BY BRIAN ASHMORE, DVM | JANUARY 5, 2011
Make your New Years Resolution to feed a rescue pet!
Make your New Year’s Resolution to feed a rescue pet. Give a Rescue Pet Healthy Teeth and Great Nutrition by sponsoring a bag of Hills® Prescription Diet® t/d today!
Giving. A simple but very powerful act. There is no better time of year to decide to give help to a rescue pet than this New Year of 2011. We give gifts out of love, out of compassion and out of need. We give these gifts to relatives, friends, loved ones, pets and people we do not even know. Animal Health Services has chosen to give the gift of food to the many pets that do not have a home this New Year.
Many of these pets make it through our doors by way of rescue organizations. The most common problem found in these pets is tooth or gum disease. We also see many of them that are malnourished. This is why we decided to donate the best food available to help with both of these problems. The food is Hills® Prescription Diet® t/d. This is the most nutritious food available and it is unrivaled when it comes to treating and preventing dental disease.
Good nutrition may not find these pets a home but it will help keep them healthy while they await their forever home this New Year.
If you would like to sponsor a bag of Hills® Prescription Diet® t/d or to drop off other supplies, please stop by Animal Health Services 37555 N. Cave Creek Rd. or call us for more information at 480-488-6181.
Sponsored food will be distributed to Four Peaks Animal Rescue, www.fourpeaksanimal rescue.org, a 501 C (3) Non-Profit Organization.
This article is courtesy of Animal Health Services, 37555 N. Cave Creek Rd.,
480-488-6181, www.ahsvet.com.
JANUARY 5, 2011
Prosthetic limbs for dogs
Prosthetic intervention has been used for many years in human rehabilitation to achieve mechanical and rehabilitative goals, that is, to stand up and walk again. The use of these prosthetic devices has been limited in veterinary medicine although published case reports have existed for over 40 years.
“The use of prosthetic devices in veterinary medicine is in its infancy,” says Dr. Jacqueline Davidson, clinical professor at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. “Usually, most dogs and cats do really well with three legs and so, in the past, veterinarians just amputated the affected leg.”
For those that require the amputation of more than one leg, there are other devices, such as wheeled carts that can do the job. “In the last ten years people started to do more prosthetics,” Davidson says. “Lately we are seeing more small animals with prosthetics.”
This surgery is not a cheap one, and normally it is the owner who requests it.
“There are different types of surgeries that involve prosthetic limbs. One surgery involves fitting a prosthesis over the skin on the stump of the leg and the other one is more involved as the prosthesis is implanted into the bone,” Davidson says.
According to Davidson, “Right now, you have to work with a prosthetist and you have to order the materials specifically for each animal. It can be very expensive.”
Pets that undergo this kind of surgery and get a prosthesis implanted need to go through a rehabilitation process. “Sometimes, getting the pet to adapt depends on the personality of the animal, on the circumstances, or their age. But after some time they start to adjust and live a fairly normal life,” Davidson says.
It’s important to remember that, after a successful prosthetic implant, pet owners feel a sense of freedom because they are able to sit on the porch or sofa again and watch their cats and dogs run around the house.
Pet Talk is a service of the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University. Visit tamunews.tamu.edu.
