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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.

The occasion of getting a new puppy or dog should be just as joyous as bringing a much-wanted and long-anticipated baby into the world. In the best of possible worlds, the dog's new family is welcoming, loving, and eager to learn as much as possible about and share as much as possible with the latest addition to the family. The transition almost always goes smoothly when the family is experienced with dogs, and already knows about providing healthful diets and gentle teaching for their canine companions.

The crate has long been proven to be an invaluable in-home dog behavior management tool. It is also extremely useful on the road. For a long time, the only downside of crates has been that they are big, heavy, and awkward to lug around. A crate big enough for a Labrador Retriever, Rottweiler or (imagine) Great Dane won't even fit in most cars – which is one reason why a lot of big-dog owners drive vans and SUVs!

While we all know that the death of an old dog is inevitable, and we may have even told our friends that we’re prepared for it, when death comes, our loss isn’t any less painful or easier to accept.

If your dog has arthritis or is recovering from an injury or has a condition that restricts her range of motion, a variety of assistance devices ranging from simple to sophisticated can help her live a more comfortable, active life. Steps and ramps are affordable, portable aids for dogs who need help getting onto or off of furniture or into and out of vehicles. For dogs with neck or spine injuries or osteoarthritis, elevated food and water bowls may help reduce pain (or anxiety about pain) from reaching down to eat or drink from low bowls.

We gathered nine high-end, medium and large dog beds that were marketed as orthopedic

Some are reluctant to perform surgery on old dogs because of anesthesia risks or complications, but these risks are minimal in the case of most lipomas. Modern anesthesia protocols are far safer than they used to be, and complications are generally minor, usually limited to superficial infection or delayed healing. There is no reason not to remove lipomas from older dogs when they interfere with their quality of life.

Western medicine’s mechanistic theory regards the body’s joints simply as the anatomic sites where the lever action of bones enables body movement. However, joints are much more complex than this, anatomically, mechanistically, and functionally. And when disease exists within any joint, the result can be completely disabling – not only to the local area but also to the entire body.

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.