Crossroads Veterinary Clinic

An Announcement

Dr Wood — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:16:53 +0000

It is with regret that we will be wishing Dr. Salvatore good luck and goodbye in about six weeks. His wife has been attending veterinary school at Cornell University and she graduates in May. After graduation, they will both be headed to Connecticut to settle down permanently where they have family ties. We will miss Dr. Salvatore's quick mind, his compassion and his good sense of humor!

We are looking forward to welcoming a new doctor, Dr. Rose Alaimo, to our staff starting in July. We have carefully selected her from a large pool of applicants and find her to be very intelligent and caring. Dr. Miller and I think you will all like her very much! I will post a message to introduce Dr. Alaimo soon.

For the month of June (a total of six weeks), Dr. Miller and I will be working hard to cover the schedule with just the two of us. Please bear with us during this busy time and have patience with us as we get established in our new routines.

If you have questions, feel free to email info@crossroadsvetcortland.com or call us at 607-756-4240.

Thanks,

Dr. Wood

Our Holiday Hours

Dr Wood — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:16:19 +0000

Happy Holidays to all! Here are our holiday hours:

Dec. 24th, Christmas Eve: open 8-12 for emergencies. Please call first.

Dec. 26th: closed in observance of Christmas.

Dec. 31st, New Year's Eve: open 8-12 for emergencies, call first.

Jan. 2nd: closed in observance of New Year's Day.

New Pet Portals!

Dr Wood — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:29:05 +0000

We're delighted to announce that we now have the capability of allowing you to access your pet's health information online via a Pet Portal. If you look above, to the left, there is a button there that says "Pet Portal Login." If you click on that, you can request a new Pet Portal account. The Pet Portal will allow you to keep track of what your pet is due or overdue for, what vaccines he or she has been given and any meds that he or she is on. You can also request medication refills, appointments or boarding reservations. Dr. Wood's Pet Portal for her pets is in the photo above. Brother Cat is overdue for his annual, and the Portal has brought this to her attention!

You can also send us emails through the site and upload photos of your pets. You can opt in for email reminders for vaccines and annual visits, and you can also opt-in for text message reminders. There are some other good benefits to using the system, as well, like setting up medication reminders for yourself through the system so you don't forget Maggie's monthly heartworm pill.

Best of all, all of this is absolutely free to you. We added this service because we wanted to increase your ability to communicate with us electronically, and we hope that you enjoy it! If you have questions or concerns, you can feel free to email us through the system or at info@crossroadsvetcortland.com, or call the office.

New Signs!

Dr Wood — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:23:26 +0000

We have new signs! The old sign on Rt. 281 was hit by a snowplow at the end of last winter and was badly and hopelessly damaged. We had our new logo made into a fresh, bright new sign. We're very happy with the outcome! Come down to see the new signs!

Microchipping

Dr Wood — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:24:49 +0000

So what is microchipping, anyway? You may have heard about it as a method of permanent identification for your pet. We do have it available and it's fairly cost-effective. The cost is currently $43 to implant the chip and we handle registration of the chip for you. In a year, the microchip company will contact you and ask you either to pay a yearly database maintenance fee of about $15 or a lifetime fee of about $39.

A microchip is a small chip placed under the skin on your pet's back, between the shoulder blades. It can be done when the pet is awake and most don't object to it. We prefer to do it when they're asleep for their spay or neuter surgery, as they are more still and it's not at all painful at that time. The chip contains a unique number that can be read by a scanner. The local shelters and vet practices have the scanners and scan all lost pets. If your dog or cat is lost without his or her collar and ends up at a vet or shelter, they can scan your pet for a chip. We then call a telephone number and read them the chip number and they can tell us who the chip is registered to. Some chip companies call you directly and others will give your phone number to the person who has found your pet. This depends on what type of permission you gave to the company when the chip was registered.

You may be wondering if there any side effects or risks to this procedure. The chips occasionally migrate under the loose skin of dogs and cats so they are not centrally located any longer, but when scanning, we scan the whole dog or cat to look for chips, as we are aware of this problem. There have been a few reports of cancers with microchips in them, but it is unclear as to whether the cancers grew AROUND the microchips or whether the chips may have caused an abnormal inflammatory response which resulted in a cancer. In any case, the risk of a tumor at the site of microchipping is very small. Many thousands of animals are microchipped each year and only a few cases of tumors have been reported. The risk of a pet being lost and not reunited with his or her owner is higher than the risk of a tumor at the site of microchipping.

We have had a few cases at Crossroads of loose pets being brought in that were microchipped. Within a half an hour, even with no collar on the pet, we were able to reunite the dogs with their owners!

Pet Dental Health Month

Dr Wood — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:22:40 +0000

February is National Pet Dental Health Month. If your pet hasn't had his or her teeth checked lately, or you notice bad breath, dropping food, loose teeth, bleeding gums or chewing only on one side of the mouth, please call us to schedule a check-up. What can you do at home to help? Tooth brushing is best, and the AVMA offers a video to help you learn how to teach your pet to allow tooth brushing. Click HERE to access the video.

If your cat or dog will not allow tooth brushing, you can also offer dental chews. We recently learned about Veggie Dent chews as a method to decrease plaque in dogs. Dr. Wood's dog loves them! He gets one daily or every other day and the chewing action dislodges buildup from his teeth.

Many cats suffer silently from dental disease. 70% of cats have at least some dental disease by age two! Cats get a particular condition known as tooth resorption which is very painful and requires tooth extraction to relieve the pain and prevent dental infections. Cats are masters at hiding pain and often you will not see any signs of this condition.

Be sure to call us if you have questions about your dog or cat's dental health. We'd love to help.

Holiday Drive to Benefit Cortland Community SPCA

Dr Wood — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:36:57 +0000

Crossroads is collecting donations to benefit the Cortland Community SPCA. We have printed wishlists at the office that you can pick up (under the Christmas tree in the front) and if you deliver donations to Crossroads we will bring them over the shelter before Christmas. Alternatively, you can bring them directly to the shelter. Any monetary donations will be matched by Crossroads up to a value of $1000. Please stop by and remember Cortland's homeless pets this holiday season!

Here is the list of items that the shelter needs. Items in bold are needed most.

Animal Needs:

Canned food for puppies, kittens, dogs and cats

Cat litter

Dog and cat toys

Peanut butter

Blankets

Towels

Wash cloths

Odds and Ends

Bleach

Paper towels

Hand sanitizer

Toilet paper

Laundry detergent

Dish soap

String mop heads

Office Supplies

Black Sharpie markers

Copy paper

Black and blue pens

Cookie has been hired as the newest clinic cat

Dr Wood — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:43:21 +0000

After applying for the position of third clinic cat, we would like to announce that Cookie has been officially hired for the position. Her skills include being extremely cute, purring lots, being nice to visitors, playing with Simon so much that she wears him out and he can't get into trouble, and cuddling with Jake. Lobbying on her behalf from the staff played a role in her hiring, as well as threats of staff mutiny if she was not hired on. (Everyone loves her!) So you should be seeing her around, getting into things and making Shannon and the other receptionists crazy by getting into mischief! She also brings some spots of pretty color into our white cat dominated office!

New Article on Problem Scratching

Dr Wood — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:56:16 +0000

Our Simon Cat has helped to demonstrate what to do if your cat is scratching up your furniture. See the article I wrote to help you decrease problem scratching.

Problem Scratching in Cats

Cookie needs a home

Dr Wood — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:35:54 +0000

Hi. My name is Cookie and I'm about 10-12 weeks old. I was left in a nice lady's garage, and she noticed that my leg wasn't working right and brought me to Crossroads to get checked out. They took some x-rays and found out that nothing was broken, but the nerve to my back right leg didn't work right. I decided to stay at Crossroads for a while to see how my leg would do. The doctors thought they might need to amputate it, but I have defied all the odds and I'm using that leg and it's getting better every day! I can even run around and play on it now and it's mostly back to normal. I'm cute and sweet and I purr a lot. I like to be taken out of my cage and get carried around by Dr. Wood and Beth and I like to get down on the floor and tear up and down the hallway with Simon's toys. I'm afraid of Simon because he thinks I'm a toy! I puff up and swat at him and for some reason everyone laughs and he doesn't look very worried. Jake thinks I'm OK and doesn't treat me like a toy!

Anyway, I need to get out of this vet clinic and go home to a proper house with comfy windowsills. I want to live inside for my whole life, although leash-walking would be OK. Dr. Wood said she will spay me when I'm big enough and I've already been leukemia tested (negative, of course!) and I have had my first vaccination and my first deworming. Do you know of a family for me? If you do, please stop by and ask to see me!