As working vet, I see both sides of the coin. This is a very touchy subject! And with good reason- In the place where I live, Pit bulls have been banned… The funny thing is this- there is NO way that I as a vet can actually prove that a dog in question is a pit bull (or any other breed) or not.

Genetically, there is effectively no difference- so there is no way that it can be proven that a particular dog is a particular breed! Even if it is pretty obvious- (though funnily enough, there seems to be a lot of red nosed Staffordshire terriers around here these days…)

I have met some dangerous dogs in my working life as a vet- the most dangerous was a Japanese Akita- I took one look, and just knew. “It would be suicide to step out from behind my table…” So I examined at a distance, without eye contact. Scary dog! Then again, the most aggressive dog I have ever treated was a Chihuahua!

I also had a friend (another vet) who had a client with a small fluffy dog- and you know what?- If the dog got onto the bed before her at night, she slept on the floor!

My point is this- ANY breed of dog is potentially dangerous…

Nearly all of this has to do with how the dog is treated and trained, especially from about 8-12 weeks of age (this is when the dog is most impressionable). Many people who buy ‘aggressive’, or ‘dangerous’ breeds, buy them because they want that sort of dog- and then they make them so by how they treat and train them. Some of these breeds do have more aggressive tendencies than others, but I believe it is how they are treated that leads to how they behave.

Dogs have personalities, just like people- some are harder, or more aggressive, even within a breed.

So- No- we should not be banning certain dog breeds! We should be banning certain people from owning any sort of dog, more like it!- however, this opens a whole other can of worms.

I believe that 99% of puppies can make a good dog, and I also believe that some dog breeds are not for ‘beginner’ owners. Be responsible- take your puppy to puppy school, and obedience, keep them properly confined, never leave them alone with kids (what would your dog do if a little one poked him in the eye, hard?).

Enjoy your dogs, they are such wonderful friends!

Dr Edward

I have been thinking about this a lot for the past few days…

As a practicing veterinarian, I see a lot of unwell pets- and then I also see a lot of healthy pets who are simply due for a checkup, or a vaccination booster, or maybe a yearly heart-worm prevention injection. The funny thing is- quite a few of the supposedly “healthy” pets don’t look that way to me!

Often they are overweight, have yucky teeth, or are dull in the coat, or stiff in their movement, or somehow don’t seem quite to be in the pink of good health. This is often subtle, hard to define, and hard for me to explain- but If I were to show you a truly healthy animal beside one who is not, it would leap out to you.

Maybe I can offer you a list of some of the things that really strike me when I meet a truly healthy pet…

A Healthy Pet Will Have:

• A Glossy Coat. You can tell a lot about how healthy your pet is by this! I would invite you to start checking out as many different pets as you are able, with all of these points in mind- (as this will give you something to compare your own pet with). Watch your pet, and you may even see this change from day to day- I have seen this change even during sessions of special hands on work I do with my patients! Of course- some breeds are naturally glossier than others, so bear this in mind.

• A Happy Demeanor. Check out your pet’s body language… Your pet has an emotional life, very much like yours. They have good days, bad days, and in between. As they can’t talk English (well- I am sure some of will tell Your pet sure can!), so watching how your pet moves and behaves will give you deep insight into how healthy he is.

• Free, Comfortable Movement. Your pet should have a nice open gait, sit to both sides, be able to get up and down easily, and exercise happily (not so much with Cats, of course). Back pain is very common in animals, and drastically under-diagnosed! I can speak from experience here- When I graduated, I knew next to nothing about how to tell if a pet had back pain, and less than nothing about what to do to help relieve it! (Apart from prescribing anti-inflammatory drugs, of course… As you will find the more you enjoy this blog, I am very much interested in using natural treatments wherever possible- and at the same time, I understand that drugs have their place, and I use them too, when I judge it necessary.)

• Healthy Weight. I see so many FAT pets… You should be able to gently run your fingers along the side of your pet’s ribcage, and distinctly feel the little bumps of the ribs flick under your finger tips. If you can’t, please consider a diet- I will share my magic diet in a future post. I know, I know- they are so good at looking at you when they want food!

• Clean Teeth. Modern pet food diets ain’t generally great for the health of the digestive system in general- and where you will see this most clearly is in the mouth. The teeth should be clean, clear of any buildup of tartar, no really stinky foul breath (not that even healthy pet breath smells like roses…)

• Healthy Toilet. Your pet’s poo should be nice and firm, and regular. The urine should not be too strong, or stinky, or (especially) have any blood in it. If you see blood, or your pet is wanting to urinate unusually often, please see your veterinarian as soon as possible.

***An Important Point- In my opinion, your pet can be unhealthy without necessarily being unwell…***

I better explain a little more about exactly what I mean here…

I am going to define “unwell” as something your Vet will be able to diagnose, and hence treat… i.e. a recognisable dis-ease (the comfort zone of Western Medicine in the mainstream!) You know how it goes- Your vet will find some clearly defined symptoms on the Physical Exam (eg fever), or may run some diagnostics such as blood tests, X-rays, Ultrasound or the like, and reach a “diagnosis”.

So then- What does unhealthy mean?

For a start- If you were to bring an unhealthy pet to me, I can be fairly certain that a reasonable amount of the time, I could spend a large chunk of their Mum or Dad’s money on Blood Tests, Xrays, Ultrasounds- or any number of other diagnostic tests… and often find nothing remarkable, nothing “to treat”, so to speak.

Sometimes we would find something that really helps- like organ malfunctions with blood tests.

But what do you do when you and your vet can’t find a problem, but your pet is clearly unhealthy?

Come back and learn some simple, effective things you can do to keep your pet “Better than Well” in my next post.

Cheers For now,

Dr Edward