Tag Archives: dog health

What to Do If Your Dog Eats Chocolate

Last week I took my cat to the vet for his routine yearly checkup. I thought I might find some inspiration for an article from the trip. I did, but it turns out it’s not about my cat at all. While I was gone with my cat, I forgot to close the door to the pantry. To make a long story short, although we put several safeguards in place to prevent something like this from happening, the dog still got into some chocolate. She’s doing fine, but I thought I would share what we did, and the information we learned … Continue reading →

More Foods That Are Fatal For Fido

Last time I talked about five common foods that are bad, if not fatal, to dogs. While some people may already be aware that things like chocolate and alcohol are bad for our furry friends, there were quite a few foods on the list I never thought twice about. After all, who would think that something as innocent as onion, garlic, or grapes could actually hurt your dog? Our pets are important to us and can change our lives in wondrous and happy ways, so we must be careful about what we feed them. For a full list of foods … Continue reading →

Tin Foil is Not a Food Group!

Okay, I call it “tin foil” even though it’s actually aluminum foil. And for pets, that crinkly, shiny stuff can be scary… or very attractive. Roll it into a ball, you’ve got a fun toy to bat around. Shake the sheet and it makes a noise! But leave used aluminum foil in a place where your pets can reach it and you might have a health emergency on your hands. Case in point: my dog Moose (who has no sense of self-preservation!) recently ate the better part of a sheet of aluminum foil that had been used for roasting asparagus. … Continue reading →

Pet Owner Poll Tackles Health Issues

Would you perform CPR on your pet? Do you know how to do it? These are just a few of the questions asked of pet owners in a recent poll. In October 2009, Petside.com and the Associated Press sponsored a survey of pet owners about health care and emergency care. Nearly twelve hundred pet parents participated in the phone survey, answering questions about emergency plans, health care, and common owner boo-boos. More than half of those surveyed would indeed try to perform CPR on their pets in the event of an emergency. (The number was higher in dog owners than … Continue reading →

The Subtlety of Pets and Health

We recently had a guest at the cats-only boarding facility who was very sick. We just didn’t know it. This particular cat is one who comes to stay with us every few months. She’s an older lady of fourteen, with no apparent health issues and a love of a good brushing. As compared to other guests, she’s a quiet one. She’s happy to curl up on her fleece blanket most of the day, watching the world go by. But out of nowhere, she threw up one morning. A few days after that, one of my coworkers noticed a strange smell … Continue reading →

Grade Your Dog Food

It’s hard to know what the best food for your pup is. There are a lot of factors involved — ingredients, your dog’s age, your dog’s general health and weight, and what you can afford! Below is a method to grade your dog food that was posted on one of the online dog communities I belong to. It seems like a lot of effort, but it yields some interesting results. Start with a grade of 100: For every listing of “by-product”, subtract 10 points for being sketchy! For every non-specific animal source (“meat” or “poultry”, meat, meal or fat) reference, … Continue reading →