my apologies for the weekend phones

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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;

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. In this area of central Illinois, raccoons and rats are the main carriers.
5. Many of the clinics in the area have diagnosed 1-2 cases of Lepto per year
6. 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:

1. on chemotherapy
2. on dialasys
3. blood thinners
4. any antiviral medication

Anyone who wants to be safe.

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

interesting CE class

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Open house big success

Hello every one,

Thanks to everyone who was able to come to the open house today. It was a big success and many folks came to see us. I am glad that so many of you were able to come and get a behind the scene's glimpse of what the practice is like.

Our clinic is always open for tours. If you have a group that would like to come, just calll ahead of time, so we can make sure we have the time to give you a proper tour.

We put together a raffle ticket for our prizes. And we had some questions for people to answer, and we said we would have the answers here on the web site, so here they are.

answers to questions for raffle:
The first three questions had no correct answer - this was looking for ways to serve you better. Would you take advantage of appointment slots on Monday - Friday from 7 - 8 am?

In addition to email, would you prefer a reminder for your annual evaluation & vaccination via:

What information do you want in a new puppy or kitten pack? - We have a lot of information in our puppy / kitten packs now and wanted to make sure you thought it was all helpful.

The Vetscan blood machine can give a comprehensive profile of over 15 different tests. Find it in the lab counter. Dr Ramirez’ first encounter with an in clinic blood machine was in Milwaukee in 1990 and was the size of (and it only did 6 tests):
_X__ front desk ___ exam room table___ exam room computer
Yes, it was that big!

The pink “Snuggle Safe” in the break room is used to keep anesthetized patients warm by utilizing what modern appliance?microwave

How many puppies do you see in the radiograph in the developer room x-ray?
5

What is your SpO2? (Oxygen saturation)
generally it's between 95 - 100%

The CO2 laser helps with surgery by doing which of the following (check all that apply): _X__ reduce swelling, _X__ reduce bleeding, _X__ seal nerve endings(less pain), ___ taste great, ___ less filling.

The ‘surgeon’( a dressed up teddy bear) was using what type of suture material ?
__X___ 2-0 silk ____ 3-0 Prolene ___ 2-0 Chromic gut ___ 2-0 PolyDioxanone (PDS)

In the kennel - The total weight of the pets in the kennel area__350.6 lbs_____

How many animals do you see in the mural?
There are 37 animals - representing 21 different species.

Kim Allison is the artist for the mural, and her web site is http://www.kallisonart.com/

Open House Saturday

Open house is tomorrow from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

I hope all of you can come. The police dog demo is at 2, and we have different demonstrations throughout the clinic: a teddy bear surgeon using our CO2 laser, and a teddy bear anesthetic monitor watching the patient, and the numbers on our Vetronics machine.

In Radiology we have an X-ray of a pregnant dog that you have to guess how many puppies you see.

In the kennel, we have a 'guess the weight' corner, and we have raffle prizes as well. (one entry per person please)

We also had a ribbon cutting from the East Peoria Chamber of commerce who came by Thursday at 9 am and gave us a section of the ribbon.

And of course, the mural. Here is a picture from day 3. Come see the completed mural.

Getting ready for open house on Saturday

We have been busy here at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic for the open house on Saturday. Invite your friends to come and see out clinic.

We have raffle prizes for dog and cat folks (Interceptor and Frontline as grand prizes). The entire clinic will be open for tours. We also have various demonstrations throughout the clinic in the radiology room, in the surgery room, laboratory and kennel areas. This is a chance to see some of the technology that is available to help keep your pets healthy.

An additional renovation we have done is a mural of the Noah's ark scene on our North west wall of the reception area.

Here is what it looked like at the end of day 1

Don't forget - 11-3 on Saturday April 26

Police dog demonstration at 2 pm

Police dog demonstration at open house at 2 pm

Hello everyone,

All clients who have been into the practice the past year should be receiving a postcard announcing our open house on Saturday April 26 from 11: 00 am - 3:00 pm.

You can invite friends and family and neighbors to come as well - the public is invited.

We are showing off our new mural, the changes we have made to the office. It will also give you a chance to visit with myself and the staff, and get a behind the scenes tour of the clinic. We have special demonstrations within the clinic in the OR, Radiology room, lab area, break room, and in then kennel.

We also have a raffle prize available for everyone as well. We will have several baskets of dog and cat goodies, with the grand prize of 1 year of Interceptor (assuming negative heartworm test - which we can schedule later if necessary).

We are also very excited to have Dave Haskins come and do a Police dog demonstration at 2:00 pm. Mr. Haskins is the President of the Central Illinois Police and Working Dog Association and their web site http://www.cipwda.com. The web site is very informative, and we look forward to their demonstration.

It promises to be a terrific day.
Don't forget to invite neighbors, friends and family to come as well.
Thank you.

Therapy at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic

We have been very excited about several new pieces of equipment that have come in recently.

Or latest favorite is the new air powered dental prophy machine. The air powered tools operate much smoother, and quieter than their electric counterparts, thus make for an easier routine. It also makes it easier to clean and do a thorough job on your pets teeth.

Interestingly enough, the most excitement was generated from the bubble wrap that came wrapping the equipment. The bubble wrap pop is the latest game we love to play - well some of us are more prone to sing the song than others. ;-)

Don't forget our open house on Saturday, April 26 from 11-3. We plan on having the entire office open for folks to observe and see our new changes. Look for an exciting new painting on the reception wall.

Fun fact: did you know the Amazon black ghost knifefish is unique in its ability to swim backward or forward to catch its prey? from www.plosbiology.org

open house coming

Hello everyone,

Those of you who have been into the office, I appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

We are having an open house on Saturday, April 26 from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm. It will give everyone a chance to see the 'behind the scenes' place for the office, and the opportunity to meet all of the staff.

We will have special stations set up, and different items available for raffle as well.

There will be more details soon.

We also have received new puppy packs from Interceptor - the Heartworm medication that protects against Heartworm, roundworms, hookworms and whipworms. So if you know of someone with a new puppy, we would appreciate a recommendation.

Thank you.

Happy Easter

Hello to all this Easter season.

I wanted to remind everyone that the Easter Lillies, are wonderful plants, but can be very toxic to dogs and cats. Make sure wherever you enjoy these wonderful plants, the pets can not get on them to chew on the leaves. It can be very disastrous.

A full text of our VIN partner article is below.

The problem is that with just a few bites of the leaves, the toxic principal within the leaves will enter the cat or dog's body, and start its harmful effect on the kidney. And cats seem more affected than dogs.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=339&EVetID=3002627

So have a safe and Happy Easter! have fun with those Easter egg hunts!

continuing education

The Mississippi Valley Veterinary Medical Association had a terrific meeting last week, and we all were able to learn a lot of valuable information that will help our pets.

We all went to a session on team building, and learning how to utilize each other's talents better. On Thursday, there were conferences about behavior - specifically separation anxiety, and a conference about fleas. We learned all about the life cycle, and how the particular medications help to get rid of the fleas if they are found on on the pet.

For flea preventative, we recommend Frontline Plus. There are several different products available that also do a good job, but for our local population of pets, we found Frontline to work the best. If you have questions, we will be happy to answer them for you.

The Eastern Illinois Veterinary Medical Association also had a conference on Thursday with advanced laser techniques, and new flea control products.

During the CO2 laser presentation, we refreshed our memories on the physics of the CO2 laser, and also learned different techniques to help with 'stenotic nares' - and elongated soft palate. The nares condition is something we see in dogs that have the 'smashed in look' to the nose. Medically we call that 'brachycephalic'. If their nostrils are not open enough for them to breath normally when the mouth is closed, then something should be done to help the dog breath better. While not performing surgery may not present a problem immediately, what we do know is that over a lifetime of trying to breath through narrowed openings will creat problems at 8+ years of age with (medical jargon alert!) everted Laryngeal sacules. This condition causes little sacs in the larynx area (adam's apple) to 'pouch out' into the airway, and thus causing an obstruction problem.

More on the other mouth surgery later. :-)

Even veterinary family pet can have an 'oops'

Hello everyone,
We had a great conference at the Par-A-Dice Hotel, and in Champaign. We'll look forward to giving you some interesting information in upcoming blogs.

I thought I would address an issue that we had at home. Our dog, Zinn, a newfoundland, had some small mats behind his ears. I did not realize the family was about to work on that, and they took a scissor to the mats.

Any of you that know about how that stuff works, knows it did not end up well. When one pulls up on a mat to cut it, the skin comes up as well. And it is very common to cut the skin. That was done here, and our dog now has an almost 2 inch cut behind his right ear.

So we gave him an injection of antibiotics, he is on oral medication, and I sutured it up, and then trimmed up the area with clippers.



So don't cut your pet's mats out with a scissor - come in so we can trim those for you.

Conference that all staff will attend

Thank you for checking our Blog for information on our clinic.

There is a terrific conference for Doctors and the staff right here in Peoria. So we will be closing the office on Wednesday and Thursday we can attend.

This will allow us to better help our client's pets health. It gives us the opportunity to learn the latest ideas in the way of preventative medicine.

I know a couple of the Thursday session presentations are regarding separation anxiety. When we get back, we will have a wealth of information to share.

Look here for those updates.
Thank you
Dr Ramirez

thinking about intestinal 'worms'

Intestinal 'worms' or parasites as we call them in the medical field, are tricky critters to deal with. We can sometimes physically see the parasites in a dog or cat's stool, but most are not visible in that manner.

At our recent staff meeting, Chrissy Richardson came to share with us the benefit of using the Heartworm prevention, Interceptor, primarily for it's parasite (worm) control.

A monthly tablet of Interceptor protects against heartworms, as well as Ascarids (roundworms), Trichuris (whipworm) and Uncinaria(hookworm) parasites. Milbymicin (the active ingredient in Interceptor) is the _only_ monthly Heartworm preventative that protects against all three of the intestinal parasites.

That's why we recommend Interceptor at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic. We don't want to gamble on your pets, and your health. :-)

For more information, check out www.growingupwithpets.com for some more interactive information.
Dr Ramirez

delay on home front and interesting web site

Hello all,

The interesting thing about veterinary medicine is that you get to know a lot about medicine, and even quite a bit that translates into the human field. One of the things I remember from my time at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine is that day when we graduated. For some reason, I do remember some of the different parts of our commencement day. We had several of our instructors speak to us.

One in particular I remember was Dr. Loyd Helper. He is an Ophthalmologist, who was also one of the Deans in the school. He said, now that we have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, we have a lot of medical knowledge. We are licensed to practice medicine on any animal except humans. He said he also knew that some of us would be tempted to ignore him, and practice human medicine. He said if you plan on doing that, at least be stupid enough to only do so on yourself, and not your family.

So I don't, which is why we had my wife into the Doctor 3 times during the previous week, and on Saturday, they finally admitted her to the hospital.

So I have been a bit distracted this week, and did not get a chance to Blog about some of the very interesting education we have had the chance to attend.

We'll talk about dentistry, CO2 laser, and snoring dogs in upcoming blogs.

Thank you.

phone troubles - please keep trying

phone trouble- please keep trying - we are here.

I wanted to make a Blog note about our phone number. We were very fortunate in that ATT allowed us to keep the same phone number of 699-6443 that was always for Lakeview Veterinary Clinic.

Unfortunately, during the transfer, the other lines we have coming into the practice did not get grouped properly. What that means, is that, even though we have 4 lines for you- our clients to call, if someone is on line 1, (699-6443), your incoming call does not automatically jump down to our next line. So you get a busy signal.

So please try to call us back if you get a busy signal.

I apologize for the inconvenience. It should be fixed by Jan 31 by the end of the day.

remodel very visible - still available for pets

Hello everyone,

Things have been going well at the practice, and we are excited about the remodeling changes going on. Mr DeVarey has been very busy in exam rooms, and now it is more evident as he starts working on the reception / waiting room.


Check out some of these pictures. It will be very exciting when it is done.

We have also been doing a lot with the laser, and I am amazed at how well our patients do afterward regarding their lack of pain.

This video shows two kittens playing, and wanting attention - just 24 hours after declaw surgery! No pain at all!

CO2 laser training completed

Hello again,

You may notice we have been doing some remodeling, and updating. We had Alyssa from Lumens come and give Mallory and myself an update on the CO2 laser that we have here at the practice.

There is a great web site sharing the benefits to your pet here. I also have advanced training scheduled in upcoming weeks as well. It is exciting for us to be able to offer this to our patients.

Also, Shelton DeVary has been working on some minor updates to the practice. You will notice updates to the exam rooms.

We will also look to modify our reception area. Just a picture to remember where we started .

link to glucosamine study

Here is that link we talked about last time on the study. Cosequin had a short description of the study here. It's on page 15 of 16 numbered NL 236

Or you can read the original article from Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association article from 2000, pages 37-44 here.

The Nutraceutical Association web site has a lot of other interesting articles worth perusing for your own health.

what a rain it would be

I thought I would mention how fortunate I believe we are to be up from the river. I was just talking with a colleague in Watseka, Illinois. Yes, that Watseka, where half the town is under 5 feet of water from the Iroquois river.

A lot is lost there, but fortunately, their lives and home seem to be good. Their office has a lot of damage, and he is trying to get contractors to get to working on repairs.

It shows how fortunate we are. I am very appreciative of all that we have.

I did learn some interesting facts from a research paper from John's Hopkins on the glucosamine and condroitins. In this article the researchers are able to realize very effective help for human arthritic patients.

However in a recent study of off the shelf products, they showed that many who claimed to have glucosamine in the pills, actually did not. I don't have the web URL here at home, it's at work. I'll get that on the next Blog.

btw- the answer to the previous mensa question:
$1.00 wonkles cost $0.01 and winkles cost $0.02. - ever notice how with keyboards, there is no 'cents' sign?

The week flies by

Hello again.

It's hard to believe that the week slipped by. We had our of our clients working on our remodeling (I'll get some pictures) and we interviewed several folks for our new receptionist position.

We are very excited that Kim decided to join our team. I think you will find her very helpful and friendly.

We are very excited about how room 4 currently looks, and Room 2 is in the current metamorphosis. Feel free to ask to see the room. We plan on having an open house.

Most important, we had a demonstration for a new piece of anesthetic monitoring equipment on Thursday. It is a Vetronics unit that also has the capability to perform additional procedures. During anesthesia it will monitor the patient's EKG, heart rate, respiration rate, Oxygen level (SpO2), blood pressure, temperature, and an 'end tidal CO2' which is most sensitive to monitor how a patient is handling the anesthetic.

The additional feature we hope to utilize with this machine (we will actually plan on trying 2 other machines in the upcoming weeks) is to see how well we can evaluate blood pressure on our feline patients. Recent studies indicate that high blood pressure in cats can lead to early chronic renal disease.

In one study with a small group of cats with high blood pressure - 10 in each group - the cats that were put on Ace inhibitors to reduce their pressure delayed the onset of kidney disease by 2 years! The group on pressure medicine also lived about 2 years longer.

Caution says to realize this is a small group so the results may not be as dramatic, but all the studies indicate that monitoring blood pressure - then treating - is very helpful in delaying the onset of kidney disease in cats.

Stay tuned here for a chance to help us test our new machine with your cat. We need to get more comfortable with it, but we will then offer a reduced rate for a BP monitoring for your cats.

Mensa question of the day:
If six winkles and three wonkles cost $0.15, and you can buy nine wonkles and three winkles for the same $0.15, what will it cost to buy one hundred wonkles?

New medication for Congestive Heart Failure

As part of the Blog, I would also like to share some of the different articles on disease conditions that come across our desk. This way you are informed as to the most recent developments regarding your pet's health. It is likely that not all of them will apply to you now, but they might, and certainly some of the medical conditions and disease information are similar to humans also.

So with that, today, I wanted to share some information I learned about a new heart drug called Pimobenden (Vetmedin by Boehringer Ingelheim). It was recently approved in the US for dogs with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). You may see this in humans soon, from what the representative told us.

Let me back up and give a thumbnail sketch of what is happening in 'CHF'. This condition occurs when the heart muscle can not efficiently pump blood properly through the body. What then happens depends on the species. In dogs, the 'fluid' builds up in the lungs, and what we notice at home is the dog coughs either at night, or when excited or exercising a lot.

The therapy for such a patient today starts with two medications: Furosimide & Enalapril.

Furosimide drug name for Lasix, used in human medicine. We use it in our dogs to reduce the amount of fluid in the 'body' and make it easier for the heart to pump the blood around the body.

Enalapril is the drug name for Vasotec in human medicine. In dogs, it is used to reduce the 'blood pressure' that the heart has to pump against, thus making it easier for the heart to work.

This new drug, Pimobenden, is called an 'inodilator'. That means it also has some pressure reducing properties and some 'positive inotrope' mechanisms as well. A 'positive inotrope' is a medicine that helps the heart to pump more effectively.

This is just a brief overview, and I am leaving a lot of detail out. If you are interested in more, let me know and I can do so in a future Blog. But what is the take home lesson on this? How will the medicine be used? What do veterinary cardiologists - who aren't on the company payroll - how do they use the drug?

One cardiologist presentation I was at in Champaign last month used it this way, as a 'rescue' drug. When the patient was starting to have trouble because the lasix and enalapril was not helping as much any more. He said he was able to get good quality of life for about 75% of his patients for 2-6 months time. In the heart failure disease, that is a good response. He was asked if he used it during initial treatment of CHF with dogs. He said at this time, there is not a lot of evidence yet to show whether or not we get better quality of life, or prolonged quality of life. But the drug is still new to veterinary medicine, and that may change.

But Pimobenden does give us another tool in our arsenal for treating dogs with Congestive heart Failure.

New years day

As this Illini fan will attest, this was still a great year. It was amazing to watch a young group of guys, mixed with some classy upperclassman, make some amazing plays in the Big Ten.

I have been seeing many say that the Illini were overmatched during the bowl game, however what that game pointed out to me was that turnovers will truly hurt any football team trying to win. All one has to do is look in the professional football game to realize that the best predictor of who will win the game is who wins the turnover margin.

But as Coach Zook said, - when they come back, it will be different.

I know very few people who predicted this type of season and ending for the Illinois football team. I think it is ironic that just 1 year ago, I am sure no one predicted the change of events that occurred with everyone here at Lakeview Veterinary Clinic.

I can assure you we will work very hard to make sure that this is a very positive change.

I wish all of you and your families a blessed 2008.