Pemphigus foliaceus, pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigus erythematosus and pemphigus vegetans There are several related immune mediated skin disorders called pemphigus complex. These have a common mechanism of action in which the body produces antibodie...

Parvovirus is a viral disease of dogs. It affects puppies much more frequently than it affects adult dogs. The virus likes to grow in rapidly dividing cells. The intestinal lining has the biggest concentration of rapidly dividing cells in a puppy'...

Parvovirus is probably the most common viral illness of dogs at the present time. It is much more common in puppies than it is in adult dogs. It can be very hard to successfully vaccinate a puppy for this disease because the antibody protection th...

Dogs have a condition called "paroxysmal respiration". It is also sometimes called a "reverse sneeze" because it really sort of looks like the dog is trying to inhale a sneeze. They tend to look almost like they are having difficulty catching thei...

Canine parvovirus is carried by dogs. Adult dogs may be infected carriers without showing any clinical signs. Dogs with the typical diarrhoea that parvovirus causes shed the virus as well. It can last a long time in the environment, perhaps as lon...

Parainfluenza must be an inexpensive virus to include in vaccines. It is in almost all the combination vaccines even though it is probably only a minor contributor to the problem of tracheobronchitis (kennel cough) in dogs. Vaccine reactions to th...

Panosteitis is a spontaneously occurring lameness that usually occurs in large breed dogs. German Shepherds seems to be particularly predisposed to this condition. Due to this, it is possible that the disease may have genetic causes. Some veterina...

One of the functions of the pancreas is production of digestive enzymes. These are the enzymes that break down ingested foods into molecules the body can digest. These enzymes are carefully handled by the pancreas in order to prevent them from dam...

Nosebleeds can occur for a lot of reasons. In older dogs a major concern would be nasal tumours or nasal infections. Tumours can be pretty hard to find even with endoscopy and X-rays in some cases but the tests for this make it less likely. In any...

Myasthenia gravis is a neuromuscular disease in which weakness is the primary sign. This disease is caused by an inability of the certain nerve receptors (nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) to function properly. This prevents the stimulus f...