Otterkill Animal Hospital
Newsletter Volume 13, July 2007

Good Luck Dr. Hardoon!

We're saddened to report that Dr. Liz Hardoon has chosen to leave Otterkill to pursue her career in another area of the country. We hope you had a chance to meet her during her year here. On her behalf, thanks for your help and patience as she began her journey as a veterinarian with us.

For the short term, that means we've altered our appointment schedule slightly in order to best accommodate your needs and keep our staff sane and healthy. The best news is that Dr. Keller will be able to expand her availability as she assists Dr. Zgoda in covering as much of our hours as possible. This has resulted in some modifications to our usual appointment schedule. We will not have appointment hours Monday evenings and will begin seeing appointments only on alternating Saturdays in July and August. We thank you for your understanding and patience with our new schedule. We'll do our best to still be able to schedule appointments as promptly as we've always done. We are actively seeking another veterinarian to join our health care team. This may take some time as we want to make certain that we find someone that can continue to provide the outstanding patient care that you are accustomed to receiving. It takes a special person to become part of the Otterkill Animal Health Care Team.

New Weight Loss Medication for Dogs

You may have seen or read some of the news reports about an exciting new medication to assist weight loss in overweight dogs. Slentrol is the first medication developed to be part of a canine weight reduction program. It's method of action is to reduce a dog's appetite as well as to block some absorption of fats. This will help you to be able to reduce your dog's food intake without the constant hunger and begging that we all know can make any diet program difficult. Of course, as with any weight loss program, you'd need to increase your dog's activity level while reducing the calorie intake. For only around one dollar a day (for a sixty pound dog) Slentrol can make this easier for both of you. Please as one of our doctors for more information or visit www.slentrol.com.

Photo Contest Winners

Congratulations to all the winners in our 2007 Photo Contest. You can view the winning entries on our website. Start collecting your pictures to enter in next year's contest.

A Zoowhat?

Have you ever heard the term zoonosis or a zoonotic disease? This is the term for a disease that humans can contract from animals. We're experts in many of these diseases and do our best every day to protect your entire family from them. Ask any of our staff members for information on potential problems for your family. Many people are not aware that intestinal parasites from dogs and cats can infect and cause problems in people. That's why we recommend regular intestinal parasite testing and preventative medications.

We are transitioning all our canine patients from the monthly heartworm/intestinal parasite preventative Heartgard to the monthly preventative Interceptor. Interceptor is also a chewable once a month preventative with a wider spectrum of activity against intestinal parasites.

While we are not yet instituting monthly heartworm preventative medications for cats, we do recommend that cats with access to the outdoors receive an intestinal parasite medication every 3-6 months. Please contact us if you have questions or require de-wormer. Did you know that you can order medication refills through our website? Click here to access the request form.

Otterkill by the Numbers

Ever wonder just how many animals we treat? Here's a listing of the number of active patients we have broken down by species:

Dogs: 4,239
Cats: 2,678
Birds: 210
Rabbits: 162
Reptiles: 106
Ferrets: 81
Pet rodents: 72
Lions: 0
Tigers: 0
Bears: 1*

We're proud to provide the best veterinary care possible to so many animals. We thank you for your trust and confidence.

*stuffed toy