Pet Care Tip

Every so often, we get a flurry of common mistakes that pet owners make that could easily have been avoided. So, as a public service, I’d like to take a moment to offer a practical tip to pet owners who might read this. When your veterinarian gives you instructions regarding your pet’s care, FOLLOW THEM! In the past 2 weeks, we’ve had 3 pet owners violate that rule. As a result, their pets had to undergo procedures they otherwise would not have needed. Simply stated, their pets had surgery and were discharged with Elizabethan Collars designed to prevent them from mutilating their surgical sites. They were also given specific instructions not to remove the “E Collar” until we instructed them to do so. Unfortunately, pity got the best of them and they decided to remove the collars anyway. Within a very few moments, sutures were chewed apart, incisions opened and contaminated, and painful scratches inflicted on corneas. All of these poor animals needed to have remedial surgery to repair the damage their owners permitted them to inflict upon themselves. So, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, follow your veterinarian’s post op or home care instructions. It will save your pet unnecessary pain and discomfort, allow him or her to heal normally, and save you unnecessary expense.