Prairie Trails Veterinary Services

08/26/2022

Happy international dog day to this food loving hound, my Georgia 🍑!!

She may give me more than a few grey hairs with all the things she gets into (cereal, flour, kids laxatives 💩, leftovers 🥪, pretty much anything is fair game 🤪) and she never stops talking, making for some long nights.

But she truly is living her best life on the farm and I’m soo glad we get to be a part of her family 😘

08/19/2022

How amazing is this ?!?!? Let’s find these amazing pets their fur ever home🤎

Are you ready? We are!! The animals can feel the energy swirling in the air. And our team is excited to introduce you to the purr-fect new addition to your family. Our Clear the Shelter event starts on Saturday!

We have a goal of finding homes for each animal in our care. We’re reducing adoption fees so every animal in the shelter can find a loving, life-long home.

Meet all of the cats and dogs looking for their new homes at https://pvhsociety.ca/

08/09/2022

Everyday is International Cat Day for Ira so this queen doesn’t care if we are a day behind in posting👸

5 benefits to owning a cat
🐈 their sociable and adaptable
🐈‍⬛ hiss-terical entertainment 🤪
🐈 they can live a long time
🐈‍⬛ fairly low maintenance
🐈 natural born hunters 🐁🦟

If your are on the prowl to add a feline companion to your life, go check out 🖤

07/20/2022

This is a good illustration of puppy socialization needs, shared from Good as Gold Training, but I would also add that all of the listed exposure and experience needs to feel *safe* for the puppy. If s/he is nervous, tentative, or fearful the fear should be handled by backing off a little and reintroducing very slowly and with lots of praise, food and patience. Sometimes, for the sake of "socialization", owners push their puppies too far and too fast, and it can backfire. Good socialization requires that we "read" our puppies and help them feel safe as they navigate the sounds, textures, people and animals in their new world.

03/28/2022

One of the things that vets discuss is getting your pet comfortable with handling. But I want to be clear, handling paws is not the same as playing with the feet and that goes for every other area of the pets body (ears, mouth, tail, belly).

Check out this video about how to build on touch and create a positive association.

Specific to nail trims, check out Nail Maintenace for Dogs on FB. Their guides have some amazing resources that all owners should refer to.

03/11/2022

Socialization, socialization, socialization 🐾

Did you know that puppies have a critical socialisation period that only lasts until they are around four months old? Watch this video to learn what socialis...

02/28/2022

Sharing some awesome counterconditioning tips 🐕 💙

10 Tips for counterconditioning success

02/07/2022

To trim or not to trim?
If you have an indoor only cat, nails should be looked at/trimmed as needed every 2️⃣-4️⃣ weeks.

Outdoor cats, I don’t recommend trimming nails as they are involved in many important things;
🐱climbing
🐱scratching
🐱marking territory
🐱defence
🐱hunting

… however, as cats age or if they aren’t overly active, even if going outside, they may still require nail maintenance. Nails constantly grow and if their activity doesn’t wear them down or they are too arthritic to scratch posts or trees, regular trims may be needed.

Furthermore, ultra long nails can;
👉alter their posture which can be painful or exacerbate arthritis
👉make them prone to infection
👉they can lose the ability to retract their nails
👉or can become ingrown if they curl around

When they aren’t sleeping, they are on their feet so be sure to check those toe beans regularly ♥️

01/26/2022

Conversations about Mental Health are near and dear to my heart having Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I am extremely comfortable talking about my struggles, triumphs and journey but there was a time I wasn’t.

Let’s keep the conversation going to end the stigma 💙

Post in the comments who/what brings you joy

This is Stanley my mini donkey. I strongly believe everyone needs a mini donkey in their life. He gives the best snuggles when I am having hard day 🖤

01/20/2022

So I’ve dropped a perogy on the floor… and these two 🐕🐈 are both eyeing me like they have never been fed and are equally deserving of the honour of eating it.
Let’s break this down;
-1 Perogy is 51 calories

🐶 For ease, we will assume Georgia is 25kg and has an average activity level
-she needs about 1250 kcal/day (1.6RER)
- maximum treat intake should be well under 10% total calories, I like it closer to 5%. So this one perogy, only looking at calories would eat up 80% of her treat budget.

🐱Assuming Ira is 5kg (about what an average cat is… she is actually under that)
-she needs about 327 kcal/day (1.4RER) with a max treat allotment of 16 kcal (5%)
-this one perogy would then be 15% of her diet and 318% of her treat budget 🙀

Alongside calories, looking at electrolytes, fat and other concerns (dairy/fats and gi upset, onions and anemia, etc), human foods may not be appropriate for our pets. Plus if your pet is obese prone or has underlying issues like kidney disease, human foods, while appearing insignificant, could have big consequences.

So next time you drop something, ask yourself;
➡️is it safe and do they actually need it?
➡️and if you give it, what are you doing to account for those calories? 🧮

I bet your wondering who ate the perogy? …. I did, 10s rule right?! 😜

01/02/2022

Hope everyone had the best Christmas 🎄 and New Years 🥳 !

Ours was definitely much quieter this year which gave me lots of time to reflect and recharge 🥰. I am beyond humble and grateful for this little veterinary community and all those who have entrusted me with their pet’s care 🐈🐕‍🦺🐾

One of my colleagues shared a video about how she taught her dog to accept a cone. Well that was a brilliant idea 💡as it is only a matter of time before most pets will likely need to wear one. And better to teach them to be comfortable ahead of time.
20 min and a handful of catfood later - Georgia seemed quite content with the task.

It’s all about starting small and breaking down the steps (rewarding when she goes near the cone, then sniffs the top, then inserts head, then she crawled into it, then held it) being sure that each step is perfected and comfortable before moving on. It isn’t perfect but it’s a start 😁. For your pet, it might mean they have to do it slower or need a higher value reward - just go at their pace 👍

I’ll keep posting some training and cooperative care videos- let me know if there is something you are struggling with or want to see and I’ll do my best 🤞