Our Blog
Bird Flu in Pets: Causes and Symptoms to Watch For
Bird Flu in Pets: Causes and Symptoms to Watch For Bird flu, also known as avian influenza (H5N1), is often associated with outbreaks in poultry, but did you know it can also affect household pets? While bird flu primarily impacts birds, dogs and cats can contract the virus by consuming raw or unprocessed poultry, milk,…
Is Your Pet a Tick Magnet? Here’s What to Do if You Find One!
While cicada coverage has dominated the news this year, another insect has been causing a lot more issues for our dogs and cats. We’ve seen a surge in tick cases lately, with many pets needing tick removal. Don’t worry, this is not an emergency and most pet owners can handle tick removal at home –…
Counselor’s Corner: Calmness Through Breath
By John Mysz, LCSW VSW, CCFP 5 patients coding, 4 dogs barking, 3 impossible veins, 2 owners yelling, and one angry cat. The hardest shift in your career? Not likely. Stressful? Absolutely. You can feel the stress building, maybe get a headache or feel your body tense up. Maybe you notice you’re holding your breath randomly…
Counselor’s Corner: Traumatic Grief
By John Mysz, LCSW – We’ve all heard about the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But what happens when we never quite get to true acceptance? What if we don’t integrate the loss and continue moving forward? In my clinical experience, I’ve seen many people who experience a difficult or traumatic…
Dealing with Community Trauma
By John Mysz, LCSW – Every week or more in this country, we hear about a new, terribly traumatic mass shooting that shakes a community and onlookers to their core. Uvalde, Buffalo, and now Highland Park. It can feel as if these events are slowly, or very quickly, getting closer to home if they haven’t hit…
Counselor’s Corner: Perfectionism
By John Mysz, LCSW – “I’m a horrible veterinarian/tech” – “There’s no reason I should have missed that” “How could I have forgotten to do that?” Do any of those phrases sound familiar to you? They likely do considering you’re in veterinary medicine and numerous studies indicate that those in this field tend to score high…
Counselor’s Corner: Comforting Grieving Owners
By John Mysz, LCSW – While this may not be the primary job description for everyone in veterinary medicine, it is absolutely an essential part of the job that many of you will run into at some point. I understand it’s a very uncomfortable experience for many and wanted to share some suggestions/guidelines for you…
Counselor’s Corner: Self Care through Acts of Kindness
John Mysz, LCSW – When we think of self-care, we often think of the nice extra things people on TV often tell us to do like take days off, take bubble baths, go on a nice vacation, or get a massage. While these are great, they are more than often not feasible to do with…
Counselor’s Corner: Mindfulness
By John Mysz, LCSW – Being overwhelmed at work as a healthcare professional almost seems like it should be in the job description at this point. The common sentiment of “overworked and underpaid” often rings true for many of us throughout our careers. Unfortunately, COVID 19 has only made this more salient. We find ourselves…
Counselor’s Corner: You Are What You Eat
By John Mysz, LCSW – Well not really. But the food you consume has an incredible relationship to your health. We all know the importance of a good diet for physical health. All of our doctors have talked to us about food choices and blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat percentage, and even life expectancy. What…
Counselor’s Corner: Exercise and Your Mental Health
By John Mysz, LCSW – Hey everyone! I’ve decided to keep up the old “Counselor’s Corner” blog that Becky Murray, CVT, M.A., LCPC, started a year or so ago. If you’re wondering, though, I am not a clinical counselor like Becky, but a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I will be doing my best to write…
Kiara’s Story: Shedd Aquarium Turns to VSC to Provide Sea Otter with Lymphoma Treatment
For many years, Veterinary Specialty Center has collaborated closely with the Shedd Aquarium providing surgery and specialty care for some of their animals. Recently, Dr. Rhonda Feinmehl and her team worked with them to create a special protocol, provide treatment and direct the care for Kiara the sea otter who was diagnosed with lymphoma. Her…
Diabetes in Dogs
Mimi Noonan, DVM, DACVIM Diabetes is a common hormonal problem of dogs and occurs when there is either a deficiency of insulin or cellular resistance to its effects. Dogs with diabetes most commonly come to the veterinarian because they are losing weight, drinking excessive amounts of water and urinating more frequently, sometimes breaking housetraining. Just…
What’s With the Cat’s Big Kidneys
Jerry A. Thornhill, DVM, DACVIM There is an assumed differential diagnostic dilemma of Renomegaly (big kidneys) in cats, encountered by veterinarians in private practice, ER facilities, specialty clinics, and veterinary school teaching hospital settings. The standard thought process separates the anatomically enlarged Renal Structure(s) – noted on abdominal palpation, and confirmed by Abdominal Radiograph application…
Diet-Associated Heart Disease
Trevor Gerlach, DVM, DACVIM (Cardiology) Diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) was first described in cats in the 1980s. The development of DCM in those feline patients was linked to a dietary deficiency of the amino acid, taurine. Unlike dogs, cats are unable to synthesize taurine from their diet making it an essential amino acid for cats.…
Under Pressure: A review of pulmonary hypertension
Trevor Gerlach, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM (Cardiology) The pulmonary vasculature is a low-pressure, low-resistance system that is responsible for gas exchange, acid-base regulation, and synthesis, activation, and degradation of enzymes/hormones. Blood flow through this system is determine by the pressure gradient and the resistance. Flow and resistance are inversely related, and the most influential variable in…
The Incidental Cushingoid Dog: to Treat or Not to Treat
Robert Armentano DVM, DACVIM Hyperadrenocorticism (HAC), or Cushings disease, is a very common hormone disorder in dogs and with proactive, routine testing is often diagnosed as an incidental finding. Pets with active clinical signs require testing and treatment but pets with subtle or no overt signs of HAC can be much more challenging. Due to…
Diabetes in Cats
Mimi Noonan, DVM, DACVIM Diabetes is a common hormonal problem of cats and occurs when there is either a deficiency of insulin or cellular resistance to its effects. Cats with diabetes most commonly come to the veterinarian because they are losing weight, drinking excessive amounts of water and urinating more frequently. Just like with humans,…
Managing the Opioid Crisis through Opioid-Free Anesthetic Techniques
Katie Bennett, DVM, DACVAA The opioid crisis of 2017 is not far from our minds as our world again faces challenges in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This makes opioid-free anesthetic techniques even more relevant, as opioids may become more difficult to keep in stock in many veterinary hospitals as they become widely used…
Why does Fido’s breath smell so bad?
Carolynne Kruckman-Gatesy, DVM, MS, DACVR (Radiation Oncology) In these uncertain times of viral infectious disease (I’m talking about you, COVID-19), one thing that doesn’t stop moving is cancer. Oral tumors in pets can be hard to diagnose, because – while Fluffy may love to sneak in those French kisses or pant right in your face…
Gasping for Air: Oxygen Therapy Treatments Available in Veterinary Medicine
By Brooke Davis, BS, CVT, LVT, VTS (ECC) We are hearing a lot about the worldwide need for ventilators lately because so many people are having trouble breathing on their own due to COVID-19. Mechanical ventilation is needed with respiratory failure or when a disease process is affecting the lungs so badly that you are…
Lilies and Cats
Mimi Noonan, DVM, DACVIM – Springtime holiday flowers and gift bouquets spark anxiety for veterinarians, particularly those who love cats. The lovely tradition of sending lilies around this time of year dramatically increases the chances that we will see cats with kidney failure. Lilies (all kinds) are toxic to cats: tragically toxic. If a cat ingests…
Shelter Animal Surgical Service
Veterinary Specialty Center has launched a new service aimed at expanding educational opportunities for veterinarians in training while providing much needed surgical services for shelter animals. The Shelter Animal Surgical Service (SASS) provides VSC’s rotating and surgical interns and surgical resident with supervised clinical experience managing the types of surgical cases they would see in…
Veterinary Specialty Center Receives Certification as Level 1 Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Facility
Veterinary Specialty Center (VSC) has been certified as a Level I veterinary emergency and critical care facility by the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society. VSC is the first private practice in Illinois to receive this certification. The Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society (VECCS) offers a certification program to veterinary facilities that provide emergency…
Veterinary Specialty Center Honored as One of Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces 2016
Seventh-Annual Special Edition and Awards Ceremony Celebrate Chicago’s Leading Companies Veterinary Specialty Center (VSC) has been recognized as one of the area’s most dynamic and supportive local businesses by the Chicago Tribune in its special “Top Workplaces 2016” issue. The Friday, Nov. 11 special edition of the newspaper identified the Chicago companies chosen for recognition…
What Happens When Your Pet is a Patient at VSC
Our patients come into Veterinary Specialty Center for many different reasons. Whether your pet starts his or her journey through our emergency room or one of our specialists, a wide variety of staff members will be involved in your pet’s care. This video follows the journey of Califaux, an oncology patient, and Carli, a surgical…
Pets and Pot: When Legalized Marijuana Puts Your Pet at Risk
Curiosity and the cat have always gone hand in hand. However, when the cat decides to taste test some new treats in the house, it could have very bad consequences especially if that treat includes something toxic. Many people are aware of the dangers of chocolate, various nuts, grapes, raisins, and other foods…but did you…
From Acute Kidney Failure to Champion: Chicago Dog Returns to Nationals after Receiving Dialysis
A Chicago dog that competes in the Elite Division of the National Association of Canine Scent Work is back on the field thanks to life-saving hemodialysis treatments at Veterinary Specialty Center (VSC) in Buffalo Grove. Greta became ill in November after a competition and arrived at VSC in critical condition in acute kidney failure due to…
5 Easter Dangers for Pets
It is the Easter season and a big time for family celebrations. It’s also a busy time in veterinary emergency rooms. Chocolate, Easter Lilies, and certain foods are extremely toxic for our pets and there are other temptations that aren’t toxic but can cause obstructions that may require surgery. Here are the top five Easter…
Protect Your Pet from Top Pet Poisons
Protect Your Pet from Top Pet Poisons If you have a pet in the family, you have most likely taken steps to keep your pet safe from certain dangers. Unfortunately, there are a lot of common items in our homes that are toxic to pets and may make your dog or cat sick or possibly…
The Children’s Heart Foundation (CHF) –
By Megan Foley, DVNm CHPV, Emergency and Critical Care Department – Our journey with congenital heart defects began when I was a senior in veterinary school and 16 weeks pregnant. A routine test detected a possible abnormality, so an ultrasound was performed. After much staring at the screen and then having the maternal-fetal medicine specialist come…
Eight Holiday Pet Safety Tips
The holiday season is a time of celebration and lots of activity. If you have a pet in the house, the extra activity, decorations and added temptations could result in an injury and a trip to your veterinarian. Here are eight holiday pet safety tips. Take extra steps when decorating. Anchoring the tree, securing light…
What Veterinarians Should Know About Coyote Attacks
Note: We first published this information in November of 2015. As we continue to see more coyote attack victims in our emergency room, it is more important than ever to share this information. By Jennifer Herring, DVM, MS, DACVECC – Urban coyote attacks are a growing concern in the Chicago area. Small breed attacks are generally…
Coyote Attacks on the Rise: Protect Your Pet from Coyotes
Note: We first published this information in November of 2015. As we continue to see more coyote attack victims in our emergency room, it is more important than ever to share this information. In the past month, Veterinary Specialty Center (VSC) has seen four dogs through our emergency department for treatment after being attacked by…
Fourth of July Pet Safety Tips
Fourth of July is a fun summer holiday for most families with parades, cookouts and fireworks on their agenda. Unfortunately, the noise, crowds and change of routine make it a difficult day for many pets. If you plan in advance, these Fourth of July pet safety tips can make the day less stressful for your…