Tonight is the full moon. Give your monthly preventatives!
Note: If you have another way to remember to give your preventatives, that’s okay too! Do what works for you. I thought it might be fun for us to all give it together.
I think that it will frost soon. My husband is outside picking the last of our vegetables by flashlight, and I moved all my houseplants inside yesterday. I am a little sad to lose the dahlias. They have been prolific and so much fun this year. The good news about the frost for my allergic patients is that the frost kills many of the allergens/plants that produce pollen. Dogs and cats that need chronic allergy medication may be able to reduce the dose or come off of their medications through the winter after our first hard frost. Allergies in dogs and cats cause itchy skin and ear infections. I can clear up the secondary infections, but they are stuck with the tendency to be allergic, unless we test for the allergies and desensitize the pets by giving them allergy shots at home.
(An oral desensitization option is also available instead of the shots).
In the meantime, it looks like no frost is predicted now through the end of October. Last year the first frost was around November 9th. This means a few more weeks of flowers and veggies and I am grateful for that. It also means a few more weeks of allergy medication for my chronic allergy patients.
I am seeing SO MANY TICKS in the last few weeks. Remember your tick prevention! I am using Simparica Trio for my dogs and Revolution Plus for my cat. Simparica Trio and Revolution Plus provide flea, tick, heartworm prevention, and gastrointestinal worm prevention with one oral dose (Simparica Trio is a tasty tablet) or topical dose (in the case of Revolution Plus). Topical Revolution Plus can be used for dogs that don’t like to take the oral flea,tick, heartworm, and gastrointestinal worm prevention.
In hospital news, Dr Janet Mack was in Oklahoma showing at the Morgan Nationals with her horse last week. She placed 6th out of 15 riders in her class. It was a lifelong dream to attend Morgan Nationals with her horse. Tell her congratulations next time you see her!
We welcome Sydnee, a student from New England Tech, who is interning here on Thursdays and Fridays. We are hoping that she can stay and become a permanent addition when she graduates as a certified veterinary technician in the spring.
It’s veterinary technician week. Vet techs do so much work! Please thank your veterinary technicians next time you see them. They provide much care and comfort for your pets! Coty, our office manager and veterinary technician, made “thank you” boo baskets for the other technicians and decorated the cat waiting area with thank you signs. Stop in to see! I also brought Aunt Carrie’s bread, baked cookies, and light up pens, to add but it never feels like an adequate thanks for all that our staff does.
I am off to attend something called Theology Beer Camp THEOLOGY BEER CAMP 2024 in Denver, Colorado after waffling for weeks about whether I wanted to go. Dr Mack is holding down the fort at the animal hospital until my return this Tuesday. We continue to be open for our regular hours. October is my favorite month and the woods are never more beautiful than they are now in Rhode Island for walking or riding.
Why am I leaving?
Cons: I don’t drink beer. The theme is Lord of the Rings which I’ve tried to read a couple times and can’t seem to get through. I’m working on The Hobbit which is a prequel to Lord of the Rings and I am enjoying it more this time around.
Pros: It’s a meeting of theology nerds – kind of like vacation bible school for adults. It is sponsored by a podcast that I’ve been listening to called “Homebrewed Christianity.” The link is here: Tripp Fuller. There are speakers from the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico https://cac.org/ (which hosts several podcasts that I listen to) as well as a pre-event meeting for faith leaders that I am attending. Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. He was a friend of C.S. Lewis. I have read everything available at the local library by C.S. Lewis. He wrote The Screwtape Letters and The Narnia Chronicles along with many other books. He, Tolkien, Owen Barfield and several other writers, thinkers and academics would meet at the Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford, England. They called themselves The Inklings. These thinkers and writers influenced each other and the culture of their time and are still influencing our culture today. I am looking forward to meeting the writers and thinkers of our time that are discussing theology. I can let you know when I return if I had a good time.
Enjoy the beautiful fall weather.
– Dr Dana