E-Vet Clinic - Dog Health Care

I am not sure exactly how to take this story. My emotions and my intellect are conflicting on this one.

Lets start out with the story. A little minature pinscher named Fester, escaped from his owner and ran out onto the road. Fester was unfortunatley hit and killed by a man driving a Honda Civic. That man is suing the owners of Fester for the damage done to his car.

To quote my wife on this story - “Well I guess he has a right to sue as the dog was not on a leash, the inconsiderate butthead.”

This quote does explain well what I am thinking and feeling about this story. Yes the little dog was off the leash and yes he may have damaged the car, not sure how much damage a 13 pound min pin could actually cause, so the people should pay for the damages. However my heart tells me what kind of compassion does this man have that he just kills the family dog and wants $1,100 for damages to his car, time he had to take off from work, and court fees. What a nice guy?!?

He claims that pieces of the bumper flew up and stuck into the radiator which caused it to have to be replaced. Personally I would like to have some tests done because I do not believe his story. It is a 10 year old car in Minnesota! Can we say rusted out radiator and an opportunity to have someone else pay for the replacement? Pieces of the bumper flying off from hitting a 13 lb little dog - again I say prove it.

Anyway here is the story, tell me your opinion…

Driver kills dog, sues owners - Soon after a car struck and killed a dog just north of Cloquet, MN the driver added insult to the injury: He filed suit against the family for the damage done to his vehicle…

Here is a great story about a life threatening event that this one courageous dog endured!

After dog falls through ice, a bone-chilling rescue 

What this shows me is that a dog has an uncanny ability to survive, a human trying to swim in a frozen pond for an hour would certainly not fair so well! Excellent story way to go Rocket-Man I am happy you made it.

A news piece from the Boston Herald through the AP -Dog advocates try again for ban on greyhound racing tells a story of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the United States Humane Society attempting to close down the Greyhound racing industry in Massachusetts. They have tried twice in the past and have finally made it on to a ballot for the 2008 November elections to pose the question as to whether or not Mass should continue to have a Greyhound Racing Industry.

I have seen many Greyhounds from the racetrack, the majority from the racetrack in Wisconsin. I have heard of the conditions they are kept in. I have seen evidence to support the small cage confinement abuse. Overall I am not against Greyhound racing, what I am for is healthy happy dogs that are cared for humanely. Many of my clients race their dogs either in lure coursing, flyball and even whippet straight racing, but I will tell you that although there are injuries, nothing as prominent as what I have heard about in the Greyhound racing world. The dogs I work on are family pets that happen to be involved in a sport. I have worked on the second fastest Whippet in the country at the owners home. Although I am not in the family home 24 hours a day, I can almost guarantee that that dog sleeps on the couch a good percentage of the time it is in the house…LOL. Talk about living the high life, you are one of the fastest dogs in the country and you are sleeping in complete comfort - like it should be! So I would again have to say I am not against dog racing, if the Greyhounds were treated as the dogs I work on were treated; dogs who are athletes vs machines that happen to be dogs who are athletes, then I would be happy to allow Greyhound Racing to continue, because it is exciting to see a dog, or anything/anyone for that matter, do the one thing it was born to do!

What do you think? Greyhound Racing for or against and why?

Study after study has shown that the full moon does NOT have strange effects and it certainly can not and does not effect your dogs health. However is it the same as giving kids sugar? Every mom will tell you that their kids act more wild and hyperactive when given sugar, but every study shows that giving sugar makes no difference in the behavior of children. So which is true the study or the mothers experience?

Now how about dog health and the lunar cycle? Does the full moon affect your dogs health or behavior for that matter? Experience from veterinarians who all say that yeah they are a little busier around the full moon, but the studies have disproven that saying emergency hospitals are not any busier during the full moon. That is until now…

Here is a story - Why Your Dog Gets Loopy During the Lunar Cycle telling us that Colorado State University has completed an 11 year study with 12,000 animals saying that business “significantly picked up” at the Veterinary Medical Centre around the time of the full moon.

So what do you think, does the lunar cycle, specifically the full moon, affect your dog’s behavior and/or your dog’s health?

OK you all know that my dog is a Border Collie named Meme, but this is not about her but rather about a website called www.whatsmydog.com

And more specifically it is about what is available at that website. How about the age old question for those of you that have mixed breeds - what is your dog? Is he a poodle mix, a collie mix, no - a beagle mix, Oh the heck with it, he is just a Heinz 57! Well no more, now you can have your veterinarian do a blood test called the Wisdom Panel and have it tested against 130 recognized AKC breeds to determine what your dog is with a much better accuracy than a bunch of people looking at your dog and saying well he looks like an Italian Greyhound.

The test is around $150 plus whatever your vet charges to draw a blood sample and is provided by the Mars Veterinary Division…Yes the same Mars that makes candy bars has a veterinary division.

So go check it out and ask your vet if they would be willing to do the test. For all intense and purposes it is mainly a curiosity thing but some vets will use it to help with breed specific diseases. From my perspective I do not know how helpful that would be because the dog truly is not a specific breed but rather a mixed breed with different genetics and has the benefit of what is called hybrid vigor, so I am not so sure if this test that will determine genetically the breeds your dog is would actually be helpful in genetic based diseases.

Anyway curosity has got me thinking about one of my clients dogs that I have been teasing for a couple years now that it is part Sharpei. I think I will help defray the costs to prove I am right! LOL.

I should have gotten this up earlier on the dog food recall, but since you all are feeding Raw or a good quality holistic dog food you should not have to worry.

Here is a link to the list of dog foods that have been affected by the recall.

Dog Explorer