News

  September 28th, 2011 has been designated World Rabies Day.  Rabies is a world-wide problem causing thousands of human deaths every year—mostly in developing countries from the exposure to rabid dogs.   Rabies is also reported in every state except Hawaii.   Nearly 6,700 U.S. cases  were reported in 2009 primarily in wildlife, but included 4 cases in humans, 81 cases in dogs, and 300 in cats.   Getting your pet vaccinated is a great way to protect them (and yourself) from this fatal disease, and vaccination is legally required in most states.   A survey of our records at Palmer Animal Hospital show that 40% of dogs and 60% of cats are not up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations.  Is your pet at risk?   Feel free to give us a call today so we can check your pet’s vaccination status.

  It is hard to believe that August is almost over.  The kids are back at school, the worst of the summer heat is behind us, and Labor Day is next weekend!    Our schedule for Labor Weekend is as follows:  

     —Friday, Sept 2nd:   regular hours 8AM-5PM

     —Sat, Sept 3rd:           regular hours 8AM-Noon

     —-Monday, Sept 5th:  CLOSED

     —-Tuesday, Sept 6th:  regular hours 8AM-8PM

     If you have an emergency over the weekend that cannot wait, there are three emergency clinics nearby to serve your needs:  Frederick Emergency Animal Hospital–301-662-6622;  Crossroads Animal Referral & Emergency (CARE)–301-662-2273; and Mountain View Emergency (Hagerstown)–301-733-7339.   If you need to leave our staff a message, that can be done on our phone systems or at our office email at:  info@palmeranimalhospital.net.

  Last week a couple of our clients reported to us that our website was down for a few days (due to “expired” domain name) and were worried that something bad had happened to our business.  We greatly appreciate the support and concern of our clients, and we are very happy to report that in fact we are very much open for business and thriving.    We even survived the earthquake and hurricane of the past week without a so much as a scratch.  It seems the website problem was glitch or possible hacking of the automated system our website host uses to renew our domain name license.   The problem has been taken care of and the website is back up as  you can see.   Thanks to all for their  prompt reporting of this problem to us so we could rectify it quickly.

   This post may be very mundane to many of you, but we have upgraded our phone system at Palmer Animal Hospital.   Our previous system was basic office phones, and while they provided adequate service, we would actually get complaints about their function.   So now we have installed an NEC DSX system that will allow us to better serve our clients.    This system is amazing and will do more than we will ever need.   Please let us know what you think of the new system and let us know what features we should continue to add.

    In a related note, when the next phone book comes out, you will notice that we will no longer have a block ad in the Yellow Pages—only a line listing.   We came to this decision after our phone number change back in March (thereby making the ad obsolete) and we saw no decrease in our phone traffic.   We will also not be continuing our Yellow Pages Online listing as we found it obsurd that if you typed in “Veterinarian Myersville” we came up 20th on the list.  Please rest assured that it will still be very easy to find and contact us.  In addition to our new website and phone number, you can also reach us by email at info@palmeranimalhospital.net .

  The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported the diagnosis of rabies in a dog from Frederick County on March 8, 2011.   This was the first rabid dog in Frederick County since 2008.     So far this year there have been 8 cases of rabies in the county.  Most cases occurr in wildlife such as racoons, but usually there are a few cats as well and occassionally a dog.    Two people were bitten by the rabid dog and are undergoing post-exposure prophylaxis treatment.  The livestock on the farm that were exposed to the rabid dog are under quarantine for 6 months.

     It is very important to make sure your pets stays up-to-date on it’s rabies vaccination.   Frederick County ususally has the most cases of any county in Maryland, and Maryland reports 200-400 cases every year.    Prevention is the key as once an animal develops signs of the disease, there is no treatment.   There are also significant legal implications if an unvaccinated animals bites someone.    Rabies vaccinations in adult dogs are usually good for 3 years.   In cats we are currently using a 1-year vaccine, although 3 -year vaccinations are available.   If you are unsure of your pet’s status, feel free to contact our office so we can check our records.

 As many of you have (hopefully) read in our recent newsletter, this month marks the 20th anniversary for Palmer Animal Hospital.  From our humble beginnings renting  an old High’s store in Myersville with just Dr. Palmer and Susan as the employees,  we now have two full-time and two part-time doctors, multiple support staff, and have seen over 18,000 of your pets over the years.   We hope we have provided good service and care as much as we have enjoyed doing so.   We are blessed to have such great clients and we see our business grow every year, which is saying alot in this economy.  Hopefully we will be around for many more years to come.