemopet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=39 or...
What is your opinion of the AVMA “ruling” suggesting raw pet food is unsafe?
I wonder why we as individuals aren’t allowed to be responsible for our actions. Now, groups and businesses should have some method of accountability. For example, since we are talking pet food, there needs to be the right level of nutrients for health (of course, you...