Don't forget to give your dog its monthly heartworm preventative

WE ARE OFF AND RUNNING in the new hospital. The transition to the new building has gone smoothly and everyone is enjoying having more space. Our first three weeks have been busier than expected especially with the weather. Every day we find new ways the new, larger more complete hospital enables us to provide better, faster patient care and client service. New clients are increasing as they hear about our pet care destination. Workers continue to finish small details as late arriving materials show up or small changes or corrections are accomplished. The final areas to be completed should be done by mid-February. Following are a few comments on our various new and enhanced services.

DOGGY DAY CARE is the overwhelming hit of the new facility. Our surveys indicated that clients would use day care for their dogs. However, we are excited with the number of pets that spend all or part of a day with us. Everyone, including the staff enjoy watching the dog's romp, play and interact with one another. Barb Harris and her crew in day care have been hosting between 3-11 dogs daily. Come see day care and schedule an interview for your dog. Call 419-885-4421 and ask for doggy day care.

CANINE LEARNING CENTER classes have started. Our four groups from puppy kindergarten through beginning agility have families and dogs enrolled. Our class sizes are small so that there is plenty of room and personal attention for each family and student. Our next set of classes will begin in about four weeks. There is no dog that cannot benefit from obedience class. Call and ask for Canine Learning Center

PHYSICAL REHABILITATION WITH THE UNDERWATER TREADMILL AND HYDROTHERAPY UNIT is already busy. We are currently helping several knee surgery dogs, two neck trauma dogs, a back patient and a skin patient recover from their problems. The unit, under the direction of Sarra Nicely, is being used every day. We have introductory prices in place so having your pet utilize advanced rehabilitative services is very affordable. A session in the spa can be arranged to enhance your boarded dogs visit. Rehabilitative services must be set up through a doctor visit. Call and set up an evaluation and take a tour of our rehab space.

COMMUNITY MEETING ROOM is available for any local animal related or charitable organization at no charge. The space is large enough to easily accommodate 30 people. You are welcome to bring food, drink and a speaker. We will happily provide a speaker and of course a tour of the hospital. This room also doubles as the staff locker room. Several staff members have done all the painting and clean up in this space.

"THE DOGS LOVE THE HEATED FLOORS" IS THE constant comment from all our boarding space workers. After any of their many daily trips outside the dogs quickly lie down on the warm floor and just relax. The radiantly heated floor is proving to be a real value added service for our boarding guests. Once the weather breaks we will be able to utilize our dog walker. It is ready to go but the stone is not leveled out so we cannot use the walker. The entire area and the doggy day care yard are now fenced with vinyl covered cyclone fence. One section of the kennel is yet to be completed. We should be done and complete for President's weekend. Our kennel is the best deal in town with every thought in our design geared to the comfort of the guest. The air in the space smells amazingly clean and fresh. This is a tribute to our advanced air handling system, 12 air changes per hour, 75% heat or cooling recovery, hepa and charcoal filter of return air and most importantly the constant care our staff gives to cleaning. We have a staff member in the kennel until midnight every day. All dogs are getting bedtime potty trips outside before the lights are turned out. Remember that our boarding guests are never alone.

GROOMING WELCOMES MARCI HARRIS as our new, second groomer. Marci is great with the animals as well as the clippers, brush and scissors. We now have longer grooming hours and regular Saturday hours to fit grooming your pet into your busy schedule.

IF YOU ARRIVE AT THE HOSPITAL AND THE DOORS ARE LOCKED we have a paging phone next to the front door. Just pick it up and follow the instructions and one of our overnight staff will get on the line to help you. Whatever it is we can help you, 24/7. We believe this is the single feature that is most valuable and unique about us. Ask your pet owning friends if they can go to their vets at midnight to pick up medications, admit for an emergency boarding or take their pet home after the midnight shift.

THERE ARE MANY THINGS LEFT TO TELL YOU ABOUT. We will save the medical/surgical innovations for next month. You are welcome to stop by anytime and take a tour. Bring a friend who has never experienced our practice and you will both receive a free gift.

LANDSCAPING, THE MEMORIAL GARDEN, THE CATAMINIUM BIRD GARDEN and carpeting for the meeting room are the big issues still awaiting completion. All the outside stuff will have to wait until spring. The meeting room carpet is waiting for our budget to get settled down and be sure there is cash available to immediately purchase the carpet. If anyone has an economical source of carpet, padding and installation please give Dr. Bob or Sherry Lewis a call.

GALA RAISED OVER $3,000 FOR MEMORIES LIVE ON ANIMAL FOUNDATION. What a great success our first ever fund raiser was for the foundation. Letters go out next week to local high schools announcing our pre-vet scholarships. We are about to place our first memorial brick order. We hope to have a symbolic laying-the-first-brick event to inaugurate the memorial garden in May or June. If you are interested in learning more about the memorial bricks, wind chimes or the memorial garden call and talk to any staff member.

PRESS COVEAGE OF THE NEW HOSPITAL has been tremendous. Two TV stations, The Blade, Sylvania Advantage, Sylvania Herald and Pet Lovers News have done articles on the new building. Dr. Bob is talking with a local radio station to do a weekly pet care call in segment. Stay tuned for details on the radio show. Dr. Bob continues to write a regular column for Pet Lovers News. This free tabloid style newspaper is a worthwhile read. You may pick up copies at Sylvania Vet, local pet stores and other pet related sites.

TWELVE CANINE AND 10 FELINE studies have determined the common ingredients associated with adverse food reactions in each species. Hill's Pet Nutrition recently published an article discussing the most common food allergens. In both dogs and cats adverse reaction to food is usually seen as skin allergy. Vomiting or diarrhea is a less common food reaction. Food allergies make up less than 20% of all allergic problems; so changing diets to avoid the common allergens will at best only help 1 in 5 pets. In dogs, over 2/3 of all reported food reactions were caused by beef, dairy products and wheat. Additionally, chicken, chicken egg, lamb and soy had a high incidence of reactivity. Adverse reactions to corn, pork, rice or fish were rare in dogs. In cats over 80% of the reactions were caused by beef, dairy, and fish. With cats, reactions to meat protein were more likely to be skin reactions while reactions to wheat and corn were most likely to be intestinal. In an animal where food allergy is suspected one must try to not feed the above listed ingredients, use a novel protein diet or use a specific hypoallergenic diet like Hill's Z/D or Purina HD.

DRUG MAY OFFER HELP FOR AGGRESSIVE FELINES. Recently, a study at Cornell's Vet School has shown that clomiprimine may be useful in treating aggressive cats. We carry this drug and will begin using it in selected behavioral cases to assist our behavior modification recommendations. If you have an aggressive cat or know someone that does, please feel free to call and schedule an appointment with Dr. Bob for a behavior consult.

PET PAL VOLUNTEER PROGARM is about to come out of hibernation. We stopped accepting new members and cut back current Pet Pals until we moved and redesigned the program. Jamina and Amy, under the direction of Dr. Tate, are now ready to accept applications and schedule interviews for 13-18 year-olds that wish to join our volunteer pet care group. The new program will involve lots of playtime with our boarders as well as helping out around the hospital. Three of our most senior Pet Pals will take on responsibilities of mentors, instructors and schedulers. This is a great and nationally unique program for teens interested in spending time with animals and learning about veterinary medicine first hand. Call 419-885-4421 and ask for Jamina or Amy.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
FROM THE WHOLE STAFF AT SYLVANIA VET
"A PET CARE DESTINATION"

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