I need a name!

My family is having a hard time thinking (and agreeing) on a name for me. I welcome your comments and suggestions and maybe you can help them decide on something soon!! Otherwise, this girl is going for the other shoe!!

New Puppy?

This little pup was worried about his first visit to the vet. It is pretty intense. All that oowing and awwing from our staff!
A puppy's first visit, and every visit after, includes a good physical exam. Even if the person you got your puppy from says that all the vaccines are current it is really important to let a veterinarian check your pup over for any signs of illness that may pose a threat now or in the future. Also, make sure and have the puppy checked for parasites! All puppies and kittens have worms, it's the way the roundworm life cycle works. They can have a multitude of other parasites as well, some live in the gut, other's on the skin or in the ears. We want to give them the best shot of starting off as a healthy member to your family and we Y them very much so that makes our jobs so much easier! Please call us if you have any questions at all about your puppy's first visit, we would love to meet them and maybe even get a "worried" picture or two!

Money Saving Tip for Cat Owners

The last time I purchased litter box liners I got them from a discount store & paid under $2/box and bought about 25 boxes. Needless to say, I ran out. I went out shopping for liners and realized the price has gone up considerably since I last looked!

My cat's litter box at home is roughly 7" deep by 15"wide and under 25" long. I decided instead of purchasing a box of 10 liners for $5 plus that I would buy some large trash bags. I chose the 33 gallon size (2ft 9 in x 3 ft 2.5 in .8mil) and I got 120 bags for a little over $12. I put my litter box inside the trash bag and I used a file folder rubber band to go around the rim of the litter box to hold the trash bag in place. (I purchased those at Office Depot for $3 for a box of 25) I've also found that if your trash bag is large enough that you can stretch it around the box and still rubber band it in place.  This keeps the cats from pulling in any excess part of the trash bag into the dirty litter box. I also made sure the bag laid flat against the bottom of the litter box so the cats were stepping into a solid foundation not one with a lot of "air bubbles".

When it came time to change the litter box I just removed the rubber band, turned the trash bag in on it's self so that all the dirty litter was now bagged up and ready to be tied and hauled to the trash can. If you stretch the bag then just take the rubber band off and bring the bag sides up to tie.  The rubber band can be used again. Very easy & cheap! I hope this tip helps save someone else some money too!

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

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