Glucosamine is one of the best-known supplements used to support canine joints. It can be found in tablets, powders, complex joint formulas and sometimes together with chondroitin. At the same time, precursors and structural components related to glucosamine occur naturally in cartilage and connective tissue, while green-lipped mussel contains a...
Diarrhea in a cat can be a one-day unpleasant episode or the first sign of a problem that should not be watched at home for a week “to see what happens.” What matters is not only what the stool looks like. Look at the whole cat: is your cat eating,...
From time to time, dog owners come to us because their dog vomits yellow foam or mucus in the morning or after a longer gap between meals. Most people quickly realise that the yellow colour comes from bile, but the harder question is: why does it happen, and what should...
There is one very persistent idea among cat owners: cats just vomit. A hairball here, a little undigested food there, perhaps some white foam - and because the cat calmly carries on afterwards, it may not seem particularly worrying. A single episode of vomiting does not automatically mean illness. But repeated...
A few years ago I swapped my usual breakfast for a smoothie, and quite naturally some of it ended up in my dogs' bowls too. The idea was simple: if I eat berries, vegetables and other fresh foods myself, why couldn't my dogs have a little more real food in...
I believe there is no such thing as a dog owner whose dog has never had diarrhea at some point. I've been lucky and diarrhea has never been a major problem in our house, but it has happened from time to time. A lot of dogs are basically walking garbage disposals....
Sarcoptic mange is talked about quite a lot, but most dog owners probably hope it remains one of those diseases you only read about online and never encounter yourself. Years ago, I took Ossu to the vet specifically because I suspected mange. We rarely went into the forest, but a...
When I wrote the first version of this article, I had only recently heard of giardiasis. When my own dogs were puppies, this parasite was hardly discussed at all. Today Giardia is much more familiar to dog owners, but there is still plenty of confusion: does a positive test always...
A hot spot is one of those skin problems where a dog can look completely fine in the morning and by evening there is a red, wet, painful and rapidly expanding patch hidden under the coat. Fortunately, our own dogs have not had hot spots very often. Faddy once started...
When a dog starts scooting across the carpet, licking under the tail, or suddenly produces a smell that makes you wonder whether someone opened a biological weapon indoors, anal glands quickly enter the conversation. And just as quickly comes the solution: they need to be squeezed empty. But there is one...
