Animal Health VIPS - Veterinary Integrative & Performance Specialists

08/02/2025

The hazards of leaving the back of the truck open during farm calls…Blossom glamping near the treat corner… 🧡

08/01/2025

Here's an interesting article! See, it pays to get out and about, getting exposed to other bugs*!

[*Provided you have a healthy immune system and you aren't in close contact to someone who is immunosuppressed.]

A new paper adds weight to an argument about why most U.S. bird flu cases have so far been mild.

07/31/2025

Of course it takes a Kelpie cross to keep up with a cheetah!

While the companionship might seem surprising, zoos have been pairing sibling-less cheetah cubs with dogs for decades to improve their socialization

07/19/2025

This is what good training can do for you and your horse. Watch until the end…AMAZING! Better to maybe not try the fire part at home, though...

07/18/2025

Catch-the-Eye Photography (my newish out-of-clinic job) sold its first large size, original prints this week! One from Kerlingarfjöll, Iceland (a cell phone print no less) and one from the Castner Ice Cave in Alaska! I was super happy how well they printed. Thanks to , , (and all my wonderful instructors like Kevin McNeal, Ryan McGinty, David Swindler, Shane McDermott and George Fox - my first art teacher - who taught me all the tricks in making a good photo)!

07/17/2025

Well...we sure can tell who "wears the pants" in THIS relationship...when Dad was sitting in the chair, all Mags had to do was look at him and he got up so she could take his seat!😆 True love❣

07/14/2025

Interesting - yet another reason to keep your and your critters’ gut bugs happy and healthy!

Previously, the only way to reduce levels of Pfas was by bloodletting or a drug with unpleasant side effects

07/13/2025

For those interested in medical history, here is an excellent article by US homeopath and writer, Dana Ullman (Homeopathic Education Services), that was just published in Cureus last week.

This article examines the ideological and institutional forces that led to the marginalization of homeopathy in American medicine, despite its popularity among prominent figures, including John D. Rockefeller. Drawing on five previously unpublished reports written for Rockefeller by his philanthropi...

07/11/2025

One of my patients that I'm the proudest of...he's truly gone from rags to riches in the hands of his amazing trainer and owner, Jessie Bonneau!

Hey CAWDA Members, let's give a big welcoming applause to one of our newest CAWDA Hall of Fame horses! 🤠👏🏼
I'm pleased to introduce you all to Skies The Limitt owned and ridden by Jessie Bonneau🌟🐴

Congratulations Skies The Limitt, Jessie has written a lovely story!
"Skies The Limitt, Jessie's 18 years old Half Arabian stallion from Las Vegas NV. Their story with CAWDA started in 2019 with a great WD introduction clinic with Vivian Mevorah for one of my amazing clients Lisa Gabaldon who told me about this beautiful new discipline, Western Dressage. It followed up by the “Train The Trainers” program leaded by the legendary and very talented Frances Carbonnel and Cliff Swanson, that sparked my passion for this incredible discipline. Inspired to this Journey, I attended my 1st WD World Championship in Oklahoma that same year, where Skies the Limitt won our very 1st World Champion Title.
4 times World Champion : 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2024 & Reserve Champion : 2022 & 2023.
So blessed of this incredible Journey with my best loving 4 legged partner Skies The Limitt with the remarkable support of CAWDA during those years. Our goals are to keep improving our Level 5 skills, embracing our Level 5 Freestyle aiming for better performances and potentially riding one day a Level 6 test (I heard of maybe an eventual Level 6 coming up in the near future). Always looking for being a better rider, trainer and bring the best quality life and training for my amazing horse (without him, nothing would be possible, we are partners).
In 2022, I was gifted with the 1st scholarship ever given by CAWDA organization toward the “r WD judge” program. I was extremely honored to be awarded of this awesome opportunity.
April 2025, I was officially licensed “r WD judge” by USEF.
Thank you WDAA and CAWDA for everything you do for horses, riders, trainers and future judges.
“It s all about the growing journey”.

Immensely proud and honored to have my stallion Skies The Limitt listed on CAWDA Hall of Fame !!!!"

07/11/2025

I meant to share this a few months ago and I think I forgot...Congrats to Chari Erickson! Great magazine and here's to many more!

Featuring: Nancy Russell. Vicky Jones. Crister Afseer.

07/08/2025

I thought I would show everyone a couple of interesting cases (one case freshly yesterday) that shows how to deal with an issue that often gets missed or blown off as no big deal. It's having to do with dog toes. Cut pads and broken nails aren't the only way a toe can be injured.

Did you know that dogs can strain and tear both the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons just like horses? Obviously, the results aren't as immediately critical in a dog like it is in a horse, but damage to a toe from those injuries can still cause some significant, long-term issues, especially with active and working dogs. So it is important to take toe and nail injuries seriously, even if your vet doesn't.

Anytime you see a dog with a lengthened toe sticking out past the others, that means there has been an injury. One of the most common causes is from being active in grass or a soft surface with a toenail that is too long. You can tell the difference between a superficial digital and a deep digital by the position of the nail. If the nail is tipped up, then the deep digital flexor tendon has been stretched or torn. If the toe is flat (like in the red dog with the white foot), that is indicative of a superficial digital flexor tendon injury.

These pictures are of two cases of tendon injuries. Both have had kinesiotape used on them. The deep digital injury (tan foot) is new so it hasn't had time to heal, but look at the great job that supporting with kinesiotape and supplements did for the superficial injury (white foot). Keep these in mind with your own dogs - keep an eye on toes and know how to fix an injury if you see it. I will post pix of the fresh deep digital injury in a few months when it has stabilized and healed.

Trim toenails using what I call the "credit card" test. Trim them so they don't touch the ground with the dog weight-bearing on a firm surface. There should be enough clearance that you can pass a credit card between nail and floor. Also, another little trick for trimming if you are using trimmers...use a really bright LED light to back light the nail, you can see quick in all but the darkest, black nail (and even then you often can get a hint of its shape).

07/06/2025

That’s what I own real wool sweaters from Scotland and Iceland and take good care of them.

As the sheer quantity of clothing available to the average American has grown over the past few decades, everything feels at least a little bit flimsier than it used to, Amanda Mull argued in 2023. https://theatln.tc/CEkwZcmY

Good sweaters, gloves, beanies, and scarves in particular are all but gone from mass-market retailers. “The options that have replaced them lose their fluff faster, feel fake, and either keep their wearers too hot or let the winter wind whip right through them. Sometimes they even smell like plastic,” Mull writes. Knits used to be made entirely of natural fibers, usually from shearing sheep, goats, alpacas, and other animals. Sometimes, plant-derived fibers such as cotton or linen were blended in. Now, according to Imran Islam, a textile-science professor and knit expert at the Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York, the overwhelming majority of yarn used in mass-market knitwear is blended with some type of plastic.

Knits made with synthetic fiber are cheaper to produce. They can be spun up in astronomical quantities. They also usually can be tossed in your washing machine with everything else. But by virtually every other measure, synthetic fabrics are far inferior, Mull writes. They pill quickly, sometimes look fake, shed microplastics, and don’t perform as well as wool when worn. The majority of clothing sold in the U.S. now includes at least some plastic content. Brands generally rely on consumers not to be interested enough in fabric content to check the tags before buying. But Sofi Thanhauser, the author of “Worn: A People’s History of Clothing,” said brands have also gotten more adept at marketing synthetic fabrics as a consumer advantage, whether or not they actually are in any particular garment.

The result of all of this is abundance, but only by a definition of the word that includes an abundance of junk, Mull continues. A good sweater is hard to find, but it’s not impossible. “Plenty of garments gesture at what used to be widely available, but few hold a candle to the garments that were once the norm. And, in fact, please don’t get candles too close to a poly blend, which is much more likely than wool to go up in flames.”

🎨: Jared Bartman / The Atlantic / Getty