A Kitten gets a home for Christmas.

Have you ever wondered what happens to all of those cute kittens that we have running around Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital?  Well if they are lucky, they attract the attention of one of our wonderful loving clients and get chosen to go to a new home where they are loved and pampered.  Mopar, our youngest homeless kitty, had his lucky day today.  He just happened to be running down the hallway, after escaping from the surgery side of the hospital where he had been playing, just in time to catch the eye of a man that had his dog in for a visit with Dr. Hagewood.  The man may have been looking for a kitten for his family or he just may have got suckered in by Mopar's cute face and outstanding personality.  Either way he asked to visit with Mopar.  After a short visit, he decided to take him home for Christmas.  The Warren Woods Team is always so happy when these little ones get solid caring homes and we know that Mopar will live a healthy life with his new family.

The only down side to all these cute kittens that we adopt out, is all the beautiful adult cats that we have continuing to get overlooked that are desperately in need of homes.  Take Latoya for example.  She is a beautiful, independent calico cat that has all the confidence in the world.  She has been with us for almost a year and has not had anyone interested in giving her a home.  (see her picture on our website)

Posie and her kittens were brought to Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital by animal control because Posie was a single mother with 4 kittens out in the cold and starving.  Her kittens had various birth defects and needed medical attention.  Now the kittens are 3 months old and we have two that still have not been adopted as well as their mother Posie.  She has now been spayed and is a beautiful girl with loads of personality.  Two of her babies snagged great homes, but the other two; Peggy (She has one rear leg that is not developed) and Zelda (she needed one of her eyes removed due to her birth defect) have not yet found homes. This sweet family of 3 needs a home so they won't end up living at a veterinary hospital with no special family to love them.

At Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital we care for our cats until we find them loving homes.  We are a roof over their heads and two squares a day however we can not provide them with what every cat needs and deserves.  A loving home and family.  If you have adopted one of our cats in the past (I have 3 that I have adopted from WWVH and they are all upstanding citizens) I salute and thank you.  If you have room and resources in your home to adopt another loving pet, please consider one of our older cats.   They will be forever loyal and grateful to you.

Getting off my soap box now.........   :)

Call us at 586-751-3350 to visit with any of the cats up for adoption.

Santa Claus and Many Paws raise over $800 for Leader Dogs

On Sunday December 2, the Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital team hosted the 14th Annual Open House.  Each year Santa shows up to host pets and their families in this fun event geared to raise money for Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester Hills, MI.  The Open House was attended by more than 65 families with their pets including, dogs, cats and birds.

The patrons were asked for a $10 donation to Leader Dogs in order to get their family pictures taken with Santa and received a 5X7 photo printed out as they waited. The hospital was decorated in a fabulous holiday decorations and lights. There was also a buffet of snacks and deserts for all to enjoy.  (Special thanks to Idexx Laboratories for donating money used towards much of the food.)  One of our wonderful clients even brought along a huge sheet cake decorated with photos of his family pets. All proceeds were donated directly to Leader Dogs.

The Warren Woods Veterinary Team works very hard each year volunteering their time cleaning, cooking and decorating the hospital in anticipation of this event, then spend their Sunday at work!  Thank you to the best veterinary team in Michigan!!!

A day with the Birds.

The Motor City Bird Breeders Club held their semi-annual bird expo on Saturday October 13th and Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital was there to represent.  We arrived at 8:40 am for set up with the doors opening at 10:00.  We spent the day at our table prominently placed near the front of the hall and experienced the company of many interesting people and their birds.  Some of our clients were in attendance and we enjoyed catching up with them and hearing their bird stories.  The show hosts many bird related groups and vendors.   Bird breeders, rescue groups, wholesalers and retailers are all in attendance.  

 At the Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital table Nicole, Beth and myself spent the day helping bird buyers and owners gather health and veterinary information for their feathered pets.  We had many informational brochures for bird owners and healthy bird food, supplements and toys for purchase.   Our friend Darlene and Chirping Friends supplied the toys called "Birdie Bangles" for use to offer to the patrons.  The toys that Darlene offers are so creative and cute and we were happy to promote them for her. 

We were surrounded by beautiful birds and were able to talk to their keepers and breeders. We admired the beautiful canaries at the table next to us (Nicole almost bought one) and saw some rare pied parrotlets that were so cute.  I found a jewelry vendor (I love jewelry) and bought a couple beautiful bird necklaces.  We ended up spending more money than we took in, but we were happy to be there to talk to all of the bird people.   The next show will be held in April, so check with our Facebook page and we will let you in on the details so you can join us there.  We love the Motor City Bird Breeders Expo and I know you will too.

Tough economy leads to sub standard veterinary care for pets.

The economic downturn that we all thought would pass in a couple years is hanging on to those of us living in Michigan. As a result, not only are our families suffering, but our pets are suffering as well.  When families are trying to cut expenses one of the first budget items that tends to be cut is the pet care dollar.  Not only do people cut back on their pet's preventative health care (i.e. vaccinations, annual blood, urine and fecal monitoring, heart worm preventative) , but they delay seeking veterinary advice when their pet is ill hoping for a spontaneous cure.  They turn to internet sites to try to diagnose and treat their pet in order to save money.  Sometimes this diagnostic and treatment delay can lead to increased costs and pet suffering in the long run.

 Low cost/charity veterinary hospitals and vaccine clinics are cropping up all over the state that offer discounted services for pet owners. Although these places do save the pet owner money,  the clinics and their services don't always live up to the veterinary practice standards mandated by the profession.  Low cost can often mean cutting out vital life sustaining and monitoring procedures for  patients and in turn dangerous medical and surgical practices.  Cost cutting can result in poor pain management, poor surgical monitoring by inexperienced and non-licensed practitioners and post operative complications that can cost more money and endanger pets.

When selecting a veterinary hospital for your pet consider the big picture and ask questions about staff experience, licensing, standards practiced and followup care.  Be sure you are selecting the best veterinary medicine not just the cheapest.  Ask about AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) certification.  Hospitals that have worked to certify themselves through AAHA adhere to a strict code of standards and are inspected to be sure they meet the standards in all areas of their practice.  Membership in the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association and other state and national organizations implies that the hospital keeps up with current developments in veterinary medicine.  Look at all the facts and try to choose the best pet care for your family member within your budget.

A visit to the Doggie Dentist.

As some of you know, I adopted a puppy in June.  After losing my two dogs in the same year to old age and cancer, my heart and home was missing a dog.  My new puppy is a Shetland Sheepdog named Trent, whom I adopted from a breeder in the Traverse City area.  Trent was retained by the breeder for the show ring but when it was clear that he was going to be too small to be a show dog, he was offered to me.  I adopted him at 5 months of age and he is a little cutie.  It was quickly apparent his size wasn't his only problem. His upper left canine tooth was coming in at a terribly awkward angle.  It was growing in towards his nose and rapidly pushing the lower canine tooth out to the side like a tusk. He was developing a  problem chewing and his bite was way off.  So I called a friend of mine Dr. Jim Clarkson.  Dr. Clarkson has a special practice in a animal dentistry west of Ann Arbor.  I asked him to see what he could do to try to save Trent's teeth.  Dr. Clarkson and the team at Westarbor Veterinary Hospital fitted Trent with braces.  He has some buttons cemented to his teeth and rubber band chains to pull the teeth into proper alignment.  So far the braces are working beautifully and Trent is tolerating them well.  The good news with the doggie braces is that they only need to be on for weeks, not years.  The bad news is that when your puppy finds a pencil on the floor and chews it up, he can pop off his brackets.  That means another trip to the doggie dentist.  Sigh......

Avian and Exotic Conference in Louisville KY

I spent the last two weeks away from the practice and I am happy to say that I learned a few things while I was away.  First, I spent 4 days with two of my top notch technicians attending the International Avian and Exotic Medicine Conference in Louisville Kentucky.  The Avian and Exotic Conference is a gathering of veterinarians and technicians from all over the world that meet to discuss the most recent studies in bird, reptile and small mammal medicine.  We stayed at the Marriott in Downtown Louisville which was the conference headquarters.  We attended meetings to learn about various topics such as small mammal training and operant conditioning to administer treatments to birds and small mammal patients.   We heard about wildlife conservation studies and learned new techniques in reptile diagnostics and husbandry.  My technicians each attended hands on seminars in avian bandaging techniques and rabbit dental procedures.  We were introduced to the latest products available for treatment and surgery of our small patients. While we were there we had the opportunity to visit Churchill Downs and got a private tour of the grounds and the museum which was great fun.  We posted some pictures of our visit on our Facebook account if you want to see them.

 The second week of my time off was spent with the award winning Stevenson Titan Marching Band.  (154 high school kids and 28 adult chaperones) I have been a volunteer with the band for the past 6 years and have enjoyed attending band camp for the past 5 years. I serve as the home and away camp coordinator for the band, and spend many hours preparing for away camp and getting paperwork together for the state inspection each year.  The week at Lake Ann Camp with the kids is very enjoyable but also very tiring as they are up early and get to bed late.  The kids march and prepare their half-time show under the direction of Mr. Michael Sekich and also are treated to many fun activities such as swimming, boating, karaoke, dancing, paintball, zipline and volleyball.  The volunteers that serve as chaperones work very hard to keep the kids healthy and happy at camp.  The marching show theme this year is "Welcome to the Jungle" which is appropriate for me as I work with jungle creatures each day.   I hope that my return to Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital brings me as many challenges as my time away with the kids.   Thank you to all of my talented WWVH team for holding down the fort while I was away.  If you want to see more of the Titan Marching Band please visit the website www.shs-mucic.org.  If you want to speak to me, visit me at my website www.wwvhcares.com.

Kittens, Kittens, Kittens

Summer brings many, many stray cats and that means Kittens!!  We have rescued at least 5 litters so far this summer and I am happy to say that they are all getting good homes.  If we have the mother cat presented with the kittens , she is spayed as soon as her kittens are weaned and we will find her a good home also.  Our latest litter was picked up by animal control and brought to us last week.  The mother is a beautiful grey tabby with a sweet round face.  She was dehydrated and very hungry gobbling up loads of food as soon as it was offered.  Her kittens are 2 males and 2 females - grey and brown tabby.  They are about 3 weeks old, so will not be up for adoption for another few weeks.  Call our office if you are interested in adoption of any of our kittens or adult cats. 586-751-3350

Please, if you have cats, make sure they are spayed and neutered as this will help cut down on all the unwanted kittens.  Also, if you see stray cats near your home, please call animal control to get them picked up before they can breed and make more stray cats.  There are many charity organizations that work to spay and neuter stray cats free of charge for animal control.  Call our office and we will direct you to the appropriate organization.  Also, if you are looking to have your pet cat or dog spayed or neutered be sure to ask the veterinary hospital whether they do pre-surgical  blood panels to evaluate the surgical patient also IV catheters and fluids should be administered to your pet during the procedure. Be sure they have licensed veterinary technicians monitoring anesthesia during the surgery and a licensed veterinarian performing the surgery.  Some "low cost" veterinary clinics practice short-cut medicine so they can charge less, but this could be a danger to your pet.  If you need more information about spay and neuter surgery please call Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital at 586-751-3350.

Successful Adoption Fair for Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital

Saturday June 23rd was our first adoption fair at Lou's Pet Shop.  We successfully adopted out 4 of our kittens to loving homes.  We had many visitors and great fun with our cats and kittens along with the pets at Lou's.  Many thanks to those who visited us and looked at our adoptable pets.  We love finding wonderful homes for these homeless kittens and cats.  We have some beautiful pets still up for adoption at our hospital so you can see them at the office or on Facebook.  Our office phone is 586-751-3350.

Congratulations to the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine 2012 Graduating Class

The Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine will graduate their 2012 class today.  Graduation will be held today at 4:00 p.m. in the Wharton Center Great Hall on the MSU campus.  Dr. Susan Sayles, president of the MVMA will be in attendance to welcome an congratulate the graduates.  

WWVH goes to bird expo on Saturday April 28

The Warren Woods Veterinary Team participated in the Motor City Bird Breeders Bird Show and Expo in Madison Heights on Saturday.  Three of our experienced avian technicians and myself arrived at the venue at 9:15am to set up our display table.  We had many informational materials for the bird loving public and the other exhibitors.  We also brought along our own birds "Kimi" and "Martini" who both loved the activity and the patrons.  A good time was had by all.  Dr. Julie Cappel