Mrs. Jones, in the clinic for her cat Wilson’s semiannual examination, asked, “Dr. Randolph, when our dog Phred missed a dose of heartworm preventive last year, he had to have a heartworm test before he could take his preventive again. However, Wilson has been on heartworm preventive for all of his five years of life, [...]
There is a scenario that has begun to repeat itself rather frequently of late. “I need to pick up more heartworm preventive for “Fluffy’. She missed one (or more) months and I need to get her restarted.” To which our staff responds, “I understand, Mrs. Smith. Because Fluffy may have become infected with heartworms during [...]
“OK, if it’s important, we’ll go ahead and schedule,” said Griffin’s dad. There are very few things your pet’s doctor will recommend that aren’t “important.” In the present case we were calling our client after failing to obtain a response to two mailed reminders and several phone calls. At Griffin’s last visit, seven months ago, [...]
Country artists Brooks and Dunn have a song out called “God Must Be Busy.” In it they talk about some of the problems in the world, including “old folks can’t afford the drugs they can’t live without.” We ran into a similar problem today when a client brought in this cute little dog we’ve been [...]
Little Bit is such a cute little stray dog. Little Bit gives us the opportunity to explain some special considerations about taking in strays. First, your mother is not going to believe you if you tell her she followed you home, so just stick to the truth…you couldn’t resist her. Second, if you have other [...]
Sometimes clients ask me, “What is the hardest part of your job?” The answer is easy, “Dealing with frustration.” Like today. A nice lady came to see us, escorted by her kind neighbor, who transported her and her daughter’s dog, Cuz. Cuz was having difficulty breathing. Right away in the examination I noticed that Cuz [...]
“Good morning, Kristi and Stephanie, I need a refill of Revolution heartworm preventive for Bowsie, please.” “We can take care of that for you, Mrs. Stephens. Has Bowsie missed any doses of her monthly Revolution?” “Yes, we just moved into our new house and I lost track of time during the transition. She missed last [...]
Internet-based pharmacies want a share of the multi-billion dollar pet medication market. Some of them don’t care what they do to get it. Today, Estella came in for a routine vaccination visit. It had been eighteen months since I’d last seen her and I was worried that she might have missed doses of her monthly [...]
I saw two pit bulls today. Both had been off their heartworm preventive for quite a long time. One’s heartworm test came up positive, the other was negative. “Why?” you ask. Several factors are probably in play. The biggest is probably mosquito population in the vicinity of where each dog lives. Proximity to a swamp, [...]
In an ongoing series about how different kinds of cases are worked up, today we will look at routine preventive care visits for dogs and cats. Despite having just used the term “routine,” let me say there is nothing routine about most preventive care visits. Often we hear from pet lovers, “Dr. Randolph, while he’s [...]
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