Last night I heard, off in the distance, the unmistakable sound of firecrackers being set off in some kind of 10:32pm celebration. My first urge was to yell out the word "cookieworks"! You see, our old dog Seso (who passed away at 15 in October) had noise phobia and this time of year was difficult for her (until she started to lose her hearing). We tried various medications throughout the years but what seemed to work the best for her (and her cookie motivation) was treats whenever fireworks were let off. We would be out in the yard and firecrackers would boom - we'd yell "cookieworks" and hand her a tasty treat. It got to the point where she'd flinch at the noise, and then immediately look at one of us with her tail wagging - suddenly not so worried and definitely looking for her reward.

Fireworks - fun for people, scary for dogs

Noise phobia makes the 4th of July and the surrounding weekends (or weeks in our neighborhood) difficult for pets and pet owners alike. The panting, shaking, hiding, trying to climb on top of your head or hiding under the toilet makes us feel terrible for our best friends. And with hearing more acute than ours, they usually detect the issue long before we notice. The very best treatment for noise phobia is behavioral training. We're a little late in the year with the 4th only a few days away but we can consider this for next year. Please email me or comment if you'd like more information.

This year it is important to do what works best for your pet. If you can take a trip and camp or travel with your dog during the 4th of July weekend to somewhere quiet and fireworks free we can practice avoidance. If you and your dog will be staying in town there are some mild interventions to consider. DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheramone) collars and plug ins are a nice mild way to calm nervous dogs. This pheramone is the same one the nursing mother dog releases and it serves to give comfort. The collars are nice because your dog can wear it wherever they go - you never know when mid day firecrackers are going to go off. These collars and plug ins should be started now (or ideally 2 weeks before) for the best effects. Daily exercise can also help, tired dogs often times have less energy to be worried. For those loud and bright nights your pet should be placed in an interior room with no windows. Turn on the radio, but instead of soothing music, try some dance or rap music with a heavy baseline. This will cover the sound of the fireworks.

D.A.P. Collar

A few very important things to avoid with your noise phobic dog are:

1. Leaving them outside during the next few weeks - very fearful dogs can dig or climb fences and run away. 

2. Try to calm or soothe your dog while it is frightened. This actually rewards the unwanted behavior. The best thing is to talk in a quiet but confident voice and ignore the unwanted behavior.

If you know your dog is noise phobic, antianxiety medication or sedatives can be very helpful during this time of year. These need to be requested before the fearful event because prescriptions require a recent exam for dispensing. Alprazolam works great for phobic dogs and can really take away their anxiety. I have had reports from clients that it takes away some of their inhibitions as well. For example, closet counter surfers suddenly practice their craft out in the open. Acepromazine is a classic sedative used for 4th of July. Both medications need to be given an hour before desired effects and both have a pretty good dosage range. It's best to know your dog's ideal dose before the frightening event.

Seso loves her cookies

If you think your pet needs medication for the holiday, please call and schedule an appointment right away. Mt. Tabor Veterinary Care will be closing for the Independence Day Holiday. Our hours this week are: 

Monday - closed (as usual)

Tuesday - 10am - 8pm

Wednesday - 10am - 8pm

Thursday - closing EARLY 10am - 2pm

Friday (July 4th) - closed

Saturday - closed

Have a great holiday weekend! Enjoy friends, family, and fuzzy companions in celebration of this patriotic day.

 

 

 

Mojo prepares for the treadmill

Michael and I took Mojo to Back on Track this morning for her recheck with Dr. Shaw. Turns out things are going pretty well. She stands more normally on her rear legs and her exercises that we are doing appear to be working. Dr. Shaw's evaluation showed that she has more movement in her hips and more flexion in her toes than she had 2 weeks ago.  She even did a couple of really nice sits in the office - squared off instead of sitting on her left hip and sticking out her right leg (like she still does sometimes!). We learned some new exercises to help build up her gluteal muscles and her core strength - there are these cute "sit pretty" exercises that she started doing on her own anyway so those should be pretty easy to do and I think she's going to like them. We also have some new hind leg stretches that involve picking her up and putting her tippy toes on the ground for her to stretch and then square off her legs properly. She's 23 lbs now so I think Michael will be in charge of those! We'll continue with her various other exercises but Dr. Shaw says we can stop the one she really hates which are the right leg rotations - she's thrilled and so are we!

Getting into the treadmill

We also reviewed her x rays and her left hip is seated well and her right appears to be as well. This means that the JPS pelvic surgery we were considering in the next 2 weeks won't need to be done - whew! The poor thing has already had 2 surgeries in her short 4 month lifespan (her amputation and her spay surgery) that thinking about one more so soon was a little stressful. The bad news on her x rays is that her right hip is smaller than her left and it appears that the right growth plate in the proximal femur (ball joint) is damaged. We aren't sure exactly what that will mean for her but we'll continue to monitor her progress and recheck x rays in another 6 weeks. If we have to she'll have orthopedic surgery to remove the femoral head on her right side but in the mean time we are working on  building up her thigh muscles to prepare her if she's needs the surgery.

Waiting for the water

She also had another exciting underwater treadmill experience. She doesn't seem to enjoy it much and she cheats at every chance she can. For awhile she would put her front leg off the treadmill and saunter with her back legs or she'd turn around and ride the treadmill backwards - so much easier that way! She crashed out pretty good for the ride home from all of her exercise.

So the plan is to continue her exercises, slow her growth, keep her lean and recheck in 3 weeks. We will keep you posted!

P.S. Mojo and DeeDee appear to be getting along better and DeeDee is actually PLAYING with Mojo sometimes! And will even lie down next to her!

Water in, ready to start the treadmill

P.P.S. Mojo had many real play dates last week. On Monday she went and played with Champ Conrad at his house and had a ball. He is such a good boy and really got her to come out and play chase. Then, of course, they did some rough housing and he knocked her down at every turn - it was on the grass and she didn't mind. They also had a nice rest on the grass in the sun. On Saturday she had a fun time in the yard at the clinic playing with Raisin, a 5 month old Boston that is tough as nails from living with her big brother Takai the Pit Bull. The two of them were so cute together and Raisin kept rolling Mojo and standing on top of her. They are sure to be best friends and we'll look forward to more play dates in the future! (Michael will have to get some pictures!)

   

Michael's Eco Signs and Barb's brownies

Our Open House last Saturday was a smashing success. We were busy all day with tours and conversation and the best part was that people started hanging out and talking to each other. Oh and all of the cute dogs coming through the clinic was great too. It was fun to point out all of the green aspects of the practice - Michael made signs highlighting each part and it was definitely a hit. Everyone enjoyed the tours and some people even made appointments to come back with their pets!

Yummy food trays from Zupan's

We had excellent appetizers from Zupan's courtesy of Pfizer and Abbott and my Mother-In-Law, Barb Sulis, made delicious brownies that were gobbled up quickly. My friend Tara from Sweet Treat Company came by unexpectedly with a surprise dessert - her famous cheesecake kabobs with heavenly lavender caramel syrup, cookie crumbs and strawberries - those were gone in a flash leaving only lots of mmmmmmms and ahhhhhs and the lavender caramel is now legendary! Thank you Tara! (If anyone needs the perfect party food - contact her!)

Michael hanging pictures in the hall

We started pretty early that day, and my parents, in town for the event, were lifesavers once again helping to clean and set up. DeeDee held down the fort at home because seeing so many people in her clinic upsets her and she insists on barking so much. Mojo was there to entertain guests and meet the crowds. I think she picked up a few fans.

Crowd having fun in the treatment room

The industry party from 6-8pm was so much fun. I met a lot of new people and watched connections being made between people that haven't seen each other in awhile and I even saw some new introductions. The mix was wonderful. Dr. Shaw from Back on Track came and gave a quick assessment that Mojo looked like she was walking a little more normal! Yay those exercises that Dr. Shaw prescribed and Mojo's hard work is paying off. Dr. Laird Goodman and his wife Pam came to show their support. I worked for the Goodman's at Murrayhill and it was so nice to see them and give them a tour of the clinic. Dr. Don McCoy was there as well, owner of North Portland Veterinary Hospital. He is the surgeon that skillfully amputated Mojo's leg! He is also the owner of Mt. Tabor's Grandfather clinic. You see, I opened Mt. Tabor after working at Murrayhill and Dr. Goodman opened Murrayhill after working at North Portland. We are like a clinic family and it only seemed fitting to take a picture! There were so many other people there as well - too many to name specifically but we are so grateful to all of you for coming. And thank you for all of the nice gifts, flowers and cards full of well wishes! Our friend Linda brought an excellent bottle of wine - 3-Legged Red and she didn't even know about our recent adoption!

Clinic Family Portrait: Dr. McCoy, me, & Dr. Goodman

Daniela and Katie also did a great job setting up, giving tours and essentially working all day. It was a great success and we couldn't have done it without you guys, thank you for your amazing effort and genuine dedication to the clinic.

Mojo helping Daniela get ready for the Open House

We held a party after the event at the Backstage. What a fun time and finally a chance to relax with friends. It was the perfect venue. Michael and I spent every Sunday night there eating and playing pool throughout the buildout of the clinic. It's where we had the famous competition playing to keep Mojo (read more here). And it was the place we went to relax for an hour or two, talk business, drink beer and listen to our favorite songs on the Juke Box. It was nice to share that with friends and celebrate our opening.

Gift from Linda

If you missed the Open House don't despair, you can come in for a tour anytime and we'd be happy to show you around. 

  
 

We are in a flurry of excitement over our Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday and you would think in the midst of starting our new practice and preparing for this fun party that adding one more huge, life changing task to the list would be a bad idea. Well, it was the best idea ever! And so... Michael and I adopted a "special needs" puppy this week. DeeDee has a new little sister.

She likes to crawl under this table, then lay there and look cute.

On Monday I went with Ronnie, the Dog Foster Coordinator from Animal Rescue and Care Fund, for a physical therapy evaluation of our special needs puppy. I had originally met the puppy when Ronnie brought the sweet girl to a Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon clinic that I was volunteering at. She had just had her right front leg amputated and had an abnormal gait on her hind legs. That left her with 1 good leg! She had her front leg amputated after she was found running down 82nd Ave with a horrible injury to her leg and missing toes. I examined her and invited Ronnie to bring her in for x rays for Friends and Family Day. Michael met the puppy that day, fell in love and promptly noted that this was a really bad time to get a puppy. So the little girl went home with Ronnie, her foster mom. We kept in touch, receiving regular updates and the last one we got was about her physical therapy appointment coming up and Ronnie's heartfelt worries that everyone was in love with this puppy but no one was willing to take her on and it was looking like it would be very difficult to find this sweet girl a home. I was at the clinic with Michael late on a Sunday night and forwarded him the email. I was working away on my computer when I got an instant message from somewhere inside the clinic asking about going to play pool at the Backstage - our normal Sunday night ritual. The next message offered if I won 3/3 games we could keep the puppy. Game on!

Now I have to tell you that in all of the games of pool we've played since the building of this practice... I usually lose. My wins are 50/50 on legitimate wins vs. Michael scratching on the 8 ball! I do have some very wonderful wins under my belt and I am always close on Michael's heels but fact is he's better than me.  So we played our first game and I won. Yay! The second game was so close, luckily Michael took his last shot on the 8 ball and scratched. Yippee another win - I'd take it anyway I could. Wow 2 in a row - a record. Then came the 3rd game and Michael won fair and square. I think he was a little disappointed to have won. After a second beer he proposed that we find out what she's going to need and evaluate whether we could keep her. 

That brings me back to Monday's visit. Boy, she's a mess. She has bilateral bowed femurs that we need to try to align properly for her continued growth and proper knee alignment (correcting this may reveal hip dysplasia which will require further action). She has bilateral femoral nerve weakness, an arched back from walking so funny on her hind legs and abdominal muscle weakness - again from walking so funny. The visit with Dr. Shaw at Back on Track was really great. Dr. Shaw is incredibly skilled and put the puppy through a series of exercises and the little girl was so resilient. At first she would hesitate a little - especially when the assistive device was placed on her hind legs or when she was in the underwater treadmill - but then she'd look like, "ok, what do you want me to do now?". It was a little heartbreaking to watch what this puppy is going to have to do but her lively personality and sweet nature makes her the perfect candidate. I knew Ronnie would be overwhelmed with these exercises at home and her 5 other dogs to attend to as well so we made plans, if Michael gave the go ahead, we'd get her on Tuesday.

 

Mojo all drugged up for her x-rays	She swears the paper towel was already ripped up on the floor like this when she got there. I'm pretty sure she's lying, but I don't have any proof yet.

I met Michael out at Belmont Station for a beer and went over the plans. He was really concerned but being her best prospect said yes and she's been with us since Tuesday. We're working through the normal puppy things - potty training and learning what's ok to chew on but she's smart and picking it up fast. We brainstormed names on Tuesday and on Wednesday her name was Mojo. (She has had a slew of names - Marsha from the shelter, Blanche from North Porltand Animal Hospital, and Lacey from Animal Care and Rescue Fund). DeeDee does not like being the new play toy but Mojo is pretty respectful and DeeDee is even starting to play ever so slightly. She also finds refuge on the couch where Mojo can't reach her. 

Are we crazy to take on this special case? Probably but when she snuggles up at night and rests her head on your pillow it's like nothing else matters and everything is just perfect.

Come meet Mojo at the Open House - I bet she'll capture your heart too! 

In the process of planning for our Grand Opening Celebration (you do know about it, right? you're invited!) we were discussing showcasing all of the elements we incorporated which focused on sustainability, and environmental concerns. I'm reluctant to jump on the bandwagon and make a big fuss about how "green" we are (like every other company today) but then again, it truly is important to us, and I'm sure those of you who know us will recognize it as genuine concern.

1. No Commute
The clinic is deliberately located close to home so we can reduce our fuel consumption. Kristin's previous commute was about 30 miles round trip, now it's 1.4, and she almost always walks or rides her bike. So she'll now use about 3 gallons of gas per year commuting, if she drives once per week. She was using about 6 a week before!

2. Supporting Local Businesses
Keeping it in the neighborhood is also key to doing business locally - we know the businesses around here, and we're buying from them, recommending them, and giving out gift cards to them for our referral program. Keeping our business part of a neighborhood (instead of a metropolitan area) helps people keep their lives focused locally, which further reduces fuel consumption.

3. Natural Light
The space we chose has abundant natural light from skylights, and we struggled to use it as best we could, basing the whole design around it. Where we needed ceilings, we used relights (interior windows) to use whatever natural light we could get. During the greater part of the day, the whole hallway, treatment area, laundry, and kitchen need no additional light at all.

4. Compact Flourescents
We used them wherever possible - unfortunately there's a few fixtures where these still don't work (a couple due to size, a couple because they're dimmable) - but the majority of the lighting we *do* have to add to our natural light comes from compact flourescents.

5. 100% renewable
We've signed up for the "Green Source" option with PGE, which means 100 percent of our electricity usage is offset with renewable resources - about 85% wind, and 15% biomass.

6. Paper reduction
We're still in the process of going entirely paperless, but almost everything we do is digital (faxing, record storage, emails) with very little printed material.

7. Recycled Paper
When we do have to print, it's on 100% recycled paper. Our business cards, mailers, printer paper - everything.

8. Heating and Cooling
The building's orientation and construction (masonry) keep the temperature pretty moderate and stable, so we don't anticipate needing lots of energy for heating and cooling. The owner of the building also added a lot of additional insulation on the roof while remodeling. Actually, once in the winter while I was working in the space, it warmed up for a couple of days, but remained 10-15 degrees colder inside the space the whole time!
We also incorporated fans into the design of the space to keep pushing the heat down from the open area above - you can really feel the difference, even with the fans on just slightly.

9. Tankless Water Heater
We have a gas-powered tankless water heater, which means the water is heated on demand, instead of keeping a 75 gallon tank heated 24 hours a day. The only drawback appears to be that the water takes a bit longer to heat up, so I suppose we're using more water than we should in return for a reduction in fossil fuel consumption - so...

10. Dual-flush toilet
...hopefully we're offsetting that increase in water use with this - it's got two buttons, let's just call them button "number one" and button "number two". I'll let you figure out what they're used for, I don't have to spell it out for you do I? And button "number one" only uses a half-volume flush, which is what's used most of the time.

11. Fleece exam pads
For the exam rooms and kennels, we're using fleece pads instead of cotton, since they dry so quickly, and therefore require a lot less energy.

12. Humabuilt Doors
We really wanted wood doors to contribute to the warm feeling we were trying to achieve, but luckily found an option that we thought was the best of both worlds - Humabuilt Doors. They're made from wheat chaff - which is annually renewable - pressed into a particle board, and then covered with a thin, nicely engineered maple veneer. The result is a beautiful door that looks like solid wood, and is about halfway between the weight of a solid-core door and a hollow one.

13. Natural Finish
The doors are finished with a clear wood wax called "Osmo Polyx Oil" which is really beautiful and durable, and easy to repair when needed. It's made of ingredients like sunflower oil, Carnauba and Candelilla wax. It's got a very small amount of (benzene-free) mineral spirits in it, but other than that it's all natural.

14. PaperStone
This stuff is truly awesome - it's dense like hardwood, durable, beautiful, and it's made from recycled paper and natural resins. And when I say dense and durable, I'm serious - we went through 3 jigsaw blades just cutting the oval for the sink! One of them was embedded so tightly I thought it was going to have to become a permanent part of the countertop. A few stats:

A 1" by 60" by 144" (we used about twice this amount) slab of PaperStone Certified (versus a regular phenolic composite manufactured from virgin fiber and a regular, commercially available, solvent-based resin) saves:

• 1233 gallons of water
• 2.03 million BTU's of energy
• 131 pounds of solid waste
• 254 pounds of greenhouse gases
• 55 pounds of petroleum-based phenol
• 22 pounds of natural gas-based methanol

Plus it's dimensionally stable, and amazingly tough structurally - it has a compressive strength of 45,000 psi and you can cantilever it 4' with less than 1/16" deflection.

15. Salvaged Redwood
Our shelves up front are reclaimed railroad timbers from the great people at EcoPDX here in Portland on North Interstate. They typically reclaim Indonesian hardwoods and make furniture, but at the moment they have a huge pile of reclaimed California Redwood railroad ties from a dismantled goldrush-era railroad. They split them and glued them for us, and we built them into the design. You can still see holes from the railroad spikes, and staining from the oils that got into them.

16. Mango hardwood furniture
Yet another way we managed to get some really nice wood without cutting down trees in a tropical rainforest. Mango plantations are a great source for beautiful dark hardwood, since the oldest trees stop producing fruit, and are felled to be replaced by new ones.

17. Marmoleum Floors
In a couple areas we wanted floor covering (near the kennels) and went with Marmoleum - which is a "true" natural linoleum, as opposed to the PVC-based stuff that passes for linoleum these days. It looks cool, comes in a million colors and patterns, and it's made from linseed oil, jute, and rosin - no harmful chemicals are used, so there's no long "offgassing" period like there is with vinyl flooring. Plus when it eventually does wear out, it's completely biodegradable.

18. Low/No VOC paint
Most of our paints were extremely low VOC or no VOC paints - Benjamin Moore Aura, Yolo, and Devine Green. VOCs are emitted from traditional paints for years after they're dry, and some are known carcinogens.

Okay, enough already. That will teach you to get me started. If you're still here after all that, you deserve a drink on me. Come to the Open House and take me up on it! It's this Saturday, June 14th. General Public from 3-6, Industry/Friends/Family from 6-8, then from 8-midnight we've got space reserved at the Backstage (behind the Bagdad Theater) for food, pool, and beer.

First of all let me start by thanking Urban Leash and Treat for the wonderful write up on their blog. Nixon is a wonderful, well behaved patient and joy to work with and her family over at UL&T are so knowledgeable and involved in her care. We had a great time sharing info on biodegradable doggie clean up bags and hypoallergenic locally made treats as well as how to keep sweet Nixon healthy.

We've been getting ready for the Grand Opening Celebration - our mailer went out on friday featuring the greatest picture of Wrigley (Our friends Dan and Barb's dog) when he was a puppy. He is still really that silly and we hope, just like in person, his picture will warmly invite people into our clinic (without the jumping up and muddy paws). If you live within a mile of the clinic, you will receive one of our cards. If you subscribe to this post you will be getting an email version of the invite and if you don't fit either criteria you can view it here (so you can see Wrigley's smiling face).

In preparation for our big day, Michael's dad, Jim, has used his artist's skills to paint the back wall of the treatment room.  When we built out the clinic with all of the exposed ductwork and pipes we didn't consider what to do with the back plywood covered wall in the treatment area before attaching the pipes to the plywood. Michael, ever the problem solver, came up with this cool built out drywall box idea to leave spaces between the "boxes" for the attached equipment. I primed the whole wall and painted the background plywood in one of those late night painting sessions. Michael and I chose the colors (which were already used in the practice) and arranged them using our paint chips in multiple configurations until we found the perfect combination. And then everything stopped while we worked on other projects and the "boxes" remained white until one day Jim decided to take on the project. He painted all of the fronts first which brought a lot of color to the space but the difficult sides were still white. Michael found this cool roller edged flat sponge to do the sides and Jim came back and proudly finished his work. Thank you, Jim...it looks great!

Jim proudly displays his work    Jim's signature

We've also had help from my parents Ev and Kathy from 1000 miles away in California. Mom and Dad set up a sewing factory to make all of our fleece pads for the clinic. These pads offer a soft surface for the pets to rest on while they are examined or recovering from surgery. I found the perfect fleece pattern but had to do some crazy moves to get all of the yardage from different stores sent to the Jo-Anne's by my parents house. The fleece arrived and my parents took their factory on the road as they visited my brother and the grandkids (including the new baby Kiera Lee) in Phoenix. They sewed away and it sounds like even the dogs were helping. Our first order arrived on Friday and they look great! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Mom sewing   Topper and Dakota helping with the fleece pads

Ruffles with Daniela enjoying the fleece pad    The fleece looks great in the exam room!

Want to see the multicolored treatment room wall or the beautiful fleece pads? Come to the Grand Opening Celebration June 14th! Public Open House 3-6pm, Private Industry and Friends and Family 6-8pm. All pets and people welcome.

The Women's Veterinary Owners Retreat in Sunriver, Oregon this past weekend was wonderful. The diversity of women attending from seasoned practice owners to those in the begining stages of considering practice ownership options gave a refreshing mix of conversation to this information packed weekend. The formal presentations and the tangents were all valuable and the free flow of information, advice and support really made the weekend a success!

Sunriver Resort, Oregon

Our presentation about Taking the Leap was a fun snapshot of the different ways Dr. Thompson, Dr. Curran and I approached our goals and the various safety nets we had in place and it really showed that practice ownership has so many different choices on how to get there. Just like for those that have gone before us, it is an individual journey that really reflects the vision and personality of the owner. Hearing from everyone about their adventures of ownership and the questions from the potential owners really made the discussion lively. 

The Group in casual discussion

The rest of the weekend was filled with more wonderful discussion and advice and a huge host of presentations on various subjects pertaining to ownership. We even had time for spa treatments that were generously donated by Northstar Financial Group and Lilly (the sponsors of the retreat). Everyone came back relaxed and thrilled to learn more and open up individual discussion/story time.

I would love to thank not only Mackenzie Bolin from Northstar and Marge Strother from Lilly for the wonderful opportunity to attend this retreat and for the opportunity to speak, but also all of the wonderful ladies who participated. Many thanks to Dr. Lord and Katie and Daniela for holding down the fort while I was away - I could not have left the practice in better hands.

And today, on our 14th wedding anniversary, I want to take a moment thank Michael for helping me realize my dream of practice ownership and for all of his amazing help during this process - I could not have done it without you! 

Michael and I camping at Hell's Canyon, Oregon last year for our anniversary

 

This is a copy of my article I wrote for the June 2008 edition of the SE Examiner. Please post comments with questions, comments on how you keep your pets cool, and suggestions for upcoming articles! I look forward to hearing from you.

With that glimpse of summer we had I started to realize that once again we need to prepare our pets for the hot weather ahead and there are some very unique ways to help keep your pet cool this summer. 

Seso cooling off at Lake Takhlakh summer 2006

The obvious ways, of course, are to keep your house cool while your pet stays at home. Closing blinds and running fans, or, if you have it, keeping your air conditioning set to 74 degrees F are some good ways to keep your home cooled for your pets. Leave plenty of cool open floor space for your dog to lay on, or if your basement is safe, you could put your pets down there for the day as it’s often times much cooler down there. Or consider these great Canine Cooler beds that you can be special ordered from your local pet store or purchased on line. The unique water cooled system keeps your pet cool while giving a nice cushion to lay on rather than the hard floor. Be sure to fill the bed in the place you want to leave it – they get heavy when filled. I bet cats would even enjoy them (don’t tell them what they’re called). 

Kitty drinking from a Drinkwell fountain

Cats and dogs cool themselves by panting and less productively through their footpads. Leaving cold water to drink, with ice cubes in it can give pets the opportunity to drink cold water to help keep cool. Cats are more tricky than dogs and have very individual preferences on how they like their water. Some cats love water out of the tap if your cat fits this category, let the water get cold and offer your cat a drink. If your cat only likes her water in a full cup at the bathroom sink then be sure to fill it often with cold water (use the excess to water indoor plants) and you can even try adding an ice cube or two.

Yummy Peanut Butter Frosty Paws

Keeping pets hydrated and cool at the same time is important in hot weather. If your pet is doesn’t like to drink a lot of water, try flavoring it. Use low sodium chicken broth, clam juice, tuna water or your pet’s favorite flavor. You can even freeze the flavored water into ice cubes for a crunchy popsicle treat to help them cool down. If your pet doesn’t like the popsicles, there are other ways to add moisture to diets to keep them hydrated – you can water down the dry kibble food and this works well for dogs that meal feed or you can offer canned food which always has a higher moisture content. You could even add a little water to the canned food but be careful with cats, they are highly particular on the mouth feel of their food and may not eat a watered down version. If you want to get really gourmet, why not add the flavored water to the dry or canned food? One last idea about canned food is to fill a Kong toy with canned food and put it in the freezer to make a tasty cool treat that can also occupy your dog for awhile to take his mind off of the heat. For cats you can freeze canned food into small ice cube trays and try those as a treat. There are other commercially available “ice cream” treats available for dogs (but I bet cats would enjoy them too) called Frosty Paws. They come in small containers like the sundaes that we used to get as kids. You pull off of the top and give it to your dog, maybe take a small scoop out for the cat first, and let them lick it out of the container. If your dog is the type that would EAT the container, you may want to scoop it into a bowl first. My dog loves these and they are available right in our neighborhood at Zupans and New Seasons.  

I am very honored that I have been invited to speak at a Women's Veterinary Retreat in Bend this weekend. I will be discussing the topic of starting up a practice with two friends, Dr. Tracy Thompson of East Padden Animal Hospital (open) and Dr. Nancy Curran of Two Rivers Veterinary Clinic (opening this summer). It's going to be an exciting event. I actually attended a similar retreat 3 years ago and found it to be an amazing connection between women veterinary practice owners and associates who may someday want to be practice owners. And lnow here I am going back to speak as a practice owner! I will be out of town for the weekend and have my wonderful friend, and very skilled relief veterinarian, Dr. Alison Lord watching the practice for me Friday May 30th and Saturday May 31st. Daniela and Katie will be there too, of course, to answer any of your questions, schedule appointments and help Dr. Lord with any pets that need our assistance. I will be back in the office for a normal work week on Tuesday, June 2nd at 10am.

Smith Rock near Bend, Oregon

Open House June 14th! We are very excited to invite all of you to our open house so you can see the fruits of all of the hard work that you've been reading about here on Ready, Vet, Go! Come check out the chandelier. Or maybe your favorite story was about the vessel sink that we aquired last minute for inspection when our original red one was without certification! Or how about those carpet tiles - are they really tiles? Our public Open House is from 3-6pm and we are having a private Industry Party from 6-8pm. I hope you can attend - it will be so great to see you all and meet those of you in person that have been following our progress. All pets and people are welcome!

We've been blogged about! Check out the posting from Cheryl Janis about her visit to our clinic with her sweet kitty, Baby on her site Planet Pink n Green. 

Well, it was another one of those late nights at the clinic. (Yes, the post is right 1:05 AM!) The kind of late night where I forget to eat dinner and have to bargain with the poodle for a few extra minutes (over and over again). Luckily, she is very resiliant and will nap for long periods of time before she asks to go home again.

This time it was a marathon painting session of the back room where our dog kennels, oxygen and nitrogen, server room and general storage are. It's a small enough room to make it fun. The stakes are also pretty low since it's storage but it is a part of the hospital we spend some time in so I wanted it to look nice and finished. My friend Cheryl Janis (interior decorator, feng shui consultant and Editor in Chief of Planet Pink n Green) came to the clinic on Friday for a decorating help session. She already helped pick the colors and the furniture and consulted with us on the design of the clinic and it was great to have her over for some finishing touches. She single handedly rearranged the living room (waiting area) furniture and, using everything I had already placed in the room,  made the room so much more inviting - amazing! We walked through the clinic taking notes on what the space could use when we came to the back area (which I just wanted to wave my hand at and move on to the good stuff but she lingered). Cheryl asked questions about how we were planning to use the space. She talked about the Feng Shui areas of fame and relationship/love which are combined in our back space and offered suggestions for decorating and making it a vibrant space. Number one - finish the space.

Hence the marathon painting session. I finished most of the room in Devine Almond to match the Digital Radiography Suite. Cheryl explained that pink is a great color to use in the love/relationship area of a space but I was bound and determined to use only the colors I had on hand. My first thought was to to use the Aura Wisteria which is a lavender color - close enough to pink, right? When I was looking for the Wisteria, I remembered the Devine Peaches and Beans that we used in the bathroom! Perfect - that color is so happy and it really brightened up the space and peach is definitely close to pink! I painted it on the main wall in the back and then decided to use it for Mr. Oxygen and Mrs. Nitrogen's house (see Michael's earlier post on requirements for passing final inspection!). The floor in that room and the DR Suite is black and we decided to paint the ceiling black to match. Oooooh, the Peaches and Beans looks so awesome with the black!

Black paint freckles!

I had already painted the DR ceiling on friday (that was quite an adventure!) First of all, I didn't bring a hat and was a little worried about getting black paint in my hair. But, being ever resourceful, I grabbed a surgical bouffant cap and wore it for protection - perfect. Then I encountered another snag when I started to warm up with all of that overhead work I was doing. I was wearing my usual painting clothes except I had a nice t shirt on under my painting fleece. I was getting hot and wanted to take the fleece off but I didn't want paint on my t shirt. Picture this: me in my paint splattered overalls, stripped down to my camisole, and wearing a bouffant surgical cap. Thank goodness there were no cameras present. I did the same cap trick tonight but this time I remembered to wear the paint splattered t shirt. I did take some self portraits for this post (sans surgical cap) for your entertainment. Michael is out of town and would have done a much better job at capturing the black splatters on my face but these will have to do. 

Painting overalls, painting shoes and messy hand

I've been getting a lot of requests lately for more pictures of the clinic. We'll get there, I promise but there are still some finishing touches to add before it's photo ready. Michael's photographs do capture the space well but it's nothing like seeing it in person. So we'd like to invite you come by and tour the new clinic! Saturday June 14th is our big Open House. From 3pm-6pm is the general public open house and from 6pm-8pm is the private veterinary industry open house. I hope you all can come and check out the hard work you've been reading about - I know you're curious! It will be a lot of fun!