Today is the Chinese New Year, taking place on the second new moon after the winter solstice. The Dragon is the only mythical creature in the Chinese Zodiac and for the Chinese people, Dragon is the luckiest and most auspicious of all of the animal signs. Chinese holiday traditions include forgiving past conflicts, hosting elaborate feasts, setting off fireworks and giving children money in red envelopes.

Bernie with his Water Dragon toy from his friend Wallie

Gung hay fat choy is the traditional new year greeting meaning “Best wishes and congratulations.” We wish you and your furry family an abundant and transformative 2012.

DeeDee also finds the Water Dragon to be a good friend.

It’s that time of year!! I would like to invite everyone to come down to the Belmont Street Fair on Saturday, September 10^th  for our 4^th annual Teddy Bear Surgery event. In the past years this event has become more and more popular with local children. When I first conceived of this event I really thought kids would find it “lame” since it paled in comparison to any video game they could play. To my surprise, it has been well received since the beginning with even young teenagers participating.

Teddy Bear Surgeons save the lives of bears.

This year the bears are up to their usual mischief eating crazy toys and needed to be saved by budding Teddy Bear surgeons. Kids get to anesthetize the bears, dress in surgical caps and masks, remove the toy the silly bears ingested, seal them back up and then recover their patient.

We are prepared for 600 this year! Last year we saved near 350. Check out the blogs from previous years to get an idea of what it's like! 

This year we are asking for donations of $2 per surgery to raise much needed funds for a local organization, Paw Team.  This organization provides volunteer veterinary services for low income and homeless people’s pets and is in danger of shut down due to lack of funds. They recently sent notice that they needed help and we thought this would be a great way to help raise money.  Check out their website to find out all of the great work they do and see how you can help.

Remember, the clinic will be closed for business on Saturday, September 10^th and you can find us at the fair from noon-8pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Mt. Tabor will be closed for business Friday May 13th and Saturday May 14th. We are converting our software system to a fully integrated Veterinary software from our custom software that we have outgrown. Rest assured we will all be there working hard, entering data and getting ready for our first week on our new system. We believe that this new system will allow us to help you and your pets more effectively. Like with any change, aside from the inconvenience of us being unable to help you at the end of the week, there will be a learning curve as we work out the kinks and learn how to optimize the system. We appreciate your patience and understanding. 

DeeDee blogging

What this means to you: stock up on food, medications and supplements before close of business (8pm on Thursday 5/12). If you have an emergency please contact Dove Lewis or Southeast Portland Animal Hospital. They are open 24/7 and will be able to assist you. 

As part of these changes we are making to better serve you we will be eliminating the email notification system for new blog entries. Instead all new blog entries will be posted on facebook. Please friend our page! It's easy! We have a link at the left side bar or you can click here. We had a super fun idea -  sign up your pet on facebook and have them friend us too! We will use our new page to stay better connected, let you know about changes in hours, new products, current news events that may affect your pet like pet food recalls and what's happening at the clinic. You can also sign up for the RSS feed at the top of the page.  

One more seamless change that you can expect - a new phone system! Many of you have kindly given us feedback on our phone system - and it's not been pretty. It served us well in the begining and just like our software system, we have outgrown it. With how busy we have become we have found that clients are having to leave more voicemails. Many of these voicemails are getting lost in the system. We have been disappointed that anyone has to leave a message (I personally hate leaving messages for businesses) and finding out that some of these messages have been lost where we NEVER responded is horrifying. Please know that until this system is implemented, if you don't hear back from us please call again or email! We want to hear from you. This includes complaints as well. We cannot improve without your input. We do like postive feedback too so keep it coming. 

Thank you all for following and reading this blog. I've been keeping it for 3 years now! If you're new, be sure to browse the begining where I recorded real time the creation of the practice. Cheers to new beginings!

We will be closing early this friday 3/25 and will be closed on Saturday 3/26 to participate in the SOLV Beach Clean Up and our Staff Retreat.  Please be sure to pick up any food or medications needed for the weekend Friday by noon. We will be back open for business our normal hours on Tuesday 10am to 8pm. We apologize for any inconvenience.

In case of emergency please contact Dove Lewis Animal Emergency Hospital 503.288.7281 or Southeast Portland Animal Hosptial 503.255.8139 for care.  

Wow! Have you seen the lastest issue of Spot Magazine?! The Top Dog awards for 2011 are out and you guessed it! We won! (and won and won and won!). 

The clinic won Best Veterinary Practice 2011 which makes me so happy. We haven't even celebrated our 3 year anniversary and here we are winning accolades. I am so grateful to our clients who voted for us and for our fantastic team. This was a write in ballot which makes me extra honored to received these awards. 

Number 1: Dr. Kristin Sulis and Number 2: Dr. Krissy Bussmann

Thank you also for voting me Best Veterinarian for the second year in a row! This year I won by a landslide. I am not sure how this is possible and I am humbled by this kind recognition. The feature article in Spot Magazine was so sweet - I got teary when I read it! Check it out here. It's so much easier to talk about kudos when they are directed at someone else and I can't even tell you all of the girl squealing that went on when we found out that Krissy was the runner up for Best Veterinarian! I am so lucky to have her as my associate and you all clearly recognize how great she is to award her the #2 slot! 

As an extra added bonus we also won Best Cat Medical. We do take care of a lot of cat companions and both Krissy and I really enjoy our feline patients. They are a special type of companion and present their own challenges both in the clinic and medically. When it comes to cats any show of being singled out means so much.  

We are so grateful for your praise and support. Thank you again for voting and for making us the Best we can be!

Krissy and I both spent years in school to become veterinarians because we love the animals we work with (and their people too). We've created a clinic atmosphere to minimize the fear and our clients have really responded to that. Some of our patients however don't care that the surroundings are comfortable or that we have pockets full of cookies. Some become blinded by fear and think only "Oh no! It's the VET!!" They tense up, hide behind their human companions, pant, shake and cower. One particularly wonderful patient that both Krissy and I worked with was a large male Pit Bull that looked incredibly imposing until you approached him to examine him. I actually had his 95 lb body leap over my shoulder once to get away - he reminded me of the cartoons of the elephant with the mouse! Dogs become fearful of the vet from scary or painful experiences. They can even be mild. A vaccine poke that was unexpected can become a source of anxiety later. 

Do I really need to come out?

Veterinarians are not a mean bunch but our patients can lump us into that catagory pretty easily (much like some of us view dentists from childhood experiences). We are sad when patients are afraid and we do have our share of success stories - usually involving tons of food and gentle human companions or sometimes kind sedation. There are still some that no matter what hate our guts. They are afraid. They won't be touched, they will bark, growl, snap and do everything possible to prevent the hands (and sometimes needles) of the vet from touching them. This makes a full physical exam and annual wellness care difficult. Early conditions that can be found through these means are not detected and the entire experience is stressful for everyone. 

How do they know?

Thankfully Dr. Valli from Synergy Behavior Solutions is offering affordable classes  to help Fido work through their fear of the vet in GET SET FOR THE VET. Sign up quick! The first class is this Saturday the 29th  and the second in the series is scheduled for February 26th. Get more information on Synergy Behavior Solutions and their classes here. Many of you know Valli from her puppy classes and from her doing relief work at our clinic. You will love her fun style and her incredible knowledge as a trainer and veterinarian. She's had her share of  patients viewing her as the "bad guy" and will provide practical exercises to help you and your dog. 

Do you have any stories to share about how your pet feels about going to the vet?

You may have heard about the recent sea lion deaths along the Oregon Coast in the Oregonian and other sources.  An alert has gone out that sea lions are dying of a zoonotic disease called Leptospirosis - we call it Lepto in the biz. Our own nurse, Melissa had a scare a few weeks ago when her sweet little dog Billy went to pee on "log" on the beach that turned out to be a dying sea lion. Thankfully there were volunteers out to warn people to keep dogs and people away. Leptospirosis is a contagious disease that can affect dogs and people too. It is a bacterial disease that is spread through the urine of infected animals usually through water sources. The disease can enter through mucous membranes so splashing water in the eyes or drinking the water can lead to exposure. The disease causes severe liver and kidney disease and pets require days of hospitalization, antibiotics and supportive care for treatment.

DeeDee on the Beach

The most common place we'd see it back in vet school in Illinois is from cattle farms (I was treated multiple times for exposure to these dogs - ah the memories...I won't even go into details about the rabies suspect cow on pathology rotation!) Here in Oregon we see Lepto from wilderness areas and even in the city. A recent study found 15% of rats in Portland are infected and now we have this sad rash of deaths in sea lions at the coast. A few years ago a few people were even infected after exposure to Fanno Creek in Beaverton.

This and other cute dog tees can be purchased at www.cafepress.com

The good news is that there is a vaccine against the disease. It's the "L" in the classic DHLPP. Back when I first started practicing 13 years ago we used to vaccinate for Lepto all of the time but the reaction rate was so high veterinarians started to think they were doing more harm than good. Lepto became a non-core vaccine and since the disease incidence was way down we stopped vaccinating against it. Now it's on the rise again and thankfully the vaccine companies have reinvented their vaccines to be much smoother and less reactive. We recommend that dogs at risk receive the vaccine. If you take your dog to the beach, hiking, swimming, camping, or fishing the vaccine should be considered. Even dogs that live in the city that have exposure to yards with rats are considered at risk. We use the Pfizer vaccine that is given separated from any other vaccine. If your dog has never had a Leptospirosis vaccine we will need to give one and then a booster 3 weeks later. The vaccine is then good for a year. 

Contact us if you aren't sure about the vaccine status of your dog and we can advise you on how to keep your dog safe. 

Another Belmont Street Fair has come and gone. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the fair seemed at least twice as big as last year. This was our 3^rd year participating in the fair, and it was by far the busiest! Each year, we recruit hundreds of budding young surgeons off the streets of SE Portland to save the lives of plush bears, sickened by eating ridiculous things such as whole pieces of candy, wrappers included, and various toys. This year, the bears were giant sized and they were up to no good! 

The young surgeons, after reviewing the X-rays, dress for the task

The kids had to perform a physical examination on their patients, and take a guess at what was inside. Then they got to check out the X-rays, which gave them more clues. Then it was time for surgery! They induced anesthesia, using high quality medical standards – they even placed “IV” catheters, ran IV fluids, and gave pain medications! Just like in the Operating Room, they donned caps, masks, gowns and gloves.

Caps keep their hair from the bears’ bellies, while masks protect the bear from germs

Going under anesthesia

Once their bear was all comfie and anesthetized, and they were wearing their sterile garb, it was time to dive in! These kids had talent – they pulled out Slinkies, tennis balls, Hot Wheels cars, you name it! After extraction of the offending item, they closed up the incisions, turned off the anesthesia, and woke up their patient.

Hordes of young surgeons line up to save lives!

And they all gave the bears a hug when they woke up – just like we hug our own veterinary patients as they are recovering from anesthesia. It can be stressful to wake up in an unfamiliar place, but these bears had no one but the best, most attentive care takers.

Documenting their adventures with a tattoo

All in all, over 300 bears were saved. The kids this year lined up in droves to save these poor ill bears – we could hardly keep up with the demand! Next year there will be no shortage of sick bears either – so come prepared to save lives!

We will be closed Saturday, September 11th in order to prepare for our big day of Teddy Bear Surgery at the Belmont Street Fair on Sunday. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Please join us on Sunday from 10am - 5pm at our booth at the Belmont Street Fair - we'll be located in front of the Tao of Tea. It's such a fun event and we'll be doing things a little differently this year. Come watch child surgeons save the lives of our teddy bears by performing abdominal foreign body removals all day! See you all there!

Hello all. Our new sign went up on the building today. It is beautiful. We used the natural steel of the sign and matched the logo color, using a matte vinyl. The sign really emphasizes our beautiful logo and we should be much more visible when people are driving by or walking up to the clinic. Since many of you live in the neighborhood, walk on by and check it out. I'd love to see you standing outside the big garage door with your dog staring up and smiling. I hope you are thinking "I didn't know a veterinary sign could be so artistic!"