Our New Home

Well, we finally are in our new home! On Thursday, February 10, 2011, we moved from Market Street to Plaza Street and saw our first appointment Friday morning! Once we've unpacked more completely, we'll post some pictures, but we are up and running with few hiccups. The space is taking shape quickly and the work space is a welcome upgrade over our former facility. We look forward to seeing you and your pets soon. Stay tuned for our ribbon cutting and open house in early March.

Ely: "I thought you said tutored!"

Here is a look behind the scenes of a surgical visit:

Ely arrives in the morning having skipped breakfast. Robin gets his weight sets him up in a comfortable cage with an ID collar. Ely wonders what neutering is.

His check-in sheet tells us that he needs some preanesthetic blood work to make sure he can safely be sedated.

During his exam, the doctor determines that several baby teeth have not come out. After consulting Ely's mom, a plan is made to remove them under anesthesia. A medication is given to control pain and smooth out the anesthesia.

When this has taken effect and the blood work has come back normal, Ely is sedated with an injection and then put on oxygen and anesthetic gas for the procedure. Fluids and antibiotics are administerd as well. All goes well with surgery and the extractions, but an examination of Ely's ears under sedation show a large wax plug over the right ear drum. A loop is used to carefully remove it and the ear drum is healthy underneath. Our technician implants a microchip for identification and Ely goes to the recovery area. Later that day, Ely goes home with some additional pain medication for the next 48 hours.

(Even with a "routine" surgery, there are always individual considerations, and in this case the dental and ear issues were able to be addressed without a second anesthetic procedure. We love our hi-tech tools (ultrasound, anesthetic monitors, digital dental x-ray, in-house lab, etc.) but the foundation of good care will always be the physical exam! )

Reunited

Most folks have heard of microchipping their pet. A "microchip" is an inert rice sized bead that contains an electronic device that holds a code. When the chip is scanned, the scanner induces a signal in the chip that is transmitted to the scanner to reveal the code. If the code is registered with the microchip company, the owner's contact information can be used to contact them. Here's one story that I'll add to the mix of reunions facilitated by this technology:

A new client presented a wonderful cat that they had named Elvis for an exam. Elvis had been hanging out around their house and being fed by them for about 6 months when they decided to formally adopt him and get him caught up on his vaccines and deworming. We identified some significant dental issues that needed to be addressed and the client agreed to leave Elvis to have the dental procedures done.

Before I sedated Elvis, we scanned him and found a chip. I called the new client to let them know the news, knowing they would be disappointed if they couldn't keep Elvis. They graciously said that if Elvis was missing from a home, he could be returned, but they would love to keep him if the original family could not be found. Well, we did find his first family through the microchip company. Elvis had disappeared 6 months earlier and they were relieved to find that he had been taken care since then.

The original family did cat rescue work and had several other cats to care for, so Mrs. was willing to allow the new client to adopt Elvis, but she needed to check with her husband who had been very attached to Elvis. Fortunately, he also agreed to let the new client keep Elvis.

Even though a reunion ultimately did not take place, Elvis's former family has the peace of mind of knowing that he is in a good home. And Elvis had his dental work, is up to date on his routine preventive care, and is living happily in his new home!

Sign of the Times

Our new sign was installed recently--now Plaza Street is really starting to feel like home! Our improvements to the handicap parking spaces should be complete within a week if the weather holds out and hopefully we'll be moved in by mid February. The excitement builds!