March 2018 Newsletter

Happy March! This is take two of the February newsletter. I started this the first week of February and like that… time got a way from me and so I decided to just call it March newsletter! The month of February is noted to be senior pet health month and dental health month. I have been working with a lot of my great senior pets and doing plenty of dental care.

I am not sure if March has a special theme. As New Englanders, we manage to get through a crazy wet winter and like clockwork, the ticks came back the first day the temperatures spiked. So dependable!

I am just excited we made it through 2017 and are settling in here at the Cummings Center. We have all the heart, knowledge, compassion and tools to make the most of it for our pets and our clients.

If you asked me where I thought I would be now, I never would have imagined that BANHC would be in it’s new amazing space with all it’s great features and amazing staff. We have been able to update all of our computers and are working on stream lining our lab interface. The phone system and Comcast are working. We are so happy and grateful to be here!

To help make this space great, we have added some great new equipment to help with patient care. One of my favorite my pieces is our new digital dental sensor for all of our little dogs and cats!

This one is in addition to our size 1 dental sensor we already had. With many of our patients coming in very small packages, we needed to invest in this in order to get X-rays of every tooth. The size 1 sensor was just too big to get in their mouth!

Check out these great images!

We upgraded to a new Companion Laser therapy for acute trauma, arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.

Our surgical and hospitalized patients also have additional new circulating water blankets to keep them comfortable. The exam rooms with the flip up tables are so great with our big dogs.

We also now carry a full line of Catered Canine dog food and treats. All of the foods are prepared here in Beverly with all great ingredients! Check out more info at www.cateredcanine.com. Makes a great treat for your pet!

We have also had lunch and learns for the staff to help with some new drug launches as well as some good refreshers on anesthesia and parasite control as well as ophthalmology triage with Dr Clara Williams from our partners at BluePearl.

Kim attended the Tufts Veterinary School Technician Symposium late January with talks on toxicology as well as pain control.

I also had a little interaction in the quest for one health (working with Mds) when I got to meet Patrick Dempsey, aka Dr McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy. My daughters and I were participating at the annual Sugarloaf Charity Summit for Cancer care in Maine. What a great human and it was so fun to chat about his acting on Greys and how there are MD’s now because of that show!

We are also excited to have Brooke with us as a senior intern from Endicott College. Brooke is an avid runner from Niantic, CT, and has been studying Exercise Science with a minor in Biology. She was heading in the direction of becoming a physician’s assistant until she realized that her heart lies with animals. She has jumped right in learning so much interning at BANHC and now hopes to go to veterinary school after she completes her undergraduate degree!

As hope springs eternal for us New Englanders, we look forward to the spring and the warmth of the sunshine. With the warmth we had in February, the ticks came right back into our daily lives. I don’t know many creatures more reliable than parasites! To help protect our pets and their families, we do recommend Bravecto for tick and flea control. It is safe, reliable, and convenient. I use it on my own pets! For the cats, it is a topical three month product. So nice to not have to apply it monthly. For the dogs, it is a chewable treat given with food.

We have sold hundreds of doses and have been really pleased with the product. As always, it is still important to check your pets daily for ticks after being outdoors. Ticks tend to be about the head and neck but can potentially be anywhere. The Bravecto is great especially for all our swimmers as its efficacy is not effected by being wet. We do also have the Seresto, an eight month collar that also offers great protection for both dogs and cats and it the most economical. Our topical K9Advantix is best for our growing pups under 6 months of age as the Bravecto is labeled for dogs over 6 months of age due to growth in three months and changing weight classes! You can check out www.us.bravecto.com and www.petbasics.com/seresto for more questions or ask us at the office!

If you have any concerns about your dog and tick borne disease, don’t hesitate to ask. Cats do not get Lyme disease but can get other tick born disease and also carry ticks into the rest of the family so they need protection too if they go out.

In Memory of our beloved pets that have passed: In Memoriam[/av_textblock][/av_two_third]