Perry the Guinea Pig goes to the Vet

Earlier in January, Dr. Sarah Charron and technician Shannon Hall paid a visit to G.C. Huston Public School to help Mrs. Matheson’s grade one class learn all about their very own classroom pet, Perry the guinea pig.  The students were just finishing a unit on ‘living things’ so  Mrs. Matheson invited Sarah and Shannon to come to the classroom to give a lesson on the proper way to care for pets and give Perry a health check up.

Everyone paid close attention as Dr. Charron gave a presentation about how to look after Perry, including what he needs to eat and how to safely cuddle with him.  Shannon trimmed Perry’s nails and Dr. Charron listened to Perry’s heart with her stethoscope.  All the grade one boys and girls got a chance to listen to their hearts with the stethoscope too.  They also had tons of great questions about Perry and their own pets at home.

Perry got a clean bill of health so as a parting gift to help keep the doctor away, Sarah and Shannon left Perry a special treat of timothy hay.  Stop by the clinic to see the wonderful picture and card Mrs. Matheson’s class sent as a thank you.

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The Southampton Pet Hospital welcome’s Dr. Donna Curtin to our practice!

We have  new addition to our team!  As of mid-January, Dr. Donna Curtain has joined us here at the Southampton Pet Hospital as our third veterinarian.  She is very excited to be with us and we wish her the warmest welcome.  Here is a little introduction to Donna and what she has been up to before she joined us.

Dr. Curtin is a graduate of The Ontario Veterinary College and has over ten years of experience in Grey-Bruce. She has a keen interest in preventative medicine, nutrition, pain management and oral health care. She has completed further training in periodontal surgery, ultrasound and veterinary communication.

Dr. Curtin is the current chair for the 18th Annual Grey Bruce Veterinary Association conference, she is a newly welcomed member to the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association’s Board of Directors and she takes pride in volunteering to help better her profession.

As a compliment to her veterinary career, she enjoys writing veterinary related articles for local newspapers and is currently working on her novel and a series of short stories related to her experience as a veterinarian. In her personal life, Dr. Curtin enjoys country living with her husband and two busy children.

Dr. Donna Curtain

Southampton Pet Hospital goes digital!

Welcome all to the inaugural Southampton Pet Hospital blog! This will hopefully be the first of many fun and interesting blog posts from the exciting world of vet medicine in Bruce County. So stay tuned….

November has been a busy month for us here at the clinic as some long anticipated upgrades were being installed.  We have just completed a major overhaul of our diagnostic imaging equipment.  Southampton Pet Hospital has gone digital with a brand new digital x-ray machine!  And that’s not all…we also have a new and improved ultrasound machine as well!  So why exactly are we so very excited about these two new  pieces of equipment??  We have been performing x-rays and ultrasounds here for years so why were the upgrades needed?

 

our new digital x-ray set up

Our diagnostic imaging equipment gets a work out on a daily basis.  Not a day goes by without x-raying or ultrasounding patients.  X-rays are great for diagnosing broken bones or perhaps something Fido ate and are also great for looking at lungs and the shapes of internal organs.  Ultrasound we use for looking in more detail at the heart or the abdominal organs.  It can actually show us what the liver, spleen or kidneys look like on the inside.  Basically any time we need a glimpse of what is going on underneath the skin, we need to perform some type of diagnostic imaging. 

 

Because we use this equipment so much, we need it to be quick, easy and efficient.  Our old x-ray machine required the use of film to take images.  This film had to be manually processed in a dark room which could take up to 15 minutes before we could see our images!  Our new machine has the x-ray image up on the computer screen seconds after we have taken it.  Once the image is on the screen, we are able to adjust the darkness and contrast, something we could not do with our old machine, cutting down on the need to retake images that don’t turn out well.  more detailed x-ray image with new digital machine

Not only is digital speedier, the image quality of the x-rays we take are much better.  Image quality was the main reason the ultrasound machine was upgraded as well.  Our new ultrasound machine allows us to perform cardiac ultrasounds in addition to abdominal studies.  The icing on the cake with both of these new systems is producing digital images makes sending these images for others to see very easy.   This means consulting with radiologists at referral hospitals is easier.  Or if Fido ever needs x-rays while on vacation (which happens more than you think), we can send those images right to your regular clinic. 

more detailed x-ray image with new digital machine

Ultimately, our diagnostic imaging overhaul is about serving our clients better with a wider range of diagnostic imaging services and faster, more efficient results.  But I would be lying if I said it was ALL about the clients…..it has been pretty fun setting up our new ‘high tech toys’ and learning all the cool things these machines can do!