Yes, really. If you can’t stand the thought of keeping an ornery, smelly buck and don’t want to ship your doe three hours away for a worthy one, you too can artificially inseminate your goats right in the comfort of your own home.

OK, not inside your home but it doesn’t have to be any farther than your backyard caprine enclave.

I’ve finally pulled the trigger and decided that this year’s...

Call me strange, but I’ve always wanted to write a sci-fi kid’s novel on the subject of a parallel universe in which dogs are raised for food and biofuel. (Some of this fantastically abhorrent stuff is even committed to my computer’s hard drive.)

So when I read Monday’s New York Times piece on dog evolution and early domestication, I was oddly enthralled––and none too surprised––to learn that...

This week, news broke that the world’s oldest dog had died at age 147. That’s 21 years for you and me. In its wake came more reports of other dogs vying for the Guinness Book of World Records––including one whose owners are struggling to authenticate their 26 year-old dog’s age.

The fact that we celebrate our pets’ grand old ages as an accomplishment is both wonderful...and slightly creepy,...

Veterinary medicine trades in the grossest things. While working in an inner city human ER may best veterinary medicine on the “dirty job” meter, that’s only because of the presence of the microscopic filth that can kill you. I think my profession is way more disgusting––grossly, anyway.

That’s why my pre-teen son worries he might not be able to hack a distinguished career in veterinary...

It’s been two months and I’m still catching heat over my scraggly stray’s name choice.

After this puppymill Pug arrived, amid a flurry of demodectic mange and fleas, my son had promptly christened him “Billy.” In the way only an eleven year-old who sees no evil growing on skin can do, he took one look and uttered the two mundane syllables.

But they didn’t stick. Between the deformed limbs,...

Can you imagine going into the Ob/Gyn one year and being told they’re going to have to “spay” you? Ever wonder why they wouldn’t? I do.

I guess it has something to do with the etymology of the word and the sensitivity of the act of performing a full ovariohysterectomy on a woman. From the Online Etymology Dictionary, here’s the source of the word:

spay c.1410, "stab with a sword, kill," also...

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...

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...

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...

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...