Friday, June 4, 2010

We have been having a busy spring with both large, small and exotic animals! We currently have a soon to be 3rd year UGA veterinary student, Heidi, riding with us 3 days a week. Our hospital has a small feature in the current issue of Southern Distinction magazine. Over the past few months, we have had to take a miniature horse mare and her foal to my house...in the back seat of our truck, removed an insulinoma and an adenocarcinoma from an older ferret, spayed a rabbit, neutered several more rabbits, did allergy testing on 2 horses with seasonal itchiness, as well as a number of other things... We love this time of the year! Flea and tick season is in full swing due to humid spring we've had-if you need information on how to combat fleas and ticks, please contact us. If you use Frontline Plus and think it is not working, Merial will send a representative to your house and go over ways to reduce the flea population-this does require a 3 month purchase of Frontline for ALL animals in the household, but this is free support that Merial offers. Please contact us for more information if you are interested!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter! Well, Friday was a CRAZY day-4 appointments, 2 dog spays, 2 cat neuters plus had to go take a sick miniature horse to my house, 1 long dental with 24 extractions and several clients coming in for flea & tick meds!! Tis the season for the bugs to be out! Had 2 emergencies Saturday and had to euthanize an older dog today :( Spring has sprung!! Today, reorganized the examination room by adding countertop and cabinet space-looks more open now! It is certainly a challenge trying to fit everything we have in a 600 sq ft building, but we do a pretty good job of it!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

We have had a fairly quiet end to last week but this week has picked up nicely, as has the weather! We have been busy sterilizing dogs and cats for both individuals and the Washington-Wilkes Animal Shelter, as well as seeing routine appointments and farm calls. Last Friday attended a conference at UGA but this is how Caitlin's day started: our "rescue" cat in the office has 5 kittens and decided to bite Caitlin as she was changing her food and water bowls, resulting in her dumping the water all over herself...That is sometimes the way the day starts here!

Large Animal Pictures

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Today, spayed 2 dogs and went to xray a chronically foundered horse-had severe rotation in all four feet, especially the front. Regardless, he has good days now and again and is getting along fairly well for the degree of rotation! It's unfortunate that horses need to spend so much time on their feet. Laminitis or founder is not uncommon, especially in horses that are overweight, with metabolic disease or Cushing's disease. This is the time of the year where owners need to start restricting grazing to these horses, in order to reduce the risk of founder. Once a horse founders, it is more prone to do so in the future! We will see where this guy is in a year to see if corrective trimming can reduce the degree of rotation some.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Today was initially an uneventful day at the office, with only one cat neuter scheduled. However, we ended going to Elberton on a call, seeing several puppies and one sick kitty. You never know what is going to happen around here! The cat had renal (kidney) failure, although he was only 7 years of age. Most cases of chronic kidney failure in cats are due to old age. However, in younger patients, we may suspect a congenital kidney disorders, such as kidney cysts, or a toxic insult (ethylene glycol toxicity or antifreeze poisoning is not uncommon, although the course of action is rapid in these cases). Cats in kidney failure usually present with weight loss, increased thirst (called polydypsia) and thus increased urination (polyuria), inappetance and vomiting in the later stages. Kidney disease is diagnosed by urinalysis and blood work. There is no treatment for chronic kidney disease, only supportive care with a dietary change to a renal diet, supplements that may control levels of phosphorus and potassium in the blood and administration of fluids under the skin. Unfortunately, by the time the blood work reflects changes consistent with kidney disease, at least 75% of the working units (nephrons) of the kidneys are damaged. This kitty cat had fairly elevated values of kidney analytes in his blood work so the prognosis is poor:(

Monday, March 22, 2010

Very quiet day at the office! Performed uterine culture on a mare pre-breeding but that was about it! However, received our new mobile office phone, a Blackberry Storm 2, and was enjoying the updated technology with it! Our office is also participating in the March of Dimes for Babies at the Clarke Central High School Football Field on April 30, 2010. Any donations are appreciated-our goal is to raise a minimum of $1000 for this cause. If anyone is interested in donating, please go to http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1389818. We would welcome anyone interested in being a team member as well!