You've surely driven around your city and seen signs for a low-cost vaccine bus. As a mobile service, it seems like a pretty convenient way to stretch the dollar and still make sure your pet stays healthy, right? Let us explain why that’s so very wrong.

As veterinarians, we've shared a lot of information about how to keep your pets safe around water. What you might not realize, however, is that, after saving your pet from a near-drowning, they might not be out of the woods. Just as with humans, pets can fall victim to dry or secondary drowning, and we explore that and how to keep them safe below.

We've all been there. The bills have been mounting but life continues to move on in other ways, including pets that perhaps don't feel well. And we know that veterinary services during this COVID-19 pandemic are more challenging to receive. So you're scrolling the internet and you see an ad that claims “Discount pet drugs—no prescription required”. Even we in the veterinary community understand the appeal of this, but FDA experts say it can be risky to buy drugs online from sites that tout this message and others like it.

As many of us remain quarantined due to COVID-19 and summer quickly approaches, those with swimming pools are likely getting prepared for The Big Open. And as temperatures outside continue to rise (well, for some of us!), dogs may look for ways to cool off when they go outside. Even when it's not very hot out, adventurous dogs may find any body of water irresistible.

Blood tests are an easy, safe, and relatively inexpensive way to peer inside your pets and find potential health problems. Analysis of the numbers and structure of blood cells is important in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease and infection. These tests can help us identify a problem before clinical signs or symptoms appear. But what exactly are we looking for when we do a blood draw on dogs and cats?

One benefit of our quarantine time during this COVID-19 pandemic is that many of us are getting more physical activity, and our dogs are getting more exercise, too. After all, getting moving outside is nearly the only thing to do for leisure at this point! The downside is that this is the time of year that many of us need to be hyper-vigilant about snakes when taking walks or hikes.