Lakeview Veterinary Clinic

April 15 reflections

2011-04-16T07:30:00.002-05:00

This is not a typical April 15 reflection that you might think it is. Sure the taxes are due, and this year we get a break and we don't have to have the forms postmarked until Monday.

But this April 15 happens to be my birthday. My 50th birthday.

And I have been happy about that. My plan for my life was so much different than what has happened the past 50 years, and I can not chronicle them all here. Yet I recall a few of them that - at the time - did not seem significant, yet as I look back, it is easy to see how God had a hand in this wonderful journey that He has had for me.

The first thing I recall is the challenge I had just to get into this elective class when I was in my last year and rotations in Veterinary school. It was not the class in medical photography, nor the one on soft tissue surgery, nor the ophthalmology rotation. It was a ballroom dance class that was off the veterinary school campus.

There was a 6 pm class, and it looked like a fun thing that my former non veterinary roommate (now graduate) and I had always talked about taking.
So I realized, this was my last chance. So I talked to the admissions folks at Veterinary school, and as long as it did not interfere with the rotations, that was fine. I talked to the Physical education college, and they said it was ok, as long as I got the approval of the instructor. I tried (over my limited lunch breaks) to run up and talk to the instructor, and each time the office hours were posted, when got to the office, Ms. Villacorta was not there. Two days later, I got a 30 minute break, and tried again, and unfortunately, she was not there again. I came back frustrated, and a classmate, Larry, encouraged me - Ray - try again - I can cover for you for 30 min this afternoon, and maybe you can catch the instructor at class. So I did, and met the instructor, and she asked if I could join this class - I told her no, with my 'other classes', so she allowed me to take the beginning ballroom dance class at 6 in the evening, even though classes had been going on for 1 week already. She had me come that first class and just observe. Of course, we end up with a sick case in the 'large animal' rotation, so I came in just at the time, with my clinic coveralls on. I am sure I looked like a total dork/ or hick. But it was interesting.

And in that class was where I met Kelly... my wife.

I am so greatful for the chance to meet her, and how God has put so many different opportunities in front of me, and how He has given me the courage and fortitude to take advantage to the opportunities. Just to name a few:
-worker at an animal ER clinic (before it was popularized on animal planet)
-moved to Milwaukee, and besides working there, was invited by our parish priest to be involved in the RCIA group. I learned more there than my sponsor did.
- start working as a 'relief' veterinarian in Milwaukee
- the birth of Natalie at St Luke in Milwaukee
- moving to Illinois to spend more time with extended family
- living in a home that truly have been a gift
- helping over 100 colleagues take a break from practice, and enjoy their own family time
- when the time came for something I had dreamed about back in veterinary school - it was time to own a practice, and the perfect practice became available.

I often think - why are we so scared of certain 'ages' we cross. I have not had that concern, and at first I was not sure why. Even when I was thinking about each of these different events, I had not thought - why not be scared/ remorseful, etc?

Then I realized why. On my dad's side, I have 3 cousins my same age. Michelle, Ramona, and Mickey.

Mic died in February 2009. He won't be celebrating a birthday this year with his earthly family. That makes me appreciate this birthday all the more.

Yet at the same time, I pray that he is celebrating his birthday this year with his parents and grandparents in heaven.

So I celebrate this birthday, and enjoy the thanks and fellowship of friends, pet owners, and colleagues who have been a part of my life, and helped me to become a better person. Thank you all for sharing your life with me.

"Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive,
it isn't."
- Richard Bach

Thinking about .... new year

2010-12-10T09:04:00.003-06:00

I was thinking about the past year, and how greatful I am for so many things.

I am greatful for all of you who put up with my bad grammar. Hopefully, you can still get the message. :-)

The other thing I am truly greatful for is something I heard last year at this time, when talking about our habits.

How do you want your life to be different next year than it was this year? How was your life different this year than it was last year? If it is not, who have you blamed? ;-) (Matthew Kelly)

Our lives change when our habits change, and the person challenged us to thoughtfully consider making New Year resolutions that will change our life toward something different you want next year.

Pick one of these 6 areas and during the next 3 weeks, figure out something new to do to create that habit that will give you the life you want.
Look at
Your faith
Your family
your finances
Physical Health
Social Contribution
Ongoing education and vocation

These 6 areas are from Dave Durand's book "How to win the world without loosing your soul"

Pick something concrete to do, that is doable in one, two or maybe each category. But just pick one. Do not overwhelm yourself.

write it down and put it on your mirror in the bathroom.

I did that, and I am happy to say I kept each of them
I did a regular additional weekly reading from the Bible
I made a conscience effort to do things _with_ the family instead of just being in the same house
I cut back on eating out to save on finances - car pooled with my daughter to ICC 4 days a week.
I also take a 1 mile walk 5 days a week.

Next year, I plan to up the ante.
And I am planning it now.

What are your plans to improve your life? Make those plans, put them on the mirror.

And a Santa list for your dog or cat!

For your pet - consider a trial of Dasuquin. This is the joint supplement for our dogs AND cats. Nutramax is offering a money back trial.

Try the entire bottle of (84 count) and if it does not help your dog or cat, we will credit your account for the full price!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

2010-11-19T13:03:00.002-06:00

Why is the anticipation of a holiday so much fun?

Sure, I know it is work. Baking pies, getting a turkey 'ready' for the oven/ fryer/ grill all take planning, and it takes some work. Getting the bread for the stuffing or dressing, finding the sweet potatoes or yams, or the cranberry sauce are also fun/ different, but hard. By the way, do you prefer the homemade cranberry salad, or the ocean spray with the little ridges? - weigh in on our Facebook page by clicking here

But it is the anticipation of the event that is the excitement. We sometimes loose that though, don't we? We get a little overwhelmed with the different things we think we 'should' do.

Yet that is not the reason for Thanksgiving.

I remember this quote from President Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation in 1863: "he year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come" (the full proclamation is here)

I know too often I forget the fortunate situations which God has given to me. I have seen man walk on the moon, and communication and information be so available at our fingertips.

I am so greatful for the many blessings which we have been fortunate to receive.

Presenting at state meeting

2010-11-09T12:45:00.003-06:00

Hello all,

I have been privileged to present two workshops at the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association this past weekend in Lombard, IL.

The state of Illinois Veterinary association only has 1 meeting a year, and they invited me to come and speak.

I thought of all of you as I was preparing my talk, and how much all of you have encouraged me (especially with our house selling journey) and been so helpful.

We also hope and pray that this has been a reciprocal relationship, and we have extended the life of your beloved dogs and cats.

WE learned some new things on liver disease in dogs, in particular some copper storage disease. Look for our paper newsletter which will detail which breeds we need to monitor to make sure we catch these problems early. Like all the diseases we find and treat, we find that the earlier we find out about these diseases, then easier and less expensive it is to treat.

Look for that information soon.

Halloween

2010-10-22T09:37:00.002-05:00

If you are a subscriber to our newsletter, you will soon learn the details of what to watch for when thinking about giving dogs a snack from your trick or treat bag.

I think may folks are aware of the chocolate problems - interestingly, a 10 lb dog can get into toxicity problems with only 2 ounces of the dark sweet chocolate! That is not much!

The other danger we want to make dog owners aware of is the Xylitol containing candies and gums.

Xylitol is a sugar free sweetener. In the dog's body, the body things it has enough sugar, so the body sends out signals not to allow more glucose in the blood. The problem is the blood does not have enough glucose when this happens. These dogs can go into a coma and die if not immediately taken to a hospital, receive IV fluids with glucose supplement. This may last 2 - 4 days.

The most popular gum that contains Xylitol is Orbit gum.

So don't do so much with Orbit that your dog will get into trouble (unlike the commercials). :-)

technology and pets - what is common?

2010-10-08T09:23:00.001-05:00

Technology - it's great when it works.

This week has been an interesting one at the clinic. Our color printer which prints the color pictures of your wonderful pets when you are here, was having 'issues'.

It thought it needed to move itself sidways - but only the color - and the yellow moved more than the red and blue.

Hmm...
So we check the support manual, and we have to recalibrate, so we do that 5 times - no luck.
Then download the new firmware version.
Do that.... recalibrate 3 times, still no change.

Then they suggest we do a 'hard reset' where you turn it off, and reset the factory settings,
then we had to set them back up to the way the network recognized the printer.

And voila (for those not speaking french that is: Woo hoo!! it works) The colors all reregistered and are now all aligned properly!

But it is amazing how much we get to rely on these wonderful gadgets.

It is sort of like our dogs and cats, isn't it?

If they are not feeling well, we try to do some things at home - like we would for ourselves - maybe no food if their tummy is upset. We allow them to have the remote, and have some chicken soup.

If that does not help things, we bring them in to the Doctor and he does an exam and diagnosis the problem and situation and see if that helps.

But it is always a reevaluation and reassessing of the situation. We are all constantly learning. 100 years ago, blood letting was a common treatment for a number of diseases. We now think that is unreasonable - and really counter indicated.
50 years ago, if a dog or cat was sick, we would 'wait a few days and see of he/ she got better' and if not, then if not we brought them in to the Doctor.

And 20 years ago, we knew a lot more about preventative vaccines, and when Parvovirus came on the dog scene in 1979, I remember it well. As a 'kennel boy' at Chatham Veterinary Clinic in Chatham IL (sough of Springfield), I remember coming in the morning to clean kennels and we had anywhere from 3-8 dogs - usually puppies - who were vomiting and had diarrhea, and IV fluids in their legs. We used special isolation techniques to make sure we did not infect other patients.

And the great medical marvel is that within 4-6 months, there was a vaccine produced by a company named Fort Dodge where we could vaccinate the dogs and protect them from this deadly disease. It was a truly remarkable and shining moment for Veterinary Medicine. We had a virus that was very contagious, and had a high death rate, and in very short order, we had a preventative vaccine.

Now, practically the only patients that we diagnose with Parvovirus, are dogs that are not vaccinated.

What a triumph.

And I also want to credit you, the pet owners, who are so responsible and keep your dog and cats preventative care up to date to keep them the healthiest they can be!

What is your favorite thing you do at home that helps you keep your pet's healthy? Share that on our Facebook page!

Birthday bash

2010-09-16T14:30:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

My oldest daughter celebrated her 19th birthday this week.

In some ways, it seems like only yesterday that my wife, Kelly, and I brought Natalie home from the hospital.

It was exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. What were we supposed to do? How does this stuff work? How do we take care of a new baby?

Well, time gives us some answers and it has been a joyous ride. I say joyous, because sometimes our society tends to focus on the immediate sense of happiness or hard work and not on the long term benefit.

I know of many folks who, at the end of their life, wish their children were around more. I even heard one mom say that she wished she had more children when they were younger (her children at the time were 28-22).

It is amazing how our life is easier to see the priorities when looking in the rear view mirror, isn't it?

I think our pets help us with that thought process. They live for the moment - the excited toy for the dog, or the bouncing ball for the kitty. They just enjoy the moment, and let later worry about later.

Of course, they have a full food bowl most of the time to worry about, rather than having to earn a living but they do their best.

Ignore teeth - they will go away

2010-09-10T11:47:00.003-05:00

I saw this little quip on a dentist's magnet when I lived in Milwaukee.

I thought it was clever and true at the time, and it is still true today.

And just as much with our pets.

"But we never used to get our pet's teeth cleaned". That is true, but our average pet age in 1986 was 9 years for dogs, and the same for cats.

Since then, due to the taurine deficiency found in cats, and improved nutrition and preventative care in dogs has increased the average life to 13 for dogs, and 15 for cats!

And unlike George Washington, we can make sure our pets live with all of their natural teeth the rest of their life.

How?

Tartar treats that are approved by the Veterinary Oral Health Council There are many treats that claim to reduce tartar, but on the VOHC site, there are only 22 products, most of which are foods.

Also regular cleaning - especially when your dog or cat has tartar grade of 1 or 2 can reduce the pockets along the teeth / gums.

No pockets, no tartar.
No tartar, no loose periodontal ligament.
No loose periodontal ligament, no loose tooth.

No loose tooth, no extraction!

and a full set of teeth.

Ask us about the lay away plan to save for your pet's teeth cleaning.

Honoring a hero

2010-09-03T10:43:00.003-05:00

In the PJStar.com article on the Creve Coeur Marine, Lance Cpl. Robert Newton, the author is able to show how a sacrifice can be honored.

Which begs the question, what sacrifice, and how does that define a hero?
Webster defines it:
b : an illustrious warrior
c : a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities
d : one that shows great courage

In our society, we tend to equate celebrity with hero. While some celebrities may be heros, the terms are not synonyms. And I think you only have to look at motive to see a difference.

Both make sacrifices and train for their purpose. They both give things up. Yet the motive is different.

The celebrity's motive is to draw attention to him or her self. It is important to the celebrity to keep the constant focus on themself. That is the reason they make the sacrifices.

The hero's goal is not to draw attention to him or herself, but to help others to see the dignity in their own life. They step outside of themselves to help someone else either close to them that they love, or someone they may never meet.

Is it easy to do a noble achievement?

No.

Is it easy to discipline yourself to create noble qualities?

No.

It takes courage.

No, it takes GREAT courage to create in yourself noble qualities that cause one to sacrifice for something great.

Something that is beyond our understanding.

Unless we lose it.

Something like Freedom

And it takes heroes like Lance Cpl. Robert Newton to allow us to have such a freedom. We are forever grateful for the sacrifice he made for us.

That is a hero.

Vacation musings

2010-08-27T14:41:00.003-05:00

One thing we do with our family is try to make memories of our vacations.

One way to do that is to remember a couple of things that happened, and tell the story to other people.

So one way we do that is for everyone to come up with 3 things they remember about the vacation.

This is the list we came up with:
Bugs, beach, St Max - Natalie - age 18
S'mores, beach, Grandpa (Kilian) - Elyse -age 8
Beach St. Max, Eating around campfire - Mary -age 13
beach, s'mores, Grandpa's - Therese -age 6
St Kolbe, Our Lady of LaSalette, Oooga booga Barbeque (with Grandpa in Lockport) Rachel -age 15
bugs, setting up camp, no internet - Dad
Finding shapes in the clouds, playing golf as a family , beach - mom

All of this is a fun exercise that shows the true meaning of vacation. That seems to be time to decompress, spend time with each other. In this time when many of us sit at computer screens and not talk with each other as often as we like, vacations are a great opportunity to get reconnected with those who mean the most to us.

How to find a Veterinary Doctor you are comfortable with?

2010-08-06T14:31:00.003-05:00

In a recent newspaper column " Hints form Heloise" she gives the following advice, which I think is excellent:

This was very helpful for folks looking for a veterinarian when they first move to an area:
Schedule an appointment with the Doctor, without your pet, to conduct an interview. This will lean about doctor's approach to medicine, but you will b able to assess if his/ her personality is one with which you and your pet will be comfortable.

- We welcome this opportunity

Is the Dr available for occasional or ER visits, housecalls?

- We are very fortunate to have an after hours ER clinic that takes care of all of our patients. While the practice is not set up for regular house calls, we can make the occasional house call.

Can you be with your pet as emerges from anesthesia following surgery?

- You may be present. Many clients find our web camera - where you can watch 24/7 more convenient and helpful. Check it out at: (after hours we put a night light up when we have patients. If there are no patients, then we remain green by not using the lights.

( Does the )office have after hours contact numbers for ER

- I am very proud that we have an emergency clinic that is fully staffed by trained Certified technicians, assistants, and Doctors that can look after our patients when we are not available. Any critical cases are also able to be constantly monitored by this excellent staff.

The writer was happy to report that after several interviews, she was happy to report she found an excellent match.

- We invite everyone to consider interviewing our clinic to become a client.
---------------
And if you are looking for something else, we can help you because we have a relationship with our colleagues in the area.

Our goal is to find the right fit. When you find the right glove, you just know, it feels comfortable and good to wear those gloves, whether they are work gloves, winter gloves, baseball gloves, or exam gloves.

The right fit makes all the difference.

Vacation memories

2010-07-29T15:39:00.001-05:00

What do you do on vacation? My family enjoys camping and the relaxed pace of a 'combination' of laying around a swimming beach, and having fun around the campfire.

What are your favorite vacation memories?

One of mine is the time we discovered that our daughter Elyse had a soy allergy - she threw up all over as she was 6 months old!

Not a lot of fun, but it was memorable.

A very fun one was when were were in Wisconsin about 1 hr north of Madison. It was a 2 week stay, and the beach was very close, and the weather was very pleasant. This was our definition: warm enough in the day to play in the water, yet cool enough at night that the campfire was not uncomfortable.

Imagine the campfire the past week!

We will be camping in a couple of weeks, but we have a great Dr, Dr Lorna Sifford, who will be filling in while I am away. She his from near St Louis, and has a lot of hunting dogs. So bring your hunting dog stories in for her. :-)

Share your favorite vacation times on our Facebook page here:By becoming a Fan of ours!

Helping keep pet's teeth clean - and in their mouth

2010-07-16T14:14:00.004-05:00

We have been excitedly encouraging folks to brush their pet's teeth, and use the tartar control treats and chew sticks.

Why? you may ask?

Not too long ago, it was unusual for grandparents to have all of their natural teeth. My own maternal grandparents did not have their own teeth, and my children's maternal grandparents did not either (my wife's parents).

Yet today, it is very common for folks in their 60's and 70's to still have all of their natural teeth. My mom does, and when my dad died 11 years ago, he also had all his natural teeth.

So what changed, and how can we apply the same techniques to our dogs?

A couple of factors and we will address how we can help with our pets:
* flouride in the water
* brushing and flossing teeth
* professional teeth 'prophy' cleanings done regularly before a lot of tartar builds up.

So how can we do these same things with our pets?

* Flouride in the water.
-- This is easy to continue unless your pet has problems with minerals in the urine. Make sure you use city water to get the trace amounts of floride.
* Brushing and flossing teeth
-- This is something that can be done for dogs and cats. It is not as easy to do if the pets have not been taught at an early age to sit while you brush their teeth. And even if you can not do this every day, every little bit does help reduce the plaque and tartar.

-- Tartar control treats. There are many treats down the isles that claim to reduce tartar on your pets teeth, but the question is, do they help? The veterinary association created a Veterinary Oral Health Council, which is like the American Dental society seal we see on tooth paste. This council investigates all products - water additives, foods and treats to see which ones actually do reduce plaque.
Their web site above has the list, and we keep the t/d food and CET chews here at our office.

*Professional cleaning
-- Getting your pet's teeth professionally cleaned at our clinic. We use an ultrasonic scaler to remove the tartar and plaque. Then the teeth are examined, probed, and the teeth are then polished with a polishing compound. After the polishing, the teeth are rinsed and reexamined. Then if all the teeth are cleaned, we apply a fluoride treatment directly to the teeth.

We take before and after pictures so you can see what an improvement the teeth have made.

And we can help your pet keep all of it's natural teeth, and in the process help your pet live one day longer to forever with you.

Make some money breeding

2010-07-09T10:51:00.005-05:00

Hello everyone,
We may think about this a lot when we invest in a purebred dog. I know I did as a child, and even as a veterinarian, this logic of 'making some of my money back with breeding and selling the puppies' seemed to make sense.

Until I found this article on the myth of making money as a breeder.

Average Profit or Loss on Litter

The average number of pups:

born in each letter .....……..7

Dying before eight weeks.......2

Sold per litter.....………….....4

Given away or kept by owners......1

Then;

The percentage of breeders…

who had at least one pup returned to them ....31%

who had legal complications with buyers..…....8%

who’s bitch or pups encountered medical problems endangering animals lives......63%

whose bitch will not be bred again*..........49%

The average expenses incurred to breed the bitch and raise pups until they were sold:

Original cost of bitch	$462.29
Cost of male	$772.57
Veterinary Expenses	$430.09
Extra food for pregnant/nursing bitch	$73.44
Food for pups	$175.65
Equipment for deliver and housing pups	$282.13
Salaries lost because of absence from work	$247.20
Ads and other costs to sell pups	$173.31
Total average expenses:	$2,616.68

Average number of hours spent with bitch and pups until they are sold:	345
Multiplied by minimum wage (x$3.50)	$1,207.50

Average income from sale of litter: $2,345.71
Average amount LOST per litter sale: $2,488.47

Even if you don't count paying yourself, the loss is ONLY $1,280.97

The 35 breedings included a litter form each of the following: one Alaskan Malamute, one Border Terrier, one Borzoi, one Boston Terrier, one Doberman Pinscher, one English Springer Spaniel, one German Short Haired Pointer, one Great Dane, one Kuvasz, one Labrador Retriever , one Lhasa Apso, one Mastiff, one Samoyed, one Siberian Husky, one Vizsla, two Dachshunds, two Golden Retrievers, 2 Norwegian Elkhounds, 2 Rottweillers, two Shetland Sheep Dogs, three German Shepherd Dogs, three Newfoundland, and four Poodles (one Miniature, three Standards).

* It may be the result of increased danger to the bitch’s health, a strong possibility of reproducing a serious genetic abnormality in future pups, or extreme financial loss.

This data was compiled by Ms. Linda Johnson in 1987 (hence the low minimum hourly wage), but the data is still accurate.

Just some food for thought if you consider 'breeding to make some money back'.

Freedom and why we should be grateful

2010-07-02T10:39:00.003-05:00

Freedom is something we all yearn for.

Those who were wise enough and courageous enough 234 years ago knew this. They also knew that anything worth having is worth sacrifice.

And their sacrifice may not even be realized in their lifetime. I remind my children of that every July 4, as I also try to remind them daily.

I think we all can see this in small ways - we don't eat out for lunch to save money for a special dinner. Or we skip some coffee in the morning to buy a special gift for a girlfriend or spouse.

A favorite author and speaker, Andy Andrews, has a great Blog on this, and how we need to forgive ourselves of the mistakes we an make.

That is what freedom is all about. How many people do you know that always 'hold a grudge'? It does not take these folks more than 5 minutes of conversation to get back around to who harmed them 10+ years ago, or whenever it was.

You don't move on, you are not free.... you forever classify yourself with this lense.

May God continue to bless our great nation as we continue to strive to remain free to follow our laws. Freedom to follow a leader we are excited about.

Reflections on compliance

2010-06-04T09:24:00.003-05:00

We all love to make sure things don't negatively happen to use, don't we? We fill up our gas tank before we run out on the road, we change the oil (or have it changed:-)), we grocery shop before we run out.... especially for dog and cat food.

We know our pets will not let us rest if we don't have their food when they need it.

But what about other medical conditions? Do we really put the 'appropriate' concern for the disease thready that is posed. On the human side, I think about West Nile Virus. Did you know that in all of 2009 fewer people died from West Nile than children drowning in a bucket with water in it?

But we don't hear about the dangers of mop buckets, and partially filled bath tubs, do we?

My point is with dogs and cats checking for intestinal parasites - yes poop patrol! This is not a very glamorous topic, but important. Why?

Lets go back to the West Nile cases. In 2009, there were fewer West Nile cases reported to the CDC in Atlanta than the number of cases of Visceral Larval Migrans causing blindness in the eye of a human. In fact about 700 people in the United States each year will be diagnosed with this permanently blinding disease. The CDC

You may ask - so? What has one incident to do with the other?
Visceral Larval Migrans is caused by Roundworms which people accidentally ingest.

I know what you are thinking - there is no way I could ever eat a roundworm egg - that is from poop!!!!
Gross.

But here is how it happens.

Your dog or cat unknowingly has roundworms. You can not see the worms. in 1 in 10 cases, the roundworms are visible in the 'poop' but 9/10 the worms stay in the dog or cat's body.
After the dog or cat uses the potty, they clean themselves. We have all seen it. It is gross, but they do it.
You come home from work or shopping for their food, and your pets greet you and the door... you bend down to pet them, and love on them. They greet you the way cats and dog do, by 'kissing' you.
You lick your lips as you go to get a glass of water, or other ice cool beverage from the refrigerator. :-)
And you have unknowingly just received some of those roundworm eggs.

So how to I prevent this from being a problem in my house?

Easiest thing to do is to have your pet's stool (poop, BM, #2, sh#*) checked by your veterinarian at least once a year. Your Doctor may recommend more frequent checks, or 'strategic deworming' if

you or someone in your house is taking medicine for anti rejection for organ transplant.
someone in your house is taking chemo follow up - or has taken such medicine and is in remission for their cancer
you or someone in your house routinely puts things in their mouth that your pet is licking or chewing on. (like my children who put everything in their mouths when they were less than 4)
Any other condition for which your human doctor says you should avoid stress.

In these cases, the pet's stool should be checked 3 times a year, and at least one strategic deworming per year that is staggered with the 3 stool samples. All of these are summaries of the full CDC and CAPC(Companion Animal Parasite Control council formed by the CDC) and are available here for you to see.

Of course, if you have additional questions, you can call our office at 699-6443.

Memorial day and our pets

2010-05-28T11:05:00.002-05:00

Our dogs and cats are true companions, aren't they? I believe part of what we love about them so much is the loyalty and love they express for us.

And that is what Memorial day is all about.... the love and sacrifice our men and women in the armed forces give to all of us is a memory that can not every be replaces.

A wonderful man shared this reflection on Psalm 23 with us when we realized that we had done everything we could to keep is beloved dog from suffering.

I also think an armed service division could be code named "Goodness" and "Mercy".

A psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me; you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name.

Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage. You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.

The Lord is my Shepherd… only Goodness and Mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

What if Goodness and Mercy are the names of two dogs? When you watch a shepherd leading his flock, the shepherd takes the lead because he knows where he is going, leading along the correct path, trying to avoid the hazards for his flock.

The two dogs, Goodness and Mercy, are the shepherd's dogs who 'guard our rear'. They help keep us from attack from the rear if we don't keep up with our leader as well as we should.

Our dogs do that, don't they? They show us what unconditional love is, when we do not want to show that love to others. They show us loyalty when we don't always want to show it ourselves.

They show us the gifts of the Holy Spirit as delineated in Isaiah 11:2,3 :

Wisdom,

- they gain their insights from watching other dogs do their 'thing'. Dogs show us this by repeating the good habits they are taught by the shepherd. They remember the lessons, and apply them to the herd at different times.

Understanding

- they know what they can do, and what they can not. You rarely see a chihuahua acting like a retriever, although they sometimes act like a ferocious attack dog.

Counsel

- how is best to act - almost by intuition. Dogs will look for other dogs to 'run with' and will take on those characteristics - good or bad. The Good Shepherd helps the counsel of the group of dogs to understand their mission.

Fortitude

- If a dog is doing something that is his/ her mission, you are not going to stop them. Try keeping a labrador from chasing a stick. They are known to go into heat exhaustion and almost die because they love to chase that stick and bring it back.

Knowledge

- allows us to see our circumstances as God sees them. Certain breeds just 'know' instinctively, and those skills are improved by the good shepherd who patiently teaches the dog how to use those skills well.

Piety

- reverence and willingness to serve The Shepherd

Fear of the Lord

- gives us the desire not to offend God. All dogs show us this with how they adore us, and trust us to lead them along the right path.

What can our pets give us...

2010-05-14T16:16:00.002-05:00

Our pets give us so much love, don't they?

That is why we love them so much.

One other 'thing' they can also give us, though, is related to health. And the poop.

Parasites are an 'invisible' problem that dogs and cats can have because the parasite eggs are microscopic in size. We may think of the roundworms and tapeworms which are visible in the stool sometimes. But unfortunately, those parasites are so sneaky, they don't always show their face.

In fact, they send out their tiny eggs to do their dirty work for them!

And if we pick one up accidently, there is a condition called 'visceral larval migrans' that can affect the eye, and you can go blind. I know a colleague in Ohio who has this condition and is blind in his right eye. Last year, 700 individuals came down with this rare disease.

So what do we do?
the CDC recommends checking pet's for intestinal works at minimum every 6 months. For individuals on chemotherapy, or have organ transplants, the pets in the house should also be strategically dewormed every 6 months alternating (so 3 month interval either test or deworm).

Call our office if you have more questions about this easily preventable problem at 699-6443

Weather nice and what do we do

2010-05-07T14:45:00.002-05:00

Hello again,

Nice weather brings out the best in us, doesn't it? We want to do new things, try new opportunities, and enjoy life.

Well, we have an opportunity to do that. Mallory, our CVT found some kittens and is now looking for a home for them.
You can see a video of them here on our Facebook page. And while you are there, become a fan, or like us, or whatever Facebook is calling it this week. ;-)

Another note: how do we enjoy our pets. We all know that loving and difficult decision comes much too soon for us. Sometimes, like this week for a few of our owners, it comes much sooner than what we expect.

One of our favorites (and we only have about 400 favorites that come in ;-)) struggled against an illness the past 4 -6 weeks, and is now gone. Our memories do last a lifetime, don't they? If you are like me, you think of all the pets we have had that touch us in a special way when we hear of such a story.

Also, on a side note - we are taking the entire staff to a conference next Tuesday, May 11. The clinic will still be open, and the phones answered. My wife, Kelly, will be in to help 'hold down the fort'.

Does anyone even know what 'to hold down a fort' means?

Maybe that is a Facebook question.

Thanks on condolences

2010-04-30T12:42:00.002-05:00

I love when we get to help someone. It feels good when you get to help someone. You show love, and reverence, and support.

It is sometimes awkward when we are on the receiving end. That is the way it feels with all the outpouring of support for my wife, Kelly and our family, as we grieve the loss of Peg Kilian, Kelly's mom.

It is very reassuring and comforting to feel the presence and prayers of everyone who was with us.

Thank you so much.

Cat for adoption for single household

2010-04-09T11:50:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

With spring here, we like to think of fun things, and enjoyable times. Our pets really enhance, that don't they? It does for me. Our cat, Oliver, enjoys sitting in the window. The dog went crazy last saturday running around to enjoy the weather!

So we have Buddy, who is new to our clients home. He was going to live in the house, but his test for FIV (Feline Immunodefeciency Virus) turned up positive. This is similar to human HIV. The cat may live a normal life, but can infect other cats with a bite wound, so should not be outside, or with other cats.

But as you see here in this video He is a self petting cat!

Call our office at 699-6443 if you are interested in adopting him. We will ask you some questions about FIV to make sure you know about it. Here is a link from our library from our main page.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Pets help us reflect on the chapters of our life

2010-03-26T14:32:00.002-05:00

Isn't it amazing about our pets.

My favorite picture is of my daughter Elyse with our dog Zin as she is holding him with her goofy glasses on. If you are a subscriber to our email newsletter, you see this picture often. If not, then do it right away, by clicking here - it's free!

But our pets, while being a part of our lives, also help to chronicle the chapters of our life. In our own case, Kelly and I had Tigger and Tiger since just before we were married. I have them to Kelly as a present one Christmas.

And they shared with us our first 14 years of married life. They saw us bring home our first 3 children. They moved with us from place to place to place from Schaumburg, to Milwaukee, to Clinton to Maroa. Then Oliver (now 5) came along and the kids were so excited because he was playing and chasing things 'Tiger never does this'. Kelly and I got all misty eyed " He used to do that." Kelly taught him to 'fetch' pearls, and he would chase them in circles until he would fall over.

Lazarus was our first dog, and through an accident - even DVM's make the mistake of not keeping the dog on a leash while on the morning jog, he was killed. I got him from a rescue at one of the clinics when I was a relief Dr. We had him almost 1 year, and he was so skinny, he could only walk 10 feet before having to stop and pant and catch his breath. He went from 28 lbs to 39 lbs when we got them to the correct weight.

Next week some more stories. and chapters in Raymond Ramirez's life

What about Heartworm disease?

2010-03-19T15:09:00.003-05:00

What do you know about heartworm disease in our pets?

Here is a Heartworm 101:
Dogs get it by being bitten by a mosquito
The dog does not have to be in contact with other dogs.
Inside dogs can still be bitten by a mosquito.
An arsenic based medicine is used to kill the heartworm if the dog has it (obviously a potential problem for the dog also)

Preventative is less than $0.30 per day for even the biggest dogs.

The heartworm preventative we recommend - Interceptor- also takes care of _three_ of the most common intestinal parasites, Roundworm, Hookworm and Whipworms. No other monthly Heartworm preventative also does this.

Make sure your dog is tested, then put on preventative.

Also, just like West Nile, people and cats can get this also.
the cycle is the same, except since the cat is not the natural host, the worm behaves differently.

Dental month and behavior information

2010-03-05T13:47:00.002-06:00

As we complete February dental health month, we still have a few items that are approved by the Veterinary Oral Health Council.

To be honest, I did not know about this organization of dedicated veterinarians who scientifically test the different tartar control products.

Isn't it true that just about every other product you see on the dog and cat shelves claims to have 'tartar control' or 'tartar reduction'. But are the claims true?

According to the Veterinary Oral Health Council web site

They have a list of products that have been the approval of the VOHC. And interestingly, there are only 22 items. It sounds like a lot until you realize very few are in the 'treat' category, and only one is one of the water additives.

Check out the site to see what is a better food and treat for your dog and cat. And call us to pick up the T/D food for the $5.00 off that the manufacturer extended to us. As you look at the chart on the VOHC web site, you will notice that the T/D food was the first the receive the approval of the Veterinary Oral Health Council.

Mallory and Cherie attended the Mississippi Valley Veterinary Conference. Dr Rolan Tripp, a veterinary behaviorist, was the speaker, and they received a lot of great information. Look here and on our web site, and email newsletter and Facebook page for the expanding opportunities to teach your dog or cat new 'citizenship'.

You can check Dr Tripp's web site at animalBehavior.net.

Pet dental health month

2010-02-25T11:56:00.002-06:00

As pet dental health month winds down, I have a couple of thouhgts.

First our pets still have teeth next month. :-) And they will build up tartar and plaque, so keep up with brushing.

We have a few of the t/d bags for cats and dogs for the $5.00 off the manufacturer gave us, as well as a few of the CET chews.

I learned, like the 'approved by the American Dental Association' for human toothpaste and other products, there is a Veterinary Oral Health Council that will put their seal on products that actually do benefit the pets to reduce tartar and plaque.

The oral rinse that is available and is the ONLY one with the VOHC approval is at the bottom of the list.

Notice the T/d food is the first approved, and the CET chews are also on the list. The 'flossing' toys have not received this approval.

Healthymouth anti-plaque water additive is the additve that is recommended. It is available by clicking here.

They also have a cat water additive available at the same address.

Happy smiles.

Day Dreaming or Dreaming of something better?

2010-02-19T13:33:00.003-06:00

We had in interesting staff meeting on Wednesday. Kelly Ramirez (my wife) came in and presented an interesting concept - how to manage your dreams.

We started with - what are were your dreams in the past? Who helped you achieve your dreams?

And more important, what are your dreams now? For this year, for 5 years from now, for 10 years from now?

We did a 'dream storming' session with the staff - asking them to write down their dreams.

So what are your dreams? We will continue this on our Facebook page also. If your not a 'fan' check us out here.

What makes you smile

2010-02-12T10:31:00.002-06:00

I have thought about what makes someone smile - is it a fun event, or a joke. Is it at the end of a nice day where you get to help people?

What makes you smile? In our clinic - a new puppy is a very nice smile. Getting a chance to see the joy on a person's face who brings in a new bundle of energy into their house is very exciting for everyone. And that excitement is contagious.

What makes you smile so much that your smile is contagious? I was reminded of that when I think back to the days my children were born. That makes me smile, and it was contagious when I went back to work.... and I think it lasted for exactly 13 years. ;-)

When I bought the practice here in East Peoria, I had a big smile, because that was a dream I had since I was a high school youth, was to be a veterinarian, and 'be my own boss'.

Sometimes the road to get our dream is longer than we think... but it is worth it. We learn something with each and every day that passes that helps us become a better version of ourself. What is that for you?

I know our pets have helped me to become a better version of myself. I learn so much from them every day. And I am very privileged to be able to take care of these wonderful creatures every day.

That makes me smile.

Take time for important

2010-02-05T11:23:00.002-06:00

I was driving to work today, and an incident gave me pause to think about what is important.

As you know we are trying to sell our house north of Decatur. As I was driving around Bloomington this morning, I saw in front of me a black Saturn spinning and doing a 360 in front and slide down the side of the highway.

They probably would have been OK, except this occurred just south of the Normal Wildcats football stadium... where the culvert is for the drainage ditch.

The car unfortunately hit that just the wrong way, and flipped over and disappeared to those who saw the whole thing.

Along with many others, I stopped to go help those in the car. Turns out it was a dad and his older daughter.
The car was upside down in the water part of the ditch, with the trunk and rear seat in the water.
By the time I had arrived, both of the passengers somehow had survived, with only scratches, and were out of the car. Obviously both were shaken up, and were soaked. We all offered out coats, had them take off their wet clothes, while some others called the paramedics and state police.

In all - almost 10 people stopped and came to offer help for this person in distress. The dad thanked us all, and was very greatful because, as he pointed out, if we had not stopped, you could not see the car from the road, it flipped into the culvert and was 'hidden' from the road.

It is why I love to work in Central IL. People here care for each other and what is important. Several folks waited for the paramedics and police to show up... just to be there with the folks. It is all very scary time, but just having folks around is very helpful.

I took it a little slower on my drive in, and thought about many things - how our lives have changed for the better since having a chance to work in this practice, as we move to the community.

I want to thank you for being a part of a wonderful community, and welcoming me into your community family.

A wintery scene

2010-01-29T10:55:00.003-06:00

When it gets cold outside, we like our comforts.

Our pets give us that, don't they? They curl up on our laps as we relax watching TV at home. We enjoy their warmth, their gentle demanor...

Unless you have a bouncy labrador or terrier. :-)

Then they are only still when they are asleep.

Interesting time but an enjoyable time to enjoy a slow down and enjoy life. We enjoy life one day at a time, don't we?

Or do we worry about the weather next week, or the meeting next week, and forget to enjoy the present right in front of us, the enjoyment right in front of us.

I know I do.

But our pets remind us to enjoy the current day and time, and 'just enjoy it'.

Transparency in everything

2010-01-22T10:42:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately, We live in a skeptical age. Many times we can not trust those who try to lead us, and unfortunately we are frequently proven right.

In Illinois, we only have to look at our political leaders to see this very clearly.

I have strived to have this transparency in the clinic as well. To help support that, we are going to be having a series of video's that describe some of the many procedures we do here at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic.

This is in no small part thanks to our newest staff member, Joe Sholl. He used to be the floor director for WEEK news, and is working now to get an electrical engineering degree, and will be at John Hopkins in Baltimore in a few years to help those who need prosthetic devices.

Until that time, while he is picking up classes at ICC and Bradley, he is helping us at the reception desk, and was able to put together this video. This video is on You tube now, and we will also have it on our Facebook page as well. This video explains how we take care of your pet while they are here for an Ovariohysterectomy (spay) procedure. We hope you find it informative.

If you have not become a fan of our Facebook page, please do so. Many clients are accessing it and finding it very interesting as we share some of the daily musings of the staff.

I hope everyone is off to a good 2010. Have you written down a goal for 2010? Maybe read a new book author, or learn a new skill?

What you write, becomes what we do..

Teeth - why pay attention to them with your pet

2010-01-15T07:09:00.002-06:00

Brushing our own teeth is a habit we like. You are probably like me in that, when I wake up in the morning, I don't like the 'fuzzy' teeth, so I brush right away.

And we get the benefits from the daily brushing with less tartar and plaque buildup on our own teeth.

Imagine how quickly that builds up when we stop brushing even for 1 week!

Now imagine that person kissing you.
<>blech<>

You probably know I am now talking about your dog and cat. And brushing is important, but when our pet has tartar and plaque building up it may be time to clean them professionally. And what better way to start the year off than with a clean fresh mouth?

We have been giving classes on nail trimming, and CPR, and puppy selection. We recently were asked about other class on brushing teeth.

If you are interested in such a class in and evening, or during the day, call the office today at 699-6443.

Let it snow, let it snow

2010-01-08T08:06:00.003-06:00

I guess we can say we are in winter now! For those reading in areas other than central Illinois, we have had about 6-8 inches of snow. I'm not sure of the official total, but it is a bunch around the clinic.

And as we started the new year, we want to thank all of you for allowing us to serve you and your pet over the past year. We strive to improve our knowledge, and pass that on to you.

If you have not done so, join us as a fan on facebook! We are having some fun with it.

We also sponsored a pet CPR certification class.

Unfortunately, it was last night, and with all the snow, many who wanted to attend could not. We would like to reschedule the class. Our challenge is that "Jerry" - our CPR dog, is borrowed from Parkland Community College which has a Veterinary Technician degree program.

We will check with them and see if "Jerry" can come out and play again !

So what do you do to prepare for an emergency? Did you run out to buy your shovel earlier this week, or did you have one?
What about salt?
Did you check your snow blower (if you have one) before this week?

I did and all my kids were ready to go. ;-)
I even got them some extra scarves!

But they are happy as long as there is hot chocolate waiting for them when they get in the house! Ahh the simple things.

I do miss our Newfoundland, Zinn. He loved the snow and would be outside with me all the time when I was shoveling the snow. The colder it was the better he liked it.

Adena is not so happy with that. :-)

Celebrations

2009-12-18T14:01:00.002-06:00

This week has been a week of celebrations at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic. Cynthia Shaw, our part time assistant, is graduating from Bradley University on Saturday - her birthday!

And my daughter's birthday is today, Friday.

I was thinking of the fun of celebrations, and just taking a moment to enjoy those we have in our lives. I think our pets help us to do that tremendously.

Anyone who owns a dog knows that they just enjoy the moment. They enjoy that excitement, and don 't worry about where the next food will come from. They trust.

The cats just relax and enjoy the scene going by in the window, without worry about the next day.

Our daughter seems to have that enjoyment as well as she turns 8. I don't have that any more - I worry, like many of you.

I guess that's why God gave us children - to learn from them.
And why we enjoy our dogs and cats - they teach us things we need to remember.

Christmas reflection

2009-12-11T08:56:00.002-06:00

I was looking for some outside decorations for the clinic on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and went to the local hardware store, Lowes and Walmart.

I was amazed at how _few_ decorations were available. very few outdoor lights, few wrapping paper items.

I miss the anticipation, and the excitement of Christmas day. Growing up, we did not decorate except for the week leading up to Christmas, and the tree was not gotten until that week, and the decorations not hung until Christmas eve.

And we celebrated the 12 days of Christmas from Christmas Day until Jan 6, the traditional day that the three wise men came to give the gifts to the infant Jesus.

I say this as an explanation for why you will notice we are just now starting to put up our Christmas decorations, and why they will be up until January 6, 2010.

A nice present to consider for your pet is starting a Pet Savings Account. You can just use your regular bank, and open a special savings account, or Christmas club account specifically for your pet. Then put just $10 a week in the account, and you will have money for their regular care, for the teeth cleaning treatment, the emergency that comes up.

What a great present - peace of mind!

Thanksgiving - time to be thankful

2009-12-01T19:51:00.002-06:00

At Thanksgiving I find it very easy to be thankful.

I am thankful to the staff who make it easy to practice, and not worry about how they are taking care of the pets and their owners.

I am thankful for the pet owners who have entrusted their pet's care to us. We take that seriously - and try to have fun with it also.

I am especially thankful for my wife and children. They are the reason I strive to improve myself every day.

I am not perfect, and I am thankful for that - because it gives me something to correct every day. Some days, more than others, but I strive to improve on all of it.

And I am thankful for the opportunity to share these thoughts with so many who find them interesting.

Amazing, isn't it that just 10 years ago, something like this Blog did not exist at all - in fact the word did not even exist....

Wow.

Thanksgiving Thank you

2009-11-20T10:44:00.002-06:00

What are the Top Ten Reasons to come to the Lakeview Veterinary Clinic’s “Pre-Thanksgiving” Thanksgiving Open House?

10) Prizes Galore! including 1 free year of heartworm preventative for one lucky dog.
9) Cat prizes too - 2 free senior blood and urine screening for two lucky contestants’
felines
8) And since cats can’t have all the fun -- free senior blood, urine and fecal check for
two lucky contestants’ canines
7) “Open” means that it will be open to everyone! You need not be a patient or client to
attend the fun.
6) Easy to find! We're right next to Vertucci's, home of all things Chicago --- Cubs,
White Sox, Bears.... (hmmm, maybe we should leave that one off?)
5) Cool demonstrations ongoing in all exam rooms!
4) Special “Behind the scenes” presentations showing how they do a teeth
cleaning without getting bit!
3) Laser demonstrations every 30 minutes with our CO2 laser equipment. (We know if
it's good enough for human tattoo removal and the latest facial surgery, it's good
enough for our pets. We've had the laser option at LVC since 1997!)
2) It only takes a few minutes to stop but can reap lots of fun and prizes!
1) And the most important reason to come is because we’re not sure when we will be
doing this again, so you don’t want to miss the opportunity while it is here! (Besides,
it will be so much fun!)

So, come and join us from 9 AM till 12 noon on Saturday, November 21st for good times, good treats, and good eats for all! Hope to see you there!

Open House Saturday Nov 21 9am - 12

2009-11-05T16:32:00.003-06:00

We are very thankful of all the opportunities to serve our clients. We also look for opportunities to share the exciting 'behind the scenes' things we do at our clinic.

So we are having an open house as a Thanksgiving Thank you. If you have seen the front page of the web site, you have seen the ad, but if not, the open house is scheduled for Saturday, November 21, 2009 from9 am - 12 noon.

We will have demonstrations and different models set up. We will have a CO2 laser demonstration every 1/2 hour as well.

There are grand prizes of a free 1 year of heartworm preventative for your dog, and 4 additional prizes - 2 for cats, 2 for dogs. These prizes are each one free comprehensive blood screening. For dogs it includes a CBC, chemistry (major organ system- liver, kidney, pancreas, electrolytes,) thyroid, urine analysis, fecal test and heartworm test.
For cats it includes a CBC, chemistry (major organ system- liver, kidney, pancreas, electrolytes,) thyroid, urine analysis, fecal test and heartworm test, and Felv, FIV and FIP testing as well.

This is a great screening which is recommended annually for cat and dogs over '50'. In cat terms that is over 9, and for dogs it is 5-9 years depending on the size. The larger the dog, the 'earlier' the time to do the tests.

It's like human medicine, the earlier we find different diseases, the less expensive and easier to treat.

All people who come and put the name in the drawing also can choose a very reduced price CB C blood test or urine analysis or 1 free obedience class.

We will also be taking sign ups for our nail trim classes and our pet CPR classes, which will be later this winter.

Please come and invite your friends to come and see.

Why did skeleton cross road?

2009-10-30T11:42:00.002-05:00

When Mallory asked me that this morning, I thought it was to get to the other side.

To get to the body shop!

Halloween is here and we have a lot of fun dressing our pets in costumes - sometimes even the dogs like it. :-)

One thing to be aware of, the sugar free treats should be kept away from your dogs. Specifically, the gum and candy containing Xylitol. It is most commonly found in "Orbit" gum, but in other gums and hard candies that are sugar free.

What happens is the dog's body does not realize it is not sugar, and their body mistakenly drops the blood sugar to dangerous levels, and many dogs have to be on IV sugar solutions for 24 - 48 hours .

On another interesting note, Nonprofit research group called Healthystuff.org found that 50% of tennis balls contain detectable lead levels. Balls intended for pets were much more likely to contain lead, while sport tennis balls contained none!
Check the web site for a more complete list.

And Joe had this additional observation about the skeleton:
Why did the skeleton not ask his girlfriend to marry him?

He didn't have the guts!
See you online next week. :-)

Thanksgiving Thank you

2009-10-23T14:04:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

Halloween is a fun time to dress up, have the pets dressup or the children. It is a time to imagine being someone special. I remember dressing as a kid as a football player (back in the day), a ghost (cool to walk through doors), and one of my hero's The Lone Ranger.

We are always looking for something else at times, yet we also learn to appreciate what we have. And that is what Thanksgiving is all about.

And we are going to have a Thanksgiving Thank you to all our clients, and invite you to an open house at the clinic. We will host it at a special day and time: Saturday, November 21 from 9 am - noon.

We will have some set up items in the x-ray room, in surgery we will have a demonstration of the CO2 laser, in the treatment room we will have a teeth cleaning demonstration, in the boarding section, we will have some other fun things.

And we encourage you to invite a friend to come. We will have some prizes- still working on details, but they will be something that will benefit all of our clients, and something for everyone who attends.

Why?
Because we want to say Thank you to all of our clients who have made it possible for us to provide veterinary services for the entire community. We look forward to moving here (if our house will ever sell) and being part of the community. But this is a way to say 'Thank you' in advance.

Calling for animal pictures of Halloween

2009-10-11T13:11:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

I have been talking to clients about their pets 'dressing up' for Halloween. We realized, we should have a place to post those pictures.

So send us your pictures of your pets in Halloween costume - to staff@LakeviewVeterinaryClinic.com and we will put them here in this Blog, and share them with everyone.

Our pets bring us so much joy, it is hard to imagine not having them around, isn't it?

Rolling over - not what you think

2009-09-25T12:19:00.002-05:00

We think of 'rolling over' in pet circles as teaching our pets how to 'roll over' as a trick. Maybe 'play dead' or another fun trick.

I knew one client's dog that loved playing dead. The taught the dog to, as they pointed their hand to the dog in the shape of a gun, they would say 'bang' and the dog would fall down, and play dead.

Then he would jump up to get his reward!

It was so cool.

But what I am talking about is that my car that I drive just rolled over 200,000 miles on Thursday!

I'm excited and proud of that. I like taking care of things as best as possible. The opportunity to share the moderate little excitement of life, but it is like our pets, who we nurse along to enjoy this familiarity of the little quirks that we all have.

We grow to love those little quirks.

Or at least I do.

Puppy classes very popular - and over 200K ... miles

2009-09-21T09:31:00.004-05:00

It is amazing to me how much we veterinarians and staff take for granted the logic of pet behavior and obedience.

Since we deal with dogs and cats every day, and we know our clients deal with their pets every day, we assume they have a lot of knowledge about how to train them.

And that is not always the case. Just because I drive my car daily, does not mean I know the best way, or a new way to take care of it properly. Maybe there is a new technique (car wax) that will last longer and work better to protect my car.

So we try to work on informing you as to the latest information to help your pet. We have many avenues we use for this purpose - sometimes the blog, the email newsletter is great for instant information on recalls which we find of utmost significance.

And of course, a good old fashioned phone call, or even better yet, a personal conversation is very helpful in helping to share the information we have.

Our goal is to try to 'translate' the medical jargon into more commonly understood language for all of us, and that will be different for different people. So if something does not make sense, ask us and we will try to use a different analogy to explain the information we are trying to share.

Also, on the way to work on Thursday, September 17, my car rolled pst 200,000 miles! Woohoo!

Much of those miles were put on the car in my previous practice life as a relief Dr. We were in Wisconsin, Chicago, Rockford, St Louis, Lawrenceville, Mt. Vernon, Peoria, Pekin, Bloomington, Normal, Springfield, Champaign, Urbana, Decatur, and many other towns throughout Illinois. I am truly glad for that opportunity, but more grateful for all of you who are now allowing me to be your regular doctor for your dogs and cats.

Now if any one knows of someone who would like to buy a 4,000 sq foot Victorian house south of Bloomington, let us know, so we can sell the house and move into this wonderful community.

School start and new routines

2009-09-11T14:45:00.002-05:00

We are all used to - or we like routines.

We have our morning routine of hitting the snooze alarm so many times before we finally get up. Or maybe you're like me, and I am up a few minutes before the alarm even goes off, and you are ready to go.

But we like the routine.

Which is why we love our pets. Our dogs like the routine, the breakfast, the 'dance' before breakfast, the outside, the place to lay when we leave the house....

They 'know the routine'.

Our cats like the routine - waking us up by playing with our face when we sleep in on the weekend.
You can almost hear them say " Hey.... who said _you_ could sleep in when you are in charge of feeding me?"

But we love those personality quirks our pets have.

So celebrate those enjoyable moments we get to live in the 'little things' of life. They truly help us out, and lead us along a great path.

New receptionist hired.

2009-09-02T14:38:00.003-05:00

Welcome to our new receptionists!

Brittany O'Brien and Joe Sholl have joined our team as receptionist. They will be sharing the position, and you will be seeing them as we begin their training process. The entire process is going very well.

We'll have more information on the web site soon.

also, we often talk about having a good plan for your pet's health, and a good contingency plan. That is a 'what if' scenario. That goes in every day life as well.

When the computer server went haywire last Saturday, we found out that our backup system was indeed very good - once we figured out the problem, and realized we needed to get the backups, it took us a few minutes to figure out which backup was best, then we copied that onto the back up server we have, and set up the workstations.

We are limited with the backup server with the number of workstations, but we have all the information, and all the previous records and files.

Good planning is important.

More pics of the kittens

2009-08-27T15:29:00.003-05:00

Marco the Adventurer

Therese and Polo

Columbus

Marco the Adventurer on Kelly

Christopher

2009-08-26T09:23:00.002-05:00

These are the kittens.

Bark for life - Police dog demo, kitten gentling and new Receptionist

2009-08-21T13:04:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,
Saturday, August 22 at 9 am, the American Cancer Society is sponsoring a fundraiser caleld Bark for Life.

I will be there as the Veterinarian on call. A wonderful client of our, Dave Haskins, current president of the Central Illinois Working Dog Association, is going to give a police dog demonstration. If you have never observed such a demonstration, I highly recommend you come.

Kittens are fun.
A client came in with a very nice mom cat, and 4 kittens that someone was able to foster, and more excitedly, we are able to do the gentling technique that we have been doing with the puppies. I thought I had the pictures here, but I do not, so I hope to upload them in the next day or so. When I last checked, the owner is looking for a home for the four kittens. The mom already has a home.

And if you have driven by the clinic, you noticed we are expanding the staff. On Thursday, Brittany and Joe accepted our offer to join our team. We will have more information posted in the staff section of the web site.

Helping at the ER

2009-08-14T21:04:00.002-05:00

Many times we try not to think about what would happen in the event of an emergency to our pet. But we also know that it happens.

That is why the Tri County Animal Emergency center in Peoria is the area's only fully staffed animal ER in the area. There is a trained staff, and veterinarians whose job it is to work the ER. The nighttime ER is their full time job.

And sometimes the veterinarians need to go on vacation. So we colleagues who work with the ER clinic will 'pull a shift' and help them.

That is where I am tonight. Pulling Friday night ER duty.

So far... several bee stings, and one Hit by Car.

Use leashes when at all possible.

Thanks for 'tuning in'.

Fleas more common and ways to fight it.

2009-08-07T08:40:00.003-05:00

As many of us petowners know, dealing with fleas can be a challenge.

The expense of Frontline can seem more than what we want to pay since we don't have a problem. After all, why spend money that is tight for something that will kill (the fleas) when we don't even have them? Besides, I can get something like that at the store, right?

Well, sort of, but not really.
Let me explain.

First, you are correct, if you ask why you need to prevent fleas if they are not on your pet. You do not have to prevent them. You can wait until / if you get fleas then deal with them.

If you have seen the new video we have playing in the office about fleas, you will quickly find out why you may prefer to prevent them rather than treat them. The adult flea you see will lay up to 20 - 40 eggs every day. Those eggs hatch into little worm like maggots (larvae is the medical name, but it sounds so sanitary - maggots sound so much more exciting, doesn't it? ;-)). Then the little maggots (only a mother loves this face) feed on the flea .. well, there is no polite way to say this, flea poop! Their I said it. The flea 'dirt' we like to refer to as really the flea excrement (another fancy sanitary name).

So the worms are feeding on the flea poop, then they develop a 'pupae'. What is that? It is like the 'cocoon' that a caterpillar spins before becoming a butterfly.

This cocoon stage is the hard part to deal with when treating fleas. This 'stage' of the life cycle is like a bunker for the flea, and short of burning it, there is no insecticide/ spray/ garlic/ UV light that will kill it.

And we usually don't recommend burning down your house to treat the flea problem in your house. :-)

So to break that flea life cycle, we have to keep the pet on flea preventative, and treat the 'environment' (your house, and yard where the pet stays) for about 6 months.

So those are your options. We do have a copy of the nice DVD that is available. We have approval from the company to make copies for clients that are interested in watching the dvd.

Dasuquin questions for arthritis

2009-07-24T14:27:00.003-05:00

We have had a lot of clients ask good questions about the use of Glucosamine and Chondroitin products for their dog and cat's joint health.

I regularly reference this study performed by John Hopkins in Baltimore. They found that the cheap glucosamine pills in the store are rarely the 1,000 mg they claim. And a complicating problem is that the more money you paid did not get more reliable chance at getting the right dose of Glucosamine.

That is why we carry Nutramax' brand product. They are reliable, and reasonably priced. If you are interested, we can get the human product.

Just a note that fleas have been making a return this late summer. It seems all the cool weather really helps them out.

We can sell the Frontline Plus individually or by the 3 or 6 pack for your convenience.

Parvo on the rise

2009-07-17T09:58:00.002-05:00

At the clinic the past 3 weeks, we have seen several puppies with Parvovirus.

As you may know, Parvovirus is a virus that attacks the intestinal system. It causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. Then what happens is these dogs will get severely dehydrated, and secondary infections and it can be fatal (meaning they may die).

Fortunately, cats are not susceptible to this parvovirus. (they have a different one, but that's another story - it is one of the viruses we vaccinate for - Panleukopenia)

If you have put off getting the 'Distemper' vaccine, which is actually a 4- way vaccine: Distemper, Adenovirus, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus, then please schedule that preventative vaccine right away.

We would rather help you prevent this terrible and potentially deadly disease rather than try to treat it.

July 4 and ticks

2009-07-10T09:21:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone,

Sorry I forgot to Blog last week. My daughter Rachel's birthday is July 3, and our youngest, Therese, her birthday is July 4, same as my wife, Kelly, so we were birthday central last week.

It is fun to take some time to be with family and enjoy their enthusiasm and zest for life.

We can sometimes forget that... but isn't that partly why we have pets? Because we enjoy them and their enthusiasm for the little things - that essential 5 minute nap, or if you're a cat, the 12 hr nap. :-)

One of our representatives brought the web site dogsandticks.com to my attention.

It is very helpful. If you have questions about how to deal with ticks and whether your dog (cats don't usually let ticks get a bite- they groom them off too quickly) is at risk for any tick related disease, this is a good place to start.

Also, if your dog has not had his or her heartworm test this year, our new test also checks for Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever - two of the most common tick diseases we see here. And there is no additional charge for this extra detection. We will let you know at the end of the year what the 'disease rate' is that you have.

Have a great weekend.

July 4 celebrations

2009-07-06T11:52:00.002-05:00

Our nations birthday is a very cool event.

My family and I put out our flag (even in the rain) and read the Declaration of Independence, and then the Pledge.

We also read an article similar to this:
http://www.isil.org/resources/usdocs/what-happened-to-signatories.html
about what happened to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

We owe so much to these men, and our current men and women in the military who continue to allow us these incredible freedoms.

Thank God that we are allowed to live in this country at this time in history.

I hope your pet's did not have too much shaking with the fireworks. As we mentioned in our newsletter, we have a new, non prescription medication that can be very helpful for fireworks and other loud noise phobias (storms).

Call us to let us know if you need this medicine at 699-6443

Puppy obedience classes

2009-06-23T14:25:00.001-05:00

We are starting a new round of puppy obedience classes here at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic.

The public is welcome to come, you do not need to be a client to attend. You must however be :

- up to date on the appropriate vaccines recommended by the veterinarian (Distemper, Parvo, Rabies if age appropriate)
- Have a negative stool exam for intestinal parasites.
- Must be in current good health
- Must be in your home for minimum of 10 days

If you would like to be in the class, call our office to reserve your place 699-6443. You can purchase the 6 week class for the price of 5 at $100, or you can pay as you go for $20/class.

This is just one part in our continuing effort to ensure that people are enjoying their pets.

Preventing what we don't see

2009-06-19T15:19:00.002-05:00

When the H1N1 flu was big news, everyone was a little concerned. Now since it has gone from our 'front of mind' conscience, we don't think about it as much. But the human MD's still think about it, and they look for the symptoms with their patients.

Those same concerns affect us Veterinarians as we talk to our patients also. Our problem is the dog and cat don't always understand us. ;-)

So we talk to their owners. We vaccinate against Rabies, Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus, not because we see those diseases, but precisely because we do NOT want to see those diseases. Anyone whose own dog, or friends dog has had parvovirus knows it is not a fun virus to have. The dog gets very sick, with vomiting and diarrhea. Some don't even live.

If the dogs are vaccinated, then we can prevent the disease. Or if the dog gets the disease, the form of disease is much less severe (like flu in humans).

In our cats, we worry about the upper respiratory diseases causing sneezing and eye discharges. Their 'distemper' protects against Panleukopenia, Rhinotracheitis, and Calicivirus vaccines. Some strains of the Calici virus can be deadly to our cats.

Those are common 'infectious' diseases that are in either dogs or cats.

The other area we want to inform and protect against are the "zoonotic" diseases. These are diseases that dogs and cats can give to people.

One of the categories we have tried to emphasize, are the intestinal parasites that dogs and cats get. Did you know that humans can get them also? Just by petting their fur?

Of course, most folks currently reading this Blog know to wash their hands, and do so religiously after every time they pet their dog and cat ;-), but what about the little children?

That is why we recommend to perform a stool check on every pet at least once a year. The stool check makes sure there are not any of those intestinal parasites in your dog or cats system.

And if you have someone who has had chemotherapy, an organ transplant, or a young child (who puts everything in their mouth) the Center for Disease Control recommends to also give a strategic deworming for the most common parasite: Ascarids (roundworms).

Ask us how to prevent these parasites in your dog or cat today.

Very interesting local dog show - police work

2009-06-15T15:59:00.002-05:00

If you have ever been fascinated by working dogs, you no doubt have been interested in police dogs.

One of our clients has given numerous demonstrations about police dog work with his dogs and did so at our open house last year.

The Central Illinois Police and Working Dog group dog club is having thier show this weekend - Saturday, June 20, and Sunday, June 21 at their club location which is at Deer Trace Ct in Dunlap, IL.

The show starts at 10 am. If you want to talk to folks about their dogs, you will want to get their earlier to visit with them.

If you have any questions, give us a call and we can help you get out to the show.

Have a great day.

Back to basics

2009-06-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

It is no secret that money is tight as many of you reading this may have lost your job, or are seeing fewer hours. At times like this we do cut out the 'fluff' stuff.

When it comes to our pets, many of you have told me you still want to make sure your pets are taken care of, but it is challenging.

We want to help. We have been offering for the past 4-6 months, the chance to split up the typical annual visit for your dog or cat. For example, for a kitty, they would get the thorough physical exam and Rabies vaccine on the first day. Then in 1 month, the kitty can get the feline Distemper and feline Leukemia, if needed. We only recommend the Feline Leukemia vaccine if a cat goes outdoors and is in contact with other cats, otherwise the 'basics' that we recommend for the cat is the annual physical exam, and the Rabies and Distemper (upper respiratory) vaccine.

In dogs, it is similar. Our 'basics' protection includes: Thorough physical exam, Rabies, Distemper (4 way - hepatitis, parainfluenza and Parvovirus), and Heartworm test. Lyme vaccine was recommended when I lived in Wisconsin, but fortunately that disease has not been a major probelm this far south yet. Bordatella vaccine is another that is only recommended for boarding and grooming, or attending dog parks/ shows.

Please call the office even if you can not do all the 'basics'. We can discuss with you which items are best to get back started right away, and which we can catch up in a month or two.

To think about

2009-06-06T08:08:00.004-05:00

If you have ever been frustrated with your circumstances, and what is going to happen to you next month or in the next year, you are not alone. I think about that many times.

But then in my email inbox came the Komando email newsletter came this video of the day:
">

This is an abreviated version that Randy Pausch did on Oprah.

Here is the full - better version - and maybe you will be viewer number 11,000,000
just click here to go to the You tube site to view it. Trust me, you will not be disapointed.

It is pretty easy after this to appreciate the the gifts I have given. I am grateful for you who read this Blog, and come to our practice to allow us to serve you.

Thank you.

Mayor prayer breakfast and Nutro recall

2009-05-29T11:17:00.002-05:00

I had the opportunity to attend the Mayor's prayer breakfast this morning at the Embassy Suites conference center here in East Peoria. It was a wonderful event, and gave the Valedictorian and Salutatorian of the East Peoria High school a chance to share a passage from the bible with all of us.

We started with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

I am so glad to be a part of such a community.

Please pray for my family and I as we come to the community that we continue to build upon the foundation that is here for us.

Early this week we learned of a voluntary recall of some of the Nutro cat foods. I primarily involves the "NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Dry Cat Foods and NUTRO® MAX® Cat Dry Foods with "Best If Used By Dates" between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010. The cat food is being voluntarily recalled in the United States and ten additional countries. This recall is due to incorrect levels of zinc and potassium in our finished product resulting from a production error by a US-based premix supplier."

More details are available here: At the web site of the voluntary recall

Big dog show in Bloomington this weekend

2009-05-21T14:38:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

If you have been interested in looking for a new dog, but not sure of the breed you want to look for, or you are not even sure what they may be like up close, here is your chance.

In Bloomington this Memorial Day weekend, there is a big dog show that is covering agility, confirmation, and many other aspects.

As you will see at the web site, there is going to be a lot of different dog breeds at the show and you can ask a lot of questions.

I hope you all have a nice weekend. If you have relatives who have given their lives so that we can enjoy these freedoms we have, please accept our sincere thank you.

Cute puppy in window

2009-05-19T14:04:00.003-05:00

We all love cute puppies, don't we? This cool site: dailypuppy.com has a new puppy picture available every day, and has many archives of other pictures.

It is worth a look for that 'ahhh' picture.

Also don't forget our puppy picking program tonight at the Park District building at 7 pm.

If you miss the program, call the office, and we will be happy to set up an appointment to go over the material with you.

pet web cam & puppy presentation

2009-05-15T07:38:00.003-05:00

I have to confess I am a bit of a computer geek. I do enjoy the technology and the different ways to integrate the technology to the clinic and pet's lives

Many of you know of our web cam which allows you to view your pets when they are hospitalized for elective procedure or if they are sick.

There is an interesting little gadget that I saw in my inbox recently that I thought others might be interested in. This is a pet collar camera. You put this camera on the pet's collar.

The link for the pet collar camera is here and they have the details of the how the camera works. It's not terribly expensive - about $50.

We also gave the puppy picking presentation at the Fondulac park administration building last night. It went over very well. If you know of someone looking at getting a puppy in the next several months, we have another presentation at the Park building on Tuesday, May 19 at 7 pm. All are invited, and we have handouts, and free snacks.

Invite those you know to come.

Picking puppies is fun, but hard

2009-05-08T15:05:00.002-05:00

We have been having fun lately with the question:

If Peter Piper,
instead of picking pickled peppers,
had to pick a puppy for Peppermint Patty,
what breed of puppy would Peter Piper pick?
Would he pick the same puppy for his parents?

We will be presenting a workshop with handouts at the Fundulac Park administration building (201 Veterans Drive, East Peoria, IL) on Thursday, May 14 at 7 pm. If you can not make that day, we will be presenting the workshop again on Tuesday, May 19 at 7 pm.

Handouts to cover the material and light refreshments (from Vertucci's) will be available.

Our goal is to help families make sure they pick the best 'fit' for their family. We will go through some questions for the individuals to ask themselves, and what fit of dog is best for them.

The biggest challenge is that so many folks fall in love with a well behaved dog they see on Television. It may be during a dog show, or on Animal Planet, but they think the dog is very cute or pretty. That is nice, but dogs were bred for a purpose for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and if you are not familiar with that purpose, you may be asking for a Cub and Cardinal fan to have both their teams in the World series.

It can never happen, because it just does not fit.

Sometimes that is the case with a specific breed and a family.

We will explore that in depth at the workshop.

There is no registration fee, and the class is open to the public. Anyone and everyone can come.

Being prepared - good in Scouts and ... Puppy picking presentation

2009-05-01T11:15:00.003-05:00

Hello all,
I was reminded this week of why we have drills during our staff meetings.

During our biweekly staff meetings on Wednesdays, we get all the staff together to discuss what is going on with medication protocols, how our internal routines we are modifying to try to reduce costs and improve efficiency, etc.

That preparedness came to the fore this week when a dog came in with a big cut on his chest. Usually most cuts are in the skin, but this one ended up with a very unusual cut because the cut also exposed his lungs - and was causing a pneumothorax. Anyone who has seen ER or Animal ER or other medical shows knows that this is an emergency that must be dealt with right away.

I was very proud of our team - Mallory our CVT was here, and Janet, our new receptionist was here as well.

They both did a marvelous job of getting things ready to go, and in order so things operated smoothly. In fact from the time the patient arrived until the time were were 'done' with surgery was less than 1 hour total!

And the patient is doing amazingly well - He was observed at the Peoria are ER overnight, but fortunately had no problems there, and is recovering well at home.

This is the reason you may notice on Wednesdays around lunchtime, our phones are on a message.

Being prepared is the key and it is all about practice.

Thank you for being patient with us as we continue to perfect our emergency drills during our staff meetings.

Also the Park district has asked us to give a presentation on how to pick the right breed of dog for your family.

So on May 14 & 19 at 7 pm in the Fondulac park administration building we are putting on a presentation: If Peter Piper, instead of picking pickled peppers, had to pick a puppy for Peppermint Patty, what breed of puppy would Peter Piper pick? Would he pick the same puppy for his parents?

Come and see. The presentation is free and open to the public. No reservations required. Invite your friends or relatives to come and see.

Ask yourself - What is my dream? and is it too late?

2009-04-24T14:25:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

I received this link from one of my favorite people - Andy Andrews.

But before you click on this link - try to close your eyes for 30 seconds and clear your mind...

Think about these questions:

1) What is the "right" age for accomplishing my greatest dream?

2) Do I hear the laughter and believe the doubters when I am mocked for expecting life's very best?

3) What great possibility have I forced myself to stop considering?

4) Who will be inspired or benefit directly when I succeed?

5) When will right now become the best time to begin?

But what if everyone is making fun of you?

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009
by moovieblog">

Screening tests at no additional cost

2009-04-24T12:17:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

The testing and monitoring our pets is important to prevent disease. We also know there are limited finances to keep our pets health - as much as we love them.

One thing we have been able to do through blood test screening is with dogs and heartworm testing. In the past, our 'heartworm test' was a test that only checked for heartworm disease. Specifically the test checks for the 'antigen' (shells) of the worms.

Our new test also does a screening for 'B. burgfordeii, E. Canis, Anaplasomsis.

Those are the medical names for Lyme, Rocky Mounted Spotted Fever, and Babesiosis.

These diseases are not _as_ common here in the greater Peoria area, but it is still becoming more common, and as we have a more mobile pet population, we want to know what our pets are exposed to.

The best part of the test is that there is no extra fee for this test! All 4 tests for one price, and we get the results within 8 minutes of the test being started, so we get the results right away.

If you have a friend who would like to have this test, feel free to invite them to call and ask for the test. We can do this for any dog.
Enjoy the great weather this weekend!

Birthday wishes and prevention

2009-04-17T13:14:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

April 15 was this week, and while many folks were getting their tax return back last minute, I was celebrating. I was fortunate in that I was born to parents who taught me the value of working hard, and paying attention to client's needs.

What many of you told me is that you want to make sure your dog and cat are healthy. How do we do that? Regular checkups are important. Just this past week on physical exam, we found reflex abnormalities(nerve paralysis), heart murmurs, cataracts, corneal ulcer (scratch on eye), urine scald on 'back side', lumps on the body.

A physical exam is very important for our senior pets, and we are going to recommend for our pets 'over 50' in human years to have a twice a year exam. This would be the same thorough physical exam where we look at the retina (back of the eye), ear drum & canal, auscult (listen) to the heart and lungs, and evaluate all of the 14 different parameters that we evaluate on the annual exam. We explain each of those as we explain the findings of the physical exam as well. Many people ask questions, which is terrific. Those questions show us that you want the best for your pet.

Understand the only 'dumb' question is the one not asked. If you have that question about your pet, others have asked it as well. We will use some of those questions in our 'Mythbusters' section of the web site and email newsletter as well.

Our goal is to give you accurate information about your pet so you can make an informed decision on how to treat your dog or cat, so you are not gambling on your pet's health. :-)

Have a great weekend and next week.
Go Cardinals.

Letting others enjoy your pet.

2009-04-09T16:13:00.002-05:00

We love our pets, don't we? We also love when others enjoy our pets as well, right? I know I like when someone compliments my dog or cat. It gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that is part of the reason why we have our pets in the first place.

Want to share that feeling with those who have to be in the hospital?

You can.
OSF St Francis is starting a 'Paws 4 Healing' group of volunteer 'handlers' and their pets to come to the hospital to help their patients.

Go toOSF Saint Francis web site and download the volunteer application. After a phone screening you may be invited to their temperament testing.

There are some basic qualifying requirements to becoming a member of the "Paws 4 Healing" team. They are:
-handlers must be 18 yr of age
-dogs need to be at least one year of age and should:
--consistently sit, get down, and stay and recall on one command
--Walk loosely on a leash without pulling , even when excited or in a new environment
--Be able to perform commands, without treats
--Like people an get along well with other dogs
-- Not be overly vocal
--Have no food, possession or separation anxiety issues
-- be up to date on all vaccinations and free of all skin problems.

If you need some help with these items, we have a basic obedience class that we have kept very reasonable in price - 6 lessons for price of 5 at $100.

If you just have general questions, feel free to call us at the clinic - 699-6443

Lead poisonin dogs - how does it happen?

2009-04-03T15:40:00.003-05:00

As you may know, a small amount of lead can be a problem in the wrong place in a human, especially a young child. The same is also true of dogs and cats, but the lead poisoning is not as common.... unless...

you swallow a bullet!

Yes, it's true.

And after we were able to take the bullet out of the dog's stomach, we had to put the dog on a medicine to help 'chelate' (medical name for pull out) the lead from the blood.

So don't feed your pet's any bullets!

But a more common problem is the lead around old houses, or in other soldering operations. Fortunately, it is not a common problem, but something you should be aware of.

The other common metal to be aware of to reduce is coins - pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. These coins usually contain zinc, which can be a serious problem.

Also, I was just interviewed by the newest reporter in the East Peoria Times Courier staff, Jennifer Freeman. She was highlighting the FREE puppy and kitten socialization and aggression prevention classes we offer.

Look for the article in the upcoming issue, and we will talk more about the discussions next week.

Interesting Links to good information

2009-03-27T10:22:00.002-05:00

In an ongoing effort to share information, I have some links I have used the past week that I would like to share. Not all are pet related, but some are.

Data Pig Technologies has some very good video tutorials on Excel and Access. Many are very helpful even for little things you might do every day, and some then will show you better ways to do things you are already doing.

Our vetsource Home Delivery Internet pharmacy is also very helpful. We order several medications weekly from here and this gives us the chance to have a wide array of medications to dispense to our clients at a very reasonable price. If we order some of these medications, the minimum then has us keeping drugs on the shelf, and the medicine goes out of date, and we have to throw the medicine away, thus increasing costs. This way, your pet gets the medicine, at a lower price, we all win.

University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine Open House On Saturday, April 4, the college will hold it's annual Open house. If you have never been to the teaching hospital at the University of Illinois, but thought it would be interesting - please go. It is a very cool experience, with many hands on demonstrations, and cool things to see. It is definitely worth the trip.

And if you go to the Multiple Listing service in Decatur, IL, our house in Maroa is on the market so we can move closer to our community here in East Peoria. We have many fond memories in our home - 4 of our children were brought home there, and the stories we have will stay with us forever. After all, isn't that part of what owning a dog and cat is about? The wonderful memories that we create and share and treasure?

That's what life is about, I think.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Birthday fun

2009-03-20T14:03:00.003-05:00

How much fun is a birthday?

My guess is depending on the age of the reader will depend on whether or not you enjoy celebrating your birthday. I spent part of the day on Wednesday with my daughter, Mary, celebrating her 12th birthday.

It was a nice fun day - just some family time together, reliving the day she was born (I think it's a girl thing ;-)) and celebrating with her favorite foods for breakfast, lunch and supper.

But one of the surprising fun things was I got to sit next to another daughter I usually do not sit next to - my youngest, Therese. It was a bunch of fun, and just an enjoyable day to try to relax and enjoy the day.

We did do some work on the house trying to get it ready for the market so we can move closer to East Peoria. It's all the little things we never got around to doing that will now get done so someone else will get to enjoy.

Why is it we don't allow ourselves to enjoy the present time - "We'll be happy when I'm done with...." It's like we program ourselves not to enjoy the present time - it's always in the future.

Part of the reason why I enjoy our dog (Adena) and cat (Oliver) is they enjoy the present time. They don't wait for something later, they have fun now. Adena (a retired seeing eye dog) loves her ball, and will get it whenever someone comes in. Oliver loves to cath a fly on the run!

So much fun, so little time. :-)

New opportunities from education

2009-03-13T15:57:00.002-05:00

As we all know, an ongoing commitment to education is important to improve in anything. And we here at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic are aware that is important especially in the field of medicine.

At the regional veterinary meeting that Mallory and I attended, we received a lot of good ideas as to how to improve the lives of our patients, - your pets. We are putting together how to integrate this into the practice, so be on the lookout in the upcoming weeks and months the opportunities to keep your pet healthy, and prevent easily preventable diseases.

If you have not signed up for the monthly email newsletter, go to the main page of the web site and sign up - quick link here: quick link here.

For example, we are offering basic obedience classes on Saturday morning using the technique's Dr Rolan Tripp recommends where you learn how to show your dog that you are the leader. This greatly minimizes the stress and confrontation in the house. Call 699-6443 for either the free 2 part puppy class, or the basic obedience class.

education is important

2009-03-06T16:57:00.002-06:00

I was at the Mississippi Valley Veterinary Medical Association convention on Wednesday and Thursday, and I was reminded of why our staff and I need to attend 'ce'.

We don't want to use the same things if they do not work, and diagnostics have helped tremendously in our ability to prognosticate (look into the crystal ball and see if the pet will get better).

And we also need to talk to our colleagues in the area to learn of the diseases that they are seeing locally, so we can inform you of those diseases and suggest ways to prevent them.

When you allow us to attend these conferences, we improve our knowledge base, and improve the quality of life for you and your pets.

I learned new thought directions about anemic cats & dogs. And most important, what economical tests to run, and which tests _not_ to run because they are not useful, and a waste of clients funds.

I also was reminded of liver disease in cats and how it can be associated with Pancreatitis and Inflammatory bowel disease.

More on those later, and if you have a cat with those disease, call us and we can get some symptomatic care.

What we do after hours

2009-02-27T14:53:00.002-06:00

Jotting down ideas in the Blog gives me a chance to share with you what we do in other parts of our life.

My wife and I recently were involved in teaching couples the ballroom dance, Tango. It was our Decatur community's idea to try to break the world record.

The entire article the newspaper did is here: on our world record Tango try.

It is a lot of fun, and as I mentioned to the reporter, ballroom dance is an activity / sport/ event that helps to cross generational lines. You get to meet wonderful people, and you learn a little about yourself, and how to have some fun.

If you look in their photo gallery section here, you will see many of the couples having a good time. Many were either dressed up, or in Argentinean style dance. I, being a Dr, and surgeon, opted for the Zorro look because of the sword!

What do you do for fun?
Z

Cool periodic table of elements

2009-02-21T08:30:00.002-06:00

I have a confession.

Hi, I'm Dr Ray, and I must admit that I am a science geek.

There, its out.

I know there are more of you out there, so check outthis web site- Periodic video where this team from Nottingham University explain, and do live experiments with the different elements.

Very cool in a geeky sheek sort of way.

I feel better now.

Taking care of senior pets and pictures

2009-02-20T13:10:00.002-06:00

I know many of you may want a picture of your wonderful cat or dog. Last night I met a photographer at the Chamber of Commerce event. She is right here in East Peoria, and had some nice pictures of pets.

If you want to contact her: her name is Kelli Drake at Drake Photo

As I have been taking care of patients the past week, senior disease seems to be the common theme. How do we monitor our older pets?

First is your observations at home. Those eyes can be vital to understand your pet's health. Please understand that you have more knowledge than you may realize when it comes to how your pet is behaving and acting.

Second is a thorough physical exam. Within the past 5 months, we have found tumors on dogs that were hidden to the regular eye.

Third is blood testing to evaluate red, white cells, liver, kidney, pancreas, electrolytes, and other hidden conditions.

Just some things to think about.

Tricky Treat ball- great toy

2009-02-14T17:07:00.001-06:00

Here is a link to the toy I mention to many folks for dogs.

Here it is called the Tricky treat ball

Happy Valentine's day!

Prevent Valentine defense. - learn from the dogs

2009-02-13T10:12:00.003-06:00

We guys know a good offense makes a great defense in sports. The same happens in everyday life - especially with those special to us.

Valentine's day is like that, isn't it?

Those who have thought ahead of some things to do for their spouse, or girlfriend/boyfriend, find that the reward is terrific, and the more time they put into the idea ahead of time, the better off they are, and easier it is to pull off what you want to do.

Those of us that may have a tendency to take things for granted - like myself, may find we are playing defense, and catch up.

We need to take a lesson from the dogs.

Really. ;-)

Our dogs get up and greet us every time we come into the room. They _come_ and say _hello_ every time we come into a room.

They even do that if you just left 5 minutes ago and forgot something to take with you to the car. They don't make fun, or rib us. They're just happy to see us.

Stay tuned to the email newsletter to read a reflection by Andy Andrews about this very topic. It truly crystalized this for me.

You don't know about our newsletter? Just sign up by going to the main web page Lakeview Veterinary Clinic .com and add your email address in the newsletter.

You have my guarantee we will never sell /give your email address away to anyone ever.
period.

Translator and keeping costs down

2009-02-06T12:41:00.002-06:00

We are all conscience of making sure the cost of many things now a day. We are also doing that as well at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic.

So I thought I would share some of the things we have done, and will continue to do to keep our costs down, therefor keeping the prices we have to charge as low as reasonable, yet still give the same good service.

One thing that is ongoing in Continuing Education. I know we all understand it is important to keep up on the latest information in any job environment, and certainly veterinary medicine is no exception. In the past, we have attended a big convention where there are numerous speakers every day for several days. But typically these are in big cities, and there is hotel and travel expenses.

So we are doing more online CE classes (I'm in the middle of one right now on diabetes) and attending more local (within 3 hr drive) conventions. We are very fortunate being in Peoria, that we can get to Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and even Milwaukee in that short time, so it is very easy to get to high quality conferences and still keep our costs under control.

We will share other avenues we use to show we are all working to keep our resources current and still keep our costs reduced.

The translator is something I thought about as I was talking to a client and was sharing how we call in medical speak : 'brachecephalic' which is the medical name for 'no nose', or polakyuria (straining to urinate), and many others.

It is true that to a great extent, I believe our job here it to take the information we hear, read and see at our different conferences and 'translate' it into language, and use analogies that will make sense to people.

A dog or cat with glomerularnephropathy, thus creating proteinuria. That probably does not make sense but to a very few.
But the analogy I use a lot is: The kidney is like the coffee filter, and when the filter gets damaged, some particles start falling through - the smallest first, and those are what we try to measure when we are seeing protein in the urine.

Let me know if there are other areas where we should 'translate' better. :-)

Super bowl fun

2009-01-30T10:55:00.002-06:00

One thing we do at our house is have an appetizer party for the super bowl. The kids love this, and it helps allow me to watch the game. :-)

Pets love it too because they get some of their food treats. - No none of the chips and salsa.

This week we have seen a few patients that have been itching -and in the dead of winter. If you have this, call us. We have created a steroid sparing strategies worksheet for clients to work on that is very helpful at reducing itch, and therefor reducing the expense involved.

The oother thing causing itching this time of year is food allergies. We used to think this was mainly a problem if you changed food, but it is more common when the dog or cat has been on the same food.

So for food allergies, we do a food trial, and we have some homemade recipes for folks to use if you don't want to get the specialty food for the pet.

Have fun on SSuper bowl Sunday!

Peanut Butter recall expands to pet foods

2009-01-23T14:39:00.003-06:00

If you are not on our email newsletter list, we sent out a note yesterday about the Petsmart dog biscuits that are involved in the latest recall.

This is caused by the peanut butter that is suspected of having caused some salmonella problems in people. The problem with Salmonella bacteria (greatly simplified) is that the bacteria can create many problems in people, and the pets can act as a reservoir.

Check out the link here:
Petsmart press release

for the Petsmart press release.

What to do in the cold weather?

2009-01-16T10:37:00.003-06:00

Hopefully soon this cold weather will change. I'm sure in July we will be wishing for a reprieve.

Two thoughts, as if you are looking on the Blog, you have access to this. A company who's new heart medicine we have been using with great success has been Vetmedin. They have put together a website that talks about the symptoms of heart disease. if you go to www.vetmedin-us.com they have some good accurate information.

This is also a time to be conducting a food trial if your dog has had allergic reactions or itching even during the cold time of year. During this time, there are no other pollens or grasses causing your dog to itch, so there are less 'sabotage elements' that are being involved in the test.

Let us know if you need help getting this plan.

Happy new Year

2009-01-13T12:07:00.002-06:00

A belated happy new year to all. As I begin the new year, I frequently think about how I want this year to be different than last year. Not that I make 'resolutions' but I try to reflect on what my life is like, and - can I say this in public - what is God's plan for me.

I recently recounted the story of how my wife and I came to purchase Dr Huwe's practice here in East Peoria.

Many of you who knew Dr Huwe, know his side. Now you get 'the rest of the story'.

I have been doing relief work since 1989. I started in Milwaukee, WI, 'temporarily' until I found a practice to buy. As I helped out my colleagues, I saw how difficult it was to get some time away for family, and I enjoyed that freedom.

Then we moved to central Illinois in 1993 to be closer to my family in Springfield, and I continued doing the relief work because at that time, there was only one emergency clinic (here in Peoria) and I liked the evenings for my family.

That freedom for my family would fluctuate, but was very good to me until Jan of 2007, when I noticed that to keep my relief book full I was in Chicago or St. Louis and only home on weekends. In March, we realized we had to do something different, and we looked at a practice in Macon county, but the seller never did want to sell, only talk about it- which took 4 months to figure that out. So when the Huwe family contacted me to help them when Dr suddenly died, we thought this might be an option.

Then it all worked out. Interestingly, 5 months after we bought this practice, another practice was for sale in my county, and was sold within 3 months.

Someone recently told me God has 3 answers for our prayers and what he wants us to do:
No
Not yet
I have something better

He has something better in store for us here, and I am very excited to be involved in our community.

my apologies for the weekend phones

2008-12-22T14:56:00.003-06:00

Hello to all of my clients.

This is why we utilize check off sheets at the end of the day. Friday afternoon, we got done a little early, so I let Julie and Mallory start the weekend early for an early break. They are so helpful that I wanted to give them a little break.

Julie even asked me if she should place the phone on 'nights' and I told her I would take care of that.

Well, I was looking up information on a patient that has a blood clotting disorder, and trying to figure out what is going on. The next thing I knew it was way after 5, and I put my stuff away and set the alarm and left.

And forgot to set the phone on nights. So any of you that called this past weekend, only got the phone ringing 8-9 times, and then the phone system picks up.

My apologies again.

Christmas Memories, and other memories we cherish at this time of year.

2008-12-14T07:44:00.006-06:00

Hello

I was thinking about different memories as we had to euthanize our dog, Zinn. We never really forget our pets, or anyone who touches our life in a special way, do we?

The best thing about time, is that it gives us a chance to remember with fondness the good things, and we forget the bad.

Christmas is that time of year when it is very easy to remember the nice memories.

These were some reflections I had the day we had to euthanize Zinn.

----

We had to euthanize our dog Zinn today. Zinn was a good dog, like our cat, Jesse who was a good cat which we euthanized 3 weeks ago. Many times we hear how our pets are wonderful and that is true, but if you are like me, that 'sentiment' of 'they were good' does not truly capture everything, does it?

Let me try to count the ways: They were always happy to see me home - even if I did not have a treat for them.They were great with my family and kids - _never_ bit them even once - and Jesse would get blood sugar tests sometimes 4-8 times a day with a little pinch that my 11 & 13 yr old did it (with restraint from the 7 yr old). Nor did the dog even look funny when the 10 month old would crawl over him from one side of his body to the next.He was excited when you said his namehe trusted youwhich is why the decision to end his pain is sometimes the hardest - because you want to make sure you don't do it 'too soon', and give him every chance he deserves.
During this Christmas season, it made me ponder, what type of dog would Joseph & Mary have? We know many shepherds used sheep, and we know even nomadic people have sheep.

I am sure everyone who is reading this thinks that their dog would be there to help Joseph and Mary find the stable. Because I have met all your dogs, and I know that is the case. I know my dog would be doing that. And letting the baby Jesus crawl over him back and forth.

So many nice thoughts and memories. I pray I was not too greedy in asking for more than my beloved pet had to painfully sacrifice to give me.

But I am sure glad to have "loved and lost than never to have loved at all". We'll miss you Zinn and Jesse.

Which reminds me of rule #14 from that we learned from Noah's Ark:No matter how bleak it looks, there's likely to be a rainbow on the other side. Look for it!

-----

May your Christmas season be filled with wonderful memories to savor for years to come, and may all of your memories you recall be filled with joy and happyness.

great resource for cat owners

2008-10-22T10:19:00.002-05:00

If you are like me, among my least favorite chores is to clean out the cat litter box.

It is necessary for sanitation, obviously, and also to eliminate the risk of toxoplasmosis - the parasite we pay attention to for our pregnant clients.

So how do we make it easier? By having the litter box do the work for us.

Several clinics where I did relief work had these automated litter boxes. What the box does is comb through the litter 10 minutes after the cat is in the box (the time is adjustable). It then scoops out the urine clump, or BM into a box receptacle that then gets emptied daily.

You do have to use clumping litter, but the Littermaid brand also has a nice rig like ramp that helps to trap the little litter particles so they do not get spread throughout the house.

There are several on the market, but Littermaid (at http://www.littermaid.com) does work the best. Several of the clinics mentioned to me they bought the less expensive ones, but this worked the best, and most reliably.

So something for your kitty's stocking - and yours!

Interesting trick for your cat or dog

2008-10-15T10:14:00.001-05:00

We get to see and hear about unusual things in the clinic. It is fun to hear of the different tricks that you teach your pets. So when this came across our desks, I had to share.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4275440853107357955&q=cat+scuba+diving

Click this below to see a scuba diving cat! Yes, a cat that scuba dives.

Let us know of unusual - or the traditional tricks you teach your cats.

we all need pit stops

2008-10-11T10:58:00.002-05:00

In car racing, we know cars take pit stops. Even if you don't follow car racing, you know about pit stops.

It does seem illogical to purposely take yourself out of a race, but we know logically that in a car race, you run out of gas and the tires wear down to nothing, and you quickly would not reach your goal.

So yesterday, October 10, we did not have a Dr in the office so I could spend time with my wife on our 21 wedding anniversary.

Sure, I could have just worked, and chugged along and 'gotten through', but when I have done that in the past, my tires have become ragged, and I have run out of gas in our relationship. It has been a hard lesson to learn, especially for a guy, who likes to do things.

But it was a wonderful day yesterday, we did some things together in the house, talked about what we had talked about 21 years ago, and how blessed and fortunate we have been to be able to live in this wonderful country, and to have the chance to be 'the family Dr' for the pets that call Lakeview Veterinary Clinic their family Dr.

We thank you for that privilege and look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday.

Another food recall

2008-09-17T14:07:00.002-05:00

Mars Pet food announced a voluntary recall. In this age of scare, any recall can be a bit scary. This recall, of which you can see the full details at their web site at Mars pet care food is very precautionary.

Basically there may be a link to a Salmonella case in humans, so the company is voluntarily recalling the food.

The web site has the lot numbers and all the brands involved.

The primary ones are:
some Pediegree (r)
some Old Roy
and Red Flannel.

The above link has the exact food names, and lot numbers.

If you have any questions, call us at the clinic.
309-699-6443

Fun memory games

2008-07-30T10:08:00.002-05:00

We all worry about our memories - and some of the early scientific studies that have been done on Alzheimer's patients shows that you can delay the onset of the disease by keeping your mind active.

So I like playing different mind solving puzzles, or strategy games with my children. It also keeps their minds thinking of different scenarios. We play some of the classic games- Scrabble, Monopoly (We don't like that because my wife always seems to win there), and Card games progressive Rummy, and Michigan Rummy. We will also sometimes play team chess, which is very interesting.

But this web site came across my email box from Kim Komando's cool site of the day newsletter, and I found it a bit of fun, so I thought I would share.

games.people.com

But be careful, and set a timer! It can really soak up a lot of your time.

Christmas in July - use of glitter

2008-07-28T15:28:00.003-05:00

An interesting patient came in today; Esmeralda (the names have been changed to protect the innocent;-)), who was having trouble hitting the litter box. The problem was, there were 3 other house mates, and we could not be sure if Esmeralda was truly the culprit.

Enter Christmas in July.

We all know the glitter projects we made as kids, or our kids now do for us ( my favorite is the hand shape). We can use this to our advantage in the cat and dog world when we are trying to see who is a culprit.

What we suggested is to feed a certain colored glitter to each individual cat in their food. You may have to moisten the food with water to make sure the glitter will stick. You definitely do _not_ want to use glue - especially not the Gorilla glue. We'll be operating to remove that from them.

So put a bit of glitter on the food with some water, and then keep track of which glittery poop is missing the box. Then we know who is the offending litter box misser.

Fun little facts to learn who is doing what in the house!

travel with pets

2008-07-14T09:48:00.002-05:00

With the summer travel season upon us, I know many of you are making vacation plans. I know those plans also involve what to do with your dog or cat. There are several options that you may or may not be aware of.

House sitting is becoming a very common popular way to have your pets stay in familiar surroundings, and be taken care of on a regular basis. Cats are a bit easier with this method, as typically they can be taken care of with once a day care.Dogs can be done with home care, but usually it is recommended at least 2 visits per day to take care of the dogs.

Many folks will board their pets. We do some boarding here for our clients as a service, and there are some precautions we take for our hospitalized boarders. We recommend in addition to the 'core' vaccines of Rabies and Distemper / Adenovirus / Parainfluenza and Parvovirus, and a negative heartworm test (and on preventative) that our boarders also be inoculated for Bordatella, and have a negative fecal test (for intestinal worms) within the past 6 months.

What if you want to take your pet? It can be a fun time, and on study notes that nearly 40% of pet owners travel with their dogs.

So what should you do to get ready? It is important to get these things in order to make the travel less hectic and stressful for you.

A method of confinement for the pet - both in the car and at the destination.
Identification - tags & microchip
Proof of Rabies vaccination
Contact information for your pet's regular veterinarian
Finding out what rules apply for their particular travel plans (eg, airline rules, health certificates, quarantine, etc)
Making reservations or obtaining a list of accommodations that will accept pets before starting out.
Planning for pet rest stops and potty breaks
Brining the pet's usual food along, or ensuring its usual food will be available at the travel destination
Taking along food and water bowls, familiar toys and bedding, and extra leashes
Planning for pet care at the destination during times the owner will be unable to bring the pet along (eg, restaurants or amusement parks)

Follow these simple steps and you will have a much more fun vacation with your pet along for the ride.

parts taken form VeTeam Advisor June 08 - www.cliniciansbrief.com

What to do for July 4 if your pet gets upset by noise

2008-07-02T09:38:00.003-05:00

July 4 is a wonderful celebration. If you're like me, I love the large firework displays that grace our nighttime sky's. The day of celebration of our nations birth is something that should definitely be treasured.

However, many of our pets do not like the loud noises, so this makes this celebration a bit worrisome for many pet owners. For many pet owners this also coincides with the storm fears their pets have.

So what should you do?

The first thing is to make sure your pet is healthy. Just like for you and I, any chronic illness can make a normally fun activity very uncomfortable and painful. Those with arthritis can attest to how that low pain can take the enjoyment out of many simple and fun activities.

However, most pets, it is a fear of the loud noise. So how do we, as the pet's owners, help them?

The first thing to do is try to minimize the noise that your pet will hear. While the thought of the ear protectors sounds not very logical, we can still use the principal to help our pets. Keeping them in the home is best. Try to find them a room in the interior of the house that will muffle the sounds as much as possible. Also try to make sure windows and doors to your home are closed, so this will dampen the sound.

Once you have the sound reduced as much as possible by location and rooms, the next step is to make the pet comfortable, but not praised in that room. What does that mean?

If the pet has a favorite toy, blanket or bed, then that is helpful to have it in that room. It will help to give them peace of mind.

The one thing that is very common to do, and is actually counter productive, is to be petting the dog while they are scared, and telling them 'that is OK, it's all right'. What the dog hears from you is that they are right to be scared of this, and I ( the dog) need to be even more scared the next time.

It is a natural reflex for us to do comfort our pets. And I am not saying that it is bad to do so. But if anyone has watched the different Animal Planet trainers, they frequently remind us that our pets are not people. They do not hear the words, only the tone of voice and what we do. So they take the soothing tone of voice and petting as a reward, and that what they are doing (being very scared) is correct, and then the next time, those behaviors "get turned up a notch".

So what should you do?

Reprimanding the dog is also not appropriate.

The best response is to not acknowledge them, nor to pet them. Just let them 'do their thing, but ignore you. They will keep looking to you to see what you are doing in response to their reaction - espcially if you have been doing the comfort thing before. That is ok. but is important to stay the course, and not interact. The exception would be if the dog stops shaking, and comes up to you. Then calmly just pet them and say 'good dog'. Try to downplay any of the activities.

And sometimes tranquilizers are helpful. It is important to remember that the tranquilizers do nothing to reduce the anxiety of the pet. They will still react the same, but they will be sleepy and groggy, and will not react as much. If you do use medications, it is imporant to make sure you still do the other behavior modifications to help your pet cope with these loud noise reactions in the future.

I hope this information helps you help your pets not be so anxious with our enjoyable celebrations for this Fourth of July. Thank you to all our military men and women who have allowed us to enjoy these freedoms we sometimes take for granted.

And my God continue to bless our great nation.

recent seminars on heart disease and leptospirosis

2008-06-27T15:54:00.002-05:00

The staff and I were recently at a conference on Leptospirosis.

'Lepto' (as those of us in the biz call it) is a unique organism that is not quite a bacteria, but not a virus. It actually has its own category of 'leptospires'. A couple of interesting points came from the conference;

This disease is transmitted to people. You may recall back a few years ago when many of the triathletes participating in a Springfield, IL event became sick with Leptospirosis. The investigators could never conclusively determine how they got infected, but it was the slowest swimmers who were infected, leading the investigators to assume the athletes came in contact in the water of Lake Springfield.
In animals, our 'at risk group' includes German Shepherds and Shepherd mixes, hunting dogs, and any dog who drinks out of a puddle of water (like that narrowed it down very much).
The presenting speaker (from Kansas State University), of all the cases he had in the past 12 months, none of the 14 dogs were in the 'at risk' group.
In this area of central Illinois, raccoons and rats are the main carriers.
Many of the clinics in the area have diagnosed 1-2 cases of Lepto per year
There are many 'serovars' of Lepto, and there is no cross protection of Lepto (warning - medical speak coming) Gryppotyphosa to Ictohemoragica, so vaccination needs to be done with the appropriate serovars.

So what is the take home lesson here?

If your dog is in the 'at risk' group, you should definitely get him or her vaccinated. If they have not been vaccinated before, a series of 2 vaccines, 3-4 weeks apart is initially, then annual booster.

If your household has someone that is 'immunocompromised', your dog should be vaccinated. Immunocompromised individuals are:

on chemotherapy
on dialasys
blood thinners
any antiviral medication

Anyone who wants to be safe.

Next time what was learned at the heart (cardiology) seminar.

interesting CE class

2008-06-06T12:27:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

I was at a mini conference in Champaign the other day, and the topic was on heat stroke. It is interesting that we finally have summer this week here in central Illinois.! And it showed up with the heat and humidity.

And you would think that later in the summer is when we see patients that may be suffering from heat stroke, but the opposite is true. We see patients early in the summer with this condition. Why?
The body has an amazing ability to deal with heat- us included. The presenter shared that in humans, (who can sweat- dogs do not) in the beginning of the summer, the sweat we produce has 65 ng/ml(nanograms) of sodium. When the temperature gets very warm, and the body's physiology is allowed 12-14 days to acclimate, the human sweat has only 3-4 ng/ml of sodium! Our body starts to learn how to conserve the sodium in our body, yet still create liquid on the skin, which allows us to 'keep our cool'.

Our dogs do similar things, so when we don't allow then that ease in to the transition, is when our dogs can get into trouble.

The thing to do is call the Dr office right away, and then try to get the pet cooled down. Wetting the paws, ears, and mouth can help as you are transporting the dog to the clinic.

The studies have found that permanent damage is related to the temperature the pet is at and how long he/she is at that temperature.

So everyone take it easy in the shade this weekend!

Feline Leukemia and FIV in cats

2008-05-16T11:39:00.002-05:00

In teh April 15 issue of JAVMA (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association), they had an interesting paper on feline leukemia and feline immunodefeciency virus.

The full article title is: "Seroprevalences of felinie leukemai virus and feline immunodeficency virus in cats with abscesses or bite wounds and rate of complaincw ith current guidelines for retrovirus testing."

Quite a mouthful.

And the articl had some interesting findings on the number of cats that were found to have either feline leukemia (FeLV) or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV).

Translated, they found that almost 20% of the cats (19.3) were positive for FeLV or FIV, and 2.2% being positive for both.

Why is that important to know? Several reasons:

both are highly contagious to other cats
both attack the cat's immune system so it can not heal as well as a normal, non infected cat.
creates problems with treating the current problem - the abscess or bite wound.

And when some of the cats were tested again 60 days later (as recommended by the American Association of Feline Practitioners AAFP) another 1% were positive for either FeLV or FIV

Interestingly, the cats that were vaccinated against FeLV almost all were negative for the virus.

So what is the take home message of this article?

Our cats with cat fight wounds of any sort - even if they are 'mostly indoors' should

be tested for FeLV / FIV when the injury occurs
if negative, start the vaccine series for feline leukemia once healthy enough for immunizations.

And thank a veteran that you may see for the wonderful freedoms we enjoy. We will be closed on Memorial day. I usually go to Camp Butler, where my father is buried, and just take in the sight. My daughter brings her trumpet and plays taps.

Fleas season is close at hand

2008-05-15T16:15:00.002-05:00

Hello all,

In a recent journal (Clinician's Brief) there is a paper on a labrador that had such a severe case of fleas, that the dog was anemic.

It is very easy to prevent this. We recommend here Frontline Plus for dogs and cats. It is very effective, and the company is currently running a promotion where if you buy a 6 month supply, you get a 7th dose free. That is the equivalent of a 15% off!

We can also send home 1 month at a time doses if that is more convenient for you.
Just give us a call at the clinic at 309- 699-6443. We can check and if your pet is not current on his or her health checkup we can catch that up as well.

This is one area where the ounce of prevention is much easier than a pound of cure. The dog in the article was hospitalized, needed a blood transfusion, and supplemental injectable iron until he was stable enough to take in nourishment himself.

It's your spin on the roulette wheel. ;-)

a Dog's purpose

2008-05-07T22:48:00.002-05:00

I got this from a colleague and I thought it was very nice, so I thought I would share it with you.

A Dog's Purpose (from a 6-year-old) Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.The next day, I felt the familiar catching my throat as Belker's Family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on.Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, 'I know why.' Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.He said, 'People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?' The six-year-old continued, 'Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.'

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you're not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

Patient is #1 on Pet Idol contest

2008-05-06T11:30:00.002-05:00

Hello blogger readers,

I client sent us a nice card showing the Peoria Journal Star pet idol contest and who was number 1 in the voting so far.

It is our own patient, Twila

Check out her pet bio at http://pjstar.com/petidol and she is Pet ID 162.

I was going to suggest that she take her picture in our Illini room!

As a side note, we have seen 3 pets in the past 2 days that have had fleas on them. You may want to consider getting some preventative.

mural full picture and upcoming conference

2008-05-05T16:37:00.003-05:00

Hello all,

I'm sorry we missed you last week. The week just kept getting away from me. Our family had a niece's wedding on Saturday, my daughter's birthday dinner on Friday, and a First Communion on Sunday.

We were busy. :-)

Here is a picture of the completed mural picture by Kim Allison. Check out her web site at http://www.kallisonart.com/ and she also does commissioned family and pet portraits.

Even if you did not get the chance to come to the open house, feel free to stop by any time for a tour of the office, and a chance to see the mural in real life.

We are also attending a ce conference sponsored by Nutramax laboratories on Tuesday night, and we'll have a report on that. Also, Andrew is taking an online course on anesthetic monitoring and we'll have him give updates as he goes along the class.