Bird Medicine and Surgery

11/08/2025

The poll has ended!
Meet our new Clinic mascot “Winnie “💕Thank you for your participation. She is a happy kitty, settling in well and very relaxed.🐾

11/04/2025

We are so excited to announce a new addition to our hospital family 💕🐾💕
This is our new sweet girl we adopted one week ago! Her life story included an Emergency visit to the university of Missouri veterinary school, where our daughter Katie was the admitting emergency doctor. She was a stray cat that had been attacked and brought in by a Good Samaritan. Katie reached out to us, knowing how much we all missed our loving boy Marvin. We had been waiting for this special day when we could adopt a kitty in need of our help. Katie delivered her to our hospital where she performed an additional surgery on her wounds. She is healing very well and is very comfortable with the staff in the hospital environment. We are so excited for everyone to meet her and we would love to have your vote on giving her a name!
She is a bundle of fur, 7 1/2 pounds, friendly, quiet
and cuddly💕

10/30/2025

Happy National Cat Day! We love all our sweet and sour kitty clients.
Tell them we said “pspsps”! ❤️🐱

10/26/2025

Case of the week!
Sunny a four year-old male, guinea pig presented to the hospital with discomfort while pooping. The physical exam was normal. Radiograph’s were taken and a single round bladder stone was identified. Male guinea pigs that consume lots of pellets, a small amount of hay and little or no fruits and vegetables are prone to bladder stones . The stone would partially block the urethra and make it difficult to urinate and create a painful response. To the owners it would appear that there is pain while pooping or pain while urinating. That’s how the confusion can occur. Because it was creating pain and discomfort, surgery was scheduled the next day. These are the pictures of the procedure. A 1 inch incision was made on the lower belly, isolating the bladder and opening the bladder. The stone was removed and the bladder was closed successfully. Antibiotics, pain medicine and fluids were used to treat the patient. Prevention for reoccurrence would be weight loss, if the guinea pig is overweight, a diet high in Timothy hay or Orchard hay, only 1/8 of a cup of pellets per day and a 1/2 of a cup of high moisture vegetables, like bell peppers, tomatoes, and romaine lettuce. We wish Sunny a full recovery❤️

10/06/2025

Dr. Kersting and Dr. Pritchett attended the 44th annual Association of Avian Veterinary seminar in Phoenix, Arizona. This is an international four day conference for bird doctors. There were 450 attendees from all over the world. Dr. Pritchett participated in advanced surgical labs to advance her skills in respiratory, reproductive and digestive surgeries. Dr. Kersting participated in labs For ultrasounding chickens. It was an exciting conference with a lot of new knowledge gained from CPR to new drug dosages for chickens and parrots. We have new information on Bornavirus. We look forward to passing a lot of this new information on to our clients as well as at a Gateway parent club meeting in the near future.

09/23/2025

09/18/2025

Biiiiig kisses from Peeps who is currently boarding with us! 🥰

09/11/2025

We are excited to announce that Dr. Mitchell Canada has just returned from the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinary seminar in Seattle Washington. He was one of 25 veterinarians in the world to complete a program called Dentistry and Oral Facial Surgery of Exotic Companion, Animals. The program involved two months of online courses totaling 44 hours with the successful completion of mandatory competency testing. Then Dr.,Canada completed two days or 16 hours of surgical wet labs. These courses advanced education and techniques in anatomy, diagnostic imaging, and surgical treatments of the ears, teeth, oral cavity and head.The training involved, rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets, hedgehogs, hamsters rats, and mice. The 25 students were from all over the world. The class was developed and taught by Dr. Vittorio Capello from Italy. Dr Capello has been a great mentor for exotic animal veterinarians throughout the world and has authored numerous books and publications for the advancement of medicine and surgery in exotic animals.
Dr Canada is excited to bring back his expertise and knowledge for his clients.

09/06/2025

Celebrate Happy Healthy Cat Month by making sure your favorite feline is in top notch health!
Wellness exams, vaccinations, and flea/tick prevention is as important for cats as it is for dogs.
You can schedule an appointment for your cat today and ensure a long life for your faithful friend.

09/02/2025

Happy One Year Anniversary at Kersting Veterinary Hospital to our Dr. Melanie Pritchett!
As you probably know, Dr. Pritchett used to be Dr. Dittmer, but she married her best friend a few months ago and proudly took his name. 🥰
Dr. Pritchett is a wonderful member of our veterinary team, seeing all the pets, including reptiles! 🦎
Originally from Texas and a graduate of Texas A&M, Dr. Pritchett’s experience includes time at C.R.O.W. (Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife) on Sanibel Island, Florida - so she has seen her share of interesting cases!
Help us congratulate Dr. Pritchett on a successful year here at Kersting Veterinary Hospital!

08/27/2025

Happy National Dog Day to all the best friends that we take care of on a daily basis. We can’t fit you allll in this post, but we love each and every one of you!