| Good Monday morning from Fort Collins — |
| It's a cool start out there, mid-60s with clouds, though it'll climb back to 90 before the day's done. Enjoy the walk while it lasts. This week we're leading with something local that's worth knowing before your dog sniffs the wrong thing on the trail: rabies activity in Larimer County is real, it's documented, and it's closer to home than most people realize. |
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By the numbers
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1st
Confirmed Larimer County rabies case of 2026
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7
Wild animal rabies cases in Colorado so far this year
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5
Of those 7 cases found in skunks statewide
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1
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Larimer County Leads Colorado in Terrestrial Rabies — Here's What That Means for Your Dog or Cat |
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2
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Your Dog's Stiffness After a Hike Might Be More Than Just a Hard Day |
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3
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Vet Costs Are Rising — Pet Insurance Is Worth a Real Look Before You Need It |
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4
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CBG Is Showing Up in Pet Stores — Here's What We Actually Know |
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The lead · LOCAL RISK
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Larimer County Leads Colorado in Terrestrial Rabies — Here's What That Means for Your Dog or Cat
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| A rabid bat was confirmed near the Adriel Hills neighborhood in northeast Fort Collins this past May, and Larimer County now leads the entire state in terrestrial rabies cases. |
| NOCO Humane's animal control page — updated this week — warns that rabies is on the rise in our community, with multiple cases of humans and pets already exposed in northern Colorado this year. Statewide, seven wild animals have tested positive so far in 2026: two bats and five skunks. Skunks are especially relevant for dog owners because they're common at dusk along the Poudre trail and in foothill neighborhoods, and a curious dog doesn't need to get bitten to have a close call — any contact with saliva counts as a potential exposure. The single most effective thing you can do is keep your pet's rabies vaccine current; it's the only legal protection and the only medical one. |
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Why it matters: If your dog or cat is overdue on rabies vaccination and has a wildlife encounter, Colorado law may require a lengthy and expensive quarantine — a current vaccine prevents all of that.
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Read at KDVR / NOCO Humane →
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JOINT HEALTH
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Your Dog's Stiffness After a Hike Might Be More Than Just a Hard Day
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| Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most under-recognized causes of day-after soreness in dogs, and the early signs are easy to miss or explain away. |
| Dogs rarely limp dramatically in early OA — what owners usually notice first is a dog who hesitates at the stairs, takes longer to get up in the morning, or seems less interested in the trail after mile two. Those signs matter, because the inflammation driving OA causes ongoing joint damage even when pain seems manageable. Catching it early means more options: weight management, joint-supportive nutrition, physical therapy, and medications that address both pain and inflammation rather than just masking the soreness. |
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Why it matters: Naming the pattern to your vet at the next wellness visit — even if it seems minor — opens the door to a plan before the condition advances.
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Read at Veterinary Practice News →
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COST & COVERAGE
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Vet Costs Are Rising — Pet Insurance Is Worth a Real Look Before You Need It
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| A recent opinion piece in Today's Veterinary Business makes the case that rising veterinary costs are quietly — sorry, steadily — pushing some pet owners into impossible choices, and that proactive coverage is the practical answer. |
| The honest reality is that an emergency surgery or a cancer diagnosis can run into the thousands, and nobody plans for it during a routine wellness year. Pet insurance works best when you buy it young and healthy, before a condition becomes 'pre-existing' and excludes the exact thing you'll someday need covered. It's worth spending twenty minutes comparing plans this fall, when open enrollment periods at many employers also include voluntary pet insurance options. |
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Why it matters: Running the numbers on a policy now costs nothing; running them the week after an emergency costs a lot more than the premium would have.
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Read at Today's Veterinary Business →
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WHAT'S THAT SUPPLEMENT
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CBG Is Showing Up in Pet Stores — Here's What We Actually Know
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| Cannabigerol (CBG) is the newer cousin of CBD, and it's already appearing on pet store shelves with bold claims and thin evidence. |
| Like CBD before it, CBG is being marketed for anxiety, pain, and inflammation in dogs and cats, but the veterinary research base is still sparse. The main thing to know right now: not all cannabis-derived products are created equal, quality control varies widely between brands, and some formulations sold for pets contain other ingredients that can cause real problems. If you're curious about trying it for a specific symptom your pet has, bring it up at your next visit — it's a completely reasonable conversation, and the answer won't be a hard no. |
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Why it matters: Knowing what's in a supplement before you give it is the difference between a harmless experiment and an unplanned ER visit.
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Read the full story →
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Quick hits
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• Cats are the most underserved patients in veterinary medicine — the CATalyst Council just released a new roadmap aimed at getting more cats the routine care they're quietly skipping, which might be worth a nudge if your cat hasn't been in lately. →
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• A new in-clinic injection called Befrena offers at least six weeks of itch relief for dogs with allergic skin disease — worth asking about if your dog is a seasonal scratcher who cycles through antihistamines every summer. →
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Tip of the week
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Check the vaccine dates before the season changes
Pull out your pet's vaccine records this week — or log into your client portal — and check when rabies and distemper boosters are due. Fall is when wildlife activity picks up as animals prepare for winter, which means more skunk and raccoon encounters on evening walks. A quick records check now means you're not scrambling after an incident.
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How was this issue?
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Until next week,
Dr. Alvarez and the Cedar Park team
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| P.S. If you're not sure whether your pet's rabies vaccine is current, call us — we can look it up in under a minute and save you the worry. |