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.