Experts on animal health from the college's clinics in Urbana and Chicago share their knowledge in informative columns written for animal owners. Scan the categories and tags at left for topics that interest you. Subscribe to our weekly Pet Health Columns email.
Models and simulators provide opportunities for veterinary students to develop their skills before using them on live animals. How would you like to be the patient when a medical or nursing student learns to draw blood for the very first time? Any volunteers? Even more so than in human medicine, veterinary medicine encompasses a wide...
Study abroad is one way to give students new perspectives on the field. In the United States, veterinary education and practice focus primarily on small animal practice–caring for dogs, cats, or exotic pets–and large animal practice–ensuring the well-being and profitability of horses, cows, pigs, and other agricultural animals. Veterinarians also work in government agencies and...
Total hip replacement help pets with arthritis, hip dysplasia, and traumatic injuries walk with ease. Total hip replacement—replacing the ball and socket of the hip joint with prosthetics—was performed on 332,000 people in the United States in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pets, too, can benefit from this procedure, which will...
Many veterinary students, doctors, and staff at the hospital helped care for her and hundreds of donors helped cover the costs of her care. Dutchess was a six-month-old kitten when a fire destroyed her owners’ home in Saybrook, Ill., in September 2012. A firefighter found Dutchess hiding under the couch and pulled her out of...
“Acupuncture is an effective therapy for pain management in dogs with chronic pain, such as arthritis, and can be used in combination with Western medicine.” Acupuncture is one of the oldest methods available to treat disease. It can be used to treat a variety of conditions including neurologic, endocrine, and fertility disorders as well as...
Pigmentary keratopathy (PK) is the most prevelant eye disease of the pug breed. With their playful spirit, passion to please, and zest for life, pugs are one of the most loved and celebrated breeds. Originating around 400 B.C., pugs have wagged their way into homes from Buddhist monasteries in ancient China and royal castles of medieval England to...
Make outdoor activities safe and fun with essential products for every seasons. Morning runs, trips to the park, explorations of a vast wilderness—for these and a hundred other outdoor adventures, your dog is eagerly waiting at the front door, tail a blur. As we don our raincoat and hiking boots before venturing out, we often forget...
One of the most important precautions is to use multiple ways of identifying your pets in case you are separated from them, according to Dr. Suzett Hexum. Whether tornado, flood, wildfire, or hurricane, a natural disaster may strike in nearly any location. Add the possibility of a house fire, and no family is immune. A...
“Adopting a pet is not an impulse decision.” It’s that time of year again. June is national Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat month, as litters of spring babies were recently born and are now in need of a forever home. Before you go running out to your local shelter to pick your new furry best friend, a shelter veterinarian...
Pets can have drug allergies too. At nearly every visit to a doctor, people are asked whether they have drug allergies. This is because allergic reactions to medications can be debilitating and even life-threatening. Pets also can have drug allergies, although research and education in this area is less well developed than in the human...