Desert Cross Veterinary Hospital

08/28/2026

Due to a rabid bobcat in the area we have been asked to do a rabies clinic in Young, Arizona. We will be there Tuesday September 1st. Details on flyer.

08/17/2026

In 2019 the rescue from the reservation, GART, brought in a dog in a kennel that had been part of a feral colony and was injured. It was a black and white, middle aged, shepherd type female that was not much more than skin and bones, well, what skin had not been burned off with some kind of acid that had been thrown on her. Her nose was burned off, skin on her head and her back was burned off. The nostrils had started to scar down so much she couldn’t breathe through her nose and she was feral and didn’t want to be touched.

We anesthetized her with injectable meds and pulled her out of the crate. We clipped the hair and removed the dead flesh and put her in a kennel in the back. We couldn’t touch her but we needed her to eat for a few days and get some antibiotics and anti inflammatories in her and just get strong enough to under go the first of what would be several surgeries required to open her nasal passages up so she could breathe.

Over the course of the next few weeks I performed three different surgeries on her nose. Removing scar tissue, trying to reconstruct the tissue so that it would constricted less. I spayed her and we treated her for tick disease. She slowly gained weight and while she still would not allow you to touch her she would look at you with a smile on her face and wag her tail. Her name because Esther Suzy.

Because she was so scared of people and wary of being touched I didn’t want to adopt her out and have her end up in a bad situation or someplace where someone only cared about her for her story and not for her. We had another reservation dog in at the same time named Joy Joy and I loved Joy Joy and decided that I would let the two of them become barn dogs. They could live in the barn at night and then be out during the day and it would give them a sense of freedom but still have attention and love as much as they wanted from humans.

Joy Joy decided that she needed to climb up on the counter and knock over and eat the container of fly bait. It was a seriously bad day. Esther Suzy must have thought that there was a demon in the barn because as soon as I opened the door she ran out and ran back to the clinic and laid down amongst my dogs by the back door. That night when I went to leave and was trying to decide what to do with Esther Suzy she got up and followed my dogs outside and over to my house and there she decided to stay.

Esther was the best dog. She required zero effort or attention. She lived in the house for probably 4 years before she decided that she wouldn’t dart away every time you tried to pet her. As long as she could eat and lay on the couch, she was very happy. Her whole face would light up when the treats were brought out and I never had to worry about her messing in the house. She did despise the fly zapper and summers would find her mostly staying in my bedroom going outside only to eat and go to the bathroom.

Her muzzle with her no nose started to grey. I had no idea how old she was but I knew that she was getting closer to the end as she was choosing some days not to get off her bed in the bedroom but rather preferred that I bring her treat to her. Two weeks ago Qbert was whining and kept pacing back and forth and putting his big ol mug on my bed next to my head and breathing loudly. After I got up he went to the bedroom door and whined and acted all nervous. I asked him why a 165 # Boerboel was afraid of ol Esther Suzy lying in front of the door. I walked out the door and bent down as I asked Esther why she wouldn’t let Q out and Esther had chosen to leave this earth on her own terms. I smiled as I thanked her for not making me have to make the decision and doing it on her own.

Sometimes it is the dogs that we never expect, let’s be honest and say we never would have chosen or maybe didn’t want, that turn out to be the very best dogs ever! That was Esther Suzy. The burned and scarred dog that loved life and was just happy to be fed and to have a dog bed or couch to sleep on. I miss her big ol eyes and her smile but I hope that she is having a great day chasing all the cats on the other side of the rainbow bridge away from pain and fear.

If you are looking for your next best dog, we have a dozen dogs from the reservation that need homes. Three of them were puppies that were found abandoned in a wash when they were probably 4 weeks old. We brought them to the clinic and got them healthy and let them grow up so we could spay and neuter them. There are two mamma dogs that were brought in by the rescue that were starving as they were trying to feed their babies. 12 babies between the two of them. They were supposed to go to the humane society but they never had any room so we spayed them and they have all their shots and need some couch to call their own. Their babies are about 2 months old and they are currently getting their vaccinations and they can find a yard of their own as well.

We would love to be able to find homes for all of our residents so that we have room to help more dogs that need some place to get well and healed and can get a chance to find their home. Nothing will love you more than a reservation dog!

08/14/2026

We all drive through the reservation on our way to Phoenix and we see the dogs on the side of the road and what we see is just a very small percentage of the dogs that need help and need veterinary care.

Desert Cross has been doing what we can to help the animals of the San Carlos Apache reservation for the past decade but we have not been able to even make a dent in the overpopulation and disease issues on the reservation.

Through our non profit and in conjunction with GART we are going to fundraise and try to work with the tribe to get property and put up a building that will have a section for animals awaiting foster and rescue, a place to store dog and cat food, and finally a small area for a surgery table and small clinic where we can go once a week and do routine spays and neuters and basic care of the animals on the reservation.

To be able to do this we need your help. We need money. We need a contractor that puts up steel buildings. We need people willing to be a part of something that is bigger than all of us. We need grants, we have a grant writer if you have knowledge of grants please send them our way.

We will be putting together a presentation to go before the tribal elders and if nothing else I would appreciate your prayers that we can put forth the effort and the energy to get this project going and help the animals of the San Carlos Apache Reservation.

In this extended Heartware Story, we return to Arizona's San Carlos...

08/13/2026

Who needs a social life when you have a dog at home that already loves you and is waiting for you!

08/07/2026

It always slows down around the beginning of the school year. People are doing their back to school shopping and using their hard earned money on their two legged children and that leaves little left for the four legged ones. The staff always enjoys the little break and I like it for about half a day and then I get antsy and feel like I am not doing enough. It is amazing how one gets conditioned to their environment be it too slow or too busy and anything outside that norm can be stressful.

The morning was the perfect mixture of surgeries and walk ins. I then went out to the office in the barn and took a nice nap. I was tired and I got a good hour long nap and came back for the afternoon appointments feeling pretty good. I had just finishing with the first appointment when the receptionist came into the room and said there was a dog in route that had been attacked by another dog and its guts were all outside its body and it would arrive in about 5 minutes. I finished my conversation and left the room and told the tech what we were doing for the dog and walked up front right as the emergency was coming in the door.

I hurried up to the very distraught owners and took the box and headed to the back getting the attention of some of the techs on the way back to the surgery table. The poor little dog was so scared and her abdomen had been torn open and her stomach and liver and some intestines were trying to escape. We got her anesthetized and placed a catheter and got shock fluids going and I set about trying to see if I could put her back together.

The organs all seemed healthy but there was a huge chunk of flesh missing from the abdominal wall and she had a crushed chest with several holes in it. We washed and cleaned everything and put it all back where it belonged and I went about trying to close the defect. It was not easy but she was small and so the tension was not as bad as it could have been. One of the techs had her finger over the hole in her chest as I concentrated on fixing the abdomen and the little dog was doing ok under anesthesia considering all that was wrong.

After getting her abdomen put back together I set about fixing the holes in her chest and when all was done we bandaged her up and turned off anesthesia. This is when they crash, they always crash after you put everything you have into trying to save them. You get your hopes up and they seem like they are holding up and then they crash and die. The scene generally is a small bit like the TV shows where drugs are grabbed and given and the strong attempt to will them to live and then it is over and they are gone and you are left with the feeling that you failed but you know that you did everything but it still doesn't make the feeling go away so you file it, close the drawer in your head and move on.

I had been in a room telling the owners all that had been done when the tech came in the room to tell me that I was needed in the back. I then had to go back into the room and tell the family, mom, dad and daughter, that their precious little dog was dead! It is a horrible thing! In so many ways it is a horrible thing. I walked out of the room to a lobby overflowing with people and pets because I had just spent 45 minutes trying to save a dog and I had failed and now I had to somehow make it all up to all of them who had been waiting and waiting and waiting.

The next time you are sitting in your doctors office or the vets office and you are waiting and your appointment time comes and goes and you are still out there waiting and getting more pi**ed by the minute, stop! Doctors, vets, any medical professional has an incredibly demanding job! You have no idea what they have had to do or tell someone that has taken everything in them and a whole lot of their time to be who they needed to be for that person and their loved ones! You sit there in your chair in the lobby and you post angry posts on social media and that doctor or vet has been in a room telling someone they have cancer or their animals is dying or needs to be euthanized or worse that their child has cancer or they are having to tell someone that they have no idea what is wrong with them or their pet and this is what the next step is and there are always so many questions!

Medical professionals don't just see people or animals and treat them, they have to be everything that person needs right thing and there! All day, all the time, for every person that walks in the door! I spent an hours time trying to save one dog and failed but I wouldn't change it for the world because that is my job! That is what I do! Your doctor is doing their job and it is a hard job and it involves people who are not predictable and don't fit into a box on an appointment schedule! How many times do you go in for one thing and then say, by the way since I am here, and ask a bunch of other questions about different ailments or issues with your child or whatever! Everyone does it and yet everyone gets so upset and pi**ed off at the doctor for doing their best to accommodate each person and be whatever that person needs!

The next doctor of any kind that you have an appointment with, remember that that man or woman you are waiting so impatiently on could have just had to spend an hour or more telling a family their child has cancer and this is what is about to happen next. Or maybe they held the hand of someone who was alone and is sick and just needed comfort. Or they just killed the persons only companion or had to tell someone with cancer that their dog was dying of cancer. Or maybe they just came from the hospital where they had to do emergency surgery and it was or maybe it wasn't a good outcome!

Doctors carry a huge burden every single day and your outrage at having to wait in the lobby just adds to it! They aren't making you wait to be a jerk, they are trying to and be everything to everyone who is in front of them!

We live in a world where people are increasingly selfish and impatient and unreasonable and it makes everyones life miserable! The world doesn't revolve around you! It is here for all of us and when you are a doctor in a room with a person your world revolves around that person right there and that is how you want it to be as well! If it had been your dog that you had rushed through the door with you would have wanted it to be my number one priority and to give it all my time right there! Extend that same need to others who need to be number one for a bit!

We need to change the culture of our world and it starts with all of us being being a lot more kind! Give the professionals in your life a break! Come prepared to wait and not get upset about it because one day it might be you in that room who needs more than your scheduled appointment time and needs that same doctor to give you all of who they are at that moment!

08/03/2026

Desert Cross Veterinary Hospital is a privately owned long time veterinary hospital in a small rural community. We understand that just because one is financially unable to afford thousands of dollars that does not mean that you love your dog or cat less.

Because we are privately owned our ability to do surgery at a more economical cost, because we do not answer to shareholders, is something that we work very hard to maintain.

Our doctors are good surgeon and our staff is top notch. You do not need to be a client nor stay a client we just want to help you help your dog or cat and not feel like the only answer is euthanasia.

07/30/2026

It is with very deep sadness that we share with all our loyal and wonderful clients that our beloved clinic cat Popeye crossed over the rainbow bridge this morning.

Popeye and his sister Olive were brought into the clinic by someone local who had found them floating in a tree well after a rainstorm. They were only about 3 weeks old and cold and pretty much dead.

I was in the middle of surgery and they brought the two wet bedraggled kittens back to the surgery room wrapped in a blanket. I figured they would be dead before I finished surgery and had it not been for Jenna they probably would have been. She rubbed them and warmed them up and asked if we could give them a chance.

Those two stubborn kittens had pus running out of their eyes and their temperatures were too low to read but they had fight and they lived and grew. Olive lost one eye because of the severity of the infection and Popeye lost both of this eyes.

Olive was adopted by some incredible clients and lived a great life until she got sick and got to go be with those clients on the other side about 8 or 9 years ago.

Popeye was half a year shy of 15 and he lived the very best life here at the clinic. He was dearly loved by the front desk staff and so many of our amazing clients. He will be very missed but I know that he is up there greeting all his fans who have gone on before him. They will have lots of good stories to share and love to give.

07/28/2026

We have been getting some rain and while I have not seen a bunch of toads at my house, yet, there are starting to be some and I am sure that other places with more rain have more than their fair share of toads. This post is generalized information only! Please call your veterinarian with your questions or concerns and schedule an appointment to visit with them for more in depth treatments options and greater concerns that are not addressed in this post.

The most prevalent and abundant toad in our area is the Arizona toad. Most of the fat critters that you find on your porch or in your house, as seems to happen a lot to me, are just the run of the mill Arizona toad. We also have the Sonoran Desert toads which are the ones that are to be feared.

How do you know if your toad in your yard that you do not want is an Arizonan toad or a Sonoran Desert toad? Well, first thing I would do is go to Dr Google and look at pictures. The Sonoran toad is more green, like a lot more green than the Arizona toad which tends to be more brown and lumpy. Find your toad, go to Dr Google and compare it to the images and then take a deep breath and go grab your dog.

99% of the time they will be frothing and foaming at the mouth and gagging or vomiting. Take a good hold of them and find the garden hose for the big dogs or your kitchen sink for the little dogs and run water from the back or their mouth forward for 10-20 minutes! Yes, an eternity!

Do NOT water board your dog! Do not stick the hose or faucet in the front of their mouth and drown them!! Go from the back forward! This does two things, it washes out the toxin, which is oily and that is reason you need to do it for so long and two, it makes your dog think you are trying to kill them which activates their adrenaline and the adrenaline counteracts the toxin and that is a good thing!

After spending what will feel like forever trying to not drown your dog, take them for a car ride, go for a run, throw the ball, go do something that they love to do if you can get them to do it. This activates their adrenaline and counteracts the toxin. I can not tell you how many dogs I have had to go in for on emergency that were almost comatose when the owner called and by the time they got to me are all back to normal because their adrenaline from the car ride had stimulated them and reversed the effects of the toxin.

If they do find a Sonoran Toad that your dog chewed on, played with, licked, or ate, you had better act fast and be on really good terms with God because prayer might be the only thing that saves them. In my experience the dogs that get the Sonoran or Colorado river toads are dead before they can even get to the vet and even if they do get to us there is no antitoxin and supportive therapy generally just isn’t enough. You should absolutely wash their mouth out because the less venom they absorb the better your chances.

Bottom line, before letting your dog out at night, you go out first and walk around the porch and yard and check for toads or take your dog out on a leash. Your dog needs you to inconvenience yourself to keep them safe because they are like a two year old and are doing everything they can to make sure they know you love them by getting into as much trouble as they possibly can.
The top toad is the Sonoran Desert Toad and the bottom toad is your run of the mill Arizona Toad.

07/19/2026

It is hot and we have gotten some rain and the mesquite trees are putting out pods which means that your horses will become increasingly susceptible to mesquite bean impactions in the weeks and months to come. There are things that you can do to help decrease the likelihood that your horse will become impacted.

1- Do NOT leave them out with access to the beans 24/7. I get it, I know that they have eaten them their whole lives but it still doesn't decrease the chance of them becoming impacted.

If your horses are out in pasture heavy with mesquite trees, pull them in for 12 hours each day. That might look like turning them out during the day where they can be in the trees for shade and then gathering them at night and tossing a bit of hay to them and keeping them locked up so their guts can process the beans that they ate that day.

2- WATER! It is so important that they have access to fresh, clean water! If you have an old stock tank that looks like the bottom of a pool that hasn't been cleaned in two years, you are setting them up to become impacted. No one wants to drink that water and they will not consume as much water as they need to to break down the beans and keep them from becoming impacted.

3- exercise. Make sure they aren't just sitting under the trees eating all day. Horses are often like us people and if the food is available they will camp there and eat it and never leave and the gut works best when it eats and then moves. Make sure you are going out and riding or at least making them move around throughout the day.

Your horse can't read this post so it is depending on you to take care of it and reduce its potential to becoming impacted with mesquite beans. I will tell you that mesquite bean impactions are incredibly hard to get to break down once they set up and often lead to death if you are unable to afford colic surgery. Prevention is key in helping your horse not become another statistic.

07/08/2026

The temps are hot hot hot! It is incredibly important this time of year to be aware of what your dog and all your animals for that matter are experiencing when they are outside.

If you leave your dogs outside during the day please please make sure they are NOT tied up where they can get tangled and not able to get to their water. Make sure they have lots of clean water and that water in a dish or container that they can not knock over or crawl in and is big enough to provide them water for more than just one day. Make sure they have access to shade.

Every year we have dogs come in that have tragically developed heat stroke and many if not most of them die. They are wearing a fur coat that they can't take off and it is just hot so please be aware of what your dog is experiencing and make sure they have everything they need to be outside or better yet, just keep them inside except to go out and go to the bathroom.