About Dr. Ryan Llera
A veterinarian in Kingston, Ontario, writing about pet health, hot topics in veterinary medicine, and the changing way we communicate with clients.
This blog is a place for pet owners and pet lovers to start a real conversation about the animals in their care — what keeps them well, what goes wrong, and what a veterinarian actually sees from the exam room.
The short version
Key details at a glance.
- GraduatedVeterinary school, 2006
- Based inKingston, Ontario
- Also writes forOntario SPCA blog
- Contributor toDr. Andy Roark’s blog
Twelve years of watching medicine change
Looking back since graduation.
I graduated from veterinary school in 2006, which means I have now spent more than twelve years in practice watching the profession rearrange itself around me. The medicine itself has moved quickly — diagnostics that were once specialist-only are now ordinary, and the routine of prevention has become far more proactive than it used to be.
What has changed just as much is the conversation. Clients now arrive with pages of search results, videos, and opinions from forums. Most of it is well meant and some of it is genuinely useful, but the internet has also changed how veterinary care is perceived: a great deal of judgement about a pet’s health now happens publicly, long before an animal is ever examined.
That is the reason this blog exists. My goal is a genuine conversation rather than a lecture — veterinary knowledge explained plainly, with enough context that pet owners can ask better questions at their own appointments.
The best pet care happens when the owner and the veterinarian are talking to each other, not past each other.
Dr. Ryan Llera
This site is a place for pet owners to ask real questions and get thoughtful answers about the animals in their care. Much of what is written here comes straight from the exam room: what a veterinarian notices during a routine check, what keeps a healthy pet healthy, and what tends to go wrong when small problems are left for too long. Topics range from preventative care and nutrition to behaviour, surgery, cancer, gastrointestinal complaints, skin and dermatology issues, and the particular challenges of caring for senior pets. Seasonal hazards, toxicities, and the myths that circulate online are also recurring themes.
Beyond the medical posts, this blog is about how veterinary medicine is changing and how we talk to each other about it. A growing number of pet owners arrive with research already done, questions already framed, and expectations shaped by social media, and that shift has altered the way veterinary teams practise and communicate. Writing for the Ontario SPCA blog and contributing to Dr. Andy Roark's blog has made that conversation part of a wider community rather than a private clinic room. The aim is simple and friendly: to help readers feel informed, less anxious, and better prepared for the next appointment with their own veterinarian.
Why the blog looks the way it does
Advice, medical topics, and stories from practice.
The writing is organised by topic so that you can find what you need quickly. Preventative health articles cover nutrition, routine care, toxicity awareness, holiday safety, and behaviour. The chronic health section holds longer discussions of cancer, gastrointestinal problems, geriatric care, and skin disease, including case reports from the clinic. Alongside all of it are personal stories from my own household.
Edie the Pug gets her own section, because she is very much part of the household and of why I do this. Her stories and collaborations on pet care topics run alongside the clinical writing.
At a glance
Images from the world this blog covers.
