Doctor's Notes: Hanover Animal Hospital

Monday, December 07, 2009

Welcome to the Vetspecs PM4!!

Many of our clients are understandably anxious about anesthesia and its effects on their pets during surgery. In order to minimize the risks associated with these procedures, it is important to watch carefully for indicators of anesthetic depth. There are many ways which we can monitor the depth of anesthesia including, respiratory rate, eye position, jaw tone, heart rate and other physiologic parameters. Our ability to monitor our patients during anesthesia has improved recently due to our acquisition of the Vetspecs PM4. This is a monitor which combines the ability to determine electrocardiogram, core body temperature, heart rate, airway direct respiratory rate and oxygen saturation. Monitoring these values can give us more information regarding a patients status and alert us to the need for intervention should problems arise. The PM4 also automatically stores information on a flash drive which can be used to view trends and retrieve vital information from a pets anesthetic episode.
Of course this new unit will not replace the human element for truly monitoring our patients, but it should give us additional information to help us more safely attend to their needs.

posted by Dr. Billeter @ 3:03 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Angel pig gets a nail trim

We have on occasion visits from "exotic" type animals that don't fit the everyday profile of your average dog or cat. Though we don't see them often, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils and the occasional ferret will find their way to us for assesment of some malady. One visitor that never fails to arouse curiosity among other clients is Angel the pig. She is a nine year old female pot belly pig that comes in regularly for trimming of her hooves and occasionally for other issues. Though we don't routinely see pigs, Angel has been coming to us since she was very small and we always try to address any of her owners concerns before referring her to more knowledgable swine practitioners. She is shown here shortly after her pedicure accomplished while she occupies herself with a box of fruit loops. If you are fortunate enough to be here during her next visit, please be sure to say hello.

posted by Dr. Billeter @ 2:25 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Phycox is back!!!

We are pleased and excited to announce the reintroduction of phycox to our hospital inventory as an aid in the fight against canine arthritis. The original manufacturer, Pharma Chemie, has been able to reintroduce it because the previous companies (DVM and Teva animal health) had their license to market phycox expire. The original difficulties arose when manufacturing shortcomings caused DVM to decide to remove all of its product lines from distribution. Although there were never any specific problems with the quality or effectiveness of phycox, DVM decided to take a broad stance to assure product quality. Pharma Chemie, the holder of the original patent on phycox then decided to remarket it under its own label. The ONLY difference will be that new bottles will not have the "JS" on the label. Otherwise, the product is identical. We apologize for the incovenience this may have caused and do not anticipate any further problems with what we consider to be an excellent tool in helping us to keep our canine patients more comfortable.

posted by Dr. Billeter @ 3:42 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cats CAN get hip dysplasia!!

It seems that everyone is at least somewhat familiar with the condition, hip dysplasia. It is certainly a common disorder in dogs of all shapes and sizes and is highly variable in its presentation. How many however realize that cats can also be afflicted with this disorder?

We were recently presented with a seven year old spayed female cat,"Amy", with a history of rear limb lameness. Since this could be symptomatic of many different conditions, we completed a physical exam and radiographs were recommended. Once obtained, it was a bit of a surprise to see evidence of degenerative joint disease involving the coxofemoral joints, aka "hip dysplasia".

Although we do see this condition in cats on occasion, it is certainly not a daily occurence and is interesting in that it reminds us to keep an open mind when evaluating our patients for things which may be unexpected. If your cat seems to be having difficulty jumping up onto things which previously weren't a problem or limps consistently, we should examine them so that we may determine first what is wrong and second how best to treat the condition.

posted by Dr. Billeter @ 2:01 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Several new services at HAH

Just a quick note to introduce a couple of new services here at HAH. We hope these will increase both our ability to diagnose and treat our patients and provide some flexibility and value to their owners.
We recently joined an online service,VDIC telemedicine,featuring access to board certified radiologists which will enable us to consult with these specialists on difficult or unusual cases. Viewing and interpreting radiographs (x rays) is a highly specialized skill which can significantly influence treatment plans and case outcome. Our ability to access these resources will help us to better manage our patients and give us additional tools with which we can determine the best way to treat your pets. When coupled with our digital x ray system, we can often get the interpretation from the radiologist within several hours or in some emergency cases within the hour. The end result will be a higher level of care for your pets. Please consider accesing these services should our Doctors recommend them.
On the always important monetary aspect of pet care, we have also recently accessed a financial service called CareCredit. In effect, this is a program which provides alternatives to pet owners who are presented either with emergency circumstances requiring unanticipated expense beyond their current means to provide, or merely a specific account which can be used for routine veterinary care. Owners are asked to provide basic information which is evaluated by CareCredit and a decision is reached(usually within minutes)as to the availability of credit to the pet owner.Once this is established, payment to CareCredit is arranged and necessary medical attention can be provided. In these currently challenging economic times, we hope this will provide our clients with an option which was previously unavailable.
Finally, also in an effort to provide our clients with better value, we have joined with a veterinary specific online pharmacy called Vetcentric.They are a company which provides the convenience and ease of on line ordering and pricing which is competitive with other well known internet pharmacies. Unlike other pharmacies however, Vetcentric has a direct and more personal relationship with our office which enables us to better ensure the quality and reliability of medications and supplies ordered. We will still maintain inventories of prescription diets, medications, heartworm preventatives and flea and tick preventatives for the convenience of picking them up when in our office, but for products which we may not carry or may not have available, Vetcentric provides a reasonable alternative. You may access Vetcentric by following the link provided on our main page at the bottom lower left of our website.
We hope that our clients will find these new additions to our practice to be helpful and beneficial. The links below will enable you to check out more information for yourself!

http://www.vdic.com/
http://www.vetcentric.com/
http://www.carecredit.com