County Line Animal Hospital

10/22/2023

And as we round out vet tech appreciation week, we want to highlight a fabulous addition to our team, Arriena! Arriena's role is a new, added position at County Line as an assistant to help our techs & doctors care for our beloved patients, & we're so excited that she's joined us.

Arriena hails from Naperville & holds her Bachelor's in Biology from North Central College (2020). She has worked in other hospitals & as a dog walker, as well as working in a scientific lab & volunteering at the Naperville Area Humane Society. She joins us with 8 years of animal handling experience. She is exploring her options in the veterinary medical field and wanted to experience the procedures and care that we offer at County Line. She's curious, energetic, and eager to learn! Arriena, welcome, & we're grateful that you're part of our team! 😁

To our entire team at CLAH, THANK YOU -- we couldn't do it without you! You fill unique roles in a unique field. Your compassion, knowledge, & skills are invaluable. 🐾🧡

10/21/2023

Day 5 - happy vet tech week & happy Friday! Today we would like to celebrate one of our hard-working staffers, Pilar! If you've brought your pet in for a tech appointment, a surgery/procedure, or participated in our 'curbside' services (2020-2021), you've very likely met Pilar. She joined our team in Feb 2020--right before the world became complicated--and she's been a pillar of our team, helping our doctors & techs keep things moving, ever since.

She specializes as a surgical assistant, and her self-proclaimed 'office' is where all of the significant surgical instrument prep and sterilization take place. She keeps us stocked, organized, and laughing. There's never a dull moment with Pilar around - she's stays busy, stays empathetic, & she loves a sassy terrier more than anything! She's also continued her vet tech training with additional schooling & continues to broaden her horizons. Pilar has an active family life at home & a variety of sweet (and spicy :)) pets as well. Pilar, thank you for all that you have done for County Line's patients, clients, and for the whole team! We're so glad you're part of our crew -- we wouldn't be the same without you! 💜

10/20/2023

And.....happy vet tech week to our longest tenured tech, Lisa! Lisa has been a part time & relief tech (and previously full time tech) at County Line for no fewer than 16 years! She has been a vet tech for 18 years & prior to that, worked with computers 😄. (And yes, we all know working with animals is far more fun!!)

Lisa's passion is orthopedic surgery, so she especially enjoys helping out with and managing surgical cases. She is the loving mom to two boys and has a variety of extended family pets, with the star being a sweet yellow lab named Biscuit. Lisa has been a longstanding part of the County Line team and currently juggles her primary role caring for her sons & helping out at the clinic as well. Lisa's often found taking adventurous mini-trips with her loved ones, running her kids to all their activities, & taking care of extended family members along the way. She'll be in tomorrow morning helping with surgery, so if you happen to see her, please give her a high five or a kind word for her TLC to our patients over all these years! Thank you, Lisa!! 💙

10/19/2023

Day 3 spotlight on our vet tech team!! ALL of our current clients likely have met today's star, Colleen! Colleen joined our team towards the end of that dark period, 2020-2021. She has been working in veterinary medicine for 15 years and is a certified/licensed veterinary technician (CVT). You may not recognize her smile yet as she wears a mask at work (and has the impeccable attendance record to boot!), but maybe you'll catch her in the parking lot & see her full smile😁. Colleen is as kind & gentle as anyone can be. She absolutely never utters a harsh word, is always looking out for the team & the patients, & specializes in a "fear free" approach to patient care (which emphasizes positive reinforcement, soft handling techniques, & helping the pet relax at the vet clinic). Colleen says that she has always loved helping animals and learning new things. In her free time, she enjoys reading, seeing friends and family, and spending time with her dog, Alley (*pic below!). 🐾
Colleen, we're so glad you're a part of our crew!! Thank you for all that you do at County Line *every* day!

10/18/2023

Day two of celebrating our vet techs & assistants at County Line! Our veterinarians would not be able to work on & work with our fine patients without the help of our entire staff. Our staffers work tirelessly in a unique field that is wonderful but sometimes very difficult. The professionalism & expertise of our technicians & support staff is invaluable.

Today we would like to highlight a newer member of our tech team, Amanda! She was trained as an EMT but later decided to work with animals. She brings over 20 years of vet tech experience, and it shows. She's commuting a lengthy way to join our team at County Line, & we're so glad she's here! She's calm, professional, affable, & has all the skills to help our patients when they need it. At home, Amanda has a husband, 3 human girls, and 4 four-legged children (*see pics below :)). She enjoys spending time with family and friends and camping.

Amanda, thank you for dedicating your career & your talents to helping other people's four-legged children!

10/17/2023

Happy vet tech week to the fabulous crew at County Line!! This week, we'd like to highlight each of our techs & assistants who make our veterinary care of your beloved pets possible!

If you haven't yet met Erica, you will soon! She recently moved from Florida, and we were fortunate to meet her the very week she moved to Illinois. Erica's most common response at the Line when asked if she please can do ZYX: "Absolutely!"

Erica's upbeat, invested, and is here to help! Her passion has always been animals, and she says she couldn’t imagine working in any other field. When she's not working, she's spend time with her own fur-baby: Buddy. (*And look at his cute face below!!) She looks forward to meeting your pets!

07/29/2023

Medical moment for our canine-caring clients from the July 2023 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association:

-“Pit bull-type breeds with dilated cardiomyopathy eating nontraditional diets improve after diet change (2015-2022)”, K. Fischer et al, JAVMA 7.2023

-Over 100 pet dogs met inclusion criteria at Tufts Univ, including being listed as primarily a pit bull type dog and having a specific type of heart disease (DCM) that other breeds are typically more prone to (including Dobermans, Great Danes, and boxers)

-“nontraditional” diets in this study were grain free diets or diets very high in peas, lentils, and chickpeas (most common as top 10 ingredients in grain free diets), or with a lesser significance, potatoes and sweet potatoes as a top 10 ingredient

-Heart measurements and survival improved when these dogs switched to “traditional” diets (grain inclusive diets)

-this is not surprising; this has been noted since 2018 (see many prior FDA alerts); the exact causes as to why grain free diets (high in these ingredients) are correlated with an awful type of heart disease in a wide variety of breeds are not yet known; and this is the fifth study to show improved cardiac parameters with a diet change as part of the treatment protocol

**Our vets continue to recommend grain inclusive diets for our canine patients (of all breeds) to avoid this risk of diet-associated DCM**

-Finally, a picture of Dr. Selvaggio’s beloved family dog, a 10 year old boxer/pit mix💙

10/16/2022

A huge shout out to our compassionate and ridiculously skilled team of techs at County Line--you make every day better for our patients, clients, and coworkers!! You can't imagine what these ladies go through to help our patients. Erin, Lisa, Pilar, Laura, & Colleen, we are proud of you and grateful for you!!

10/12/2022

Please, please, please remember that many types of lilies are incredibly toxic to cats, including significant risk of death after minor ingestion. Our hearts are broken--a pair of one year old littermate patients both lost their lives this week to acute kidney failure after ingesting lilies from a bouquet that was gifted to the owner.

If you know someone who is a newer cat owner or loves cut flowers, please remind them of this toxicity. And if you don't have cats of your own, please keep this in mind when gifting bouquets to cat owners as this is easy for the general public to miss.

If you ever have questions about plant toxicities for pets, check out the ASPCA pet toxicology website or the Pet Poison Helpline.

Thinking of those two felines and their family with heavy hearts.

09/25/2022

Quick update - we will be closed Fri 9/30/22 from 2-4:30 PM for staff training on new medical record software! Wish us luck!

08/27/2022

An update for our dog owners:

It's terrifying, especially these days, to hear about a 'new outbreak' and worry that your pet may die within three days of having vomiting and diarrhea symptoms (as we see these symptoms frequently in our pets for a variety of reasons). Please note that the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has confirmed that it is indeed parvovirus these Michigan dogs died of, and that the dogs that died were not vaccinated fully. See the link/post below for more information from the MSU VDL (and we would suggest this site for future updates from a reliable source).

Bottom line: If your dog is up to date on routine vaccines with us, including what we typically just call the 'distemper vaccine' (for short), your dog has almost no risk of acquiring parvovirus. So, you can breathe easy and let the pooch play and see friends. If you are not sure of your pet's vaccine status, please feel free to call us. If you have a puppy, they should be in queue to receive a 'distemper vaccine' (DHPP or DAPP, in which one of the Ps is for parvovirus) every 3-4 weeks until they are 16 weeks of age or older, then they will continue this core vaccine during adulthood (but at a much lower frequency) to maintain immunity.

Parvovirus is an absolutely horrific virus that has high mortality rate, especially because it is mostly seen in young puppies with poor health care, including lack of routine vaccination. It has been around for decades, is located commonly in all regions of the US, doesn't have a direct treatment option, and has killed many, many, many dogs (especially puppies).

Routine vaccines are a blessing! Let us know if you have any questions. We're sad for these dogs (probably mostly puppies) who died a terrible death in Michigan.

Veterinarians are encouraged to call the Laboratory if they have any questions about sample collection, submission, or diagnostic options and contact MDARD if unusual or reportable illnesses are seen.

07/07/2022

We're excited to announce that we've revamped our website to help you find the information you need to contact us, meet our doctors, see some of our history, and find out about care we offer to our patients! napervillevets.com

04/29/2022

It is with great sadness that we want to relay to our longterm clients that Dr. Richard F. Kilburn passed away this past weekend. He had struggled with some chronic health concerns in the last several years. Dr. Kilburn, son of an Iowa veterinarian, was a visionary--he had a 'no holds barred' approach where he would tackle any medical or surgical concern a pet would have, including spinal cord surgery, endoscopic procedures, thoracic surgery, and much more. He and his wife, Mary, devoted their careers to building County Line Animal Hospital and serving our local pets. Dr. Kilburn was a practicing veterinarian for almost 50 years. He retired in 2017, and Mary and Doc moved to Arizona to be near family in 2020. Our longterm clients certainly remember Doc, his big personality, valuable expertise, and broad sense of humor. Our sympathy and prayers are with Mary and her family.

If you would like to send Mary a card, feel free to mail it to the clinic or drop it by (addressed to her) and we will forward it to her in Arizona. 💙

02/19/2022

Rounding out our Valentine’s Day pets and people celebration! Hope you all had a lovely week.
💙”Goldie”, a sweet long haired Dachshund, cuddled by receptionist extraordinaire Michele!
💜Doubly talented duo—tech Colleen (creator of the booth!) and our very own Dr. Parvin! These two work hard making a difference in pets’ lives every day.
💚”Jelly”, a newly adopted 7 month old girl, held happily by her mom, who has known Dr. Parvin for years!
(*PS. Can you tell that we and our clients love the food names? Biscuit and Gouda were featured on Monday 😂)
Thanks for sharing our “kissing booth” joy this week! 💕

02/19/2022

Sunday funny papers 😹

02/16/2022

A Tuesday treat: This fluffy, gorgeous pup spent most of the afternoon with the crew at County Line. Her name?
Betty White
Yup, that's right. 😍
We love you, little miss!

02/15/2022

Pretty much the best valentine is your pet, right?! Swing in to our clinic this week if you want to snap a picture with your pup or kitten (or a pet with scales, feathers, etc.!) in our 'kissing booth', kindly created by one of our talented techs, Colleen! Check out a few pics from our very busy Monday!
❤️First up, beautiful Biscuit, proud Valentine of our tech, Lisa!
💜Second, sweet Gouda, somewhat ironically spayed on Valentine's Day so that her legacy can continue by loving her family, but not having kittens! Held and cared for after surgery by staffer Pilar!
💚And finally Alfie--I mean seriously, look at that face! Can you believe his hair?! He's being loved on by Dr. Selvaggio, who pulled a few of his teeth today.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and your beloveds of all types!!💘

01/07/2022

A new regional parasite update is now available!

10/22/2021

A big thank you to our incredible techs and support staff at County Line! These ladies live their days to help our patients, and our vets wouldn't be able to accomplish what they do without their assistance. It's a really tough field to be in (ask any tech!), but it is, indeed, the BEST field! Thank you to all our support staff at County Line for your tireless efforts at helping our pets and clients! You are so appreciated :)!
*Graphics credit to NOMV, Inc.*

05/21/2021

Look what’s happening (in progress)! Don’t worry, it’s still us inside, just getting a facelift for our beloved, almost-50-year-old building! Many thanks to the locally owned Titan Painting for staining our brick, and know that the owner, Dave, is a long term County Line client with his Shih Tzu babies! The exam rooms had some updates in early 2020 also, but our clients have barely seen them given prior curbside services! See you soon, and just know it’s still us behind the fresh facade💚.