Thursday, March 28, 2024

Visiting Vet

Visiting Vet: Late-onset dirt eating

When my first child was a year and a half old, we traveled with dear friends to the Caribbean island of Culebra. Our companions had been there many times, and showed us all the...

Visiting Vet: Geriatric care

Next week I am going for my first bone density scan. I think that officially makes me old. This screening is recommended for most women over the age of 65. Although I take after...

Visiting Vet: Liquid biopsy

One of my patients is a sweet Great Pyrenees–Bernese mountain dog mix named Sol. His owner recently told me that Sol‘s brother had died suddenly from cancer. “Is there any way you can check...

Visiting Vet: Grill cleaners

I was in my car driving home from a doctor’s appointment, and trying to decide what to make for dinner. The sun was shining, the water sparkling blue, the harbor picturesque. Inspiration struck. Siri:...

Visiting Vet: Tickborne diseases

Last week I saw three lovely dogs, Tulip, Daffodil, and Hyacinth. Tulip and Daffodil were here for annual physical exams, vaccinations, and preventive healthcare. Hyacinth came in because she wasn't feeling well. We drew...

Visiting Vet: Food allergy

Hey, parents. Remember when your kids were little, and the pediatrician had you introduce foods slowly, one at a time, giving the new food for a week or two before trying the next one?...

Visiting Vet: Poisonous plant exposure

Ah, Spring. Pinkletinks sing. Gardeners plant peas. Easter and Passover are right around the corner. Any day now I will start getting calls about cats poisoned by lilies and dogs by chocolate bunnies. Nobody...

Visiting Vet: Foreign bodies

Socks, corncobs, bones, balls, toy soldiers, Play-Doh, Gorilla Glue, needle and thread, ribbon, rubber bands, hair ties, Nylabone chunks, tampons, coins, underwear, rocks, Popsicle sticks, batteries, magnets, fish hooks, peach pits, pacifiers, entire stuffed...

Visiting Vet: Tail pull

Talk about fur flying! There were literally tufts of hair strewn about when Vincent had a fight with another cat last week. “I didn’t find any wounds,” his owner reported, but she had been...

Visiting Vet: Tearing the cranial cruciate ligament

By the time you read this, the Super Bowl will be over. We will know which team triumphed and, I imagine, at least one more NFL player will have torn their cranial cruciate ligament. I...

Visiting Vet: PHT in dogs

Winter 1993. My husband and I had rented a house in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom for a budget vacation. We had borrowed snowshoes, packed skis, puzzles, and books, envisioning snowy days outside and cozy evenings...

Visiting Vet: A stuffy nose, and its many possible causes

Puma is an elderly indoor cat with a case of chronic “snuffles.” That’s just what it sounds like. Intermittent nasal and sinus congestion, and a snotty nose. Sometimes she’s completely fine. Other times, thick...

Visiting Vet: Does your elder pup have CDS?

I still think about the first time I just could not remember something I knew I should know. I was trying to recall the name of a very famous actress. Someone whose name I...

Visiting Vet: Intercat aggression

I was 13, palling around with my friends downtown, when we came across a man dangling a paper bag off a bridge over the river. When we heard a faint mew, we insisted he...

Visiting Vet: Have a pet-friendly holiday

On Monday, Nov. 21, I took the turkey out of the freezer. OK, I asked my husband Max to do it, but I was the one who remembered. OK, it was actually a Facebook...

Visiting Vet: Solensia

When my children were young (boy, that makes me feel old), let’s try again. When my children were younger (that’s better), they wanted kittens. Okay, Sydney wanted a horse, and Lila wanted a boa...

Visiting Vet: Head tremors

Salty, a 3-year-old medium-size retriever mix, woke up last week and began making a strange bobbing motion with her head. She seemed completely fine otherwise, and had never exhibited anything like this before, but...

Visiting Vet: Heartworm sneaks through

Sunflower is a typical rescue dog, transported here from Texas as a 10-week-old puppy by a pet adoption group. She arrived with six littermates, and all the paperwork showing puppy shots, fecal tests, health...

Visiting Vet: Sea change

On Thursday evening, August 25, I got a call from Richard, my mother’s partner for 28 years. Both in their 90s, the two have been living independently in the house where I grew up...

Visiting Vet: Euthanasia is not the hardest part of the job

“This must be the hardest part of your job.” That’s what people always say when we are about to euthanize an animal. My reply is almost always the same: “No. It’s not.” And in...