Pet Information

Transdermal medications, as we learned previously, are meant to absorb into and distribute themselves throughout the body. Creams, sprays, and patches containing steroid hormones such as estrogen or testosterone absorb very easily through the skin, because of their...

In preparation for our short series on topical pharmaceuticals, let’s first understand some basics about this kind of medicine. The word “topical”, in this context, refers to a drug that is applied to the outside of the body. These are meant to act on the immediate...

When you see a loose cat on the street, are you looking at a feral or a stray? Aren’t those the same thing? If you’re a cat person, this distinction is probably going to become relevant at some point. The two types of animal are actually very, very different. Stray...

The “spectrum of care” concept may have been born out of budget constraints, but there are many other reasons we might need to weigh Plan A against Plan B or Plan C. Sometimes the care limits are defined by something totally apart from finances. For example, a handful...

It may seem like a long time ago for some of us, but to my generation it’s a relatively recent discovery that grapes are poisonous to dogs. It was somewhat of a shock when this first came to light, but the intervening decades have yielded enough data to help you...

You might be surprised at how many animals use the services of a chauffeur. They arrive at the clinic with a human chaperone who is not their full-time companion. That person waits with them until their name is called, guides them into an exam room, and proffers a...

Our last piece made reference to the costs inherent in veterinary care, which play an especially powerful role when there is no insurance coverage (as is the case for a large majority of U.S. pets). The burden of these fees, borne solely by the pet owner, is the...

Health care is expensive! When engaging with the human medical system, the real costs of your care are often completely obscured by a complex web of interactions between insurance companies and the “provider” of the care (which is never your actual doctor, but a...

In our last piece, you learned how elevated blood sugar is somewhat like a mob of workers milling around in the street, locked out of their jobs and making trouble while they are not gainfully employed. That’s really damaging to the body of a diabetic patient. Humans...

Folks, there has been a really cool new development in the treatment of diabetes in pets. I’d love to share it with you, but I do feel like we need a little backgrounder on the disease itself. If you have a diabetic pet (it is a very common illness in cats and dogs),...

Now that I am fresh off a pedantic lecture on using medicines in the appropriate quantities instead of cutting back based on your “gut instinct”, I must confess that there is a small, very specific population of pets that may need to be ...under-medicated. Please read...