Northwest Veterinary Clinic

01/10/2025

Due to the inclement weather conditions, we will be closing at 3:00pm today to allow for everyone to get home safely. Be careful out there!

12/24/2024

Holiday Hours:
December 24th 8-12
December 25th Closed
December 31st 8-12
January 1st Closed

Also, Dr Whalin is due with her baby any day now!!! We are diligently working our hardest to accommodate when and where we can until the baby gets here. We apologize to anyone this inconveniences, but its life and we ask for a little patience at this time. We do have some help in the form of a relief Veterinarian coming in a few days a week to help carry the load as Dr Whalin settles in with her new one. The office will be open normal hours besides the ones listed above if you need anything. Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year from all of us to yours!

12/05/2024

HUGE thank you to our wonderful neighbors at Jackson Flexible for collecting and bringing us all these toys! It is an amazing gesture from all of you to help support this event. You embody what it means to be neighbors and be a part of the community. Thank you again!

12/03/2024

TOY DRIVE UPDATE:
We are eagerly waiting for Santa's arrival on Friday December 6th from 3 to 5. Hopefully we carved out a cozy corner for him in our clinic lobby. As you might imagine, Santa is a very busy person this time of year, so we do need to be respectful of his departure time. Photo time will be first come first serve. Please bring a phone or camera with you, and Andy will happily be here to take photos for you if you'd like one as a family. We also will be doubling up on toys, jackets, boots, and money while he is here. So that means you have from 3 to 7 to have us at Northwest double up on donations!!

Speaking of Santa and his spirit of gift giving, we are going to give something back to some lucky people that stop in from 3 to 7 on December 6th!! We are giving away:
4 $50 Visa Gift Cards
3 $100 Visa gift cards
1 $300 Credit toward your pet at our clinic
All you have to do is stop in from 3 to 7 on December 6th, fill out a piece of paper with your name and phone number on it! We will randomly draw names on Monday December 9th and call the lucky winners. It's literally that simple. You DO NOT have to bring a donation to get entered, but we figure if you are coming in to get signed up, why not bring something to donate with you?!?! Don't forget that Duke 94.1 will also be here from 5 to 7 giving away goodies and tickets, so why not stop by and get signed up for all the Christmas fun giveaways at 7785 Clinton Rd, Jackson MI 49201.

11/27/2024

Just a reminder that we are now closed for the holiday weekend. We will be back at 8am on Monday, December 2. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

11/25/2024

Toy drive update:
It's confirmed that the one and only Chris Tyler will be here handing out all the goodies and Christmas cheer from Duke 94.1

We will also be singing all the classic Christmas tunes around the campfire, with songs being led by the fine musical sounds of Mr. John Lynch on guitar.

Last thing to note, if you live north of Jackson and would like to donate something. The wonderful staff at NJG of Mason (can't use the G part on Facebook or they pull our post!) are accepting donations on our behalf. Mike the owner saw our post and wanted to help us out, so we are grateful to them for extending an extra hand to helping our community. It was an honor to receive that phone call and have them step up! Thank you guys!

The Lights are starting to come together nicely as we eagerly await to see you all on December 6th from 5 to 7.

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11/21/2024

We have been asked what items we are accepting for donation.
- Toys: New for ages roughly 2-13.
- Jackets: Gently used or new.
-Boots: Gently used, need to be able to read the size, or new.

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11/19/2024

We are at it again this Christmas season! We will be hosting our 2nd annual Toy Drive on Friday December 6th from 5-7pm. We will also be accepting children's winter jackets and winter boots. If giving a gift isn't your thing, we will be collecting money as well. All items and money dropped off during the drive will be doubled by us at Northwest and donated in the form of purchased gifts to family's struggling in this difficult economy. We will also be joined by 94.1 Duke FM at that time, so feel free to stop by and try to win some fun prizes and give aways. You do not have to bring a gift by or be a client to stop in and win things! We will also be making s'mores over the fire and providing hot chocolate for anyone who feels compelled to enjoy a treat and a fun time by the Christmas light display. For those who might not be able to stop in on the 6th, we will graciously accept monetary donations at our front desk and gifts as they come in, from now through the 6th, but in order for us to double up on the items and money we need you fine folks of Jackson and the surrounding area, to stop in from 5-7 on December 6th!!

Even more exciting news, is that Santa will be stopping by from 3-5 and Andy will be available to take photos for you with your family or pet. You do not need to be a client to enjoy this free offering, just stop in with a camera or phone for a good time and chance to have a wonderful family photo taken with Santa.

Last bit of exciting news is that we are offering 10% off EVERYTHING in the clinic, including surgeries, appointments and all services we provide from now through December 20th. This is our Christmas gift to all of our clients this year. We are very thankful to all of our current ones and to any new ones who feel compelled to try our little clinic out.

More updates will be provided as we get closer to the event. We are eagerly getting Santa's back drop setup inside the clinic for photos and the lights hung up outside. We look forward to hearing and seeing you all this year. Our Christmas wish is to see M50 completely blocked with vehicles in front of our clinic ready to drop off a toy, jacket, or boots to help out our community. Please share with as many people as you can, last year was an amazing success, lets do it again Jackson!!! Bless all of you who can donate something or for even just taking the time to share this message, we are grateful to all of you!!

10/09/2024

Its not very polite to discuss a ladies age, but lets just say October 9th,1944 was an amazing day! Today our lovely Jan is is turning 18 for the 62nd time! Lets wish her an amazing milestone birthday!

09/27/2024

Yesterday was a tough one as we had to say goodbye to Ernie. He passed away peacefully surrounded by all of us that could be there. Before passing he was greeted by some wonderful visitors and ate like royalty. Ernie and I (Andy) had a bond that I can't explain, other than it just was special. I'd like to share some brief words in tribute to an amazing animal.
17 years ago Ernie was discarded onto a snow bank and was luckily spotted by a client. He was immediately brought straight to the clinic and clearly survived to make the clinic his permanent home. It's without a doubt in our minds that Ernie greeted well over ten's of thousand's of people, comforting them in tough times with his random sixth sense to know those grieving needed him to sit with them. If he wasn't greeting or comforting clients, he would be the highlight of the day by just being the sweet and funny personality he was.
I met Ernie for the first time almost 5 years ago. It was an instant bond when he came running out of the back room and into my hands for what was nonstop petting. Ernie became a even better 4 legged friend over the years and seemed to fill my lap perfectly and would stay there for hours if I let him. When things got tough, Ernie had a way of calming me by his relaxing demeanor.
Ernie, I'll see ya when I see ya again! Hopefully with pockets filled with your favorite fresh lunch meat to bring with me to share with you. You were loved by all that met you and obviously left a lasting impression on all of our hearts. Thanks for being a wonderful greeter to the clients, for always finding a way to make us laugh, but most importantly for being one the best friends a person could meet. Love ya and will miss you buddy!!!

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09/25/2024

Well we have some rather sad news to share. One of our beloved clinic cats, Ernie, (the one in our thumbnail) is loosing his battle to cancer and in kidney failure. We are in a tough position to say goodbye tomorrow and help let him go peacefully. Ernie has been an amazing friend to many of you over the years and I am sure he would consider you all the same as well! We are sharing this info because he will be here all day tomorrow 8 - 4 if anyone feels compelled to stop by and give him an extra pet or share a funny story, we would love to hear it. Ernie had an amazing 17 plus years of life at our clinic and is looking forward to seeing as many friendly faces as he can tomorrow!

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04/17/2024

Skye thoroughly enjoyed her belly rubs from Dr. Brown at her visit yesterday! 😊 She is a definite success story! ❤️

Skye first came to our office a year ago for coughing and an enlarged heart. Her echocardiogram showed severe heart disease (dilated cardiomyopathy / DCM). DCM is a disease characterized by significant loss of pumping function (myocardial failure) that leads to heart enlargement and heart failure. DCM can happen if a dog carries the genetic mutation for the disease, in which case the disease is incurable and progressive.

However, DCM-like changes can also be seen in dogs eating diets containing high levels of peas, chickpeas, pea fibers, lentils and other legumes. These ingredients are most commonly found in grain-free formulations of dog foods. It is thought that these specific ingredients lead to a toxicity over time that affects the heart muscle and causes myocardial failure.

When we first saw Skye, she had been eating one of these diets so she was immediately transitioned to a diet that did not include these ingredients. She was also started on several heart medications to support her heart function and to attempt to keep her out of heart failure.

It’s impossible to know for sure whether an individual has the genetic form of DCM versus nutritional DCM until response to medications/diet change can be documented. The former will not improve and will continue to progress, while the latter can sometimes improve or resolve completely with a diet change and medications.

Thankfully, Skye responded very well to the diet change and medications and we saw gradual improvement in her heart dimensions and function over the past year. Yesterday’s echocardiogram showed that her heart is now back to a normal size with normal function! This is the absolute best case scenario and (sadly) doesn’t happen for every dog who has nutritional DCM.

Not all dogs who eats these diets will develop heart disease, but pet owners should be aware of the potential risks of feeding diets high in these specific ingredients. They are still widely available in pet food stores so make sure to read the ingredient labels.

We were so happy to give Skye’s owner the good news! She was also happy to start safely cutting back on her medications 😊❤️