Welcome to Dr. Murray’s Website!
Dr. Murray is committed to helping pet parents improve their pets' health, wellbeing and lifestyle. As a practicing vet with over 10 years of experience, Dr. Murray listens to pet owners' concerns and questions on a daily basis. She believes in sharing her knowledge with pet owners so that they are better able to demand and receive the best care available for their pets. Learn More »
Vet Confidential: An Insider’s Guide to Protecting Your Pet’s Health »
“Veterinary medicine has made remarkable progress. Yet there is still much disparity in the health care provided for pets. As a practicing veterinarian, blessed to have met so many devoted pet owners, I’ve discovered that most are unaware of the standard of veterinary care they should expect for their pets or the current developments in the field that could benefit their animals…My goal is to give you that knowledge. Whether you’re choosing a general veterinarian or seeking help for an animal who has become ill, you should have the tools to ensure that your pet receives the best care possible…This book will help you to become informed so that you can pick the right veterinary practice for your pet, demand the best treatment if he becomes ill, and protect yourself from dubious advice from any source.”
-Dr. Louise Murray,Vet Confidential
Purchase book at Amazon.com
Blog TheDoctorIsIn »
Darlington Holiday Fundathon!
Protect Your Pet's Health & Help Shelter Animals! Recently, I learned about the plight of animals in Darlington, South Carolina. Overwhelmed by the numbers of dogs and cats in their care, the Darlington County Humane Society is battling food shortages for the shelter animals, inadequate space, difficulty providing proper medical care, and other critical challenges. Matilda, a Darlington resident Barbara Tilton, a volunteer who is doing amazing work to aid the animals of Darlington, shared some heartbreaking truths with me. She explained that the shelter has no budget for pet food, relying entirely on donated food; dogs at the shelter...
Continue Reading Darlington Holiday Fundathon!Breast Cancer in Pets (yes, they get it too!)
Many pet owners don't realize that pets also suffer from breast cancer. In veterinary medicine, the term that is used is mammary gland tumors. These tumors are common in dogs and cats who are not spayed or who were spayed at a later age. Cats generally have 8 mammary glands, arranged in 4 pairs. Dogs usually have 10 glands arranged in 5 pairs, though the number varies with the size of the dog. Mammary gland tumors in dogs and cats can be benign (non-spreading, and cured by surgical removal), or malignant (having the potential to metastasize to other areas of...
Continue Reading Breast Cancer in Pets (yes, they get it too!)Happy Halloween Story (complete with orange and black puppy!)
So, my friend Mark the park ranger was walking his Labrador, Aedan, in the woods when Aedan started sniffing the air in an agitated fashion and tugging hard on the leash. This was very unusual for him; Aedan is normally a really laid-back dog and it was obvious he was extremely concerned about something that he wanted Mark to know about. Mark let him off the leash and Aedan raced away with Mark following. As Mark approached the spot where Aedan had stopped, he could see from a distance that Aedan had found some sort of animal that was making...
Continue Reading Happy Halloween Story (complete with orange and black puppy!)Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats (IBD)
As a veterinary internal medicine specialist, I have done my best to explain inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to countless cat owners (and veterinary interns, and externs, and random people at dinner parties...). On many occasions I've said that I need write down my little spiel, so I can just let everyone read about it while I kick back and drink chai latte...just kidding about that part, but it is time to blog about this ubiquitous topic. First of all, let me clear up one confusion: it's inflammatory bowel disease, not irritable bowel syndrome. I know you are forever hearing about...
Continue Reading Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats (IBD)Ultrasound for pets...what you should know
Diagnostic ultrasound for pets has been an incredible advance in veterinary medicine. The ability to use ultrasound to look inside the abdomen or chest of an animal means that we can often quickly and non-invasively investigate a host of different health conditions. But pet parents need to know some basic facts about ultrasound to protect their pets and ensure they truly benefit from this technology. Ultrasound scans, also called sonograms, use high-frequency sound waves to form images of tissues within the body. This technology is similar to the sonar used by bats and ships at sea. The sound waves are...
Continue Reading Ultrasound for pets...what you should knowBoo! Keeping your pets safe from toxic treats
As Halloween approaches, and we all stock up on candy and other treats, don’t forget that some of this tasty stuff can be highly toxic to our animal companions. -Chocolate isn't safe for dogs, but they love it! Most of us have a lot of chocolate around the house as Halloween and the holidays approach - if you have a dog, remember to keep your chocolate in lockdown. Don’t leave it out on the kitchen counter, coffee table, or elsewhere around your home, since an enterprising dog will go to great lengths to snatch this delicious-smelling stuff. Baking chocolate is...
Continue Reading Boo! Keeping your pets safe from toxic treatsPet Pain Patrol - Please Participate!
When choosing a veterinary practice for your pet, or deciding where to have a surgery or procedure performed, one of the most important parameters to evaluate is the practice's philosophy regarding pain control. In the olden days of veterinary medicine, many patients received little to no pain control after a surgery or injury. These days, many (but not all) veterinarians are vigilant about providing pain relief to the animals in their care. You need to ensure that the practice you use is up-to-date on both their pain control philosophy and the actual methods employed. Failure to provide adequate pain control...
Continue Reading Pet Pain Patrol - Please Participate!Take a look at safe anesthesia for pets!
As you can tell, my mission is to give pet owners the information they need to protect their pets' health and to wisely choose the best veterinary practice to help achieve that. I believe that knowledge is indeed power and have seen too many pets suffer because their owners did not have the tools they needed to advocate for their animal companions. Today I suddenly realized (duh!) that just talking about ways you can protect your pet isn't enough; I need to show you. It's one thing to babble on and on about safe anesthesia and having your older pet's...
Continue Reading Take a look at safe anesthesia for pets!HyperKitty : Overview of Feline Hyperthyroidism
Feline hyperthyroidism is the most common endocrine (hormonal) disorder of cats. It occurs most frequently in middle-aged and elderly cats. Cats fed fish-flavored canned cat food (particularly salmon) or liver and giblets-flavored canned cat food are at increased risk of developing this condition. Siamese and Himalayan cats are at decreased risk of hyperthyroidism compared to other breeds of cats. Cats have two thyroid glands located in the neck. Feline hyperthyroidism is caused by the development of a growth on one or both thyroid glands. Most commonly, the growth is of a benign type called an adenoma; more rarely, a malignant...
Continue Reading HyperKitty : Overview of Feline HyperthyroidismWhat is feline leukemia anyway? Does my cat need the vaccine?
Many cat lovers are aware of feline leukemia, but aren't exactly sure what it is. They know it's bad, but is it an infection, or cancer, or...? Here's the story. There is a virus called the feline leukemia virus, often abbreviated FeLV. It's in the same family of viruses as the human HIV virus, and the feline FIV virus. They are all in the family called retroviruses. It's confusing to folks because leukemia is a kind of cancer (cancer of the bone marrow), so when we say a cat has feline leukemia, it seems like the cat has cancer. Really...
Continue Reading What is feline leukemia anyway? Does my cat need the vaccine?
© 2010 Vet Confidential — All Rights Reserved
