All posts by AMCteam

Just before the holidays, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released its annual report to veterinarians on an important infectious disease, leptospirosis. As a New York City veterinarian, this report concerns me, and pet owners should be concerned too. Following several years of declining infection numbers, cases ticked up in 2022, the latest year data was available. In total, there were 20 confirmed “lepto” cases in the five boroughs in 2022, up from 18 in 2021. (To see previous years’ reports, visit the NYC DOH website.) Leptospirosis causes kidney failure and elevated liver tests, which may require hemodialysis and may be fatal. This blogpost describes some important features of canine leptospirosis.

The start of the New Year is a time to reflect on the past and look to the future. In this spirit, I’m going to use today’s blogpost to discuss new developments in veterinary medicine that will improve veterinarians’ ability to treat diseases, thus improving the quality of our pet’s lives.

Every month on my Ask the Vet podcast, I answer questions from concerned pet owners. The questions I received for my latest episode were especially good questions, so I am going to share them in this blogpost for those who don’t already subscribe to Ask the Vet.

This time of year, we celebrate miracles of hope, faith and kindness. Hanukkah celebrates a second century BC miracle where a tiny amount of oil found in the Temple in Jerusalem miraculously kept lamps burning for eight days. Christmas celebrates the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. At the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, we believe in miracles too. In the spirit of the holiday season, I want to share just a few of them from AMC’s past, present and future.

As a veterinarian, the ever-popular 18th century English Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” inevitably reminds me of all the potential holiday hazards for your pet. Since we are in the thick of the holiday season, I’ll use that song as inspiration to summarize the risks that holiday celebrations pose to our true loves, our pets.