Frontline Plus.... for your virtual pets!

Play the virtual pets game "Happy Pets" on Facebook and you may run into a little bonus: a virtual Frontline Plus application!

Applying the dose of virtual Frontline Plus to your cat gave will give her a cool bandanna and a shiny, sparkly, flea free coat!

Kudos to Merial for reminding and encouraging pet owners to keep all of their companions flea free and happy!

Happy Mothering Day!

 Mothering
* (verb) present participle of mother

* bring up with care and affection

* A man's life and schedule revolved around giving his ill cat subcutaneous fluids daily and various medications throughout the day.  His reward is a stable happy companion, confounding the specialists almost a year after they released her to us for euthanasia.

* A work-at-home mom feeds her cat 1 teaspoon of food every 20-30 minutes during the day among all her other duties.  Saving money for the consultation with the internist, this was the one way she found to keep her otherwise healthy cat from vomiting.

* A college student juggled her 2 cats between rooms in a small apartment hoping they will learn to get along.

* A woman spends her time nursing sick kittens and dogs back to health for adoption.  She takes in those that are deemed un-adoptable by the larger well-known adoption organizations.  People like her are the unsung heroes to homeless pets; more so than the glossy fund-raising behemoths (IMHO).

* An elderly man with a dog that will not let him medicate at home.  He brings his beloved cranky companion in every week for us to do the treatment. The round trip cab fares cost more than the treatments themselves.

* A couple re-arranged their work schedule and family life to make sure their new puppy get the full life they want for her --- from brushing her teeth and potty training, to training time and trips to competitions.

* A football player wrapped his huge hands around a kitten as he sweet talked her to take the bottle of formula.  All the while wondering how he would fit the frequent feedings in with his football practice schedule.

I can think of so many more examples of dedication and self-sacrifice from our clients in their pursuit of health and well-being for those in their care.

As most families in the U.S. celebrate Mother's Day today, I find myself thinking of the verb mother more than the noun.

A woman can be a mother to a child, but the art of mothering extends beyond gender, age and reproductive ability.

Whether it is due to financial restraints or other circumstances, some clients choose hospice care or care plans that require intensive time and work on their part.  No disrespect to those who can afford the high costs of week-long hospitalization and intensive care, but there is something heart-touching about someone giving his/her all in time and labor, providing hands-on care for his/her loved ones.

I am humbled by the commitment we are privileged to witness almost everyday at our clinic.

To all our clients and non-clients who may see shades of themselves in the above examples (as they are composites of our clients):

Happy Mothering Day!

Spring Into Summer

Easter and Spring Break signal the coming of warmer weather and summer fun. Some things you can do to prepare your canine and feline companions for fun in the sun.

Grooming
If your pets have long hair or thick coats that you had let go "au naturale" through the winter, it may be time for them to visit a good groomer.  Depending on the breeds and lifestyles, an appropriate trim will keep your pets comfortable and safe as they mingle at the local dog parks or beaches.

click on image to enlarge

Parasite Control
Although we recommend year round parasite control in Southern California, some people do stop using preventatives over the cooler winter months.  Restart flea control and be prepare for the warmer summer days.  Even if your companions spend most of their time indoors, they bound to pick up fleas on their walks -- and bring them back to your home to multiply.  Fleas can give your pets more than just itchiness.  Products such as Sentinel also takes care of heartworm and intestinal parasites, e.g. whipworms and roundworms.

This 2008 chart has a good summary of the different flea control products available.  Some recent notable changes to that chart include: Advantage II replacing Advantage; upcoming discontinuation of Promeris; and introduction of generic fipronil products. The wide array of flea control products can be confusing.  Advantage, Frontline Plus, Sentinel/Program and/or Comfortis are often used for our patients --- it all depends on the pet's lifestyle and client's preference. If you are not familiar with the flea control products, please consult your family veterinarian.

General Physical Exam
You do not have to wait for your pets to be sick before taking them in for a physical exam and consultation with your family veterinarian.  A wellness visit, especially if one has not been done within a year (or 6 months for seniors and pets with chronic medical conditions), is a great time to go over preventative health care and general concerns.
This is also the perfect opportunity to discuss any noise and fireworks phobias with your veterinarian.  July 4th is not that far away. Starting early on behavior modification may help us avoid drugs (i.e. tranquilizers) during the festivities.
Vaccinations for boarding requirements are usually best done at least 2 weeks before checking your pets into pet lodges.  If you have travel plans for the summer, discuss vaccine requirements with your veterinarian to ensure a safe boarding experience for your pets.

Spring Blooms and Summer Heat
Warm weather dangers deserve a separate article.  Briefly, though, as we enjoy Spring and get ready for Summer, please remember:

* Heat Risks: Limit dog exercise to cooler times of the day. Do not leave unattended pets in parked cars.
* Gardening Risks: Check with the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center to be sure your plants are pet-safe.

Certain diseases are more prevalent in some regions than others, i.e. heartworm and Lyme disease.  Please consult your family veterinarian for specifics in your area.

We're Still Here

From the lack of activities on our blog, Twitter and Facebook, it may seem as though we lost interest in our online presence.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Not a day goes by that we do not think at least once, "Oh, we should tweet that," "We need to add that to Facebook," or "That would make a good blog post."  However, in a small veterinary practice, each team member has multiple job titles and wears many hats.  And when things get busy at The Family Vet, our "Social Media Liaison" hat gets put on the shelf as we focus on providing quality personal patient care.

I kept telling myself that I will write more when things calm down at the clinic --- that we will slow down after the new year, that business usually trickle down the weeks before tax day, etc... Well, April 15th came and went and I still see that my last blog post was Elaine's quickie Thanksgiving card.  How embarrassing.

The past year brought many changes to The Family Vet.  Our small clinic experienced unprecedented growth that, at times, was almost more than we could handle.  Against consultant's advice, we even intermittently stopped accepting new clients, when needed, to better care for our current clients and patients. It is still a roller coaster ride at times, but a controlled ride in which we can apply the brakes and steer as needed to keep us from jumping off track.

I am realizing that waiting for things to completely settle down before writing again is tantamount to kissing this blog good-bye.  We just have to include it among the many things we juggle as long as it continues to have a role in our vision for The Family Vet.

Thus, we hope to dust off our Social Media Liaison hat soon and rejoin the online conversation.  Look for our Spring Cleaning list later this week as we go over things we need to do now to prepare our pets for safe summer fun.

It's good to be back :)

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Click on image for larger view.

Synchronized Grooming

Zuri (the Bengal) and Rorke (the Savannah) grooming to the same beat.

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Pet Manager for Android Review

Pet Manager by Topo Factory is a software application for the Android smartphone that aims to assist you in managing your companions' healthcare. The software has a clean, easy to use and zippy interface. I've been using version 1.42 on a 600 mhz Motorola Charm running Android 2.1 without any lag or crashes so far.

You begin Pet Manager by inputting your pets' name and vital information, including date of birth, species, and breed. You can even add a picture to your pet's profile. After inputting the information, three new tabs appear: one is a dedicated weight history, another is for your pet's medical history, and finally one for future due reminders.

Nice features included in Pet Manager are the ability to select different veterinarians for each pet, and allowing you to import your vet's contact information from your address book. Pet Manager also has a "notes" section for alerts such as allergies, for example. I found the simple interface made it easy to view your pets' medical history at a glance.

Things that would make this application much more helpful:
-an additional tab for pet's prescriptions.
-an additional tab for owners' to input their pets' daily notes, such as appetite, stool condition, attitude, etc.
-integration of pets' reminders into the native Google calendar
-export data via for emailing, etc.

Despite these shortcocomings Pet Manager is still a very useful application, especially considering the price. (Just a couple of dollars or a free ad-supported version.) Pet Manager is available in the Android Marketplace from your smartphone.

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