Hearthstone Veterinary Hospital

06/05/2025

05/17/2025

The New York State Police (NYSP) is expanding training for 200 troopers by partnering with the New York State Animal Protection Federation (NYSAPF) on how to better identify and respond to cases of animal cruelty.

04/20/2025

Listen up general public. There are some things you need to know about veterinary medicine that no one wants to get real about....

1. 99.9% of veterinarians are not in this career for the money. Do I need to say that louder for the people in the back? Vet School is hell, and the crippling debt after graduation is even worse. Not to mention internships, residency, and being worked to the bone day in and day out once you've completed the above 3 steps. There are always bad ones out there. If you really think your vet is just in it for the income, find a new vet.

2. Vets are not "too expensive", medicine is. Trust me, big pharma is kicking our asses as well. Equipment is expensive. Medical insurance is expensive. Liability insurance is expensive. Medications are expensive. MEDICINE. IS. EXPENSIVE. Have you ever gone over an itemized statement from your doctor or surgeon? Yeah, I thought so. Guess what? We use a lot of the same medications and equipment without being able to charge your insurance out the ass and write off what isn't paid.

3. Did you know the average amount that a vet clinic is in debt due to outstanding/unpaid invoices? $80,000+. Wrap your head around that for a minute.... Do you know how it got that high? Payment promises. So your vet is an as***le because they want you to pay your bill and won't let you make payments? They HAVE let people make payments, and that's why they are in so much debt.

4. We understand budgets. We do. Really. Did you see any new shiny sports cars in the staff parking lot? Yeah, no. Most of us can't afford them. If you can not afford gold standard medicine and treatments, or have a certain budget, TELL US. We can go with option b, or c, or d. We will come up with a treatment plan that will work for everyone. Will it be the best medicine we can provide? No. Sometimes our own staff can't afford expensive/extravagant treatments for their own pets. We understand. But when you say, "Do all the things." and agree to the amount discussed for said treatment knowing you can't afford it, then waiting until check out to tell us you have no money makes you a thief and an as***le. The treatment and services provided were NOT free. Someone had to pay the overhead on medications and equipment and the staff it takes to work on your pet. This means that your veterinarian just paid to treat your pet. Don't be that person. Just don't.

5. Most veterinary staff make less than an employee at Walmart or McDonalds....yeah....We rely on significant others to help provide for a family or carry medical insurance. Single parent vet staff, y'all the real MVP'S. Same as above statement, don't be an ass, we don't make enough to put up with it.

6. Yes we know Chewy and 1800petmeds are less expensive. Remember #1 where we talked about getting screwed over by drug companies? Yeah, that. We can't even purchase these medications at the price those places are selling them for. Small businesses can not compete with corporate giants. So don't ask them to. However, these online pharmacies aren't going to come in after hours to see your sick pet, or return a text asking for medical advice, or be there for you and your furry friend in a time of need. Think about that for a minute. Your vet has. It honestly is a slap in the face when we bust our asses to help you, even after hours, and you take your business elsewhere? No vet will tell you that to your face, bc professionalism, etc., but I will.

7. Last one, I swear. I know what you're thinking, if veterinary medicine sucks so much, why do it? BECAUSE WE LOVE ANIMALS. Behind the scenes, we work through lunch, we curse, we cry, we laugh, we can't take fancy vacations, and the majority of our job involves bodily fluids...so...many...fluids, but we love pets. We want to educate owners. We aren't trying to make a buck, we are trying to keep your pet healthy. Prevention, vaccines, and diet are all things we need to discuss. Don't do the, "well you're just trying to make money by upselling us, the dentist/breeder/Petco employee/ google said the food you recommend is bad and medicine is poison". Yeah...so we make a hell of a lot more money on sick pets....just sayin'. And what the hell do you think petmeds, chewy, petco, and petsmart are trying to do??? Make. Money.

We knew all these things going into this job, and still chose to get up and go to work today. Not. For. The. Money.

Although, I've always looked better in scrubs...🤷‍♀️

03/25/2025

We do not honor on line pharmacy requests. We have had countless issues with CHEWY - I have never trusted them and never will. The horrors I have witnessed...DO NOT ORDER MEDS ONLINE. DO NOT TRUST CHEWY, AMAZON, 1800PETMEDS- no one.

READ AND SHARE TO SAVE A LIFE. EDIT NOTE AT THE BOTTOM
Last night was very difficult at the vet emergency hospital I was working at. A man rushed his cat in because it was in distress. It was normal before they went to go get dinner and now it's acting weird and screaming. Only new thing today was they dewormed it with Drontal they got on Amazon about 3 hrs before they brought it in.
Long story short, the cats gums are blue, tongue is purple, the blood is brown/chocolatey looking, and it can't breathe. We put it in an oxygen kennel and go talk to the owner who says his wife just called and another one of their cats is showing the same signs. We tell them to rush any and all cats to us immediately.
Guys. They have 7 cats. 7 cats they love dearly. 7 cats they thought they were doing the right thing for by buying dewormer and treating them all.
We showed him what Drontal looks like. Small, yellow, round pills. What they got in their container was long, white, oblong pills.
Did you guess acetaminophen? Because that's what it looks like and it matches all the symptoms. The seller had most likely counterfeit swapped a very cheap Tylenol tablet for very expensive Drontal tablets in an effort to max profits.
They rushed their cats in to us and all of them were in distress. Threw them in what oxygen kennels we could while the owners made the difficult decision on what to do.
They elected to euthanize every single cat. They lost every single one of their pets in a single night. Because they trusted someone online. Because the prognosis was poor and even with treatment, a lot of these cats wouldn't make it home. Because they didn't want them to suffer.
While we were heartbroken for them and the ER was a very solemn place as we helped each cat over the rainbow bridge, this is a day that those owners will remember and agonize about for the rest of their lives. There are few things as life shattering as something traumatic like this.
Someone is going to hate the owners for euthanizing or hate us as the vets for not treating them for free so let's talk about that.
Acetaminophen toxicity in cats is VERY deadly. It destroys the red blood cells ability to carry oxygen (you know that thing we need to breathe and survive). All 7 of these cats would have needed to be in an oxygen kennel for days, while getting an expensive, hard to get medication called acetylcysteine every 6 hrs or so.
Problems to start: we only had 2 cat oxygen kennels and 1 dog kennel. We had to shove most of the cats in the dog kennel and 2 others in the cat kennels. Obviously not ideal. We didn't even HAVE enough of the medication to give every single cat a 1st dose of the medication. Then it takes 2-3 days to get more. Most clinics don't even carry it, and if they do its only 1 bottle or so at a time. Also they have to get it 7 to 17 TIMES before maybe the cat wins or dies! (Again, they are staying at a vet clinic on oxygen during this whole time while their body TRIES to make new red blood cells that can carry oxygen).
These cats were going to have to be split up between multiple clinics to be managed. If they survived the trip to the next clinic at all.
Also doing blood work on every cat to see if they are going to go into liver failure as a complication and then then needing treatment for that.
Now times all of that by 7 cats. You're looking at at least $2k (very conservative low end) for each cat but probably more based on complications. And with how fast symptoms started, I would guess these were high dose acetaminophen tabs.
Someone is going to say well the vets should have done it for free. I'm sorry that that isn't how the world works. The staff must be paid, the bills must be paid, the oxygen company we were using must be paid, the medication companies must be paid, the lights must be able to stay on to treat the next case that walks in the door. We would love to work for free if we could. The money talk is the hardest one we have. But if life saving things were free, the grocery stores would give away free food and we would have free health care. It certainly doesn't work that way in animals, where in most states they are considered property, not living creatures/family members.
If you're still with me, the points of this story are:
1) please don't buy medications online except from your vet or a pharmacy. You have no idea where those products are coming from.
2) I know everything, including vet care, has gotten expensive, but I promise we are trying to help keep your animals healthy and happy. Work with your vet to figure out what your pet actually needs and where to get it from.
3) if it seems like too good a deal online, it probably is.
4) never ever give your animal an over the counter pain medication without consulting with your vet. While these owners didn't know they were giving their cats acetaminophen, hundreds of cats per year die because their owner gives them tylenol for pain, not realizing it is incredibly toxic, very expensive to treat, and mostly fatal based on the dose.
5) in an effort to save money by treating your animals at home, most owners will actually spend way more money in the long run or have disastrous results because the home remedy doesn't work and now complications have set in.
EDIT: just got an update that the owners came back today and brought the pills with them. They WERE acetaminophen tablets, 500 mg each. They followed the directions on the bottle and each cat got 1.5-2 tablets for a total of 750 mg for the 8 lb cats, and 1000 mg for the over 10 lb cats.
Hug your babies a little tighter today because someone else will go home without theirs today.
Dr. Parker

02/23/2025

02/15/2025

Https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2035/feb/12/many-birds-of-paradise-species-emit-light-through-their-plumage-study-finds

02/15/2025

Https://phys.org/news/2025-02-simulation-wolves-domesticate-evolve-dogs.html

A team of mathematicians and statisticians from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the University of Tennessee and Valparaiso University, all in the U.S., has found new evidence that wolves had ample time to self-domesticate and evolve into modern dogs. In their study published in the journal Pr...

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Www.earth.com/news/major-cause-of-honeybee-mortality-can-be-easily-reduced/

02/15/2025

Www.scientificamerican.com/artcle/sea-turtle-dance-reveals-a-hidden-magnetic -ability/

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

02/15/2025

News.ufl.edu/2025/02/horse-blindness-study/

A team of scientists are working to prevent blindness in horses and could one day help people with the same condition.

02/15/2025

Apnews.com/ article/bird-flu-cdc-vets-e468e1dec4c4344c4719fob23be00540
People may be infected with bird flu, spreading it, and no symptoms.
Cats are highly susceptible, keep them inside.

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