Halloween is fun for us. For pets, the treats, costumes and constant visitors can bring some very real risks. Here are ten ways to help keep them safe: A safe, familiar evening is a perfectly good Halloween for your pet. 🎃
Autumn laminitis: recognising risk and responding appropriately
Autumn can bring a misleading sense that the danger of pasture-associated laminitis has passed. Yet cooler weather does not make a susceptible horse safe. Changes in pasture, management and endocrine function deserve continued attention. For equine practitioners, the challenge is recognising when a seemingly minor change in movement or behaviour warrants urgent veterinary investigation. A…
The Weight of the Front End: Making Sense of Canine Forelimb Function
The canine forelimb performs a remarkable balancing act. It must accept and dissipate load, support the trunk, adapt to the ground and contribute to braking, balance and directional change. Unlike the hindlimb, it has no direct bony attachment to the axial skeleton. Instead, the trunk is suspended between the forelimbs through a complex arrangement of…
Confidence in Clinical Assessment is at the Core of Your Success.
Every canine professional has felt this at one time or another… That quiet sinking feeling when you think, “I have no idea what’s going on.” You take a deep breathe, wishing you had another ten minutes to run the assessment again—but you don’t. You’ve been through the motions, undertaken a full health screen of the…
At the Centre of the Conversation: Understanding Pelvic Dysfunction in the Canine Patient
The canine pelvis occupies a particularly influential position within the body. It provides a connection between the axial skeleton and the hindlimbs, contributes to the transmission of force and offers attachment to muscles involved in locomotion, posture and continence. It must support stability while participating in the continual adaptations that allow the dog to walk,…
Assessing the Canine Spine: From Segmental Findings to Functional Meaning
The canine spine is sometimes approached as though it were a series of separate regions: cervical, thoracic, lumbar and lumbosacral. These divisions are anatomically useful, but the living spine does not experience movement in such neatly defined sections. As the dog walks, turns, lowers its head or transfers weight between limbs, movement is distributed throughout…
Hindlimb Workshop Oct. 2026
A sound foundation in canine assessment is essential. Yet many practitioners find that some aspects of hindlimb assessment only become fully meaningful once they are working independently with cases that do not present neatly. You may understand the anatomy and have covered the relevant material in training, but bringing individual findings together into a clear…
More Than a Lame Leg: Developing a Whole-Patient Approach to Canine Hindlimb Assessment
When a dog presents with altered hindlimb function, it can be tempting to focus attention on the place where the problem appears most obvious. A shortened stride, an intermittently lifted limb or difficulty rising may seem to direct us towards a particular joint or tissue. Yet what we see is not always a simple reflection…
When Hindlimb Findings Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Most canine practitioners have a solid foundation in hindlimb assessment. The greater challenge often begins when a case does not present neatly. Perhaps the area that appears most sensitive does not fully explain the movement pattern. Perhaps several findings compete for attention. Or perhaps diagnostic imaging and the hands-on examination do not seem to point…
Allostatic Loading
How Much Load Is Too Much? As in previous posts, allostasis refers to the body’s dynamic process towards maintaining homeostasis. When an animal faces various stressors – physical, emotional, and environmental – its body ramps up hormones, heart rate, and other physiological responses to meet the demand. This is the body’s way of preparing the…
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