I know I’ve sounded calm, even accepting, about my departure plans for Frankie. And much of the time I am. Operation Spoil Frankie has been a nice diversion. But then there are the times when the facade breaks open and I realize that a) I’m still in a form of denial and b) I have…
Laparoscopic Spay: Less Pain, Except on the Wallet
This article is a version of one that originally appeared in Your Dog, the newsletter of The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. You will be seeing several more of these articles in the coming weeks, as Will My Dog Hate Me moves towards its final days. I’ll continue to mention this countdown…
I’m My Dog’s Seeing-Eye Person
Frankie’s eyesight is failing, though I’m not sure to what extent. Although they’re not completely obscured, his lenses look cloudy. I’ve also noticed that Frankie is hesitant to jump off things as low as the mattress on the floor where we sleep. (Yes, when he had back problems years ago, I opted to put my…
Vaccinating Your Dog, Part 2: Risk Assessment
Last week I gave a basic overview of vaccinations, including a discussion of why dogs need them. I made the distinction between core vaccines (those that every dog needs for public health reasons, including rabies, which is required by law) and noncore, which should be administered depending on a dog’s particular circumstances — exposure to…
Vaccinating Your Dog, Part 1: The Basics
The story of an adverse canine vaccination reaction detailed in recent weeks in my friend Roxanne Hawn’s Champion of My Heart blog inspired me to go back to a piece I wrote for Your Dog newsletter in late 2010. It’s long, so I broke it into two parts. Part 1 puts the larger issues of…
Diseases of the Dog’s Anal Area
Let’s face it: Dog owners spend a lot of time discussing dog butts and what emerges from them. Puppy bums lend themselves to lots of joking. But this article, adapted from one I wrote for Your Dog, the Tufts University veterinary school newsletter, deals with some medical problems that are no laughing matter. That doesn’t…
Do Dogs Need Professional Teeth Cleanings? Yes!
Maybe you’ve seen a sign for “Teeth cleaning without anesthesia” in your groomer’s shop or on a pet store bulletin board. And you’ve wondered: Would your dog benefit from some quick tartar removal, free from the perceived dangers — and costs — of a professional cleaning under anesthesia at a veterinarian’s office? “Definitely not,” says…
Unnatural Naturals: A Tale of Pet Perversion
Yesterday I made the case — or posed the possibility of a case — for natural remedies for pet health problems. Today I’d like to discuss my personal experience with their dark side. Ok, so it’s not really dark, just funny peculiar. Denial is a river in Tucson, too When Frankie was first diagnosed with…
Herbal Remedies for Pets: First, Do No Harm
My Drug Problem (No, Not That Kind) When it comes to medications, conventional and alternative, I’m profoundly conflicted. I’m suspicious of the medical establishment, especially of its encouraging people to take drugs and then more drugs to counteract their side effects. But I have no problem taking over-the-counter pain meds, allergy pills and antacids, as…
A Close Call — and a Change of Medical Course
Thank heavens for sinus headaches. I never thought I’d have a reason to say that, but a nagging pain in my head combined with a friend’s fatigue may have saved Frankie’s life. Frankie’s insulin problems: Some background I’ve written about this many times before, so I’ll just recap. Frankie’s diabetes had been well regulated on…