Categories
Dogs Training & Grooming Veterinary Care

Training a Voluntary Blood Draw: It Can Be Done

Article

Reading Time: 5 minutes About a year ago, when my veterinarian was unable to get a blood sample out of my reactive and extremely opinionated young Pug, I got to thinking. I have a background working in zoos, where it’s now common to train animals to cooperate in their own medical care. Animals of many species, including bears, hippos, […]

Categories
Activities & Enrichment Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Training & Grooming Travel & Safety

Keep Calm and Kennel On

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Relaxing comfortably in a crate or carrier is a critical canine skill with many applications. A dog’s crate is an important management tool that assists in building better behaviors and deterring unwanted antics such as chewing furniture instead of appropriate toys or eliminating on the rug instead of outdoors. A kennel is also a protected […]

Categories
Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Senior Pets Training & Grooming

How to Help Pets Adapt to Vision Loss

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Connecticut resident Kathye O’Brien Anstis and her family were concerned when Riley, their 5-year-old Beagle mix, started bumping into their legs – it was as if he couldn’t see. They took him to a veterinary ophthalmologist who confirmed that Riley had lost his eyesight and diagnosed him with Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS), a […]

Categories
Dogs Life at Home Senior Pets Veterinary Care

How Arthritis Affects Your Dog and What to Do for It

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes I like to think my Labrador Retriever mix, Rio, is invincible. He loves hiking on trails, swimming in lakes, and generally frolicking outside. Even though he’s nearly 9 years old, I’ve been in denial that he’s a “senior.” But a recent conversation with a veterinary technician gave me pause. He mentioned that dogs who start […]

Categories
Activities & Enrichment Dogs Life at Home Senior Pets

Games to Play with Your Senior Dog

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Not so long ago, your dog was barely beyond puppyhood, and you could throw his ball so far you could barely see it and wait for him to race to it, fetch it, and return it. You could toss a flying disc, and he’d leap to catch it. You could throw a stick in the […]

Categories
Activities & Enrichment Dogs Life at Home Training & Grooming

Brain Games: How Dogs Think

Article

Reading Time: 5 minutes Most tests meant to rate the intelligence of dogs are interpreted as if all dogs were the same.  Beagle, Shiba Inu, Golden Retriever, Border Collie, Maltese, one test fits all, without considering that dogs are the most diverse of all species. Of course, if you have lived with a variety of breeds, cross breeds, or […]

Categories
Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

5 Ways to Make Your Dog’s Fear Worse

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes You realize your dog is fearful. You want her to get better, but could you also be making the problem worse? Unfortunately, this situation is all too common. Here are five ways you could accidentally be making your dog’s fear worse. Waiting to Treat It You hope your dog will “outgrow” the problem. Fear doesn’t […]

Categories
Cats Dogs Other Veterinary Care

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Talking to Your Vet

Article

Reading Time: 5 minutes Talking to your vet can be stressful. You’re already upset because your pet is sick, medical information can be complicated and confusing, and it’s hard not to worry about the bill. But you may not realize it can be frustrating for your vet as well. We talked to a couple of experienced veterinarians about how […]

Categories
Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Other Veterinary Care

Take the Panic Out of Handling a Pet Emergency

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Lisa Lippman, DVM, knows the value of always acquiring knowledge. That may explain why in addition to her skills in house call medicine, general practice, and emergency veterinary medicine, she made the decision to complete a two-day course to become a pet first aid/CPR instructor. Her reason is simple: “In a veterinary clinic, medicines and […]

Categories
Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Other Veterinary Care

When Vets Take Pets “To the Back”

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes When I worked as a vet tech many years ago, we didn’t routinely “take pets to the back” for treatment. Emergency visits, or pets not easily handled, were the exceptions. But more often than not, dogs and cats had their temperatures taken, vaccines administered, routine blood and stool samples procured, all while in the presence […]