3 Common Lil’ Dog Ailments

Yuki has developed a little posse composed of dogs that are in and around the same size. Here are three ailments that are fairly common within this circle of friends:

Luxating Patella: You will know this has happened because your dog will suddenly start walking on three of its legs. A luxating patella is another term for a knee cap that has popped out and while it’s not detrimental to a dog’s health, it is considered a chronic condition. Eventually the affected dog will learn how to pop the knee cap back in on its own and all will go back to normal, but watching this happen for the first time can be heartbreaking. If your doggie develops a luxating patella, I advise seeing a vet to determine the severity of the injury. In some cases, surgery may be required (granted, none of the dogs I know have required it). There is nothing you can do to ‘treat’ this condition but you can minimize its occurrence by maintaining your dog’s weight. Being overweight leads to stress on the knees which can trigger a luxating patella.

Anal Abscess: I suspected my dog had this because she would move around the floor, while in a seated position. She’d scoot along the cold ceramic tiles in the kitchen. It was the cutest thing to watch and, while I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, it was obvious that Yuki was experiencing some discomfort. I watched a few YouTube videos and considered releasing the gland myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So it was back to the vet. The vet burst the abscess and she had a sore for a day or so, but then everything was back to normal.

Cherry Eye: Unfortunately for Yuki, both of her eyes became ‘cherry-eyed’ a year apart from one another. All I can say is make sure you go to a good vet to get this condition treated. My first vet was amazing and the second one was terrible. Yuki’s first eye healed in a few days and the second one took months to return to normal .Based on my research, a cherry eye isn’t detrimental to a dog’s health but if you don’t get it treated right away the dog will run the risk of developing ‘dry eye’. A cherry eye occurs when the cartilage in the third eyelid is not strong enough and ends up flapping over. It’s not overly pleasant to look at, but it didn’t appear to bother Yuki all that much.