Shawn M. Finch, DVM

Anesthesia for the Pet Practitioner, Third Edition

Five Stars!

✩✩✩✩✩

I love this book.

Anesthesia is the most important thing we do as veterinary teams.

Those are some pretty strong statements.  OK, not the first one.  I love almost every book I read.  I have no minimum standard.  Everyone’s in!  But I love this book on a whole deeper level than most.

Is anesthesia really the most important thing we do as veterinary teams?  I mean, we do a lot of things!  I asked my own team the other day, actually as we were all standing around a dog who was at the beginning of an anesthetic procedure.  Around the dog… “Yeah.”  ”Yeah.”  ”Yeah.”  ”Yeah.”  ”Really, guys?”  I said.  ”We do a lot of things.”  They proceeded to tell me exactly why anesthesia is the most important thing we do much more articulately than I am about to do here, but I will try to share their wisdom…and my convictions…with you.

Anesthesia is the most important thing we do.

I realize that is a sweeping statement.  I realize that between all the team members and all the pets and all the clients and all the diseases and injuries and preventative care measures, there are countless things we do, and it is unfair to say ONE thing is the most important.  It is.  Nothing else we do carries the same risks, even to healthy pets, as anesthesia does. It is a powerful thing. This book reflects that well.

The Cover: I would be remiss if I did not mention the cover of Anesthesia for the Pet Practitioner.  It has a sleepy (not sedated, just sleepy) Golden Retriever at the top!  What’s not to love?  SO cute!!  And the bottom half of the cover is a pretty blue with a bit of orange.  Still getting used to the orange, but it is nice.  So…

Five Stars on the Cover!

✩✩✩✩✩

The rest of this review is at:

The Wagging Tail Blog

I was going to put it all in one place, but The Wagging Tail is a professional site geared towards veterinarians, and I did not want to leave out the silly parts of my review, you know, like how cute the cover is!  Also, Banfield’s website was just updated, and it looks amazing.  I haven’t clicked through all the pages, but what I have seen looks really neat.

So that is here, and more is there, but if you really want to know if the book is all that…don’t take my word for it!  I think you will really like this one, vet teams.  I saw that it on Amazon for twenty-two dollars new - crazy inexpensive for a veterinary text!  I may buy a copy to have at home.  I also just saw that it is available online for free!  I am still not used to “turning pages” on the computer screen, but if you are not stuck in the last millinium and like things like Kindle and iBooks, you will like that cool feature!

And to all our other friends…Aren’t you glad we obsess about this stuff?  Do you agree that anesthesia is the most important thing that veterinary teams do?

Earlier this year, I started facebook page for Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion.  It has been a very fun learning curve and a very fun project!

I still have not learned all of the ways in which to utilize facebook.  The group of people who “like” the page is just the neatest group of people ever (you).  So far we have posted some pet tips and links to articles here and there.  And of course, since it is me, there have been a few smart alec comments too. : )

Let me know what YOU would like to see on facebook!  I can amuse myself all day, but that does not necessarily help you or your pets, and that is the idea behind the page - to help you be better informed, be encouraged, get to know us, and to help your pets have the very best medical care they can have, either with us or because we have helped you become empowered to be super awesome advocates for them (hopefully both!)

So send me all of your great ideas.  If you like the page, tell your friends about it.  Thank you for all of your support here and there and in Real Life.  I think you are the very best.

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion

What is the most important thing going on right now?  The Blogathon! What does all of Nebraska think is the most important thing going on right now?  KICKOFF!

GO BIG RED!

I grew up in Nebraska so my blood is Husker red, as it should be.  I LOVE football season.  I LOVE getting together with our family for game day.  I LOVE the snacks, I even love the fuzzy AM radio commentary in the background.  Most of all, I love the grey Nebraska sweatshirt that Dad bought me twenty years ago right before I started college at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Even though I yell about the importance of our state flag and state history every time we drive past a bank flying a big red “N” flag instead of the proper state flag with our official state seal, I secretly even kind of love that.

The Official Flag of the Great State of Nebraska

The Actual Flag that is Flown in the Great State of Nebraska

I have a confession though.  (Looking around…Oh good, they are all focused on kickoff.)  *whispering*  I do not like football. During prevet at University of Nebraska at Lincoln, I went to ONE SINGLE football game and just about died of boredom.

When Nebraska (my prevet school) played Iowa State (my vet school), all the Finches and all the Nelsons and all the Babcocks came to Ames, Iowa and went to the game together, and I LOVED that day, because of the friends and family part.  I do not even remember who won, though I assume Nebraska did - Iowa State should stick to training vets…and engineers and stuff.

At least when the game is on TV, I am in a comfy living room or Jones’ garage, surrounded by people I love and tables of great snacks.  I love everything about Husker football…except the game itself.

I will be right back after I hide my Nebraska Citizen Card.  When this gets out, They are going to try to revoke it.

So ENOUGH about football.  In honor of kickoff, I thought for this post we could talk about…

Pets Named Husker!

In Littleton, Colorado I had an adorable West Highland White Terrier patient named Husker.  There are quite a few Husker fans in Colorado, which I enjoyed.  I felt less homesick surrounded by Nebraska folks.  Eventually being surrounded by Husker fans and spending time with Husker the Westie once or twice a year was not enough, and we moved home to Nebraska.

While epidemiology studies and obesity studies and such are all kind of neat, THE BEST thing about the national Banfield database is the ability to learn how many Banfield patients are named Husker.  The grand total is…four hundred and eighteen!  Thirty-three of the fifty states have Banfield patients named Husker.  Colorado leads with 74.  Next is Texas with 51 and Arizona with 43.  Nebraska is FOURTH with 36!

At the practice I am at now we have one cat named Husker, three dogs named Husker and one hedgehog named Husker Hedgehog.  I have quite a few Bo patients, though I doubt they are named after THE Bo, it’s just a cute retriever name (and a cute presidential dog name).  I do not have any Tom patients, but that is not such a great pet name.  Maybe for a cat, but even then, if you want a plain old cat name, Max, of course, is much better.

Max the Cat cares as much about football as I do.

Clicking here will bring you to the webpage with information about Bradyn and an opportunity to donate towards the training of his service dog from 4 Paws for Ability. ♥

I am waiting to see what three of my favorite companies have in mind for future projects.  I am hoping for a lifetime partnership of regular writing assignments, with cute pictures of my pets scattered throughout the publications.

That reminds me of one of my favorite lines in August Rush.  Evan’s friend asks him “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” and Evan replies, “No, I’m thinking something else.” Perhaps they are thinking something else.  Who knows?  It could be even better than what I am thinking.  Though, as you know, there is nothing better than cute pictures of my pets.

I am waiting to read another leadership book that I can add to the “What I am Reading” series here.  As you know, I will only review books to which I can give five stars.  So I am getting through the list, but not falling in love with the books.  Seriously, it seems as if the books were all chosen by men!  (They were…not that there’s anything wrong with that.)  Let’s skip the sports and war illustrations guys!  Then we can whip through these life lessons a little faster.

I am waiting to see how my fall work schedule pans out.  I struggle with the same pull with which every mother struggles. Should I stay home more?  Should I work more? However, a normal mother makes the very difficult decision that balances her life and family dynamics best, and then adjusts her schedule based on the changing circumstances of her family.  I do that and then obsess.  And second guess.  For a decade.  Literally.  Still, I am blessed to have the choice over which to obsess and second guess. Lately I have become a tiny bit better at enjoying the ride.  See?  I named this post “Waiting.”  Not “Fretting.”  Or “Obsessing.”  Or “Flip-flopping.”  Yay, me.  I’m progressing slowly, but I am progressing.

That reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses:

“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

I am waiting for the smell of my perm to dissipate.

I am waiting for my kids’ friend to wake up from her nap so they can all play together.

I am waiting to see how well the Heartworm Disease and Omaha Pets article does on Omaha.net.  Is everyone sick of discussing heartworm, or is it still an attractive topic in its (unfortunate) timelessness?  Maybe I just needed to write it to remind myself to continue to be a strong advocate for my patients’ health.

I am waiting to see how some important things turn out.  Russ, you always proof-read my rough drafts for me.  Thank you for that.  And I don’t write rough drafts of my posts on this website.  I just write what I am thinking.  Since the rough draft step gets skipped here, you may never see this.  If you do, remember that I love you more than writing.  I love you more than being a veterinarian.  I love you more than my (un)naturally curly hair.

Now I am waiting to hear back from only TWO of my favorite companies - check off Banfield!  While I was writing this, I received an email from Nina Silberstein, the editor of The Banfield Journal and The Wagging Tail Blog.  She said that she forgot to tell me that the post she had asked me to write a while back is due TOMORROW.

Sometimes it’s good to wait patiently, and sometimes it’s good to get busy.  The genius is in knowing when to do what. I am going to go start on this Wagging Tail Blog post…

Have a great week.

Russ…

I love you more than chocolate.

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.  #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!

Follow @PapillionBF if you want “one more follower” as I will of course, follow you back, or if you want to be there in case I come back and say something brilliant, but don’t expect anything any time soon!  That project is still on hold and may become something else entirely.  Still exciting, and still fun to try new things and see where they end up!

The Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion facebook page is active.  Feel free to join in even if you do not live in Papillion.  (haha that is a silly thing to say, I don’t even live in Papillion!)  We can discuss anything you would like to.  Dr. Wittler will probably be adding some medical information soon, and it could always use more cute pictures besides Myrtle the Turtle!

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?

(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

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 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.

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!

Here is a working list of stuff I have written located places OTHER THAN RileyandJames…

dvm360

• twitter
• Conflict Resolution
• Season of Joy (the Puppy)
• A Dramatic Wellness Exam
• Do Pets Mourn?

Veterinary Economics Journal

• December 2010 Conflict Resolution (and in print)
• March 2011  A picture in reference to Liz Marsh’s February 2011 Firstline article, “5 Top Veterinary Blogs”

Firstline Veterinary Technician Journal

• Joy the Puppy

Omaha.net-The Wuzzy Chronicles

• new article every four weeks, January 2010 - present

Carefresh

• “Ask a Vet”, May 2010 - present

#dogtalk (now #barkoutloud)

• “Cosmetic Surgery and Pets” (no link - you had to be there!  I will try to get something posted!)
• “Heartworm Disease”
• “Fleas and Ticks”

Banfield Journal

• September/October 2009 pp. 6-7:  Overcoming Team Conflict - Learning From Our Canine Friends (and in print)
• November/December 2009, pp. 9-10: Seeing Our Favorite Clients - How to Create a Win-Win Situation for All (and in print)

The Wagging Tail Blog

• Recommending a High Level Standard of Care is Still the Best Idea
• Self Evaluation
• Changing Times
• Effective Communication Strategies for Veterinarians
• A Great Year for Veterinary Medicine

Dancing Dog Blog

• Debarking:  How would you like to be debarked?  A vet speaks out
• Dangerous Dog Laws Keep Dogs and People Safe?

Shadow Lake Towne Center Newsletter

• Monthly Pet Tips since May 2010 (Also on the Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Papillion facebook page)

Dog Time

• This site has a copy of all of the blog entries here at Riley and James.

Pug Partners of Nebraska

• A 2010 series on Pug Health for new adoptive families - also published on Riley and James