Blog
Litter Pan Choices & Fear Avoidance Question: Last year during the July 4 fireworks, my 5 year old cat tried to use the litter box, messed on himself, and got a urinary infection. Ever since, he messes 6 inches away from the box although he uses it to urinate. I have tried moving the box, but he just moves another 6 inches and messes. Dr. Nichol: I think I’ve figured out what you mean by mess. I’ve often thought my hair was a mess in the morning. Now, I understand what it really looks like. Thanks for that. It’s not…
Vaccination is Critically Important Veterinarians in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas have seen a significant uptick in canine distemper cases. The Humane Society of Southern Arizona in Tucson had so many infected dogs they recently halted intakes for 2 weeks to get control of it. Native American reservations have been particularly hard hit. Back in the day, before large-scale vaccination programs, we saw enough distemper in dogs to diagnose it on physical symptoms alone. We can now confirm our suspicions with a reliable blood test but the disease itself hasn’t changed much. Signs are variable but commonly include a pus-like…
Kidney Failure may Cause Excessive Licking While oooing and ahhing at the beautiful and peaceful new Cattery at Animal Humane last week I was asked about a 17 year old cat. While active and feeling well for her age she’s been licking her coat excessively for several months. When her owner pets her she often finds gooey saliva on her badly matted hair which has been recently falling off in clumps. Cats who don’t groom themselves normally often end up with sticky dread locks that are not so stylish. Itchy skin is one possible cause. A skin scraping and fungal…
Disgusting but most likely Harmless Question: Our large back yard is shared by our Russian tortoise and our 5 pound (11 month old puppy) poodle. As soon as “Tortie” came out of hibernation our puppy started spending a lot of time outside. I then discovered why: the puppy was finding and eating Tortie’s poop!! Gross. Can she get sick? Dr. Nichol: Your poodle puppy, that delicate little flower, has become a tortoise stalker, motivated by her taste for – well the visual just isn’t pretty is it? The good news is that her scatological proclivity is most likely benign. For…
Mites or Other Infections are the Primary Cause Question: We took our cat to the vet due to noticing his ear was down and swollen. The vet reassured us his ear will go back down in time. He did tell us Maurice has ear mites. Once that problem is gone will that help the process of his ear going back to normal? Dr. Nichol: An ear flap that resembles a sopapilla may draw a few stares but it’s not Maurice’s primary problem. Also known as the pinna or auricle, his is swollen because of repeated scratching and head shaking from…
Heroic Family Cat Derailed a Tragedy Question: I keep seeing this video everywhere and hearing lots of theories about the dog’s behavior. The dog is completely unprovoked, but it also doesn’t seem like he/she sneaks up on the child as I would expect a wolf to sneak up on prey. Is the dog curious and regarding the child as a toy? Is this predatory aggression? Is it fear aggression? As a dog lover I find the video terribly disturbing both because of the dog’s behavior and the people’s behavior (which has led to the dog either not being contained or…
Teach Improved Behavior with Gentle Guidance Question: I just got a dog that was free. He is overly aggressive plus I think he was mistreated. He responds to me but is aggressive towards any males or anyone who comes to the door. He was also restricted to his kennel and he growls towards his food. I have never owned a dog before Dr. Nichol: You may have saved a life. There aren’t a lot of people lined up to adopt pets with a history of aggression. Depending on an individual dog’s motivation to growl or snap, many respond well to…
Leash in hand, we blissfully soak up the sun on a healthy walk while our dogs are busy cavorting and scavenging for scraps of, well, maybe we don’t want to know. There’s a lot going on inside their bodies, including questionable oral hygiene, that can gradually damage their kidneys. Even while nosing around the yard they inhale airborne junk, shifting their immune systems into overdrive just to neutralize the incoming flow of organisms and debris. For some aging dogs it’s more than external forces driving kidney failure. Heredity can be mighty unkind too, leading to permanent damage from kidney stones.…
Choose Carefully & Raise them Together Question: Am I crazy or is this possible? I want 2 cats and 2 large dogs to get along peacefully in our mountain home. Do you think if we could raise them together we would be able to train the dogs to be guardians of the cats? We love caring for dogs and cats and don’t think we could ever live happily without them. Dr. Nichol: Guardians? It is possible that you’re crazy but I like your question anyway. Some cats and dogs do fine together but there are many who have no business…