Meet Krystal! She is a second-year student at Oklahoma State’s Veterinary Medicine Program! She is a brilliant student who came to learn how to do a dental cleaning procedure. Her dogs graciously volunteered and we had a blast!
Halloween is a great time for family-friendly fun and sugary sweets! It is always a fun time dressing up our furry friends and posting adorable pictures of their costumes too! But the fun and games are cut short when Fido eats the Halloween candy and we have to rush to the ER. Here are some of our best tips and tricks to ensure that everybody enjoys this holiday weekend!
Before and after trick-or-treating, please remember to keep Halloween candy safely up and away from your furry friends! They are a treat for you but a trick for them! Many candies contain chemical toxic to your pets such as chocolate, gum, and xylitol.
Chocolate, in the right amount, it toxic to any animal. The common symptoms start with vomiting and diarrhea, but can progress to seizures and more. The key is, how much chocolate is toxic to your pet? In terms of toxicity, it worsens from white chocolate to milk, to dark in increasing amounts. We have added a quick chocolate calculator for your dog! If your dog or cat does eat any amount of chocolate, we highly recommend consulting with a veterinarian.
(function(v,e,t,s,n,o,w) { v._vnToxicityCalc = s || {}; n=e.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0]; o=’vnToxicity-‘+Math.random().toString(36).substring(7); v._vnToxicityCalc.element=o;v._vnToxicityCalc.url=”https://www.vets-now.com/app/chocolate-calculator/”; e.write(‘‘);w=e.createElement(‘script’);w.async=1;w.src=t;n.appendChild(w); })(window, document, “https://www.vets-now.com/app/themes/madebrave/assets/js/calculator-embed.1600162949.js”);We have all heard that pumpkin can be good for your pet and that is totally right, but only pure, unseasoned pumpkin NOT jack-o-lanterns. Especially jack-o-lanterns with candles in them! Your pet may decide to investigate or eat them and they end up knocked over!
Other potential decorations risks include rubber eyeballs (choking risk), glow sticks and fake blood (potential poisons), and fake cobwebs (common foreign bodies and choking hazards).
Before the trick-or-treating starts, we highly recommend putting your pets, especially those that are protective of the house or have anxiety, in a quiet room away from the ruckus. Sometimes even just moving their kennel or bed will encourage them to stay tucked away. This gives them a safe, quiet place for them to relax. It takes away the need to protect the house from trick-or-treaters and away from all the ruckus. That way they can relax and snooze the night away.
This week is a special time to thank and show appreciation to our awesome vet techs, assistants, receptionists, and kennel techs. We need each and every one of them to make it through the day. What do they do exactly? They are nurses, anesthesiologists, emotional support, bloodwork technicians, clean-up crew, and so much more! They deserve ALL of our respect and love!
Debbie has been with the Mannford Animal Clinic since 1979. She is our head receptionist and
practice manager, making sure our practice runs smoothly!
Debbie and her husband have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and shopping! Debbie’s animal companions include Abby the Yorkie and Daisy the (tiny) Yorkie.
Esther has been with the Mannford Animal Clinic for 11 years! She is our head laboratory technician and inventory specialist.
Esther and her husband have 3 daughters who are very active in sports and other activities. Esther’s family likes to go camping and they enjoy the traveling that goes along with having a competitive gymnast in the family! Esther has a rescued pit bull, Shera (a.k.a. Nurse Shera), who is a frequent visitor at the clinic.
Robin has been working with her father-in-law, Dr. Lasarsky, since January 2009. She is 
one of our technicians as well as our weekend receptionist.
Robin and her husband have 2 children. They love family road trips, especially to national parks. Aside from hiking and exploring, they also enjoy sitting down together for family dinners. They have 2 cats, Ella and Vicious, and 2 dogs, Mr. Iba and Pistol Pete (can you tell they love the Pokes?).
Christian has been with the Mannford Animal Clinic since July 2014. Christian is a certified
veterinary assistant, and maintains our surgical suite, as well as ensuring the comfort of our hospitalized patients.
Christian and her husband have 2 young sons. Their family enjoys outdoor activities and spending quality time together. Christian has 4 dogs, Mary Jane, Patches, June, and Vienna (a chi-weenie!), and one cat, Trini.
Sydney has been our kennel technician for 4 years going on 5! She is active in FFA and enjoys raising show pigs and working with cattle. She plans to attend veterinary school in the future!
She has 3 dogs, Buddy, Shadow, and Diesel, and 2 cats, Tigger and Bonnie. She also has chickens and a pig!
Erika is our newest kennel technician! She is from
Kellyville and is very active in softball and basketball! She is very bright and is keeping her options open for her future!
She has two dogs, Shera and Pip. Shera is one of our original clinic dogs while Pip is one of our new additions!
Candra is our rock star vet-tech student. She is married with 3 kids: Jack, Sam, Elly. Candra also has 4 dogs: Finn (one of our recent rescue surgeries), Mango, Odie, and Mr. Bojangles with 1 kitty can, Stormy. She is in her second of three years of tech school and doing a fantastic job!
In her spare time, Candra loves the outdoors, spending time with her family, and is a voracious bookworm!
We have a lot of questions from owners regarding puppy vaccines and we understand that they are a lot. Lots of options and lots of appointments can be very confusing. We thought we would make it a little easier. We build vaccines as the puppy grows, slowly adding one or two until we are big enough for our big boy shots.
Let’s break it down. What is DHLPP? It covers all the scary stuff like distemper and parvo. It also covers lepto. Lepto is a bacterial infection that you can get anywhere a stray animal has peed. It usually isn’t that severe in vaccinated dogs, but, it very easily transfers to people. So lepto vaccines are very important!
We have all heard of rabies. It is fairly uncommon but carries a 100% mortality rate so it is also very important. It is also a legal requirement for animals to be up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations. Kennel cough and rattlesnake vaccines are situational. Kennel cough is most important in animals that are boarding or frequently around other dogs just as rattlesnake vaccines are most important in animals that spend a lot of time outside.
We hope that clears the mystery of vaccines up a little for you!!
We take this day, around the world, to celebrate our four-legged best friends! They are loyal, loving, and all-around cuddly and who knows where we would be without their love and support! So, give your buddy an extra treat today (Starbuck’s always has puppuccinos) and a little love. This day is for them!!
