Will My Dog Get Sick If He Eats Bugs?
Dr. Marty Becker/vetStreetBugs. We certainly get our share of them. Fortunately, apart from grasshoppers, our guys show no interest in eating them.
Does your dog eat bugs? Cookie prefers hunting mice. JD is just a copycat, trying to do what Cookie does. He hasn't caught a mouse yet. Or found one. But he does catch the odd deer fly if they are bugging him too much.
Most bugs make a harmless snack. Some, though are toxic. The rule of thumb is, the more colorful the bug, the more likely it is toxic. And, of course, too many of them can cause a problem from the sheer volume.
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| Saddleback caterpillar. Pretty, huh? Pretty nasty. Photo Featured Creatures |
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| Puss moth caterpillar. Photo True Wild Life |
Find out which bugs you should keep your dog away from in Dr. Becker's article.
How Honey Can Help Dogs with Allergies
Dr. Ernie Ward/Petplan
So far I've used honey only for wound care. But I have heard of the use of raw honey to help with allergies and it does sound interesting and logical as a form of immunotherapy. For such purpose, obviously, it needs to be local honey as it contains the same pollen spores the dog is subjected to.
Same as immunotherapy, local raw honey introduces these spores in small amounts helping the body to get used to their presence.
It might not be a magic cure but it can help. If my dogs had problems with seasonal allergies, I'd give it consideration.
Find out what Dr. Ward recommends.
Cruciate Ligament Disease: A Comparison of Surgical and Nonsurgical Treatment Outcomes
Dr. Nancy Kay/Spot SpeaksI'm always interested in any new information about cruciate ligament disease and its treatments. You never want to think you know it all. Because you moment you do that, something really important slips through the cracks.
In this article, Dr. Kay highlights results of a recently published study focusing on evaluating owner satisfaction with outcomes of surgical repair as opposed to orthosis (brace). Just as Dr. Kay, I'm surprised that in spite of less impressive objective outcomes, there was a higher level of satisfaction with the brace option.
When Jasmine was diagnosed with partial tears, we too found the brace option attractive and gave it a lot of consideration. At the end, though, we decided we wanted to fix, rather than manage the problem.
Check out Dr. Kay's thoughts and review of the study results.