Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital™ Blog

Our Trip to the AKC World Championships

Wed, 11/09/2011 - 11:55 - M. Penny

Dog agility has rapidly become the most popular of dog sports, with thousands of trials put on each year around the U.S. In 2010, AKC recorded a record 947,137 entries at agility trials around the country. Each year AKC picks about a dozen of the top dogs in the country to compete at the world championships.  This year the championships were held in Lievin, France. 

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I was fortunate enough to accompany Scout's House and local house call veterinarian, Dr. Janet Dunn, and her very talented young Papillon, “Tantrum,” to the championships.  Dr. Dunn (J.D. to her friends) and Tantrum had tried out for their first time for the AKC world team in May and won a spot on the team. That's J.D. and Tantrum at work in the photo. The chance to represent the USA at an international event is quite an honor and we were excited about the pending adventure. 
 
The competition was everything we imagined and then some. The stadium seats up to 6,000 people and those seats were sold out weeks before the event. A record 36 countries competed this year and it was also the first year that China sent a team. Between the cheers, horns, music and dogs barking, we knew that we were in for a wild ride!
 
Three days of competition by some of the top dog and handler teams in the world followed and the US team had some amazing runs. A local dog and handler (a Redwood City resident) won the All Around Medium dog Gold Medal! And Tantrum and J.D. were amazing at their first World Championships, placing fourth in the small dog team jumping round.  
 
I’m sure this is just the beginning of a very long and successful agility career for these two. Next year the championships are in the Czech Republic. Sounds like the possibility for another great adventure!
 

Come meet Nelly and Pansy

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 12:54 - Holly

Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital would like to introduce two rescued Papillons we are fostering through Paphaven rescue.

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Meet Nelly, a young (2-3 year old) spayed female. Nelly came with hardly a hair on her body due to severe internal and external parasites. We treated the condition successfully. Her new coat is coming in and you can really see what a beauty she is going to be. Nelly is a happy-go-lucky girl and quite often lets loose with a melodic chortle! 
 
 
 
 
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Pansy is, most likely, Nelly’s daughter. We are guessing her age at somewhere around a year, and she too has been spayed. Pansy is a beautiful tri-color and she is quite the character. Her nickname could be Happy Feet because she sure loves to dance!
 
 
 
 
A little bit about the Papillon breed, although small in stature they are quite the athletes. Very quick on their feet they are becoming popular in dog sports such as agility. Papillons are often included in the top 5 most intelligent dog breeds. So if you are looking for a small companion who is game enough for a nice hike or game of ball then the Papillon is for you.  
 
They love visitors. Even if you're not interested in adopting, if you would like to meet and play with them, they would love to meet you! So, come by and say Hi!

Hot -> Cool -> Hot Season

Wed, 09/28/2011 - 10:02 - M. Penny

We're not complaining, but it is a little odd. The weather warms up. It cools down. It warms up again. Fast too.

It's a little schizophrenic, this weather.  Because of that, we wanted to issue a little shout out reminder about how the hot side of this wackiness can get bad quickly for animal overheating. Just like the fog burn-off can happen very quickly, the result renders the animal in the car helplessly overheated in a hurry. Weather doesn't care that it was cool when you went in the store.  
 
Or when you left the house.  Which is the point. Perhaps consider treating this period like it was hot all the time, at least when it comes to your beloved animals. Like a good hat, put on your best sense of humor, lay out the extra water, set the thermostat to have your back, and pretend it's hot when your skin says its cool. Because it will be. Apparently.
 
And yes, the Bay Area weather may be a little wacky, a little quirky, but it's still some of the best weather in the world.
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Hospital Update update

Wed, 09/21/2011 - 11:32 - Carol

What do we look like, fabulous interior designers?  Turns out we have one in our midst. By day she's our Hospital Administrator. But under the cloak of night, and of course the company picnic, she's taken this building from 'mid-century modern' (last century) into the new millinneum. 

 
Cindy's not the type to brag on her work, but I have no problem telling you all about what she did. I'm so impressed with the result. 
 
The new look is much more up to date, and a bit more functional, which is pretty amazing considering that we didn't remodel or change the structure of the building. Yet when one of the functions involves a nervous animal remaining calm, it is amazing what aesthetics and color achieves.
 
We wanted to update the lobby to achieve a more contemporary look and a serene feeling

Hot dawg: the company picnic!

Mon, 09/19/2011 - 14:12 - M. Penny

You may have noticed that our lobby has recently had a facelift in the form of new and colorful paint. Since we needed to close the practice in order to paint we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and host a company-wide family fun day.

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We feel that Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital has some of the most skilled and compassionate animal health care professionals in the business.  Rarely does a day go by that we do not receive compliments regarding our wonderful staff.
 
Each day at the hospital can also bring both joy and heartache. Nothing brightens our day more than meeting the newest member of your four legged family, or sharing in the joy of a patient’s recovery and seeing them return home to their anxiously awaiting families. We are also there to share in the hardest act of all - when it is time to say goodbye.
 
Ours is not an easy profession; so, Jan, Carol and I wanted to thank our wonderful and amazing Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital team members for all of their hard work and dedication.

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The family fun day let us celebrate with our families, both two and four legged. The day included a BBQ, an agility course for anyone brave enough to try it with their dogs, swimming and a bounce house for the youngest party attendees. Judging by the pictures I think a good time was had by all! 

 

Thanks Palo Alto Weekly readers!

Fri, 09/16/2011 - 10:22 - M. Penny

What local eateries, stores, businesses and community favorites make Palo Alto Weekly readers sing their praises and do a happy dance? They asked and guess what!  Mid-Peninsula was named one of the recommended services in the Best Of Palo Alto 2011.  Here's what they said about us:

 
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Veterinarian
Thousands of pets for nearly 50 years have received attentive care at Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital. From holistic care and acupuncture to the best in veterinary technology in the middle of Silicon Valley, Mid-Peninsula strives to offer top-notch services -- including a concierge pet taxi service and home-delivered medicine and food.
1125 Merrill St., Menlo Park; 650-325-5671. midpen.com
 
 
 
 
(Photo courtesy of Embarcadero Media.)
 
We just wanted to say Thank you to the Palo Alto Weekly and to the readers who voted. It's really gratifying to be recognized by our neighbors!
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The Stand By You Project

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 16:51 - M. Penny

In our last installment on the Japan disaster, we described our process for figuring out what to do, and outlined some of the challenging issues. Now, for a slice of the solution.

 
Sometimes the best connection is a direct one. Our colleagues in Japan told us they could rescue more of these animals if they could fund their immediate shelter and eventual foster care. One of them had an emergency-specific, non-profit already established through which we could direct the funds to help in the effort, effectively creating a direct channel to partner with these pet professionals. The deal is simple: they do the work, we pay for the dog food (and cat food, cost of medical care, etc.). With these out-of-pocket costs covered more families are happy to serve as foster families until they can live with their real families, or be adopted into new ones if necessary. Now, that's a solution we can get behind.  
 
But how to get the money over there?  You use a bank right?  Well, sure, but there's a challenge there too. We want the money to actually get there reasonably intact. Most banks we talked to would be happy to help us convert the currency alright, and they'd be happy to transfer it, too; dinging the balance for every single donation and for each step of the way, which added up like crazy and was too much for us. It wasn't until we found some community-minded folks at Comerica Bank who got it. By working with some aggregation techniques and partnering with us on the rest of the process, we're able to achieve efficiencies here too.  Excellent.
 
So, who else is involved? In Japan, the project is aptly called Emergency Animal Rescue HP. They didn't focus on creative naming, rather they focused on quickly assembling expertise for this specific, targeted effort. It's a collection of our veterinary industry friends who span the gamut from doctors to technicians to admins on the computer finding the animals' families. 
 
Some of the folks are being borrowed from other organizations: Japan SPCA, Japan Animal Welfare Society, Japan Pet Care Association and Japan Veterinary Medical Association. Plus, there's also lots of individual volunteers. Combined, the source of people power is great for us because it means we can keep our donations deal very specific: They do the work, we cover out-of-pocket. 
 
The money goes to food and medical care for the animals so their foster families don't have to do anything but provide love and attention. Overall, it's a direct project between industry colleagues about as high a bang-for-your-buck as we can make it.
 
If you want to join us in this effort -- which we're calling the Stand By You project -- we invite you to do so. You can drop a check made to Stand By You by our office or take it straight to the Menlo Park Comerica branch, or use the Paypal option (which charges about 2%, but is indeed convenient).
 
It's doing our part and making sure our efforts are efficient, direct and high-impact. BTW, the two dogs in the original video? Last we heard, they're doing just fine. And their powerful message was heard loud and clear!  Join us!
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Stand By You II

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 16:50 - M. Penny

Quick update about the Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster. We started thinking about the animals when we saw the story of the little dog who stood by her/his friend until humans arrived on the scene and s/he summoned them to help. We thought, what loyalty and honor from this little animal! You might remember, we blogged about it.

 
This inspired us to start looking into what could be done. So, we set about extensively researching organizations that already existed to see what they were doing about the specific situation. What we learned, instead of providing hope, made us pretty depressed. There's a stunning amount of high-overhead efforts, and frankly we didn't feel like funding executive luxury. 
 
We also learned that, unfortunately, in Japan, the people shelters don't allow animals. Hey, we can't judge; the shelters there are very much like they were right here in the good ole USA before Katrina -- animals weren't allowed in ours either. But there was one piece of good news. The Japanese government suspended regulations to provide far more latitude in keeping victim pets from meeting an untimely end before they could be reunited with their families. 
 
This development has provided an opportunity. We've been on the phone and exchanging emails with some of our veterinary medicine industry colleagues in Japan. We've learned that on site there was no time for high-overhead; they were digging in with direct help on the ground, and mud on their boots. Actually, mud everywhere -- it's really quite nasty over there, people are having to go into the contaminated areas wearing hazmat suits. There is even some uncertainty in the law having to do with whether or not removing animals from the contaminated areas constitutes theft. That's definitely something they're having to work out. 
 
In any case, while it took us a while to understand the issues and to get our head around the problem, we think we have pretty good slice of the solution. For more on what we've come up with -- stay tuned. 
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Getting Your Copy of Naughty No More

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 17:35 - M. Penny

Yesterday we posted a book review of and recommendation for the Marilyn Krieger's new book, titled Naughty No More, which offers tremendous insight on correcting problem behaviors. 

 
Today we're pleased to let you know we have copies of her wonderful book available here for $12.95 at the Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital office.  If you would like a copy, please come on in, or give us a call.
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What to do with misbehaving cats?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:04 - Dr. Whitaker

Some of the most common and most frustrating cases that I see are cats with behavior problems. Why is that? Often it's because I lack quality resources to share with clients on the topic. Happily, there's some news to report in this area. Feline behaviorist, Marilyn Krieger, has written a new book, titled Naughty No More, which offers insight on correcting problem behaviors. 

 
In my opinion, Marilyn's book is well-organized, well-written, and very easy-to-read. It offers practical suggestions to solve big problems including aggression, inappropriate elimination, furniture scratching, and counter surfing (just to name a few).
 
The author begins by familiarizing the reader with clicker training techniques. These methods are essential for setting the foundation on which she builds her behavioral solutions. I found her descriptions of how to teach cats the basics using this technique very informative and easy-to-follow. I had to make myself stay on the couch and keep reading, resisting the urge to jump up and start training my cat. 
 
After she has provided a solid background that will enable you to master the clicker basics with your cat, Marilyn moves forward building on those principles in the chapters that follow. She also includes great case examples from her experiences as a feline behaviorist. While this may sound potentially tedious, I can tell you that I found this to be very helpful, and entertaining!
 
In my veterinary practice, the most common feline behavior complaint that I deal with is inappropriate elimination. As you might expect, I made a beeline for this chapter and feel that it provides the best example of the effectiveness of Marilyn’s techniques. 
 
She starts by recommending a visit to the vet to rule out medical issues that could be contributing to the problem. Then she provides a list of factors in the cat's environment that should be addressed to ensure optimal litter box habits. Marilyn then describes the use of clicker training to build confidence, and refocus the cat away from the problem areas. I really appreciate her emphasis on a positive approach, and feel that we all need to remember this when dealing with such frustrating problems.
 
I highly recommend Marilyn Krieger’s Naughty No More. Whether you and your cat have a specific problem, or you just want to enrich both of your lives with fun, interactive techniques, this book provides great information.