Check out the new page we added about pet's abdomens under our 'Diseases - Gastrointestinal' page. We discuss the difference between bloat, or GDV, abdominal swelling, and distention of the abdomen in dogs and cats. 

We hope you take a look around the website as we're working hard on keeping it up to date and creating more pages just for you!

Let us know in the comments if there's something specific you're looking for and it just might be the next thing we work on. 

No matter what you call it: Poop, Feces, Stool, Bowel Movement, Number 2, Defecation, Boom-Boom, Turd, or even Trots; it all refers to a very important part of your dog and cat's overall health.

So, what is normal when it comes to your pet's bathroom habits?

It's a common question when you take your dog or cat to the vet: "Is Fluffy having normal bowel movements?" Well, after thinking about it you answer a resounding "Yes!" After all, Fluffy's stools have been normal; normal for her. ​

​We may ask you for a description of the stool. (And don't worry if you take a picture of it to show us. I know it sounds gross to have a picture of poop in your phone, but it really can help us understand what you are seeing!)

When discussing a pet's feces, it helps to know what's normal, and what is not. Let's check out the things we look for in good GI health.

This weekend is the SAGE Symposium and not only will Yvonne be speaking, but IMFPP will have a table at the event! 

We'll be bringing the the Pet Health Journal and we're hoping to have copies of the One Month Journal that we just launched this week. (The journal's are ordered and printing, we're hoping the shipment arrives before Sunday.)

The One Month Pet Health Journal: Track Medications, Treatments, and Your Cat's and Dog's Health is the newest member of the Internal Medicine For Pet Parents Series. We're excited to announce it was published this week on Amazon. 

The One Month Journal is the baby brother to the Pet Health Journal. It has 5 weeks, a one month calendar, and is perfect for pets after a surgery or hospitalization that just need some extra attention for a few weeks. 

If you'd like a copy of your own you can purchase the ​One Month Journal from us directly, at SAGE Symposium, or got to Amazon and order your copy today!

The SAGE Symposium is a leader in continuing education in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 6 tracks and the day will provide 7 RACE approved CE credits for both veterinarians and technicians.

The Symposium outgrew the location on the peninsula and was moved to a larger venue at the Oakland Marriot. Because of the larger location, registration is still open and if you haven't snagged your ticket you still can. Register for SAGE Symposium here and make sure to listen to Yvonne's lectures and stop by the table and say hello and check out the new One Month Pet Health Journal.

There is a lot of hype right now about grain free foods and heart disease in pets. We reached out to Ann, our nutrition and internal medicine small animal ​VTS author, for her prospective and she gave us the low down.

In July 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a bulletin regarding a potential connection between diet and cases of canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM).  Veterinary cardiologists had alerted the FDA of an increase in cases of DCM in breeds not typically genetically prone to this condition (1, 2).

Dilated cardiomyopathy has been genetically linked to a number of breeds of dogs including Great Danes, Boxers, Newfoundland’s, Irish Wolfhounds, St. Bernard’s, and Doberman pinschers. Cardiologists were seeing an increase in non-typically breeds including mix-breed dogs and smaller dogs. (1)

​Veterinary cardiologists were recently surveyed about cases of possible diet-associated DCM in dogs examined in the past 2 years.  Information was provided for over 240 dogs.  For dogs in which the breed was specified:

• 134 (56%) of them were mixed-breed
• 23 (9.5%) Golden retrievers
• 9 (3.7%) Labrador retrievers
• 8 (3.3%) German Shepherd dogs
• 7 (2.9%) Cocker Spaniel
• between 1-5 dogs of each of 25 other breeds. (2) 

​Through collection of diet history, many of the affected dogs had been found to have been fed BEG diets.  This includes Boutique foods, Exotic ingredients, and Grain-free diets. ​

Getting tablets and capsules into cats can be challenging, but sometimes getting them to pass into the stomach can take even more time than we thought.

Did you know this could cause problems?

In an abstract published by ACVIM, Auburn University did a study to see if using butter helped tablets to pass from the mouth into the stomach of cats. 

In the study they used fluoroscopy to monitor a tablet as it passed from the cats mouths to their stomachs. In half of the cats it took over 10 minutes! 

However, when a small amount of butter was applied to the tablet it was able to pass easily into the stomach in under 1 minute. The same if a small amount of either butter or Nutrical was applied to the cats nose it helped facilitate licking and the tablets also passed in under a minute.

What does that mean? To prevent medications from sticking in the esophagus possibly causing esophagitis it is important to encourage cats to swallow. **only use butter or Nutrical if it approved by your veterinarian**

We had so much fun yesterday at the CaRVTA Symposium! It was great meeting everyone that came out to listen to some awesome speakers.

We'd love to see some of the pictures everyone took from the day! Go to our Facebook post and share pics of the day.