Desert Cross Veterinary Hospital

10/22/2026

It is veterinary technician week and we here at Desert Cross Veterinary Hospital have the absolute best veterinary technicians there are.

Without these hard working people we could not take care of the animals that we need to. Our technicians give up so much in order to help the animals that come to us for care. There is not a day that goes by that they are not pushed to their limits and they still keep showing up.

As a thank you we had Bad Mom Energy come yesterday for drinks and then JD's Too came at lunch and made us amazing food on location for lunch. If you are want to do a nice appreciation gift for your staff I highly recommend either of these services to come to your location and pamper your staff. The drinks were awesome and the food was amazing!

10/13/2026

We have a confirmed case of west nile in a horse and we are continuing to get rain and we are still warm enough for the flies and mosquitoes to be out. Just last night I was bite by a mosquito.

The confirmed horse was a yearling horse that had been vaccinated as a foal. From the onset of disease until she was euthanized for significant progression of disease was less than 24 hours.

If your horses have not been vaccinated recently for WNV now is the time to do it. You may schedule for an exam and vaccination or just come down to the clinic and pick them up and administer them yourself. Who gives it is not nearly as important as your horse just getting the vaccine.

10/10/2026

A funny for the day

09/29/2026

Good morning clients and friends. We had a client reach out to us recently after receiving this message on their phone asking if this company was indeed partnered with us. They are NOT. We do NOT partner with ANY other company in regard to any aspect of your pets health.

The complete message is-

"Koala Health: Hi there! Your vet sent us.

Your veterinary clinic partners with Koala Health (that's us!) to help manage your pet's prescriptions. Think of us as an extension of your veterinary team.

We'll keep you in the loop with refill reminders, pharmacy updates, helpful tips and exclusive offers."

If you want such a service, it is fine to use them but they are NOT sent by us nor associated with Desert Cross Veterinary Hospital.

09/15/2026

09/11/2026

This is a false vaccination and heath record. It was fabricated by someone trying to falsify information and make it appear like they did their due diligence to have a puppy vetted and vaccinated. THEY DID NOT!

Do not do this. The person who bought this puppy forwarded this to us asking if it was done by us and it was not and we did not even see this puppy nor is that Dr Chapmans signature. If you cannot afford to take your puppy that you bred and made to the vet for an actual health exam and certificate, you should not be breeding them or selling them. This is illegal and not only that it is just wrong to lie to people and to make us a part of it.

What makes this worse is that I have known the family of the person who did this for decades. You not only ruin things for yourself but you ruin your family's reputation as well.

Breeding and selling puppies is not cheap and it is going to cost you to do it right. If you are unwilling to pay for what it takes to do it right, do not do it at all. This will be being turned into the veterinary board for them to pursue and I am very very disheartened by all of this.

09/09/2026

Splenic masses in dogs

Splenic masses are relatively common, particularly in older, large-breed dogs, and they range from benign lesions to highly aggressive malignancies. Importantly, ultrasound appearance alone cannot reliably distinguish benign from malignant masses.

The major differentials are:

Benign Hematoma, nodular hyperplasia, hemangioma Common; may be incidental or cause rupture/hemorrhage

Malignant Hemangiosarcoma (HSA), histiocytic sarcoma, lymphoma, leiomyosarcoma Variable prognosis; HSA is the major concern

Other Abscess, granuloma, infarct, metastatic disease Less common

The big concern: hemangiosarcoma

Hemangiosarcoma is the most important malignant splenic tumor to consider. It commonly occurs in older dogs and has a strong association with breeds such as German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Labradors.

What ultrasound can and cannot tell you
Ultrasound is excellent for determining:

Number and location of lesions
Whether the spleen is enlarged
Echogenicity and architecture
Evidence of abdominal hemorrhage
Liver or other organ involvement
Regional lymphadenopathy
But ultrasound cannot definitively differentiate HSA from a hematoma or other splenic lesion.

Features that increase concern include a large, heterogeneous mass, cavitation, abdominal effusion consistent with blood, multiple lesions, and evidence of metastatic disease, but none are diagnostic by themselves.

If a mass is found
A reasonable workup typically includes:

CBC/chemistry → abdominal ultrasound → thoracic imaging → coagulation assessment → surgical consultation/splenectomy when appropriate → histopathology.

If there is hemoabdomen, the decision becomes more urgent. Stabilization followed by splenectomy is often the treatment of choice when the patient is a reasonable surgical candidate.
One very useful statistic

Historically, when dogs with a splenic mass undergo splenectomy, roughly 50–70% of splenic masses may ultimately prove benign, depending on the population studied and how cases are selected. Therefore, finding a splenic mass does not equal a diagnosis of cancer.

The definitive diagnosis is histopathology, not ultrasound appearance.

If your dog has a mass on its spleen it is always worth taking out in my opinion. You have a >50% chance that it is a benign tumor and removal is curative.

Our average price for splenectomy with histopathology is $1300-$1600 depending on the size of the dog. If your dog has a splenic tumor call today to schedule surgery or consultation for your dog.

08/28/2026

Due to a rabid bobcat in the area we have been asked to do a rabies clinic in Young, Arizona. We will be there Tuesday September 1st. Details on flyer.

08/17/2026

In 2019 the rescue from the reservation, GART, brought in a dog in a kennel that had been part of a feral colony and was injured. It was a black and white, middle aged, shepherd type female that was not much more than skin and bones, well, what skin had not been burned off with some kind of acid that had been thrown on her. Her nose was burned off, skin on her head and her back was burned off. The nostrils had started to scar down so much she couldn’t breathe through her nose and she was feral and didn’t want to be touched.

We anesthetized her with injectable meds and pulled her out of the crate. We clipped the hair and removed the dead flesh and put her in a kennel in the back. We couldn’t touch her but we needed her to eat for a few days and get some antibiotics and anti inflammatories in her and just get strong enough to under go the first of what would be several surgeries required to open her nasal passages up so she could breathe.

Over the course of the next few weeks I performed three different surgeries on her nose. Removing scar tissue, trying to reconstruct the tissue so that it would constricted less. I spayed her and we treated her for tick disease. She slowly gained weight and while she still would not allow you to touch her she would look at you with a smile on her face and wag her tail. Her name because Esther Suzy.

Because she was so scared of people and wary of being touched I didn’t want to adopt her out and have her end up in a bad situation or someplace where someone only cared about her for her story and not for her. We had another reservation dog in at the same time named Joy Joy and I loved Joy Joy and decided that I would let the two of them become barn dogs. They could live in the barn at night and then be out during the day and it would give them a sense of freedom but still have attention and love as much as they wanted from humans.

Joy Joy decided that she needed to climb up on the counter and knock over and eat the container of fly bait. It was a seriously bad day. Esther Suzy must have thought that there was a demon in the barn because as soon as I opened the door she ran out and ran back to the clinic and laid down amongst my dogs by the back door. That night when I went to leave and was trying to decide what to do with Esther Suzy she got up and followed my dogs outside and over to my house and there she decided to stay.

Esther was the best dog. She required zero effort or attention. She lived in the house for probably 4 years before she decided that she wouldn’t dart away every time you tried to pet her. As long as she could eat and lay on the couch, she was very happy. Her whole face would light up when the treats were brought out and I never had to worry about her messing in the house. She did despise the fly zapper and summers would find her mostly staying in my bedroom going outside only to eat and go to the bathroom.

Her muzzle with her no nose started to grey. I had no idea how old she was but I knew that she was getting closer to the end as she was choosing some days not to get off her bed in the bedroom but rather preferred that I bring her treat to her. Two weeks ago Qbert was whining and kept pacing back and forth and putting his big ol mug on my bed next to my head and breathing loudly. After I got up he went to the bedroom door and whined and acted all nervous. I asked him why a 165 # Boerboel was afraid of ol Esther Suzy lying in front of the door. I walked out the door and bent down as I asked Esther why she wouldn’t let Q out and Esther had chosen to leave this earth on her own terms. I smiled as I thanked her for not making me have to make the decision and doing it on her own.

Sometimes it is the dogs that we never expect, let’s be honest and say we never would have chosen or maybe didn’t want, that turn out to be the very best dogs ever! That was Esther Suzy. The burned and scarred dog that loved life and was just happy to be fed and to have a dog bed or couch to sleep on. I miss her big ol eyes and her smile but I hope that she is having a great day chasing all the cats on the other side of the rainbow bridge away from pain and fear.

If you are looking for your next best dog, we have a dozen dogs from the reservation that need homes. Three of them were puppies that were found abandoned in a wash when they were probably 4 weeks old. We brought them to the clinic and got them healthy and let them grow up so we could spay and neuter them. There are two mamma dogs that were brought in by the rescue that were starving as they were trying to feed their babies. 12 babies between the two of them. They were supposed to go to the humane society but they never had any room so we spayed them and they have all their shots and need some couch to call their own. Their babies are about 2 months old and they are currently getting their vaccinations and they can find a yard of their own as well.

We would love to be able to find homes for all of our residents so that we have room to help more dogs that need some place to get well and healed and can get a chance to find their home. Nothing will love you more than a reservation dog!

08/14/2026

We all drive through the reservation on our way to Phoenix and we see the dogs on the side of the road and what we see is just a very small percentage of the dogs that need help and need veterinary care.

Desert Cross has been doing what we can to help the animals of the San Carlos Apache reservation for the past decade but we have not been able to even make a dent in the overpopulation and disease issues on the reservation.

Through our non profit and in conjunction with GART we are going to fundraise and try to work with the tribe to get property and put up a building that will have a section for animals awaiting foster and rescue, a place to store dog and cat food, and finally a small area for a surgery table and small clinic where we can go once a week and do routine spays and neuters and basic care of the animals on the reservation.

To be able to do this we need your help. We need money. We need a contractor that puts up steel buildings. We need people willing to be a part of something that is bigger than all of us. We need grants, we have a grant writer if you have knowledge of grants please send them our way.

We will be putting together a presentation to go before the tribal elders and if nothing else I would appreciate your prayers that we can put forth the effort and the energy to get this project going and help the animals of the San Carlos Apache Reservation.

In this extended Heartware Story, we return to Arizona's San Carlos...