Posts in Category: Pet Health & Wellness
Fear Factor – Understanding Canine Phobias
With Halloween coming soon, there are a lot of changes around your households including the endless barrage of children ringing door bell’s looking for candy. While these changes seem routine for us, pets may react differently.
Most pets have things they fear, but phobia is much more serious. While fear is a natural and appropriate (from a dog’s perspective) response to a potential threat, a phobia develops when your dog has an irrational, persistent fear of something that doesn’t pose a real threat. Phobias are ongoing, extreme reactions to the same stimulus that typically begin after a bad experience.
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Please Don’t Go: Understanding Canine Separation Anxiety
With Houston’s schools having just opened for the fall term, pet separation anxiety is a real concern. Oak Forest Veterinary Hospital understands that this transition can be especially difficult for our beloved pets. When our dogs show signs of anxiety or depression when left alone, we often develop feelings of guilt and worry. Pet parents can take comfort in the fact that separation anxiety is largely due to a dog’s natural instincts. For canines in the wild, abandonment can be life-threatening. Undomesticated dogs are with their packs continuously and are rarely alone. Isolation means they are vulnerable to predators and could even face starvation without their hunting partners. It’s only natural, then, for dogs to suffer anxiety when they are separated from their human pack.
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Collapsing Trachea: A Common Problem in Small Breed Dogs
If you own a small breed dog, you may have encountered the puzzling symptoms of tracheal collapse. Most characteristic of these is a honking cough that sounds something like a goose. Although episodes are usually brief, they can seem frightening to you and your dog.
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Beyond the Wellness Visit: Veterinary Internal Medicine
Updating vaccinations and performing routine screening tests are an important part of our job at Oak Forest Veterinary Hospital. While we love taking care of your pets when they are well, we also want you to know that we are here for you when things aren’t so sunny. Our veterinary staff is well-educated and experienced in the field of veterinary internal medicine and ready to help our patients when they need us most.
Pet Laser Therapy: An Important Modality in Your Pet’s Recovery
The team at Oak Forest Veterinary Hospital is focused on new therapies and advancements that can better support our wonderful pet patients. Many new modalities that can complement traditional medicine are acupuncture, massage, and laser therapy. Pet Laser therapy is an exciting treatment that can enhance recovery after surgery, injury, or chronic conditions.
Because it’s noninvasive, safe for all life stages, and does not require medication, we’re particularly enthusiastic about offering this service at our clinic. However, many owners may not know much about this therapy and its benefits, so we’re pleased to provide an overview of its many advantages!
BFF’s: Taking a Closer Look at the Human-Animal Bond
Cats and dogs weren’t always considered integral members of the family, but they certainly are nowadays. Initially employed for herding, hunting, and pest control, the ancestors of the animals we now hold near and dear to our hearts had to work hard for a warm place to sleep at night. This hard-won balance between our species has been maintained for centuries and, in fact, we evolved together. As a result, we have a very specific affinity for them.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the economic downturn a decade ago didn’t affect the nation’s spending related to pets. While some people might view pet ownership and care as an indulgence in trying times, others utterly depend on the relationship with their pet. All this (and more) begs the question: what is at the root of the human-animal bond?
Hats Off to Our Readers! Our Top 5 Most Popular Pet Blogs of 2017
As we prepare to close out another amazing year at Oak Forest Veterinary Hospital, we would like to take a moment to thank you for choosing us! We are truly honored to provide your pet with top-of-the-line care, and we are grateful for the relationships we have built with all of our patients and clients.
Through our regular blog, we strive to provide you with informative, interesting, and useful pet care information. With diverse topics, such as holiday safety, senior pet care, and separation anxiety, our goal is to answer your questions and address your concerns when it comes to your sweet pet.
That being said, we have compiled our most popular pet blogs of 2017 into one convenient location for your reference.
Pets And Guests: A Recipe For Success
Does your normally calm Golden Retriever go crazy when a guest enters your home? Does your affectionate calico kitty hiss and spit whenever anyone but the immediate family gets near her? Are you concerned about having the holiday meal at your house because your Uncle Dan usually drinks one too many eggnogs and tries to give your dog, parakeet, and bearded dragon lizard all of his leftovers?
If this sounds like you, rest assured you’re not alone. Hosting a gathering at your home is a lot of work, but throw an unruly pet or guest in mix and you’ve added a whole new layer of stress, especially if your pets, or your company, aren’t prepared for each other. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to make sure that pets and guests can comfortably and safely share a space, and maybe even enjoy each other’s company!
Is Your Pet in Chronic Pain? Top Signs of Pet Arthritis
How do you tell if your beloved cat or dog is in pain? Sometimes, our faithful companions and cuddly cats make it easy for us. Sometimes, they will cry out in pain, hold up a paw or even limp. These more obvious signs usually happen when their pain is acute. Unfortunately, often times they suffer in silence.
A pet suffering from arthritis often doesn’t cry out or limp until their pain becomes intolerable. More commonly, a fair amount of older pets will do the best they can to continue in their normal routine. If we know what signs to look for in our aging pets, we can better control their pain before it becomes unbearable. Also, if we know our pets are starting to suffer, we can actually slow the process of pet arthritis with medications.
Senior Dog Care: Special Considerations for Senior Dogs
Dogs older than seven years of age are considered senior pets. Senior dogs are in the stage of life in which the aging process is beginning to affect every organ system. Some organs “wear out” faster or are more susceptible to cumulative damage than others, so certain observations are especially important to make.