Category Archives: Dogs

If you watch television, you’ve likely seen advertisements promoting the health benefits of yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha. These foods contain probiotics—“good” bacteria and fungi with health-promoting properties. Just like humans, all living creatures have a resident population of bacteria and fungi called the microbiome, and I’ll discuss the microbiome of dogs in today’s blogpost.

About ten years ago, I developed an educational presentation for veterinarians titled “A Cat Is Not a Little Dog.” This presentation highlighted diseases that affect these two species very differently. For example: Diabetes: Dogs can develop Type I diabetes, while cats develop Type II diabetes Thyroid Disorders: The most common endocrine disorder in dogs is hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland), while cats more often have the opposite condition, hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid gland) Mast Cell Tumors: These skin tumors are most common in dogs, while in cats they often occur in the spleen. However, there are a few medical similarities between dogs and cats that might surprise you. Today’s blogpost highlights three key areas where our feline and canine companions face similar health challenges.

Human body language refers to nonverbal communication that includes facial expressions, amount of eye contact, gestures, posture, how close you stand to someone, how you touch them and your tone of voice. While some people are very good at reading body language, others struggle. Since animals have a limited verbal repertoire, body language is their primary means of communication. Today’s blogpost will highlight some telltale nonverbal cues of cats and dogs.

With National Mutt Day just around the corner on July 31, it’s the perfect time to explore our favorite mixed-breed companions. A mutt is a dog of mixed or unknown breed heritage, and there’s a common belief that mutts are healthier due to “hybrid vigor.” Hybrid vigor is the improved health of offspring due to the mixing of parental genetic traits. But how true is this claim? I’ll try to answer that question in today’s blogpost.

Bladder stones are a common medical problem in dogs. Some dogs are more prone to stones than others; some dogs are just unlucky. Bladder stones are made of mineral excreted in the urine. When the minerals reach high levels, they coalesce into stones. There are four main types of bladder stones, each with a different mineral composition: struvite, calcium oxalate, cysteine and urate. The University of Minnesota Urolith Center has nice photos of each of these different types of bladder stones. I’ll discuss bladder stones and their implications in today’s blogpost.