Growing up I was always surrounded by animals. In the Philippines, my dad bred and trained working dogs for the police force, while my brother and I would catch wild rabbits in our yard. When I was about 8 years old, my parents gave me my first pet, George the Chinchilla. Unfortunately, George became very…
People are always asking me when they need to see a veterinarian for their reptiles. Sometimes your scaly buddy might be sick and not show such obvious symptoms. A sick reptile may have decreased energy, not act themselves, or eat less than usual. Some less obvious symptoms to look for would be abnormal stool color…
Are you ready? Spring is springing and so are the fleas! I remember the days when we had to bomb the blahooey out of the house, and powder the cat and get a new flea collar and wash all the things (including the cat) just to try to keep the population down during summer. They…
Worms? In the eye? What? Gross! Yes, it happens. We recently diagnosed a pet with eyeworms, and fortunately it’s easily treated. Eyeworms (Thelazia spp) are most commonly found in large animals, though they can also be found in dogs, cats, and even humans! They are transmitted by flies (including the common house fly) that deposit the…
But isn’t every month Pet Wellness Month in a veterinary clinic? Of course it is, but we want to highlight something critical to ensuring your pet is healthy, which many pet owners miss, so we’re having a special month to promote it! You see your pet may look healthy; your pet may have passed the…
September is Celebrate Senior Pets Month here at Country Oaks! Dogs and cats are considered senior at the age of 7, much as we hate to admit it. (My eldest cat, Lockheed, is 9, and much on his dignity – when the other cats are watching.) Just like humans, senior pets often become prone to…
A Non-trivial Concern for Serious Pet-lovers We take for granted that we ought to do fecal screenings for intestinal parasites in puppies and kittens – the presence of worms in the darling little boops is fairly ubiquitous, and we want our new friends to be healthy and happy. But how often do we consider the…
Chagas disease may be making new headlines, but it’s been around for a long time. Discovered in 1909 by Brazilian physician Carlos Chagas, the tripanosomes – the microscopic organisms that cause the disease – have existed since before the continents separated. Cases in the southern United States have been documented for decades, though new areas…
