Monthly Archives: July 2010

Veterinary Pet Insurance lists top sources of pet poisoning

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Linda

Image by ♪_Lisa_♪ via Flickr Every month VPI (Veterinary Pet Insurance and the nation’s largest pet insurer) receives hundreds of poisoning claims for pets who have been poisoned.  They analyzed the claims made for poisoning between 2005 and 2009 and came up with the following list of the most common poisoning claims: 1.  5,131 cases of Accidental Ingestion of Medications (pet or human drugs) 2.  4,028 cases of Mouse & rat poison 3.  3,661 cases of methylxanthine toxicity (consumption of chocolate and caffeine) 4.  2,808 cases of plant poisoning 5.  1,669 cases of household chemical … Continue reading →

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Recall: Iams veterinary formula cat food recalled

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Linda

Proter and Gamble issued a voluntarily recall of two specific lots of a prescription-only renal cat food that is sold by veterinarians. The food could be tainted with salmonella. The following products are included:  Iams Veterinary Formulas Feline Renal food 5.5 lbs, lot code 01384174B4, UPC code 0 19014 21405 1; and lot code 01384174B2, UPC code 0 19014 21405 1. Two lots of this prescription-only food have been recalled today. The product is available by prescription from veterinarians. No illnesses have been reported, but an FDA analysis yielded a positive result on the lot … Continue reading →

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VL Tech Tip: Cut down on spam from your website email with this free tool

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Linda

Including your business email on your website can be beneficial because it allows potential pet owners to contact you easily.  But having an email address on a website is also an open invitation for spammers so it’s a toss up on whether to include an email or not. Here’s something I ran across when I clicked on an email address on a website I needed to contact.  The address looked like a normal link — info@companyname.com and when I clicked on it I was prompted to enter some characters before I could send an email. … Continue reading →

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Tech Tips: What does your phone number spell?

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Linda

We’ve all heard and seen commercials where the business gives their phone number as a word: “Call 1-800-HEAL-PETS and talk to one of our friendly receptionists…” Phone numbers that spell a word are usually easier for people to remember – in fact I can start humming a jingle from a local carpet cleaner whose phone number spells a word.  I’ve never used this company because we have hard surface floors at the office and at home, but I do know their number in case an urge ever comes over me to clean carpets. However most … Continue reading →

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If you live in Colorado and own a cat with kidney disease, check this out

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Linda

Cats with Kidney Disease Eligible for Current Studies by Colorado State University Veterinarians FORT COLLINS – Colorado State University veterinarians are looking for cats with chronic kidney disease to enroll in five current studies. To qualify, cats must already have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, also known as renal failure, by a veterinarian. Several of the studies carry monetary benefits for pet owners. The studies: – A study looking at whether fatty acids in the feline diet are related to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects that could protect a cat’s kidneys. This study is open … Continue reading →

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Veterinarian’s husband arrested for posing as a vet

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Linda

Dr. Amy Gentsch, the owner of Dr. Amy’s Animal Clinic in San Carlos Park, Florida is out of jail today along with her husband after they were arrested a week ago. The local sheriff’s depart said they’ve been investigating the business for the past 8 months. Arrest warrants for the couple say Dr. Gentsch’s husband, Larry Gentsch performed surgeries on patients although he is not a licensed veterinarian.  In some cases those surgeries lead to the deaths of pets. He is also charged with giving unauthorized vaccinations and Amy Gentsch was aware of this but … Continue reading →

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Tech tip: How to use Gmail to handle ALL your email accounts

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Linda

Image via CrunchBase As you may or may not know, I’ve been part of the internet, and email, since 1994, and email has been part of my life even longer.  All things internet have evolved at light speed over the ensuing 16 years and this certainly includes email, which is still an indispensable part of most of our lives. But along the way email started to get out of control. There became too much of it, SPAM got really bad, and it started taking too much valuable time away from the things you should be … Continue reading →

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Poor website design can be a dealbreaker for potential customers

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Linda

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr In a recent survey by whose results were presented at the National Association of Women Business Owners 2010 convention, 75% of people surveyed admitted to making judgment about a business based on the businesses website.  And while the survey was directed a business websites in general, veterinary and pet health businesses have sometimes felt they were not as affected by how pretty their website was because their other factors, i.e. proximity and services, were more important than having a website. That was then. This is now. In today’s tougher economic … Continue reading →

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FYI – Your clients are getting a second opinion from Dr. Google without telling you first

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Linda

How many times have you heard this one from a pet owner:  “I read on the internet………….” Probably more times than you want to remember. Often when you’ve covered a report of findings with a pet owner, they go right out to get a second opinion from Dr. Google to make sure your finding are correct (or they come in armed with Dr. Google’s opinion of what’s wrong with their pet and they want YOUR opinion as the second one). Dr. Google is easy and good, and his advice is free.  He doesn’t even need … Continue reading →

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Legislators Challenge Humane Society’s Euthanasia Practices and a controversial video

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Linda

Image by therapycatguardian via Flickr 2 Connecticut Lawmakers have asked the Humane Society to issue a moratorium on euthanizing an animal because of behavior issues.  The matter is, understandably, a controversial one and the story is getting good media coverage. Below you’ll find two different news stories on the matter and then a controversial video from a veterinary tech on Euthanasia – one that I’m sharing with the pet owners in our Daily Paws blog. ——- CT News Junkie | Lawmakers Continue to Hammer Humane Society Unsuccessful at its first attempt to get the Connecticut … Continue reading →

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