Category Archives: Wellness

Pink, Yellow, White, or Blue: What Your Pet’s Tongue Color Means for their Health

Yellow tongue and gums in a cat
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.

What Dog Owners Should Know about Respiratory Illnesses

A dog on an exam table
Lately, there have been a surprising number of stories in the news about respiratory illnesses in dogs. First, there is the mystery respiratory illness that has been dominating the veterinary news cycle. Now there’s a shelter outbreak of respiratory disease in San Diego. And we can’t forget about the common and persistent Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex, also known as kennel cough. I’ll summarize the latest in canine respiratory illnesses in today’s blogpost.

The Dangers of Homecooked and Raw Diets for Pets

A dog with a bowl of raw food
A recent study investigated the diets of pets with a cancer diagnosis. The results were interesting. 71% of dogs seen by board-certified oncologists ate commercially prepared pet food, compared to about 90% of randomly surveyed healthy pets. Instead of eating commercially prepared food, 11% of dogs with cancer were fed homecooked or raw homemade diets. These numbers beg the question, “Are homecooked diets safe for pets?”

Tickborne Illnesses Are On the Rise: What Pet Owners Need to Know

A tick and a dog
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have great information on their website to help all of us stay healthy. The site contains information on travel health, foodborne illnesses and descriptions of every disease you can imagine in their Health Topics A-Z. They even have section called Healthy Pets, Healthy People with information about pet care and pet diseases. In today’s blogpost, I’ll be discussing tick bites and tickborne diseases, an issue that concerns humans and our companion animals alike.