Pet questions have a way of showing up between appointments, usually at inconvenient times and occasionally after a suspicious noise from the other room.
The Yorkville Animal Hospital blog is here to help you better understand your dog or cat’s health, behaviour, preventive care, and common veterinary concerns. Browse our latest articles for practical guidance from our team in Toronto, and contact us if something your pet is doing deserves a closer look.
Ticks on dogs: Not so sexy.
Ticks seem to be a sexy topic these days. My in-depth online analysis (5 minutes of fiddling on Google) revealed that Canadians search for the word “tick” 3,600 times every month. “Flea” searches were a fair bit behind, at 2,900….
Evidence based medicine, Part 1: Why science makes me happy.
I may be a veterinarian, but first and foremost, I am a scientist. Since my first day of high school, when Mr. Palanacki exploded a balloon filled with hydrogen and oxygen and scared the bejeezus out of us, I was…
Evidence based medicine, Part 2: Pills, potions and placebos.
Once upon a time, when I was a fresh-faced new grad, a client brought in her new puppy to see me. She had adopted the puppy from a breeder a couple weeks prior, and things were going splendidly at home….
How Can I Tell If My Dog Has Fleas Or Just Dry Skin?
The easiest way to tell if your dog has fleas or just dry skin is to look closely at the skin and coat itself: fleas leave behind visible signs like small dark specks of flea dirt, live insects, or clusters…
What Vaccines Does A Puppy Need In Their First Year?
A puppy needs a series of core vaccines, including distemper, parvovirus, adenovirus, and rabies, delivered in multiple rounds between roughly 6 and 16 weeks of age, with additional non-core vaccines added based on lifestyle and regional risk in their first…
Why Is My Dog Constantly Licking And Chewing His Paws?
Dogs who are constantly licking and chewing their paws are almost always responding to itchiness, irritation, or discomfort somewhere on or between their toes, and the most common culprits are allergies, whether environmental or food-related. Paw licking might look like…
Is Grain-Free Diet for Dogs Actually Bad For Their Heart?
Grain-free dog food itself doesn’t directly damage your dog’s heart, but the FDA and veterinary cardiologists have identified a connection between certain grain-free diets and a serious heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM. The relationship is real, but it’s…
How Do I Know If My Dog’s Allergies Are From Their Food Or The Environment?
If your dog is itchy, the fastest way to find out whether food or the environment is to blame is to track when the symptoms happen and what they look like. Food allergies in dogs tend to cause year-round itching,…