Oak Mites, Online Pharmacy, Holiday Hours, Donations
Have you tried our online pharmacy yet? So far, we’ve heard from a couple of clients who have been very pleased with how easy it is to use and how quickly they got their order. This service is basically an extension of our pharmacy that allows you to request prescription refills and order other pet products from the comfort of your home at whatever time is convenient for you. For prescription items, Dr Leonard gets a notification to approve or modify the prescription as needed. The same requirements for regular examinations or blood work monitoring will apply as currently do for certain medications, but it is much more efficient than having to call us ahead of time then making a trip to our office. You can even put regular prescriptions on an Autoship which means free shipping and your pet’s monthly needs will arrive on your doorstep at the appropriate time, as long as you remember to click the approval button on the reminder email they send you. You can even do this with their monthly heartworm prevention—how great a reminder is that? If you’d like to check it out, you can click here: http://wholehealthpetcenter.vetsfirstchoice.com/
You can also access our pharmacy from the home page of our website—just scroll down to the cat picture that says “click here for our online pharmacy”. There is also an Online Pharmacy tab under Resources, found across the top of the home page. By making an account now, it will speed up the process if we need to add a prescription for your pet, so we encourage you to do so.
In other news, Office Manager Debbie will be gone for 6 weeks starting next week, to have a knee replacement. Pam and I will certainly miss her! If you haven’t been in yet to meet Pam, or spoken to her on the phone, we think you’ll find she’s a great addition to our team! We hope you’ll bear with us through the end of the year while we are a little short-handed. Remember, our phones only go to voice mail after hours. If you call during business hours and the phone continues to ring, it means we are either speaking to another client on that line (we don’t have a second line) or we are busy doing a procedure and don’t want to interrupt our patient care to answer the phone. Just call back 10 minutes later, and we’ll probably be able to answer by then. Keep in mind, if we were working with your pet, you would prefer we not interrupt that care to answer the phone, and allow others the same courtesy. Our patients always come first at Whole Health Pet Center!
Other notes about phone calls: We forward our clinic phones to Dr Leonard’s cell phone when we are closed. Please save calls to make appointments during regular business hours as Dr Leonard is unable to easily schedule them from her cell phone. She is happy to try to answer questions about your pet’s care or talk about our services with you. If your pet has a true emergency, please realize you will be referred to one of the local emergency centers (Blue Pearl or Mission Med Vet) anyway and call them first so that your pet can receive the care it needs more quickly.
Christmas Donations: As in years past, we are taking donations to place on/around our Christmas tree. Anyone who brings in a donation gets a $5 discount on their services for that day or as a credit on their account. This year, we are taking donations for Lakeside Nature Center to support their wildlife rehabilitation hospital. These are the items they can most use: Washcloths, towels, other bedding type fabrics. Fleece, pillowcases, baby blankets, and microfiber cloths are especially nice. (small stuff, not giant comforters) Plastic coffee cans (no lids) or similar sized buckets like ice-cream buckets. Bird seed, squirrel food, ear corn, unwanted but still good dog and cat food (unopened). Aquarium heaters and UV reptile lights. Monetary donations towards other needs. Exact powdered diet for baby bird feeding. Pet taxis. Heavy leather welding gloves. Newspaper, sorted to remove all shiny ads—just the plain newsprint stuff, please. Fiberglass screen rolls (window screen replacement). We appreciate your donations in advance!
Oak Mites in dogs: Veterinarians have been discovering that our dogs can be bothered as much by oak mites as we can. Dr Leonard now suspects much of the late summer/early fall belly and foot itching may be caused by these mites if no other causes are found. If your pet has been more itchy after being outside romping through the leaves, consider wiping their coat with a damp cloth, applying insect repellent essential oil blends before they go out, or using our Bug-Off Garlic flea and tick repellent in their food. Dr Leonard’s very sensitive dogs have had no mite problems while on garlic despite a yard full of oak leaves.
Upcoming Dates of Interest:
Canine Massage: November 11, and December 16. By appointment. Call us at 816-331-1868 for an appointment for your dog.
No doctor available: Friday, November 18 after noon; Friday December 2 all day, plus holiday closure dates:
Closed for holidays: Early Closure Wednesday, November 23, reopening the Monday after Thanksgiving; Closing at noon on Friday, December 23, reopening Monday, January 2 at our regular hours.
