by David S. Thomson, DVM Lots of dogs and cats hate to go to the veterinary hospital. Hauled out of their home, loaded into the car, driven who knows how far, dragged into a noisy, slippery-floored, odd-smelling building by their anxious owner, they then encounter…

Once again, Riverbend Animal Hospital is proud to have a team participating in the Hot Chocolate Run to benefit Safe Passages. Taking place on Sunday December 2, the Hot Chocolate Run is a 5k Run and 3k Walk through downtown Northampton to promote freedom from…

Many of us have seen that cat, begging for food on our porch, bothering the birds around our feeders, teasing our indoor cats as they sit in the window. We don’t see fliers around the neighborhood, the cat isn’t wearing a collar, and we never…

Once again, Riverbend Animal Hospital is proud to have a team participating in the 14th Annual Hot Chocolate Run to benefit Safe Passages. Taking place on Sunday December 3, the Hot Chocolate Run is a 5k Run and 3k Walk through downtown Northampton to promote…

It was a damp and dreary Sunday. The sky threatened to rain, but an intrepid band of volunteers still met to donate their time to help two families build their new house. This is the story of Riverbend at Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build Week…

Feline specialists are now recommending cats eat canned food for all or most of their diet. As we will explain below, the doctors at Riverbend, too, recommend a wet diet over a dry diet. Veterinarians used to tell cat owners to feed dry food because…

Princess Spaghetti is an eight-pound Yorkshire terrier who is 15 ½ years old. Aside from a few bumps in the road, Spaghetti had been a healthy dog all of her life. Then in May 2014, her doting mother noticed she had a little sway to…

Sam is an exuberant, somewhat chubby, 11-year-old Labrador retriever who has nothing bad to say about anyone. Sam had been sore on his right front leg for six months. His regular veterinarian discovered a wound on the central pad of the right front foot, and…

Three of my own dogs have died of hemangiosarcoma. It is just a bad disease. It is rare in people but common in dogs, especially middle-aged retrievers. Hemangiosarcoma is a cancer of the cells lining blood vessels. It can affect almost any organ, but most…