Where is the good online pet health info?

I woke up this morning and actually felt like I might live after all.



I've had whooping cough (that photo? a toy stuffed whooping cough germ, bordetella pertussis, sent to me by veterinarian Allison Brendel) and pneumonia for the last month, and been sick as the proverbial dog. And speaking of dogs, I had to have a dog walker for mine, because walking from my bed to the kitchen made me have to take a nap.



But this morning I felt the first stirring of normal energy, and decided to take Rebel and Kyrie on their first real walk since I got sick. I only made it around half as far as a pre-whoop walk before I turned back, but they were bouncing all over the place, play-bowing and prancing. It made me feel sad that we'd missed this, even though there was nothing I could do about it.



I've also missed a lot of work and a lot of blogging, but I did manage -- barely -- to write my column for SFGate.com. My editor was on vacation the week and a half before it was due, and in all honesty, if she'd been in town and I could have canceled it, I would have. But the thought of her getting home from vacation to find a big hole where my column was supposed to be seemed kind of unfair to me, so I gritted my teeth and got it done.



It was actually a spin-off of a post I did here, about how to evaluate the pet health information you find on the web:

Since I'm a pet writer and basically obsessed with animals, I belong to dozens of pet-related e-mail lists, many of them about health issues. And not a day goes by that I don't see at least one person spreading information that's completely wrong. I don't mean expressing an opinion with which I disagree; I mean someone solemnly informing the group that the sky is orange and the moon is made of green cheese.



Even worse, having worked with veterinarians for more than a decade now, I've discovered that an awful lot of those people then go into their vet's office and share these gems of misinformation with their pet's health care provider, introduced with that phrase guaranteed to make the vet's blood pressure rise: "I read on the Web that ..."



And that's a shame, because in addition to being a terrible place to find pet health information, the Web can also be a wonderful place to do research and connect with other pet owners facing similar issues for support, networking, and education. The trick is in figuring out how to evaluate the animal health information you find, how to locate the reliable stuff when you need it, and how to discuss it with your pet's veterinarian in a way that won't make him or her tune you out before you even get started.

I also recommend a number of reliable pet health websites, and give some specific guidelines on how to do a pet health search on Google. The full article is here.



And now I think I need a nap.

Comments

[Andrea 2CatMom]

I didn't know that whooping cough and twinkies were related! Glad to hear your feeling better, I never heard of an adult getting it before.

[yet another pat]

Thanks for the article. I'd been wondering where you were. I'm sorry to hear you've been so sick :( I hope it all clears up soon.

[Gina Spadafori]

Yay, Christie!



Now, go nap.