Newsletter

The holidays are a joyous time filled with festivities, decorations, and delicious treats, but they can also bring unique hazards for pets. We want to ensure your furry friends stay safe and happy during the season. Our trusted veterinarian offers tips to protect your pet during the holidays.

 

1. Mind the Decorations

Holiday decorations can be intriguing but hazardous to pets. Tinsel, ornaments, and light strings pose choking or strangulation risks, while certain plants like poinsettias, holly, and mistletoe can be toxic if ingested. Keep these items out of your pet's reach, and always supervise them around festive displays.

 

2. Watch the Treats

The holidays often come with rich foods and sweet treats that can be harmful to pets. Chocolate, raisins, and artificial sweeteners like xylitol are toxic to dogs and cats. Keep human food on the table and provide pet-safe snacks instead. If you’re unsure about what’s safe, consult our veterinarian.

 

3. Create a Quiet Space

The hustle and bustle of holiday gatherings can overwhelm pets. Provide a quiet room or safe area where your pet can retreat if they feel stressed or overstimulated. This space should include their bed, toys, and access to water.

 

4. Travel with Care

If you’re traveling with your pet, make sure they’re secured in a carrier or harness during car rides. Update their ID tags and microchip information before you go. For additional tips, schedule a visit to our dependable veterinarian.

 

By following these simple precautions, you can keep your pet safe and make the holidays enjoyable for the entire family. If you have any concerns or questions about holiday pet safety, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Wishing you and your furry companions a safe and joyful holiday season!

Ultrasound is a non-invasive, modern technique that produces a visual imprint of the interior of the body. It allows the doctor to achieve a depth of detail that is not possible with X-rays.

 

Echocardiography is a standard, non-invasive technique for assessing cardiac anatomy, pathology and function. High-frequency sound waves produced from a hand-held device are directed at the heart. The sound waves are reflected back to the machine and an image is produced. This image is transmitted to a video monitor where it can be seen. The image may be still or moving.

 

Ultrasound uses sound waves, is non-invasive, painless, uses no dies and has no obvious harmful effects. It is perfect for diagnosing many types of heart problems.

 

The heart is a very complex organ. It has four valves, an electrical conduction system, and four chambers, all of which are crucial to its function. As in people, animals suffer from a wide variety of heart diseases. In order to correctly diagnose and treat these diseases, it is necessary to see inside the heart, visualize the movement of the chambers, and to look at the valves in motion. This is the area where ultrasound predominates. Using ultrasound, it is possible to watch the heart in motion and to measure each of its’ parts. Ultrasound also allows the doctor or technician to measure the actual physical effects of various heart medications and to carefully adjust dosages.

 

Most heart diseases are treatable, and in most cases, animals can live normal lives once the nature of their condition is under control.

Maintaining your dog in top physical shape and optimum health is the goal of every responsible dog owner. It is also your veterinarian's goal, and together, you can ensure that your pet stays healthy for years to come. Crucial to maintaining your dog's good health is the routine physical examination that your veterinarian performs on your pet.

 

Check-ups are important because they provide an opportunity to prevent diseases or even avoid them altogether. Unfortunately, many pet owners tend to underestimate the value of these visits because their pets appear to be healthy. However, this may be deceiving, since many diseases are often not evident in the early stages.

 

What Happens During A Wellness Examination?

 

Before the physical examination begins, your veterinarian asks you questions concerning your dog's state of health. This is very important for determining whether or not there are problem areas that need to be addressed. After obtaining a history, your veterinarian performs a physical examination on your dog. Starting at the head, your veterinarian examines the eyes, ears, face, and mouth. Examining the teeth is especially important since up to 85% of all dogs and cats over four years of age have some degree of periodontal disease! Early detection of periodontal disease is important, not only for effective treatment but also future prevention.

 

Health & Behavioral Risks to Consider

 

• Heartworm - Heartworm disease is a serious threat that causes cardiovascular weakness and lung incapacity. Caused by Dirofilaria immitis, these worms plug up blood vessels, which places an increased workload on the heart, along with restricted blood flow to the lungs, kidneys, and liver. This can eventually lead to multiple organ failure, including heart failure and death. Visible signs of the disease often do not appear before the infection has caused significant and irreversible internal damage. As part of an annual physical examination, your veterinarian can perform a simple test to detect heartworm disease and prescribe an easy-to-use preventive.

 

• Obesity - Your veterinarian can also determine whether or not your dog has an obesity problem. Obesity affects almost one out of every three pets, making it the most common nutritional disease among dogs and cats. Through visual assessment and palpation, your veterinarian can advise on whether or not your dog could benefit from a weight-reduction program.

 

• Diet - Diet is one of the most important considerations in health maintenance. Its importance lies not only in optimizing a pet's health, but also in the prevention and management of many diseases. Nutritional counseling is an essential part of the veterinarian's checkup and many owners use the opportunity to gain valuable advice on what to feed their pets.

 

• Obedience - Training is important for your pet's health because behavioral problems account for more deaths in dogs than any known disease. In fact, a well-trained and obedient dog is more likely to live to a ripe old age than a poorly trained one. Obedience-trained dogs are less likely to be involved in car accidents and dogfights, tend to be happier, and are less likely to have behavioral problems. The checkup provides an opportunity to discuss training techniques and behavior concerns with your veterinarian.

So you have a cute furry companion who loves to play fetch and go to the dog park. But are they well-behaved? It really doesn't matter whether your canine is a four-pound Chihuahua or a 104-pound Rottweiler. An untrained dog is an invitation to disaster. And a dog that won't come when called is always in danger.

 

As a pet owner, you should be committed to training your dog. So if your adorable companion has the tendency to bark to get your attention or to run away when you call for them, it's time to do something about ending that poor behavior.

 

Now for the good news: dogs are easily trained. That's probably the reason why dogs have long been America's favorite pet. Despite the fact that they train relatively easily, however, you still have to do the job. One way to make training simple is to get a breed that readily adapts to your lifestyle and that corresponds to what you want in a canine companion. Serious breeders can help you with this decision. They should tell you about their breed's inherent trainability—advice you should heed before making your final decision.

 

Rest assured that training does not strip a dog of natural instincts or "joie de vivre." After all, these are the things that attract people to dogs in the first place. We want you to celebrate the canine spirit, not abuse it.

 

What training does, however, is structure the dog's responses, giving you a good companion. Training gives you an animal you can trust, rely on, even flaunt. In fact, it establishes a channel of communication between you and your dog that significantly enhances your mutual respect and friendship.

 

Every civilized dog should know at least five basic commands: heel, sit, down, stay and come. These commands form the core of the exercises required for a Companion Dog degree in an American Kennel Club Novice Obedience competition. Even if you don't take your dog beyond these beginning lessons, they are absolutely essential in making every dog a true companion.

 

Incidentally, you train your dog to understand its name in much the same way you train it to do anything—by simple, repetitive action. As far as the name goes, make sure everyone in the household is using the same name. And, you can teach an older dog a new name, if you must.