Category Archives: Diet

There’s been a connection between canine liver disease and elevated levels of copper seen in a liver biopsy since the late 1970’s when veterinarians from the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, in collaboration with researchers from Albert Einstein School of Medicine, identified copper storage disease in Bedlington terrriers. Twenty-eight years later, researchers identified a gene mutation in COMMD1, a gene controlling copper metabolism, as the cause of the copper storage disease in Bedlington terriers. However, the link between copper and liver disease in dogs extends beyond this gene mutation, and veterinary researchers continue to study the connection. The image below shows a graphic representation of a National Library of Medicine database search for publications that meet the search criteria “canine AND copper hepatopathy”. (Hepatopathy is the medical term for liver disease.) Several of the publication peaks seen here can help explain the linkage between liver disease and copper.

Calcium is an important mineral in the bodies of humans and animals alike. It is a critical component of bones and teeth. Without calcium, your bones couldn’t support your weight and your dog’s teeth couldn’t chomp on his favorite chew toy. Veterinarians at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center care for patients who are suffering from low calcium and high calcium. Today, I am going to write about one dog with each condition.

I recently experienced a first in my veterinary career: I was invited to tour a pet food manufacturing plant, along with a number of veterinary colleagues. The plant manufactures only dry food and treats using four extrusion lines and three packaging lines. (Manufacturing canned food requires an entirely different plant.) I went with my journalistic

To me, nothing sounds better than a home cooked meal, and many of our pets can’t wait to get their paws on some table scraps, yet most pet owners feed their pet commercially-prepared foods with more than half of them relying on dry pet food. There’s good reason for this: store-bought pet food is formulated

When you visit your primary care physician, they’ll often test your body’s vitamin D level. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to an array of diverse disorders, such as osteoporosis, breast cancer and COVID-19. Harvard University recommends 10 to 15 minutes of sun on the arms and legs a few times a week to generate the