I always get excited when I get emails from people with a diabetic pet because it allows me the chance to help them as well as use their questions to help pass helpful information along to the ADW newsletter readers too. The other day I received the question below about an ear infection and thought it […]
For years veterinarians have used steroids to treat pet allergies. We put on our detective caps to try to figure out if the allergy is from fleas, from food, or due to atopy (aka hay fever). We eliminate any possible source of allergies. We treat the treatable. We use flea meds. We try antihistamines. We institute […]
I always get excited when I get emails from people with a diabetic pet because it allows me the chance to help them as well as use their questions to help pass helpful information along to the ADW newsletter readers too. Just in the last week I received emails about the timing of the insulin injection […]
I received an email from a veterinarian today asking how to encourage her clients to do blood glucose curves at home, particularly when there are financial concerns. Boy do I have an answer for that!
One of our readers recently asked me to discuss feline inappropriate urination. This is a big topic, so I’ll give an overview and offer some suggestions to curb such unpleasant behavior. […]
Sometimes life seems to pull us in a zillion directions. Sometimes I feel there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish all I’m supposed to. […]
Wow, since my last ‘Ask Dr. Joi’s newsletter, I have received dozens and dozens of questions from the great readers of our newsletter. And I love interacting with all of you! […]
Recently I had a canine patient who got "mugged" in her neighborhood by 2 neighbor dogs. She had 3 small holes in her skin on her chest. The owner brought her in the day after the mugging.
Sometimes disease processes make it difficult for a pet to stay hydrated, even if a pet is drinking plenty. Those of you savvy about diabetes understand this all too well. If a pet's blood glucose is so high that it prevents the kidneys from recapturing fluid after the kidneys filter the blood (that's essentially what kidneys do to make urine), a pet can become dehydrated even when drinking large amounts of water.
When vets run blood work we occasionally just check a chemistry. What that typically consists of is kidney values, liver values, pancreatic values, electrolytes and blood glucose. This is a particularly common test for pre-anesthetic lab work if we are planning on sedating a young healthy pet.