Our Blog

FEAR FREE

WHAT IS IT, WHY IS IT, HOW DOES IT WORK

When you call the hospital, many of you hear the person on our end of the phone say, “Thank you for calling Blue Ridge Animal Hospital.  We are a Fear Free Certified Practice.  How can we help your pet today?”  You may blink twice and say, “What???”  So that’s what we’d like to help explain here.

There are a number of questions we as a veterinary field have been answering routinely since this all began.

What about our pets? Do they carry the disease? Can they transmit it to us? Should we be worried? What about those tigers that tested positive? With all that is occurring right now, these are very valid concerns and questions, and definitely worth asking!

Egg nog.

Christmas trees.

Turkey dinners. 

Family.

We all have our ideas of what represents the holiday season!  

It’s that time of year again when we are starting to see those annoying, pesky, and even dangerous fleas and ticks! Luckily, we have come such a long way with prevention options for these pests.  Most people don’t realize that there was little options for us against fleas prior to 1989. This invention of flea prevention has been one of  the major events that have been credited with the transition to more of our pets become pampered indoor pooches and felines! 

Many of you know June as being an integral part of Blue Ridge as well as that voice on the phone. Did you also know she is a talented writer?! For our next blog post, we asked if she could share her story about her very own Duncan.

The Root of the Issue, the questions and concerns with pet dental care…

It’s that time of year again! February was Pet Dental Health Month. I often wonder why the powers that be chose the shortest month of the year when the topic and information is so vast and important, but they didn’t ask me! While I recognize that February has not-so-quietly turned into the strange weather of early Spring in March, the purpose of this blog post is to touch on the importance of year-round dental care.

You may see the advertisements on Facebook or at the clinic. Perhaps you hear ads on the radio or even the television. Maybe you didn’t even know that Pet Dental Health Month was a thing until you started to read this. Either way, this quarter’s blog aims to focus on why this became an official month in the first place, and what to expect when we talk about ‘dental prophylactic evaluation,’ a ‘teeth cleaning’ or for short, ‘a dental.’

Getting the ‘inside scoop’ of our recommendations

For your pet’s nutrition….

I realize we briefly touched on the nutrition topic during our obesity discussion in our previous November blog. However, when you realize that despite the difference in households, living quarters, families, breeds, gender, neutered vs not neutered, and all the other factors, there are a few things that all these pets have in common. They all need to eat, they tend to eat everyday, and their nutrition plays a huge role in their overall health and wellness. That is why we will continue to focus on nutrition and recommendations, especially since what we know this day and age is that this information changes rapidly. Also, we are about to start a NEW year with NEW resolutions. Perhaps one of them may be to adjust the way your pet eats in 2019. We’d like to help with that.

What’s going on with the new information regarding the Isoxazoline Flea and Tick Products

We are always looking for ideas for our blog articles from all of you, but sometimes a great opportunity for an educational moment presents itself at a perfect time. We have gotten a number of calls and questions about what might be ‘bugging’ you this week.

Recently, the news aired about a particular class of flea and tick medication and some of the potential side effects. As we would expect worried parents to do, many of you have reached out to us for more information and with concerns. We would like to address some of the most common concerns here as best we can, but PLEASE call us with more information.

Most Frequently Asked Questions about Surgery and Your Pets

“Surgery” can be a scary word. It’s understandable. The body’s ‘natural state’ does not involve elected trauma to tissue and anesthesia. However, these procedures are often unavoidable for the overall health of our fur-kiddos, whether it be a spay, neuter, mass removal, broken bone, torn cruciate, or any number of other procedures.

The purpose of this blog is to ideally minimize fears about your pet undergoing the necessary surgery, and to answer any commonly asked questions you might have. While it can be a scary thought, at Blue Ridge we take your pets’ well-being, health, and pain control seriously. So let us know how we can help at any time, or if you have any concerns before, during or after the procedure.

What other questions would you have before a surgery? Ask us or let us know and we can update our blog!

The holidays are over, the cold is setting in, and it’s time for some much needed rest from the craziness! So why not stop by the Blue Ridge Animal Hospital blog for some exciting entertainment and knowledge?!

This month’s blog will be bloody! We are going to discuss a general overview of blood work. While this may not sound exciting, it is one of the major questions we get asked about routinely and perform on a daily basis. So here are some FAQs: