Got an itchy pet? Losing hair? Diagnosed with “allergies” or “allergic skin disease”? Are the summer months causing your pet especial distress? Then you’ve likely been offered “allergy testing.” But what, exactly, does that mean? 

For starters, it means we rule out all other potential causes of skin disease to make sure we’re not all hung up on the allergy thing for no good reason. This...

An eBay savvy, Maryland veterinarian is offering a spay or neuter to anyone willing to bid on it. Really. 

Dr. Marcella Bonner used to auction purses on eBay to supplement her income. These days she’s got a new practice and a nut to cover. So she’s taking her well-honed eBay techniques to places veterinary services once feared to go. 

Well beyond a sophisticated website, an attention-getting...

Everyone thinks it always comes down to the heat stroke nightmare scenario. But it doesn’t––not always. Hot weather hazards are seriously diverse. And here’s a listing of what you need to look out for––beyond the heat stroke, which all of you should avoid like the plague, anyway:

1-Burnt pads

My burnt pad patients almost invariably come attached to owners who profess ignorance of this...

I refer many of my patients to specialists. I consider them my partners in practice, people who bring more to my patients than I can offer. They’re tools every veterinarian needs to learn how to wield wisely on their patients’ behalf. 

But sometimes, they’re our spouses, friends and lovers, too. Which can sometimes raise eyebrows, along with some very obvious ethical concerns. 

After all,...

It’s been two weeks today since Sophie’s been gone. I’ve been working hard, away for a spell (a weekend vacation I thought she’d attend), and immersing myself in random books and old miniseries.

Though lots of intense work keeps me busy, The Book Thief and The Shadow of the Wind were superb, my cooking time has skyrocketed (all these mangoes) and early Battlestar Galactica has it’s...

PETA’s at it again. Though I’ve tried desperately to ignore the subject, forgoing posts on the Presidential fly-swatting fiasco and the Seattle fish market kerfuffle, I finally broke down and the result is this...

PETA has a point. There. I said it. 

For once I’m finding myself thinking PETA’s on the right side of an issue. Though let me be clear: If nothing else, PETA has a knack for...

Ever thought it was about time you took on some kitchen detail that didn’t include human-only fare? I know lots of you have. But taking it to the next level is the hard part.

Where to start? Here’s where:

#1 Got a recipe?

Check. (Ask your veterinarian or consult with a veterinary nutritionist.) 

#2 A workable kitchen?

Check. (Mine’s small, but it’s well-equipped.)

#3 Lots of pots and...

Last October I embarked on a series of posts detailing the economics and other mechanics of hip disease in dogs. But somehow life intervened and I only got part 1 and part 2 completed before being swept away on some other, more immediately compelling Dolittler mission. 

To atone for my sins of omission, here’s the last enrty in this three part series. Perhaps the most interesting of the...

At the risk of raising another firestorm on Dolittler (remember my last post on Mr. Millan?), here’s a topic that’s got vets hopping mad. 

Seems vaccine, drug and flea product manufacturer Merial (the behemoth behind Frontline) and celebrity dog trainer Cesar Millan (of Dog Whisperer fame) hosted a wedding––theirs––to which none of us were invited. 

I, for one, wish they’d at least sent a...

If I were to rank my clients’ complaints over business practices in veterinary medicine, the number one offending issue wins by a wide margin: It’s the price of emergency care. 

Truth be told, it’s a sore spot with me, too. Like the time I lost a client over an $800 ER bill when a cat chewed out her stitches on a $200 spay (the doc at the ER told this client she should ask me to pay). Like...

by Stephanie Haun

(Stephanie Haun included this entry in a post on Examiner.com. She's a psychotherapist, violinist...and the mother of Lucky-the-dog and many kitties, all patients of mine.)

Human-animal bond part 1: Serial cat killer in Miami

A serious and dangerous criminal has terrorized the residents of Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay in Miami-Dade County since April. His victims are first,...

Does your pet frequent a large veterinary hospital or a small one? Does your experience at either sometimes make you wonder whether you’d be better off with the alternate version? 

After all, it’s like choosing a college or university. The smaller schools have clear advantages over the bigger ones...and vice versa. But do you know what they are when it comes to veterinary care? 

First, a...

Here I am on the last day of a few days away from home. I'm three time zones away in Northern California trying hard to exorcise my recent demons. Though I've been posting faithfully, it's clear to me that I won't be able to do you justice today. That's why I've opted to bring you back to a post many of you may have missed. It's an important one, one I hope you''ll disseminate so others won't...

It’s easy to forget that antibiotics have been formally in use for less than a hundred years. I mean, what did we ever do without these bacteria-killing drugs? 

I prescribe antibiotics every day of my life in veterinary practice. Which means I revere them for their effectiveness and rely on their actions. Indeed, I treat them like gold. (Gram per gram, some of them probably cost as...

Veterinary students ultimately find themselves lodged between a rock and a hard place. The “rock” is the school’s need to educate them broadly and deeply. The “hard place” is the veterinary profession’s requirement that students emerge fully versed in the private practice lingua franca (i.e., with the well-developed ability to function independently in clinical practice).

It seems incredulous...

In veterinary school we’re relentlessly dogged by biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, pathology, embryology and genetics. And that’s just the first one or two years. In the second and third years we’re exposed to seemingly endless coursework in ethics and nutrition and principles of medicine and surgery, among others. Then after all this butt-numbing classroom work, we’re typically...

The final installment in Sophie Sue’s saga. It was inevitable. She was euthanized last night at home atop her favorite pillow on my bed. She died peacefully.

Ever wondered what it would be like to drive a truck from one vet hospital to another picking up black bags full of dead animals? Perhaps you'll think me a tad macabre, but I often do.

What must go through the mind of the Led Zepplin-playing, unmarked-truck-driving man as he hoists the bags, empties the freezers and ensures that everything is labeled for the correct kind of disposal? And how...

“I didn’t mean to do it, Ma! He just followed me home. What else could I do?” 

Sorry excuses were on my lips one afternoon late last week as I attempted to hide the furball on my car’s floorboard when I stopped off at my parents’ house to pick up my male Frenchie from “day care.” But she’d already seen him. It was too late to avoid the icy stare and maternal recriminations. 

Leave it to my...

Is your pet on a prescription diet? Let me rephrase that: Is your pet on a “Prescription Diet”?

If so, is your veterinarian the only place you can go to pick up your Rx-labeled pet food? If it’s sold at the big-box pet store down the street, do you have to arrive at said pet store with a written prescription in hand before you can pick up a bag or case of pet food? Did you ever wonder why...

Ever noticed your dog slink away after you’ve discovered she’s decimated a shoe?...left you a present on the Oriental rug?...stolen another dog’s biscuit? “I’m such a bad, bad dog and I deserve to go to my crate.”

How about when you feed one of your cats a larger amount than another and notice the despondency in the eyes of one who’s looking all hangdog over the inequity? “Hey, why’d she get...

...and it’s for the ubiquitous mast cell tumor. Seen primarily in dogs, this common skin tumor has plagued us veterinarians for eons, it seems. Not only can it be a killer, it’s sometimes hard to identify when it masks itself, chameleon-like, as a wart or tiny bump on the skin. (Who can see with all that hair?)

To add insult to injury, it’s exceedingly difficult to arrive at a decision as to...

As the economy continues to reject a rapid bounceback, I happen to know that more of you are looking for ways to curb your consumption of expensive veterinary drugs and products by sourcing them online or through big box pharmacies. 

It’s also clear that the EPA spooked many of you after issuing an advisory for many flea and tick topicals (the primary reason my clients head to the web for...

When the time comes to say goodbye, where will it be? A large and growing number of you seem to prefer that it happen in your own homes. After all, that’s where you and your pet shared the most time and feel most comfortable. 

Maybe you’d prefer not to risk an intractable memory of her last breath within the confines of the four walls you inhabit, but you feel you owe it to her, anyway....

Have you ever wondered if your dog gets headaches when he’s under the weather? Whether your cat feels a sinus-ey stabbing pain behind her eyes when she’s got a cold? How would you know?

I’ve recently had cause to wonder whether my own dog gets headaches. As  some of you may be aware, Sophie Sue’s been strangely “off” lately, likely the result of some brain tumor-related issue (she was...

Got a pet for whom you prefer a lifetime of chemical-free, ingredient-pure, environmentally-friendly living? Do you seek out “natural” and “green” alternatives for them? Well, consider that you don’t always get what you think you’re paying for when you go for brands that claim such concessions on their labels. 

It’s obvious that those of us willing to seek out the best for our pets are...