Category Archives: Veterinary Medicine

Why can the same dog who barks his head off at the slightest leaf blowing across the grass seem not to see the treats on the floor right in front of him? It’s all in the mystery of canine vision. Here’s how I explained it to a reader who had questions. Q: I can throw […]

We had a beloved blind dog, Shakira. I share some of what we learned with this dog owner struggling with her dog’s vision loss. Q: My dog is losing her eyesight. How can I help her adjust? A: Blindness doesn’t seem to stop the average dog. When eyesight goes, the nose and ears take over […]

The cat lapping at a bowl of cream is a familiar image in cartoons, children’s books, and popular imagination. But this reader wasn’t sure her cat should be consuming dairy products. Here’s what I told her. Q: My cat enjoys drinking leftover milk from my cereal bowl, but my mother says I shouldn’t give it […]

One of the most distressing things we can see a dog do is the behavior known as “head pressing,” often accompanied by circling and pacing. This is nearly always a sign of serious, even life-threatening, illness and requires an immediate trip to the veterinarian. Here’s how I explained it to a reader who asked for […]

While your first reaction when your cat stops using the litter box reliably should be to see the vet about a possible urinary tract infection, there are other reasons for this problem. In older cats, that can be caused by vision loss or cognitive decline. Here’s my advice to a reader whose senior cat is […]