Local Talent

Zippy Burke's mom has sent us another another cool card. Can you believe she can use watercolors like this? For great gift ideas, visit her website at HeartfeltImpressions.com

Proud Americans

Welcome Zippy Burke!

Summer Learning

Katie and Justine are interns helping us out this summer. Justine is a student at Messiah College and Katie attends Towson University. In addition to helping us stay clean and organized for appointments, they observe surgery, client/patient communications and appointments.They also help out with other important tasks such as cleaning up our surgery suite and scrubbing instruments. Their help is invaluable to us and they gain experience and knowledge of the veterinary field in which they intend to pursue a career. Katie and Justine are pictured with Ann's new puppy, "Striker", an 8 week old Golden Retriever

Do Dogs Look Like Their Owners?

Check out the Health section of this week's New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11really.html. This article evaluates studies which have looked at whether dogs resemble their owners. There's even a place to submit pictures of you and your dog for a future slide show at http://submit.nytimes.com/dogs-and-owners.

A Button Saves the Day

Chronic Renal (Kidney) Failure is a common complication among senior cats. With age, the kidneys are unable to properly filter and absorb water, causing pets to be in a chronic state of dehydration. While their is no cure for Renal Failure, several things can be done by the pet owner to keep their kitty feeling better, longer. A low protein, kidney-friendly diet such as Hill’s K/D or Purina’s NF can reduce the strain of the kidneys by reducing the amount of protein and thus phosphorus that the kidney must process. Also, the health care team can instruct owners on how to give SubQ fluids, or fluids under the skin, to rehydrate the cat and make her more comfortable. Typically, SubQ fluids are administered under the skin, through a needle attached to an IV line and bag of fluids. The needle is similar one used to give a vaccination. If SubQ fluids need to be given on a long term basis, it can be painful for the kitty to be poked daily or every other day, making it challenging for the owner to given the fluids routinely.

A skin button is a dime-sized latex port that is surgically implanted in the cat’s skin, while she’s under anesthesia, allowing for SubQ fluids to be given without a needle. A special adapter fits onto the end of the fluid line instead of a needle, allowing SubQ fluids to be given painlessly. The skin button is simply swabbed with alcohol to clean it and then the injection adapter fits into it. The skin button can stay in the skin for several months or as directed by the veterinarian.

“Izzy” is an 11 year old spayed/female Domestic Shorthair cat affected by Renal Failure. She had a skin button implanted the beginning of June. Her owners are finding it much easier to administer the SubQ fluids to “Izzy” at home through the skin button and report that she is tolerating the button well!

New Motion Sickness Drug for Dogs

CERENIA™ (maropitant citrate)

Get ready to travel--for the first time, there is a medicine that prevents vomiting due to motion sickness in dogs!

Introducing once-daily CERENIA Tablets—developed just for dogs
 The first FDA-approved medicine that prevents motion sickness in dogs
 Safe and effective
 Recommended for dogs 16 weeks of age and older
 Available by prescription from your veterinarian

If you want to take your dog along on trips, vacations…sometimes just to visit friends nearby—but can't because your canine companion gets sick when he travels, then read on. Now there's CERENIA, a new medicine that prevents vomiting caused by motion sickness.

Motion sickness is very common. Pfizer Animal Health talked to many dog owners and found that about 1 in 6 dogs gets sick from traveling. That's 17% of all dogs!

CERENIA was developed just for dogs. It is a safe and effective medicine that prevents vomiting caused by motion sickness, and it works very well — a success rate of up to 93%!

For additional questions about CERENIA or your dog's health, be sure to talk to your veterinarian.

Poisonious Plant Alert

A plant called the "Sago Plam" or "Cycad" is a houseplant that is showing up in many home improvement stores. It is used in outdoor landscaping in the southern states but can only survive as a houseplant in the north. All parts of the plant, including the seeds and root ball are toxic to pets. Signs of illness first appear about 12 hours after ingestion and include gastrointestinal signs such as vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy. The toxins in the plant lead to severe liver failure with progressive weakness, jaundice, bruising and bleeding and other signs of liver failure that lead to death.

It is estimated that 75-80% of animals ingesting this plant will die in spite of aggressive medical treatment. If you have one of these palnts in your home you will want to be sure to keep it away from pets and children, preferably by dispoosing of it safely in a covered trash can or "rehome" it with someone who does not have pets or young children in the household.