For those new to Champion of My Heart's award-winning dog and veterinary content, let's recap that we gained some notoriety when Lilly, our original canine heroine, died from an adverse vaccine reaction to a routine rabies booster shot. That whole saga in painful detail here. Following that devastating experience, I pay particular attention to what shows up in the veterinary profession world about adverse vaccine reactions in dogs and cats. I recently found an online quiz about adverse vaccine reactions for veterinarians and staffers to take. Unfortunately, you need a login to see the whole thing. It's free to get a login. I have had one to this professional site for years, so I tried to take the quiz. I only got 2 of 9 answers right. The quiz includes some adverse vaccine reactions in dogs and cats I'd never even heard of. Sharing, as a friend says, for the good of the order. Let's learn a little something together.

Devastated to report the unexpected / sudden death of our most recent foster puppy Dream. Feel like I jinxed things by writing about our preparations for her arrival in real time and by writing about that anesthesia-related deaths study. Her heart stopped during emergency surgery September 27. It appears that whatever caused her broken leg also caused an internal injury that went undetected until her chest and lungs began filling with fluid. She only lived with us for 19 days, but we love her like our very own. The pain of the loss is as bad (or maybe even a little worse due to the shock) as losing our Lilly in 2013. A few of my fav pix and a short tribute video at the bottom of the page.

Researchers looked at more than 157,000 cases of dogs needing a general anesthesia / sedation events between 2010 and 2013 and reported on the dog anesthesia risks of death. The published study includes insights into relative risks based on age, health status, type of procedure (including spay/neuter), and even length of dogs' noses. It's meant to be reassuring, but even an experienced Dog Mom like me learned a few things. Don't miss the context and caution about possible overestimation of risk at the bottom of the page.

With our latest foster puppy (DREAM) in the house for a full week now, here's an update and real-world foster puppy example of how parts of our foster puppy set up actually work. Written and video updates ahead, including the #1 skill I taught my own dogs that keeps chaos to a minimum. Plus, live video of baby DREAM! Don't miss it!