Today 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’m writing this on Saturday, April 25.
- When I woke up the house was cold.
- It is 32 degrees outside but there is no frost on my windshield.
- I started a fire in the wood stove and did my morning prayers/meditation.
- I start by thinking about a litany of saints and ancestors and people who I have truly loved and I ask them to be with me while I pray/meditate.
- I have no idea if this really “works”
- I mean, are they really “with me”?
- I don’t know the answer to this question.
- I do know that calling them to mind changes me.
- I remember them each morning and there are a lot of them.
- Peter Nkedi-Kizza, my professor from graduate school, is one.
- I don’t always spend tons of time thinking specifically about each person, although sometimes I do.
- It’s more a litany of bringing to mind folks that loved me and that I loved in return as well.
- Then letting my mind go wherever it wants for 20 minutes and I just give my thoughts back to…
- Who do I give them back to?
- God, the Universe, Sophie?
- And then I get up and start my day, or write this newsletter or go see my appointments, ride, or walk.
- I know I am changed by doing this.
- I am in some better place than I would have been without it and therefore able to be more kind, and less reactive than I might have been without it.
- Mother Teresa said, “I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.
- Maybe that is all there is to it and that is the way it works?
- If it is, I’m okay with it.
On Monday the most incredible thing happened. I was seeing one of my favorite patients with one of my favorite clients. (I LOVE little naughty dogs! They are my absolute favorite!) And we had a weather event. I LOVE weather. Any kind, and the weirder the better!
I am 56 years old and I had never experienced this before. Through the big windows in the exam room we could see:
Graupel, or soft hail, consisting of tiny, opaque white snow pellets (2-5 mm) formed when supercooled water droplets freeze onto falling snowflakes (riming). These fragile, crunchy “soft” pellets are distinguished from hard hail or icy sleet by their snowflake core. Often appearing in cold, unstable winter storms, they fall like small snowballs.
When I got home my husband asked if I’d driven to New Hampshire because of all the snow on the car.
I live 4 miles from the clinic and we got no snow at my house.
The whole thing lasted 10 minutes.
So cool!!!
Circling back to some of my patients who find vet visits a bit stressful and need a little extra support, I often recommend the Muzzle Up Project.
We recently saw Otis, who used these protocols during his most recent visit, and the results were fantastic! Check out the note below from his parents about their experience.
Fenway – cairn terrier, apple of his parents’ eyes, and total cutie. He’s very social and loves treats, but as they say, “a terrier’s gonna terrier,” and Fenway is no exception. At 13-1/2 years, he’s set in his ways and vet visits have never been easy. He doesn’t enjoy being picked up, put on the table, poked, listened to, or much after the initial excitement of being in a room with new people and the special treats he only gets there. Poor Fenway gets nervous, standoffish, defensive, and sometimes even a little nippy. It’s been rough.
Last time we were in the office, Dr. Dana suggested we try muzzle training with our boy. We saw the appeal – protect Fenway, protect the people, reduce stress all around – but, even though Dr. Dana said we had plenty of time before his April appointment, we were skeptical he would ever be willing to put his nose in a muzzle without a fight. Boy, were we wrong!
Dr. Dana introduced us to The Muzzle Up Project, which includes recommendations for comfortable, effective muzzles; an easy-to-follow methodology; and lots of videos explaining how to ensure success at each step in the process even for the most resistant dogs. Fenway needed to take it pretty slow, but with patience, a lot of treats, and consistency with the plan, he did it.
Last week’s visit to Dr. Dana was totally different. Fenway put on his muzzle before we got out of the car. He let us put him on the table, and even when he gave a warning snap at the first prodding, the muzzle meant no-one needed to be nervous. We distracted him with treats, while the techs drew blood and Dr. Dana listened to his heart, administered a few injections, gave him a thorough physical, and even aspirated a cyst on his chest. We left proud of our pup, relieved not to have to sedate the old boy, grateful to Dr. Dana, and totally convinced of the value of that muzzle.
-Brooke & Bill
The best medicine is boring.
It is all that stuff like eating right and flossing that keeps you healthy so no medical or surgical heroics are required. It isn’t very exciting.
- Yearly annual visits to check weight and screen for lumps and bumps that might be concerning.
- Blood work panels on animals over seven years old.
- Rectals on dogs over seven to screen for anal gland tumors.
- Discussing weight loss and diet.
- A yearly fecal screening test.
- Discussing itchy ears and skin (allergies that cause feet licking and head shaking).
- Preventing ticks and fleas and heartworm disease and intestinal parasites.
- Lyme disease left untreated can cause a kidney form of Lyme that is nearly always fatal.
When I first graduated, I was losing 5 or 6 dogs every year to this disease. Now we are testing and vaccinating and it is rare for me to see signs in my patients of Lyme disease.
The monthly prevention, Simparica Trio for dogs, and Revolution Plus for cats, are boring, but it prevents a myriad of problems later on.
The ticks are out like crazy right now. They know it’s spring too.
Today the trees are bare but by the next full moon summer will be nearly here and they will have all their leaves.
I love that May starts looking like winter and ends feeling like summer.
I can remember moving from Alabama in 1997 and seeing pool toys in the drug store in May and thinking, “Who is going to swim when it’s 40 degrees and raining?”
It is time for the great dahlia bulb give away!
Come and get as many as you want until they are gone.
They’ll be on the Cat Entrance side.
I have about 3 bushels of them.
They are red.
Dr Mo is seeing all the little critters that aren’t dogs and cats.
Remember your monthly heartworm and/or flea and tick prevention!
Summer is Just Around the Corner!
Dana