Quality Control

In order to provide high quality patient care, we rely on different types of medical equipment. This includes our anesthesia machines, xray generator, surgical instrument sterilizer, air driven dental drill and polisher, microscope and more. Once a year we schedule a service technician to come in to calibrate, clean, replace necessary parts and test our equipment and ensure that they are performing according to manufacturer's specifications. We feel that being proactive about equipment care allows us to have the confidence that we won't be caught by surprise by malfunction or inconsistent results.

Dr Fussell

Interesting Case

At Davis Drive Animal Clinic we diagnose and manage some very challenging cases. Recently, we had a dog with some very strange blood test results that required us to hit the books in order to come up with a diagnosis.
Chica is a female 6 year old Terrier Cross adopted from the SPCA in Mexico 3 years ago. She did have intestinal worms that we successfully treated but was otherwise healthy upon her arrival to Canada.
Last month, Chica came in for her annual examination and routine Lifestage Blood Tests. She was in great health physically but her labwork showed a peculiar elevation to her globulin proteins and a concerning reduction to her platelets. Platelets are involved with clotting and if a platelet count drops too far, spontaneous bleeding will occur. We elected to recheck her blood again 2 weeks later to trend these findings and found that these abnormalities were repeatable. There are several possible diseases that can cause a low platelet count. However, since she came from Mexico originally, I decided to test her for the various bacteria that can be transmitted by ticks. Chica tested positive for one called Ehrlichia canis which invades the white blood cell and she is currently on 6 weeks of antibiotics. We expect her platelet count to return to normal and plan on retesting her blood counts again in 1 week.

Dr Fussell

Chocolate Toxicity

Did you know that certain types of chocolate are very toxic to dogs? The chemical causing toxicity in chocolate is theobromine (a relative of caffeine). The darker, more brittle and more concentrated the chocolate is, the more dangerous it is. It can affect many different body systems including the gastrointestinal, nervous, respiratory and cardiovascular.  If your dog eats anything containing chocolate please call the clinic immediately and provide us with the type of chocolate and the amount ingested. We will then use the weight of your dog to calculate the level of theobromine toxicity and notify you if you need to bring your dog into the clinic for emergency treatment.

Dr Fussell

You Tube Videos

Looking for information on how to brush your pet's teeth or more about fleas and worms ? Check out our playlist of videos on You Tube. Simply click on the link on our homepage. We also have videos to tickle the funny bone. Let us know if you find any other videos that you would like to see added to our list.

Parasites

With warm weather finally here to stay, please remember that a variety of parasites would love to make a home in or on your pet.  Heartworm, fleas, ticks, mange, roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms, and giardia are some of the parasites we worry about. In order to protect your pet, remember to start your monthly parasite preventative on June 1st. A stool sample should be tested for intestinal parasites at least once a year for adult cats and dogs and with each vaccine booster appointment for puppies and kittens. For more great information on parasites, go to PET HEALTH on our home page and select Web Resources for "Worms and Germs Blog" and "Companion Animal Parasite Council". If you want to watch some cool animated videos about parasites, click on our You Tube link and check out our playlist.

Dr Fussell

New Anesthesia Machine

Our new anesthesia machine finally arrived last week. The equipment has been assembled and tested and we had the opportunity to use it for the first time this morning. One of the many safety features of this machine is what is known as a "circuit alarm". If an abnormal level of pressure builds up within the breathing tubes, a high pitched alarm will sound and alert us to the problem which can then be immediately corrected.

Dr Fussell

New Equipment

We are currently awaiting the delivery of our new anesthesia machine. This state of the art piece of equipment has many new features that will enhance patient comfort and care. All medical equipment at the clinic is thoroughly tested for proper function by a medical equipment technician as part of our yearly quality control.

Unusual Dental Case

As many of you know, I have a particular interest in veterinary dentistry. I enjoy attending lectures, reading on the subject and going to hands on training seminars. Recently, I had a case that up until now I have only read about. Bella is a 6 month female Shih-tzu cross that came in for an ovariohysterectomy (spay). I had already prepared Bella's owner that small breed dogs are genetically predisposed to a variety of dental abnormalities and that I would take a closer look when she was under anesthesia. With digital x rays we found some missing teeth, retained primary (baby) teeth and 3 impacted teeth. I've attached an image of an impacted molar. You can see how the tooth is positioned in a horizontal plane. I called the owner to discuss the challenges involved in extracting this tooth and then went to work to get it out. This case was a great example how dental x rays are vital in the proper diagnosis of dental health issues.

Dr Mike Fussell

Help for cats with arthritis

Is your cat limping, reluctant to jump up on chairs or the bed or acting unusually grumpy ? It may be signs of osteoarthritis. This painful joint disease affects cats in their senior years however some develop it much earlier. I do see a lot of arthritis in cats at our clinic. Unfortunately, there isn't a medication specifically labelled for cats to use longterm. Options for treatment generally include joint supplements, custom compounded medications, and injectable medications. Of course weight loss is important also to reduce the added strain on these joints. If you think your kitty may have signs of osteoarthrtits, give us a call !

 Dr Mike Fussell

Tooth ache !

Smokey is a 14 year old female kitty who came in this morning to have her teeth cleaned. Dental radiographs revealed a hole in one of her teeth that required extracting. She has recovered from anesthesia and is looking happy.

Dr Mike Fussell

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Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to the new Davis Drive Animal Clinic Website and our blog. Stay tuned here for real time updates about how we improve the lives of our patients and learn why we love what we do !