Antifreeze Poisoning

It's that time of year again - time to winterize our lawns, homes, and automobiles.

If you will be changing your antifreeze, please be sure to clean up any spills right away and keep new and used fluids in a sealed container.

Dogs and cats can find antifreeze very tasty and will drink it! Antifreeze is extremely toxic. Poisoning can be fatal in just a few days. And it doesn't take much: a few tablespoons can kill a medium sized dog, and if a cat walks through a puddle and licks its paws, it can ingest enough to cause death!

If you see your pet ingesting antifreeze or are suspicious it has had access to antifreeze, please contact us as soon as possible.
In the first few hours your pet may seem depressed, may stagger, or may have seizures. Your pet may also drink lots of water, urinate large amounts, and vomit. Your pet may appear to get better but in a day or two get much worse as the kidneys fail. Signs of kidney failure include depression and vomiting.

Diagnosis is made by blood and urine tests. Treatment needs to start as soon as possible after ingestion. Once kidney failure develops, most animals will die.

If your pet is seen within a few hours of ingesting antifreeze, vomiting is induced to remove any antifreeze still in the stomach. There are also antidotes that can be administered. Pets that are presented with kidney failure can sometimes be saved with aggressive treatment.

Please keep your pets safe this winter and treat antifreeze as a highly poisonous substance!

Warning: Cute puppy photos ahead.

If you follow us on Facebook, you know that we helped out a stray puppy last month. Here's how the story goes:
Someone hit a puppy with a car while avoiding two other dogs. That person was kind enough to stop, check the puppy for any kind of identification, and when none was found, do the right thing. This person called a local radio station to ask for help, and that's where MAAC came into the story. We called in to the station and offered to help. The puppy came to the clinic, and we starting treating him right away. It was obvious he hadn't had a meal in a while, and X-rays showed that he had rocks in his belly, along with a broken front leg.

We started him on fluids and monitored him very carefully. It was obvious he didn't feel well at all. He was having a very bad day, to say the least! He slept most of the first day away.

Dr. Jennifer Glore was the vet in the clinic that day, and here's a photo of her and Buddy, after having his leg wrapped.

Buddy showed signs of improvement during day two. He still wasn't out of the woods yet, but he stole my heart that day. I kept him up with me at the front desk in the morning. He slept most of the time, but by lunchtime he had some energy and was exploring the clinic! Dr. Kurt Phillips was at MAAC that day, and he performed another exam to monitor Buddy's condition. Things were looking better. And boy, was Buddy hungry! That little guy wanted to eat everything we put in front of him!

We made this quick little video that day to try to get donations to help the expenses. And the community response was amazing! People were calling to donate and to adopt. We had a huge list of people interested in taking Buddy home. It was wonderful to see that there are people willing to help an injured animal. Makes me happy just thinking about it.

Buddy's condition continued to improve, and he was ready to go to his new home by Thursday of that week. I think he found a wonderful family! Don't tell anyone, but I cried when he left. I became very attached to him. He's a very smart and sweet dog.

And thanks to our friends Zach and Melissa, owners of Grateful Pet, Buddy has food for a while. They donated that giant bag of puppy food. But the way he eats, he may be through that bag sooner than we think!

And finally, here's a photo of Buddy when he was in for a check up. The picture is a little blurry, but don't you just LOVE those whiskers?!? And look at that wrap. Someone has been nibbling!

So that's Buddy's story. I'm so glad we were able to be a part of his life. We won't need to see him until next year for annual vaccines, but maybe we will get lucky and he will come by to visit. --Lori

Open for Business!

First, I need to apologize! I have been so bad about updating the blog, but I suppose that's a good thing. The business have been crazy busy since we opened back in August! Things have been going very well, and if we haven't already seen you at the clinic, we would love for you to stop in and take a tour. Here are some photos of the finished product:

This is a shot of the lobby at the open house. I just love our color scheme- I think the orange really pops and helps us feel modern. We had some great flowers from Watt's Blooming, our neighbor on Mass Ave.

This is the treatment area/lab area.

 The pharmacy, again with the pop of orange!

 Procedure/dental area.

 Digital x-ray machine. This is so cool! It's a great tool to be able to share x-rays with clients and colleagues.

 More treatment area. Notice the orange clock!

Surgery room.

Exam room, complete with tile wall for easy sanitation and fold up tables. We love the tables!

We are very pleased with the facility. We think it looks great. What do you think?
--Lori