Spring newsletter 

WOW! 

I am happy to announce that the Beverly Animal Natural Health Center has just celebrated it’s ten year anniversary.  Thanks to all our great clients and staff for making this happen! 

It has gone by very fast and has been filled with so many memories of  pets and people. 

Thank you for the opportunity every day.

As a  token of my appreciation for your business, we are offering a complimentary Chico Bag to each client for a limited time.  These are great reusable, washable nylon bags that fold up into their own little sack.  I was introduced to these from one of my alumni news magazines from Chico State University where I spent my junior year in undergrad. 

I think it is so important to help keep our environment green!  The amount of plastic bag use is pretty staggering.  You can check out www.chicobags.com for more information. Please also recycle as much as you can!  Check out your local DPW for more information. 

There will also be plain Chico bags available for sale at the clinic for $5.00 each.  All proceeds go to North Shore Christian School where Mia goes to school.  NSCS is going green at NSCS with the students being able to get great new playground equipment with the bag sales. We appreciate your support! Happy Earth Day!

Some thoughts on Fat…

Dr Ricketts and I recently attended a lecture by Dr Towell a leading nutrition expert.  The topic was feline obesity which has become quite a hot topic for several reasons. One is that unfortunately, we have plenty of “subjects” to study!  And there are several parallels between cats and people with Type 2 Diabetes.  Fat is now considered an organ as it is capable of producing over a dozen hormones.  It is described as the only organ with unlimited growth potential!  A frightening thought!

These hormones are involved in both the up regulation and down  regulation of various pathways that either store or burn fat.  There are pathways that tend to store fat.  Unfortunately, these still tend to be the predominant pathways despite our easy access for food and typically sedentary lifestyle.  There are  no easy fixes but the focus of good health remains to be a good diet and exercise.

One of  the best things you can do for your pet is to feed it properly and exercise with it.

A few feline specific tips that were discussed that night:

Introduce young cats and kittens to both canned and dry.  Texture issues can be significant in cats so it is important to try to introduce them when they are young.  Canned food is also much less calorie dense as it has water in it.  Take it from Tucker.  He was able to loose 3 # going from an all dry diet to a 75% canned diet.  And he has kept the weight off! 

Have your cat hunt for food!  This technique can be especially helpful for the overweight cat that enjoys eating, sleeping and that is about it. By putting several small food dishes all over the house, the cat must make numerous trips to the food dish.  It gives the cat a little bit more activity than just sitting at a big dish. You can also purchase at pet stores the the small food balls that you can put dry food into   The cat then has to do physical activity to get the food to come out.

And last but not least, portion control!  Have you seen what a quarter cup of food looks like?  Many do not measure food portion except with the eye.  And we typically tend to be way off when it comes to that.  The easiest thing to do it to portion out your pet’s food as you normally would then take out a measuring cup.  Cut back 10% and then keep using the measuring unit.

We can all take heed with these little tips.  Keep portions under control and get out there and exercise! 

Communication Opportunities

As part of our commitment to our clients, we try to encourage communication in a variety of ways!  Our staff is available by phone during office hours.  If you do get our voicemail, please do leave a message with detailed info and a contact number.  We do try to retrieve our messages several times an hour. If you feel your situation is urgent, leave a message and try to call back again in a few minutes.

The staff is very well trained in triage over the phone so please do give them information that can help with any concerns you have.  There is also the doctor’s call in time that is Monday through Friday from 1:30-2pm. This time is limited to updates, questions regarding case management, etc. 

Dr Crowley also has email at drcrowley@banhc.com. This is not to be used for medical care but can be used for updates, diet questions, etc.  If you do not get a reply within 24 hours, please resend or call the office.

We also have  weekend coverage between the hours of 9am and 9pm in which Dr Ricketts and I check voicemail approximately every 2 hours.  This can be very helpful for updates, simple issues such as diarrhea or ear issues. We may be able to help you work through the situation over the weekend and save a trip to the emergency clinic.

We may also discuss progress reports with owners for post surgical cases, acute illness, chronic issues, etc.  Please do give us a call when requested as it really makes our day when we get updates. It is really helpful for patient care and follow-up for patients.