PhilaPets.com Newsletter: June 2008

First Ever PhilaPets Community Night. You're invited!

We like to think that PhilaPets is a community of people, both clients and Pet Care Specialists, who care deeply about providing the best care for the animals they take care of. To expand on this further, we will be inviting experts to discuss and explore certain aspects of pet ownership. For PhilaPets clients and Pet Care Specialists, these are free events. For anyone else who would like to attend, it is $10 per ticket.

Our first PhilaPets Community Night will truly be a special event. Here is the information:

When: Monday, July 21st, 2008 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Title: "How to save Fluffy's life without spending $200,000 to become an Emergency Vet"

Speaker: Dr. Garret Pachtinger, an emergency and critical care resident at the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania. He is an excellent (and entertaining!) speaker and is one of the most beloved and talented clinicians at the hospital.

Outline for the presentation:

How to be prepared for an emergency
How to prevent emergencies
Knowing your pet -- how to examine your pet & normal vital signs
How to assess the animal (or triage) in an emergency situation
Safety first during the emergency
Respiration and artificial breathing
Heart beat -- CPR
Common emergencies that present to the Emergency Room at Penn
Books and online resources for further education

Where: To be determined but will likely be in Center City. We will be sending an email out in the beginning of July about the location.

How much: FREE to PhilaPets clients and Pet Care Specialists. $10 per ticket for others.

How to RSVP: Email rsvp@philapets.com and let us know how many people you are bringing. There is limited space so please reserve as soon as possible.

Other information: The presentation will be around 1 hour and 15 minutes. We will also have light hors d'oeuvres and some drinks (wine, beer, soda) after the presentation. You can also feel free to talk with your Pet Care Specialist -- they'll be there too!

PhilaPets Team Outing

All Pet Care Specialists and Managers came together at Triumph Brewery where we had great food and drinks and rocked out to Guitar Hero! A great time was had by all.

We also distributed our annual awards. Congratulations go out to our winners:
-- Miriam Fernandez: Power Part Timer Award
-- T. Ritchie: Unsung Hero Award
-- Christi Brown: Energizer Bunny Award
-- Sarah Unger: You Can Count on Me Award
-- And last but not least -- Megan Haines: 2008 Pet Sitter of the Year

We look forward to next year's party!

Deirdre Graduated!

After four difficult (but worth it!) years, Deirdre graduated from University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school! She is really excited about being the veterinarian she always dreamed she would be. She will be looking for a job as an associate veterinarian in the Philadelphia area towards the end of the summer. Right now, she is enjoying finally being able to fully focus on PhilaPets. We'll keep you posted where she ends up!

Change in Cat Visitation Policy

After much thought and feedback from clients and Pet Care Specialists, we now require that cats are seen at least once every day when owners are away. Some people may be accustomed to leaving a big bowl of food and water and thinking that their pet will be okay. Most of the time they are right, they will be okay. BUT a cat could tip over a water bowl and be left with no water; they could choke on something or have some other sudden illness and have no one find them for 36 hours; they could simply be lonely because they are used to action and sound around them in their home. So from now on, visits for cats must be scheduled on an everyday basis. Thanks for your understanding.

Pet Health

Heat Stroke

Heat stroke is a non technical term for hyperthermia, a body temperature that is so far above normal that physiological processes are subjected to damage and dysfunction. It can take only minutes being in a heat wave such as this last one, or being in the car on a warm day and the dog or cat will be near death. If you leave your animal in the car, even on a nice day, the temperature in the car can easily reach 40 degrees above the temperature outside. Dogs and cats need to pant in order to release heat and if they are breathing in heat, they cannot cool down effectively.

Living cells have temperature tolerance limits. Go beyond those limits and the cell breaks down, looses functional capacity, releases chemicals within itself that cause more adverse reactions, and eventually ceases to function and dies. Tolerance to higher than optimum temperatures for mammals breaks down at about 107 degrees. Even if heroic treatment measures are taken, an animal suffering from heat stroke may die from massive intravascular clotting, hemorrhaging, swelling of the brain, death of the intestinal tract, and kidney failure.

Signs of heat stroke are intense, rapid panting, wide eyes, salivating, staggering and weakness. Advanced heat stroke victims will collapse and become unconscious.

If you see signs of heat stroke, get your animal to the nearest veterinary facility as fast as possible. If you are waiting to get to the vet, poor cool (not cold) water on your animal. Do not keep your animal submerged in water. Then, blow a fan over the animal. This allows for evaporative cooling. You can also try putting rubbing alcohol on their pads. Once the rectal temperature goes down to about 103, discontinue cooling measures and get to your veterinarian.

For more information, please visit here.

If there is something that you would like to share with the PhilaPets community, tips, events, jokes, or other interesting tidbits, e-mail them to newsletter@philapets.com and we will try to make it a part of our next newsletter.

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