Health

Tylenol, or acetaminophen, is a go-to pain reliever for humans, but it can be deadly to dogs. Do not give your dog any Tylenol for any reason.

Wounds hurt because the damaged nerves in the area send pain signals to the brain. While it may seem counterintuitive to touch a wound to provide pain relief, overloading the nerves can decrease the overall pain.

When should you neuter/castrate your male dog? Should you wait till after a heat cycle to spay your female dog? These used to be questions with easy answers.

Regurgitation is a classic sign of megaesophagus, a GI motility disorder. In this condition, the muscles and nerves of the esophagus are not normal, so the important motility required to move food along is absent.

True liver cancer tends to grow slowly, but your dog can be uncomfortable and feel sick. Many metastatic cancers that settle in the liver, such as hemangiosarcoma, have shorter survival times and may be painful. Keep in mind your dog’s quality of life.

If your dog is still coughing you need to assume he might be contagious. To be truly safe from being the bane of your dog’s social circle, I would keep him out of his activities for a week after the last cough.

If your dog is sick, feeling a little off, or has an acute or chronic illness that makes him avoid water, he still needs to drink enough to stay hydrated. We have ways to entice a dog to drink starting with cool clean water, and adding flavorings.

Most dogs who have spay surgery go through the spay incision healing process without problems. Healing tissues are fragile, however. It is your responsibility to pay attention to the instructions you receive post-surgery.

It may seem like dogs are immune to food poisoning, as they often eat things that would land us in the hospital. They are susceptible to many of the same pathogens that impact humans. In a healthy adult dog, a larger pathogen load is required to induce illness.

Your dogs were out in the yard, and you call them in. One is limping on her front leg. It’s Saturday night, and you’d like to avoid a visit to the emergency clinic. Luckily, the odds are in your favor. Your dog’s pain may be from something simple, like a sprained front paw.

Prevention of mastitis involves keeping the nursing environment as clean as possible. It’s wise to try to prevent trauma to the mammary glands by eliminating sharp objects in the whelping box and trimming the puppies’ toenails. Make sure the puppies are nursing from all the teats to keep the glands drained (in small litters, rotate through each of the teats).

Diagnosing your dog’s hypoglycemia and its root cause will be imperative for proper treatment and management, as well as having a complete understanding of their prognosis. A glucometer is an easy and quick way to evaluate your pup’s blood glucose levels and diagnose hypoglycemia.