However, for this to happen, you need to know what to look for, and act quickly.

How To Tell If Your Cat Has Poor Vision

Here are the common signs of vision loss or blindness in cats:

• Bumping into things they should be able to see
• Dilated pupils (large black eyes)
• Sudden anxiety about moving around or going outside
• Crying or aimless wandering
• Blood in the eye or a cloudy eye

The cat pictured above has a dilated pupil, but even that is not as wide as we typically see in a blind eye. Often you can barely see any of the usual yellow or green iris colour.

The actual cause of blindness does not always come on as suddenly as it seems. Cats can cope very well with poor vision and it’s often only when the lights go out completely that you will notice.

The Causes Of Sudden Blindness In Cats

There is a long list of possible causes of blindness in adult cats, of which only two are common.

• Hypertension
• Anterior uveitis
• Damage to the eye or its nerve supply
• Tumours anywhere along the vision pathways
• Progressive retinal atrophy or PRA
• Cataracts
• Glaucoma

Of these, eye damage can be from head trauma secondary to car injury or lacerations from cat fights. PRA is a genetic disease causing retinal degeneration, and only likely in young purebreeds (I saw my first ever case just last week in a Toyger). Tumours are rare (often iris melanoma) and cataracts and glaucoma even rarer (these diseases are explained here).

Of the two common causes, anterior uveitis is seen as a red, painful or cloudy eye that’s no longer clear inside. The cause is usually an immune response to infections like FIV, FIP or toxoplasmosis. It needs to be treated quickly to avoid blindness but is usually quite obvious.

The one I want to focus on in depth is feline hypertension. This is the most likely reason for sudden blindness in older cats and its effects are often reversible.

How Hypertension Causes Blindness

Hypertension, or raised blood pressure, is common in old cats. It’s often secondary to kidney disease or hyperthyroidism, but also occurs on its own. If untreated, it can cause two things to happen the eye:

1. The retina (the light sensitive layer) separates from the rest of the back of the eye. This is retinal detachment.
2. Blood vessels burst leading to bleeding inside the eye or on the retina. The blood then blocks vision.

The picture shows a severe case of retinal detachment. You can see a widely dilated yellow pupil, and the greenish bulging retina in the middle.

Treatment Of Hypertension

My experience is this: if retinal detachment is detected while the retina is only partly peeled away, it will reattach once the blood pressure is controlled. In other words, cats who are brought in as soon as the problem is noted have a very good chance of their vision being restored.

When we see a disease known to be linked with hypertension, we will measure blood pressure. I saw such a cat a few weeks ago with blood in the eye. Within a few hours we had tested her and started her on antihypertensive medication. Her blood pressure is now normal, and she’s made a full recovery.

Medication for high blood pressure in cats is only once daily, cheap and generally very effective. Of course, we always check the response after a few weeks just to be sure.

So the take home message is not to overlook even the slightest hint of eyesight problems. While cats can live happily even after losing their sight, for many of them, it never needs to happen.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Sometimes they’ll yelp, or limp, but other times it just looks bent or dislocated. There may even be a little bleeding. What do you do?

The dog’s nail in the picture above is a good example. His owner was told it was fine to wait for it to fix itself, but after several days she wasn’t so sure.

Will A Broken Nail Heal On Its Own?

Most broken nails will heal by themselves over 1-2 weeks. However this causes unacceptable discomfort in the meantime. The loose nail is still partly attached to the injured nailbed, and even the slightest movement creates intense pain.

Additionally, if untreated the area of separation between nail and nailbed quickly gets infected. You will notice this by the appearance of a smell around two days after the injury.

Remember the number one message from vets to dog owners is: they don’t complain.

Can I Pull The Nail Off Myself?

You will find people online advising you to remove the broken or damaged nail by pulling, cutting or snipping. Here’s why that’s a bad idea:

1. The nail fragment is often very well attached. Sometimes it also contains vital parts of the nailbed that should not be removed.
2. Pulling the nail often leaves small slivers that you cannot see still embedded in the nailbed.
3. Puling a broken nail is extremely painful. They may not complain, but it is likely that you will lose your dog’s trust in touching their nails for ever after.

The last point I have seen many, many times. As a young vet I (like most back then) would just ‘pull’ the loose nails and apply a dressing. It took years of experience to see how differently the dogs related to me afterwards. Pain is the best educator.

Those people online? I can only guess that they haven’t torn one of their own toenails yet. And here are my personal observations: their use of styptics on bleeding wounds is unacceptably painful, and their home dressings are generally too tight.

When Should I Go To The Vet For A Broken Nail?

A broken nail is rarely an emergency requiring out of hours care but you should make an appointment with your vet at their soonest available in regular business hours. Preferably, go in the morning and do not feed your dog.

Most vets agree that the best humane treatment is deep sedation to abolish pain before any attempt to remove the nail. This also allows us to clip and closely inspect the injury before action. You can see in the picture above that there is some pus and bleeding around the base of the nail.

Sedation also allows us to carefully ‘peel’ the nail away without tearing the underlying tissues. Any remnant pieces of nail which will cause ongoing infection are easily identified and removed. The area is cleaned and finally a dressing is placed.

How Long Does It Take To Heal?

Once the damaged nail is removed and the infection controlled, a new nail starts growing straight away. Then, as long as it is kept clean and dry, the dressing can usually either be removed after three days, or changed and removed after six.

The last thing to consider is prevention. Most nails that get broken are dewclaws that have got a little too long.

For this reason, you will notice that I check a dog’s dewclaw by sliding my finger underneath. If it catches my finger, this means it can get caught on anything else too. That’s when I get the clippers out: not to cut it very short, just to stop it being hooked on the end.

So to finish up, read my Guide To Good, Bad & Ugly Dewclaws

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

While not all are simple to fix, after reading this you should have a good idea of what to do. I’ll rank them in rough order of frequency.

Before the list though, you need to do something unpleasant: make a close inspection of your dog’s body using both your eyes and nose. Pay particular attention to the crevices like armpits, groin, feet, ears, mouth and lips. We’ll use this information in a minute.

Skin Disease

The skin of dogs with chronic dermatitis almost always has a bad smell. You might describe it as ranging from an extreme ‘doggy’ smell to old socks. This is probably due to an overgrowth of secondary yeast and bacteria taking advantage of the skin’s weakness.

Affected skin often looks thickened or wrinkly, and may have a greasy or flaky surface. It can also become red or even black in colour.

Uncomplicated dermatitis on its own does not smell, and so an odour is a sign that the condition has progressed. The solution is never as simple as using antifungal or antibacterial shampoos. You will need to address the underlying skin problem, which you can read about here.

Ear Infections

Infections inside the ear canal are a specialised form of skin disease complicated by severe yeast or bacterial overgrowth. They nearly always smell strongly, and if you put your nose right up to the canal it there’s no mistaking the origin. Sometimes the infection is so deep that the ear canal looks normal on the outside.

Never, never just put cleaner into a smelly ear without your vet checking it first. As it’s probably infected by now, cleaning alone won’t work and it will sting harshly. Once you do this, your dog won’t trust you and treating the problem properly gets a lot harder.

Ear cleaners are great for prevention, but first read about the treatment of ear infections here.

Oral Disease

If you have identified the smell as coming from inside the mouth, there are still quite a few causes. The first is advanced periodontal disease, which is inflammation and infection of the junction between the teeth and gums. This is the most common cause of bad breath and tooth loss.

Once dental disease develops, you will need it treated under anaesthetic, but it can also be effectively prevented afterwards.

Any infection or ulceration in the mouth will also smell bad, so other causes I have seen include oral tumours, foreign material caught in the teeth or mouth ulcers from kidney disease. A smell from the mouth has never in my experience been caused by any area lower down like the stomach.

The smell from bad breath is often described as ‘fishy’ or ‘metallic’, leading to confusion with the next cause. The clue is to look at the location.

Anal Glands

Anal glands are special scent glands found just inside the anus. When a dog defaecates, they release an odour onto the poop which other dogs can detect. Anal glands malfunction when they release this scent at any other time.

The classic anal gland leakage situation is your dog sleeping on your lap and suddenly you smell a horrible rotten fishy odour. You might find a drop of brown fluid. Many of these anal glands are too full and not emptying by themselves.

If so, all you need to do is get your vet or groomer to express them every 3 months and the problem goes away. However others leak when they aren’t full, and these are much harder to fix. Some have infection inside, others just seem leaky. Read about their treatment here.

Skin Folds

Fold pyoderma is a localised infection in folded skin. It’s notorious in short-faced breeds like Bulldogs, but this is easy to see because the hair is short.

The more insidious form is found in dogs like Cocker spaniels and Golden retrievers. The lower lip often droops as they age and a fold forms which traps saliva in the hair. These can get very badly infected and smell like rotten meat.

The trick to finding them is to not just look inside the mouth, but also stretch out the skin on the upper and lower lips. Treatment involves antibiotic tablets or creams, then prevention with antibacterial wash and barrier ointments. Severe cases require a small facelift!

Flatulence

Passing smelly gas from the bowel is a common noxious odour, but at least no-one has trouble identifying it. The solution is almost always to find a food that agrees better with your dog’s digestion. Or put up with it, as the dog is usually untroubled!

Urinary Incontinence

Around 2.5-5% of dogs will develop urinary incontinence. In some females it can start very early, and may be more common after desexing. It is also common with urinary tract infections.

The stale ammonia smell is usually quite distinctive, but I see many dogs whose owners have got used to the scent until I point it out. These dogs can almost always be cured by either fixing an infection, removing a bladder stone or medications to prevent leakage.

Faecal Soiling

Having poop stuck in the hair might seem like an excessively obvious cause of bad smells. However, I see it regularly, especially with new owners of Poodles and Poodle crosses. The hair can quickly get thick and long around the anus to hide the buildup of soft faeces.

If this isn’t addressed urgently with a gentle bath and dry, you often end up at an overnight emergency vet. The faeces end up blocking the anus, and the resulting rash can be terrible.

Prevention is of course all about having a good relationship with a trusted dog groomer, and starting as early as possible. It’s also about avoiding soft faeces by the use of high quality diets.

Normal Doggy Smells

The last cause is the hardest and saddest. Never assume this is what is causing your dog’s bad smell unless you have consulted a vet first: it’s very rare.

Every now and again I see a dog owner who is disgusted by their dog’s terrible odour. Except that I can’t smell it at all, and neither can anyone else in the clinic.

These dogs smell normal. Nearly all of us with dogs have tuned out the natural odour of dogs and can no longer detect it. However, for an unlucky few it remains thick and intense.

I have no solutions for these people, as a bad smell can’t just be hidden under cologne or other scents. Putting a dog outside is definitely not the answer.

But let’s not be negative. Eight of the nine causes of bad smells on dogs are fixable, and the ninth isn’t a problem to the dog. Good luck working it out!

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Many of these dogs can go on to lead a normal life with the right treatment. Others cannot be saved, and treatment could do more harm than good.

Here I’m going to help you decide what to do if a vet finds a mass in your dog’s spleen.

Signs Of Spleen Tumours

There are three ways your vet might diagnose a splenic mass:

1. They might find it without any symptoms during a health check (vets routinely feel the spleen during a physical exam)
2. The mass might rupture, leading to sudden collapse or a swollen abdomen secondary to internal bleeding
3. A dog may start losing weight or become lethargic and the cause is found after investigation

The decision on whether to operate is often based on the chance of complete cure, which is only possible if the mass is benign. However, we don’t have any way to be 100% sure before surgery. All we can do is show you the odds based on your dog’s situation.

Splenic Masses: The Odds Of Malignancy

Here’s what we know:

• Overall, half to two thirds of splenic masses are malignant depending on the study (I believe it to be 50%*)
• Splenic masses found without symptoms are malignant only 30% of the time
• If a mass has bled into the abdomen, the odds of malignancy are around 70%.
• Small-breed dogs are more likely to have benign disease
• A dog with signs of weight loss or poor appetite is likely to have late stage disease

Once your vet performs some tests, we can further finesse these odds:

• Masses being found on the liver at the same time increase the chance of malignancy to at least 75% (especially if more than one)
• The smaller the mass is when it causes symptoms, the worse it is
• The presence of low blood platelets or nucleated red blood cells worsens the odds

If you have access to both blood tests and a good ultrasound examination, there is even an online tool designed to help you estimate the odds of malignancy. Find it here.

* Some studies have drawn their subjects from emergency services, which leads to a higher percentage of serious cases that in the general population

How Long Dogs Live With Splenic Tumours

The lifespan after diagnosis mainly depends on whether the mass is benign or malignant (cancerous). This is why an estimation of the odds of malignancy is so important.

• If the mass is benign, surgical removal is mostly curative and lifespan is around normal
• If the mass is malignant, survival times after surgery are typically less than 60 days

While there’s nothing wrong with a surgery that gives 1-2 months of good quality life, most people would not choose to operate if they knew, and that’s OK. These dogs are probably best kept comfortable and quiet until a humane decision is needed.

I’ve written before about how haemangiosarcoma is the disease often associated with so-called miracle cancer cures. Most of the time these cases will have had a benign lesion mistaken for a malignant one. This only goes to show how hard it is for everyone.

The reality is that you will never know with certainty before the spleen is removed, and it’s OK to base your decision on the little you have. No one should ever feel they have to operate. However, I hope I’ve given you a realistic guide for what to do if it happens to your dog.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Some Light Reading!

Cleveland, M. J., & Casale, S. (2016). Incidence of malignancy and outcomes for dogs undergoing splenectomy for incidentally detected nonruptured splenic nodules or masses: 105 cases (2009–2013). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 248(11), 1267-1273

Eberle, N., Von Babo, V., Nolte, I., Baumgärtner, W., & Betz, D. (2012). Splenic masses in dogs. Part 1: Epidemiologic, clinical characteristics as well as histopathologic diagnosis in 249 cases (2000-2011). Tierarztliche Praxis. Ausgabe K, Kleintiere/Heimtiere, 40(4), 250-260

Mallinckrodt, M. J., & Gottfried, S. D. (2011). Mass-to-splenic volume ratio and splenic weight as a percentage of body weight in dogs with malignant and benign splenic masses: 65 cases (2007–2008). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 239(10), 1325-1327

Leyva, F. J., Loughin, C. A., Dewey, C. W., Marino, D. J., Akerman, M., & Lesser, M. L. (2018). Histopathologic characteristics of biopsies from dogs undergoing surgery with concurrent gross splenic and hepatic masses: 125 cases (2012–2016). BMC research notes, 11(1), 1-5.

O’Byrne, K., & Hosgood, G. (2019). Splenic mass diagnosis in dogs undergoing splenectomy according to breed size. Veterinary Record, 184(20), 620-620

Stewart, S. D., Ehrhart, E. J., Davies, R., & Khanna, C. (2020). Prospective observational study of dogs with splenic mass rupture suggests potentially lower risk of malignancy and more favourable perioperative outcomes. Veterinary and comparative oncology, 18(4), 811-817

Wendelburg, K. M., Price, L. L., Burgess, K. E., Lyons, J. A., Lew, F. H., & Berg, J. (2015). Survival time of dogs with splenic hemangiosarcoma treated by splenectomy with or without adjuvant chemotherapy: 208 cases (2001–2012). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 247(4), 393-403

You’ve read all the tips for toilet training. You understand the theory. So why does this happen?

There’s actually quite a simple explanation and a not-so-simple solution. Be prepared for some basic neurology!

Why A Puppy Holds Pee Until Inside

The explanation has everything to do with how our nervous systems work. By oversimplifying, I’ll put it into two basic categories:

1. The voluntary nervous system
2. The autonomic nervous system

The voluntary is you in control of your body, walking, talking etc. At the start, this isn’t what a puppy is using when they urinate. They’ll learn this later.

The autonomic nervous system is attending to all our basic functions. A bit like the computer I’m using, it’s chugging away in the background doing major tasks while I use a simplified interface to type. The essential fact today is that this system can be further divided into two arms: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

I have no idea why they’re named this way, but that’s not important. What matters is to know that these two arms are in opposition like a seesaw: when one is high the other is low.

The Sympathetic Nervous System

The sympathetic nervous system is our ‘fight or flight’ network. It’s activated during stress or danger. When there’s high sympathetic tone, you have:

• suppressed gut function (which is why you feel butterflies in your stomach)
• increased heart rate, dilated pupils and sweating (humans)
• increased blood supply to the brain, lungs and muscles
• shut down of rectal and bladder function

This last one is obviously the key point here. The result is either an absence of ‘feeling the need to go’ or with even higher sympathetic tone, letting it go uncontrollably.

We all know this. When you have a stressful day, you often forget to eat, drink or go to the toilet. A bad fright and you might even wet yourself.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System

A state of high parasympathetic tone is our body in ‘maintenance mode’ when we have:

• feelings of hunger and thirst
• low heart rate and blood pressure
• reproductive behaviour
• regular urination and defaecation

This is the resting state, and it’s clearly what we need puppies to be in when we want them to toilet. So hopefully you can now see the explanation as clearly as me.

Even if a puppy knows to pee outside, they physically can’t if they have high sympathetic tone.

Getting A Puppy To Pee Outside

The reason puppies hold on outside and then pee immediately once they get back in is that the house is their happy place and the yard is not. As soon as they come inside, their parasympathetic tone increases and only then do they feel the urge to urinate.

Your job is simple in theory: make outside a happy place too.

In practice this is not so simple. They need to spend enough positive time out there to make it no longer stressful. There are issues like:

• wet grass
• bad weather
• unusual noises
• the sky above
• impatient (or absent) people

You certainly can’t just shove them out and wait for them to pee. Your task is to get them to relax and enjoy it instead of wishing they were safe and sound inside. You’ll need treats, protection from wet, cold or heat, and fun stuff to do.

The older a puppy is acquired, the harder it will be. You want them to be able to adjust quickly, which is often best between 8 and 12 weeks. But you can do it for all ages, it just takes longer.

Once they start going, it gets easier and easier. Eventually you can just open the door, they run out to pee, and then run back for their reward.

This is your reward too, for all the hard work!

You might also like: Simplified Toilet Training Advice

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

It’s called a staring coat.

What Is A Staring Coat?

A staring coat is when the tips of a cat’s hair start to stick together, probably due to a buildup of grease. The hair doesn’t form a smooth ‘shell’ any more but is separated into rows or tiny clumps. It gives the coat a spiky, clumping appearance.

A staring coat happens very quickly when a cat stops grooming adequately. Every cat owner knows how much time their cat spends licking themselves, plus rolling and dust bathing. What they may not know is just how important these behaviours are.

While the staring coat isn’t a major health concern in its own right, it significantly reduces the insulating effect. It will also be associated with a buildup of dead hair, and increased parasite numbers in untreated cats. When this happens even a simple flea infestation can be serious.

The main issue with an ungroomed coat is that it might be a sign of something worse.

Why Do Staring Coats Occur?

There are six reasons why a cat might not be grooming enough:

• Sickness: any illness will reduce the amount of effort a cat can put into their coat, often before other signs occur
• Pain: musculoskeletal pain will reduce a cat’s flexibility, which is why a staring coat is a common sign of arthritis
• Dental disease: a cat with a sore mouth will not groom as effectively
• Stress: unhappy or anxious cats don’t spend time on ‘luxury’ behaviours like grooming (so you should be flattered that Tibby always wants to lick herself all over when she gets on your lap!)
• Age: good grooming habits sometimes take a few months to develop, and so some kittens under 6 months old can have staring coats despite being in good health
• Obesity: I’ve written before how dandruff is often associated with obesity, and staring coats are just the same: excess weight causes an inability to groom properly

What To Do If You Cat’s Hair Is Spiky Or Matted

If your cat’s coat looks like any of these pictures, ask yourself if it has always been this way. If it hasn’t then you need to get your cat a checkup.

This kitten looks fine, right? That’s true from the front, but his coat is the one in the earlier photos. He’s actually fighting a respiratory infection.

Almost all cats with staring coats have something that needs attention. Anxiety is very treatable, as is weight control, as is arthritis in cats.

Some might be normal, but we won’t know this without a physical or possibly blood tests. The purpose of this article isn’t to tell you what’s wrong, it’s to tell you there’s an abnormality and it needs investigation!

To finish up, here are a few more pictures taken all within a few days. Staring coats are everywhere when you look. However, I still don’t know why they ‘stare’- any ideas?

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Here I’m going to give you a very simple trick to recognise when a cat is struggling to breathe. If you do it successfully, your cat will probably be OK.

How To Tell If A Cat Has Breathing Problems

Unlike dogs who are regularly exercised, cats can hide respiratory distress for a long time. But there’s one thing they can’t hide: the fact that they are breathing faster and faster.

A sleeping or a resting respiratory rate greater than 30 breaths per minute is almost always abnormal. This is usually the earliest and most sensitive sign of breathing problems. The problem is that it isn’t natural for cat owners to notice.

This is often the only sign. However, sometimes you might also see:

• open-mouth breathing
• noisy, raspy or wheezy breathing
• frequent coughing or hacking
• obvious chest or stomach heaving
• upright, tense posture

Cats with breathing trouble usually can’t breathe when lying down. The picture above shows the typical posture of such a cat: hunched and upright, not relaxed.

In contrast, even young healthy cats can have rapid or heaving respiration, or even breathe with their mouth open. However, this should only happen for a few minutes after vigorous exercise, and never at rest.

How To Measure Resting Respiratory Rate

The trick is to understand that the rate of breathing changes with activity or stress. Therefore, it can’t be done just any time and you need to know what to look for.

Resting Respiratory Rate should be measured when your cat is at their most relaxed. They need to be unstimulated and preferably even asleep. This is when they are breathing at the slowest they can, and this is what you measure.

Now count the number of breaths over 60 seconds. Most cats have a normal value between 15 and 25, but this can be higher in hot conditions.

If you can’t see your cat breathing at all (but they are alive!) then the rate should be OK. Cats with respiratory issues usually have more laboured or heavy breathing which is easier to see.

What Causes Laboured Breathing?

These are the most common three reasons for a cat to be consistently breathing faster than 30 breaths per minute:

• heart disease
• chest infections
• asthma

They all need urgent attention, but they all can be treated.

I’m not expecting cat owners to watch their cats breathing every day, but whenever you suspect a problem it’s a great thing to do. For certain cases (like cats with heart murmurs), it’s something I ask owners to do as an early warning.

By spotting a subtle increase in your cat’s respiratory rate, you’ll take what would have been a dire emergency and make it just another health problem.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

This is absolute rubbish and internet myth-making at its worst. Why is everyone so afraid of almonds? Because they only read each others’ blogs instead of trusting evidence or experience.

It’s always safer to say ‘no’ than ‘yes’, isn’t it! Here I’ll go through each of those ‘seven ways’ and demonstrate their lack of accuracy.

And what do you know, they actually missed a real problem too.

Are Almonds Safe For Dogs?

Almonds consumed in small amounts appear as safe for dogs as humans.

There is no evidence that sweet almonds sold for human consumption are dangerous to dogs. There appear to be no published papers of danger to dogs, nor any anecdotal reports from vets despite extensive experience.

The (Supposed) Dangers Of Almonds

So, you are thinking, what are those 7 dangers? I’ll demolish each in turn then give you that eighth.

1. Choking hazard. There is no doubt that a human would be at higher risk than a dog. The horizontal position of a dog’s airway makes choking much less common, and besides, dog biscuits are often the same size. Just please don’t throw almonds for a dog to catch, just like you wouldn’t throw kibble.
2. Gastrointestinal upsets. This is as true for almonds as it is for eating anything out of the ordinary. There is nothing special about almonds over, say, a chicken breast. Small amounts should be OK for most dogs.
3. Fluid retention. Sure, if a dog eats a whole packet of salted almonds, you’d better call a vet, but just a few? No problem. There’s much more risk from salt in many other common foodstuffs.
4. Pancreatitis. There’s a kernel (hehehe) of truth here in that dogs prone to pancreatitis should not be fed oily or fatty foods. But this is a small percent of dogs, and you’ll run into much more danger from everyday dog treats you buy at the pet store. If your dog vomits or goes off their food frequently, get a checkup with your vet.
5. Bladder & kidney stones. Nuts are not especially risky, and you’d need to eat a lot even if it could happen (for which there’s no evidence of course). Dogs prone to bladder stones are fed special prescription diets as all regular foods increase the risk.
6. Allergies. This list of allergy foods is the best evidence we have, and almonds were not identified. All foods can potentally cause an allergy but unless we feed our dogs nothing we have to take a risk somewhere.
7. Aflatoxins. These are mould toxins, and if your dog is being poisoned, then so are you! Of course the risk is very low with correct storage.

A real danger occurs with bitter almonds. These are closely related to sweet almonds but contain significant amounts of cyanide. They are mostly only sold for special uses such as herbal remedies. I also suspect that some old almond trees are of the bitter variety but I understand they’re fairly unpleasant to taste.

How Many Almonds Can A Dog Eat?

I’m certainly not advocating that you start feeding almonds to your dog. However, if you are eating almonds and you drop a few, your dog can eat them as safely as many other foods. Just don’t make a habit of it. If they keep doing it they will get a sore tummy, and probably sooner than you.

Which Nuts Are Toxic To Dogs?

Of the commonly available nuts, only macadamias are known to be bad for dogs. They are associated with tremors or shaking, but rarely anything worse due to the amount required to be eaten.

I have never identified a case of macadamia poisoning and consider it one of the rarest poisonings of dogs.

Other nuts will have their own issues. Pistachios contain excess salt, many others are coated in toxic chocolate, and you can read about the safety of walnuts here.

So let’s all relax a bit. Heaven knows, there’s enough to worry about as it is.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

This debate is but a taste of what appears online. But who is correct?

Like with all internet myths, there’s a grain of truth in there. Let’s find it!

Are Walnuts Safe For Dogs?

Walnuts are safe to feed to dogs, as long as you keep five things in mind:

1. Walnuts in shell can be dangerous especially for small dogs. In a dog’s rush to eat them, they may swallow the shell leading to intestinal obstructions.
2. Walnuts fallen from the tree are extremely dangerous due to a black mould that causes tremors and seizures. These are almost indistinguishable from snail bait poisoning.
3. Black Walnuts are toxic. This is a rare tree in Australia as the nuts are not edible for humans either.
4. Dogs prone to pancreatitis can get sick from any oily or fatty food, such as nuts. If your dog vomits frequently or goes off their food without good reason, see your vet for a blood test.
5. Too much of any unusual food can upset a dog’s gastrointestinal tract. This can lead to vomiting or diarrhoea, but should resolve within 24 hours.

These considerations should also apply to pecans.

Help! My Dog Ate A Walnut

So you drop a walnut kernel and your dog gets to it before you do. What do you do? Answer: not worry too much.

I still would not make a point of feeding walnuts for the reasons listed above. Giving walnut oil is definitely not advised in the same way as any fats or oils. But even if you do deliberately give the odd walnut, you’re unlikely to do harm.

Which Nuts Are Toxic To Dogs?

Of the commonly available nuts, only macadamias are known to be bad for dogs. They are associated with tremors or shaking, but rarely anything worse due to the amount required to be eaten. Therefore, macadamia poisoning is rarely seen by vets.

Other nuts will have their own issues. Pistachios contain excess salt, many others are coated in toxic chocolate, and you can read about the safety of almonds here.

The main threat is to those dogs that have a walnut tree in their yard. These trees are best either fenced or stripped before the nuts mature, just to be sure. If that’s out of the question, then at least keep the grass short underneath the tree and pick up fallen nuts every day.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

When there’s a lack of hard evidence, we only have experience to go by. So I’ll use mine to help you answer the key questions put to me by cat owners.

What Is A Hairball?

A hairball, or more technically a trichobezoar, is a hard pellet of matted hair found in the gastrointestinal tract. They occur due to hair being swallowed during the normal grooming process, which then accumulates in the stomach.

Eventually the hairball gets to a size where it is vomited up. Such an example is pictured here, surrounded by food. A hairball is much more rarely passed in the faeces.

It’s difficult to know if hairballs are normal or abnormal. My view is that they are an inevitable consequence of grooming. Our task is to prevent them from causing problems.

Help! My Cat Just Vomited A Hairball!

If a cat vomits up hairballs frequently, you need to consider four possibilities:

1. That the hairball is a normal accumulation of hair vomited up at the right time
2. That the hairball is caused by health problems
3. That the hairball is causing health problems
4. That your cat is vomiting for another reason, and with it comes the resident hairball

In my experience, point 4 (the hairball as an innocent bystander) accounts for most of the cases I see. To help you recognise it, let’s go through the other three possibilities.

1. How Often Do Cats Throw Up Hairballs?

A cat passing hairballs normally will:

• Vomit no more than weekly
• Have a single rapid effortless vomit, and be immediately hungry afterwards
• Have no other health problems

2. When Hairballs Are Secondary To Illness

Underlying health problems that could lead to hairball problems are mainly of the skin or gastrointestinal tract.

Skin problems mostly relate to what we call overgrooming. Historically, this has been labelled a psychological problem, but the more we know the more we understand it’s usually a response to itchy skin. If your cat’s coat does not look healthy, click here for a deep dive into the causes of overgrooming in cats.

Gastrointestinal problems are a mixed bag, ranging from parasites to allergies to food responsive disease. Again, if your cat vomits more frequently, is underweight or has loose stools, click here for a discussion of the possible causes.

3. How To Know If A Cat Has A Hairball Stuck

A cat with a hairball large enough to cause problems will usually only have the following symptoms:

• Frequent unproductive vomiting
• Poor or no appetite

However, these signs are vague and caused much more often by other serious conditions.

Therefore, unless your vet can feel a lump in your cat’s belly, they need to consider all the causes of vomiting in cats, plus those of not eating. And given how often people confuse coughing and vomiting in cats, don’t rule this out either

A clue that looking for a hairball might be a good idea can come from the patient’s history. These cats are more likely to:

• have a history of hairball problems
• have a highly shedding coat like the one above
• have a long coat
• be an older cat

4. When Hairballs Aren’t The Cause

Vomiting is probably the number one sign of a sick cat, and has hundreds of possible causes. Many of these cats will have identical risk factors to those prone to hairballs, just to make it harder.

Most of the cats I see who are brought to me for a hairball problem actually have a vomiting problem. Probably top of the list is pancreatitis because it’s so hard to diagnose. It’s just that there’s often a hairball in their stomach when they vomit.

Therefore, there’s no good alternative to a thorough workup, usually via blood testing and ultrasound examination to begin. Only once we draw a blank might we be prepared to blame the hairball itself.

How to Help A Cat Pass A Hairball

If a cat’s problems are caused by a hairball, you can try to help it pass. Don’t do this unless you’re absolutely sure, as you will waste valuable time.

Please note that cats do not commonly pass hairballs in their litter tray. I am personally dubious that cat laxatives like the one pictured here actually do very much. However, if your cat is bright, happy and eating, there’s probably no harm in trying.

Just follow the instructions on the package. I am not aware of any other remedy that might work. However, these products are most useful for prevention anyway.

How To Prevent Hairballs In Cats

Unlike the unreliability of treating a hairball, there are effective ways to prevent them forming.

The first is to remove as much dead hair as possible before your cat does. This will require daily brushing with a slicker brush or similar. If you started while your cat was a kitten, they will usually enjoy it.

It’s messy. I had a cat like this once, and I kept an old theatre gown near my armchair to protect my clothes.

The second is diet. Royal Canin, Hills and no doubt others make effective hairball preventing diets. They work by removing the hair from the stomach before it balls up. Most use either cellulose fibre or psyllium.

The third, of course, are hairball treatment products like pictured above.

Can A Hairball Kill A Cat?

I have seen two cats who would have died without their hairballs being surgically removed. That’s not many over 27 years but it does happen.

For these cats, their owners agreed that the risk was too high to ever let it happen again. Therefore, we took the nuclear option: clipping.

Every six months for life, these cats were booked in for a full shave under sedation. It kept them free of problems, even if they did look a bit strange.

But the main way a hairball can cause death is through inaction. This study contains one cat who died through a delay in treatment and another who was euthanased due to a mistaken belief it was a tumour. And there are also those cats where a much more serious vomiting or coughing problem is written off as ‘hairballs’.

I hope all this helps, no matter whether you have a minor or major problem. But in closing I’ll repeat: hairballs are more often suspected than actual culprits. Keep an open mind!

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.