A dog health check at home can help you notice changes in your dog’s appearance, behaviour, appetite, mobility and daily habits between veterinary visits. Once a month, take a few minutes to look at your dog’s eyes, ears, mouth, skin, coat, paws and overall body while also reviewing drinking, urination, stool, sleep and activity. The…
Dog coughing and gagging can be confusing because coughing, gagging, retching, reverse sneezing, regurgitation and vomiting can look surprisingly similar when they happen quickly. A cough may even finish with a gag or small amount of foam, making it seem as though the dog is trying to vomit. If your dog is coughing and gagging,…
A dog repeatedly shaking its head, scratching an ear, developing a strong ear smell or showing redness and discharge may have an unhealthy ear that needs veterinary assessment. These are among the common dog ear infection signs, but they do not reveal the exact cause. Outer-ear inflammation can be associated with bacteria, yeast, allergies, parasites,…
A dog can limp without whining, crying or otherwise making an obvious display of pain. Limping itself is an important change in gait and can occur because of pain, weakness or dysfunction affecting the paw, muscles, joints, ligaments, bones or nervous system. If your dog is limping but not crying, start by watching how the…
Dog stool can reveal useful information about digestive health, but color alone rarely tells the full story. A poop that is brown but very watery means something different from stool that is firm but pale, greasy or streaked with blood. That is why a dog poop color chart works best when color and consistency are…
Few household ingredients pack as swift, silent, and lethal a punch to canine health as xylitol. While humans enjoy xylitol as a popular, low-calorie sugar substitute that protects dental health and manages blood glucose, its biological impact on dogs is catastrophic. What appears to be a harmless piece of sugar-free gum, a spoonful of specialty…
Few moments in pet parenting induce instant panic quite like walking into the kitchen and finding your dog licking their chops next to a spilled bowl of trail mix, a half-eaten raisin bagel, or a scattering of dropped grapes on the floor. While fruits like apples and blueberries make safe, refreshing snacks (as explored in…
Panic often sets in the exact second you discover an empty candy wrapper, a bitten-into holiday gift box, or a scattering of baking chocolate crumbs on the kitchen floor, accompanied by your dog looking up with guilty, innocent eyes. Because chocolate is a ubiquitous staple in human households, accidental canine ingestion is one of the…
Few household surprises are as instantly distinct—or as baffling—as walking into a room and catching a sudden, potent whiff of raw or rotting seafood coming from your beloved canine companion. If you have ever found yourself sniffing the air and wondering why does my dog smell like fish, you are experiencing one of the most…
Few sights are as instantly alarming to a pet parent as watching their canine companion break out into sudden, unprovoked tremors when the room is warm and the weather is mild. If you have ever found yourself staring anxiously at your companion and wondering why your dog shaking but not cold, you are navigating one…
