Dog Health

Brooklyn-based marketing manager Lori Townsend adopted her long-haired dachshund, Daisy, when the pup was weaned at 10 weeks old. Daisy had no health problems to speak of until soon after her seventh birthday: Suddenly she emptied her water dish more frequently and soaked the bathroom rug regularly with urine.

In the three years that Allie’s been working at Bryan Middle School in Bryan, Ohio, she’s been diagnosed with cancer four times. But hearing the "C" word doesn’t get her down. In fact, each time she’s diagnosed, she takes only a few days off for treatment.

Leaving a pill bottle opened on a low countertop, packing your medication in a plastic baggie or accidentally dropping a pill on the floor could harm your dog more than you realize.

One thing all dogs have in common is this: They can’t tell the veterinarian what’s wrong. That’s when pet owners have to step up and ask the right questions.

As Dr. Nancy R. Powel drives her mobile veterinary clinic around Baltimore and its environs these days, she makes house calls to dogs and cats – great and small – like a modern-day James Herriot.

Up to 20% of US dogs are thought to suffer from canine allergies. In the worst cases, an allergy can severely affect your dog’s enjoyment of life. Naturally, it’s important to identify and eliminate the source of the problem, and to control the symptoms. But the good news is that there are plenty of treatments available, many of them remarkably effective.

Like us, dogs benefit from stretching: Our muscle cells work the same. This fact inspired the Foster sisters – Sasha, a certified canine rehabilitation therapist, and Ashley, a certified pet dog trainer – to apply 20 years of research on human stretching to the canine world. The result is their book, The Healthy Way to Stretch Your Dog.

Spaying is a procedure few of us question. This year alone, thousands of female dogs will undergo the hysterectomy operation, which removes the ovaries and uterus. Chances are your own pet has already undergone these removals.

According to the National Pet Obesity Awareness Day Study conducted by 95 veterinary clinics nationwide, more than 44% of all dogs are overweight or downright obese.

When your dog is ill, the sooner you intervene, the better. While lethargy and changes in appetite and elimination patterns are easily detectable, other signs of illness may slip under the radar for months on end. Dr. Trisha Joyce, a veterinarian at NYC Veterinary Specialists, offers advice on what you should watch out for to ensure your pet stays healthy.

As the owner of both a dog day care facility and a boarding kennel in Virginia, Laura Sharkey works hard to keep the dogs in her care free of injury and disease. One disease she doesn’t really worry about? A condition called kennel cough. In fact, she doesn’t even require the dogs she cares for to be immunized against it.

Look up "dog chasing tail" on YouTube, and you will find thousands of videos showing breeds, ranging from sprightly adult collies to yipping tiny lap dogs running around in circles, trying to catch their elusive tail. Your own dog may even be a tail chaser, since the playful behavior is quite common.

When Gora, a bomb-sniffing German shepherd working for the Department of the Navy, began to have chronically red eyes and discharge, her Washington, D.C., caretakers took the professional pooch to her veterinarian. Gora was diagnosed with a common autoimmune condition called pannus. The veterinarian prescribed eyedrops, but Gora’s eye problem didn’t end there.

Dr. Sheldon Rubin delivered sobering news to the owner of a schnauzer during a recent visit to his Chicago practice. The dog tested positive for heartworm and faced a long, expensive treatment involving painful shots, says Dr. Rubin, DVM, who is president of the American Heartworm Society.

While there are more than 200 species of fleas in this country, the main troublemaker for pets is the cat flea. Happy to feed on anyone in the household – cat, dog or human – these wingless insects will most likely choose a pet, whose fur provides warm camouflage for their breeding ground.

Fleas feed and lay eggs on your pet for part of the day. They will also jump off and propagate in grass, soil, carpeting, cracks of hardwood floors, and furniture in and around your house. Even if your pet is indoors, anyone or anything can introduce fleas into your home.

The United States has about 200 tick species. Habitats include woods, beach grass, lawns, forests, and even urban areas. Ticks may carry various infectious organisms that can transmit diseases to cats and dogs