Vet Talks

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a viral infection of cats and it is mainly diagnosed in male adult cats. FIV is shed mostly in the saliva and other blood fluids and it is transmitted primarily through direct bite-wound inoculation when an infected cat that is actively shedding virus into the saliva bites another cat.  FIV...

As a veterinarian and pet owner, I had many of my patients and my pets with bladder stones. Billy, my 12-years-old dog recently had bladder stones. It was an emergency because it was lodged in his urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body). After unblocking Billy’s urethra...

The difference between hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in pets can be very confusing. But, don’t worry, we’re here to help. The terms for describing both conditions are very similar and can cause a mix-up between the two. Both affect the thyroid but work in opposite ways. One way that I learned to remember the meaning for...

Is your kitty excessively scratching, licking, and/or biting a specific area of their body? These symptoms can have a couple of different underlying causes and it can lead to a condition called acute moist dermatitis, also known as hot spots. What Is A Hot Spot? Hot spots on cats are inflamed skin lesions that are...

Bad breath in dogs is a quite common problem and it can be easy to understand why. Firstly, our dogs do not brush their teeth as we do. Our doggos also do not eat the food that we eat. A dog’s diet generally consists of wet or dry meat and some pet parents like to...

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a disorder that affects mostly middle-aged to older cats and it’s caused by an inflammatory reaction to an irritation in the gastrointestinal tract, especially in the stomach and intestines. Difference Between IBD and IBS? Although diarrhea is a similar symptom in both of them, IBD refers to an inflammation in...

You’re relaxing at home with your dog at your feet when suddenly they begin to scratch an itch. They fold themselves almost entirely in half and stretch way out to reach the itchy spot. It’s usually kind of cute. But your dog has been itching more and more lately. You applied their flea treatment not...

We all know that conjunctivitis is a condition that usually pops up at some stage, whether young, old, healthy, or sick. Any pet can also end up with conjunctivitis. For those that don’t know, anything ending in “itis” generally means that the specific area is inflamed and infected. In this case, conjunctivitis in pets refers...

A few months ago, my partner and I decided to adopt two kittens. This decision came after many years of living in Canada and the loss of my 16-year-old kitten, Frederico. It was a long road to adopt my kittens. After many visits to the place where they were available for adoption, we decided to...

False pregnancy in dogs is definitely not the most common condition, but it certainly makes for an interesting read. Many pet parents will not have experienced this with their dogs and many will not have even heard of such a strange condition. It’s a little different from our popular conditions’ questions, but it can certainly...