Professional Pet Partners, Inc.

04/05/2026

Happy 😎🌞Easter from Breeze & Mojo! 🐣🐣

03/29/2026

My Boys split 1 clove daily during the spring/summer/fall (we skip winter).

Garlic for dogs 🧄…let’s clear this up 👇

Garlic often gets labeled “toxic” because it’s related to onions, but here’s the nuance: garlic contains about 1/15th the amount of the compound linked to toxicity and is actually recognized as a safe ingredient in commercial pet foods (AAFCO).

In small, appropriate amounts, garlic provides allicin, which may support:
❤️ Heart health
🛡️ Immune function
🦠 Antimicrobial support

The studies often cited to claim harm? They used extreme doses…the equivalent of feeding a 70 lb dog ~245 cloves of garlic in one week (yes, really). Even then, no dogs showed outward symptoms, just minor microscopic changes in some red blood cells.

The amounts in this graphic fall well within safe daily feeding guidelines 👍

🐈 For added context: the National Research Council has even set a historical safe intake for cats at 17 mg/kg of body weight, further highlighting that dose matters.

Bottom line:
Garlic isn’t the villain - it’s the amount that matters.

📌 Save this for reference & always stick to proper serving sizes 🐶🐱

02/15/2026

https://events.getlocalhop.com/author-event-featuring-patricia-mcconnell/event/xqcrHQlMeu/

01/04/2026

Well well well…

Does your dog’s fur have a superpower? 🌿🐾

It sounds strange, but new research suggests there might be more to your dog’s shedding than meets the eye. 👀

What if your dog’s fur could help plants grow faster and greener, while replacing one of the most damaging ingredients in potting soil? ♻️

Or… could there be hidden downsides no one’s considering yet - like chemicals such as flea & tick treatment, safety issues, or impacts on food crops?

Scientists recently tested something surprising, and the results have people excited.…But what they found raises just as many questions as it answers.

Today we’re breaking it all down - the why, the how, and what this could mean for the environment, sustainability, and even your garden - in today’s Inside Scoop. 🌱

✨ Plus in this episode:
• Another surprising look at fur, this time from cats, revealing what might be hiding inside their coats and what it tells us about everyday chemical exposure (like phthalates).
• Dr. Becker shares her go-to detox protocol to help reduce your dog’s or cat’s toxic load.

👉 Join us at 12pm EST in the Inside Scoop to hear the full story and get answers to the questions you’re probably asking right now. Drop SCOOPERS below and we’ll message you a link to join our community group where you can watch the full replay, submit your questions, and get access to our ebooks, guides, and more!

10/30/2025

There are still good people in this world..

A pet dog fell off an oceanside bluff in San Francisco and spent more than 20 minutes clinging to a narrow ledge until firefighters came to its rescue, officials have said.

“He was happy. He knew he got rescued. He was wagging his tail. He was giving everyone kisses,” according to a rescue captain with the San Francisco Fire Department.

Rescuers reunited the dog with its owner.

Read more: https://abcnews.visitlink.me/12-KFg

10/27/2025

*Preventing unwanted litters is a goal we all share—but it's time to rethink the surgical approach. Hysterectomies and vasectomies, which preserve hormonal balance, can safely be performed as early as 8 weeks of age, making dogs sterile without disrupting their natural hormones.

New peer-reviewed study published in Nature:

How a dog’s lifetime exposure to his own hormones (before being neutered) affects how well he handles aging and frailty later in life.

Study Background

• Frailty = when older dogs (and people) become weaker, less resilient, and more prone to illness and death.
• Most research looks at how to prevent frailty — this study looked at what makes some dogs bounce back better after frailty sets in.
• The focus was on the HPG axis — the hormonal system that produces testosterone and controls reproduction.

Key Findings

• Dogs neutered very young (before 2 years old) had:

o A much higher risk of death once they became frail.
o About 16% higher mortality for every small increase in frailty.

• Dogs kept intact longer (more than ~10 years) showed:
o No increase in mortality linked to frailty.
o Their hormones seemed to “buffer” the negative effects of aging.

• Each extra year of natural hormone exposure reduced frailty-related death risk by ~1%.

What It Means

• Hormones from the te**es may protect against the worst effects of aging later in life.
• Removing them too early could make dogs less resilient to age-related decline.
• Frailty isn’t just about getting old — it’s also shaped by early-life events like the timing of neutering.
• This supports a “life course” view: what happens early in life affects health decades later.

Why It Matters

• The study suggests timing of neutering might influence how well dogs age.

08/20/2025

FREE Vaccine and Microchip Clinic!

Monday, September 8, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

140 N County Farm Road, Wheaton, IL 60187

💉Cat/Dog Rabies Vaccine (For pets over 4 months old)
💉Cat/Dog Distemper Vaccine
💉Cat/Dog/Rabbit Microchip and registration
💉2 animals per household
💉Line Opens at 5:00pm
💉Must show proof of DuPage County Residency.

08/18/2025

Researchers at Michigan State University have brought a k-9, a springer-spaniel named Maple, into the fold to help detect the honeybee disease: American foulbrood, a bacterial disease that poses a significant threat to honeybees.

Her bee suit is specially altered and tested to keep her safe!!

04/25/2025

At least we saved $5.

04/22/2025

NO UNWANTED LITTERS, we all agree with that goal; it's the surgical technique that should be reevaluated. Hysterectomy and vasectomy can be performed as early as 8 weeks of age with no negative side effects, rendering dogs sterile AND hormonally balanced.

"Early studies suggested that intact dogs displayed more problematic behaviors, and neutering was thought to improve certain behaviors, such as roaming, mounting, urinary marking, and intermale aggression [48,49,50,51]. These early conclusions likely contributed to the widespread belief that neutering is a reliable solution for unwanted behaviors. However, more recent studies have raised concerns about the potential for neutering to increase fear, anxiety, and aggression-related behaviors in both male and female dogs. Neutered dogs have been reported to exhibit more fear, nervousness, panic, social withdrawal, and even heightened aggression [44,52,53,54,55,56,57]. Therefore, caution must be exercised when considering neutering as a solution for behavioral issues.
Studies have reported higher risks for developing reproductive, urinary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal disorders in neutered dogs. Additionally, some studies suggest increases in stress, fear, anxiety, and even certain types of aggression following neutering.

The decision to neuter pet dogs remains a significant and ongoing debate from ethical, animal health, and animal welfare perspectives. Millions of dogs worldwide are considered integral family members, and their behavior, as well as the bond they form with their owners, play a key role in the decision to keep them as pets. When behavioral problems arise, neutering is often viewed as a potential solution. However, by removing the source of sexual hormones, neutering creates the potential for both beneficial and harmful effects on a dog’s health and behavior."

03/23/2025

🐾🌼Spring is here, so be expecting emails and reminder phone calls from your vet, encouraging you to schedule your spring wellness visit (please do this)—but watch my latest interview with UW-Madison vet school professor Dr. Laurie Larson, first! (Visit my website, drkarenbecker.com to read the article or watch this important discussion!).
Dr. Larson is an expert in antibody titer testing, and thankfully, the conversation about vaccinations 💉has evolved, especially regarding how frequently our pets truly need them. In my interview, Dr. Larson provides an in-depth look at how titers can guide more personalized and scientifically sound vaccination decisions, protecting our pets without the risk of over-vaccinating.
Veterinarians have accounts with nation-wide veterinary laboratories (Antech and/or Idexx) that provide parvo and distemper titer testing services, so all vets can perform them, however, the most inexpensive lab I have found for parvo/distemper titers is the Companion Animal Vaccine and Immuno Diagnostic Service Laboratory (CAVIDS) at the UW-Madison vet school. Here’s the link you or you vet can use to submit a sample:
https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/lab/cavids/titer-testing-details/