Beginning in May, we will be offering in-room appointments with the owner present, social distancing, and masks on. Everything else will still be curbside (for now). Clients with appointments will call from the parking lot, history taken over the phone, and they will be escorted into an exam room, where they can be present with their pet. This is only for appointments, not medication refills, grooming, food, etc. And if the client does not wish to come in, we will be happy to offer curbside appointments like we have been doing for the last year.
This is our plan to transition back to “normal” since the Covid-19 case numbers are very low now in Denton County. Even the Lewisville Library has opened to normal visitation, with masks and social distancing.
Vet practices nationwide are experiencing problems with curb side care. The biggest one we have been encountered this week is loose dogs. Several dogs have simply slipped out of collars that were too loose, and even harnesses that were too loose. And we had one pit bull in the car for moral support for the tiny dog who had an appointment, and when the owner opened the door, it hopped out of the car, and ran around the parking lot. Fortunately, it was not fearful, didn’t bit any people, dogs or cats, and didn’t run out onto Garden Ridge Blvd. We have never had this many loose dogs on our parking lot before. So help us out my making sure your cat is in a carrier (we have loaners if you need one), and dogs are on a leash attached to a well fitted collar.
Call now to book your In-room appointment starting Monday, May 3, 2021
Category: Coronavirus
163 Still Doing Curbside
Curbside appointments are still in place to curb the Coronavirus at Garden Ridge Animal Hospital. Currently, only euthanasia appointments are allowed inside.
Governor Abbott’s repeal of the statewide mask mandate will not change our curbside appointment systems. As an essential business, we have ALWAYS BEEN OPEN through Covid (except for the snowstorm week), just not allowing clients in the building. Businesses in Texas are free to choose what works best for their staff safety. I know many clients have either recovered from Covid and/or had the vaccines, but my staff and I have not. Veterinary employees as a class have not been eligible for vaccines like human doctors and nurses. The curbside system is in place to protect our staff.
At some point in the future, veterinary hospitals including Garden Ridge will begin offering face to face appointments, and then later inside pickup of medicines and foods. I am not sure when that will be. We are weekly reassessing the situation. Stay tuned to the website and my blog for updates.
159 Going Back to Work Could Be Tough on Your Pet
As I prepare to return to being back in the building to see patients next week, I worry about my two little high energy terriers. They have LOVED this time when they were out in the country, running over acres, digging holes, and eating rodents and rabbits (yes Chuck eats rabbits now). I am anticipating some destructive chewing up the backyard, or the house if I keep them inside on a hot day.
https://www.aaha.org/publications/newstat/articles/2020-05/as-people-return-to-work-those-who-adopted-a-dog-during-the-pandemic-could-be-in-for-a-rude-surprise/
Many of the owners I have talked with in the last two months have described good quality time with their pets since many are home more. Many of the behavior issue clients describe are better, except the thunderstorm phobias.
Veterinary behaviorists are predicting an increase in problems as many of us go “back to work” outside the home. I read a great article, which I will share rather than write my own. The bottom line is we need to train our pets to be OK home alone. Here is the link.
https://www.aaha.org/publications/newstat/articles/2020-05/as-people-return-to-work-those-who-adopted-a-dog-during-the-pandemic-could-be-in-for-a-rude-surprise/
“People are preparing to go back to work, but their new pets most likely won’t be going with them. And those who adopted a pet during lockdown could be in for a rude surprise once they get home.
While the number of pandemic-inspired pet adoptions may be less than media reports suggest, there are still a lot of new pet owners out there whose pets have never known anything but 24/7 attention from their owners.
And those new best friends who kept their owners from going crazy during lockdown are going to be faced with a lot of unfamiliar alone time.
That could mean problems.
“I think we’re being a little naive to think we can spend 24/7 for [several months] with these guys and then abruptly leave,” says Leslie Sinn, DVM, DACVB, CPDT-KA, a certified veterinary behaviorist and owner of Behavior Solutions for Pets, a consulting firm in Hamilton, Virginia.
Does that mean Sinn is expecting a huge wave of unpleasantly surprised pet owners? “Truthfully, yes,” she says.
Sinn told NEWStat that the primary issue is going to be separation anxiety. “With these dogs being used to having that social support and that social contact, and now being left basically alone under house arrest, I think that’s going to be rough for some of them.”
Sinn doesn’t blame this plethora of new pet owners for not expecting anxiety issues when the time comes to go back to work. “I don’t know that people are aware of [separation anxiety] as a problem in dogs and cats. So there’s been no reason for them to anticipate it [or] to take any particular steps.”
But Sinn says there are steps veterinarians can take to help their new patients and clients prepare for it.
“Hopefully, veterinarians have been having conversations with new owners about appropriate socialization in general,” Sinn says. That includes “encouraging independence and encouraging exposure to as many different people, places, and things as has been physically possible during the pandemic.” She acknowledges that introducing pets to the wider world can be difficult, given the CDC’s recent recommendations on social distancing pets, but stresses its importance.
The most important thing, she says, is “accustoming the pet to some period of time alone.”
For example: “In the past, if I had to run an errand, I’d take my dog with me when I left the house because it was a chance to spend more time with him,” Sinn says. But that’s the opposite of what you want to be doing during lockdown. “Now, when I go out for my [semimonthly] grocery run, I make a point of leaving the dog behind.” This allows for some much-needed separation between owner and pet, and gives the pet a chance to practice being alone.
Owners should avoid taking their dogs with them every single place they go, Sinn says. That way, it’s not such a shock when they have to leave for work.
Sinn says veterinarians can make these basic recommendations to owners to practice the healthy separation behaviors we want dogs to acquire while there’s still time: “The ability to be alone, the ability to be independent, the ability to settle without us having to encourage them to settle,” Sinn says. “Those are all things a new pet owner should be doing on a regular basis.”
Sinn adds that veterinarians who haven’t had this conversation with their clients yet should have it sooner rather than later.
“[Because] one way or another they will be having the conversation,” Sinn says. And if they’re having it later, then “it’s going to be a disaster-mitigation conversation versus a preventive conversation.”
156 30th year Anniversary
On April 30, 1990, I opened Garden Ridge Animal Hospital. My ex-husband and I envisioned a free-standing homey small animal hospital where we could be our own bosses, grow a business, raise children, engage in our community, and have a wonderful life. The business succeeded, but the marriage failed in 1997 shortly after the birth of my son, Wayne. Life went on, I met a wonderful man in 2002, we married, and today we are celebrating 15 years of marriage.
Here I am 30 years later, and it has been a wonderful ride. The technology, computers, websites, and medicines, children and my hair color have changed, but the fundamentals of the human-animal bond, examining a pet, doing surgery, and communication with staff and owners are steadfast. The types of patients I have seen has changed slightly over the years, especially since I started seeing exotic pets like rabbits, ferrets, birds, reptiles, and pocket pets (rodents, hedgehogs). The last six weeks have been a crazy period, but we are still open for business. I am missing seeing my clients, many I have known for close to 30 years. I even have two clients I knew before 1990 from the first practice I worked at in Dallas, Hines North Animal Hospital.
I have been blessed with fantastic staff, pet parents, wonderful patients, lots of interesting cases, and social involvement. I have been on the City of Lewisville Animal Control committee several times, serving 6-8 years all together, most recently during the construction of the new Animal Shelter by Railroad Park. I have lead Girl Scout troops, Cub Scout troops, and hosted numerous scouting merit badge events. I have done Career Days at the High School level and Middle School level. I have worked with child daycares for Bite Prevention. We treat classroom pets. We work with pet stores to keep their critters healthy.
Lately, I have gotten involved with the Medical Reserve Corp in Denton, and Ham radio out in East Texas where we have a small cattle ranch and Airbnb lodge. My mom is alive and well, but cannot drive, so we do a weekly “lunch”, and run errands. And I get to enjoy my granddaughter in Flower Mound!
Achievements:
AAHA certification since 2006
Fear Free Certification since 2017
Best Animal Hospital People Choice Award
Best Landscaping award in 1995
I had hoped to do something special for the 30th anniversary. Something like a big open house, or a big 30% off sale, but that is not going to happen during the time of the Coronavirus. Maybe I will just have to do it for the 31st anniversary!
I hope to see ya’ll soon! Stay safe. Hug your pets.
154 Ivermectin to Treat Covid-19?
Some of you may have heard or read about a study that showed some efficacy of using ivermectin to kill corona virus. I was excited when I first read the headline because I have gobs of ivermectin and its cousins (selamectin, moxidectin, milbemycin) in the form of chewable dog heartworm prevention and large animal products (Ivomec) in pour on and injection forms. Heck, I even use diluted cattle Ivomec when I treat little hedgehogs and mice for mites!
But alas, the article is very clear that they were only testing infected cells in a Petri dish with ivermectin, and that is not going to help us right now. So, don’t go crazy and order some cattle Ivomec and ask me the human dose.
Ivermectin is used in many species, including humans (which I can’t prescribe for) as a tablet for parasitic worms (intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis) and topical formulations for the treatment of external parasites such as headlice and skin conditions such as rosacea.
When ivermectin was first approved for use in dogs as monthly Heartgard tablet (not even the chewable), it was a really big deal, because before that we had only had daily DEC ( Diethylcarbamazine= liquid Dirocide or chewable Marmaduke tablets) and it tasted nasty. Some good old boys figured out the ingredient, ivermectin, was in the horse paste, and started giving it to their dogs, based on the weight compared to a horse dose. It was highly inaccurate, and some collie type dogs have a weird genetic mutation (MDR1), that makes them VERY sensitive to ivermectin class drugs and other drugs, and these “horse doses” caused neurological signs, seizures, and death. True story. The research finally revealed that dogs need a super tiny dose to prevent heartworms (about 1.5% as much as the deworming dose/# for horse), and it was safe for all dogs, even those with MD1 mutation.
Veterinarians will be closely watching the research of why a dewormer will kill a virus, and I pray we find a simple, inexpensive cure for this darn Sars-Co-2 virus soon. Until then, don’t eat your dog’s heartworm prevention. He needs it more than you do.
153 Tiger By the Tail
As you may have heard over the last few days, one tiger in the Bronx Zoo in New York City recently tested positive for Sars-Co-2 ( the virus that is causing Covid-19 illness in humnas). It really did. And that contradicts what we have generally thought about this corona virus.
I have spent a lot of time this week learning more about this situation in animals. This virus, Sars-Co-2, is new but the first one (Sars-Co-1) that caused SARS in early 2000s has been extensively studied in animals. First, animal get many corona viruses themselves. Dogs and cats have at least 3 that I have clinically seen, so they aren’t rare. They are as common as “the common cold”. Some cause respiratory symptoms, some cause gastrointestinal symptoms.
Researchers over the last 15 years have been seeing if the human Sars-Co-1 could infected animal species like dogs, cats, horses, and ferrets. It can. It rarely goes to dogs, occasionally to cats, and easily to ferrets. So it stand to reason that the new coronavirus could theoretically be transmitted to those species.
Tigers are in the same animal family as domestic cats. The Bronx Zoo cats were not in close proximity to a known infected human, but must have come in contact through the bars to an asymptomatic human zookeeper. One zookeeper noted that several cats has upper respiratory symptoms, and the decision was made to anesthetize ONE to test, out of an abundance of caution. So one tiger did test positive, and we assume all would have but weren’t tested.
So cats (all types) CAN contract the corona virus from humans. That is confirmed.
But can cats be carriers and spread it back to humans? That is the big question and several veterinary laboratories have been doing extensive ( >5000 tests) on cats, dogs, and horses worldwide since February to see if we have any positives in the population. All tests have been negative so far, and they think they have a very specific test. The test by Idexx isn’t available commercially where a vet like in me in private practice can order it, but if the situation changes, it might be.
So YES CATS CAN BE INFECTED from humans (reverse zoonosis), but we don’t believe them to be INFECTIOUS TO HUMANS.
We kind of already knew that after the 2 positive house cats in Europe (that were in households with sick humans) recently. Both of those cats has respiratory symptoms but neither required hospitalization.
Scarier still for my practice with ferrets, is that FERRETS are MORE susceptible to coronaviruses than cats.
In conclusion, if you are sick, stay away from your pets, especially cats and ferrets. Let someone else take care of them. And if we see a sick cat, we will assume it is a cat virus, keep it away from other cats, and maybe run some cat virus panels before we even think about Sars-Co-2.