Summer is in full swing. At WVH we are seeing several cases of the following.....
Hotspots on the skin, secondary to seasonal allergies, heat and humidity
Many cases of Giardia causing acute gastroenteritis
Several positive tick borne diseases including Lyme disease
In this newsletter we will go over each of these concerns and how we can help you avoid these problems with your pet.
Hotspots
Hot spots are acute moist dermatitis that typically occur secondary to allergic reactions that can include seasonal Atopy or bug bites including flea bites and bee stings. Hot spots are intensely itchy causing biting and scratching. Typically the best way to avoid these, is to keep your pet on its allergy medication during allergy season, keep the coat dry and trimmed during hot summer months and keep your pet on flea/tick prevention. Treatment typically entails shaving the area to keep it dry, topical or oral steroids and treatment for any secondary bacterial or yeast infection.
Gastroenteritis Caused by Giardia
Giardiasis is an intestinal infection in humans and animals caused by a microscopic protozoan. Giardiasis can be transmitted by eating or sniffing the cysts from contaminated ground,or by drinking contaminated water. These microscopic parasites attach themselves to the intestinal wall, and the damage causes an acute, sudden onset of foul-smelling diarrhea. Giardia infection in dogs may lead to weight loss, chronic intermittent diarrhea, and fatty stool. The stool may range from soft to watery, often has a greenish tinge, and occasionally contains blood. Infected dogs tend to have excess mucus in their feces. Vomiting may occur in some cases. The signs may persist for several weeks, and gradual weight loss may become apparent. The best way to avoid this infection is to keep your pet from drinking from outside water sources especially standing water in the yard or stagnant natural sources. We run a test on your pets stool to determine if infection is present. Treatment typically requires medication and probiotic therapy. Cats can have this infection as well as dogs. Giardia is transmissible to people so it is very important to handle any abnormal stool carefully and with good hygiene.
Tick Borne Diseases
Ehrlichia, Lyme, Anaplasma, Babesia and Cytauxzoonosis are all infections that we see in our pet population. These infections are caused by ticks feeding on your pet for 48 hours or more. Infections can cause a range of symptoms including rash, fever, lameness, acute kidney failure. Treatment typically requires use of broad spectrum antibiotics. Recurring symptoms and immune dysfunction can be a long term concern with these cases. Year-round tick prevention medications are the number one defense against tick-borne diseases.
Whenever your dog has been outside be sure to inspect your dog's skin for ticks at the end of each day. Most of our positive cases occurred in months that owners were not using tick control. We cannot predict weather in winter months anymore with our climates change.
FROM THE DESK OF DR EBERLY
I would like to share a few procedural requests so that we can meet your pet care expectations in a positive and efficient manner. We are hard at work, making sure your experience at WVH is helpful, desirable and productive.
We have had a lot of issues regarding online pharmacies. It is our hospital's policy that if you want to work with an outside online pharmacy for medications you must obtain a written script from us in person. This does not include prescriptions for food or prescriptions to be filled at local in person pharmacies like Costco, CVS, Kroger Pharmacy etc, we can call prescriptions into local pharmacies. Many of our clients have had counterfeit concerns with well known online pharmacies. For this reason we do not partner with outside online pharmacies. This takes any legal liability out of our hands. You always have the right to do business where you want to do business. Writing prescriptions and putting them into your hands give you the ability to exercise that right without involving our hospital. This has always been our policy and there will not be any deviation from that policy. As the medical director my main focus is keeping all of our patients safe and treated with the highest level of care. In this spirit, please respect my hardline stance in regards to this policy.
We have had a lot of positive response to our new prescription refill request form. This allows us to fill your pets refills with precision and a quicker turnaround time. Please remember all refill requests need to be done via the form vs a written email request. Please see more information regarding our refill request form below.
We would like to help with the confusion regarding checking in for your appointment. Our lobby is now fully open. We only require curbside check in with a phone call from your vehicle for surgery drop-offs and technician appointments. FOR ALL IN PERSON APPOINTMENTS and SURGERY PICKUPS please come into the lobby as soon as you arrive, we will then escort you into a room for check in with your technician.
There is a way to streamline your pet's prescription or food pick up. You can call ahead, make payment for your pet's prescription, then it will be placed in the vestibule prescription pick up area that is open during all work hours including the lunch hour when our lobby is closed. You can stop in and pick up anytime we are open without the hassle of waiting to be checked out.
REFILL PRESCRIPTION REQUESTS:
If your pet needs a medication refill they have been previously prescribed by one of our veterinarians please fill out this request form and we will contact you when the medication has been approved and refilled. Email your request to vettech@wvhcares.com.
Please allow 24-48 hours for medications to be refilled. Staff is checking these requests several times during business hours. Here is the link for that form.