With #LaborDay approaching, we want to remind you to keep your pets happy, healthy, and safe this holiday weekend with these tips:
☀️ Beat the heat: Dogs are susceptible to heat stroke. Make sure there is plenty of water and shade for your furry friends to keep cool.
🍽️ Protect your plate: Many foods we enjoy on Labor Day Weekend such as onions, corn cobs, chocolate, grapes, alcohol, and more can be toxic to pets or pose a choking hazard.
🍔 Guard the grill: Keep pets away from the grill, grill tools, lighter fluid, and matches in order to avoid burns and hazardous chemical ingestion.
🔥 Bonfire time: Don’t allow pets to get too close even after the fire is out - embers can remain below the soot and burn your pet. Avoid feeding them near the fire and never throw trash or food scraps into the fire that could entice them to get too close.
If your pet needs care over the holiday weekend, remember that VSH Sorrento Valley is here for you and your pet 24/7, even on holidays! Call us at: (858) 875-7500
International Dog Day
Happy International Dog Day! 🎉🐶
Today, we celebrate the loyal companions who bring endless joy, love, and wagging tails into our lives. Share a photo of your pup and tell us why they're your best friend!
🐾❤️ #InternationalDogDay #DogLovers #VSHSorrentoValley #VeterinarySpecialtyHospital
Blue blood donor
A day in the life of a blood donor hero!🩸🐾
Meet Blue! This 4-year-old Great Dane is one of our amazing blood donors here at VSH Sorrento Valley, and is giving a behind-the-scenes look at donating blood! Our goal is to ensure a safe & relaxing experience for all our donors - complete with treats at the end! Blue is the best boy, and we are so appreciative of his donations!
Are you interested in having your pet participate in this life-saving program? We are actively looking for more candidates, both canine and feline! Learn more and find out if your pet is eligible here: https://vshsd.ethosvet.com/for-your-pet/blood-donor-program/
Hearts for this adorable girl! 🥰 Parker, a 5-year-old Bull Terrier, has been a patient of Dr. Cheng, DACVS with our surgery department since March of this year. Parker had an extensive necrotic wound after a cat bite that required multiple surgeries and frequent bandage changes. She has been recovering great and is close to being fully healed! Here is Parker showing off some beautiful bandage art that that one of our surgery RVT's, Stefanie, created for her. 💚
Why is proper IVC placement important? 💉 IV catheters allow for safe and easy delivery of IV medications or fluids to our patients. Proper IVC placement is an essential skill that veterinary technicians use everyday! Wondering what’s going on behind the scenes? Check out this step-by-step video put together by some of our team members to see how IVC catheters are properly and safely placed on our patients. 👇
What to do if your mental health is causing you struggles at work…talk to someone! 🗣️ It’s common to feel anxious or down occasionally, but if you’re experiencing mental difficulties regularly, it’s important to reach out for help. It can be difficult to talk openly with someone about your life, however, it’s critical to keep in mind that those who care about you want to help.
In honor of #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth, our hospital’s Veterinary Social Worker, Alisha, is here to provide you with a few tips on how to guide the conversation about your mental health with your manager, supervisor, or fellow team member.
Remember: the bravest thing you can do is ask for help. 💚
To all our veterinarians, specialists, relief doctors, per diems, and residents – Happy World Veterinary Day! 🏥🐾 Sometimes this profession is anal glands, ear infections, and giving the pet insurance talk. But it’s also seeing your feline lymphoma patient go into remission, helping a spaniel with cataracts see again, that rewarding moment of extracting a tennis ball via endoscopy, and reuniting a dog with his owners after 6 nights in the ICU.
To all veterinarians today and every day, thank you for making the world a better place. 💚
“Why is the wait so long, it seems so quiet?” – this is something we hear a lot! 🏥🐾 Even when the front lobby is empty & there are no cars in the parking lot, “out back” in treatment can look very different. Between a crashing cat who isn’t breathing, a hit-by-car case requiring multiple team members, and hospitalized pets occupying every ICU kennel, our team behind those doors is determinedly saving lives.
We know waiting in the ER with your pet can be stressful, but rest assured we are working hard to get to you.
Something’s wriggling in this dog’s blood sample! 🔬🩸 Meet “microfilariae,” the larvae of the dreaded female heartworm. After roughly 6-7 months, these larvae will mature into adult heartworms, grow up to 14 inches long (😳), and reproduce more offspring. Left untreated, this dog could end up with hundreds of them in his body causing long-term damage to the lungs, heart, and arteries and even sudden death. Since it was caught, he will undergo treatment which involves several months of medications, exercise restrictions, and hospitalization days.
Luckily, this is preventable! 🥳 Keep your dog on monthly heartworm preventative all year round – put it in your calendar, and don’t miss/skip a dose. And if you’re rescuing a dog (especially from southern states like Tennessee, Arkansas, & Mississippi), talk to your veterinarian about re-testing them for heartworm. #NationalHeartwormAwarenessMonth #heartworm
We're so glad that this pup had a successful hemilaminectomy surgery! This surgery is performed to remove a herniated disc off of the spinal cord. The video below shows the pup getting their staples taken out as they heal. Happy recovery to this little one!
What makes you happy? 😄 We asked our veterinary staff members across the country and we're spreading some happiness for #InternationalDayOfHappiness! From dogs to snacks to rubber ducks, here's what makes us happy.
Let’s walk the dog! 🦮🚶♀️ Those magic words “do you want to go for a walk?” are more important than you may think. Just 30 minutes of walking every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, reduce excess body fat, and improve mental health for BOTH you and your dog! Be healthy together – you and your dog need each other! #NationalWalkingTheDogDay
Oh, and cats too. 😉
A little tip tap for some treats from our sister hospital in Illinois! 😍
"This handsome older fella is Moose, a 10-year-old Labrador that presented to the ER after he was having difficulty getting up. On the car ride here he improved dramatically and is seen here tippy-tapping/dancing for treats. His owners elected to monitor him at home overnight given his speedy improvement and follow up with their veterinarian the next day. Moose was a charmer and will hopefully continue to do well at home!"
Time for a quiz! Can you guess what this is under the microscope? Answer will be posted later today in the comments!
We love seeing the way our Ethos teams from across the country bond! Check out the team from our sister hospital in New Hampshire showing off their moves 💃
"Jo, one of our amazing and lovely ER technicians for our triage team, happens to also be a workout & dance instructor. So, naturally, a group of Port City staff dressed up as her and she led them for some exercises in between appointments! Jo is incredibly encouraging for anyone who needs help along their journey, and we're so proud of her work here and outside the hospital. Sometimes, you just need a good dance. 🕺"
Blood donor spotlight! Cheer is an 8-year-old coated retriever who visits to donate blood frequently. Here's Cheer being a perfect angel waiting for her blood donation! Cheer's Mom is one of our Surgery Liaisons, and she has trained Cheer to carry her favorite toy in her mouth and wait patiently on the treatment table for her Blood Donation. Thank you for all of your donations Cheer and for being a donor hero!
“A port in a storm”. 💉 Placing an intravenous catheter is one of the first steps in urgent and emergent care. It allows us to safely & cleanly treat our patients. The catheter allows us to draw blood, administer fluids, and medications through one port. The process for veterinary catheter placement looks a bit different from a human. Take a peek at how we do this for our canine patients, demonstrated by one of our sister hospitals in MA!
Fun fact: placing your first catheter as a veterinary professional is a big achievement in developing clinical skills. It's one of those celebrated milestones!
That’s one happy pup! Penelope, an 8-month-old Labrador presented for a bandage change after having her dewclaws removed a couple of weeks prior by Dr. Fryer. This was recommended due to the risk of them getting caught and causing pain or injury in the future. Here she is waiting patiently for her bandage change so that Dr. Fryer can assess her healing. Penelope loves all of the attention she gets with us at VSH and are happy to share that she is recovering well and no longer in bandages!
How sweet is little Billie? This 3-month-old Pomeranian was referred to us at VSH for PDA (patent ductus arteriosus), which is a heart defect where the ductus arteriosus fails to close down at birth. Open chest surgery and ligation of this defect was recommended as this defect was already affecting the function of her heart and would lead to heart failure if left untreated. Dr. Fryer and her wonderful team successfully repaired her defect. This video was taken 3 days after her surgery before Billie got to go home to her family!
What a year it has been! 🎉
As you can see, we’ve had some pretty great patients this year! Our Ethos team members and all in the veterinary community have been dedicated to keeping pets happy and healthy all year long. Cheers to 2023 and another year of being there for pets who need us 💚
