Wednesday 8 10, 2011

It's our 20th Anniversary!

In September, we will have been open and serving the pet-owning community for 20 years! We started across the street in a small strip mall space and in 2004 moved to our current facility.  

Several staff members have been with us since the very beginning including the owner, Dr. Lisa Carpenter, Corrie Barrows, CVT, who is our office manager and Kathy Carpenter, CVT, our part-time certified veterinary technician.  

Rhonda Noetzelman, CVT, has been here for 18 years, Diane Paulus, CVT, and our receptionist, Cory Abraham have both been here for 13 years. Veterinary assistant Lynn Grote has been here for 9 years.  

We appreciate your support of our business and we look forward to many more years serving the community.

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Brooklyn Park Canine Crawl

On September 17th, we will be one of the many participants in Brooklyn Park's first ever Canine Crawl, a fundraiser to benefit the Brooklyn Park Police Department's K-9 unit.

Come and visit our booth and consider bringing your dog to the dog walk or dog park for what looks to be a fun day. There will be disc dog, agility and obedience demos, many vendors and drawings, even prizes for the top fundraisers.

More details can be found on Brooklyn Park's website.

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You've got (Pee) Mail

You know how important it is to communicate with your friends and family and members of the community. We have many methods of interacting with each other, talking face to face, phone, email, mail, and texting.

Your dogs also have a need to communicate and learn about their environment. The best way they do that is through smell. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell and can discern very subtle changes in urine, feces and anal sac secretions of other dogs.  

When you take a walk with your dog, they want to smell many spots. They are detecting which other dogs have been in "their" area-whether they are male or female, intact or not, in heat or not, and probably a host of other details. By "marking" the spot, with their own urine or feces, they are "writing back" to the other dogs.

By allowing your dogs to read "pee-mail", you are helping them sort out their world in the way they know best. It is an enriching activity for them and should be allowed from time to time. Walks are great for exercise, but even a short "sniff" walk, can be very rewarding for your dog.

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Lost Pets...Found Pets...What to do?

If you have LOST a pet:  It is very important to quickly start searching the immediate area. Often, a pet will not go very far and if the owner's voice is heard, they may come back. If a quick search is not successful, it is important to notify the proper authorities and rescue agencies in the area as soon as possible.

In our area, P.U.P.S. (Pets Under Police Protection)(763-424-5257) is the place where stray and lost domestic animals are brought. The facility is in Maple Grove and serves Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Crystal, New Hope and Plymouth.  In addition, pets are often brought to the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley or Coon Rapids.

Printing up flyers with your pet's picture and distributing them to local "hot spots" such as local vet hospitals, coffee shops and pet stores may also help to get the word out.  

If you have FOUND a pet, please contact P.U.P.S. (see above). There is a minimum waiting period that pets must be held before they can be adopted or euthanized. Stray animals should be checked for any microchips and a good faith effort be made to find an owner. If no owner is found before the end of the waiting period, it can be adopted by the finder.

To help your lost pet find its way home, please consider microchipping your pet and registering it with a national registry such as Home Again. Most rescue organizations, P.U.P.S. and veterinary hospitals will scan stray or found pets upon admission, thus ensuring your pet's safe return.

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We want to know: What activities do you share with your pets?

Many of us enjoy our pets on a day to day basis. We want to know what fun things you do with your furry friends, dogs, cats or other pets.

Let us know at contact@edinburghpets.com and we will share some of the activities with our friends and clients via our facebook page. Feel free to send pictures.

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Cat Clues

Many cats may appear healthy to their owners despite having significant health issues. This is in part due to their more secretive nature and ability to hide signs of illness.

Two important things you should carefully monitor (especially in an older cat) are body weight and water intake. Most cats don't appear to drink much water. If your cat seems to be drinking more water than in the past, it could be significant. Also, if the litterbox seems more "wet" than normal, it could signal increased urination due to the increased water intake.  

Many cats are overweight. If your normally heavy cat appears to be slimming down and you have not put it on a diet, this can signal a new problem such as diabetes, kidney disease or hyperthyroidism.  

Your cat's annual physical is a great time to check body weight and  discuss any health related changes in their behavior.

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