Summer means more outdoor time, more wildlife encounters, more off-leash park visits and more mysterious injuries that appear while you weren’t looking. Whether it’s a scrape, a puncture, or a bite wound from another dog, knowing how to assess a pet wound and when to seek help is one of the most practical things a…

Eyes are one of the most time-sensitive organs when something goes wrong. A pet eye emergency that seems minor can go from “that looks a bit off” to permanent vision loss within  24 to 48 hours — and sometimes faster. Summer is peak season for eye injuries in pets. More time outdoors means more exposure…

Hot spots on dogs have a talent for appearing overnight and doubling in size by morning. One day, your dog’s coat is fine; the next, there’s a weeping, matted, intensely uncomfortable patch of raw skin and your dog cannot stop making it worse. Hot spots (technically called acute moist dermatitis) are one of the most…

Heat stroke in dogs is one of the most urgent summer emergencies, and one of the most preventable. It develops quickly, it escalates faster than most owners expect, and delayed treatment dramatically worsens outcomes. Understanding the warning signs of heat stroke in dogs, knowing what to do in the first few minutes, and getting your…

Your dog saw a porcupine. Your dog, despite approximately zero prior successes in this area, decided to investigate. The porcupine did what porcupines do. And now you’re here. Porcupine quill encounters are a very real, very common summer emergency in New Brunswick, and one that almost always requires a vet visit. The most important thing…

Ticks are absolutely obsessed with your dog. Like, clingy to a toxic level. Literally. Blacklegged ticks — the ones that carry Lyme disease — are well established across New  Brunswick, and their range and numbers have expanded significantly over the past decade. Tick prevention for dogs is no longer something to think about only if…

New Brunswick has some of the most beautiful camping and hiking terrain in Atlantic Canada — and your dog absolutely wants to experience all of it. Camping with dogs can be an incredible shared adventure. It also means navigating some genuinely serious hazards that don’t come up on day walks around the neighborhood. The good…

If you share your life with a large or deep-chested dog, GDV in dogs is the one condition you most need to know about — and the one that most owners have never heard of until it affects their own pet. Gastric dilatation-volvulus, commonly called bloat or GDV, is a rapid, life-threatening emergency in which…

You’re finally enjoying the warm breezes and blooming trees of spring. Your dog, meanwhile,  has been licking their paws for three weeks straight and has scratched a bald patch behind their ear. Seasonal allergies in dogs are genuinely common, genuinely uncomfortable, and often misunderstood. The signs look different from those of human allergies — no…

The Victoria Day long weekend marks the unofficial start of BBQ season in New Brunswick, and the unofficial start of “my dog ate something at the party” season at veterinary urgent care clinics.  Backyard gatherings are genuinely risky for pets. More people, more distractions, more food at nose height, and at least one well-meaning guest…