CLIENT APPRECIATION PARTY

You and your family are invited to our annual Client Appreciation Party at the clinic on Friday July 27 from 3-7 pm. We had a great turnout last year on Friday evening, so we decided to try that again.

 We will have free food and beverages and fun and door prizes and lots of things for kids to do. We are planning on having food in the garage and activities in a tent on the south lawn, so everything will be easy to find.

Of course, you are welcome to tour the clinic and see our most recent improvements and landscaping. Kids will be able to bring their stuffed pets and practice bandaging them. We may even have some special visitors from the Humane Society. You can also tour the dog park north of the clinic.

Everyone is welcome! Please bring the family, have some food and join in the fun. Please tell all your friends and neighbors!

 

GET READY FOR THE FAIR!

It doesn’t seem like it should be time for the fair already, but here it is. Sally will be helping check in animals on Thursday August 16. Please call if you have any questions about the paperwork that you need. Sally will be taking care of on farm pig inspections, so just call and make an appointment for her to come out and look at your pigs. We are looking forward to seeing the pigs and the swine show in the brand new swine barn.

Good luck to all fair participants!

 

PENICILLIN IS BACK

We have been able to get more regular short acting injectable penicillin in stock recently. Since we don’t’ know why it was is short supply for so long, we don’t know how long we will be able to continue to find it. Stop by the clinic and get some while you can!

 

HEAT STRESS CAUSING PROBLEMS

We have been treating a number of animals suffering from heat stress. Animals can start seizuring and lose consciousness and die if their body temperature gets too high for too long. Some animals never completely recover from the brain damage caused by the high fever. Half of affected animals will die.

Animals like dogs and pigs cannot sweat and must rely on panting to cool off. Horses and cattle can sweat, but they also increase their respiratory rate for evaporative cooling. If animals cannot get out of the sun or don’t have enough to drink, they can get overheated in a hurry.

If you have an animal with a temp of 105 or higher, if possible, move the animal to a cool place in the shade and soak the animal’s body with cold water. Make sure the animal has plenty of water. Provide air movement with a fan or breeze. Animals that are not drinking may need IV fluids. A horse that Sally took a call on died before she could get the IV fluids to it.

You can prevent heat stress in your animals by providing shade with a high roof, air moving and plenty of water. Feeding a high quality forage 2 hours after peak temps will help cattle and horses generate less internal heat. Minimize stress and handling and work animals early in the morning or later in the evening after things have cooled off. The same preventions work for people!

 

DAIRY BREAKFAST MUDFEST

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the Dairy Breakfast this year at Banner Ridge Farm in Platteville. Many thanks to the Shea family for hosting the event. The weather was the only challenge with heavy rains the night before and drizzle most of the morning. Volunteers helped move wood chips and set up tables at the last minute because of all the mud. The only parking was along the roads to the farm, but wagons shuttled people to the breakfast.

Sally helped serve seconds during the early shift. That was definitely the easy shift. The crowd picked up after 10 once the water was down and highway 81 opened back up. We are looking forward to next year’s breakfast at the new Keiler Farms dairy near Cordelia.

 

DOG PARK WELL UTILIZED

We are happy to see so many people and their dogs making use of the dog park north of the clinic. If you use the park, please let us know how you would like to improve the park. We are looking for suggestions and ways to implement improvements.

STRANGLES IN HORSES

We have been seeing a few more horses with strangles this spring and answering a lot of questions about the disease. Strangles in horses is similar to strep throat in people”mostly occurs in the young, can be self-limiting to very serious. We recommend the intranasal vaccine against strangles for horses under 5 years old that will be going to a trainer or attending events with other horses. Any horse that is traveling and exposed to many other horses is also at risk and should be vaccinated.

Horses that are infected may ran a fever, have swollen/abscessed lymph nodes, snotty nose and cough. Some horses get dehydrated or go off-feed because their throats are too swollen to swallow. These horses need rapid, intensive care. Please call if you have any questions about strangles.

 

MAKE SURE YOUR PETS ARE VACCINATED

Summer is the time for people and pets to be outside playing and enjoying themselves. Summer is also the time for dog and cat bites, however. We have been seeing a number of dogs and one puppy for rabies observations because the animals have bit someone. 

If your pet bites someone and is current on its rabies vaccination, the animal must be quarantined at home and be brought into the clinic for 3 exams. The cost for the 3 exams is $125 total. The 1st exam must be within 24 hours of the bite and the 3rd one 10 days after. The 2nd one can be anytime in-between. We complete paperwork that is submitted to the health department.

If your pet is NOT current on its rabies vaccination, the cost is much higher because the pet must be quarantined at the clinic for 10 days in addition to the three exams and vaccinated at the end of the quarantine. Total cost is $393.00.

Please don’t wait until your pet bites someone to find out that their rabies vaccination is not current!