AMA - Ask Me Anything! I am a veterinarian with over a decade experience caring for dogs and cats. Ask me anything!

Uh oh. We’ve just had to induce vomiting on a dog that ate a ton of gum. Why is this dangerous? XYLITOL. In humans it’s harmless. In dogs, it causes hypoglycemia , which means their blood sugar levels drop dramatically low and can lead to seizures or even death. This

Why won’t your vet recommend raw foods? Two reasons: 1. The risk of bacterial contamination is sky high. A large study of commercial raw diets found salmonella in 20% of them, and listeria in 16%. That’s crazy! And the dangerous part - these bacteria can spread to humans.

One of the main reasons we veterinarians will urge you not to feed raw food is that the risk of bacterial contamination in these foods is dramatically higher than in kibbled or cooked foods.

Cheer up, tomorrow is Monday 😃 #dogday #dogsofX

It was a great week filled with great health tips for cats!

The answer is #Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions, or FORLs for short. This is a dental disease that cats get, where the body ‘s odontoclasts attack and break down the tooth’s structure. This can be quite painful and the only treatment option is to remove the affected

Sunday Radiology time! This is a premolar tooth in a 9 year old domestic shorthair cat. Can anyone guess what is happening here? #sundayradiology #CatsOfX #AVetsGuide

So what does remission look like? By monitoring your cats glucose levels regularly we can often catch as glucose levels normalize. This is most likely to happen if we: - Start treatment early. - Use a long-acting insulin (like Glargine). - Stick to a strict low-carb wet food

So how do we treat them? Insulin is number one. We usually use an insulin called Glargine (also called Lantus) which they receive by injections twice daily. There is also a new oral option called Senvelgo which is only for specific cases. Ask your vet! Diet is also crucial.

Cats get type 2 diabetes, which means they have insulin resistance (vs dogs who have type 1 and aren’t producing enough insulin). This type 2 is reversible, because if we can get these cats on the right food and to lose weight , their bodies can start “listening” to the insulin

Blood and urine are both crucial diagnostics. A single elevated blood glucose reading doesn’t tell us definitively that we have diabetes, because cats can get stress hyperglycemia, meaning a high blood sugar induced by stress at the clinic. So we also run a urine to look for

The symptoms Is your cat: • Drinking water like crazy? (Polydipsia) • Producing huge urine clumps in the litter box? (Polyuria) • Seemingly always hungry ? (Polyphagia) • Walking very flat footed in the back? (Plantigrade stance/Neuropathy) If you see these, it’s time for

#Cats can actually beat their diabetes! Unlike most human and canine diabetics, many cats can actually achieve remission with the right management. Today I’ll teach you about the symptoms of diabetes, the diagnostics your vet will run to get the answer, and the best ways to

Stay safe in the storm! Today I’ll be releasing my feline diabetes thread. Stay tuned!

Ouch, degloved tail alert 🚨 these pictures are not for the faint of heart. This poor kitty’s tail got stuck in a door and the entire skin of the tail ripped off. You can see in the photos the vertebrae of the tail and the completely separated skin and associated tissues. If

I hope you are enjoying these educational posts! Please feel free to tell me if there are topics you are interested in or if you have any questions.

If a male cat blocks repeatedly despite management, we may recommend a Perineal Urethrostomy (PU). The male urethra (the opening in the penis) is very narrow, and that is often the reason that things get stuck. It’s also why we rarely see female cats get obstructed. So, in a

Getting them home is just the beginning. To try to prevent another blockage we do the following 3 things: 1. Prescription Diet: Essential for dissolving specific types of crystals and changing urine pH. These foods have saved thousands of cats lives , and saved their owners