Author: Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related. I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  • Dog Anesthesia Risks of Death

    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.

  • Foster Puppy Set Up

    With another foster puppy arrival imminent, I decided to document the foster puppy set up I use to prepare the house. I figured since I needed to do all the work, then I might as well explain my process. Photos and text ahead, if you want to speed read. Otherwise, scroll all the way down the site’s page to see a video that shows how I keep foster puppies safe inside and outside the house, including where they sleep and potty and hangout, etc.

  • Cuterebra in Dogs Questions and Answers

    Cuterebra in dogs — also called warbles, botfly larva, and straight-up maggots — rank pretty high on the yuck scale. Yes, in some cases, they can be dangerous too. Based on real-life experience with them over the years, let me answer some common questions in case you ever need to know. To see what cuterebra holes look like and what cuterebra themselves look like scroll all the way down. That way I don’t accidently gross anyone out. Your choice to scroll that far, or not.

  • Veterinary Care Inequities

    I recently researched and wrote a lengthy article for veterinary professionals on veterinary care inequities. It’s NOT YET published, but some important parts got axed in editing. It felt like an issue of fragility, if you understand that term. I argued (and lost). I feel that NOT sharing painful details about the problem only perpetuates inequities many people face when trying to access veterinary care for their pets. So, I alerted some of the people I interviewed about the editing cuts and got permission to share these key points here instead. Who isn’t getting the veterinary care? How common are veterinary care inequities? What barriers do people face? What underlying biases preserve the problem? And, how does this bias and lack of access feel in real life? Let’s take a look.

  • Dog Size and Cancer Risks

    Maybe I’m more distracted after handing off our tiniest-ever foster puppy (Pavé) earlier this week, but this third cancer relative risk paper from Nationwide Pet Insurance is really something to wade through. It discusses dog size and cancer risks — overall as well as for several specific / common canine cancers (bone cancer, splenic cancer, liver cancer, lymphatic cancer, mammary cancer). This may require more than one post. I may do a video at some point, but let’s dig into at least some of it now. Scroll all the way down to see bonus photos and more info about tiny Pavé in case you missed him on our social media feeds.

  • Unexpected BS After Dog Attack

    In our ongoing discussion of the dog attack Mr. Stix and I survived in November 2021, let’s look at some full-blown baloney that happens. Hope you never *need to know this, but just in case, here you go. Learn more about some of the unexpected BS you may experience after dog attack (s). Post features both an infographic and details explaining my experience with each additional element of trauma.

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    National Foster a Pet Month

    Posting this *barely in time to celebrate National Foster a Pet Month (June). I’m sharing a stat from Petco Love shows what it’ll take to end preventable euthanasia in pets at shelters and rescues in America. Fostering greatly expands capacity to help more animals. While loving on our most recent foster puppies — The Wonder Twins — foster volunteers for our local shelter had 120 animals in their homes. We even ended up keeping Zan and Jayna an extra 5 days because the shelter was FULL. What’s the shocking stat, how can you help, and how to I answer things people say to me about fostering? Keep reading to find out. Plus, cute pix and videos!