Important Announcement...

It amazes me to think that I have been practicing Veterinary Medicine for 10 years now, and that I am fast approaching my 7 year anniversary of the opening of Medicine River.  I am so thankful to have a job which I enjoy, a dedicated and compassionate team that supports me, and great clients that trust me to care for their beloved pets.

I have truly enjoyed my career as a vet, but I will admit there is a great deal of stress that comes with the job.   The emotional (loss of pets) and the physical component (long hours) have definitely taken a toll on me.  Just as many of you may be trying to simplify life and re-evaluating how to make things less stressful; so have I.  Being a solo veterinarian practice has been very challenging. As most of you know our current facility is very large with a lot of wasted space. After much soul searching, I have decided to decrease the size in order to reduce some of the overhead expenses.  We will be relocating our practice to Madeira Beach in February.  I know many of you may be disappointed. It could mean a few more miles of travel time, but I assure you that it will be worth it.  For those of you that may not be able to make the trip, please contact us. We will do our best to help accommodate your needs. The decrease in space also brings a change for our boarding clients. We will be eliminating this service. I know that this will be an inconvenience for many of you, but we will work with you to find the best facility to accommodate you. We are working closely with Paws Inn Paradise and trust that they will provide excellent care for your pets while you are away. Boarding has always been a challenge for my staff( weekends & holidays). I myself have not had a holiday completely off in the past 10 years. My goal is to focus on practicing exceptional veterinary medicine. In the past boarding services have interfered with our focus on medicine/surgical services. These changes will insure that the focus is always on the health and well being of your animals.   

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience that this move and changes made to our services may cause you.  I hope that we can continue to help you keep your pets healthy.

Sincerely,

Shawna L. Green, DVM

We Greatly Appreciate.. 

All of our clients for their support and hope that we can continue to care for your pets during this transition.  We thank you ahead of time for your understanding of these big upcoming changes.  My hopes are that this move will only allow us to improve our services and ability to care for your beloved pets.

Dr. Zoe Wilkinson has been a great relief, covering for me during the past year for the few days that I took off.  We all would also like to Congratulate her on the birth of her second son!  We wish her all the best and look forward to her return.

I would also like to Thank Lori Fricker for once again organizing a very successful and fun day of bowling to benefit our Paws for Life Fund and the Great Pyrenees Rescue.  Lori was able to raise over $3,000 that was split between the two groups.  Her efforts have been a tremendous help to the Great Pyrenees needing rescue and to help us help several clients in need with their bills during this difficult time.  Thanks a Billion Lori!!!!

Paws Inn Paradise for being so welcoming to our groomer Linda, who will continue her great services at their location on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We invite everyone to joined us for an OPEN HOUSE at Paws Inn Paradise on Wednesday, January 27th from 6pm to 8pm.  Please call us if you are planning to attend.  If you are unable to attend, please call them if you would like to set up a private tour.  You can also check them out at www.pawsinnparadise.com .

Paws to Remember.... 

Warning:  You may want to have some Kleenex  ready for this next section.  I would like to share a little about just a few of those beloved pets that were lost recently.  I would like to share them all, but that would turn this into a lengthy book, and it already is becoming a short novel.
 
"Simon"-  I feel very fortunate to have treated "Simon".  This little old man was rescued later in life by his owners.  He had one of the sweetest personalities.  He was truly devoted to his owners, what a fighter!!  "Simon"  came to me for acupuncture to treat his severe back problems that challenged his mobility greatly.  I have never seen such determination to survive and please the people that rescued him.  Acupuncture helped him stay mobile for a while, but age and progression of his back problems took over his body, making it hard to function.  The loving parents that rescued him were faced to make a very tough decision.  He was quite the fighter and so determined to please.

"Yahyma" - The owners of this beloved Rottweiler would do anything for her.  She lived quite the life of luxury.  She required a total hip replacement at a young age because she had severe hip dysplasia.  Exactly a year ago, she fractured one of her hind legs, and her owners were faced with yet another expensive surgery to fix her leg with no guarantees because of the stability of her hips.  They found out a week after the surgery she had cancer in that leg.  The fracture would never heal despite the surgical efforts.  Her owners were faced with the difficult decision to put her asleep the day after Christmas.  "Yahyma" was lucky because she was fortunate to have such devoted and giving owners.  She lived like a queen.   She had her own room, with her own T.V., nicer than my own T.V.  To her owners her loss was tremendous, like the loss of an only child.

"Zansi"- The owner of this feisty, little Bull Terrier Puppy came to us over a year ago.  She was desperate for anything that would help save this young puppy from kidney failure.  When she came to us she looked like a happy, lively, puppy, but her kidneys were quickly shutting down. The only thing that would save her was a kidney transplant.  Please see her story on You Tube: Bull Terrier Undergoes Rare Kidney Transplant,   http://www.youtube.com/watchv=tBepxpN9_pQ
Her owner, Jennifer, devoted everything to saving "Zansi".  We all watched as "Zansi" struggled to live with her failing kidneys.  She tugged on all of our hearts.  We were so happy to see her get a second chance at life.  She was a happy, playful puppy again.  Both her and her sister bounced back quickly after surgery.  Unfortunately, "Zansi" lost her battle almost a year after her surgery.  She started to struggle with infections that easily invaded her skin and bones because of anti-rejection drugs that suppressed her immune system.  To Jennifer her dogs are very important members of her family.  They help her coped with the loss of her husband, who was taken from her tragically.

"Muffy"-  I gave Muffy's owner the bad news that "Muffy" had breast/mammary cancer over a year ago.  "Muffy" did great after aggressive surgery  to remove the cancer.  Her mom was devoted to monthly checks and monitoring her closely for new lumps.  She caught the second one early, and we performed another surgery.  "Muffy" did great for another  5 months.  Unfortunately, "Muffy" recently lost her battle to cancer as it spread to her lungs.  Her owner was able to enjoy her for an additional year despite the prognosis.  We learned on the day that her owner made the difficult decision to let her go just how important "Muffy" was to her.  She explained how "Muffy" had saved her from taking her own life after suffering the break-up of her marriage.  "Muffy" had given her the strength to continue living and rebuild her life.  There is nothing she would not have done to give her health back.

"Jonesy" and "Angel"-  These two retired greyhounds were rescued and given wonderful lives by their owners.  I had to tell their owners that "Jonesy" was limping because of bone cancer over 6 months ago.  His owners elected to give him an additional 6 months by having the limb amputated.  "Jonesy" did great without the leg until recently he started to cough.  X-rays showed that the cancer had spread to his lungs and his time was limited.  About a week after giving the owners this very sad news, we received the news that "Angel" had died suddenly late one night totally unexpected.  Her mom was devastated and told me she was relying on "Angel" to help get her through losing "Jonesy".  Now, they would lose their only two dogs just weeks apart.  I was amazed how strong their owners could be during this time.  Especially, when the Mrs. explained that she was also coping with caring for her own mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's.

I will tell you that there are days that seem completely overwhelming, but it always amazes me and inspires me to observe how many of you deal with your own stress.

I could go on and on with many more sad stories where I have been touched by the loss of a patient/beloved pet.  I'm going to end this with one last story.  This is one of my most recent losses of a patient.

"Pyewacket" -  He was a very loveable Welsh Corgi, who always entered our office with the friendliest little smile.  Poor "Pyewacket"  had to undergo a couple of surgeries to fix two different herniations.  One involved his prostate and the other involved his bladder.  He was so brave.  Even after his surgeries, he would visit us with a smile on his face.  This past December, "Pyewacket" had two separate nose bleeds.  We were concerned that he could have a tumor causing the bleeding in his nose, so "Pye's" owners took him to the specialists for scoping and biopsies.  His owners received good news on Christmas Eve that the biopsies came back negative for cancer cells.  Unfortunately, less than a week after the news, "Pyewacket" took a sudden turn for the worse and began to have seizures and then quickly slipped into a coma-like state.  His neurologic signs confirmed that there was a tumor in his nasal cavity that spread upwards to his brain.  We had to say "Good-bye"  to sweet, little "Pyewacket".  We will forever miss his cute little, smiling face.  

Here are some other "Sweet Paws" that also recently crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and who we will always remember:

"Pandora" Rosenkrans, "Blue and Bela" Gudrun,  "Lily" Bernhard, "Fluffy and Gidget" Black, "Teddy" Cerajewski, "Sylvester" Ford, "Jesse" Pollick, "Saki" Goodman, "Rox" Griffith, "Pretty Girl" Hall , "Patsy" Horn, "Angel" Karth", Tony" Hardick, "Crystal" Kevorkian, "Petey" LeMaire, "Bella Mia" Leone, "Mossimo" Murphy, "Jacy" Schmidt, "Siyah" Scholl, "Mama Kitty" Steinbach, "Rebel Boy and Grant" Stull, "Leah" Tobias, "Bella" Maples, "Aspen" Peter, "Buddy" Plantz, "Starbuck" Critelli, "Wylie" Fountain, "Boomer" Kistler, "Mocha" Peterson, "Red" Suthard, "Basil" Fallin, "Cylu" Bonsal, "Wizard" Gibson, "Astro" Hall, "Leo" Klapka, "Fritz" Hamilton, "Colt" Longo, "Ambler" Anacki, "KoKo" Bowdoin-Robertson, "Chloe" Cloonan, "Mittens" Derfus-Shuck, "Toby" Ferger, "Quey" Hutton, "Gemini" Lankford, "Judzia" Peters, "Tima" Rabinovich, "Teddy Bear" Silverstein, "Harley" Walet, "Evelyn, Rhubarb, and Charlie" Yeo, "Kitty" Austin, "Doby" Johns, "Prescious" Robinson, "Patience" Schoenfeld, "Blackie" Ball, "Sadie" Bednar, "Max" Graca-Cowdrey, "Grandpa", "Molly", "Tigger", "Braveheart", "Luna", and "Willy" Dorton,"Kitana" Johnson.

The loss of a pet can be so painful, but the joy they bring us when they are healthy and living is priceless.  We encourage you to use the below resources, if you or someone you know needs help with the grief suffered with the loss of a pet.

 http://www.petloss.com/

http://www.in-memory-of-pets.com/pet-loss.htm

Happy New Year!