Stoney Hills Veterinary Service

12/20/2024

All we want for Christmas is Phase 2 of clinic remodel to be finished😅! Our New Year’s resolution is to have small animal surgery ready and operating in January!!

12/16/2024

These are our holiday office hours. As always, we are available 24/7 for emergencies for large animals only. 🎄☃️

11/08/2024

In keeping with the theme of Dr. Bennecke’s son in law (😂), he’s a nurse and had to lend a hand the other week on this cool case of a dog with “something in its paw” (no comments on the grandma glasses 🤓)

10/28/2024

With several local clinics reducing their emergency availability, I think it’s important to know what is an emergency? These two graphics are pretty accurate about what is urgent and what is not.
We will continue with our policy of 24/7/365 emergency care for large animals (horse, cow, sheep, goat) ACTIVE clients as we feel this is a very important service and one of the reasons we have continued to add amazing vets to our team. ACTIVE: non-emergency visit in last year (vaccines, wellness, reproductive, dental etc)

10/16/2024

As happens every year around this time🍁🍂🍁, we are seeing a rash of fall horse maladies… Sand colics, impaction colics, and tickborne diseases. What can you do? Use sand clear monthly. Be sure water is easy to access, clean and free from ice. Continue to use bug sprays and groom your horse to remove ticks. Be vigilant about any change in appetite or attitude.

10/15/2024

📣 📣📣Stoney Hills Vet Service is Hiring!!📣📣📣
We are looking to add a full-time receptionist/scheduler at our new location.
Job Description: Answering phones, making schedules, inputting data, checking clients in and out, light cleaning. Please note, this is not a veterinary technician/assistant role.
Qualifications: friendly and capable of holding a phone conversation, computer savvy, solid understanding of the local geography/being able to read a map, independent worker and motivated teammate.
Hours: 8:30-5:00 Monday-Friday
Pay: mid teens/hr based on experience
Benefits: health/vision/dental, 401K match, PTO, etc.
Location: 11933 Doster Rd. Plainwell, MI 49080

If you’re interested, please email your résumé and cover letter to [email protected]

09/15/2024

What small animal services are we offering at the new clinic??
- vaccines/wellness exams
- parasite testing/prevention (heartworm, intestinal worms, etc)
- sick animals: eyes, ears, skin, urinary, basic metabolic, infectious. Basically anything that doesn’t require hospitalized care.
- limited x-ray and ultrasound
- male cat neuter
- end of life care

We have two amazing vets, Dr. Suk and Dr. Swan, who are available by appointment to care for your pets. Call the office to set an appointment 📞 (269)569-2400

09/11/2024

Its time to think about teeth!
October is our dental month. We will be giving $20 off each dental. Call the office to schedule your appointments. (269)569-2400

09/11/2024

We shared a series of posts recently regarding EEE/West Nile Virus. For whatever reason, it doesn't look like all of these posts were readily viewable to the extent most of our posts are, so I just wanted to reiterate the main messages because it's vital!
1. Vaccinate for EEE/West Nile - we just had verification that one of our cases was definitely positive for EEE and possibly both!
2. Know you horse's FULL vaccine history. If in doubt that there could be ANY holes, booster! Was there ever a 2-dose series? Has it been given annual vaccine EVERY year?
3. Young horses are more susceptible, even small lapses in vaccination status can create incomplete immunity.
4. Both EEE/WNV can cause human illness - prevent mosquito bites for yourself and your horse.

EEE and West Nile Virus can be fatal in unvaccinated horses

09/06/2024

EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS (EEE) and WEST NILE VIRUS (Part 3)
Signs/Symptoms:
Both EEE and WNV cause acute neurological signs - unsteady gait, weakness or paralysis, depression, +/-fever. as the disease progresses, there may be circling, seizures, or the horse may be down and unable to get up. EEE tends to be more rapid in onset and is typically fatal. WNV is slower progressing and there are documented cases of horses recovering with supportive care.
Young horses are more exquisitely affected by the virus and the disease progresses quicker. Horses under five years old in endemic areas like Florida are actually vaccinated 2 to 3 times yearly to further booster vaccine effects.

09/05/2024

EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS (EEE) and WEST NILE VIRUS (Part 2)
Incomplete vaccination
1. Horse never received two dose booster series and only gets one dose per year.
2. Horse received two dose booster series, but then did not get vaccinated the following year
3. Horse received two dose booster series and several yearly vaccines and then missed a year or two 
4. Use of vaccine of unknown efficacy - vaccines purchased outside of the veterinary channel have a higher risk of vaccine failure as there is higher risk of temperature fluctuations. There have been documented examples of vaccines from feed stores being stored at the wrong temperatures. Buyer beware - these products are typically not backed by the manufacturer.

When purchasing a new horse, require to see documentation of that horse’s full vaccination record, including initial 2-dose series. “I gave them all a vaccine this spring“ is very easy for someone to say regardless of if that horse was actually vaccinated. If in doubt, start back over with 2-dose series, extra vaccine will not hurt the horse.

09/04/2024

EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS (EEE) and WEST NILE VIRUS (Part 1)
You probably think we are a broken record as almost yearly we post something similar to this, but if even one horse can be saved, it’s worth it to be repetitive. We are currently in the prime season for EEE/WNV as several confirmed cases have been seen around the state and quite a few more are pending, including a couple cases we have seen in the past week. It’s important to remember that this disease can be vaccinated for very effectively, but the vaccine schedule is imperative for the vaccine to be protective.
1. Horse MUST HAVE a 2-dose booster series with vaccines given 3-6 weeks apart
2. Horse MUST HAVE a yearly dose of vaccine.
3. If you are in doubt of either 1 or 2, you should start over at 1.

09/02/2024

The office is closed for Labor Day. We are available for large animal emergencies.
Non-emergent calls will be returned Tuesday.

08/30/2024

Phase 1 is pretty much complete!! In 6 short weeks this building went from 1980’s with great bones, to an updated space we can be so proud of! It definitely took a village and Steve Bennecke led the charge on working tirelessly - “it just needs a coat of paint” is the quote Dr. Bennecke will never live down, as that turned into paint+ceiling+lights+trim+flooring+++🤣 Much thanks to the amazing office staff and their families who moved us and have been so helpful with all sorts of things🩷
We hope to have phase 2 complete by the end of the year, which would include the surgery suite and kennels🐈🐕‍🦺