Meet Julie Wilson! Our Featured Employee of the Week!!

Julie is our Ancillary Services Manager, basically meaning that she works in the lodge keeping our dog and cat guests happy. She grew up in La Crescenta, CA and studied Biology at Portland State University. Julie came to Animal Care Clinic in February 2001 and now lives in Cayucos very happily, with her 3 daughters and 3 dogs. Julie has her hands full with 3 girls at all ends of the teenage spectrum, but still manages to spend lots of time at the beach and work out at Kennedy Club Fitness 3-4 times per week.  Julie has one of the biggest hearts and has been enjoying volunteering as a "Cuddler" at the neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) in Sierra Vista and taking care of our hospice program.

Halloween Pet Tips

Meisje and Maya as doctor and nurse for Halloween

Written by Nicole Gunkel, RVT

Halloween is a fun and spooky holiday!  With pumpkins, candles, decorations and costumes there is so much going on, and much to go wrong for your furry friends.  Here are a few tips to keep in mind this weekend.  Please be safe and have fun!

• Keep candy and sugary sweets away from dog’s and cat’s curious appetites. Halloween candies are not meant to be digested by our pets and can cause gastro-intestinal problems.  Chocolate, and sugar-free candy containing xylitol, can be especially toxic!

• Be careful when dressing up your pets, so that they don’t chew on costumes.  Ingestion of small parts of a costume could require surgical removal of the object!  Make sure that pet costumes allow your pet to move around and see clearly.

• Decorations around your home are fun, but may represent one more thing for your pet to chew on or consume.  Keep decorations in places where they can’t be reached or knocked over. 

cat jack-o-lantern with LED light

• Candles are a must for Halloween and popular for fall and winter holidays.  Keep them in places where they can’t be knocked over by wagging tails or slinking kitties. Consider using fireless (LED) candles.

• Pumpkin is a seasonal favorite that is a great treat for pets!  Use either canned or cooked pumpkin, staying away from sugary pumpkin pie filling.  Pumpkin is a high fiber dietary filler that can be used year-round as a snack or as an addition to meals to help pets feel full.  It’s great for our chubby friends needing to slim down.

• If you live in an area frequented by trick-or-treaters on Halloween night, you may want to keep pets safe in a back room.  A knock on the door or the ring of a doorbell can get dogs excited and feeling the need to protect their owners.  Also, be careful that your dog or cat doesn’t sneak out through the front door as it frequently opens and closes.

We wish you all a safe and fun Halloween and hope it is an excellent beginning to the holiday season!

Itchiness and Hair Loss Commercial

Itchiness and hair loss in your dog or cat can be the result of fleas, inhaled allergies, hormonal disease, seborrhea, food allergy, infection, and many other things. The key to controlling skin disease is to find the primary problem. Neither you nor your pets should have to endure hours of scratching and licking.

My Zambian Experience 2010

By Bonnie Markoff, DVM, ABVP

My travels to Zambia this year involved renewing friendships, helping with teaching elementary students, assisting in a small animal practice, and enjoying a wonderful safari in the South Luangwa Valley.

My friend Barbara had been asked to return to Lusaka to continue training the teachers at the American International School.  It was fun to spend time with the teachers we had met last year.  One of them even let me drive her car to church one Sunday (opposite side if the road and just a little different “rules of the road” than here at home!)  One day I was called to a classroom for a veterinary concern.  Some young African boys who traditionally believed that owls were bad luck, had shot a baby owl with a slingshot.  One of our students had brought him to school.  After I anesthetized the owl, I determined his injuries were too severe for him to survive and thus euthanized him.  This gave me the opportunity to talk to the entire 3^rd grade class about animals, superstitions and euthanasia.  I was also privileged to get to visit a school on the outskirts of town.  The Makwashi school is more typical of the schools that native black children attend.  These children stayed after school just for the opportunity to have Barbara teach them math!

Kids at Makwashi School

Most of my time was spent with Alison, a native Zambian veterinarian who I met last year.  It is such a joy to ride in her truck as she drives around Lusaka to various ranches to treat horse and other livestock.  I can’t think of a better way to met the people of a country and see the countryside.  I had the opportunity to mentor some younger veterinarians at her practice, to teach ultrasound and to work with Alison on some practice management techniques.  She and I will be communicating by e-mail to help her to set up a smoother running, more efficient practice that can better serve her patients, clients, employees and herself.

The last 3 days of our trip were spent on safari.  We stayed at a lovely lodge alongside a watering hole where puku, baboons, warthogs, impala, hippos, elephants and giraffe could be seen as we ate our meals.  Each morning at 5 am we were awakened by African drums, ate a light meal and then headed out in the Land Rovers to see the animals at sunrise.  We would return to the lodge for lunch and a siesta (which was tough when it was so hot!) and then we were back out in “Landies” at about 4:00.  We would stay out to 8pm so we could do night safaris and see the nocturnal species.  We have wonderful photos of lions, leopards, many types of antelope, porcupines, mongoose, hyena, water buffaloes and more.

 I am so grateful to get to go on these wonderful trips.  Thank you so much to my staff for being so competent that I can leave the practice without a worry.  And thank you to my clients who recognize that every doctor at ACC is equally qualified.  And of course, thank you to God for blessing me so richly and allowing me to share what he has taught me all over the world.

Breast Cancer in Pets

Ventana goes pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Written by Jennifer Evans, DVM

There has been a lot of pink around town lately, promoting breast cancer awareness month, but did you know pets can get mammary cancer too?  It is one of the most common types of cancer in female dogs, and female cats can also be affected.  Mammary tumors can be benign or they can be malignant and spread, most commonly to lymph nodes and the lungs.  Surgery to remove either a single mammary gland or the entire chain is the treatment of choice and sometimes chemotherapy can help. 

The really awesome news is that this type of cancer is totally preventable!!  Dogs that are spayed before they ever come into heat will never get mammary cancer.  If they are spayed after their first heat cycle but before their second, the chance of them getting it decreases by 50%.  After their second heat cycle, spaying them doesn’t help prevent mammary cancer but it does prevent other life-threatening diseases including uterine infections.  This is one of the reasons we strongly recommend spaying pups around 4 months of age, before they can come into heat.  If you think you may want to breed your dog, have a discussion with your vet about the pros and cons.  Whenever you decide you aren’t going to breed her or you are done breeding her, please keep in mind it is in her best interests to be spayed. 

We would love to talk to you about the benefits of spaying your dog!  

Meet Gustavo Rayas! Our Featured Employee of the Week!!

Gustavo currently works as a Registered Veterinary Technician at Animal Care Clinic, and has been here since May 2002. Gustavo grew up in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He graduated with his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in Mexico from the Autonomous University of Baja California. Gustavo is studying now, so that he may eventually be boarded as a DVM in California. He loves living in San Luis Obispo County and is glad that his children have had the opportunity to grow up here. Gustavo has 3 teenagers, whom he is always involved with in their activities and schools. Aside from being a busy, working family man, Gustavo is developing a website, petsatinternet.com.

Pets and Your Health Commercial

Did you know that interacting with a well-behaved pet changes your chemical physiology and lowers your blood pressure, decreases stress, and leads to an increased sense of energy and elation. It's true! People who own pets makes fewer visits to the doctor. Dogs and cats are good for us and we are good for them.