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.

    After all of these years in our new building, we have changed our phone number.  We had kept our old (Myersville) number as a convenience, but were paying for it as a “foreign exchange number” and that cost has been increasing every year.  So now we will have a “Local” number and hopefully one easy for everyone to remember.

  OUR NEW NUMBER IS   :   301-371-3333 

Georgette -- Christmas 1992

    It is with great sadness that we report the loss of our Morgan mare and long-time pet, “Georgette”.   She was part of our family for 18 years and grew up with our children.   We traveled to East Lyme, CT in 1992 and brought her home as our first horse.  Georgette was one of those special horses that was sweet and gentle and gave us much enjoyment through the years.    She is survived by her 12-year-old daughter, Celeste, who misses her as much as we do.    Attached is a Christmas Card photo of Georgette and two of our children from 20 years ago.

  We are very happy to report that Palmer Animal Hospital has upgraded to a Fuji digital X-ray system.  Much like in photography, film is becoming obsolite in Radiography.   Digital systems have many advantages over film.   Digital images can be optimized by the computer so that there are very few retakes due to technique (only for positioning)  thereby reducing exposure to X-rays for both patients and staff.   Storage and filing are also much less of a problem as our Radiography computer can store nearly 100,000 images—more than we’ll ever take in our lifetime!  Images can be transmitted electronically when needed for referrals, and can easily be copied onto CDs.  Digital Radiography is also more environmentally friendly because there are no more developing chemicals and no concerns about the disposal of the old films which contain silver.   We look forward to serving your pet better with our new Fuji system.

Dr. Palmer’s note:  I apoligize for the emergency hospital info not showing up under the “About” menu.  Here is the information until we get the page to show up:

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 We are very fortunate now to have three emergency clinics servicing our area.  If you have an emergency with your pet that cannot wait, please contact one of the below emergency clinics and they will be able to help you:

    Frederick Emergency Animal Hospital    — 434 Prospect Bldv, Frederick                            301-662-6622

    Crossroads Animal Referral and Emergency (CARE) —1080 W. Patrcik St, Frederick     301-662-2273 (CARE)

   Mountain View Animal Emergency  —- 18501A Maugans Ave, Hagerstown                         301-733-7339

          Examples of emergencies that should not wait:

                    —Trauma cases— hit by car, fight wounds, falls/broken legs,  eye trauma/painful eyes, hemorrhage/bleeding

                    —Persistant Vomiting or Diarrhea, especially if your pet appears weak or distressed

                     —Difficulty Breathing, Severe/persistant coughing

                      —Male cats or dogs straining but unable to urinate

                      —Toxin ingestion —  rat poison, antifreeze, grapes/raisins, human medications

                      —Seizures, sudden behavior changes, inability to walk

                      —If you are unsure if your pet should be seen, please call one of the above emergency clinics

      Our holiday schedule will be:

     Friday, December 24th             8AM-12Noon      Appointments only; no surgery/procedures

     Saturday, December 25th        CLOSED                 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

     Friday,  December 31st              8AM-5PM            Regular Friday Hours/Schedule

     Saturday,  January 1st               CLOSED                  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

      If you have an emergency over the holidays, please call one of our local emergency clinics (see under “About”)

     The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants to warn consumers about the possible dangers of buying medicines over the Internet.  Some websites sell prescription and over-the-counter drugs that may not be safe to use and could put people’s health at risk.   At PAH, we are continually seeing increased use of online pharmacies by our clients and we ask them to use diligence in buying online:

     –always check that the online pharmacy is properly licensed

      —be sure you are getting the correct dose of the correct medication, that it is a product approved for use in the USA, and that it is not expired.

        —watch for substitutions of products that are not the same or not approved for use in the US

        —you don’t always save money online–be sure to compare prices and promotions.

         —and keep in mind that most product manufacturers will not honor their guarantee when their products are bought through “diverted” businesses

      For more information, check out this article:  http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048396.htm

   The first veterinary medical college opened in Lyons, France in 1761 making next year the 250th anniversary of the veterinary profession.   Bills have been introduced in the  House and Senate to designate 2011 as “World Veterinary Year”.    Internationally multiple events have been planned from France to South Africa.  For more information see http://www.vet2011.org/

We have a beautiful litter of 8 puppies that were born August 28, 2010. Patty was bred to CH Personality Wild at Heart (“Tennessee”). The puppies will be available after Nov 1st. Please check our site for updated photos.

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