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Veterinarians Can Now Become Board-Certified in Shelter Medicine

Videos of dogs with bags around their heads are popular on social media — a shame because a dog with his head stuck in a bag is scared. Worse, he’s in grave danger. A pet can suffocate in less than 5 minutes when his head becomes lodged in a bag. Figures for how often that happens are lacking, but the Food and Drug Administration says that “although this may seem like an odd scenario, it plays out more commonly than you realize.”

• Snack Bag Suffocation: It’s a Thing
• Short Takes
• Should Your Dog Be Screened for Cancer Younger?
• What You Need to Know Before Your Dog Undergoes Anesthesia
• Even When Nothing Seems Wrong, Your Dog’s Eyes Need Checking
• A Proper Diet For Your Dog Contains Less Meat Than You May Think
• When Choosing Health Insurance For Your Dog, Consider Dental Care
• Dear Doctor

• Making It Illegal for Your Dog to Stick His Head Out the Car Window
• Short Takes
• But What’s With Their Tails?
• Are Black Dogs Less Likely to Be Adopted?
• Labrador Retrievers Ousted From Number 1 Spot as Most Popular Breed
• Recognizing “Swimmer’s Ear” and Other Dog-Eared Problems
• When Your Rescue Dog Turns Aggressive On You
• If Your Dog Won’t Take the Medicine, Can It Be Compounded?
• Dear Doctor

Few sights are as endearing to a dog lover as seeing a canine exuberantly sticking his head out the car window and feeling the breeze on his face. And many dog lovers like to extend that pleasure to their own pets. But it is dangerous. A dog can get hurt by flying pebbles thrown up by other cars. Dust can get into his eyes. And the flapping of soft ears in the wind can irritate them, make them swell, and cause damage. Dogs have fallen out of car windows, too. All it takes is one too-fast turn around a bend for a dog to lose his footing.

As the legalization of marijuana expands, veterinary emergency rooms are seeing an increase in canine cases of marijuana toxicity, according to research published in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. The problem most commonly occurs via ingestion, although inhalation can also cause problems. Common clinical signs of marijuana poisoning include urinary incontinence, disorientation, drunken gait, lethargy, hyperesthesia (increased reactivity), and low heart rate.

People often assume that if their dog had mouth pain, he would stop eating. Not true, say Tufts health professionals Yuki Nakayama, DVM, and certified veterinary technician Kate Zukowski. They report that dogs rarely stop eating due to oral pain, getting around it by chewing on the other side, swallowing their food whole, or perhaps showing a preference for softer foods.

Until now, certain antimicrobial medicines used in dogs and other animals have been available over the counter. That ends this month. As of June 11th, all antimicrobial medicines for animals that are also important in human medicine must be prescribed by a veterinarian, says the Food and Drug Administration. The move is aimed to ensure judicious use of these drugs and retain their effectiveness in both our dogs and us.

Cats use their tails to help with balance. Think of the way you might hold out your arms to steady yourself as you make your way along a narrow ledge. Cats are frequently walking along narrow perches — bookshelves and so on — and their tails, which are long for their bodies, help them not to slip. Is it the same for dogs?

At least as far back as the 1700s, black dogs have been getting a bad rap. The writer Samuel Johnson used the phrase “The Black Dog” to describe melancholy and depression, as did Winston Churchill in the twentieth century. In Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, black is the color of the demonic canine. And The Grim, a menacing black dog in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, portends death for anyone who comes across him.

For the first time in more than 30 years, the Labrador retriever is no longer top dog when it comes to most popular breed. The American Kennel Club reports that the French bulldog has taken the Lab down a peg to the number 2 spot.

Does your dog get to beat the heat by regularly splashing around in a lake, or perhaps a backyard pool? That could predispose her to ear irritation, or even an infection, if her ears are compromised due to allergies or some other condition. Frequent swimming can increase the moisture inside the ear, and that creates a good breeding ground for harmful pathogens in vulnerable ears, says Tufts veterinary dermatologist Ramón Almela, DVM.