Veterinarian, Speaker & Author
I will never forget walking into a large pork producing farm during my swine rotation in veterinary school. I saw pregnant sows in small crates, the crates were so small that the pigs couldn’t even turn around. They could only move a few inches forwards and backwards. Growing up in Minnesota farm country, I was …
Continue reading “McDonald’s Agrees to Phase Out Gestation Crates in Pork Suppliers”
Join Dr. Kristen Nelson, veterinarian, speaker and author of Coated With Fur: A Vet’s Life at the Tucson Festival of Books. This year’s festival is March 10 and 11, 2012 at the University of Arizona. Stop by booth #243 on the central mall as I would love to meet readers. I will also be delighted to …
Continue reading “Join Dr. Nelson at the Tucson Festival of Books”
The American Veterinary Medical Association has declared February “National Pet Dental Health Month”. Pets struggle with a variety of dental problems including periodontal disease, alignment issues, and fractured teeth in carnivores and overgrown teeth making it difficult to eat in herbivores. Besides causing pain, infection from the mouth may spread throughout the body infecting everything from heart …
This beautiful girl is Liddie, an Irish setter with a big personality. Liddie brightens any room she enters with her expressive and friendly face. For this photo, she ignored me and listened to a dog in the room next door. What a character! Irish setters have a rare but fatal genetic disease that causes fever, anorexia, recurrent infections, slow wound healing, weight loss, umbilical …
Continue reading “You Make The Diagnosis: Name The Rare Blood Disorder Found In Irish Setters”
I was going to write about food bowls in this post until I received a pet health alert from the Arizona Humane Society regarding distemper in dogs. Normally, the virus affects young, unvaccinated puppies every spring. But this year, the Arizona Humane Society has noticed a difference in the disease. Both puppies and adult dogs …
Continue reading “Arizona Humane Society Releases Distemper Alert”
It will surprise many people to learn that animals may become allergic to plastic. Areas of skin that contact the plastic become inflamed and often bleed. Once the normal dermal barrier is damaged, bacteria and fungi often develop secondary infections. Pictured below is the chin of a dog who received an automatic plastic feeder for …
Dogs and cats with long, furry coats are prone to a condition called ‘fecal mats’. The term is a polite way of stating that feces are stuck in the hair over the anus. With time, the feces cause a terrible infection that actually destroys the skin and underlying tissues. A few years ago, I removed a fecal …
I find people are often surprised when they learn that animals can get cancer from sun exposure just as we can. Pink skin is much more susceptible to developing squamous cell carcinoma than pigmented skin. Pictured below is a Jack Russel Terrier mix named Chewie who has an area of pink skin on the bridge …
Last November I announced a contest for National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week. I am pleased to announce the honorees of the donations to the Animal Humane Society in Minnesota, the Humane Society of Seattle/King County and the Arizona Humane Society. I was born and raised in Minnesota, graduated from the University of Minnesota College of …
Continue reading “National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week”
Pictured below is a handsome cat named Cheetah. He was a little shy at first but awfully nice. It turns out he is a very sweet fellow. Although to some he might look like a wild feline, his family tree includes only domestic cats. According to the Cat Fanciers Association, this breed is a mix of Abyssinian, …
Continue reading “You Make The Diagnosis: Is This A Wild Or Domestic Cat?”