Some of that comes down to health. Dogs that have skin issues or allergies may need to be bathed more frequently. And the rest comes down to preference in lifestyle. If your dog's a couch potato, doesn't do a whole lot, and is otherwise healthy, they probably don't need to be bathed frequently. If your dog's out swimming, getting dirty, rolling in things regularly, they may need to be bathed more often.

That really depends on the groomer. We certainly have a list of groomers that we feel confident can handle minor behavior or anxiety-related concerns while being groomed. Give us a call if you are looking for recommendations. But also, if you're finding that your dog is having consistent issues with grooming, it's worth talking to us and maybe setting up some counterconditioning plans so that we can prevent or reduce these problems in the future.

I would say yes. Ultimately that's up to the groomer as to what they require. Most groomers are going to require a rabies vaccination, a distemper vaccination, and kennel cough. And I would think most groomers would want to know if your dog is on flea and tick control. I really couldn't speak for them, but those are good general health recommendations for your pet overall.

I don't know that I can say for everyone that there's one answer. Whether to go to a professional groomer depends on your dog's breed, what you're looking for, your dog's anxiety, or concerns around grooming—all of these things can make a big difference one way or the other. And so situations that I think a professional groomer can be helpful are in dogs that need regular trims of their hair because of their breed. For example, in the case of a Yorkie that you do not want to maintain a show cut on, you probably want to get a little puppy cut regularly. Dogs that have a constantly-growing coat, like poodles, need to be groomed regularly. And by having a professional groomer do this, you end up with a better result than trying to do it ourselves. Grooming is something that they've spent a lot of time learning to do and honing their skills, so they can often come up with a better finished product than we may be able to.

When you have a situation where you need to bathe your dog every once in a while, and you don't mind the mess and the hair, there's no problem with doing it at home. But say you have a Newfoundland or a Great Dane and it's the dead of winter, it may be worth looking at getting a professional to help you with that so that you don't have your giant 150-pound dog crammed into your shower. When you do the bath on your own, these large dogs are often drying for a few days because of the thickness of their coat.

There are many things to consider there. And if your dog has mild anxiety or fear around visiting a groomer, chat with us. We may be able to help you work with that, either with some anti-anxiety medications or some counterconditioning work to get them comfortable with visiting the groomer.

If you're using a good quality dog shampoo and doing a thorough rinsing, no. You could probably bathe your dog almost daily, and they would be fine, provided your dog is healthy and doesn't have any skin conditions. That being said, unless your dog is super excited about having a bath every day, it's probably not worth your while or your dog's mental health to pursue that level of bathing. But if you're finding that your dog requires a weekly bath because of their activities, then you could easily maintain that sort of schedule, provided you're using a good quality dog shampoo.

They don't have to be a senior to do that. I can tell you my young kitty likes to just sing the song of his people at night. I think he wants to keep me awake, and he's bored, but we certainly see this happen a lot more as cats get older. And this can be an indication of some cognitive decline, basically kitty dementia. They can get confused at night, and the night's more common for this to happen. We can also see it as associated with overactivity or hyperactivity with hyperthyroidism. So if this is a behavior you’ve seen, then we should certainly take a look at the kitty and make sure there's nothing else going on. And we can talk about things that we can do for cognitive decline as well.

You're the best judge of that. Unless I'm coming over to dinner every night and able to see what Fluffy's doing, I'm not going to be a great judge of your cat's quality of life. That's where you come into the relationship of veterinary care, and you are telling us what's happening. Has behavior changed, or has appetite changed? Is your kitty a class A clinger all of a sudden when they've always been aloof? Any kind of behavior changes or routine changes can indicate the quality of life is declining.

But I also think it's important to note that as we get to the end of life and more of what we would call hospice care, it can be hard to be objective about the quality of life. What I often recommend in those situations is keeping a really simple journal or even marking on a calendar marking the quality of each day. Was this a good day, was this an okay day? Was this a bad day? Maybe with minimal notes or none at all, but the journal just allows you to look back over the last week or two when you're in those really tough times, and you get a more objective look at trends upward or downward, or just how the pet's doing overall.