A common saying in veterinary medicine is that “cats are not small dogs”. Cats are a very different species with different diseases — some even joke that cats have an extraterrestrial origin — feline UFOs you might say. We also see fever a bit differently in cats and dogs. Typically with dogs, if a diagnostic […]

Back in 1999, the ASPCA APCC (Animal Poison Control Centre) first reported on the poisonous nature of grapes to dogs when they noticed a cluster of dogs that became seriously ill after eating grapes or raisins. In the ensuing two decades veterinarians have diagnosed many cases of grape and raisin toxicity in dogs, but the […]

Luna is a 2-year old cat that was presented to Canada West Veterinary Specialists on June 26, 2020, after being attacked by a coyote.   She was let outside around 4 am along with two other cats in her household. When the two other cats returned, Luna was nowhere to be found. Her owner went outside […]

  Sophie was a happy and healthy 4-year-old Great Pyrenees until she began urinating blood in December of 2019. She was initially seen by her family veterinarian, where several tests were performed to rule out more common causes of bloody urine such as a clotting disorder, urinary tract infection and urinary stones. When an obvious […]

“Stella Beans”, a sweet and wiggly middle aged kitty, presented to the CWVS Oncology service in February 2019 for evaluation of a mass on the left side of her chest wall. Her family veterinarian suspected a feline injection site sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that can develop in cats at the site of a […]

Ruckus is a 9-year-old tabby cat who was referred to the Emergency and Critical Care Department for severely increased kidney enzymes due to a left ureteral obstruction. Ruckus had a blocked ureter, which is a tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder, because of a stone which caused his kidneys to not […]

Molly and The Bear Attack In late July on a Whistler trail, Molly and her owner were surprised when they encountered a bear making aggressive noises who then charged towards them. The bear pinned Molly down by her throat. The owner tried to distract the bear to no avail – it disappeared in the bush […]

Hardy is an aptly-named and lovely 7-month old Bernese Mountain dog who recently arrived at our Emergency Room after eating a large amount of raisins and two pounds of Crisco (vegetable shortening)!  That night his owner discovered more than 50 raisins in his stool along with some paper towel remnants. Blood work was done to […]

The mischievous Bruce Wayne recently visited the Canada West Emergency Room under less than ideal circumstances.  Bruce Wayne is a young French bulldog described by his owners as having an extremely quirky personality and a sincere love of eating. He had been found chewing on a new bottle of Naproxen (sold under the brand names […]

We have seen 3 cases of canine parvovirus (CPV) in the past few weeks. Parvovirus is one of the most common causes of infectious diarrhea in puppies and young dogs. It is a highly contagious and often fatal disease.  Certain breeds are more susceptible, as are dogs with other concurrent issues (parasites or other intestinal disease-causing bacteria). […]