Starting with our very broken first foster puppy (now family member) Mr. Stix who arrived at our local shelter with 15 fractures -- all four legs, his hips and his tail, we started specialize in fostering dogs who've likely been hit by a car or similar vehicle. For example, with Mr. Stix, we wonder maybe something more like an ATV since clearly the wreck didn't kill him or cause any internal organ damage (that we know of). As we learned, though, from the unexpected death of foster puppy Dream from an undetected internal injury, no guarantees about how a dog broken leg situation will turn out. With so many injured dogs and puppies in our experience bank, I figured I'd share a few dog broken leg cast tips. Yep, that's a keyword. Sorry it's weird. 

What. A. Week. Non-stop snow and wind and cold (and work deadlines). Then, Clover stopped eating. It happened once before during a lengthy false pregnancy. Don't miss myths and facts about dogs who won't eat from back then. This time, it turns out, the situation started with 1 or potentially a confluence of 3 things. Let's take a look. 

After my recent post about corporate veterinary consolidation and my concerns, I got a tip about about the related problems of veterinary noncompete clauses and how they affect veterinarian's career options. It affects you too, as a veterinary client. Let's take a look at how and even what the Federal Trade Commission may do about it. 

Sometimes a cough is more than a simple cough. It seems easy to chalk coughing dogs up to so-called "kennel cough," but veterinary researchers continue to find additional and more complicated ways dogs end up coughing and coughing and coughing for longer than you'd ever expect.

A recently published study reported that dogs smell stress on us. Yep, we kind of stink in different ways when stressed, and our dogs know that. Let's go beyond the headlines and look at the canine scent work strategies researchers used to figure this out. 

Just days after the first anniversary of the dog attack, I'm furious to report yet another situation last weekend with 4 dogs running wild in our community and behaving aggressively through the fence toward my 3 dogs who where playing in the backyard with me. They are new here. This is at least the third time they've been running loose recently. The situation included 4 German Shepherds, 3 adults, 1 adolescent/puppy.

So, I'm extra interested in this new study about dogs that bite other dogs. It looked at demographic details of the dogs that bite other dogs, the nature of those bites, and the impact of those bites (such as needing veterinary care). The study did not look into motivations or triggers. As Stanley Coren wrote in his recap of the study, "In other words, attempting to answer the questions who, what, and where, but not why." 

Breaking News !! Just in time for the 2022 holiday season, when dogs often accidentally get into rich foods and trigger an acute pancreatitis attack, the FDA gave conditional approval to Panoquell-CA1 for 1 year, with the option for 4 additional annual renewals. The drug meant for injection during hospitalization for cases of pancreatitis in dogs has been approved in Japan since 2018. It's made by Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd. Below, you'll find some FAQs about this new medication and canine pancreatitis in general. 

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! 

A study published in June 2022 reported on results for dogs detecting COVID compared to other testing methods. It's pretty neat. Let's take a look at what the dogs found.