Complementary Therapy Options Now Available at Cat Hospital of Chicago
Feline Friendliness at Cat Hospital of Chicago
Dr. Currigan and her new role with American Association of Feline Practitioners
Oral Surgery and Dental Radiography Continuing Education
Complementary Therapy Options Now Available at Cat Hospital of Chicago
Cat Hospital of Chicago is pleased to announce the addition of acupuncture and therapy laser treatments to our care options. More and more these days, we hear about “alternative” or “integrative” medicine being used to treat a variety of problems in people which complement modern, Western medicine. This is also becoming true for veterinary medicine. For many people, the thought of these treatments may seem like “witch doctoring” or “hocus pocus”. However, there are numerous studies that demonstrate patient benefit from both acupuncture and therapy laser therapies. Cat Hospital of Chicago is pleased to offer these integrative medicinal therapies to enhance our patients’ quality of life and healthcare, in a dog-free setting. Dr. Daphne Thompson, who joined our staff in the summer of 2009, is now fully trained in veterinary acupuncture (through the Chi Institute, the leading school of Chinese veterinary medicine) and is accepting appointments and referrals for acupuncture.
All of our doctors have been educated in the use of the therapy laser. Click here to see our handout on Complementary Therapy Options Available at Cat Hospital of Chicago.
Pictures here include: Lori, Certified Veterinary Technician, giving ‘Elvis’ medical therapy laser treatment on his urinary bladder after he had a urinary obstruction, and acupuncture being performed on two other hospital patients, one for a broken spine, and the other for chronic kidney and constipation issues.
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Cat Hospital of Chicago Further Enhances Its Feline Friendliness
Cat Hospital of Chicago has recently been working with Dr. Ilona Rodan, owner of the Cat Care Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin, and nationally recognized feline behavior and cat-friendliness consultant. Together, we have developed several simple but significant changes to adjust our clinic environment and feline examination and handling techniques, as well as housing and hospitalization protocols – all in an effort to make veterinary visits less stressful for our patients – and thus for their owners!
Although as an all-cat practice, we have always prided ourselves in how well we handle, examine, house, communicate and work to make the veterinary experience a positive one for our patients, we recognize that there is always room to grow. The more we as cat veterinarians learn about the behavior of cats and how to recognize even the most subtle signs of stress, the more we realize that some of the ways that we have always done things may actually create rather than alleviate stress in our little patients. It was important to all of us that we go to the next level in working with the cats whose owners have entrusted their care with us.
Since Dr. Rodan’s visit, we have modified some of our cat handling techniques, our protocol for pre-op sedation and IV catheter placement, how and where to obtain our laboratory samples, and how we approach the examination of our patients. We are now considering various ways in which to further make our treatment area more ‘feline-friendly’ as well as more ‘veterinary staff friendly’. Most importantly, as it always has been, we make every effort to individualize our approach to every patient based on how each patient best responds. As a result of Dr. Rodan’s visit, we were able to create more efficient ways of getting our patients examined and treated which will lead to shorter veterinary visits – and what cat wouldn’t call that feline-friendly!
Pictured below are some of the techniques – some old, some newer – that have helped to make visits, at least for these patients, as stress-free as possible:
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Bribing kitten with baby food (sometimes not too challenging with kittens!) |
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Once bribed, now the same kitten is more interested in his food than the tiny needle in his back leg taking a blood sample |
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Blood pressure being taken on a geriatric patient while sitting on a staff member’s lap |
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Physical examination being done on exam room chair (this cat was very nervous on the exam room table – much more relaxed just being taken off the table) |
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Kitten play time on the floor of exam room |
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Eye pressure measurement being taken on an exam room chair (another cat that was table-frightened) |
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Axillary (armpit) temperature being taken on Dr. Thompson’s cat, Wayfarer – he requested this over a rectal reading! |
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Toe nail trim (‘manicure/pedicure’) being performed on technician’s lap while being distracted with canned food |
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Penny having her blood pressure taken (cuff around base of tail) in the most ‘Penny-friendly’ way possible – all but her tail inside her owner’s coat sleeve! |
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Penny |
Treatment Room/Hospitalization Area/Dental Suite Remodeling
In late 2011, we will be embarking on a project to remodel the ‘back’ area of our hospital, which includes our treatment room, hospitalization area, isolation wards, boarding area, and dental suite. With all the advances in technology in the area of dentistry and anesthetic patient monitoring, as well as our desire to make the area quieter and more calming for our hospitalized patients, a remodel is appropriate. Additionally, in our continued efforts to go green, we will also be working to make our examination rooms electronically ready for paperles medical records. Let the construction begin!
Congratulations to Dr. Currigan and her new role with the AAFP
After 25 years as an active member of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), http://www.catvets.com/ Dr. Currigan is pleased to be joining the Board of Directors of AAFP. She is very honored to be serving in this capacity. AAFP improves the health and welfare of cats by supporting high standards of veterinary practice, feline continuing education, and scientific investigation in the area of feline medicine and surgery.
Dr. Currigan also remains an active Board member of Tree House Humane Society in Chicago (currently Board Chair). She is also involved with the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association as a member of the Nominations and Awards Committee.
Periodontal Therapy (Oral Surgery) and Dental Radiography Continuing Education
Cat Hospital of Chicago Veterinarians and technical support staff members were fortunate to have had many hours of continuing education and training on oral surgery and dental radiography techniques and interpretation over the past few years from Cindy Charlier, Fox Valley Veterinary Dentistry and Surgery. Dr. Charlier is a veterinary dentist boarded by the American College of Veterinary Dentistry (one of only about 100 in the United States). She assisted us in getting our digital dental radiograph system set up and running. She also worked with our veterinarians in perfecting our surgical extraction techniques, as well as helping our technical staff to enhance patient positioning for faster and better quality dental images. As we embark on a remodeling of our treatment room and dental suite areas, she will be consulting with us to assure that our dental area is as feline friendly and efficient as possible. We thank Dr. Charlier, as do our patients!
Clinical Trials
Cat Hospital of Chicago continues to periodically be involved in various clinical trials – with and for our patients. Historically, cats have been ‘second class citizens’ when it comes to drug development and approval. Clinical trials are one way in which we can be at the cutting edge of feline medicine and drug development, as well as to stay actively involved and play a part in which drugs, diagnostic tests, etc. come to play a role in feline/veterinary medicine in the future.
Click here to read about a trial that is currently underway.
Going…Going…Cat Hospital of Chicago Has Gone Green!
Thanks to the efforts of a few particularly green-conscious staff members, Cat Hospital of Chicago is doing a great deal of recycling and contributing to the health of our environment.
We have always had separate bins for the recycling of paper and plastics #1 and plastics #2. We have also always recycled our old batteries as well (batteries used to run anesthetic monitoring equipment, our microchip scanner, our ophthalmoscope/otoscopes, scales on which we weigh our patients, etc.). Additionally, we are not new to recycling our used print cartridges. We aggressively recycle canned cat food cans and baby food jars. (We often feed baby food to some of our sick in-hospital cats, especially if they will not eat, or cannot tolerate, regular cat food due to gastrointestinal upset, etc.).
Over the past several years, we now also actively recycle #3, #4, #5, and #7 plastics. Some of our hospital items that fall into these categories include syringe cases, empty intravenous fluid bags, empty pill vials, our vaccine trays, paper towel wrappers, etc. Although these items need to be transported to targeted recycling facilities in the Chicagoland area for appropriate recycling, we are fortunate to have a staff member (thank you, again, Mara!) who is willing to do this for us and for our environment.
For anyone in the Chicago area interested in recycling information, please visit www.chicagorecycling.org.
Ask Us About Our New Spay and Neuter Pricing
Recognizing that these are difficult economic times for everyone, while at the same time being very strong proponents of spaying and neutering of pets to help control growing overpopulation issues, we have recently adjusted our spay and neuter pricing. Our hope is that our lower prices, without changing our standard or quality of care in any way, will make it economically easier for those who want to use our services for these types of major surgeries.
Because we so strongly believe in aggressive pain management for our patients, surgical or otherwise, we are now including the costs of in-hospital pain management as part of the surgical fee – a significant savings!
See our library article on Elective Surgery Info for Consumers for additional information regarding elective surgery in pets.
Meet Bella, Our Resident Hospital Cat
Bella had previously been living with one of our Veterinary Assistants, but was constantly being tormented by other cats in the home. Her stress levels have decreased considerably since becoming a resident at Cat Hospital of Chicago. She has taken over the doctor’s office. She loves to sit and look out the window, jump high atop bookcases, etc. She has also become a frequent “meeter and greeter” at the front desk. She spends time as well assisting Ruta managing inventory.
She is always willing (well, maybe not always) to provide services, such as pilling demonstrations, insulin injection demonstrations, and kitty inhaler demonstrations, in exchange for room, board and TLC. Bella is a hard worker (in her opinion), and she is paid well for all she does for us!
