Category Archives: Veterinary Medicine

I still remember the ad for Penzoil a few years ago when the greasy car mechanic talked about the importance of regular oil changes and said the line, “You can pay me now…or pay me later.” The inference, of course, was that you would pay much more later if you didn’t change your oil as […]

A reader asked if vitamin D supplementation was good for dogs as well as humans. The answer is maybe. Here’s what I told her. Q: If vitamin D supplementation is beneficial for humans, can it benefit dogs, too? A: That’s a great question! Researchers at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine published a study in […]

I remember being in veterinary school and being amazed at what I learned in a reproduction class about developmental milestones in kittens. I’d been around kittens my whole life (you saw many litters when you lived on a family farm in the 1950s-1970s when spay/neuter wasn’t common), but knew very few specifics. Here’s what I […]

While some breeders remove them from puppies, for most dogs, dewclaws — those thumb-like “toes” on the sides of your dog’s front legs — actually do serve a purpose. This is what I told a reader who asked about them. Q: Why do dogs have dewclaws? I’m talking to a breeder about a puppy, and […]

Thunderstorm season is almost here, and hundreds of thousands of dog owners are facing it with dread. What can be done about a dog’s fear of thunder and lightning? I asked my trainer daughter, Mikkel Becker, to respond. Q: It’s thunderstorm season, and my 3-year-old Australian shepherd has become so afraid of the noise that […]