Thanksgiving No-No’s
Happy November! As we prepare to celebrate the holidays, now is a good time to refresh your memory about which festive foods could pose problems for your pets. If you aren’t sure whether a food is safe for pets or not, it’s best to simply avoid sharing it with your pet altogether. We know that pets can be sneaky and might help themselves to your Thanksgiving meal prep or feast, so here is a guide to which foods might warrant a trip to the emergency clinic if ingested:
- Cooked bones: Bones from a cooked turkey or chicken carcass can splinter into sharp pieces if ingested, and can puncture the stomach or intestines. Even if they don’t cause GI punctures, they can cause significant trauma as they scrape along the GI tract and make for a miserable few days for your pet.
- Raw yeast dough: Yeast dough will continue to rise and produce gas after a pet eats it, causing potentially life-threatening bloating.
- Fatty foods: Fatty foods, like greasy turkey skin, drippings from a roasting pan, or buttery roasted vegetables, are one of the major triggers of pancreatitis in pets. Pancreatitis can cause vomiting and diarrhea on the more mild end, and more severe cases can lead to organ failure and sepsis. As much as pets love savory, fatty treats, it’s best to avoid feeding these items.
- Grapes and raisins (dogs only): Dogs can develop acute kidney failure after ingestion of grapes or raisins. The toxic dose varies widely depending on where and when the grapes were grown, so unfortunately there is no specific toxic “dose” of these fruits. We recommend ingestion of any quantity of grapes or raisins to be taken seriously.
- Chocolate and coffee: These substances both contain stimulants that can lead to GI upset on the mild end of the spectrum up to seizures and death on the severe end, depending on how much a pet ingests and how big they are.
- Alcohol: Alcohol is a depressant that can cause lethargy, stumbling, vomiting, and difficulty breathing. Keep alcoholic drinks far away from pets!
- Onions and garlic: Both of these vegetables can cause anemia in cats and dogs if ingested. This includes ingestion of the vegetables themselves as well as broth or stock made using them.
Acupuncture
Did you know that we offer acupuncture for your pets at St Francis Integrative Services? We often think of acupuncture for treating painful conditions such as arthritis, hip dysplasia, cruciate ligament injuries, or acute back injuries, but it is beneficial for many other conditions as well. In addition to managing pain, we use acupuncture in patients with kidney disease; urinary incontinence; neurological conditions such as weakness, laryngeal paralysis or seizures; and chronic gastrointestinal conditions. Acupuncture is also very helpful as palliative care for patients with cancer or other geriatric conditions.
Acupuncture has been practiced in China in both humans and animals for thousands of years. It involves the insertion of small, thin, sterile needles into specific points in the body to cause a therapeutic response. These points are located in areas with a high density of free nerve endings, immune cells, small blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels. Stimulation of these points leads to a cascade of change in the body including an increase in blood flow to the area, an increase in local immune response, and release of beta-endorphins, serotonin, and other neurotransmitters to reduce pain. These acupoints are also located along pathways that interact with specific internal organs. So much is happening by just using these tiny needles!
Our acupuncture sessions are performed at our St Francis Integrative Services location, next door to our main practice. Dr. Jennifer Blair is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist who has been providing these services since 2015. She is currently caring for acupuncture and hospice/palliative care patients at Integrative Services on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. To learn more about acupuncture or to schedule an appointment, please reach out to us via email at group@stfrancisabh.com, phone at (651) 645-2808, or our PetDesk app. You may also visit our website for additional information.
Annual Cause for Paws Fundraiser
Our annual fundraiser to benefit Cause for Paws begins Friday, November 29th and continues through December 31st. All donations will go directly to help provide preventative and medical care for the cats and kittens within their foster homes. This year, St Francis Animal Hospital will match your donations up to a total of $500! To make a donation, you may stop by the front desk, call us at 651-645-2808 or email us at group@stfrancisabh.com and we will reach out to you to make a donation over the phone.
For your donation, of any amount, we will place an ornament on our lobby tree. A note or a memorial can be written on the ornament. We will also provide a receipt of donation upon request. Please help us fill our tree with ornaments and provide care for the cats of Cause for Paws!
Thank you!
Winter Solstice Pet Memorial Ceremony
December 21st is the Winter Solstice- the longest night of the year, and also the point at which the days start to lengthen again. At St. Francis, we have chosen to use this significant day as a time to honor the pets that we have loved and lost. For each participant, we create a hand decorated luminary with the name of your pet(s) who you would like to memorialize. If you would like, you can also share photos and memories of your pets which we will use to create a slideshow that will be available to watch during the ceremony. The luminaries will be on display behind St. Francis Integrative Services, which is located in the strip mall adjacent to the main St. Francis Animal Hospital building at 5 PM on Saturday, December 21st. We will have a very brief presentation of readings and invite you to use this time and space to remember the special animals who shared their love, joy, and comfort with you.
If you would like to participate, please click this link and fill out the form:
https://form.jotform.com/243294066673160
Please provide your submissions by Saturday, December 14th.
Upcoming Closures
Thursday, November 28th (Thanksgiving)
Tuesday, December 24th and Wednesday December 25th (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)
Tuesday, December 31st: Early Closure at 12:30 pm (New Year’s Eve)
Wednesday, January 1st (New Year’s Day)