• My Online Vet “Did You Knows” & Excerpts from Last Month


• Story of the Month: Columbo, the retiree's dog cured of separation anxiety


• New Knowledge: dog diabetes, anxiety & vacations


• "You asked for it…" site redesign & 3 freebies

Following are quotes from some of Dr. Tillman’s responses to your questions last month.

Click the links to view the entire questions and answers and to post comments of your own…

• “Shortness of breath after mild exertion could indicate heart disease or some other cardiopulmonary condition.” (Full Q & A)


• “Bacterial infections are not itchy like allergies, but the prednisone would have 'temporarily' reduced some of the surrounding inflammation and redness and made it appear to help… but the bacteria still remain.” (Full Q & A)


• “From your description of events, that is not a normal progression for an ulcer to heal. There is either an underlying disease, infection or other 'dysplasia' occurring in the cornea.” (Full Q & A)


• “…it appears to be a benign wart… If he continues to lick it, he may cause it to become infected. Also, if it seems to grow, become more inflamed, swollen, or starts to discharge a liquid…” (Full Q & A)


• “Dogs that scoot along on their rear end are usually trying to empty their anal glands... As for the seizures, I am VERY worried that he may be toxic from the flea powder you are applying...” (Full Q & A)


• “You have observed that Buster is "very submissive and is the lowest on the scale of the four dogs". Yet he was sleeping with you in bed... this raises his status in the eyes of the other dogs to TOP dog.” (Full Q & A)

Remember, you can ask Dr. Tillman a question directly any time via My Online Vet!

Each month we pick one dog-related story or news item to share with you. This month, you get to meet Columbo...

Columbo is a 12 year old yellow lab that lives with his owner as the only dog. His owner recently retired and now spends more time at home.

After the owner’s retirement, Columbo developed a bad habit. He would tear up objects, chewing them to pieces every time the owner left the house. This is something that Columbo would never have done in the past.

The owner was baffled. Shouldn’t Columbo be happier to have me home all of the time and be more calm as a result?

After trying everything he could think of, the owner took Columbo to a veterinarian. After a long and thorough physical exam that made sure Columbo did not have any physical ailments such as vitamin deficiency or parasites, it was determined that he had developed separation anxiety based on emotional insecurity.

Treatment was determined based on a detailed discussion with the owner as to what he did differently now (whenever he had to leave the house for an errand) compared to what he did before he retired (when he was going to work for 8 hours every day).

After pouring through the daily details, the only difference the owner could come up with was that when he used to go to work, he would always take his hard hat and lunch pail with him. Since retirement, the hat and pail stayed in storage at home.

So they gave it a shot.

The owner's veterinarian instructed him to take his hard hat and lunch pail with him whenever he had to leave the house, whether for 10 minutes or 4 hours.

The owner was more than skeptical with lunch pail and hard hat in-hand on his first trip out of the house later that day. Upon his return a couple of hours later, he slowly opened the door and peeked his head in…

It worked! There was Columbo, excitedly greeting the owner with a wholly unaltered and intact home behind him.

Columbo had no more incidents of separation anxiety after that.

It is difficult to say for certain what was going on in Columbo’s mind… since his owner rarely left without his pail and hat during the day, Columbo may have felt that his owner wasn’t coming back. Regardless, Columbo’s cured.

While most dogs develop the predisposition for separation anxiety when they are puppies, Columbo’s case illustrates how older dogs can also be affected by it. More importantly, it demonstrates how a holistic approach (fully understanding the owner and dog’s lives and starting with treatments that target the root of the problem) can help to solve the issue directly and naturally… no expensive obedience training or potentially harmful sedatives required.

See our new Dog Anxiety page for more about the causes, symptoms and treatments of separation anxiety in dogs.

Have a suggestion for next month’s story? (story about a dog, dog-related news item, etc.) Share it here!

Here are our new articles published since the last newsletter… check ‘em out!

• Dog Diabetes: Signs, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention - Dog diabetes is a relatively common issue that all too often goes undetected until an emergency occurs. Learn how to detect, prevent and treat this potentially serious condition.


• Dog Friendly Vacation Rentals: How to Find Your Perfect Spot - Good dog friendly vacation rentals may seem tough to come by, but these resources will guide you to your perfect spot in no time.


• Dog Anxiety: Preventing & Treating the 3 Types - Dog anxiety prevention ideally begins during puppyhood, but there are several effective techniques to improve or eliminate it in older dogs as well.
  

Here's a summary of last month's useful Organic Pet Digest site updates…

• My Online Vet Library now FREE for everyone - Previously, the library of questions and answers was only available to My Online Vet subscribers. But there was just too much good information there to keep it from everyone else.
  
  So what did we do? We made it available to everyone for free! The library features categorized lists and photo slideshows of all visitor initial and follow-up questions and summary responses from our holistic veterinarians along with links to the full posts. Click here to take a look.


• My Online Vet – ability to upload multiple pictures - Before the upgrade, visitors submitting questions to our vets could only upload one picture of their dog. The Question Submission Form now allows you to upload up to 4 images to give our veterinarians a better understanding of your dog’s problem and therefore better advice. Click here to sign up to ask our veterinarians any pet-related question.


• Free daily pet cartoons - It’s difficult to be a well-rounded resource without some comic relief, so Organic Pet Digest decided to partner with Andertoons to bring you a free daily pet cartoon! It’s found towards the upper-right of all pages, and a new cartoon is displayed each and every day.


• Free local vet search - While holistic veterinary medicine is gaining in popularity, it can often be difficult to track down holistic vets close to home… especially considering the fact that many holistically-trained vets practice in unmarked conventionally-focused offices.
  
  OPD has partnered with Yext to bring you a free local holistic vet search tool (U.S. only for now – Canada, Australia and U.K. visitors, we’re workin’ on it!) … search for a holistic vet near you by typing your zip code into the search box in the right margin of any of our pages.

Have additional suggestions for the site? Please let us know!