Shawn M. Finch, DVM

Here goes…THIS is gonna be fun : )

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion on twitter

This is the picture I sketched and colored with a blue Sharpie for the @PapillionBF twitter logo. I love it #LowTech : )

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion on facebook

Su helped me work on the facebook account all afternoon.  Dave helped me finish it from Mom and Dad’s house, and since I did not have my stash of pet pix, Mom let me use this cute one of Myrtle the Turtle.

Thank you for helping me get these two projects off the ground!  It has been a fun day getting them both started and I am excited to see what develops from here!

July 27, 2010  UPDATE: Keep a watchful eye on both of those projects, but don’t expect big huge, earth-shattering announcements and exchanges yet!  Both projects are on hold for now, but I am still reachable through both accounts or at @Finch93 (on twitter) or by e-mail - finch@rileyandjames.com.  I will let you know more as soon as I know more!

Tuesday, July 20 was another day of Camp Kindness, a day camp for kids at Nebraska Humane Society.  You know I am super neurotically protective of kid pictures, and Camp Kindness is all kids everywhere…which means of course, more pictures of Fuzzy and Wuzzy!

Still, I didn’t want you to think I ONLY ever take pictures of my gorgeous rats, so I also took one of Kerry Ecklebe, the Director of Humane Education at Nebraska Humane Society…um, holding a rat.  OK, so maybe I am obsessed with my rats!  There are worse maladies to have!

I do not even want to know how many website design rules I am breaking with this layout.  I just love huge pictures of Fuzzy and Wuzzy!  They are so goofy looking, and I love that you can see whiskers and wrinkles and everything in the pictures…

Kerry Ecklebe holding Fuzzy

Kerry is a class act, and one of my favorite people.  NHS is blessed to have her!

I just wrote a blog post for dvm360 at the invitation of Veterinary Economics Editor Kristi Reimer.  Ok, so it was not a direct invitation, it was the introduction to the June issue of Veterinary Economics, sort of a “Draw This Turtle” for veterinarians.

I opened my June Veterinary Economics and read it from cover to cover like I always do.  The last thing I read (It was on the front page - I read magazines and journals from back to front - I think it’s a lefty thing) made me space off and dream for the rest of my lunch break.  Kristi said (to me!) “We’re on the lookout for user-generated content.”

Earlier in the year, Charity, who I work for at Carefresh, suggested I write a list of every company I would like to write with.  I already have my dream Mom-Veterinarian-Writer career.  Really, could it get any better??

I write HERE (which I LOVE - thanks Dave!!) and for Omaha.net (which I also love - thanks Jordy and Morgan!), Banfield occasionally asks for my input for their blog and journal (Thanks Nina!) and I had just accidently landed my dream job with Carefresh (Thanks Charity and Tom!)  Was it even OK to dream bigger?

But I do everything Charity tells me to do.  So I started writing out my dream list.  And at the very top of my list was dvm360-Advanstar Communications.  They are the team behind most of my favorite veterinary journals, behind DogFancy and CatFancy, even, I just learned, some automotive, dental and sports publications!  I knew it was just a dream, but sometimes dreams can become Real Life.  And writing lists is fun.

Thank YOU for coming with me on this crazy (good-crazy) adventure.  It has been fun, hasn’t it? : )

And look, they let me post this…Twitter for Veterinarians

It had to be said - When the world of veterinary medicine (eighty thousand+ veterinarians) intersects with the world of twitter (six million+ tweeters), it is such an amazing thing.  It just is SO uncommon!  (Four hundred sixty-two veterinarians/hospitals on twitter by my count)  I wanted to make jumping into twitter easier for vets.  So I hope it does.  If you don’t see more veterinarians posting on twitter in the next month or so, assume they are, as always, busy preserving and saving lives, not that they are unable to figure out twitter, because now I hope they will be!

July 5, 2010

As far as I know, all the pets in my life got through yesterday with just a little nervousness.  Great job pet parents!

PLEASE vote for Fuzzy and Wuzzy for cutest pet in Banfield’s Pet Photo contest!  Silly as it is, I LOVE pictures of our rats, and these ones are really cute.  The other pets entered are very cute too, and you can vote for as many as you want.  I voted for all of them, because, as you know, I have yet to meet a non-cute pet!

To vote:  Go to Banfield’s Facebook home page, and “like” Banfield.  Scroll down to Fuzzy and Wuzzy’s picture and “like” their picture.  Thank you so much!!  How fun.

July 17, 2010  Thank you everyone for voting for Fuzzy and Wuzzy!  They won third place!  Woo!  Not bad for a couple of ratties, huh?

…obsessing about my brand new niece, Olive Jane Nelson!  She was born July 3, 2010 to my brother Dave (the genius behind this fun website) and his wonderful wife Sara.  Their dogs (and now Olive’s dogs!) are Riley and James, the Great Dane and Mastiff after whom the website is named.

I like this picture of Olive because it was taken when she was making baby coos yesterday, and my husband Russ was trying to hear her so he could answer her.  ♥

Happy Day Three in the world Olive!  I love you so much!!

*Pets-n-Baby tip:  While you are at the hospital with your new baby, have a friend bring something of baby’s (like a blanket or onesie) home to your dogs and cats.  Let them get used to the smell of your new babe.  When they actually do meet the new baby, in their minds, they will have already met him or her before and this will ease the transition for everyone.

(If you don’t mind, imagine the next sentence fragments in the voice of Flint Lockwood, from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. You know I LOVE to be boring, but sometimes I love to SEEM exciting, so I thought maybe that would help. Thanks.)

Gathering!  Restating!  Linking!  Helping!  <running around the living room> <pushing big red button>  Publishing!

I know it’s been said, but I just wanted to make sure you and your pets have all the resources you need for this Independence Day!  So this week I am gathering and reposting information about storm and firework phobias.  Add any tips or resources you have!

Scared on the Fourth of July - Last Year’s Posting With an Update

Shadow Lake Towne Center Pet Tips - July 2010

Thunderphobia - Trainer Eric Goebelbecker’s Great Posting on Dr. V’s Pawcurious Website

Fourth of July Fireworks Safety Tips for Your Pets - brand new article from Dr. Patrick Mahaney, Veterinarian and Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

Thundershirts! - Too late to order them from the website for Sunday!  And as you know, yahoos in Omaha are already shooting off fireworks, so the poor dogs are already pretty worked up.  Nebraska Humane Society has some Thundershirts, but they are running low!  Quick, go push someone out of the way and grab theirs.  (Don’t really.)

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion 402-331-1108  If you need information or medication, call to make an appointment with your pet today or tomorrow before the weekend gets even crazier!

On a sort of related note, July 4-July 15, Banfield, The Pet Hospital is having a pet photo contest with an Independence Day theme.  I am going to enter Fuzzy and Wuzzy Rats eating watermelon.  So when I say GO, vote for Fuzzy and Wuzzy on Banfield’s facebook page.  They would make a banner with their picture on it!!  How awesome is that??  If you enter your pet, I will vote for him or her too, so let me know!

(July 4, 2010-”GO!”  Thanks all!)

Happy Independence Day! Make sure your pet is with you or safe at home this weekend.  Here’s to a safe and wonderful weekend for you and your family!  God Bless America!

This week I spoke at Camp Kindness, a day camp for kids at Nebraska Humane Society.  I love doing it!  This is my third summer visiting Camp Kindness with my Hairless Dumbo Rex rats, Fuzzy and Wuzzy.  I told the leaders of Camp Kindness that they are stuck with me and I will show up every summer whether they ask me to or not!  Ha!

Being such an introvert, it is SUCH an exhausting day.  I am not normally much of a public speaker, preferring to educate pet owners either in writing or one-on-one in the exam room, and even that does not come easily.  But I love people and pets SO MUCH and maintaining and restoring pet health is so important to me, that it is all very rewarding.  Anyways, enough of my blah-blahing, on to what you probably came for:  PICTURES OF FUZZY AND WUZZY!!!

And a couple of Josie, the super cute, super sweet therapy dog!

What I am doing this week is spending all the time I possibly can with Mom and Dad and their Ernie Dog.  Ernie is a ten year old four pound Teacup Poodle who is the absolute favorite dog of everyone who knows him.  If you know Ernie, you know I am not exaggerating!

This past week, Ernie sustained a very serious neck injury that left his little body very damaged.  Thankfully, he is making amazing strides in his recovery and will soon be back to his healthy goofy little self.

I remember my loudest nay-sayer (we will call him that for lack of a better term) telling me that I get too emotionally involved with my patients, and that I needed to change who I am.  Remembering that,  I prayed I would have the strength to throw myself even MORE into the situation, that I could walk more closely in step with Dad, empathize more with Mom, be more in Ernie’s cute little curly face as he did amazing and courageous things like take a step and then rebalance…eat off a plate…curl in a circle and lay down all by himself.  I am so glad I have not missed any of it.  I am so proud of my parents for carrying Ernie through his recovery, and so proud of Ernie Dog for all of the huge steps he has taken on his road to recovery.

Full story coming soon on Omaha.net…couldn’t talk about it till now, too difficult.  So, with Mom and Dad’s ok, I’m just putting my journal out there, what a sap!  And what an amazing little dog.

I love you Ernie Nelson!

MY MOST EXCITING NEWS OF THE SPRING!!

I am starting a writing assignment with Carefresh.  If you know me, you know I am rodent-obsessed and I LOVE Carefresh bedding!

I don’t know how to compare this to what normal people would get excited about…if you have analogies, let me know!  Amanda meeting Miley Cyrus…on a horse?  Abby getting a pet monkey?  Russ meeting Bob the Builder?  (Just kidding, Russ…sort of.)

I will keep you updated!  I am so excited!

(That’s my Baby Wuzzy Rat two years ago.  Could she BE any cuter??)

May 4, 2010

My first assignment with CareFresh Complete is to give away a ton of pet food. Really. A literal ton. I love this job! : )

E-mail me at finch@rileyandjames.com if you would like in on this!!

If you are with a Small Mammal Rescue Group, I will have a CASE of food sent to you!

If you have your own…

♥rabbit♥guinea pig♥chinchilla♥rat♥mouse♥gerbil♥hamster♥

let me know which and I will send you a voucher for a free 2# bag of Carefresh Complete food!

Woo!  Fun!  But I don’t know one thousand people, so tell your friends too.

June 3, 2010

The Ask-A-Vet section of the Carefresh Website is up and running!

This week I am…

wishing my wonderful parents, Bob and Betsy Nelson a happy 43rd anniversary!

♥♥♥Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!♥♥♥

…starting an article for Omaha.net for April about gardening and pets.  I gathered my favorite garden pictures and put them in a facebook album here…http://bit.ly/bFSBG3

Here’s one of my favorites…Max munching on his cat grass…

…gearing up to work a full schedule next week!  Working tomorrow (Friday, March 19) all afternoon, then  Wednesday, March 24, like always, and also Thursday, March 25, Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27.

Papillion Banfield is inside of the Petsmart at Shadow Lake Towne Center in Papillion near the intersection of Highway 370 and 72nd Street.

Call 402-331-1108 for an appointment.

I would love to see you!  The surgery schedule is already full, but the exam schedule is not, neither is the I-Just-Came-To-Weigh-My-Pet-And-Say-Hi schedule!  That one ALWAYS has room for you and your pet!