Month: January 2009

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Important information if you own a dog!!

If you have a dog … PLEASE read this. If you don’t have a dog, please tell your friends who do. As you can see at the end of this, it was written by a real Veterinarian. Please tell everyone you know even if they don’t have a dog.

This week I had the first case in history of raisin toxicity ever seen at MedVet. My patient was
a 56-pound, 5 yr old male neutered lab mix that ate half a canister of raisins sometime between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday. He started with vomiting, diarrhea and shaking about 1 AM on Wednesday but the owner didn’t call my emergency service until 7 AM.

I had heard somewhere about raisins AND grapes causing acute Renal failure but hadn’t seen any formal paper on the subject. We had her bring the dog in immediately. In the meantime, I called the ER service at MedVet, and the doctor there was like me – had heard something about it, but…

Anyway, we contacted the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center and they said to give IV fluids at 1 & 1/2 times maintenance and watch the kidney values for the next 48-72 hours. The dog’s BUN (blood urea nitrogen level) was already at 32 (normal less than 27) and creatinine over 5 (1.9 is the high end of normal). Both are monitors of kidney function in the bloodstream. We placed an IV catheter and started the fluids. Rechecked the renal values at 5 PM and the BUN was over 40 and creatinine over 7 with no urine production after a liter of fluids.

At that point I felt the dog was in acute renal failure and sent him on to MedVet for a urinary catheter to monitor urine output overnight as well as overnight care. He started vomiting again overnight at MedVet and his renal values continued to increase daily. He produced urine when given lasix as a diuretic. He was on 3 different anti-vomiting medications and they still couldn’t control his vomiting.

Today his urine output decreased again, his BUN was over 120, his creatinine was at 10, his phosphorus was very elevated and his blood pressure, which had been staying around 150, skyrocketed to 220 … He continued to vomit and the owners elected to Euthanize.

This is a very sad case – great dog, great owners who had no idea raisins could be a toxin. Please alert everyone you know who has a dog of this very serious risk. Poison control said as few as 7 raisins or grapes could be toxic. Many people I know give their dogs grapes or raisins as treats including our ex-handler’s. Any exposure should give rise to immediate concern. Onions, chocolate, cocoa and macadamia nuts can be fatal, too.

Written by:
Laurinda Morris, DVM
Danville Veterinary Clinic
Danville, OH

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Looking for a boat lift?

Living as close to water as we do here in New Orleans, anyone that has property on the water has a boat lift. It’s almost necessary when it comes to the smaller storms that come through here. But if there’s a bigger one, then most people look for Boat Storage. It’s not a bad idea either with some of the hurricanes we get from time to time. Unfortunately even if your boat was in a boat storage unit, it didn’t help. Not much did then.  But like I said, if it’s just a small storm, the last thing you want is your boat in the water where it can get damaged by the dock or the rising tide.

Well the best boat lifts there are come from a company that has been in business for over 40 years.  In fact, Marine Travelift also appears at boat shows all over the world, in Helsinki, Finland and Dusseldorf , Germany just to name a few.  Their equipment was also seen in the last America’s Cup race in Spain.  As you all know, the America’s Cup race is one of the most prestigious regattas in sailing. Marine Travelift has had the honor of providing equipment to these teams that invest large sums of money into their sailboats so that has to tell you that they are the best or these teams wouldn’t have them.

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Ex-Major Leaguer dies

Bill Werber, who was the oldest living ex-major leaguer and a teammate of Babe Ruth, died Thursday at the age of 100.

Werber was a career .271 hitter who led the American League in stolen bases three times. He played with Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove in stints with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. He hit .370 as the third baseman on the 1940 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds.

“Babe Ruth hit a home run and I wanted to show them how fast I could run,” Werber said in an interview in June. “So I get into the dugout, and finally Babe got into the dugout. He patted me on the head and said, ‘Son, you don’t have to run like that when the Babe hits one.”‘

What an amazing man with some wonderful stories to have told not only his own children but his grandchildren too.  Imagine the stories they have to tell their children.  Bill Werber died in Charlotte North Carolina in an assisted living center close to his daughter.

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Pictures from Christmas Angels

Well I got the disposable cameras back from all of the families my Christmas Angel Tree gave gifts to yesterday and took them to a one hour photo place.  The pictures were wonderful, most of them anyway.  I decided to put them on my computer and try and crop some of them and see if I could clear some of them up but my computer started giving me all sorts of photoshop errors. Now when it comes to things like that, I’m lost.  I don’t know a darn thing about fixing errors like that or any kind of error message as far as that is concerned.

Luckily I found a blog that told me what to do to resolve the problem.  It said that one reason why the Photoshop might fail to respond or give you an error message is if it is in conflict with any other program in the computer. I tried re-installing Photoshop since it said that can help to work out the problem the program could be having that makes it give the Photoshop not responding message.  That fixed the problem but if you try it and that doesn’t work for you, check out the blog because it has several ways to fix it.  I hope that helps you if you are having the same problem.

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We only have to worry about deer

The following pictures are of a moose that went through a car’s windshield and out the rear window this month near South River, Ontario .

The VERY lucky woman driver ended up with just a broken wrist and needing a good bath. When you view the pictures you will wonder how the woman managed to survive.

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Well what do you think of our new President so far?

I have heard a lot of what local people are saying about the changes President Obama has made so far and most of them think he’s headed in the right direction.  Most of the country must think so too with his approval rating I just heard about this morning on the news.  He has a lot to deal with and seems to be on the ball.  That’s good because that’s what we need is someone that’s aware of what’s going on.

I remember seeing President Bush’s face when someone asked him what he thinks about the price of gas being nearly $4 a gallon when it was that high.  President Bush looked at the reporter and said “Is gas really $4 a gallon?”  That’s pretty bad when the President doesn’t even know how much gas costs when the gas companies are gouging us like they have been for the past several years.  Oh well, hopefully President Obama will even do something about that too.

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You do know it’s time for Mardi Gras

For those of you that don’t know, it’s time to kick off Carnival with Festivals.  Here’s a little background on what and why:

Jan. 6, the 12th night on the Biblical calendar, marked the beginning of the 153rd annual pre-Lenten celebration. Before it wraps up Feb. 24, almost 100 parades will have rolled in the area and thousands of riders will have thrown tons of glitzy gee-gaws to what organizers hope will be huge crowds.

Mayor Ray Nagin acknowledged the start of the season with the city’s annual king cake party, slicing up dozens of pastries covered with purple, green and gold icing, and each holding a tiny, plastic baby. Tradition has it that the person getting the baby in their slice of cake must supply the next king cake.

King cakes, believed to have originated in France around the 12th century, are eaten throughout Carnival season, but on 12th night, or the Feast of the Epiphany, they mark the arrival of the three wise men bearing gifts 12 days after Christmas.

And you all thought it was about sin and fun.  Shame on you all for thinking that.  I know that some said Katrina hit New Orleans was God’s way of trying to wipe out the sin in New Orleans.  It was nature and that’s all.

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Coupons everywhere

I just told you about a coupon site that I love.  Well I have found another one called Coupons Us.  Maybe you didn’t find the coupons and coupon codes you wanted, which I doubt very seriously, but just in case and you’re still looking for a discount code on something you need, maybe you’ll find it on us coupons. It’s worth a shot so give it a try.

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Jennifer Gardner and Ben Afflecks new baby

Well Ben and Jennifer have a new baby girl.  That makes the second baby girl for the couple.  The first daughter, Violet is 3 years old now.  I didn’t realize she was that old already.  Anyway, everyone couldn’t wait to learn what they had named the new baby.  They named her Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck.  That’s a big name for a little baby girl.  I like Serahpina.

No explanation of the name has been offered, but the Baby Name Wizard defines it as “derived from the Hebrew seraphim (burning ones), a name used in the Bible for the heavenly winged angels surrounding the throne of God.”

Well we learn something new every day if we just look around, huh?  Nice name there Jennifer and Ben and congratulations on the new addition to your family.

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I just might borrow money for the apartments

You know, it might not be too smart to take my savings and build the apartments over my business.  With the economy as it is, I might need to hang on to my money and just get a business loan.  Sure the apartments will help my business but most of the people that will live in them already work for me and basically will trade work for rent.  Some of them have other jobs and work for me part-time but that’s okay as long as they make enough working part-time to pay for the apartment.

I was checking out online business loans and found one that also provides Franchise Loans. I’m not looking to buy a franchise but it’s good to know there are finance companies that will provide funds for someone that’s looking to buy a franchise.

One thing I did do is get a credit card machine.  I didn’t have one and there have been a lot of people asking to charge or use their debit cards.  Now I can put a sign in my window saying I now accept credit cards and debit cards.  I bet that will help my business too.  In fact, I’m pretty sure it will.  Not to mention, there’s not a million papers you have to fill out with these guys.  It was easy to get everything I needed.