NSVH Blog

Category: Good Eats

Grain Free is Not the Way to Be!' | May 17, 2021

Choosing the best food for your dog can be a hard decision to make. With so many different dog foods on the market, how do you choose? Pet food companies are experts at advertising and quick to promote “trendy” diets, even if they may not be the best food for your pet.   “Grain-Free” diets […]

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Fear Free is the Only Way to Be!' | September 30, 2019

Pet owners can all agree that Fear Free is the only way to be! NSVH has embraced the Fear Free philosophy, and we are seeing such a difference in our patients. Low stress handling techniques, high value/ tasty food treats and calming pheromones markedly reduce our patients’ fear, anxiety and stress. We see so many […]

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They Really Ate It!' | October 17, 2016

Every year, Veterinary Practice News publishes an article which showcases radiographs that veterinarians have submitted. These radiographs have a common theme: interesting, unusual and hard-to-believe foreign body ingestions from a variety of animal patients. Foreign bodies are a common finding in the veterinary profession. (It even happens to us “animal professionals”; I previously posted about […]

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A Tomato Grows in Staten Island?' | September 28, 2016

I’m a burgeoning backyard vegetable farmer with a lot to learn, but a love for gardening and an appreciation for locally-grown, organic produce. I’m in awe of Zaro Bates, a farming pioneer who was recently featured in Modern Farmer. This amazing woman has converted the roof of a parking garage in Staten Island into a 4,500 square […]

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New Year, New (Skinny) Pet!' | January 2, 2015

I was so excited to see a blurb in a recent issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, discussing one of my great veterinary crusades: pet obesity. The cat in this photo is obese, but my guess is that many clients would think he’s only “chubby” or “plump”. Let’s call a fat cat a fat cat! Obesity […]

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Just Say No to Food Fights!' | November 3, 2014

This week, I had similar conversations with several clients about their “picky” dogs. Most dog owners have the opposite experience: their Fido will eat anything, anywhere, anytime (including trash, inanimate objects like socks and grossly unappealing items like deer feces.) This is true for most dogs; we have domesticated dogs in virtually every way, but […]

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Every Season is Pumpkin Season!' | July 12, 2014

It may be time for lazy beach days and summer BBQ’s, but many of us in veterinary medicine have pumpkin on the brain. Once available only in autumn, canned pumpkin is now available year-round in grocery stores. Why is pumpkin so important to veterinarians? Pumpkin is widely used as a source of dietary fiber for […]

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Carbo-Loading' | September 30, 2013

I’m back in Pennsylvania and enjoying this gorgeous weather! The AAFP conference was great, but I was happy to bid adieu to the 90 degree Texan weather. The final day of the conference was devoted to feline nutrition, an essential topic especially given the obesity epidemic in our feline friends.

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Magic Mushrooms?' | June 30, 2013

This week, I read a fascinating article in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, summarized nicely by the Huffington Post. The article was co-authored by a fantastically talented colleague, Dr. Jennifer Reetz, a board-certified veterinary radiologist who is on the staff at Penn Vet. The article details the surprising finding that dogs diagnosed with an aggressive […]

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Ew! My Dog Ate What?' | August 10, 2012

Seeing a commercial for a new show on the National Geographic Channel called “My Dog Ate What?” got me thinking about my own dog Kona, pictured here. Kona, like so many of my canine patients, has a penchant for what we in the veterinary industry like to call “dietary indiscretions”. This means Kona will eat […]

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