Local Veterinary Technician, Heather Paquette, spends her nights at the Kawartha Veterinary Emergency Clinic in the Mapleridge Plaza on Lansdowne Street West. These days, emergency visits to the vet are more stressful than ever, because pet owners are not allowed to accompany their pets into the clinic to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions for any reason. This makes it more difficult for the pet owner, if not the pet.
There are no routine visits or procedures permitted at this time, so the best advice to pet owners is take particular care to avoid health and emergency issues.
Based on the nature and frequency of types of calls received at the emergency clinic, Heather has a few recommendations for pet owners during the current restrictions. Only leashed walks should be taken to avoid dog fights or accidents. “Tick Twisters” are useful tools for finding and removing ticks after each walk through long grass or in a wooded area. They work well on people, too. Pick up your pet’s heart worm/flea/tick preventive curb side from your regular DVM, and stick to your pet’s regular diet to avoid tummy troubles. Keep marijuana out of reach, as this product is particularly toxic to dogs. Lock up your dogs while baking chocolate cookies, as chocolate is also highly toxic to dogs. Familiarize yourself with your routine veterinarian’s protocol right now for any urgent needs, if they are doing telemedicine, etc.
While dogs might be loving the fact that their owners are around 24/7, Heather has concluded that cats do not share this appreciation, as they are exhibiting higher stress levels than usual. Seems that some stereotypes are true. KG
