Guardian Animal Hospital

Guardian Animal Medical Center

Treating children of pet parents

We really do care!

MJ Wixsom, DVM MS

Dr Wixsom's random thoughts

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Guardian Animal Medical Center

and

Mj Wixsom (look for the Guardian Animal sign.)

October 2009

We are well into the new building. The new folks that we have met are wonderful. We have some wonderfully talented artists in the area! We hope to be able to set up a area to display some of this art.

We are able to offer a lot better and more services in our new building. More space, more equipment makes it easier to do better.

We would have never been able to help NineLives Rescue with there 52 cats before. Here it did not even affect normal medical cases or boarding cases. We do still have a few of there cats and will probably keep a few for adoption. This and wildlife rehab are a form of community service that we do.

By the way, we have had some animals dropped off in boxes. We cannot keep or take pet animals because of liabilty conserns unless we know the owner. Both county shelters are more than willing to help. And of course, you should get your pets spayed or neutered.

Greenup and City of Flatwoods taxes were a shock, but we will recover. Your referrals have allowed us to maintain the same prices that we had over a year ago!

Now, if we can only finish moving and unpacking all the boxes. MJ:)

PS We are on Face Book. Mj Wixsom and look for the Guardian Animal sign!

We have moved! Finally!

After a few false starts, we are moved in! Open House went well. The mayors of both Flatwoods and Russell attended. We gave out about 78 self guided tour sheets to groups of 1 to 5 attendees. All staff members happily said they had a little sore throat by the time we closed open house.

So now we continue to work out of boxes until the cabinets come in and try to get things cleaned up and put up. As we work in the new facility, we continue to evaluate the process and develop efficient systems. Some things that worked well at the old building, do not work here. Other things just were not possible at the old building. Please, bear with us as we continue to work things out. So many things are going to be so much better here.

By the way, we would really like to say THANKS!

Thanks to Citizens National Bank for working with us on this project and for believing in me.

Thanks to Don McClelland and his crew, Luke, Holbrook, Joe, Butch and Donnie for getting it right and getting us in. Don is a great contractor and it has been wonderful working with him. Don was responsible for his guys and working with Genesis Electric, Ashland Furnace, Sentry Fire Protection, Jeff Long and Cooper Glass. All did quality work. Thanks Guys!

Thanks to my staff who put in long, hard, late hours of packing, moving, cleaning, opening and finding. (And still have a lot to do.)

Thanks to Jay and Julia Moore who showed up around their real jobs to provide brains, brawn and moral support. I couldn't have asked for their help, but probably needed it more than I could admit.

And thanks to Matt and M'Kinzy who help and put up with me and my "hare" brained projects!

MJ:)

We Are Moving!

It is official, we have purchased (okay, technically, Citizens National Bank pretty much owns it, but they let us think we do) the Sav-a-Lot building on Dietrich Blvd. We are busy remodeling, fixing and getting new equipment for what will be a nice building.

We are not raising prices, but we do need to see an extra 5 patients a day. So, tell your friends and neighbors.

This is the old view. New view coming soon!

Sled Dogs 2009

Well, the daffodils are coming up, I have even seen a few that are blooming. Crocuses are up and definitely in full bloom. It is spring and I am headed to Alaska for my last Iditarod on the trail.

I find that I am getting to old to work all night and not have enough food (too frozen to eat) or drink (fuel freezes so you cannot thaw snow). It is not a lot of fun to get dropped off by the pilot 2 miles from the check point with all of your gear and walk in just to find out that nobody called to tell them you were coming.

Of course, the athletes are an honor to work with. The dogs are doing what they love to do. The villages are an interesting education. And you meet a lot of characters. Oh wait, I guess I am one of them also. And when I get back it is definitely spring and I feel like I have earned it.

See you on the trail!

Merry Christmas! December 2008

I find this year that I am thankful for a lot more things. Not that I have a lot more, but in these more difficult times, I am more aware of what is really important.

In my spare time, I have been teaching science to the fourth grade Advance Learning Program (ALP) on Wednesday mornings. We have spent the semester studying declining shark populations. We have learned that our purchases of Chinese goods drive up the market for shark fin soup, which means 100 million sharks a year die. The class and I are much more aware of where our ‘stuff’ is made and are trying to make wise choices.

Obviously, teaching is a lot of work. I have been asked why I do it. I do volunteer a lot. I teach this class, co-lead a Girl Scout Troup, do wildlife rehabilitation and release, volunteer as a trail vet on dog sled races, mentor a student at Russell, hatched chickens in the classroom last year and headed up the daffodils in Central Park. To me, it is just part of giving back. A lot of people volunteer their time, it is part of what makes America great.

But gifted kids are different. When kids are different below the mean, there are programs and federal funding. But it is just as out of sync to be above average, but we have the same (or now less) funding as 17 years ago. Some of these kids are so different that others make them feel stupid, when they are really quite smart. These are the kids that need help.

Meanwhile things are going well at the hospital. We are contemplating a new building, but things seem to take a lot of time. Our staff turnover three years ago has worked out well and things seem to get taken care of better.

M’Kinzy, Matt, Ranger, Half and I are doing well. M’Kinzy is doing much better in school this year and I’m enjoying relearning fourth grade math. I will head to the UP200 and the Iditarod this year.

Happy Holidays!

MJ Wixsom, DVM MS

PS found this too funny link, but please don't try this at home

http://www.fluffytails.ca/christmas.asp

And Matt and M’Kinzy and Ranger and Half and Tequila and turtles and fish and …..

And Dennis, Jan, Brenda, Stephanie, and Casey

Sept 2008 After going to Space Camp, three aquariums, Spanish camp (Concordia Language village), sleeping over at the Zoo and camping with Girl Scouts, I finally got to do something fun for me.

Not that Space Camp in Huntsville, Al was not fun. For less money than some camps, you stay in a space habitat with your kid and experience camper housing and food. (It is only for the weekend.) We did get to go on some pretty cool simulators. A 1/6 gravity chair was the favorite and the 3-D inverter spinner thing was a not fun for all of us. The small child did an excellent job of mission controller. All in all a good experience. http://spacecamp.com/

And the Georgia Aquarium with whale sharks http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/ was even better than the Ripley's aquarium in TN http://www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com/ .We thought both were excellent even though two groups of 60 plus elementary kids viewed 'with' us.

Concordia Language Village hosted the small child's Spanish camp. Since parents were not invited, we went canoe camping in the Boundary Waters area. As most of you know, I am game for just about any outdoor activity. However, I will not be going back to the Boundary Waters any time soon (read my lifetime). The portages were mere feet from the rapids and unmarked. The mosquitoes were extremely abundant and thirsty. They were so loud that at night that is all you could hear. Some rapids were not on the map. Twenty-four hours into the four day trip, it became an endurance event. The only good thing is that the bear that came in our campsite, left when I woke Matt up.

We did also find time to host a Jamaican Independence day celebration. (Because the food is good and it was around the small child's birthday.) But of course, as Matt points out, a party is a lot of work.

But this month, I finally got to do something that I had been wanting to do for 30 years. I donned a helmit and harness and went rock climbing with U-Climb http://www.uclimb.org (Funny thing, I asked all my friends and not one of them wanted to go with me.) I must say that 30 years ago, it was much easier to make my way up the side of the cliff. I'm not sure that I was the oldest one there, but I definately made the top five. Certainly nobody volunteered that they were older than me. Finally on the second day, I did make it 30 feet or so up. There are pictures somewhere, but I hope they don't show up from when I was dangling--uh, I mean regaining my holds.

BTW Not me in the photo!

Aug 2008 Well, I think we have pretty much proven that I am not a successful blogger. Although some old college classmates might not think it is reason enough, I have been rather busy.

Guardian Animal Hospital is busy preparing for a voluntary American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) inspections. It allows us to reevaluate the hospital with the input of external professionals. Although we are doing everything required, we are finding that many things are policy, but not written protocol. Putting things in writing will help communications and therefore service.

Meanwhile, we are getting ready to start our fourth year of Girl Scouts. In our three years we have awarded over 400 awards and Try-its, slept over at the zoo twice, been on numerous field trips and sold a LOT of cookies. Fall product sales start in Sept if you want anything.

I have volunteered to teach the ALP forth grade class science this year. We will be doing a intensive project on declining shark populations. I read an article in the NAGC newsletter that a group of fourth grade kids could accomplish as much as an adult committee, so we are going to try. While I would have preferred to teach my own child at Russell, I am looking forward to working with Mrs Montague. I’m doing a fair amount of studying to learn about sharks. Another few weeks and I may know as much as Small Child.

Speaking of the Small Child, educating her is continuing to be a fair amount of work. She does seem to be settling into Russell-McDowell a little better. (I am becoming quite knowledgeable about gifted education, if you need help, call me.) She is very excited about orchestra, but refused to try out for the cross country team. J She continues in Tae Kwan Do and should be taking a yellow belt exam soon.

I am still feeling the effects of a mid life crisis. I think 28 years of marriage is a little too much to risk, but I did sign up for a rock climbing course and if you know of a good, inexpensive, almost new motorcycle for sale, let me know! J

27 Jan 2006 This is a busy time of year for me. I just got back from the NAVC conference and The Race to the Sky is in less than a week and then back and then off to the UP200. Follow the action at http://www.racetothesky.org and http://www.UP200.org . I have not worked the Race to the Sky before and honestly cannot remember if I have ever been to Montana or not. (I don't think so.) The more that I work with these dogs the more that I am impressed with the amount of care and attention they get.

Feb is going to be a busy month for the staff also. Most are going to the OVMA conference in Columbus at the end of the month. Lots of good information and ideas.

I am still sorting through the NAVC Orlando conference information that I brought back. With 14 hours of continuing education in a single day, there is a lot that gets brought back for later. M'Kinzy and Matt went with me and checked out Dinoland and Seaworld. (Matt said he was on mouse overload from last May.)

One of the education events was an all day lab and class on acupuncture. I don't think it will replace traditional Western medicine at Guardian Animal Hospital, it is something that may benefit some cases. Call us if you have questions.

I will be trying to update this page monthly and get some other things on the website working better. However, it does seem that I have one or two other things around here that I have to do also.

MJ Wixsom, DVM MS

Don't forget to look at www.Iditarod.com also! And yes, I really do have all my survival gear packed!