By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Imagine your healthy dog eats dinner, goes outside, and thirty minutes later begins pacing, drooling, and repeatedly trying to vomit—but nothing comes up. Their abdomen rapidly becomes distended. Within hours, they are in shock. This is gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV)—commonly called bloat—one of the most life-threatening emergencies in veterinary medicine. Fortunately, there is one procedure that has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Imagine participating in one of the world's largest canine research studies. You receive an online questionnaire asking a simple question: "Has your dog ever been diagnosed with any of these diseases?" Seems straightforward. But how accurate are our memories? A fascinating new study published in PLOS One used data from the Dog Aging Project to answer exactly that question. Researchers compared owner-reported medical histories with veterinary electr

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS If your dog seems to be losing muscle, your first thought might be, "They're just getting older." Sometimes that's true. But sometimes muscle loss is a sign of a much more serious underlying disease. Two terms veterinarians use to describe muscle loss are sarcopenia and cachexia. While both result in a loss of lean muscle, they are not the same condition and require very different approaches to treatment. Understanding the difference can help owner

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS For decades, periodontal disease was viewed primarily as a dental problem. Bad breath, tartar buildup, gum inflammation, loose teeth, and eventually tooth loss were considered the major consequences. But over the past two decades, research has dramatically changed that perspective. Scientists now recognize periodontal disease as a chronic inflammatory disease with effects that extend far beyond the mouth. Evidence increasingly suggests that ch

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS For decades, veterinarians treated osteoarthritis (OA) as little more than worn-out cartilage. If a dog was limping, we reached for an anti-inflammatory medication and hoped for the best. Today, we know that picture is incomplete. Osteoarthritis is now recognized as a whole-joint disease that affects cartilage, bone, ligaments, muscles, the immune system, and perhaps most importantly, the nervous system. Chronic arthritis pain doesn't simply origin

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Finding a lump on your dog or cat can be alarming. One of the first questions pet owners ask is: "Can you just remove it?" Sometimes the answer is yes. Other times, removing the mass without first knowing what it is can actually reduce the chances of completely curing the disease. As a veterinary surgeon, one of the most important decisions I make isn't how to remove a tumor—it's whether we should biopsy it before surgery at all. Surprisingly, the

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS For decades, one phrase has been ingrained in veterinary medicine: "Don't let the sun set on a pyometra." It was one of the first surgical principles I learned during my residency. It emphasized the urgency of pyometra and the devastating consequences that can occur if treatment is delayed. Like many surgeons, I passed that teaching on to my students, interns, and residents. But one of the strengths of evidence-based medicine is that it allows us t

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Few canine behaviors are as universally loved as the head tilt. You’re talking to your dog, you say a familiar word like “walk,” “treat,” or the name of a favorite toy, and suddenly their head tips to one side. It has become one of the signature expressions of dogs, often interpreted as confusion or curiosity. But science suggests something far more interesting may be happening. Rather than simply looking adorable, a head tilt may reflect att

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) has become an increasingly popular treatment in veterinary rehabilitation and sports medicine. Marketed as a non-invasive way to reduce pain and stimulate healing, shockwave therapy is now offered by many specialty hospitals for dogs with osteoarthritis, tendon injuries, ligament injuries, and chronic musculoskeletal pain. But does the science actually support its use? A randomized clinical trial published in

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Few things send dog owners searching the internet faster than seeing their dog drag their rear end across the carpet. That behavior—often called "scooting"—is one of the classic signs of anal sac disease. The good news is that many mild cases can be managed or even prevented at home. The bad news is that not every scooting dog simply needs their anal glands expressed. Knowing the difference can save your dog unnecessary discomfort—and prevent a min

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS When most people think about dogs swallowing foreign objects, they picture an energetic Labrador puppy eating socks or a mischievous Golden Retriever swallowing a tennis ball. But here's something that surprises many pet owners—and even some veterinarians: Older dogs develop gastrointestinal (GI) foreign bodies too. In fact, when a senior dog suddenly stops eating, vomits repeatedly, or becomes lethargic, it's easy to blame old age, arthritis, kidn

How Wolves Didn't Become Dogs Because They Were Tamed—They Became Dogs Because Cooperation Won By Dr. Steve Mehler Most of us learned a simple story about dog domestication. Humans found wolf puppies. They raised them. Over thousands of years, wolves became dogs. It's a compelling story. It's also probably wrong—or at least incomplete. Modern evolutionary biology suggests something far more fascinating. Dogs may have evolved because both wolves and humans were unknowingly pla

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS Most people imagine arthritis as a disease of old dogs struggling to climb stairs or stiffly rising from their bed. Cats? They seem to age gracefully. They don't limp. They don't whine. They don't stop jumping overnight. Or so we think. The truth is far more surprising. Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common chronic diseases in cats, yet it is also one of the most underdiagnosed. Many owners assume their senior cat is simply "slowing down."

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS For years, veterinarians described osteoarthritis (OA) as a simple consequence of aging: joints wore out like the tread on an old tire. The cartilage gradually disappeared, bones rubbed together, and pain followed. It was a convenient explanation. It also turns out to be incomplete. Today, we know osteoarthritis is not simply a disease of mechanical wear and tear. It is a complex, active disease involving inflammation, changes in joint biology, and

Why Conservative Management May Be a Reasonable Option for Some Small Dogs with Cranial Cruciate Ligament Disease By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS For decades, the diagnosis of a torn cranial cruciate ligament (CCL)—the canine equivalent of the human ACL—has almost automatically led to one recommendation: Surgery. And for many dogs, particularly large and athletic breeds, that's still the right answer. But what about a 9-pound Yorkshire Terrier? A 12-pound Maltese? A 14-pound Mini

By Dr. Steve Mehler For decades, one of the most common discharge instructions after orthopedic surgery or injury sounded something like this: "Strict crate rest for 6 to 8 weeks." The logic seemed straightforward. If movement can damage healing tissues, then complete rest must be the safest approach. But over the past 20 years, both human and veterinary medicine have taught us something surprising: Too much rest can actually slow recovery. Today, the goal isn't simply preven

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS When most people think about muscles, they think about movement. Running. Jumping. Playing fetch. Climbing stairs. But modern science has revealed something extraordinary. Muscle isn't just a motor. It's an endocrine organ. Every time your dog contracts a muscle, that muscle releases hundreds of signaling molecules that communicate with nearly every organ in the body. These chemicals influence the brain, heart, liver, immune system, fat tissue, bon

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS One day your dog is running across the yard. The next, something just doesn't look right. Maybe they're limping. Maybe they're "bunny hopping." Maybe they're reluctant to jump into the car. Or perhaps they simply seem slower than they used to be. Unlike front leg lameness, which often causes obvious head bobbing, hind limb (pelvic limb) lameness can be much more subtle. Understanding what to look for can help you recognize orthopedic problems earli

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS One of the most common emergency surgeries veterinarians perform is removing an intestinal foreign body. Whether it's a sock, toy, corn cob, rock, or piece of clothing, dogs have an incredible ability to swallow things they absolutely shouldn't. When surgery is needed, many owners are surprised to learn there isn't just one procedure. Depending on the condition of the intestine, your surgeon may perform either an enterotomy or an intestinal resecti

By Steve Mehler, DVM, DACVS When your dog or cat goes into surgery, you probably expect your veterinarian to wash their hands first. But have you ever wondered why the process is so long, so specific, and so different from the way we normally wash our hands? The answer comes down to one simple goal: Protecting your pet from a surgical site infection. A surgical hand scrub is one of the oldest—and still one of the most important—infection prevention practices in both human and