Cottonwood Animal Clinic

04/25/2025

We were pleased to host this awesome young lady, Bella Beltz, for a Vet For A Day earlier this month. Bella is a high schooler taking Oxford online classes, and she is exploring the idea of going into vet med down the road.

She spent most of the day shadowing Dr. Carson and she got to see and talk with him about a whole variety of cases from routine vaccinations to surgery to medical cases.

Thank you for coming, Bella! We hope to see you around again down the road!! ☺️

04/24/2025

Did you know German Shepherds can be long-haired? Look at this handsome boy who visited us for a puppy vaccine yesterday!

04/21/2025

It is Veterinary Receptionist Appreciation Week, and we cannot express how much we REALLY appreciate everything that these four ladies do at Cottonwood Animal Clinic.

It actually is not an easy task to gather all four of them together for a quick pic. It is a little bit like herding cats! 🤣 Seriously, they are very busy all of the time answering phones, greeting clients & patients, answering texts & emails, making appointments for doctors, boarding & grooming, refilling Rx requests...and that is probably only 75% of what they do. They are spread very thin and they do a very hard job with smiles on their faces.

04/16/2025

Congrats to Bernadette Hicks with the closest answer! Lots of really good guesses in regards to the total weight of the litter. The average weight of each puppy is 8.8 # and the weight for the total litter was 60.8 #. The biggest one was 10.8 # and the smallest one was just under 6 #, but all had a clean bill of health.

Their momma has a smaller build, so they may not be as big in stature as they are in personality. They are on a trend to start gaining 1.5 # - 2 # per week for the next month or so. Then, they will hit a growth spurt and start gaining 2.5 # - 4 # per week up through their first birthday.

Aren't we glad they can already walk? Can you imagine carrying a human baby for the 1st year that is gaining up to 4 # per week during their big growth spurt???

This litter of Anatolian Pyrenees puppies visited today to get wellness exams and 1st puppy shots with Dr. KaCee, Elle and Jenna. They have had a couple rounds of deworming, too. This breed generally enjoys being outside, and typically are very good livestock guardian dogs, yet they tend to be loyal to their family, and usually do well with kids in the home, especially when socialized. These puppies are with a family that cares for them, but they are looking for forever homes for some of them.

To find out more about these puppies, call or text the clinic at 620-442-8619, and we will send you the owner's contact information.

There are 6 males and 1 female in the litter. A year from now, the whole litter will likely weigh somewhere between 575-700 #.

They are exactly 6 weeks old today. How much do you think the entire litter weighs today? Post your answers in the comments!

04/15/2025

This litter of Anatolian Pyrenees puppies visited today to get wellness exams and 1st puppy shots with Dr. KaCee, Elle and Jenna. They have had a couple rounds of deworming, too. This breed generally enjoys being outside, and typically are very good livestock guardian dogs, yet they tend to be loyal to their family, and usually do well with kids in the home, especially when socialized. These puppies are with a family that cares for them, but they are looking for forever homes for some of them.

To find out more about these puppies, call or text the clinic at 620-442-8619, and we will send you the owner's contact information.

There are 6 males and 1 female in the litter. A year from now, the whole litter will likely weigh somewhere between 575-700 #.

They are exactly 6 weeks old today. How much do you think the entire litter weighs today? Post your answers in the comments!

04/14/2025

April is HEARTWORM AWARENESS MONTH and we want to help dog owners with this preventable disease.

Established clients who want to purchase heartworm preventative from our clinic or our online pharmacy, can get their dog's heartworm test for only $12 through May 30th. This is a special promotion for heartworm only, it does not include the full panel of tick-borne disease screening. This does not include an appointment with one of our doctors.

Please call or text 620-442-8619 to schedule a heartworm test for your dog to be done by May 30th to get special pricing!

04/12/2025

We want to celebrate Zee’s 4 year work anniversary today. Not only does she take great care of our patients here at the clinic but she has several types of animals at home that she loves and cares for as well. Congratulations, Zee!!

04/03/2025

To our knowledge his owner has not been located. If you would like to meet this doggie, please call the front desk at 620-442-8619 and we will give you the contact information for his current caretaker. We would love to see him find a good home to stay. We think he is probably close to a year old or so.

Help us find this youngin's home!

We checked him for a microchip today, and we did not find one. We will tell you what we know about him. He is an in-tact male and he is very mannerly! We really want to find his owner, but if we do not find his owner fairly quickly, we want to help his caretaker find a new home for him.

For the past few days, he has been staying at a home with other small dogs and cats and he has shown absolutely no aggression towards them. A few nights ago, he was able to remain calm while in a garage during a storm at night.

Before finding a new home for him, his current caretaker has said she will have him neutered before sending him to a new home.

In the few minutes he visited here at the clinic, he was super well behaved! He looks like he has been taken care of considering his hair coat, well-fed and did we mention how friendly and mannerly he is?? Help us find his owner, and if that does not happen very soon, this boy needs a really good home. He has much love to give to the right family.

04/03/2025

This cute (AND SUPER SOFT & SNUGGLY) little Yorkiepoo girl visited us today for her second round of puppy vaccines and well check. She's looking for a brand new forever home. 💝💝 She will be 10 weeks old tomorrow!

If you know of someone who would be interested in meeting her or have further questions, call our front desk at 620-442-8619 and we will give you contact information.

04/03/2025

Cottonwood Animal Clinic will be open for walk-ins on the following Saturdays: April 5th, April 26th and May 3rd. We will update the remaining May Saturdays when we get a little closer.

04/01/2025

Help us find this youngin's home!

We checked him for a microchip today, and we did not find one. We will tell you what we know about him. He is an in-tact male and he is very mannerly! We really want to find his owner, but if we do not find his owner fairly quickly, we want to help his caretaker find a new home for him.

For the past few days, he has been staying at a home with other small dogs and cats and he has shown absolutely no aggression towards them. A few nights ago, he was able to remain calm while in a garage during a storm at night.

Before finding a new home for him, his current caretaker has said she will have him neutered before sending him to a new home.

In the few minutes he visited here at the clinic, he was super well behaved! He looks like he has been taken care of considering his hair coat, well-fed and did we mention how friendly and mannerly he is?? Help us find his owner, and if that does not happen very soon, this boy needs a really good home. He has much love to give to the right family.

03/20/2025

THANK YOU! Several folks came through with newspapers today to help us get through the next few weeks.

If you have some down the road you are looking to recycle/reuse, please keep us in mind! We certainly use them.

03/18/2025

THREE things!

1) We still need 📰 newspaper 📰 donations! Please bring to the front desk 8AM-5:30PM. If you are in the Ark City area, we might be able to make arrangements to come pick them up, if needed.

2) Spring Break week is CRAZY town at Cottonwood. 😜

3) Rico aka "RICKY" came to visit us at Cottonwood today, and he made our craziness feel a little calmer. What a good 😻 boy he is, and he is😽 handsome, too!

03/14/2025

If you have spare 📰 newspapers, Cottonwood Animal Clinic can use them in the 🐶🐱 kennel areas. You can drop them off at the front desk M-F 8AM - 5:30PM. Thank you!

02/27/2025

Trigger warning: loss of a beloved pet

The human-animal bond between a beloved family pet and its people is an interesting and amazingly strong relationship for both the pet and the owners. Owners provide protection and care for the pet and typically consider that pet like a family member. The loss of the pet is often painful and the owners have grief to process.

Why is it? It's just an animal right? Yes and no. In the human-animal bond, the pet has brought unconditional love, companionship and many happy memories to their owners. It hurts when their dear pet is no longer with them.

We want to share a personal story about Luther and Peach. As many of you know, Luther is Dr. Carson's youngest child, and he is looking forward to his high school graduation in a little over 2 months. Peach (her given name was Princess Peach) joined the Abrams family when Luther was 2 years old. She was very loved by the whole family (and many others here at the clinic) but Luther had a pretty tight connection with her. He really doesn't have any memories before Peach was in their family, so it is a little rough losing her.

Peach was an older puppy (8-9 months old) when they got her. She was kind of a scrawny, runt-of-the-litter type puppy and her hair coat was always pretty thin and her teeth were terrible even though Dr. Carson was diligent to do regular dental cleanings and maintenance on her. She was considered the "ugly duckling" by many, but when they saw her, they knew she was the right one for their family. Dr. Carson and his family did not have much background information about her, so they gave her a birthday the same date as Luther's birthday so they could celebrate her birthday every year. For almost 16 years, she brought much joy to the family. She was a good one!!

If you scroll through the pictures, you will see many happy faces and undoubtedly you can see the human-animal bond between Luther and Peach.

If you have ever experienced this type of loss, we understand it hurts. However, we are grateful for the wonderful memories and joy our dearest pets bring into our lives.

02/25/2025

There are 5 Saturdays in March, and Cottonwood Animal Clinic will be open for walk-ins on March 1st and March 15th.

02/13/2025

Meet Gracie! She doesn't speak English, but because she was MICROCHIPPED 👏👏👏, we were able to piece together some of Gracie's story which has been a little adventurous 🙌 🙌 this past week.

Gracie is a 19-month old terrier that lives in Saint John, KS which is about an hour west of Hutchinson. This morning, a good Samaritan saw this little doggie running on B street near the Rec Center in Arkansas City, and brought it to Cottonwood Animal Clinic 🏥 to have her scanned for a microchip.

We scanned and located a working microchip, but unfortunately it was not registered in the national microchip database. After a little more searching, we were able to determine that the chip had been administered at a veterinary facility 🏥 in Larned, KS. We called that veterinary facility 🏥 and fortunately they were able to search their own database to locate her owners. Whew! Crisis averted!!

We called her owners and found out that Gracie was last seen about 5-6 days ago. They were very sad as they had searched all around their vicinity for a couple of days, and finally came to the conclusion that maybe she had been harmed by wildlife in the area.

Her owners were SO HAPPY when we called to say that Gracie was safe and sound, and they made arrangements to drive to pick her up today! They believe that she had been picked up by another driver 🚙 and then somehow made another escape here in Arkansas City.

She is safe on her way 🚗 with her owners, now.

Gracie wants you to know that her microchip was really the only thing that helped her get reconnected with her owners. If you decide to have your pets microchipped, please make sure to get them scanned regularly to ensure they are working properly, and make sure that they are registered in the national database.

SIDE NOTE: There are different microchip registries, and recently SAVE THIS LIFE registry went out of business. Make sure your pet's microchip information is up-to-date and accessible for someone who might find your pet.

02/12/2025

Something showed up at Cottonwood Animal Clinic that we just don't typically ever see in Kansas! This dog tested positive for Lyme Disease, but it so happens this dog has spent some time in Ohio. Lyme Disease in dogs is traditionally rare in Kansas, but it is increasing in frequency in Kansas.

Lyme Disease in dogs is spread by infected blacklegged ticks, which is a a really good reason to keep your canine friends on an external parasite preventative. Researchers are always learning new information, but, we are not aware of direct spread of Lyme disease from one dog to another dog. And, the spread of Lyme disease from dogs to people has not been reported either, however people are also at risk for Lyme disease if they are bitten by an infected tick.

Cottonwood Animal Clinic typically uses a 4DX test which tests for several different infectious diseases (Heartworm (transmission through infected mosquitos), Lyme disease, Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia ewingii, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Anaplasma platys, and Borrelia burgdorferi).

Even if your dog is on a heartworm preventative all year long, this gives us helpful information to make sure the HW preventative is actually working as well as diagnostics about other diseases carried by ticks...and we have plenty of those in Kansas!

We collect ticks and send them off. When we get results of what percentages of different ticks we have, we will post results here.