Whenever you find a lump on your dog it gets kind of scary. If you are normal, you immediately begin to think the worst. OMG It's cancer, you think. Well, hold on just one minute. It could be any number of things.

I just returned from a big blogging conference for women. Blogher has been holding these once a year big events for about 5 years, I think. I've been to every one, and spoken at 4 of them. I spoke at this one, too. It was in Chicago.

What has a women's blogging conference got to do with Pet Health Insurance from PurinaCare®? Well, this conference was a Mommy Blogger conference and women from all over the country brought their kids with them. We're talking tiny kids - babies - and toddlers. While it was all fun and delight, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if one of those kids took sick?

Years ago, on a trip with my two daughters, my youngest suffered food poisoning (we think) and we pretty sick for most of the trip. She wasn't so sick I needed to take her to the local clinic or emergency room, but I can tell you I would not have hesitated, if her stomach "flu" symptoms had not improved overnight.

I get more questions on this topic than almost anything else, except, of course, litter box questions.

Given the number of overweight dogs and cats I'm not exactly surprised. The answer to the question is not as simple as some would think and it's certainly not as simple as following the recommendations on pet food bags or cans.

There are two types of mange in dogs both caused by skin mites. Demodectic or Red mange is caused by a mite that is usually passed from the mother to the puppy. In fact puppies are most commonly affected because their immune systems are still developing and they don't have the ability to fight off this mite.

Demodex mites commonly inhabit the skin of adult dogs without incident. The immune system of the adult dog is capable of suppressing the mite so that it does not cause skin disease. Adult dogs that are immunosuppressed for any reason may come down with demodex but it is most commonly a self limiting disease of puppies. In most cases as the puppies immune system develops the mites cease to cause problems.

Have you ever played a game of hide and seek with your dog? Have you ever wondered about their eyesight and if they see the world the same way you do? 

The dog's eye, and the make up of certain types of light detecting cells, gives us a pretty good idea of how their vision compares to ours.

From the Pet Health Library Reference Desk -

I can't believe it's been almost two months since we visited the Pet Health Videos section! This week, I found a new video under General Topics called, Advances in Pet Identification.

Watch and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of traditional collar tags and the latest in radio frequency ID chips for implanting under the pet's skin.

For those who read the Scratchings & Sniffings blog, I apologize. Today I want to talk about our upcoming move, and you've likely already heard some of this.

Here's the scoop - Yvonne and Tom and Wabby Wibby are moving to CO! Yay! We visit CO every year because my daughter moved there about 13 years ago and wouldn't come home, even when she had my first grandchild and I insisted she bring Miah to NY to be closer to me!

CO has a lot to offer us. It's very pet-friendly, for one thing. Chloe, my daughter, has a Greyhound, Twiggy, that she takes just about everywhere with her - and no one, not even shop-keepers, mind. Dogs are pretty much welcome everywhere.

Almost everyone is familiar with the eye disease called glaucoma. Maybe a family member or friend has glaucoma. Did you know that glaucoma is one of the more common causes of blindness in dogs? It's true. In fact canine glaucoma strikes one in every two hundred dogs and the result is often loss of sight.

In case you've been living under a rock, here's some news: pet health insurance is here to stay. Finally! I say "Finally!" with emphasis because I wish we'd had pet health insurance back when I was a practicing veterinary technician. But, it was not meant to be in those long ago 20th century days.

Today, you can do a Google or Yahoo! (or Bing) search and discover so much information on pet health insurance, it might make you dizzy. For me, I look carefully at the company offering the insurance, and I do a good check on what the insurance covers. Dr. Larry writes in this blog, also, about different reasons our pets might need PurinaCare Pet Health Insurance - and we've done some podcasts that describe cases. But, as a concernced pet lover, I know you want all the details and you want to make sure you're making the right decision for your dog or cat. (including, how to keep them healthy and out of the vet's office)

It's summer for sure in most parts of the country. We were up in Montana over the fourth and it was kind of hard to tell for sure. It was rainy and cool. We rode our bikes over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park and I haven't been that cold since last winter. I was shivering on the descent but, as always, the incredible scenery was well worth it.