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If your pet has just undergone surgery, it is incredibly important they take the time to rest and recover. Your pet will need to heal before resuming their daily routine and returning to their normal activity level. After healing has begun, it will be important to get your pet moving and back on their feet! The team at All Creatures Veterinary Hospital of Brooklyn is here to suggest tips to safely get your pet moving again after surgery:

Dogs do some pretty weird stuff from time to time, but most of their canine behaviors are recognizable and shrugged off as “normal”. The odd or uncharacteristic noise of a reverse sneeze, though,  can sound downright alarming. 

Based on the sounds they’re making, you might think your dog is choking or unable to breath, but with a reverse sneeze that is rarely the case. While a pet experiencing a reverse sneeze might not need emergency care, there are things you can do at home to ease the process. 

We are so fortunate to live in a time of preventive medicine. When it comes to the human-pet dynamic, we can easily stay in front of many potential problems. 

Zoonotic diseases, for example, play a huge role in the world of prevention. With many pets sleeping with their owners and sharing kisses, responsible attention to hygiene, sanitation, and vaccination is of the utmost importance.

Health considerations will inevitably pop us as we age, even for the most resilient and vital among us. Additional physical examinations and diagnostic testing to ensure health and well-being are an essential part of aging. This is equally true for our pet companions. 

While age is not a disease, wear and tear on the bodies of older pets can set them up for disease and illness. We all want our pets to stay as vibrant and healthy as possible, which can be achieved when we make proactive senior pet wellness our top priority. 

Let’s take a closer look at this important focus!

The last couple of months have been unbelievable in many ways. The good news, for pet owners anyway, is that they didn’t have to shelter in place by themselves, and the companionship offered by their sweet pets really hit the spot in these times of shock, despair, fear and sadness. But now that we’re approaching going back to a semi-normal way of life, pet separation anxiety may be just the beginning of our challenges.

Helping Pets with Transitions

Many pets relished in all the extra time their people spent at home, doting on their every need. This is especially true for pets that were adopted shortly before or in the midst of sheltering in place.

Mandatory quarantines and stay at home orders created a different way of life for pets and their people alike. Despite relaxing restrictions we cannot expect our pets to simply accept roll with these particular punches. In  other words, don’t be surprised if your pet suffers from separation anxiety.

Most of us don’t enjoy getting up close and personal with our pet’s body odor. Even the cleanest among them still has that unmistakable doggie or kitty smell. But if you have ever gotten a whiff of your pet’s feet, you may have noticed something peculiar about it. That’s right! They smell like corn chips.

If your pet’s feet smell like Frito’s, you may wonder if something is wrong. Is it normal? Thankfully, the team at All Creatures Veterinary Hospital of Brooklyn is here to explain this phenomenon and why it occurs in so many pets.

We all work hard throughout the year. Sure, we take summer vacations, or a few long weekends from time to time. But at the end of every calendar year it’s downright gratifying to look back at what we accomplished. 

We feel very fortunate to be able to positively impact the health of the animals in our community. Part of our reflection includes a nod to our pet care blogs that proved to be the most interesting and relevant. With every click, scroll and share, our dedicated readers show they truly care about their pets, and with our mission of promoting animal welfare, we are inextricably linked.  

Here at All Creatures Veterinary Hospital of Brooklyn, we are pretty impressed with the animal body. The complex workings and relationships between anatomy and physiology are truly incredible. When you really start to look at everything that goes into making a functional body, it’s amazing that things work flawlessly so very often.

The renal system is one of those complex body systems that our pets rely on for overall health. Sometimes, however, good kidneys go bad and problems arise. The feline species in particular is prone to trouble.

While cats and kidney disease are a common combination, that doesn’t mean there’s no hope. 

Your pet seems healthy, and has never had any health problems before, so why do we suggest routine blood work at their annual wellness examinations? Although it may sound simple to rely on your pet’s behavior to tell whether or not they’re sick, the truth is that pets are hard-wired to hide signs of illness or injury. 

Pet blood work, along with regular wellness exams, is the key to detecting hidden health problems in your pet and nipping them in the bud before they become more serious.

Dogs have some pretty endearing habits, but eating poop (either their own or another animals’) is not one of them. Although the behavior is mostly normal, no one wants their dog to raid the litter box or gulp down a stinky snack from the yard or sidewalk.

At All Creatures Veterinary Hospital, we are often asked the question “Why do dogs eat poop?”. Although there is no one answer, we can offer some insight into this unpleasant culinary choice.

Why Do Dogs Eat Poop?

Poop-eating, technically known as coprophagia, may be normal, but that doesn’t make it any less upsetting. Watching your sweet pup happily gobble down their own feces or the feces of other animals can be an unpleasant shock to witness. 

Ancestrally, however, coprophagia served an important role – collective poop eating kept the den clean, and mother dogs and wolves routinely clean up after their puppies in this way.