You may have already read our recent blog post about safety with dogs and children, and how to teach children to be respectful of dogs. In this post, we will outline safety tips for cats and kids—our feline friends deserve no less!

As veterinarians, veterinary technicians and veterinary support staff, we are often asked how to identify signs of pain in pets. September is Animal Pain Awareness Month. Read on below to understand how to identify signs of pain in your dog or cat, strategies for pain control, and the importance of effective pain management.

In honour of World Rabies Day, this is a blog post about the rabies virus and rabies prevention. Since 2015, 300 animals have tested positive for rabies in Hamilton. Rabies is 100% preventable with vaccination. The information below is provided by Hamilton Public Health and the Ontario government in their initiative to educate the public about rabies and the importance of vaccination.

Your pet has just come home from surgery . . . what now? How necessary is that “cone of shame?” This blog post hopes to clarify some post-surgical concerns that pet parents often raise during the post-surgical healing period. Please note: this post contains graphic images of open incisions and infected surgical sites, which are potential consequences of poor surgical site maintenance.

With the wealth of information seemingly available on the internet, some pet owners feel inclined to treat their ailing pets with over-the-counter (OTC) medications formulated for humans. While their hearts are in the right place, the unintended consequences of administering human medications to pets are often unknown to these well-meaning pet parents. Much information derived from the internet is often false or interpreted incorrectly. In reality, most OTC medications available that are safe and appropriate for humans are toxic to pets. This blog post hopes to clarify why most OTC drugs are not appropriate for pets, and why these drugs are toxic to our furry friends.

As of October 17th 2018, cannabis became legal in Canada for recreational use. Due to the potential increased access and exposure of pets to cannabis products and baked goods, pets may also be at a higher risk for possible cannabis toxicity. As illustrated by studies on the effect of legalization of marijuana in Colorado, the legalization of cannabis led to an increase of  four times the number of reported cannabis toxicity cases in pets. In the past 6 years, the Pet Poison Helpline reports a 448% increase in marijuana cases.