The Veterinary Expert| Pet Health
The veterinary expert provides information about important conditions of dogs and cats such as arthrits, hip dysplasia, cruciate disease, diabetes, epilepsy and fits.
Constantly licking and chewing their feet. Sore, red, itchy toes and lameness. Pododermatitis can be a real problem for our pets! What is pododermatitis? Pododermatitis is common in dogs. Quite literally, it means inflammation of the skin or footpads of the paws. Dogs with pododermatitis usually exhibit paw licking or chewing and in more severe […]
As you probably have noticed, dogs and cats walk a bit differently compared to human beings – cats and dogs walk on the tip of their toes. What is hyperextension? Sometimes we can encounter animals that are walking with the palm or plant of their paws touching the ground (known respectively as a ‘palmigrade’ or […]
Pack or family? The idea that dogs live in strict dominance hierarchies and that dog behaviour can be prevented or managed by establishing yourself as ‘pack leader’ was well established for many years. However many behaviourists now question how accurate this theory is and even whether it can be harmful. In the first part of […]
To be or not to be pack leader? It wasn’t that long ago that pretty much everyone in the dog behaviour world believed that all problem behaviour was caused by dogs trying to be ‘dominant’ and so could be cured by the owner making sure they are ‘pack leader’. Some practising behaviourists still do. However, […]
Ferrets have a tendency to ingest objects – which we refer to as ‘foreign objects’ or ‘foreign bodies’ – and develop an impaction of their stomach and intestines (known as the ‘gastrointestinal system’). In addition, similar to cats, they can develop hair balls in their stomachs. In this article we explain how these conditions are […]