Jessica Vogelsang's Blog, page 9

The calm before the storm

Oh my goodness. One week from tomorrow and it’s going to be one of the most important days of my life: right up there with graduating, getting married, having my kids.

I will be an official published author. Aieeee!

I dreamed of this long before I thought about going to veterinary school, back when I was seven and I pulled every book off my shelf and artfully arranged them around the house playing bookstore ( Or was it library?)

When I sat under the kitchen counter reading National Geographic.

When I perched at the bus stop reading Piers Anthony, hoping today was the day the other kids at the bus stop would forget to throw spitwads at me.

To me, writing is transcendent: a waystation to another place or time where your life ceases to be front and center, if only for a moment. If you are fortunate and have chosen your book well, you return slightly better than when you left. If you are seeking respite when your choices are limited, books are a way to travel, to find camaraderie, to escape. Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin.

When I started writing, it was almost a compulsion, banging away at my dad’s IBM 5150 about unicorns or Weird Al or whatever it is that interests 10 year olds. It might have even been a story about Weird Al riding a unicorn, I don’t know. I printed the stories out on the dot matrix printer and presented them proudly to no one but my mother, who always said they were excellent even when they weren’t.

I thought we were tres sophisticated, since we didn’t use typewriters. After that, we progressed to Macs, which were even more amazing save one little blip:

These were the computers I used in high school when I was editor of the school paper, a job which taught me two things:

Writing can be tremendously powerful
I enjoy poking the badger (still do)

As the years have passed, the computers have gotten better but two things never changed: my desire to write and my mom’s support.

Authors are my heroes, and to be allowed into even the peripheral orbit is an honor I can’t describe. Well, I could, I guess, but you know what I mean. When I got the very first draft of my book, bound in blue construction paper and full of typos, my mother was frothing to read it and I said no, you have to wait until July 14th like everyone else.

Fortunately, I changed my mind.

She read it in a day and called to tell me all the things she thought about it, which were beautiful and joyful and redeeming. I am so glad my first review was from her. She told me once a few years back that she always wanted to write a book.

“About what?” I asked.

“Hobos,” she replied.

“Hobos?” I asked, completely confused.

 

“Yes, hobos, you know, the guys who rode the rails?” she asked.

“Any particular reason why?” I asked, since as far as I knew she had little experience with rail riding vagabonds from the Great Depression Era, though my Uncle Steve does come close.

“Nope,” she said.

And here I always thought I got my weirdness from Dad.

Nonetheless, it is her love of the word, the countless hours on her lap being read to and carted back and forth from the library, that comes to fruition next week. Obviously, I want the book to be successful because that’s the only way you get to write other books, and I already know what the titles will be because I am always dreaming and wishing and writing things in my head as I walk around.

I want it to do well, because I’m proud of it and I want others to enjoy it too. But even if that never happens, if this is as good as it gets on that front, I will never be prouder than I was the moment Mom teared up and told me how much she loved my book. And that, all by itself, is enough.

Charity Treat: Newflands Hoki Oil and AFARNYC

 

Perhaps you are the magnanimous sort. “Dr. V,” you say, “I ordered the book but I don’t need the free Halo or Sleepypod stuff or PetHub tag or Dog + Bone collars or Groom Genie or any of those items you are giving away, not even the awesome little activity book with coloring pages and a word search featuring ANALGLANDS and DEMODEX.” You are an ascetic. You don’t have a pet. You’re decluttering. OK, I get that.

But surely you aren’t opposed to a donation in your name, right? I have a treat for you.

Newflands is a New Zealand company, started by a veterinary nurse (don’t give me a hard time, that is what they are called in New Zealand) who was looking for an ethically sourced, sustainable brand of fish oil for her dogs. With none to be found, Fiona started her own brand, and Newflands Hoki Oil was born.

We all know that fish oil is a well-utilized and effective essential fatty acid supplement, with a high ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. Hoki is a fish native to the waters off the coast of New Zealand, but starting this summer it will be available in the United States through Newflands.

Newflands founder Fiona Robertson wanted to support my book campaign with a donation that would also give back to the community, so she suggested a donation of Hoki oil products to a US Charity. We selected Vets’ Pets, a program run by Angels for Animal Rights NYC helping veterans with low cost pet food, supplies, medicine, and deployment support. For every preorder Charity Treat, Newflands will donate a bottle of Hoki Oil to Vets’ Pets to support this wonderful program.

See? Win-win. A book for you, a donation for them. What could be easier?

How to Claim a Charity Treat 
1. Preorder 2 copies of All Dogs Go to Kevin (if you want them signed, get them from Warwicks)
2. Head over to the Treats Page and select “Shiny Happy Charity Treat”
3. Follow the instructions, including proof of purchase for 2 books
4. We’ll follow up in the coming weeks to confirm the order!

Safe and styling travel: The Auto treat featuring Sleepypod Clickit and PeaceLovePaws!

It’s summer- heck, the fourth of July is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, and you know what that means. Traffic. Sitting on the road. Making sure your pet doesn’t get carsick. That sort of thing.

Carsickness aside, the biggest risk to pets with travel is the danger of an unsecured pet- for the pet himself, and for you. Unsecured, a pet is a projectile during an accident, and even in minor crashes there is a very high rate of injury when pets escape and run into traffic. Even a secured pet might not be as safe as you think: there is no standard safety requirement for pet harnesses in cars, and many of them offer little more than a false sense of security.

I’ve often sung the praises of Sleepypod on the blog, and I do it because I believe in them. They don’t advertise here, they don’t pay me, and they don’t need to. Anyone who goes through the trouble of putting their harness through certified crash testing is aces in my book. The independent Center for Pet Safety has certified their products up to 75 pounds, which is a huge accomplishment.

The Auto Treat is a big one: A $50 off coupon towards the purchase of a Sleepypod harness or carrier, both of which I displayed to an entire school full of smokey hyperventilating parents when I had to evacuate the pets during the wildfires last year. I didn’t have time to stuff a freaked-out cat into a rigid carrier but this is a soft one you can plop the cat on top of and zip up around them, and THANK GOODNESS for that. Did I mention I love their products?

PeaceLovePaws

If this weren’t scoring enough, the Auto Treat also comes with an adorable car magnet from  PeaceLovePaws!

Peace. Love. Paws is a lifestyle and apparel company from Wisconsin founded by Alissa Gander. In addition to the super adorable selection of 5 inch car magnets, they carry apparel, bags, jewelry, and scarves.

All together the Auto Treat is valued at $57.99, which you get by purchasing a second copy of All Dogs Go to Kevin which costs a lot less than that. These treats are moving quickly, so jump on it now!

How to Claim an Auto Treat 
1. Preorder 2 copies of All Dogs Go to Kevin (if you want them signed, get them from Warwicks)
2. Head over to the Treats Page and select “Auto Treat”
3. Follow the instructions, including proof of purchase for 2 books
4. We’ll follow up in the coming weeks to confirm the order!

 

 

 

Bites for Books: Halo Pet Treat to Eat!

 

We are almost to the end of our treat selections and they are going fast! All you need to do is order 2 copies of the book and you get a treat- it’s like free goodies from heaven!

 

Today’s treat comes to you courtesy of Halo Pet Food, a long-time friend of the blog. They are ingredient-focused, with an emphasis on no chicken meal, by-product meal, or rendered meat.

You may be familiar with the brand as a highly philanthropic company, with their freekibble.com site donating hundreds of thousands of meals to pets in shelters. These things make me very happy.

As a thank you for those who preorder All Dogs Go to Kevin and choose the Treat to Eat, you will get a coupon for a free bag of Halo dog food up to $18 in value! One present for a friend and one present for your dog or cat. What beats that? (Sorry, couldn’t get a meet and greet with Ellen, but that would probably beat this. Barely.

Tags for Tomes: PetHub and Lost Pet Prevention Month!

July is Lost Pet Prevention Month, and that’s a huge deal. After all, the fifth of July is the single busiest day of the year for shelters, due to a cross-the-country habit of loud explosives sending panicked dogs and cats screaming out the door the night before.

If you think your pet is a flight risk, there’s still time! Talk to the vet about anxiety prevention measures before you need them. Acepromazine, that old stand-by sedative, is actually a terrible choice as it does nothing to alleviate the underlying anxiety; we have all sorts of better drugs in our arsenals now like clonidine and trazodone, but it’s best to have tried them out ahead of time and be aware of how your dog handles them before the explosions begin.

Should the unthinkable happen, here’s a few tips for getting your pet back asap:

Have a current picture readily available on your cell phone.
Use redundant identification measures. When your average person comes across a pet running down the street, they’re much more likely to make a quick phone call than take them to the local shelter to get identified with a microchip, so have both and make sure they are up to date. I can’t stress that one enough.

PetHub Premium Digital ID Tags

In addition to being microchipped and (sometimes) GPS tracked, Brody wears a digital Pet ID tag from PetHub and has done so for a few years now. The genius of this tag is the QR code, which links to a free online profile with multiple contact numbers (who doesn’t have 4 ways to get a hold of them these days?); the tollfree number allows people without readers to call and instantly get the same contact information and let the person know if the pet has a medical condition.

I mustache you to help me get home, good sir.

PetHub has generously offered fifty Premium ID tags as part of our treat preorder campaign! In addition to the tag of your choice you get a year of the spiffy premium service, which includes extra bennies such as instant found pet alerts, scanned location information, and shelter alerts. It’s good stuff, and easy as pie to implement.

The Tagging Treat is still available for All Dogs Go to Kevin preorders! Are you ready?

How to Claim a Tagging Treat
1. Preorder 2 copies of All Dogs Go to Kevin (if you want them signed, get them from Warwicks)
2. Head over to the Treats Page and select “Tagging Treat”
3. Follow the instructions, including proof of purchase for 2 books
4. We’ll follow up in the coming weeks to confirm the order!

Confessions of an Agnawstic

A few weeks ago, while my publicist was asking online dog lovers if they might be interested in reviewing my book, he came back with a question:

“Do you recommend Science Diet or raw?” he asked.

“It’s really not an either/or thing,” I said. “The book doesn’t talk about nutrition at all.”

“Well, one of the people we approached said they only write about things from a raw food perspective,” he said.

“Oh, then they don’t want my book,” I said. “It’s just from a dog lover’s perspective.” And that was that. Because here’s the truth, which is going to probably cause a few people’s heads to explode: when it comes to my belief about the omnipotent power of food, I’m an agnawstic.

 

 

This belief started, as many things do, with my own experiences with food evangelism: Atkins, paleo, etc, wash, repeat. For one brief, terrifying month my husband dropped down the rabbit hole known as “extreme diets.” Now, I can’t blame him for trying- I’ve tried them too over the years, but he’s never been on board. After years of ignoring my attempts at zoodles, banana “ice cream” and other current food trends on the paleo circuit, he announced one day he was “going keto.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Less that 20 net grams of carbs a day,” he said. “I heard it’s great for detoxing.”

“Did you find this on reddit?” I asked. He didn’t answer.

For the next 30 days, I learned what it is like for someone to be discovering enlightenment. He would follow the kids around the house asking them if they had any idea how much sugar was in their ketchup, pouring verboten salad dressings down the drain, and meaningfully wait until we were all in the room at the same time before turning on “Food Inc” on Netflix.

He preached fire and sugarstone, swallowing almonds with one hand while tossing pretzels in the trash with the other. He was flush with the light, or maybe just a little zany from ketotic acidosis, who knows. He says he felt great. He was online talking to people who gave up dairy, sugar, alcohol, gluten, fruit, potatoes, and on life in general and were now convinced their nuts were causing inflammation when he finally broke and had a fudgesicle. Now we are living a life of moderation together, and it is wonderful.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the idea of knowing what you are eating, and preparing it yourself, is a mighty fine thing. I try to avoid bread and pasta and sugar in favor of veggies, water instead of soda, but the last two months it was ALL CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE AND WINE and I didn’t feel bad about it at all. I have permission to meander in my choices. Good nutrition matters, but it isn’t the only thing that matters.

Life is balance, right? I eat well mostly and exercise a lot and don’t smoke and try to get enough sleep. Know who else did that? My mom. All my grandparents lived to 90 and she got brain cancer when she was 67 and she did everything right. It doesn’t mean I’m going to start lighting up. The CFO of Rady Children’s Hospital was killed a mile from my house during my mother’s memorial service while he was out riding his bicycle, being healthy. Sometimes shizz happens, and while diet matters, it’s no more a guard against bad luck than any of those other multitude of things in your life like genetics and a careless woman in a Range Rover.

Which brings me to what I refer to as “blog chum,” the words I always hesitate to type lest it attract a group of angry club wielding acolytes the way blood draws a Great White: Dog Food. I don’t care what you do with it. There. I said it.

You can feed a crappy kibble and your dog might live to 20 or he might look like he got run through a wood chopper.
You can feed a high quality kibble and your dog might live to 20 or he might get cancer when he’s 2.
You can feed raw poorly done and your dog might live to 20 or he might look like Casper when he’s 4 months old because he got nutritional hyperparathyroidism.
You can feed raw that someone balanced for you and your dog might live to 20 or he might get kidney failure when he’s 7.

That’s the way it works. Food is one piece of a really complicated puzzle, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. (Probably dog food, magazines, or coconut oil.)

Now clearly, my education (paid for without the aid of Big Pet Food, by the by) and my experience lead me to recommend that with which I am familiar- that would be commercial dog food- but if you want to feed your dog raw and you swear it’s the most amazeballs choice ever and your dog is the healthiest dog who ever walked the face of the earth, go forth and be happy, because I really don’t have the energy to fight over any of the following:

who taught me
who bought me
who sends me places
how much I make off selling food

If you want my opinion, I’ll give it, and I think it’s an educated one. I’ll listen to what you have to say, though I may not agree. If you have decided that my views on that one topic mean my years of experience and knowledge about all things animal health related are bunk, well, we might as well enjoy a lively discussion about the upcoming primaries while we’re at it because might as well go out with a bang.

And then I will go make a healthy chicken salad and wash it down with a glass of wine, because that’s what agnawstics do.

Grungy Dogs rejoice: Neat Treat Groom Genie and Paw Sponge are here!

When you live with a Golden, you get very accustomed to fur tumbleweeds skittering across the floor, wet footprints marking the tile, and a standing order for lint rollers. It just comes with the territory.

I’ve also become somewhat of a connoisseur of brushes; brushes for removing undercoats, for dematting, for general purpose grooming. So when I was sent an unassuming Groom Genie to test out, I figured, “here we go, another one for the grooming bin.” Then I tried it.

I don’t know what wizardry went into its construction, but this little brush is the bomb. Its handleless shape is meant to mimic you stroking your dog or cat, adding to its calming properties, but the real genius is in its bristles. Its bristles are different heights and have enough give so that it works by detangling without pulling. Brody leans into it and does that happy “hrrrmmm mmmmm hmmmm” groan when we pull it through his fur, even the long feathers that tend to get tangled.

My initial response was to run it through my daughter’s tangly hair, but before I could do that they also sent me a Knot Genie (the human version) to try out. My sister and I took turns grooming each other like ecstatic chimpanzees before declaring both of them the bees knees. It was the only brush that could detangle my mom’s hair without hurting her after 10 days of being unable to touch it due to her surgery, and for that alone I say, THIS ROCKS.

The Groom Genie is part one of the Neat Treat Package.

The Neat Treat is a Duo

The Paw Sponge is part two. Do you ever do that thing during rainy season where you have to cordon off the back door and tackle the dog, trying your best to wipe all the mud from between his toes with a dishtowel before he goes prancing over the carpet? Or those little wipes that only slick the mud around?

The Paw Sponge is an elegant solution: a mitten-like sponge that slips over the paw. Squeeze, twist, clean. I’ve also started recommending them for dogs with pododermatitis who need regular cleanings with diluted chlorhexidine or other medicated shampoos. This is one of those “Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?” dog devices.

 

Between the Groom Genie and the Paw Sponge, the Neat Treat package will keep your pup looking his finest for all those summer parties. Yours FREE for all those generous All Dogs Go to Kevin preorders. 

The vet will see you now- for entertainment purposes only

A year ago, my husband gave me a telephone number and said his insurance company now had phone consults available. 24/7, from the privacy of my own home, I could call in and get “seen” for ear infections, get a prescription for Ambien for travel, even get marriage counseling, should I desire it. I only used it once, but I was amazed that at 10 pm I could just call and talk to some random person and 15 minutes later pick up a prescription at the 24/7 Rite-Aid. I’m not going to lie, I think it was pretty cool.

For the past five years, I have said the same thing over and over to people in the veterinary profession: telemedicine is coming. How are we going to handle it? And over and over the response has been the same: no it’s not. This is only half true: it’s not coming from inside the vet profession.

But it is coming, as this piece from dvm360 goes into. And not just Vet on Demand. I’ve been approached about 10 times in the past year to sign up to be a telemedicine/internet consultation vet, and I always say the same thing: I am bound by my state practice act’s definition of valid client-patient relationship, which says that I must examine an animal in person to establish that. Anything outside of that and I’m breaking the practice act, which is why my FAQs are so clear on the topic.

Veterinarians make excellent points as to why telemedicine for us differs so much from telemedicine for people:

Doctors get a lot more out of history than we do. People can describe symptoms they are experiencing; pets cannot say, “I have chest pain radiating down my arm”. Veterinarians rely much more heavily on physical examinations.
Human medicine is incentivized to keep people out of the clinic to keep costs down, since general practitioners are already in short demand. Vets aren’t that slammed. Come on in.

And while we are perfectly content to say “This is a terrible idea,” others are not, and are trying to reap the benefits of it. People with background in restaurateurism see a chance to make a few bucks and throw an app together, paying a vet some pittance like $5 to put their license on the line. Why not? They don’t have anything to lose. They get around it by saying things like, “oh, we’re offering general advice, not specific diagnoses,” or take the old Miss Cleo approach:

For entertainment purposes only. Riiiiight.

This is from the VetonDemand website. I dunno guys, sure sounds like diagnosing to me. (By the way, my favorite saying is a lump is a lump is a lump. No biopsy, no diagnosis, unless the lump was a tick or a piece of sticky kibble.) That’s wasted $$ right there.

To sum up: individual veterinarians are bound by their state practice acts in terms of whether or not diagnosing over the net is legal, and it’s all over the place in terms of who can do what. This is reason enough for people to fold their hands together and say, “See, it’s not going to work.” I disagree.

My husband called the human telemedicine line to ask about a cough, and they refused him antibiotics and told him to get a chest x-ray. They were clear in their limitations. I think there are opportunities for veterinarians to use telemedicine to our advantage in responsible ways:

consults for pre-existing clients
Online ER consultations in coordination with local clinics for things like post-op questions: “My pet’s incision looks puffy, can it wait or should I come in?”
With clearly defined limitations and expectations, it has its place. Truth is, most of the time the answer is, “It could be x, y, z…you should be seen,” but that’s still better than what I see happening now.

I don’t have all the answers, certainly, but I think it’s a huge mistake and a missed opportunity for the veterinary profession to not take this on proactively. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when, and if we pass up our ability to drive the bus then two restaurant entrepreneurs from Nashville are going to take the wheel instead, and we probably won’t like where they take us.

I love technology. I think we can use it, we just need to be a little creative and stop digging in our heels like those old guys who still- STILL- insist on fax over email for sending records over. Give up, man, the world is moving on.

What do you think? Would you use a service like this if you could?

Bowls for books: Sleepypod Yummy bowl Travel Treat!

If you’re wondering if the entire blog has gone to the dogs lately, the answer is yes. This blog is All Dogs Go to Kevin, All the Time….through July 14th. That’s when the preorder part is over and I’m either kicking back with a bottle of champagne and planning the next book or crying inconsolably in a parking lot somewhere when I find out I sold less copies than William Hung’s newest single. I don’t want that, at all, which is why I spent so many hours staring over my husband’s shoulder while he did all the work arranging these lovely, amazing FREE preorder incentives. You should totally, absolutely take advantage of them. Today’s treat is a vintage pawcurious favorite:

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know I am huge fans of Sleepypod. I love everything they make, from the carriers to the bowls to the harnesses. Yup, I own them all, and I use them all. They have been really good to me and are offering not one but two treats for you guys- and today I’m thrilled to feature the Yummy bowl.

This has been my travel bowl of choice since I got one back in 2011, and it’s still in great shape.

Blast from the past! Koa bomb!

This bowl has the unique All Dogs to Kevin feature of being the only incentive item that has been photographed with one of the dogs featured in the book. But aside from that, there are multiple reasons they rock:

It’s a three part bowl- water in the bottom, food in the middle, and a cup/lid on top. We used these extensively on our trip to Seattle and they worked wonderfully- and didn’t tip, which is nothing short of miraculous, which you would know if you ever saw Koa eat.
They are dishwasher and microwave safe
They come in a gorgeous range of colors
In the summer, I freeze water in the bottom before heading out for a hike, right in the bowl.

So say you’re going to order the book anyway. Just slap a second one in the cart- it’s something like $18 on Amazon- and get a FREE Yummy bowl (which normally goes for $40) and you still come out ahead! I’m thinking of ordering an extra few books myself because I want the bowl in green. Kidding! (not kidding.) Are you ready? You’re ready!

1. Preorder 2 copies of All Dogs Go to Kevin (if you want them signed, get them from Warwicks)
2. Head over to the Treats Page and select “Travel Treat”
3. Follow the instructions, including proof of purchase for 2 books
4. We’ll follow up in the coming weeks to confirm the order!

Dog Plus Bone: The Stylin’ Treat Collar for posh pups

 

The preorder incentive campaign for All Dogs Go to Kevin is swimming along, but because you all are so awesome I really wanted to share some extra special items as thank yous for all your support. Today I want to introduce you to the Stylin’ Treat: A snap or martingale collar from the wonderful team at Dog Plus Bone!

Dog Plus Bone is the brainchild of owners Anne and Ivan, who set out with one goal: “to create simple, honest, classic products that enable you to enjoy more unforgettable adventures with your best friends.”

These are not collars for those of you who like your dog covered in bling that falls off into their dinner bowl, or unwieldy fashion items that might look cute for an Instagram picture but fall apart after one use.

Dog Plus Bone collars are the marriage of form and function: solid construction, quality materials, elegant design, and able to withstand all the kinds of adventures that come with summer and leave you picking dirt out of your socks for the next week.

Aren’t they beautiful? I love the two tone in the Martingales.

 

The Dog Plus Bone line currently includes Martingale collars, snap collars, and adjustable leashes. All fully washable and ready for whatever journeys you have in mind. Such as, in our case, dog beach.

Now if you simply must have one now, and I don’t blame you, you can go right on over to Dog Plus Bone and order one yourself. On the other hand, the first 15 who jump on the Treats for Tomes Preorder Incentive Campaign will get a snap collar or martingale of their choice (That’s $35 in your pocket!). This one is US only for now, but if you’re in Canada and really want one, send me an email and I will see what I can arrange. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Preorder 2 copies of All Dogs Go to Kevin (if you want them signed, get them from Warwicks)
2. Head over to the Treats Page and select “Stylin’ Treat”
3. Follow the instructions, including proof of purchase for 2 books
4. We’ll follow up in the coming weeks to confirm the order!