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• What Makes a Diet Palatable?

  Palatability describes how appealing a food is to a dog or cat and how readily they eat it. Understanding which ingredients improve palatability is important to pet food manufacturers. This article addresses several commonly asked questions about how to make pet foods as tasty as possible.

• What You Can do for a Dog with Misalignment of Teeth (Malocclusion)

  Dogs can have misalignment of the teeth much like people. In people, orthodontic care can be used to perfect a pleasing smile or create a functional bite. In dogs, the goal is to make the mouth functional and pain free. Often this involves moving teeth, reducing the height of teeth, or extracting teeth.

• What Your Dog's Cute Behaviors Really Mean

  Most dog owners would agree that our canine friends are doggone cute. Some of their expressions and actions simply amplify their “cuteness.” But are they born with the innate “cuteness”, or do they learn how to be cute? This article discusses some of the reasons for these cute expressions and behaviors.

• Wheat Gluten + Monosodium Glutamate Combination

  Wheat gluten + monosodium glutamate (brand name For-Bid) is a food additive commonly used to deter coprophagy (eating stool). Give as directed by your veterinarian. Side effects have not been reported. Do not use concurrently with steroids. If a negative reaction occurs, please call your veterinary clinic.

• Whipworm Infections in Dogs

  Whipworms are intestinal parasites that can cause severe irritation to the intestines. Of all the intestinal parasites found in dogs, whipworms cause the most disease. Whipworm infection can cause bloody diarrhea, weight loss, changes in electrolyte concentrations, and general debilitation. Smaller infestations may be asymptomatic.

• White Willow Bark

  White willow bark is a supplement made from the bark of the white willow tree (Salix alba). The active ingredient in white willow bark is salicin, which is similar to the active ingredient in aspirin. It is most often used in cats and dogs to treat pain and inflammation associated with arthritis and to treat fever.

• Why Bones Are Not Safe for Dogs

  It is a myth that dogs need to chew bones. While dogs want to chew, and most would love to chew on bones, bones are dangerous and can cause serious injuries. This handout outlines the top reasons bones are bad, and what your dog should chew instead.

• Why Do Dogs Bury Bones?

  Burying of toys or food items by dogs goes back thousands of years as a means of preserving food and storing valuable or scarce food resources. Dogs today do it out of ancestral habit and as a means of resource protection. If you notice that your dog seems to be digging compulsively, contact your veterinarian.

• Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?

  Noses vary in size and shape in the canine world, but regardless of how they look, they are important to survival — and wet noses work better than dry noses for a few reasons, outlined in this handout.

• Why Do Dogs Have Whiskers?

  Whiskers are more than just facial enhancements: they are finely tuned sensory equipment that guide a dog through daily activities. These specialized hairs aid vision and help a cat navigate the environment by providing additional sensory input, much like antennae on insects.