March Newsletter 2024

WVH is offering in-house Board Certified Specialty Services

We are excited to announce that we are partnering with a mobile internal medicine specialty called MOVES. This allows Dr. Linda Okonkowski, a Board-Certified Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialist, to perform procedures such as ultrasound, endoscopy, foreign body retrieval, and more here at our hospital! We are fortunate enough to be able to offer this new extra convenient option for clients who are interested in pursuing further specialized care for their pets. Please contact our office if you want to gather further information for your pet!

Vaccine Protocol Update

In light of higher cases of canine respiratory illness that we have seen over the last 6 months, we are recommending that any dogs that interact with other dogs at daycare, boarding, grooming, or dog parks obtain a canine Influenza series with a booster yearly and to booster their Bordetella vaccine every 6 months instead of once a year.

Outside Pharmacy Update

Anyone who is having prescriptions filled at an outside pharmacy please be aware that prescription refill requests need to be made to the pharmacy and not to the clinic. We will have refills available when appropriate with the original prescription. If you need more refills the pharmacy will contact the clinic to refill your pet’s prescription. We will not be calling you back to confirm the prescription call-in, please be assured that it is done. As well, the outside pharmacy will likely not call you when prescriptions are filled.

If you need training for your dog, we are partnering with Harmony Dog Training. Harmony offers behavioral consultation with positive training as well as group classes. For more information on both click below.

 

Kindred Souls

We know how hard it is to cope with the loss of a beloved pet. It is good to have a community of people that know the sorrow you are feeling. In every edition of our newsletter, we would like to remember that pets that we have loved and lost. If you would like to submit a picture and/or a short remembrance to be in our next newsletter please send it to Dr. Eberly at ceberly@wvhcares.com.

February Newsletter

We want more poop!

Bring your pet's fecal test to your pet's annual visit and you will get $5.00 off your pet's annual fecal test!

(fecal tests must be presented at your pet's wellness appointment to get this discount. No later submissions will be discounted).


Routine fecal examinations are used to detect intestinal parasites in your dog or cat. These parasites may include worms (such as hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms) and microscopic parasites (such as Giardia or Coccidia). Parasites not only cause intestinal disease in dogs and cats, some of them can also be infectious to humans (hookworms, roundworms, and Giardia). When pets live with people, especially children we have a responsibility to prevent transmission of disease as responsible pet parents.

In 2023, Washtenaw County had 1803 cases of intestinal parasites in pets that visited the vet and were tested. Can you imagine how many more cases there are in pets that we have not been tested? Many people do not give their pets year-round monthly parasite prevention. We see many cases develop over the winter when people stop giving their pet's monthly prevention.


We have all-in-one monthly preventatives that save you money and protect your Dogs

Simparica Trio and Nexgard Plus protect against heartworm disease, intestinal parasites, fleas, and ticks in a single once-a-month oral. You can get them at a discount and a safety/efficacy guarantee from our online pharmacy.

You can save money, protect your four-legged kid, and support our small business which helps us keep other clinic costs down.

February is Dental Health Month!

February is typically Dental Health Month. At WVH we celebrate dental health all year round! There is a 20% discount on your pet's dental cleaning any time of the year when you do a wellness annual lab work panel at your pet's annual wellness visit. Dental cleanings are safe for pets of all ages and prevent other diseases including heart failure and kidney disease. Your doctor will discuss your pet's needs during their exam. Your 20% discount will be automatically applied and cover any services your pet receives during their dental cleaning visit.

Updates for the New Year!

Announcements for 2024


~ Leaving home, traveling in a car, coming to the veterinary office, examination and restraint needed for procedures can be very anxiety provoking for both cats and dogs. It is our desire to achieve a fear free visit for your pet. Please ask about medications that are safe and can be given ahead of your pets visit to minimize fear and anxiety, making your pets visit less stressful for everyone.


~ With it being that time of year, where many are experiencing illness, we kindly ask if you are sick for any reason, to please utilize our curbside service. We will continue to offer this service so that we can keep everyone healthy. There is a large burden placed on you, our practice, and our partnering emergency services if we have staff out or if we have to close due to staff outage. Please also know that we are doing everything we can, to keep you safe as it pertains to your exposure with our staff.


~ With the weather being harsher now please don't hesitate to come right into the reception area vs waiting outside. The only exception to this would be if you are doing a curbside appointment. When you are having a curbside appointment, please come out of your vehicle with your pet to greet our staff as quickly as possible so our staff is not waiting out in the elements for too long.


~ For any surgeries or imaging appointments (x-rays or ultrasounds) please have your pet fasted for a full 12 hours before drop-off. So, an 8am drop-off patient would receive no food after 8pm the night before. If your pet eats at midnight the night before, imaging may not be valuable, or vomiting could occur with surgery. Withholding water is not necessary. Also, for surgeries, please have your pet defecate and urinate before drop-off whenever possible.


~ We do our best to get refills and medication requests done in a timely manner. Whether you are using our online request form or calling in for a refill please allow 24-48 hours for that medication to be filled. This is especially true when requests occur on Saturday's. Please try and request medications when you still have at least a couple days supply on hand to avoid your pet from going without. You can always schedule refills that get automatically shipped to you through our online pharmacy.


~ If you are an established client with a new patient, please fill out our new patient form and email it to reception at frontdesk@wvhcares.com along with any previous records before your visit. There is no deposit required for new patients that belong to existing clients. New patient forms can be found on our website within the new client tab.



~ In order to minimize loss of appointment availability for our clients, we have increased our "no show" or "cancelation less than 24-hour notice" fee to $50 per incident. Thank you for your understanding with regard to this policy, we want to be available for every patient that needs to be seen in a timely manner.



~ For those of you who use Heartgard Plus and Nexgard as their pets' monthly preventatives, there is now a combined once-a-month chew called Nexgard Plus. One product is more convenient and more economical. This product will be available in clinic and on the online pharmacy. All discounts will apply through the online pharmacy.


Season's Greetings from WVH to You and Yours!

Thank you for being part of the WVH family! We cherish being part of your pet’s health team. We wish everyone happiness during this holiday season!

With end-of-year inventory, we kindly ask you to have any in-clinic special food orders or medications refill requests for the rest of the year in by Wednesday, December 20th.

There are some cool changes with the hospital's online pharmacy we wanted you to know about! There will be improved and expanded shipping options for you. During checkout on the order summary page you will have more options for shipping and estimated delivery dates will be shown. Many more items will be available for expedited shipping. The flat rate fee for orders totaling under $49 and the flat rate fee for expedited both go away. What stays the same is...

*Free ground shipping for orders over $49

*Free expedited shipping for orders (including refrigerated items) over $200

We have some other exciting and long-anticipated news! Your pet's monthly heartworm, intestinal parasite, flea, and tick prevention is now available in a single once-a-month treat. We have two options that are super convenient and money-saving, not having to buy multiple products. We will be carrying Nexgard Plus in the hospital and you can get both Nexgard Plus and Simparica Trio on the WVH online pharmacy.

Remember there are always savings and medical guarantees for all preventatives both in the hospital and online. Also remember that when we have 50-degree days in December, we recommend keeping your pets on year-round prevention. The number of heartworm, intestinal parasite, and tick disease cases has gone up tremendously in the last 2-3 years.

Specials for Simparica Trio

After Purchase Savings Available:

Earn up to 450 points in rewards with proof of purchase on Simparica Trio ($45 value)! For details on how to save, visit: Zoetispetcare.com/rewards.

SAVE 5% on each shipment of Simparica Trio when part of a scheduled order. Offer valid through 12/31/2023. 

A Surge in Heartworm Disease and Tick-Borne Diseases

Are Heartworm Cases on the Rise?

WVH is currently treating 3 dogs in our practice for heartworm disease. Many of the positive cases we see each year are cases where prevention was given Spring, Summer and Fall, but not over the Winter.

The American Heartworm Society (AHS) has just released a new Heartworm Incidence Map, using data collected from veterinary practices and shelters across the U.S. The states with the highest density of heartworm cases continue to be in and adjacent to the lower Mississippi Delta (Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas), but survey results also indicate a troubling trend: that heartworm cases have continued to edge upward both in states with the highest heartworm rates and in regions that historically have enjoyed low rates. Meanwhile, roughly half of veterinarians from participating practices and shelters said that heartworm rates have stayed about the same (53%) or increased (29%) rather than decreased (17%)

Research from the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) indicates seroprevalence of Lyme disease in dogs is not only increasing in the Northeast, where it is considered endemic, but also spreading into areas that were previously thought to not be at risk for this serious, zoonotic tick-borne disease. Specifically, exposure in dogs to B. burgdorferi is rising in states not traditionally considered to be areas of high Lyme risk. Significant increases in the percentage of dogs testing positive for exposure have also been seen in areas that have not yet reported significant human incidence. These findings suggest canine Lyme prevalence could serve as an early warning system for changes in human risk of exposure. Areas where human risk may be increasing include regions in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, and Tennessee. According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease for humans in the United States. Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and rarely, Borrelia mayonii. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Disease transmission can occur when pets bring ticks into the home environment. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include having your pets on monthly prevention year round, using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, applying pesticides, and reducing tick habitat. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease can occasionally transmit other tickborne diseases as well. Some types of ticks can be active if the temperature is above 45 degrees Fahrenheit and the ground is not wet or icy. The American dog tick and lone star tick are not as active during the fall and winter months. However, Blacklegged ticks, which carry Lyme disease, remain active as long as the temperature is above freezing. The adults look for food right around the first frost. Additionally, the winter tick, which hatches in late summer as temperatures begin to decrease, is active during cooler months. This tick is typically found on moose, and sometimes deer, in the Northeastern part of the country. These ticks are different from other species, because they will spend their entire lives on one host. Winter tick eggs hatch on the ground in August and September. Larvae seek out a host between September and November. Those that find a host will overwinter on it, holding onto its hair when they are not feeding. Those that cannot find a host will likely die. Females will remain on a host until the end of winter or start of spring. Then they drop into the leaf litter, where they will lay up to 3,000 eggs before dying.

So, are there ticks in the winter? Yes, there are. Most of them are not a threat to you or your pets, but some can be. You should keep an eye out for ticks even when it's cold outside. 

Visit our online pharmacy to refill your pet’s prevention!