A study published by researchers at North Carolina State University in June 2026 shows that stride length of the front legs is associated with cognitive decline in dogs. Yep, how dogs walk is an additional sign of an aging brain. It’s true for people too, which feels relevant at this point in history (*wink). Let’s see what researchers found. Click through and scroll down to see video monitoring of Clover’s stride.
A recently published study found that a lot of dogs without any known history of joint disease have undiagnosed osteoarthritis. Researchers found evidence of arthritis in dogs by checking them in various ways while they were getting dental care. It’s a small study, but still interesting.
Good grief. Not what anyone wants to talk about, but it seems like we all need a new world screwworm FAQ for pet lovers to keep everyone safe and calm. I gathered these answers from various (linked) sources. Maybe bookmark this post for later reference, as needed. It includes some current stats and maps.
Monoclonal antibody treatments for pets offer some interesting advancements for things like parvo that haven’t had real treatment options and for things like allergies affecting dogs’ skin that often require long-term management. Here are some things you might not know about them.
The new report from the CATalyst Council describes pet ownership inflation in painful detail. It is not your imagination. Your budget is struggling. Owning pets now costs 32% more. The cost of everything — especially veterinary care — is way up. According to the new report, veterinary services now cost 51.4% above pre-COVID levels — nearly 2x the pace of overall inflation (which is already terrible). Let’s dig into the data.
There’s buzz in the veterinary world about a paper published in March 2026 where researchers tested the accuracy of veterinary AI for x-rays. The TL/DR conclusion? Of the 6 veterinary AI tools assessed, “…none appeared suitable for clinical use in their current form.” The makers of the AI platforms say that the tools continuously (and exponentially) improve, so tests done 18 months ago don’t reflect today’s reality. Fair point, maybe, but let’s look at what the AI tools saw and what they ignored or misdiagnosed. See for yourself the actual x-rays that 3 of the 6 AI tools botched in spectacular fashion.
Among the many emails I get, I am seeing some kinda ick shifts and other worrisome details about the current state of vet med — veterinary medicine. Let’s walk through a few of them and see if we can recognize a pattern. (I’m experimenting with some color blocks to make articles easier to skim.)
Amid our ongoing worries about Clover’s lungs — first pneumonia, then a possible area of collapsed lung sacs — our veterinarian also discovered significant arthritis in Clover’s lower spine. I had no idea what spine arthritis in a dog looks like in an x-ray, so during our last appointment about 10 days ago, I asked her to show me. So, now I can show you.
If anyone has a right to be nervous about rabies vaccines, it’s me — after losing our original canine heroine, Lilly, to an adverse rabies vaccine reaction. Even then, though, I did not become an anti-vax drama queen. So, the hysteria and misinformation running rampant online about the new RNA rabies vaccine for dogs is insane. It’s meant to scare you. It’s total BS on several fronts.
Grateful to Dr. Sue Cancer Vet for alerting everyone to this new dog hemangiosarcoma study via her great social media videos. I dug around to find the full paper. I read it at the very beginning of the recent 4-day power outage, thinking how heroically productive I was being despite work limitations. I’m just going to hit a few of the main points, but basically this paper looked at possible associations between the number and location of splenic masses or lesions in dogs and them ultimately being diagnosed with cancer. In all the cases, looked at retrospectively, the dogs had their spleens removed (splenectomy) and follow-up pathology to figure out what was what.
