I met Nikki for the first time three weeks ago. A ten-year-old female Husky, she was referred to me for excision of a tumor involving the skin and subcutaneous tissue of the lower lumbar region. “Run-of-the-mill surgery,” I thought, skimming through the record. Not so,…

Amelio, a sweet male Ragdoll cat, was born with everything going against him — a congenital malformation of his spine that rendered the rear half of his body non-functional. He has no use of his rear legs, and he is unable to defecate or urinate…

The Black Bear talk last Wednesday evening was a real success. Ralph Taylor from MassWildlife spoke to 40 or 50 of us at the Forbes Library about black bear biology, behavior, and interactions with humans. Black bears are native to this area. During the 1800s…

Free presentation on Wednesday, September 25th, 7:00 PM at the Forbes Library in Northampton. Do you ever wonder about the presence of black bears in our neighborhoods? How do you stay safe, and how can we keep the bears safe? Riverbend’s Dr. Christina White has…

Broken bones are fun to fix. No question! When I started out as a young veterinarian, leash laws were lax, and the caseload from auto/dog encounters was high, so I repaired lots of crunched up limbs. I was new at this, and I remember getting…

Piff and Phoenix were brought to Riverbend about a week apart. They were a lot alike . . . talkative, incredibly cute little grey kitties with big personalities and big problems to match. Piff could not poop. Phoenix could not pee. Not good problems, but…

Last September with two friends, Annie and I backpacked for nine days in the Grand Canyon. We took a little-known route we discovered 25 years ago, off the North Rim, down Cranberry Canyon, over the Redwall to the Colorado River, and then back up through…

Tiny Tim, our overly curious Pug, was skunked a few weeks ago. Worse things could happen you might rightfully say, but in the midst of dealing with that headache-inducing smell, it is hard to think what. Wow, was he ever pungent! It was my fault….

Like many other vets and vet techs in the area, I started my career in veterinary medicine at the Rowley Memorial Animal Hospital on Bliss Street in Springfield. The hospital of course no longer exists, but in its day Rowley was an extraordinary place, a…