West Texas Veterinary Specialists

08/11/2024

We recently had our 3rd senior veterinary student from the Texas Tech School of veterinary medicine rotate through our practice for four weeks. Future Dr. Salzmann was a delight! She was/is pleasant, professional, intelligent, witty, and somehow put up with my technician and me for nearly a month.

Thank you, Kenzie, for letting WTVS be a part of your clinical education! You will be an asset to our profession. Please come back to West Texas soon so we can be colleagues.

PS - please don’t kill me for the sleeping-in-the-back-on-an-early-morning-to-Midland pic. If I’d taken others I would’ve posted them.

17/09/2024

I was fortunate to host our second 4th-year (senior) veterinary student from the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine, and it was an honor and privilege! Somehow I only managed one picture of her, but this picture sums up our time together: education of both internal medicine as well as everything surrounding the internal. 🥸

Kayla embodies all the core values of the TTUSVM: community, integrity, kind-heartedness, GRIT, and inspiration. She is intelligent, tough, enthusiastic, and quick-witted.

It was a pleasure to have her with us for four weeks, and I hope you’ll join me in encouraging her to stay in West Texas after graduation! She is the salt of the earth, and she will be an asset wherever she goes.

22/07/2024

20/06/2024

I was fortunate to be a part of one veterinary student’s first 4th year rotation as part of the inaugural class of the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine. Jaime was pleasant, professional, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, polite, and trustworthy. She also was willing to join me as I lectured to Amarillo-area veterinarians. If she is any indication of the potential of this inaugural class, the future of veterinary medicine in our region is in good hands.

Also, a big thank you to Drs. Tim Polk and Justin Propp for mentoring her for an entire day.

Keep up the good work, TTUSVM!!

19/06/2024

Thank you to Rachel Kinser, DVM, and the High Plains VMA for letting me come speak at your meeting last night! Always enjoy getting to hang out with our amazing Amarillo colleagues!

29/05/2024

10y FS Pit mix presented for wellness checkup and PU/PD. PE unremarkable. Labs revealed ionized hypercalcemia (1.6mmol/L). PTH is 8.6 (ref range 1.1-10.6). This is a neck ultrasound of the right thyroid lobe.

29/05/2024

My job entails driving around West Texas and the Panhandle to travel to veterinary hospitals. And despite doing this for over five years, the beautiful artwork from our Creator never gets old.

23/05/2024

Congrats, Almost-Newbie-Veterinarians! Now for the fun year….

10/01/2024

RaiderVet students are back at it to start the new semester. What better way to kick it off than to highlight one of their exceptional students? Austin Byrd, thank you for the great insight. Check out his new blog post below.

https://txvetspecialty.com/life-of-a-3rd-year-ttusvm-student/

Life of a 3rd Year TTUSVM student - On March 4th, 2021, at 9:34 AM I was sitting in recovery, waiting on a pug to recover from his neuter to be extubated when I got a call from Dr. John

22/11/2023

Hello all!

I’m your friendly neighborhood small animal veterinary internal medicine specialist reminding you of things that should and should not be fed to your dog and/or cat during thanksgiving. Ready? Here we go…

Things not to feed:
- gravy
- stuffing
- fruit salad
- the weird pink stuff your aunt always brings
- deep fried turkey
- shallow fried turkey
- ham
- green bean casserole (NOTE: even humans should not consume)
- Impossible meat
- bacon fried Brussel sprouts, steak, steak fajitas, shrimp curry, shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp scampi (please send all these immediately to Dr. Sears via door dash for further taste inspection)

Things to feed:
- High quality dog/cat food

Thank you for your time with this important public announcement. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Sincerely,

- Kirk

Kirk Sears, DVM, DACVIM (small animal)
West Texas Veterinary Specialists, PLLC

04/11/2023

Dr. Kirk Sears - a small animal internal medicine specialist, and the only veterinary specialist in West Texas - hard at work scanning a dog’s abdomen with a spleen tumor while explaining his findings with the veterinary staff.

24/10/2023

5mo MC DSH that was presented to Dr. Jessica Stangl at Key Animal Clinic for acute vomiting, diarrhea, and evidence of abdominal pain. Abdominal radiographs and routine bloodwork were inconclusive. These pics and video show a jejunojejunal intussusception (confirmed at celiotomy). The most common ddx for intussusceptions in a kitten or puppy include viral enteritis, GI parasitism, and a foreign body. In this case a cause was not identified. This particular patient required resection and anastomosis due to a necrotic intussusceptum. The kitten has been doing great since the surgery!
Key Animal Clinic, PC