Archive for the Dog Diseases Category

The extent of poor oral health in our pets has reached epidemic proportions. By the time they reach the age of three, four out of every five dogs will show some signs of dental disease. We don’t really know how bad the problem is in cats but it’s certainly even more extensive than in dogs…

Diabetes mellitus is a serious disorder caused by an insulin deficiency. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas and secreted into the blood after eating…

Discoid Lupus Erythematous (DLE) is one of a number of autoimmune diseases seen in dogs, in this case affecting the skin. An auto-immune disease occurs when the body’s tissues are attacked by its own immune system…

Dry eye is the common name for Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), a disease affecting dogs, and less frequently, cats, where the eye(s) have either limited or no tear production…

Sore ears are common in both dogs and cats. The design of their ear canals allows debris, wax and moisture to accumulate within the ear…

Entropion is a condition in dogs, and occasionally in cats, in which either the upper or lower eyelid is inverted. When an eyelid is inverted it turns inward toward the eye and eyelashes and hair will irritate the cornea (the clear, front part of the eye) causing the signs of entropion…

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain where, although the brain is normal in structure, it functions abnormally. Generally, the disease occurs in animals between 6 months and 5 years of age, causing seizures that vary in intensity and frequency…

Flea bite hypersensitivity, or FAD, is an excessive reaction to the bite of a flea. When a flea bites and dog or cat (or human) it injects a small amount of saliva into the skin. Normally this produces little more than a mild itching. Some cats and dogs can however develop an allergy to this saliva…

Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the stomach and intestinal tract, presenting as vomiting and/or diarrhoea. Potential causes are many and varied, with the main culprits being intestinal worms, bacterial or viral infections, or eating something that upsets the gut such as ‘garbage,’ cooked bones and excessively fatty meals…

The heart is a unique organ, different from any other in the dog’s body. It consists of 4 chambers, all of which contain blood and are responsible for sending blood that is low in oxygen to the lungs to receive more oxygen, then sending this oxygen-rich blood throughout the body to all the tissues in need…