Cochrane Veterinary Care Clinic

08/29/2024

Found this little guy outside the clinic. Looks well loved and missing his person.

07/22/2024

CDC seems to have changed their rules yet again.

CDC has clarified and simplified the process for bringing dogs into the United States from rabies-fr

07/19/2024

Some new information has come up with regards to the CDC export regulations to the USA. The latest information is as follows:
1) All dogs traveling to the USA will be required to be microchipped.
2) While ISO microchips are preferred there is a mechanism to allow non iso chips to be used
3) Paperwork, once filled out is “good” for the duration of validity of the rabies vaccine. There is some question what the duration of validity will be (at least 1 year, and may be as much as 3 years… there are some fine details at play here)
4) Paperwork no longer needs to be endorsed by the CFIA veterinarians.
5) Some level of proof must be provided that the dog has been in the country for a minimum of 6 months. (The level of proof needed is somewhat open still).
There are numerous other fine details, some of which haven’t yet been worked out. As new details come out, we will keep you updated.

06/04/2024

We have some new information with regards to the new rules for taking dogs to the USA. First of all, I've been in contact with the CFIA. According to the CFIA person I spoke to, despite the CDC presenting this as a fait-accompli. there are still negotiations taking place between Canada and the USA, so the situation is still in flux. The representative of the CFIA says at this time, the CFIA won't be making appointments to endorse any of the CDC paperwork.
That being said, per the CDC, we know the following. First off, some sources indicate that despite most documents referring to only dogs, there are a couple documents that says this applies cats as well.
Next, multiple sources state that if a microchip is implanted *after* the rabies vaccine, that the animal will need a second rabies vaccine and likely an extended wait period (some sources say 21 days) before crossing the border. Still don't have any word on what happens if the microchip wasn't scanned when the rabies vaccine was given.
There is also some question still in play as to how exactly the paperwork will be flowing. I will continue to update as we get new information.

05/28/2024

Are you traveling to the United States with your dog? If so, you need to know that the rules for crossing the border with your dog are changing soon. (August 1st)
The details aren’t clear right now, however there are some things that we do know.
First and most importantly, your dog will require a vet visit prior to travel. At this visit we will need to examine them and pronounce them “Fit for Travel”. There is some paperwork that accompanies this visit, and we would ask that you fill out as much of it as possible on your end before bringing it to us in order to expedite processing at our side.
Once your dog has been examined by us, you will need to take the paperwork to the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and get them to sign it as well (basically I evaluate the dog, and the CFIA evaluates me --- i.e. yes that person is a vet in good standing in the province). The border people know that the CFIA vet is legitimate, but don’t know who I am. The CFIA know I’m legit, but don’t know about the dog, and I know the dog is legitimate.
Next there is going to be a “Dog import form” you will need to fill out. As of writing, the details of this form have not yet been released but are expected to be released July 15th.
We know that the regulations are going to require all dogs crossing the border to be microchipped.
If a dog is microchipped with a non-ISO microchip, they are supposed to be re-microchipped (not sure how strict they are going to be about this, and it’s a bad idea).
Further we know that all of this will have to be repeated for each trip across the border (exam must be no more than 30 days from date of arrival in the USA)
No dog younger than 6 months will be allowed to cross the border.
What we don’t know
If a dog is microchipped after the rabies is done, do we need to repeat the rabies?
If a dog is microchipped, but the microchip wasn’t scanned when the rabies vaccine was done – do we need to repeat rabies?
Please know we don’t like any of this either, but we must comply with the regulations too.

04/17/2024

Given the recent number of cases of dilated cardiomyopathy I’ve been seeing, I’ve been thinking about setting up a “screening“ day to x-ray a bunch of potentially at risk dogs. I suspect a lot of cases go undiagnosed until the dog is clinical. If I can get enough people interested (all on the same day) I can do this at a discount over my normal x-ray fees. Wondering if there is any interest out there on the part of clients (I am always willing to screen patients regardless of outcome here and nothing here is a commitment, just looking for interest).

04/02/2024

Last Friday I got myself a new puppy. Thought you guys might appreciate it if I shared her training process with you so I'm going to create a YouTube Channel showing each of her training sessions. These aren't highly polished videos, but they should show you the process.
If you're interested in this kind of video, please subscribe to the channel, as I plan to upload new videos fairly frequently.

In this video I will show you how to train Issy to sit. This is her very first training session and the first video in the channel.

03/19/2024

I’d like to share a case I saw at the clinic today (with owner permission). In April 2023 I saw Ned for some dental work. Ned sounded a little gurgly afterwards, nothing out of the ordinary, but out of an abundance of caution, we decided to take some x-rays. The lungs looked fine, but the heart was enlarged. When I questioned Ned’s people, it turns out they were feeding a BEG diet. Many of you have heard me talk about these over the last couple of years, but they predispose dogs to developing exactly the kind of heart disease I suspected Ned of having. Despite the growing evidence that these diets are a problem I still get push back from people dedicated to their particular diet.
As Ned was largely asymptomatic for his heart disease at the time, we decided to go with only diet change to help Ned. His initial VHS (a measure of heart size) was 11.76 (high normal is 10.7). In September of last year, we rechecked his heart and it visibly reduced in size, (VHS 10.84). We just took another round of x-rays today and he has fallen to 10.11 - within normal limits, with the only change being to get Ned off his Boutique/Exotic/Grain Free diet. Congratulations to Ned and his people.

12/20/2023

We’d like to thank all our clients for a wonderful year. We will be closed between Christmas and New Years to give our staff some well deserved time with their families. In the event of an emergency please contact Paramount 24h Veterinary Hospital or Trinity Hills.

11/23/2023

I am considering putting together some owner education classes. I’m looking to gauge interest before I invest too much time in the process. These classes would be delivered in the evenings and likely delivered by Zoom or similar. There would be a fee involved for attending (amount to be determined… somewhat contingent on level of interest, higher interest, would mean lower fees). Each class would be independent from each other class. I’m thinking for a first class, something along the lines of recognizing and managing emergencies in our pets. I’d appreciate your thoughts and suggestions (and expression of interest if there is some) below.

-Dr. Dale Atkin

10/17/2023

I wanted to let all our clients know about a new product available to manage osteoarthritis in cats (we have a dog version too, but I’m going to focus on cats for now). Arthritis in cats can be a challenging diagnosis to make, as cats like to hide pain, even from us at the clinic.
Solensia is a novel, new product, given once a month by injection at the vet clinic, and so far has been very effective. If you think it might help your cat, please inquire.