Morthland Animal Clinic

06/20/2025

⛱ First day of summer = officially time for sun, fun, and pet-friendly everything!

☀️ Make sure to wear sunscreen and stay shaded and cool while you have fun!

06/19/2025

Rex, the bearded dragon, came in for a first checkup and stole everyone's attention! We did a full physical and found that Rex is a female with an odd tail kink, but she is completely healthy! She gave us all the sass for her photo shoot, too!

06/18/2025

With warm summer weather comes our yearly advice to limit outdoor time for some pets. While some dogs love to lay in the sun or go for car rides, it may not be safe for very long before heat stress or heat stroke sets in.

Restrict time outdoors to under 10 minute potty breaks if your pet falls under any of these categories:
🌞Brachycephalic breeds (Persian cats, Boston terriers, Bulldog breeds)
🌞Cardiac disease pets
🌞Respiratory disease pets
🌞Diabetics
🌞Geriatric pets
🌞Obese pets

As always, if your pet needs immediate assistance, please call your local emergency or urgent care vet clinic en route to let them know you are coming in with an emergency.

06/17/2025

🇺🇲 It's less than 3 weeks away now!
Make sure to try calming techniques, supplements or medications BEFORE the actual fireworks. Every pet responds to medications differently so it may take 30 minutes or 2 hrs to take effect and may not work great in your pet while working well for others.
Talk to your vet now about your options for firework fears in your pets, make sure their ID tag is up to date in case they run in fear, and check to make sure fences gates and windows are all secure to prevent escape. Link below is a great resource for natural destressors as well as medication explainations!

Many pets are fearful and anxious when exposed to fireworks: a response may range from a momentary freeze to extreme panic characterized by bolting or escape attempts.

06/16/2025

Our yearly heartworm and tick test takes 3 drops of blood and 8 minutes to run. It tells you and your vet if your pet has been exposed to tick borne diseases like Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, ehrlichia, or all three. It also tells you if your pet has been infected by a mosquito that transmitted heartworms to your dog.
In all 4 diseases, it only takes 1 bite to develop into a lifelong health concern.
The sooner you and your vet know about your pets exposure and disease transmission, the sooner treatments can be started to prevent the progression of the disease or to eliminate the parasites. The longer these tick and mosquito borne diseases go undiagnosed, the more severe the symptoms are. In some cases, the damage becomes irreversible and sometimes even fatal.
As the workers in veterinary medicine, we hate seeing amazing dogs sick with a completely preventable disease when there are so many options for prevention to keep your pets safe. We use these monthly preventatives on our own pets to keep them safe and we fully support the products we sell because we trust the health of our pets to these products and see their efficacy.
Our wish is that every pet is tested yearly and kept on monthly preventative all year round so that they never have to deal with the 4 diseases on our yearly test.

&TickTesting

06/13/2025

We want everyone to enjoy a safe summer... with no ER trips!

It's always a good idea to have Benadryl tablets around the house in case of a sting/bite. If you can safely give your dog a pill, the dosage is 1mg per pound (so a 25 pound dog gets a 25mg pill, if needed round the dose up to the next pill- ie: 40lb dog would get 50mg)
If your pet is too swollen to swallow a Benadryl pill, get to an ER or Urgent care clinic ASAP!

06/12/2025

Just a little dirt in the ear, right???
Wrong.
Above the collar line, including ears, is the top area ticks are found!
Make sure to keep them protected with veterinarian recommended products and check them often for ticks!

06/11/2025

🐸 Toads! They are loving this weather and are active in our area right now. The kind of toads found in northwest Indiana are not the severely toxic kind found further south. The very toxic toads are usually quite large in comparison to our local fauna, typically about softball size, but they can get up to dinner plate size!

☣️ Many dogs and cats are interested in toads because of the unique way they move. If your pet has licked, caught, or put a toad in its mouth, then the secretions from the toad can cause some unwanted side effects. Most often, there will only be drooling or an upset stomach (with or without vomiting). If you notice your pet with a toad, please rinse their mouth with copious amounts of water to dilute any secretions and avoid their absorption.

⚠️ If any more serious symptoms arise like ataxia, lethargy, or any neurologic behavior is noted, please get to an Er/Urgent Care clinic immediately for treatment and take the toad or a photo of the toad for identification to better assist the treatment.

06/10/2025

🇺🇲 You know what will happen less than a month from now, but your pet doesn't. In the upcoming weeks, your neighbors will probably start setting off the fireworks they just bought or will do a test run on their setup before the big party. Don't let it sneak up on you! Be prepared!
🐕 Start by making sure your dog or cat has a quiet, comfortable area that they are familiar with. Don't start crate training or basement training them on July 1st; make sure you start that NOW.
If you know your pet is destructive and panicked with fireworks, please call your veterinarian NOW. If your pet hasn't been seen for an exam in the last year, you'll need to be seen for an exam before the holiday to get sedatives for your pet, so DONT WAIT!
🎇 A few tips to help with training and the actual holiday fireworks are listed below:
Give them toys, treat puzzles like a frozen Kong, and their comfort items like a blanket or shoe or stuffed animal they love.
Close curtains and doors to eliminate the visual stimulus and sound-proof the room as much as possible.
Put on a radio or TV for distracting noises. You can download apps for firework noises and play that around your pet in the upcoming weeks to get them used to the noises on a softer level.
If they need a sedatives give it to them at dinner so that it is effective by the time its dark and fireworks start going off. Some meds need 2 hours to take effect.

06/09/2025

What a beautiful king snake! Skadi was in for his yearly examination and got a fantastic report from Dr Bell.

😍

06/06/2025

❓️❓️ Why is it important to have a good relationship with your primary vet?

✅️ When your pet is sick or injured and needs an appointment its good to have a primary vet who knows you and your pet and can squeeze them in quickly. New clients are rarely seen immediately in veterinary medicine except at ER/Urgent Care clinics because most clinics are scheduled by appointment and are fully booked quickly. It's also good to have a vet who is familiar with your pet so that they aren't injured as well as scared of a new place and new people when they're not feeling well.

✅️ Routine care like vaccines should be done at your primary vet for multiple reasons. Your vet knows your family, your pet, and the environment they live in so they can give the best recommendations for your pets preventative care to keep them and your family safe and healthy. Getting vaccines at a pop-up vaccine service does not include aftercare if your pet is sore the next day or has a reaction to a vaccine, but we do that at your primary vet. Seeing your primary vet for vaccines also gives the vet a chance to see your pet in "normal" condition so that its easier for them to know when your pet is abnormal. Knowing your pet helps us diagnose them more easily and often times without lots of expensive testing.

✅️ It's fantastic to have a good relationship with your primary vet for any refills, prescription food, or medications you might need for your pets. It is required by law to have a current exam (within the last 365 days) for a vet to give or prescribe a medication for your pet. If you have a yearly appointment, then you can get firework sedatives, carsickness meds, or monthly preventatives for your pet and your vet has all of their medical history and current weight to safely prescribe medications.

✅️ We love seeing you! We build strong relationships with animals and owners and it not only makes our job more fulfilling, but we consider your pets part of our family too.

06/05/2025

Minnie's Mass Injection
Minnie had a mass growing on her toe that wasn't painful or infected but slowly kept getting bigger. Initially, she was treated for a suspected foreign body (like a splinter) but was not fully responding to that treatment. The mass was then sampled with a needle and sent to a pathologist who determined that the growth was a mast cell tumor. Mast cell tumors are malignant cancer growths that are invasive and typically spread fast.
Next, Minnie had a blood profile run and chest radiographs done to make sure there were no other traces of cancer hiding in her body before determining the best treatment course for her.
After a clear xray and healthy bloodwork, Minnie had two treatment choices. Because the mass was growing and had encompassed at least two toes, the surgical option was to remove the mass and at least the two affected toes and possibly even the leg if it had spread too far to fully remove all affected tissues with clear margins. Her second option was to use a newer drug to target and kill the mast cells and their blood supply. Minnie's family researched both options and decided to try the drug first, knowing that it could fail and then amputation would still be necessary.
Minnie was treated with the drug by injecting it directly into the cancer cells and letting it eat away the mass slowly.
Pictured below are photos from her journey on the day of her injection just before her treatment and throughout her recovery. While the drug targets only mast cells and their blood supply, it does leave an open wound once the tumor cells die and fall off. Minnie's family was fantastic about keeping her foot clean and keeping an E-collar on her the whole time so she didn't hurt the area any further by licking it. In 1 months time, she was back to her normal self and was able to keep all her toes! There is no sign of any remaining tumor, and no other tumors were spotted on her since her injection!
We love happy stories and hope everyone will wish Minnie a long, healthy, happy life with her family!