Articles that apply dogs or are specifically written about dogs are here!

When You SHOULD Induce Vomiting

We recently discussed when NOT to induce vomiting after your pet has eaten certain harmful items. Today we’ll look at common situations where you should induce vomiting (how-to instructions below). Rodent poisons often contain anti-coagulant (blood-thinning) drugs such as coumarin or warfarin; newer products contain bromethalin, a neurotoxin that is equally dangerous. If a pet ingests an anti-coagulant, or even eats an animal that has consumed it, life-threatening internal bleeding may occur. While symptoms typically take 5 to 7 days to develop, they need to be headed off by inducing ...

2017-03-23T14:00:21-07:00November 5th, 2015|
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Rabies Vaccine Reality Check

Thanks to my good friend Dr. Karen Becker at Mercola.com for this incredibly important article! By Dr. Becker I have some encouraging news to share about rabies vaccines, or more specifically, how pets with out-of-date vaccinations that are exposed to a rabid animal should be handled. Currently, if a pet with a lapsed rabies vaccination is exposed to a rabid animal, the law in many states requires the pet to be quarantined for several months at the owner’s expense, or euthanized. In October 2014, a Brockton, Massachusetts woman was forced ...

2018-06-09T13:51:41-07:00October 29th, 2015|
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Halloween Safety for Pets

Halloween is already upon us, so it's time to remind folks how to keep all pets (most especially black cats!) safe at this time of year. Many thanks to Kimberly Jackson (A to Z Petcare) and Kate Solisti (KateSolisti.com) for this timely article! HALLOWEEN SAFETY ESSENTIALS FOR ANIMAL GUARDIANS By Kimberly Jackson and Kate Solisti Halloween can be scary for our furry friends. It can also be quite dangerous. Here are some helpful tips for keeping your pets safe on Halloween. First and foremost, please do not leave pets outside ...

2017-03-21T18:31:00-07:00October 29th, 2015|
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When NOT to Induce Vomiting

Cats and dogs can get into a lot of trouble! If they've eaten something they shouldn't, the common advice is to induce vomiting by giving them syrup of ipecac or hydrogen peroxide. (My favorite item recovered by this method was a baby sock that had been eaten by a cat!) However, there are some things that are actually worse coming back up than they were going down. In those cases, you should NOT induce vomiting by any method. These items include: Household cleaning products containing acidic or alkaline ingredients, which ...

2017-03-23T14:00:33-07:00October 15th, 2015|
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The Difference in Cost of Veterinary Care

Today I'm posting an article written a few days ago by a colleague, Dr. Carolyn Karrh, who was sad and frustrated after a dog died after being spayed. The dog was a high risk patient, but was brought to a low-cost, high-volume clinic for the surgery. Had she (the dog) been at a clinic where a thorough history, pre-op exam, better equipment, IV line, constant monitoring, etc., were the norm, the story could have had a much happier ending. Dr. Karrh goes on to explain the difference between clinics, and why ...

2017-03-21T18:33:32-07:00October 4th, 2015|
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E-Cigarettes: Dangerous for Pets

http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/a-warning-to-pet-owners-who-use-e-cigarettes?Wt.mc_id=facebook The ASPCA Poison Control Center says that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) often contain high concentrations of nicotine, which is a dangerous poison for dogs and cats. Nicotine exposures are increasing, and the types of exposures are changing. In 2012, e-cigarettes made up 4.6% of total nicotine exposures (including tobacco cigarettes, nicotine gum, e-cigarettes, and nicotine patches), but in 2013, this number increased to 13.6%; and it's expected to continue rising. Nicotine is dangerous for pets, and e-cigarettes and refills can contain far more nicotine than regular cigarettes. E-cigarettes are filled ...

2017-03-21T19:21:26-07:00June 25th, 2015|
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Animal Communication

Many thanks to our guest author, animal communicator Kate Solisti!  The art of listening to an animal and actually receiving something back from them is based on two things: (1) Love and (2) Intuition. I have been a professional interspecies communicator for over twenty years and in that time have helped many people rekindle their natural abilities to open and receive information from non-speaking beings through their intuition. It is my belief that the heart is the seat of our intuition and innate wisdom. In order to access these, we ...

2017-03-21T19:22:08-07:00April 2nd, 2015|
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Animal Pain

That idea that animals suffer pain that needs to be treated is, believe it or not, still not completely accepted by veterinarians. In fact, not so long ago, veterinarians deliberately withheld painkillers from animals post-surgery, on the misguided philosophy that “the pain will keep them quiet so they don’t hurt themselves.” Even when veterinary organizations do acknowledge pain, they may still get it wrong. For example, the mission statement of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists (ACVA) says that the organization “believes that animal pain and suffering are clinically important conditions that adversely ...

2017-03-21T19:22:31-07:00July 20th, 2014|
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Flea and Tick Product Dangers

A big thank you to my dear friend Dr. Michael Fox (www.drfoxvet.net) for allowing me to reprint this urgent bulletin! BAYER’S NEW CAT, DOG, HOME & YARD INSECTICIDALS:  WHAT IT MY PORTEND FOR THE EARTH COMMUNITY By Dr. Michael W. Fox I posted my concerns last year about Bayer’s dog and cat “Seresto” anti-flea and tick collars that contain a nicotine chemical (imidacloprid) that can cause seizures, thyroid gland damage, mutations, abortions and birth defects, (and is a class of widely used agricultural chemicals implicated in the catastrophic demise of ...

2017-03-21T19:24:02-07:00March 18th, 2014|
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Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food

Updated March 2024 Holistic veterinarians agree that the very best diet for your animal companion is one that you make yourself. A homemade diet, carefully balanced nutritionally, and using raw and organic foods, is closest to what Mother Nature intended. However, many of us do not have the resources to make our pets’ food, especially for multiple animals or large dogs. So, for those of us who rely, partially or entirely, on commercial foods for our animals. To make wise selections, the primary tool is the pet food label. It ...

2024-03-21T11:05:40-07:00February 18th, 2014|
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Grape and Raisin Toxicity

Updated November 10, 2025 Beginning in the 1990s, veterinarians began seeing dogs who developed acute kidney failure after eating grapes, raisins, or currants. The cause was a total mystery for decades. But in 2021, tartaric acid (the basis of cream of tartar) was discovered to be the part of grapes that cause them to be toxic to pets. The amount of tartaric acid can vary in grapes by their type, how they were grown, and how ripe they are, which could explain why some pets get very sick while others ...

2025-11-11T00:17:41-07:00February 1st, 2014|
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Homemade vs. Commercial Food for Cats and Dogs!

By Jean Hofve, DVM Preparing a home-made diet for one's pets is a bit of a challenge. However, it is no more difficult than feeding one's children a balanced and nutritious diet. Most human beings seem to be able to do that, since we have survived as a species. As any parent knows, it is not essential to balance all the nutrients in each individual meal, but over time the intake of nutrients in a varied, healthy diet will be balanced. What parent would ever consider feeding their children only ...

2017-03-21T18:26:13-07:00November 19th, 2013|
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