The One Thing Jane Lynch Wants Every Dog Owner to Know

What do you do when you’re Jane Lynch and your dog has another ear infection? You text your vet. Not because you’re a celebrity who gets star treatment (though Jane Lynch is comedy royalty), but because expert opinions are always better than hastily consulting the internet.

“You can scare the daylights out of yourself on the internet,” said Lynch, who was nice enough to talk with PureWow about her beloved rescue pups and her approach to pet health. Bernice, the actor’s 13-year-old black spaniel, gets horrible ear infections. 

“I was wondering whether or not to put her on antibiotics,” Lynch told us. “She’d been on them a lot, and I was worried she would develop a resistance to them.”

The actress is no stranger to pet health issues—and not just because she played dog trainer Christy Cummings in the movie Best in Show. Her Insta-famous rescue pup Arbuckle, who sadly passed away in January, suffered from hypothyroid conditions. Her current pit bull-shepherd mix, Millie, has lymphoma. 

“If you Google that stuff, you’ll lose your mind and think your dog is going to die in 15 minutes,” says Lynch of Millie’s condition.

Bottom line: Don’t rely on Dr. Google for your pet health info! Contact a professional who actually studied this stuff and knows the nuances of animal wellness.

Lynch chatted with a vet via Banfield Pet Hospital’s new telehealth tool, Vet Chat, that allows wellness plan clients to use the platform to message a professional vet 24/7, 365 days a year, with questions about their pets, instead of searching the symptoms on the internet. Lynch asked for professional input on Bernice’s ear infection. They talked diet, behavior and potential allergies. Together, they decided to put Bernice on another round of antibiotics, in addition to re-working the pup’s diet. Lo and behold, the ear infections have gotten better.

Unfortunately, according to a survey by Banfield Pet Hospital, 90 percent of vets say they have to spend extra time during scheduled visits correcting bad intel clients read on the web (which the survey also found 71 percent of pet owners do).

We get it! Deciding when to call the vet or schedule a visit is tough, especially if your dog is young and healthy, like Lynch’s three-year-old black spaniel, Rumi. “You’re wondering, ‘Should I let it go? Should I see the doctor the next day?’” Lynch added.

Instead of going crazy Googling “dog cough” and reading worse-case scenarios, Lynch, channeling her best Christy Cummings, urges people to reach out to a vet—for both peace of mind and some expert advice.