You may have seen the headlines. "Vet Advises No Pets in Bed" (NBC) or "Sleeping with pet might be health risk" (ABC). These came out after the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine shared results of a study on the matter with ...  

Cat owners are sick of dealing with sick cats. In fact, millions of cats are euthanized or turned over to shelters every year due to chronic illness. The most common of these illnesses is Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). FLUTD causes cats ...  

Here is a little known fact. January is Thyroid Awareness Month. Yep, there is even a web site for it: www.thyroidawarenessmonth.com. This site focuses on human thyroid diseases, but dogs and cats suffer from thyroid gland issues as well. In fact, ...  

Choosing your family veterinary team is as important as finding the right medical team for your children or your family. Your relationship with a veterinarian could span decades, so you want to find people you can trust and with whom you will have op ...  

So, here is some exciting trivia for you: 2011 will be the year of the veterinarian! This exciting proclamation was passed on Dec. 8 by the house in a vote of 406-0. Who says that bi-partisanship is a thing of the past? Why 2011? Because it is the 25 ...  

This cold snap has got me thinking about antifreeze. I think about it every time a suddenly-sick pet comes in the office door and I think about it when I open that nice bottle of red wine to drink while I warm up by the fire. Sometimes knowledge is a ...  

A "hot spot" is a red, irritated section of skin that literally gets hot from the increased blood supply to the inflamed area. They quickly progress from red circles to wet, oozing, infected messes. "Hot spots" are the result of intense chewing, s ...  

This holiday season can be a dangerous time for our pets, so I will repeat the warnings that I give every year at this time. At Thanksgiving, the biggest hazard for pets is food. All that rich food is a lot more dangerous to your pet than it is to u ...  

<B>Question:</B> "My veterinarian asked me if I wanted my dog vaccinated for Leptospirosis. What the heck is this? How am I supposed to know if my dog needs this vaccine?" <B>Answer:</B> Oh, good question! When I got out of v ...  

Question: I have a cat who is about a year old and I want to get a kitten for him to play with. Is this a good idea, and how should I go about it? Answer: I love having two cats, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Watching two cats interact is so ...  

One of the main reasons human health care costs continue to increase is that the sophistication of tests and treatments increases almost daily. The same thing is happening in veterinary medicine. Procedures that were unheard of when I got out of scho ...  

World Rabies Day is upon us with its observance on Sept. 28. This is a good time to remind local residents of the facts and dangers of rabies in our world. Raccoons are our number one carrier, but foxes and bats follow for a tie in second place. Las ...  

There is nothing worse than being allergic to the one you love. Unfortunately, such was the case for me when I was growing up. I was allergic to the family dog, my cat, my horse and probably many of the other animals at the barn. Symptoms of allergi ...  

When your pet gets a diagnosed with cancer, it can be really scary. And, often, it does mean the beginning of the end of your pet's life. However, many cancers, especially if found early, are quite treatable. Notice that I didn't say "curable". Cance ...  

A calico cat came in for her semi-annual check up. By all reports she was doing well. She was playful and eating like a pig. But, I when I went to pet her, I realized that she had lost a lot of weight. The scale showed a 5-pound weight loss in just 6 ...  

Q: My girlfriend and I have been discussing the possibility of getting a cat. We were thinking of adopting (probably an older cat, maybe about 2 years old?). We wanted to ask you a few questions, though: Do you think getting pet insurance would be w ...  

Q: My elderly dog's eyes appear to be getting cloudy. Is this cataracts? He seems to see just fine. A:Nuclear sclerosis and Cataracts are the major causes of cloudiness of the eyes. Nuclear sclerosis is a normal aging change in the lens of a d ...  

In last week's column we discussed reasons you might want to keep your cat strictly indoors. Well, here is another one: the Cuterebra botfly.Cuterebra is a type of botfly that lays its eggs around entrances to rodent or rabbit burrows. The larvae (ma ...  

Should cats be kept strictly indoors? As communities and cities debate the idea of having a "leash law" for cats, this subject comes up more and more. I find it easy to argue the point either way, although I will tell you that I keep my cats strictly ...  

A ferret is an awfully cute little creature that resembles a weasel. Their scientific name, Mustela purorious furo literally means "little smelly thief." That may well have been a deserving name for the domesticated ferret hundreds of years ago, but ...  

I have always been fascinated with the idea of toilet training your cat. Cat litter itself is expensive if you buy a type that really controls odors. It is also very heavy, and since I do the majority of my grocery shopping on a bicycle, this matters ...  

We hear talk about dental care for dogs a lot. But, with cats, we tend to forget about their teeth until they are causing a painful problem. It doesn't have to be this way.Imagine what your teeth and gums would feel like if you brushed your teeth onl ...  

At Bees Ferry Veterinary Hospital, we get asked about hairballs in cats all the time. After reviewing all of the articles I have written over the years for Moultrie News, I was surprised to learn that I have never written about this topic. Hairballs ...  

Most people are familiar with dogs traveling around on holidays. But now that cats are becoming a more popular pet, many people are taking their cats along on summer vacations. In general cats dread travel, but this can be overcome if you plan ahead. ...  

When you have seen as many reactions to insecticides as I have, you welcome the EPA's scrutiny of flea products that are available to pet owners. However, that said, don't freak out about your pet's flea control products. Just because the EPA is scru ...