Acute diarrhea is pretty common in dogs. It’s pretty common in people too, but our approach in dogs versus people is VERY different:

  • Diarrheic dogs often get taken to a veterinarian ASAP.
  • People with acute diarrhea rarely go to a physician.

Why is the approach so different?

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It has nothing to do with severity of

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Dog gets diarrhea, then dog gets metronidazole (or another antimicrobial).

That’s a pretty rote approach to diarrhea in many areas, and one we’ve been battling for years, because there’s no evidence that antibiotics help dogs in these cases (and increasing evidence that they might even hurt).

Trying to get veterinarians NOT to prescribe antimicrobials in

For this blog, I focus my writing on companion animal issues, but our group does much more than that, and a recent study of ours is worth a post here as well.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a huge issue globally. It’s a classic One Health problem with important human, animal and environment aspects, and it’s

It was only a matter of time, so it’s not particularly surprising, but a potentially devastating pig disease has made its way into Ontario. It’s not a concern to people or other animals, but it’s worth mentioning here anyway (both to say it’s not a public health or non-pig health concern, and since it’s a

Life with Merlin is going fairly well and the house training has been surprisingly good (so far). He was straining a bit to poop yesterday so I was wondering if diarrhea was on the way. Diarrhea wouldn’t be too surprising since he’s had a pretty good shock to his system with a big lifestyle change

I’m not really sure what to think about canine norovirus. Is it a rare, oddball infection or is it an important, overlooked and/or emerging problem?

  • There are only a few reports of norovirus infections in dogs, but I doubt many people are looking for it.
  • I’ve looked for it a few times during outbreaks, but

Recent Salmonella recalls have led to some questions about the best way to diagnose salmonellosis in dogs and cats.

The first issue is when to test. In general, there is no indication to test healthy animals. Testing should be reserved for animals with diarrhea or other signs of salmonellosis (e.g. fever).

When testing is indicated

Yesterday morning, I found part of a goose carcass in the backyard.

Yesterday afternoon, I found more of it… in a pile of dog vomit on the dining room floor. (Yes, my dog’s an idiot, but that’s a separate story).

Between the vomiting and my dog’s rather solid gut, there hasn’t been any diarrhea, at least