Veterinarian recommended: My favorite pet products

I hear and see the phrase "veterinarian recommended" and it makes my skin crawl a bit because many times they are not products I as a veterinarian would want my pets or patients using! 

What do I recommend daily to clients or use for own my pets? 

Here are just a few of my favorite treats, toys, grooming tools, training tools, and other products for all your different companion animal needs:

• Pill Pockets: These are hands down, my favorite dog treat and pill hiding secret for dogs. You can smash them into a lick matt or the floor while doing something annoying like a nail trim. Or you can hide a big gross pill in them by molding them around the pill. They come in several flavors that most dogs and some cats cannot resist.
• Churu cat lickable treats: Majority of cats cannot resist these liquid treats in a tube. Great for distraction while giving injections, trimming nails, hiding medications, or just a special treat for your little furry baby.
• Bully sticks: They might be a bit gross when you realize they are dried bull genitals but man do dogs love them! My labs get bully sticks about every other day, it helps keep their teeth beautifully clean and occupies my big chewers for a while. They are safer in my opinion then raw hides but all chews have a risk of choking so your dog should always be monitored with a new chew treat.
• Sodapup lick matts: These are amazing for getting your dog to sit still for nail trims, smear peanut butter or easy cheese into the matt and spread it around the grooves for them to lick. I stick them on the side of the shower wall while I bathe the dogs. 
• Furminator: This specialized grooming comb gets all the loose undercoat in thick coated dogs and cats. I have gotten 3 shopping bags of hair off of each of my dogs in a 30 minute combing sesh! Best way to keep shedding down to a minimum. 
• Gentle leader nose harnesses and chest harnesses: These are life savers for those dogs who just pull you all over the place. Some people mistake the nose harness for a muzzle but it is not, it is a type of harness used to correct your dog from pulling. 
• Feliway pheromone: A great way to reduce stress in cats at home. I recommend this pheromone plug in and spray daily at work. It can help prevent stress related diseases such as urinary problems and intercat aggression.
• Kong toys and treat hiders: These are fantastic for crate training. You can fill them with peanut butter, plain yogurt, or cottage cheese and freeze them to make the licking distraction last a long time. They then can be thrown in your dishwasher for the next time!
• Tactipup collars: These collars are sturdy, washable, and look awesome! You can have them engraved so you do not need annoying name tags.
• Soft paws: As a veterinary community we haven taken a stance against declawing due to ethical issues with the procedure. Soft paws are a great alternative to prevent scratching in your cats and they look super cute too. Most veterinary hospitals are willing to help you place the soft paws on your animals' nails if you cannot!
• Ferretvite: I cannot forget one of my favorite treats/distractor for my little ferret friends! Ferretvite is like crack for ferrets they cannot get enough. Good distractor for nail trims and provides vitamins too. 
• Oxbow Herbivore Care: If you have a rabbit, guinea pig, or chinchilla then you need to have this at home in case your furry friends stop eating you can mix this up and syringe it or just offer it to them for feeding. 

This is not an exhaustive list of everything I like for companion animals but it is a good start. Here are Angus and Ticker living the hard lab life of having a veterinarian for a dog mom!