Free C.E.T. Dental Chews for Dogs
Center Pet Pharmacy is giving away free C.E.T. Dental Chews. Visit their Facebook page for more details:
http://www.facebook.com/centerpetpharmacy
Jan 30, 2010 | 0 | MiscellanyArchives for January, 2010
2 a.m. Salmon Dispenser
Alternate title: Polyphagia + Pruritus Sucks
So Cat Mandu’s head is healing, slowly, from the previously mentioned eosinophilic-crapola-flareup. Yay for steroids.
The downside of steroids is that one of the side effects can be polyphagia, a fancy word that means “I want food. All. The. Time.” Granted, one of Cat Mandu’s great loves in life is whatever food she can get her paws on, so this isn’t entirely new to us, but lately it’s gotten more insistent and annoying.
Couple that with the pruritus (fancy word for itching) from her eosinophilic-crapola-flareup, and you have a downright menace to society. Why? Because she knows that if she starts scratching a lot, I will stop whatever I am doing and put salve on her itchy spots. And her reward for sitting through the uncomfortable salve-slathering treatment is usually a little piece of freeze-dried salmon.
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Annoyance
I went to the pet store this week for three things:
1) some ear wash
2) food for two different cats
3) to poke around
When I am in a pet store, and I have time to kill, I like to take my time and look at every single product. I read the ingredients, look at how much they sing to me from the shelf, that sort of thing. Why? I figure if I’m going to be a veterinarian, I better be really familiar with as many products as I can be, from a client’s perspective.
This behavior of mine, apparently, makes store clerks nervous.
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And the Winner Is….
Poor pooky in the ProCollar is ready for her voyage on the Titanic.
I first tried the ElizaSoft Recovery Collar, and, although she tolerated it WAY more than the Comfy Cone, she still didn’t like it all that much. The material is sort of like a very thin tarpaulin, and it held its shape nicely, away from her head, but it still obstructed her peripheral vision, and caused her to shake her head a lot.
Next, I tried the ProCollar, and, yes folks, we have a winner. It effectively stops her from scratching her head, and most the time she doesn’t seem to notice she has it on. It does pose a problem when trying to maneuver around objects, but since it doesn’t obstruct her peripheral vision, she seems to find it much more tolerable than the others.
Now if we could just get the @&$!* miliary dermatitis to heal, we’ll be golden.
Jan 10, 2010 | 0 | Animal TalesFame! (Can fortune be far behind?)
Remember Mr. Tabby, the little cat I drove across two states for?
He and I are featured on the Best Friends website today… lucky us! I was really impressed with what a nice job the Best Friends staff did.
There’s even a video (and if you watch Mr. Tabby’s face closely, you can see that he isn’t as happy about the whole thing as I am…)
After being at Best Friends for 10 years, he is still pretty freaked out about having been thrown in a car and dumped in a house! He’s been living in my closet, but he comes out to eat & use the litterbox, and there is evidence that the catnip toys get attacked at night. 
I adore him.
E-Collar Blues
I’ve sent many a pet home wearing the dreaded lampshade, but, until now, have never had to deal with the lovely contraption myself.
Enter Cat Mandu’s miliary dermatitis–she’s been scratching the bejeezus out of her little head. I’ve had Soft Claws (nail caps) on her back claws, and they’ve been doing the trick for awhile, but lately it’s been getting out of hand. I knew I had to act, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put a lampshade on her.
Off I went to the local pet store in search of an alternative. I basically had two choices available to me locally. The Comfy Cone:
Comfy Cone
And the ProCollar:
ProCollar
I think we both would have preferred the ProCollar, since it doesn’t obstruct vision, but they didn’t have the right size in stock. So, I ended up with the Comfy Cone.
At over 5″ deep, I decided the Comfy Cone would obscure too much of her peripheral vision. It’s also fairly thick, and, I imagine, would seem heavy to a cat. I spent an hour whacking it down to 4″ deep, held my breath, and put it on her.
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Holy Cow!
I suppose it’s a little ambitious to start a blog titled “Vet School Blog” long before one is even accepted to vet school. And it would have been really embarrassing had I never been admitted!
The good news, though, is…HOLY COW! THEY LET ME IN!
I’ll be starting at Colorado State in Fall 2010, and then you really will be reading a “vet school blog.”
One of these days , I’ll write a few posts about the application process this go-round.
Until then, however, I invite you to visit the project I am doing in honor of being admitted. I am profoundly grateful for the chance to go to vet school, and this is my way of showing my gratitude:
Jan 01, 2010 | 3 | Getting In, Miscellany