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Our pets are our family, and it’s hard to forget they can’t necessarily enjoy the same foods we can from the Thanksgiving table. Before accidentally sharing some toxic Thanksgiving foods for pets, take a look at our list of safe holiday foods for your furry friends:

As the mercury drops and our furry friends spend less time outdoors, it’s important to find creative ways to keep them mentally, physically, and emotionally stimulated. 

Halloween is a holiday full of full and thrills, but not all of them are safe for your pets. Naperville Animal Hospital wants to help you recognize potential Halloween dangers for your pet so you can avoid unnecessary incidents and make some memories that include your furry family members:

Each October the American Humane Society celebrates annual Adopt-A-Dog Month. While there are many good reasons to consider adding four legs to your family this fall, the pet experts at Naperville Animal Hospital have a few favorites we would like you to think about:

New and experienced pet owners alike frequently turn to the internet for answers about their furry best friend. According to Google trends, these are the top 5 most burning dog-related questions on people’s minds: 

The internet has become the go-to source for most (if not all) of our informational needs, and the world of pet ownership and care has endless sources. As such, we thought it would be fun to list the five most Googled questions about cats, and their corresponding explanations:

Can My Cat Eat…(Fill in the Blank)?

People love to share food with their pets, and cats are extremely convincing when they want to sample something. Dairy is just one of those things that is especially confusing. A saucer of milk or cream has been part of feline lore for eons, but their lactose intolerance can make this type of indulgence a painfully gassy and/or messy one. 

Feline immunodeficiency virus, or FIV, is a cat-specific virus that doesn’t affect other species of pets or humans. It is most often transmitted from cat to cat through deep bite wounds, which makes outdoor, territorial cats more susceptible. Transmission through casual contact, such as sharing food bowls or litter boxes, is rare. FIV can weaken a cat’s immune system by attacking white blood cells, making FIV-positive cats more vulnerable to succumbing to illnesses or developing secondary infections. For this reason, twice-yearly preventive care visits are best for FIV-positive felines.

Know the Symptoms

FIV symptoms can be subtle and slow to emerge, which makes regular checkups coupled with appropriate diagnostic testing important for all cats. 

There are numerous potential FIV symptoms and many of these mimic symptoms of other conditions. Please contact us if your cat exhibits any of the following: 

Is there a bald patch on your pooch? Bald spots on dogs are caused by a condition called alopecia, which is simply partial or total hair loss on parts of your dog’s body where there should be fur. These bald spots often occur on the top of the head, the belly, the back, and the ears. In addition to bald patches, you might notice swelling, crusting, or redness surrounding the bald areas. Because alopecia can be uncomfortable, your dog might also be overgrooming or doing a lot of scratching. 

Alopecia is fairly common and can affect all breeds, ages, and genders. Fortunately, it is typically very treatable, but first, we have to get to the root of your dog’s hair loss!

Diagnosing Alopecia

In order for your Naperville Animal Hospital veterinarian to properly treat your dog’s bald spots, a thorough physical examination is in order, along with appropriate diagnostic tests to identify the cause of your dog’s bald spots. These tests could include:

The team at Naperville Animal Hospital love animals of all kinds. Whether they have four legs and a tail, feathers and a beak, or like to shed their skin periodically, our veterinarians are proud to care for them all. 

We like to consider ourselves the Naperville exotic veterinarians. As the local experts in exotic pet care, we want our fellow animal lovers to understand that knowledge about how to care for a non-traditional species is important in ensuring a healthy, happy pet. 

If there is one thing that the pet experts at Naperville Animal Hospital know for sure, it’s that urinary trouble in pets is no fun at all. Read on to learn about common pet urinary problems, what causes them, and what’s to be done: