All posts by AMCteam

Hairball Awareness Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April. This year it falls on April 26th. Like many cat owners, I find hairballs one of the more annoying facts of cat ownership. I hate stepping on those cold, slimy, cigar-shaped wads of hair strategically deposited on the bedroom rug in the pathway to bathroom. Even with the light on, the hairballs are always perfectly camouflaged by the pattern in the rug. I am not the only one who thinks hairballs are important. Since 2020, when using the PubMed search engine I found seven scientific publications on hairballs; six studied domestic cats and one reported on hairballs in snow leopards. This new information on feline hairballs will be the focus of this blogpost.

During Client Services Appreciation Week, April 21-27, 2024, the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center celebrates the many accomplishments and diverse roles of our Client Service Team. This 75-person team allows veterinarians like me to focus on providing top notch medical care because they handle all the non-medical aspects of your pet’s visit to AMC. Some of the team members are well known to pet families because you see them in the clinic or lobby. Team members without a customer facing role may be more mysterious to pet owners, but that makes their job no less essential. This blogpost describes the team members we are honoring this week.

If you’ve ever had a sick pet, you probably have a cabinet full of unused medications. In fact, I know you do, because my clients often ask if they can give the same pills I prescribed 4 years ago to their sick pet. First, the answer to that question is no. Second, this blogpost will focus on how to properly dispose of your collection of expired drugs and medical supplies.

66% of households in the United States have one or more pets. Many more families would like to add a pet to their family, but allergies prevent the addition of a furry family member. In this situation families often ask, “Is there a hypoallergenic dog or cat breed that won’t irritate our families’ allergies?” I find this terminology strange because hypo- means less than normal but possibly still present. What someone with a pet allergy wants is a non-allergenic dog or cat, and no – there are no non-allergenic dogs and cats. However, some may be less allergenic than others, that is, hypoallergenic. I’ll discuss in today’s blogpost.

Because I am a veterinarian, my friends constantly send me photos, videos and links to information about animals of all types. Recently, one of my friends sent me a link to a company that uses artificial intelligence to determine the best food for your dog by analyzing a photo your dog’s tongue. I told my friend I did not think this was a valid method of choosing food for their dog and that they should rely on input from their dog’s veterinarian. BUT, in the next email, my friend asked, do veterinarians ever look at the tongue for medical assessments? A great question, and one I will answer in today’s blogpost.