This is a question that I have long known to be a mystery to many people. When I ask for a teaspoon of poop for a stool specimen, I receive anything from a smear on a kleenex to a coffee-can full. I have a feeling that these people rely on food-products that don't require much […]
Category Archives: Explanations
Here’s our annual bird’s nest in the kennel window, sheltered under the eaves. We’ve seen the momma sitting, and flying back and forth. It’s empty now, which I wouldn’t have noticed, as we try not to bother them, but a fledgling nearly landed on me when I got out of the truck this afternoon. Soon […]
Old Yeller Alert In a previous post, I discussed many of the problems one might encounter in adopting a pet of uncertain origin. In an attempt to be warm, fuzzy, and make the idea attractive, I pretty much glossed over the worst case scenario. The problem is that these animals are not brought to the […]
It’s time for that yearly check-up again. Have you ever been a little frustrated when the venipuncture technician had trouble "finding your vein"? Did they ever have to poke you more than once? Don’t you hate that? This is my hand. They don’t have trouble finding my veins. Sometimes I do have trouble finding the […]
"Do dogs get hemorrhoids?" That’s how the phone call began late last night. Actually they don’t typically get the same problem in that area that people do. On the other hand, they can certainly have polyps in the rectum, or even rectal prolapse (turned inside out). "Does it look like a red bump? How big […]
I have posted on this once before, but I believe it bears re-visiting. Lately I have had quite a few readers asking for advice on their personal pet’s problem. These are folks who have been doing an internet search about their pet’s problem and accidentally arrived at my spot here. I’m glad that they feel […]
Back when I was in veterinary school, Dr. Larry P. Thornburg was a lecturing pathology professor (as opposed to the hands-on pathologists who worked with us in the laboratories). One of my favorite Thornburg-isms was "This is a very interesting disease — we don’t know a thing about it." When we moved on to the […]
I don’t use a lot of strong tincture of iodine. This bottle is so old, that I’m not sure just how old it is. Strong iodine is very caustic — in fact, about the only thing I use it for would be some type of chemical cautery, like sealing the navel cord on a newborn […]
I sometimes wonder how the Dingos of Australia and the wild dogs of Africa get around the issue of heat exhaustion. They are built on the same game plan as all other successful canines, but they live, run and hunt in a much less temperate climate. Do they mostly hunt at night? I should be […]
Today I got a call from a man I hadn’t heard from in years. He used to raise dogs and he also brokered exotic animals, from monitor lizards to lion cubs, including this one ( in this ancient daguerrotype from when my clinic and I, and Becky, here, were young). Gee, his son-in-law is on […]