Featured Articles
Blastomycosis in dogs
Perhaps you have heard of ‘blasto’ in dogs, it’s an important disease that all dog owners should be aware of.
Blastomycosis dermatitidis is the most common systemic mycosis of dogs. Systemic meaning that it can affect the whole body, and mycosis, meaning that it is caused by a fungus. It is called ‘dermatitidis’ because it affects primarily the skin, but it can also affect other body parts, such as the vascular system.
Blastomycosis is largely confined to the Ohio, St. Lawrence and Mississippi river-drained areas of North America. It is a soil organism, which can be inhaled by a dog. It is often found growing on dead leaves along a river. The classic case of a dog getting blasto is a young male hunting dog following a trail and sniffing eagerly along a river-bank. It is most common from August to October, since this is when leaves are falling off trees and the mould version of the fungus can grow upon them.
Tip – 32 – Dog training – Barking dog – Treating Excessive “Alarm” OR “Warning” Barking
EXCESSIVE “ALARM” OR “WARNING” BARKING
Much of a dog’s barking is what can be called “alarm barking.” It is usually in the form of bursts of two or three barks with short pauses between them. It is an attempt to …
Tip 66 – Dog training courses – obedience training – socializing your puppy
In general, puppies that have had obedience classes with other puppies have less behavioural problems than those without any training. This is because dogs are natural pack animals and need to learn how to act with other pack members. Within …
Regurgitation and Vomiting Differences in Dogs and Cats
Most pet owners have seen it; your cat or dog hunches up, starts to make retching noises, and then brings up an amount of material. But is it vomit or regurgitation? This may seem like a trivial difference, but in fact it is not. Knowing whether the material is vomit or regurgitation tells your vet where the material is coming from, and also what may be the cause of the problem. Regurgitation is defined as the passive, retrograde movement of ingested material, usually before it reaches the stomach.
The regurgitated material is often expelled with minimal or no signs of nausea, distress or retching. In fact, the animal may show some surprise as it goes through the act, because it was not expecting it! Material originates from the oral cavity, pharynx or esophagus. Regurgitation often occurs immediately after eating food, but can also occur hours afterwards.
Pet Chinchillas
The chinchilla looks like a mix of three different animals. It has the rotund body of a guinea pig, short rabbit-like ears, and a squirrel tail. This is a unique critter that is kept as a pet less frequently than …
Hermit Crabs – Molting
Imagine what it would be like if every time you grew an inch, your skin got so tight that you had to shed it! Our human skin grows with us; however, hermit crabs (a popular exotic pet in recent years) …
Distemper in Dogs – Pet tip 168
Many dog owners, especially new dog owners are likely to hear about distemper and how their dogs should be vaccinated against it because it has the potential to be a dangerous, sometimes fatal disease. Distemper is a highly contagious virus …
Hamsters Mice Rabbits
You might find yourself in the following scenario: The kids are constantly begging for a pet. Dogs are too large, birds are too noisy, you are allergic to cats, and reptiles scare your significant other. You suggest fish, but the …
January 2010
Dear Petlover,
Hi there it’s Marko, one of the owners/administrators on Pets.ca and this is our first newsletter of 2010 so Happy New Year! We wish all our visitors and their pets an amazing 2010. We intend to put out …