December 28, 2022 Vet Life

What Makes a Good Pet Health Blogpost? Looking Back at Our Top Posts from 2022

Dr. Ann Hohenhaus with a dog and a notepad on a couch

What Makes a Good Pet Health Blogpost? Looking Back at Our Top Posts from 2022

The coming of a new year makes us take stock of the prior year. Here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, we reviewed our top blogposts for 2022 and over the last decade. We found a few surprises that I will highlight in our last blogpost of 2022.

Reader Questions Make Good Blogposts

The number two blogpost of 2022 – “How to Move a Sick or Injured Pet in an Emergency” – and the number three blogpost of all time – “My Cat Just Ate a Mouse! Should I Be Proud or Worried?” – were inspired by questions I received from concerned pet owners. The person asking how to move their injured pet lived alone. They were worried about how to get their large dog to the veterinarian if an illness or injury prevented the dog from walking. The blogpost contains suggestions to solve that problem. The question about mouse consumption by a feline huntress was more urgent, but in the end the mouse-eating cat required no medical care.

Pet Food is Always a Popular Blogpost Topic

Of blogposts published in 2022, the number one – “How to Choose the Right Pet Food in 2022” – and the number five – “Less Than 5% of Pet Owners Know How to Handle Pet Food Safely. Do You?” – were both about food. These rankings tell me pet owners really believe food is love and want to feed their pet the best possible diet. But sometimes pets choose their own “snacks” – the number ten most visited blogpost of all time is “What happens when your dog eats your earbuds?”. The popularity of this blogpost suggests the three featured dogs were not unique in their consumption of earbuds.

Blogpost Topics a Veterinarian Takes for Granted

Having grown up in a veterinary family, I am always surprised when people have questions about normal animal anatomy. For example, anal glands. These are structures found in all dogs and cats. Full anal glands cause pets to scoot their fanny on the floor, and in some cases the anal glands become abscessed. In dogs with allergies, anal glands can become a chronic source of irritation. I was surprised to see the topic of anal glands on our list as the number six most popular blogpost of 2022: “What’s in a Dog’s Anal Glands? Your Unusual Dog Questions Answered.” Somehow, I thought everyone already knew about them!

I was less surprised to find that “Everyday Medicine: The Third Eyelid” was the fifth most popular blogpost of all time. The third eyelid is the whitish membrane that sometimes pops out of the corner of your pet’s eye. The gland of the third eyelid makes tears, and if the gland pops out of place, it is called cherry eye. While I thought this post was somewhat esoteric, I am happy so many readers found it useful.

Do you have a blogpost you wish I would write?

If you do, send us an email through our website’s contact form or message on your social media of choice: Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Your question might be the top blogpost of 2023!

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