Ali gets his teeth cleaned!

This is Ali. (He is a very distinguished cat.) He was told he needed a dental cleaning by Dr. Carey. His blood work results all came back normal from his Wellness visit on February 10, 2009(see blog on that date). (He is very overweight so his "mom" was very glad he did not prove to be diabetic!)

First he was checked in by a registered veterinary technician (RVT). Our hospital has 5 of those on staff! Then he was examined again by Dr. Carey to make sure that he checked out okay for his anesthesia.
After that exam he was given some pre-meds
by Dr. Carey's surgical technician team. All our doctors (we have 7!)have at least 2 RVT's that work with them on their surgery days. Dr. Carey's surgery day is Wednesday. Pre-surgical medications help with pain, inflammation, and help to "take the edge off" while a patient is waiting for a procedure. Ali was very good and the pre-med's didn't bother him at all. This is Ali with his RVT, Tammy.

He is ready for his anesthesia so he is given an IV dose of anesthetic drugs that make him sleep for about 5 minutes. This gives us enough time to intubate him so we can hook him up to a gas anesthetic machine that will keep him asleep until we turn the gas off and wake him up.
During this time he is on a heating pad, he is on a respiratory monitor, and he is hooked up to a blood pressure monitor. If their pressures get to low (as Ali's started to) or to high we adjust their gas levels and/or fluids to help with their blood pressure. There are other steps we take if we continue to get abnormal readings. We take very good care of our patients! His teeth are cleaned, probed for pockets, rinsed with an oral hygiene rinse and fluoride given.
If we would of found any abnormalities then we would of x-rayed and or pulled any necessary teeth that need to come out. Some animals come in and their teeth are so bad that they actually feel better immediately after their procedure. In fact, we once had a twenty year old cat that was not eating and pawing at it's mouth. We removed some nasty teeth and the cat ate that night!

Here are Ali's before and after pictures, taken while he is still intubated.

Almost all our patients go home the same day after surgery or dentistry. There a few exceptions such as major surgeries or pets that have extensive dental work done. Ali went home the same evening and is feeling great.

Rudy & his family thanks us!

James, Denise & Rudy moved to Ohio in 2004. We were really sad to see them go! Recently, their little miniature schnauzer Rudolph was diagnosed with kidney disease by their veterinarian in Ohio.

Dr. Carey was Rudy's veterinarian from 1999-2004. Rudy's owners wanted a 2nd opinion on his condition so they telephoned Dr. Carey &; he spent several minutes discussing Rudy's treatment plan with them.

We received this really nice Thank You card in the mail a few weeks later! We are always sad to lose any of our patients and Dr. Carey was really happy that they remembered him and he was more than happy to help!

Note: the above posting was on 3/23/09- We are very sorry & saddened to report as of today 3/25/09 that we received another nice letter from Jim and Denise and Rudy did not win his fight with kidney disease and has recently passed away.

The Wonder of Dogs

This video will really tug at your heart! (Make sure your sound is on)
(I know I'll have to find some good cat videos to share! )
If you have trouble viewing this video please click here http://bluespringsanimalhospital.com/single_pages/video_help.html

Click on photo to read

A Blog by Lincoln

Hi. My name is Lincoln. I am a dog and I was named after "the" Abraham Lincoln, our country's 16th president. My mom thinks I'm the greatest. I try to live by Mr. Lincoln's standards so I too believe, "Whatever you are, be a good one."

I found the coolest thing the other day.


It was so beautiful that I just wanted to eat it up! So I did. I figured I would start my own collection and the best way for a dog to hold on to something is to eat it! I wanted to be a good collector so I didn't tell my mom as she doesn't like for me to eat anything other than my food or treats. It is more fun to be adventurous, I think! Besides, as Abe would say, "I fear explanations explanatory of things explained."


I got a belly ache and pretty soon I was not able to keep the chicken that I ingested (without my good mother knowing) down. The throwing up scared my mom & she was worried about chicken bones so she took me to see Dr. Carey.

He is a great doctor and an even better friend. He always pats me on the head and sometimes he even gives me a kiss! As my namesake would say, " The better part of one's life consists of his friendships." Dr. Carey talked my condition over with my mom and they decided it would be best to take a picture of my tummy. That is called an x-ray. It didn't hurt at all and pretty soon they could see my treasure I was hiding in there!

They really didn't know what it was and of course I wasn't going to tell them! I wanted to keep it for my own collection. But, my tummy was starting to hurt something awful, so I thought it would be best to let them have my first marble after all, and besides, I kinda forgot it was in there anyway.


Dr. Carey decided that they could do surgery right away. Besides, Mr. Lincoln would say, "Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today." They made an incision in my tummy that looks like this.... I was asleep the whole time. Dr. Carey told my Mom that is called anesthesia. My surgery didn't take long and pretty soon Dr. Carey gave my Mom the marble that I swallowed.

I don't know if it's worth any money but I heard my Mom say,"that was one expensive marble!" I wonder how much people pay for marbles, anyway? I think it made her happy that I was okay and I was happy that my Mom is going to keep my marble for me (high on a shelf, she said!). Abe says, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." I believe that & my mind says be happy always!

Of course I, like Lincoln say, "Everything I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother".

And "The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." So, as I make my speedy recovery I'll be planning my next great adventure!

Love & happiness (and lots of slobbery kisses),

Lincoln