January 2013, NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS –NATICK ANIMAL CLINIC at 121 WEST
CENTRAL STREET, NATICK announces the immediate offering of laser therapy for pets in the metrowest Boston area.
The addition of this technology is another step towards adding technological benefits once available only in human medicine. Lasers have been used in human medicine for over 30 years and are now entering the veterinary industry where many of the same types of medical conditions that humans experience also affect our pets.
The Animal Industry often looks to its human counterpart to lead the way to more progressive and innovative treatments and alternative therapies. The laser and other alternative therapies are integrated as complementary rehabilitative approaches to traditional medical and surgical procedures.
More and more clients are demanding the highest level of care for their pets as the research on human and animal bonds underscore the familial-like relationships that these bonds create. “Laser provides us with the opportunity
to offer a range of services that will benefit our clients’ pets, particularly those that have inflammatory conditions, limited mobility or joint pain,” states Andrea Moolenbeek, Natick’s Chief of Staff. “The versatility of the laser will allow us to treat a range of conditions often expected to be chronic and debilitating” says Moolenbeek.
The laser has a patented technology delivery system that synchronizes energy frequencies to produce results without drugs, side effects or risks.
Laser therapy is a therapeutic treatment that uses light energy (photons) for tissue healing and pain reduction. Until now, there have been only pulsed light lasers that control swelling and continuous light lasers that control pain, but not both. The MLS Laser Therapy at Natick Animal Clinic synchronizes the dual action of both continuous and pulsed light therapy.
For additional information about laser therapy, contact Dr. Bill Schmidt at Natick Animal Clinic who is leading the new program at the clinic, (508) 653-5020.
Main Street Hospital Receives 2012 Best of Salem Award
Double Congratulations
Main Street Animal Hospital
Receives 2012 Best of Salem Awards
For the fifth consecutive year, Main Street Animal Hospital has been selected for the 2012 Best of Salem Award in the Veterinarians category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA). The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes local businesses throughout the country.
This is the first year that a business has qualified as a Five-Time Award Winner. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2012 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.
In addition to the USCA award, Main Street Animal Hospital was also voted “Best of the Best” Number One Veterinarian in GKM, a national independent survey company poll for the 6th straight year in a row.
Last month, GKM National Independent survey announced the 2012 winners of their 20th Annual Greater Salem Region’s Best Businesses. Selected organizations are determined from the results of a public opinion poll through Bestofsurveys.com. All winners were posted in the Eagle Tribune Newspaper within the past month.
For a complete list of winners, visit http://www.bestofsurveys.com
Both Award Plaques announcing these high honors were presented and are displayed in the waiting room of the hospital.
Main Street Animal Hospital Fundraiser Benefited Working Dog Foundation
On Sunday, December 4, Main Street Animal Hospital held their 11th Annual Fundraiser event. It was a huge success with over $2,300 raised! The money was donated to the “Working Dog Foundation” – “Police Dogs Keeping Your Family Safe” at a recent presentation. It was a wonderful day, where many of our clients brought their pets for pictures with Santa. There was also a huge raffle of gifts that were donated by many businesses, citizens and vendors in the local area. It was a fun day for all that attended, and many new friendships were formed. Thank you again for all the support that was given to promote this event from everyone involved.
The mission of the Working Dog Foundation is to establish and to ensure communities in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts will always be able to train and care for their K-9 teams. Because budgets reductions have been forced to review their K-9 resources, money has been cut or eliminated for training and travel to out-of-state training facilities – in many cases training facilities have been cut and even eliminated. In addition to locating and placing qualified dogs, this organization raises funds and provides facilities training, testing and certifying police K-9s and the handlers. For more information about the Working Dog Foundation, please visit http://www.workingdog.org/
Accepting the check was Rochester Police Department Officer McKenzie and his K-9 partner from Donna Pirolli
Walter Haigh School Career Fair
In June of 2011, Doctor Christopher Martin and his staff participated in the Career Fair held at Walter Haigh School in Salem, New Hampshire. For this enlightening event, eighty five fourth and fifth grade students evaluated numerous professions to help determine what course they might want to take on their road of life. Main Street Animal Hospital explained the veterinary field with pride, and supplied plenty of visual stimuli to encourage the students to ask questions.
Many of the children approached the booth prepared with questions and material to record the answers. The staff provided the eager listeners with a lot of information as well as some fun give away items to help them remember the time they shared together. Perhaps the biggest draw to the booth was the radiograph viewer, ready and running with interesting images of broken limbs, bladder stones and even puppies. The children were pumped and kept the staff busy answering questions about animal care with a special focus on flea and tick preventive. 
Doctor Martin and the staff at Main Street Animal Hospital are proud to have played a part in enlightening students on the veterinary field and helping to open their eyes to the many career opportunities available. We are grateful to Amy Patenaude, Guidance Counselor, for inviting us to partake in this event. We hope to see some of the students working alongside us in the future!
Special Thank You to Nancy Gibbs
The Doctors truly bond with their clients at Weston Veterinary Clinic. Recently one of Dr. Neil Storey’s clients, Nancy Gibbs, passed away. As a thank you for taking exceptional care of her dog, “Nell”, Ms. Gibbs named the Weston Veterinary Clinic as a beneficiary in her Will.
Thanks to Nancy’s generous gift, the clinic was able to purchase some new monitoring equipment as well as start a fund for subsidized care for clients that may not be able to afford care for their pets.
“Nell” is still a patient at Weston Veterinary Clinic and we hope to continue to see her for many years to come.
Anti Bull-E Gear
WellesleyWeston Online
Cheryl Fenton writer
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Much like a class in school, the act of bullying runs its course. The initial taunts and teases might serve as an introduction, just a taste of what could potentially come throughout the school year. Then there’s the long, involved daily grind of lessons. Didn’t know you were a nerd, did you? Didn’t think you were fat, did you? Well, the bully is there to teach you these things. There might even be a little “homework” via Facebook or MySpace. At the end of the course is the final exam-one single incident that pushes the student into a make-or-break situation. Will they pass or give up?
In some cases, this “final test” of bullying pushes the victim to fail. A sad reality of today’s bullying is that it’s an aggressive phenomenon that goes beyond shoving others down the hall and passing notes about someone in class replete with funny drawings.
Recent studies have shown that over 30 percent of kids are bullied at one time or another. The past few years, things seem to have become worse, with several students in the news turning to suicide or extreme violence as a result of horrendous behavior towards them by fellow classmates.
Aware of the possibly fatal intensity in bullying, Andrea Harding, a long-time Wellesley resident and mother of two, decided to make an anti-bullying campaign a top priority, so she became a co-creator of anti bull-e gear, a clothing line with an anti-bullying message. “I got tired of children committing suicide at the hands of other children. There’s something totally unbalanced in the world about that,” says Harding. Together with her husband, NewsCenter 5 co-anchor Ed Harding, her sister Ilene Terrell, and Terrell’s partner Sheri Backerain, Harding created a line of clothing that spreads the anti-bullying message through clever slogans and a loveable Bull Terrier logo. “When Phoebe Prince took her own life, I decided it was time to help children find a voice. Most states have anti-bullying laws. If that doesn’t speak volumes to us as parents, I don’t know what does.” Massachusetts has several laws that address bullying, hazing, and even cyber-bullying.
“The outrage existed even before my wife and I started this process,” says Ed Harding. “The Phoebe Prince story just broke your heart. Every time I reported that story, I remember vividly just wanting to cry. Today, there are no lines. We live in a 24/7, 365 world. There are no stop signs. At least when I was little, [bullying] ended when you physically left the building. You were quiet for the evening. Today, you can be at home, talking online to anyone, anywhere in the world.”
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With memories of the strong hand of bullying reaching into her own home years ago and victimizing her son Adam, now 24, Harding was frustrated with the lack of support for kids and parents.
“When I went online to understand it, everything I read was either combating it with more aggression or it was so dry,” she remembers. “These kids are raised in a world of sound bites. I didn’t feel there was anything out there that was in ‘kid speak’.”
The Terrell/Backerain household in Fredericksburg, Virginia had also seen its share of bullying, with both of their young sons going through some form of it as early as kindergarten. The women were happy to add anti bull-e gear into already packed schedules (Terrell is a podiatrist; Backerain is a veterinarian). They threw themselves whole-heartedly into assisting the Hardings in this new grassroots effort.
“The goal of our company is to create something that people will be willing to wear, especially the kids, that would fit their lifestyle and would constantly be a reminder,” says Terrell. “Children are born with a clean slate. [Bullying isn't] a genetic behavior. These are learned and imitated behaviors, so I’m convinced that some of what we see is from home and some is peer-related. We have to attack it on both fronts-parents and kids.”
“Since we started, we’ve become way more involved in the message,” she continues, excited about the future of this collaboration. “It’s almost like it’s grown and snowballed.”
Homer Brings it Home
“People don’t like to talk about bullying, so I wanted to find some way to put all this genesis into a character that would allow the conversation to open up,” says Harding.
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Nothing drives a point home quicker than irony-something that Harding realized in the initial stages of anti bull-e gear.
The idea was right in front her eyes; or rather, lying across her feet. As a Bull Terrier rescuer for over 20 years, Harding found inspiration right in her own home, where she had been involved with a “bully” named Homer for some time.
“The irony is that those among us who own Bull Terriers call them ‘bullies.’ So I thought: That’s it! It’s living with me.” With that realization came the face of Homer, Ed and Andrea’s eight-year-old Bull Terrier. “Most Bull Terriers are between 55 to 60 pounds, and he’s almost 80. He’s a brute with a vicious bark, yet he has the gentlest heart and just wants to be loved.” Quite the opposite of what you would expect of a “bully.”
Coming to the Hardings’ home from a rescue center at the age of two, Homer had never been inside a house with a family. “He needed to learn social skills, so he really did embody all the elements of the issue,” she explains. They took an image of Homer’s handsome face to a graphic artist, and the anti bull-e gear logo was born.
Wearing the Message
“When you look at fashion, it captures the essence and dynamics of our culture. We’re using our fashion to make the statement that our culture needs to change. We need to return to civility,” says Harding. “I wanted to create an idea to keep bullying in the limelight until we, as a community, successfully put an end to it.”
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Much as we hope bullying has a grim future, it seems anti bull-e has a great one in the works. Lounge pants, hoodies, shorts, and sweatshirts are being added to the collection, as well as new messages targeting different groups. There are two T-shirt designs currently in the line; a crosswords puzzle using words like “acceptance” and “tolerance” as solutions to “fat” and “tramp,” and the hallmark T-shirt of “Put Bull-e-ing Behind Us” with Homer’s face. A cyber-bullying shirt with the tagline “Date Machine Not Hate Machine” for a computer isn’t far behind, as well as shirts in Spanish and one with a rainbow design.
“Our mission is to help children and parents find a way to communicate in unison that bullying is not acceptable,” says Harding. ”By wearing anti bull-e gear, you’re adding your voice to the message on a daily basis.”
Helping the Community
According to Harding, there are two key elements to making bullying a thing of the past. The first is that parents and teachers must be actively involved. Second is educating everyone in the importance of respecting and tolerating each other. It’s to this end that anti bull-e gear is giving back five percent of all proceeds to Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, the world’s foremost program fighting this issue.
According to Dan Olweus, the program’s creator, known as a pioneer in bullying research, a person is bullied “when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself.” Olweus goes into schools to train teachers, talk to kids, and teach both sets of people the language of bullying.
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“It’s wonderful how they reach out to everyone in the school community and talk about what is and what isn’t bullying,” says Backerain, who was originally impressed by Olweus’ research-backed success. “They make the community aware and involved. They teach kids to stop and see the consequences of what they do-whether it’s what comes out of their mouths or driving a car and texting.”
The Future of anti bull-e
“It’s a very slow and steady build. But people like the designs and they love what we’re doing,” says Harding. Anti bull-e was the only apparel line exhibiting at the 7th Annual International Bullying Prevention Association conference this past November in Seattle. “People are encouraging us to keep going.”
Regardless of what others say, sometimes it’s best to just go with your own heart , and Harding, Terrell, and Backerain are doing just that.
“I don’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore,” admits Backerain. “I love my boys with all my heart and soul. I want to make a difference in the world they’re going to live in when they’re young men.”
“When the media hype turns its attention to some new issue and the bullying unfortunately fades into the background, that makes what we’re trying to accomplish so much more important,” says Harding. “This message will always stay front and center with us.”
Sister Hospitals Visit School
May 2010, Salem, NH : Staff Members from Main Street Animal Hospital and Have a Heart Animal Hospital visited St. Josephs Regional Catholic School, 40 Main Street, Salem, NH grades K-4 last month. The children were educated on weight management, exercise and its importance in the overall health of their pets. They enjoyed an educational movie of before and after stories of dogs and cats that had lost weight and how it changed their lives. A guessing game on the comparisons of giving “people food” to your pet was played and teachers and students alike were amazed at the caloric comparisons. They had no idea how harmful it was for their pets to consume our foods. There was a question and answer segment, and hands on measuring of two staff dogs that were brought in for the presentation.
Each year in May we turn our client education attention to pet obesity and try to help our clients prevent life with excess weight, find the right treatment approach to weight reduction and maintain healthy skin, hair and body weight. Excess weight and obesity in pets has been increasing steadily, right along with weight problems for pet owners.
Our “Shape up in May” target month has brought more awareness to our clients and now our younger students are concerned about helping keep their pets healthy and live a longer life!
| Main Street Animal Hospital on Animal Planet |
Watch Main Street Animal Hospital (located in Salem, NH), on Animal Planet (Dogs 101) Saturday December 12, 2009 @ 9pm. This exciting episode will contain everything you need to know about puppies; from their basic biology to selecting the right puppy for your lifestyle, and how to prepare your household for your new puppy’s arrival.
Main Street’s Chief of Staff, Veterinarian Dr. Christopher Martin, and the staff will be featured along with one of their clients Sharon Wagner. The show documents the pregnancy through birth of puppies born to her 6 year old Labrador Retriever named Wigeon “Pudgy”. Dr. Martin has been caring for Wigeon at Main Street Animal Hospital since she was a puppy of 8 weeks old. This 1 hour episode will give highlights of the birth, first visit to the veterinarian, puppy classes and the eventual adoption to a new family. It prepares the new family with tips on basic care and gets them ready to receive their new puppy!
For more information, click on the link below
Dogs 101: Puppies Airs Dec. 12
- Picking a Puppy/Adoption
- Training
- First Four Weeks
- From Puppy to Adult
Weston Veterinary Clinic Annual Charity Motorcycle Ride a Big Success!
On Sunday, August 9, 2009, the Weston Veterinary Clinic sponsored its 2nd annual motorcycle ride to raise money for the Neponset Valley Humane Society. Approximately 20 motorcycles and two “hot rods” driven by veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and friends left the Weston Clinic for a 1 1/2 hour country road trip. The riders were greeted on their return to the Clinic by 50 human and assorted canine supporters, all of whom enjoyed a catered barbecue and raffle. Wagging tails were plentiful!
The event raised nearly $3,000, all of which was donated to the Neponset Valley Humane Society of Norwood, MA.
This all-volunteer organization works tirelessly to find homes for dogs and cats, to establish a medical fund for animals in need, and to expand their trap, neuter and release program for feral cats.
Organizers of the event included Holly O’Halloran, Shauna LeBlanc, Practice Manager Andrea Harding, and Dr. Joel Woolfson. Dr. David McGrath, owner of the Weston Veterinary Clinic, was the major sponsor of the event.
This year’s Road Captains included Bruce Leung, CVT, of VESCONE, Mike Robinson, DVM, from the Medway Animal Hospital, Wendy Emerson, DVM, from the Putnam Veterinary Clinic in Topsfield, Joel Woolfson, DVM, DACVS, and Allen Sisson, DVM, DACVIM, from The Angell Animal Medical Center. The motorcycles were escorted by Drs. David Knapp, Suzy Starr and Allen Sisson in their 4-wheel hot rods.
Once again, the staff of the Weston Veterinary Clinic “went the distance” to help animals in need.
(MVMA Magazine)
| Debarking: The Unkindest Cut |
| Dog Lovers Divided On Debarking Bill. Join The Conversation: Conversation Nation |
BOSTON (WBZ) – What do you think about dog debarking?
Should be veterinarians be allowed to debark dogs?
It was up for debate Tuesday on Beacon Hill.
A bill has been filed to ban devocalization of dogs in Massachusetts unless it’s a medical necessity.
Debarking is a procedure which snips or removes a dog’s vocal chords to make the bark softer.
Read: Dog Debarking Concerns
There are animal lovers on both sides of the debate.
Those against debarking say it’s cruel and can lead to complications for the dog.
Those who support it claim it can sometimes save a dog’s life.
Debarking can lead to serious medical problems for the dogs.
Some have trouble swallowing and the potential growth of scar tissue after the surgery can cause respiratory distress.
Those who support debarking say there are cases in which dogs are beaten or killed by neighbors or strangers because of their bark. They claim the procedure is a last resort to keep the pets safe.
The Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association says it deplores devocalizing for convenience.
But it does not support a ban on the procedure altogether because they say it should be available to prevent a pet from losing its life or home.
What do you think?
Join the conversation in our Conversation Nation blog.
More information on the bill and devocalization:
- Debarking A Sensitive Issue
- Commentary: Bill Against Barking Is Misguided
- Looking To Ban Devocalization
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
