Health

To most people, the word “house-trained” refers to a dog who has been trained not to urinate or defecate indoors. For my parent’s generation, this bit of training was usually accomplished by Mom, who stayed home while the rest of the family went to work or to school. As double-income families became the norm, the home-alone dog was faced with a serious problem. By the time you add a lunch hour and commute time onto an eight-hour work day, a house dog may have to “hold it” for as long as 10 hours before someone finally comes home to let her out. Her legs are probably tightly crossed for at least the last two.

The heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) is a nematode or roundworm named for its place of residence, inside the heart. To understand the challenge of controlling this parasite, you have to understand its life cycle, a complex and slightly bizarre process. Living in a dog’s pulmonary arteries, adult heartworms mate. Each female (which can reach sizes of up to 11 inches) produces thousands of eggs, each less than 1/800th of an inch, which are called microfilariae, and circulate in the blood.

Who hasn't heard of CoQ10? A powerful antioxidant, coenzyme Q10 is one of America's most popular supplements. Literally every cell of the body contains CoQ10. In fact, its other name is ubiquinone, reflecting its widespread distribution in the body. CoQ10 is most concentrated in the mitochondria, the portion of cells that produce energy. The heart and liver contain more mitochondria per cell than other body parts and thus contain the most CoQ10.

When parvo strikes, it moves fast. Infected dogs may appear to be in perfect health one day and violently ill the next. Emergency veterinary care is expensive, and unless dogs are diagnosed and treated early, many die from this serious disease. However, reactions to parvovirus vary widely – both among dogs and their human caretakers. In a world in which parvovirus is ubiquitous – it is literally everywhere except environments that have been sterilized – parvo kills some dogs and leaves others unscathed.

Submissive urination is a vexing challenge with some puppies and young dogs. Most grow out of it eventually, but in the meantime, how can you help your pup put a cork in it? In the canine world, when one dog wants to show deference to another, more dominant dog, he may urinate as a sign of submission. The more threatened he feels, the more likely he is to urinate. This is an involuntary reaction, an instinctive behavior that all dogs are born “knowing” how and when to exhibit. In a pack of dogs, this programmed behavior is a valuable survival mechanism. Puppies are extremely vulnerable to the wrath of adult dogs in the pack, and built-in submissive responses signal normal adult dogs to automatically shut off the aggression, thus keeping puppies from being hurt.

first discovered Petey at their local humane society shelter in 1990. Scheduled for euthanasia the next day

Dogs don't experience heart attacks the way humans do, but this doesn't mean they don't die of heart disease. Heart failure is increasingly common in America's dogs, with many showing symptoms by age seven or eight. Even some young dogs develop congestive heart failure, inheriting the propensity for the disease from their parents. Conventional medical practitioners consider congestive heart failure and other circulatory problems to be progressive and irreversible, but holistic veterinarians know that in many cases, heart disease can be slowed, reversed, and even cured. Understanding heart disease will help you prevent it in healthy dogs and treat it in dogs who are already ill.

Cataracts make the lens of the eye opaque or cloudy, which gradually reduces vision to the point of blindness. In their early stages, cataracts cause blurring and distortion of vision, but they are invisible to the naked eye. By the time most owners notice them, cataracts involve more than 60 percent of the dog's eye. Cataracts often accompany other illnesses, such as diabetes and hypothyroidism (low thyroid function). Surgery performed by a veterinary ophthalmologist is the only treatment considered effective in conventional veterinary medicine – and is indicated only in cases where the cataracts are not a result of a secondary disease such as diabetes.

Water plays a critical and complex role in the health of all mammals, constituting 55 to 75 percent of the body mass of warm-blooded creatures. A fetus develops in its mother’s amniotic sac and, from birth till death, water bathes and fills every one of a mammal’s billions of cells. In essence, the bodies of people, dogs, and other mammals are water-cooled engines. Releasing water vapor by panting and sweating through its paw pads induces gentle cooling in a dog’s body. Water also lubricates a dog’s joints and muscles, cushions the spaces between each individual cell, and fills up all of the minute hollows in a dog’s body. The principal element of blood, water transports oxygen to all canine body tissues, and helps the white blood cells produced by a dog’s immune system move about its body and fight infections.

Maybe your dog's breed is prone to pacing; that's not a concern. But dogs who begin pacing following injury or in their later years may be suffering from spinal problems. In a normal walk pattern, each of the dog's legs move individually in a four-beat gait, with the diagonal pairs of legs moving nearly together. For example, the left hind and the right front legs move forward almost together, with the left hind paw landing a fraction of a second before the right front paw; then the right hind leg goes forward closely followed by the left front.

After getting the opinions of three orthopedic specialists – and engaging in countless discussions with other owners of dysplastic dogs – I made a very difficult decision. I was going to have Sandy undergo a surgery called bilateral femoral head osteotomy (FHO). I knew that I faced challenging post-operative care and rehabilitation, but I assumed that I would do the best I could when the time came.

The rescued puppy has diarrhea, gummy eyes, ear mites, and ringworm, but there’s a spark in his eye and his tail is wagging. A stray dog has an upper respiratory infection, skin lesions and worms, yet the person who finds her knows she’ll make a loyal companion. Some of the best dogs come into our lives in damaged condition, and the right support can transform them. Yet when dogs have multiple problems, it’s hard to know what to do first. Many dogs and puppies in pet stores, animal shelters, or on the street suffer from malnutrition and conditions that take advantage of impaired immunity; parasites, bacterial infections, fungi, and viruses all take their toll.