Category Archives: Purposeful Pets
Psychopharmacology
Brain Medicine for Dogs Prozac for Pets! The media reports. You mean, all those aggravating behavioral problems of your dog can be remedied by simply popping a pill or capsule down pooches throat once or twice a day? Not so fast! It’s not that simple. The field of psychopharmacology has grown exponentially in recent years…
Echocardiology
MENDING A BROKEN HEART STARTS WITH FINDING THE BREAK In Star Trek, The Next Generation, Dr. Crusher waves a hand-held probe over the body of her patient while a technician, sitting at a nearby computer, reads off more vital findings than could be obtained in three days of laboratory testing today. An impossible dream? A figment…
Itchy Pets
Have you ever had an itch you couldn’t reach? Maybe it was in the center of your back, just beyond your fingertips. It’s enough to drive you crazy, right? You’ll do anything to get relief, including looking silly as you act like a contortionist trying to reach that one spot. Suddenly, relief from the itch…
Nowhere to Run
The Wild Horses of Corolla are Running Out of Space and Time The majestic beauty of galloping horses is only heightened by the natural setting of the sand and surf as they race up and down the beach. A few years ago this was a common sight along the shore of Corolla, the northern most tip…
Euthanasia: Lessening the Pain
His name was Smokie. I guess most practices have at least one black Lab by the same name. Without question, Smokie’s euthanasia was the most difficult one of my entire career, competing with the loss of my own dogs through the years. Smokie had been one of my first patients in the early days of…
The Fit Fido
How to Safely Start Your Dog on a Fitness Program (Originally appeared in Dog World) Stress! It’s everywhere these days — at our jobs, in our relationships, even with our dogs. That’s right, many dogs suffer from the stressful lifestyle that they’ve adopted from us. After all, they live a very unfamiliar style when compared…
Tail-Tale Signs: The Body Language of Dogs
Dogs live and act in a world of exquisitely subtle signals in their interactions with each other. Our observations and communications in our interactions with them must seem unbelievably coarse at times to these sophisticates of non-verbal communication. Turned around the other way, we would perceive such inattentiveness to our subtle signals as rude, uncaring…
THRU-HIKING THE A. T.
THRUHIKING THE A. T. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE Bill Irwin reminisces on how thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail with his dog, Orient, changed his life. Close your eyes. Now, take 3,817,440 steps over rocks, stumps, through mud, across icy mountain streams, up and down steep mountain paths, while weathering conditions of sweltering heat, torrential rain,…
Purposeful Pets
Purposeful Pets is an offshoot of Project Purpose. Its intention is to explore the powerful relationship people share with their pets and the rest of the animal kingdom; how our pets contribute to our lives and how we can contribute back to theirs. Pets have been an integral part of my life from my earliest…
Chitra: Canine Crusader
Chitra: Canine Crusader Chitra didn’t plan to be a hero, but she is. In fact, she’s been a hero for over 1600 four-legged canine and feline friends. But, as often happens, Chitra’s heroism began with one small act of kindness over 25 years ago. It was shortly after arriving in the U. S. from her…
Isn’t it Time You Knew Your Purpose?
