Tag Archives: health
And The “Hambone” Goes To…
… the yellow Lab that ate the beehive. The whole beehive!
Each year Veterinary Pet Insurance Co (VPI) presents the Hambone award to the dog who has the nation’s most unusual pet insurance claims.
This year’s winner is Ellie, a 1 year-old yellow Labrador from Santee (way to bring home the gold for San Diego!!!). The [...]
Rabies Seemingly More Prevalent
This last weekend while I was walking Stanley I saw a notice on a community board in Reston that a rabid raccoon had been caught recently. Seeing this reinforced all the news items on rabies – the two rabid bats found in Orange County, CA at the end of July; a cat with a confirmed [...]
Major Dog Food Recall – Iams & Eukanuba
I was sent this alert about Iams and Eukanuba dog foods being recalled:
Pet Food Recall
Some varieties of Iams and Eukanuba dog foods are being recalled because they may have salmonella contamination. The risk is not only to pets, because the salmonella could be transmitted to the pet’s owner. The companies are urging people to throw [...]
UK Dogs’ Gaining Weight Problem
Being too heavy isn’t just an American pet problem; one in three UK dogs are overweight according to the veterinary charity People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA). This number is up from 21%, or slightly higher than 1 in 5 dogs, five years ago. At this rate of pudgy progression, by 2013 nearly half of [...]
Helping Pets Deal with the Summer Heat
Along the east coast summer has been settling in and making it feel a lot more like August than mid-June. As the rest of the country heats up I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone that pets, in particular dogs, have a hard time coping with the unusually high temperatures and [...]
Tips for Frightened Felines at the Vet’s Office
Anyone whose ever owned a cat knows that a trip to the vet can be stressful for everyone. It usually involves a lot of hissing and scratching as your terrified Fluffy tries to shred the vet and anyone that gets between it and freedom. You really can’t blame the cat. It is a scary experience. [...]
Studies Show Omega-3s May Help Arthritic Dogs
The AVMA released the findings of three studies that show that omega-3 fatty acids may help improve the mobility of dogs with osteoarthritis.
The studies, published in the January 1, 2010, and March 1, 2010, issues of JAVMA, included 274 dogs with osteoarthritis that took part in clinical studies at dozens of privately owned veterinary clinics and [...]
Pet Insurance – Is It Worth the Cost?
With the human medical insurance debate raging on and my own policy price having just been hiked up again, I wondered how the pet insurance industry was faring. I have to admit that since my one exposure a dozen or so years ago that left me seeing it as being somewhat useless, I’ve been down [...]
USDA Approves New Melanoma Vaccine for Dogs
Cancer research in dogs is beginning to pay off in terms of practical, available resources to help extend the lives of canine cancer patients. Last year the first canine cancer drug was approved, Palladia from Pfizer Animal Health Inc. to treat cutaneous mass cell cancer. Now the USDA has approved a therapeutic vaccine for canine [...]
Animals and Cold Weather
Unless you live in southern parts of the southwestern US, right now where you live is cold. Bone-chillingly cold. Where I am in the DC area the snow that fell a week or so before Christmas hasn’t melted completely. Top off the fact that we haven’t seen temperatures reach the high 30s in waaaay too [...]