Dog Life

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    Best Advice for Dogs with Skin Issues

    I still need to publish a real post about Mr. Stix’s full backstory, but this feels more pressing. For nearly 18 months, Mr. Stix’s permanent nakey spot (from unknown injuries before he was rescued, including 15 fractures and this big patch of coat missing) has featured several inflamed, peeling areas. Initially I tried to fix it myself at home with things like aloe vera, vaseline, a veterinary ointment called animax that the shelter had give us while we fostered him most of 2019, etc. It’s sort of a combination of steroids, antibacterial, and antifungal stuff. I took him to see our main veterinarian in spring 2020, when there was a 2-month wait to get into see a board-certified veterinary dermatologist. It has been quite a journey since then, and it’s nowhere near over. Here’s my best advice for dogs with skin issues.

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    How Not to Get Fired as a Veterinary Client

    I just finished writing an article about a crisis in veterinary medicine with the mental health and overall wellbeing of veterinarians and their veterinary hospital teams, driven in part by the increased demands for veterinary services and the increased abuse they face from cranky clients. Recently, I’ve also become aware of more and more people in my circle of dog lovers — online and otherwise — getting fired by various veterinary hospitals across the country. I find it hard to believe that ALL of these folks are being major jerks, but it seemed like an urgent need to discuss what’s happening, why, and how NOT to get fired as a veterinary client. Here are my best tips + a video explaining (sometimes ranting) about what NOT to do.

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    When to Spay or Neuter Your Dog

    The veterinary profession continues to learn about the long-term health effects of surgeries done to prevent unwanted canine pregnancies. These insights help Dog Moms and Dads make better decisions about when to spay or neuter dogs. Simply put, our goals must bridge both reproductive protection and long-term comfort and health for the dogs we love. Researchers from UC-Davis looked at associated joint disorders, cancers, and urinary incontinence in 35 dog breeds and offered insights on making this important decision. In some cases, the best option may be leaving some dogs intact.

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    Not the News We Planned to Share

    It’s an interesting thing to head into a new year thinking that goals and plans and purposes are all set. As hard as some things seem, we forge ahead and do the work and take steps toward the original plan. Then, a bunch of stuff happens and fate keeps bonking you in the nose, until you get the hint. This is the story of something like that — at least part of it. Yes, it involves dogs. Don’t miss this news. It’s good. I promise. It’s about Mr Stix.

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    Foster Puppy, Good Deed, Good Distraction

    Yeah. In the midst of everything else, we took on a long-term foster puppy for our local shelter. The new executive director there is a long-time friend and former coworker, and she specifically asked me to get involved. I’ve been wanting to do some fostering now that we have dogs who like other dogs enough to allow a canine visitor, so it isn’t like it happened crazy out of the blue. This little guy needed us, so here we are many months later. Don’t miss the shelter’s video about his case and a little photo montage I made for his first birthday, which the shelter designated as June 1 (based on estimates on his age when rescued).