Hello again! The holiday season is upon us and that means fun times with friends and family, and endless holiday meals! Can you ever really eat enough ham, turkey, sweet potato casserole, green beans (cooked with bacon grease – as if there is any other way in the south!), pecan and pumpkin pies, chocolate and peanut butter fudge, divinity, or bourbon balls? Well – you’re pet sure can! It’s important to remember that as much as we love all the tasty treats that the holidays bring, they can be harmful to our pets in more than one way. 

This time of the year, we tend to see an increase in cases of pancreatitis and gastroenteritis.  Both are conditions which cause vomiting, diarrhea, and anorexia, which can be severe in some cases.  Most of these cases are caused by dietary indiscretion; meaning that our pets eat something outside of their normal dog food and treats.  It’s so easy to slip a piece of ham to our sweet-eyed begging dog who just wants one little bite, however, that one bite could send their stomach on a rampage.  Or to give them just a few green beans, after all green beans are healthy for our dogs, right? Green beans are only healthy when cooked with no salt, and definitely no bacon grease.  Pork products are one of the main causes of pancreatitis and/or gastroenteritis.  Below are links to information about canine pancreatitis and feline and canine gastritis.
http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-diseases-conditions-a-z/acute-pancreatitis-dogs
http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-diseases-conditions-a-z/gastroenteritis-dogs
http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-diseases-conditions-a-z/gastroenteritis-cats

Weight gain is also a problem with our pets over the holidays.  There’s a reason our New Year’s resolutions often include some type of weight loss program.  Treating our pets over the holidays may also cause them to join in our weight loss venture. 

While we all enjoy the holidays – let’s treat our pets to gifts of toys and play time versus sweet treats.   Below is a link to AAHA’s recommendations for keeping the holiday weight off your pets.
http://www.aaha.org/blog/petsmatter/post/2015/11/13/780983/How-to-help-your-pet-avoid-extra-holiday-pounds.aspx

Hello there! As you can see we have decided to start blogging at Scottsville Animal Hospital! We are excited to share all the wonderful, sad, crazy, and heart-warming stories that occur here on a daily basis! Our hope is that along the way you will learn something about those sweet pets of yours. 
On this blog, we hope to share stories that are both interesting and educational.  The topics will be anything from puppy/kitten shots to many of the more common diseases/disorders that we deal with in veterinary medicine.  Any stories shared on this blog will have all names and information changed as to keep everything confidential (there is a HIPAA for animals!). 
It can be very difficult to fit in all the information that we want you to know (and all that you want to know) in a short appointment time – so this (as well as other resources listed below) can be a go-to place for questions and information that may not have been addressed in the exam rooms.  At Scottsville Animal Hospital we encourage our clients to inform and educate themselves about their pets’ preventative care and various ailments.  We try to be available at all times for our clients, but if by chance we aren’t, there are some resources on the internet that are very informative.  The internet does not always mean Dr. Google, because for every piece of helpful information, there is also a piece (or two) of misleading information.  We would like to provide you with a couple of websites that are accurate and do a good job describing various diseases and surgeries (with pictures!).  Here are the two websites we recommend:
www.pethealthnetwork.com
www.veterinarypartner.com 
**Give us your input on topics you’d like to read about.  We will be doing this twice a month so be on the lookout!**