September 2012 Newsletter

September 2012 Newsletter

September has seemed to fly by awfully quickly. This month we have some good links for keeping up with pet food recalls, more info about the Pet Profile portals online, the announcement of our new facebook page, and an upcoming Halloween contest.

Pet Food and Product Recalls -Dr. Jacky May In a nutshell the newest ones are related to Salmonella contamination in : Boots & Barkley American Beef Bully Sticks, and Trader Joe's Peanut Butter containing pet treats.

Special thanks to Hanna Land for reminding me about Twitter. I am not terribly well versed on Twitter, Tweets or, for that matter, nor am I particularly good with birds in general. However, the AVMA is grandly tied into social media and maintains an excellent Twitter feed for pet food and product recalls : @AVMARecallWatch

You can check out the feed even if you do not maintain a Twitter account, but if you prefer they also usually post the recalls to the AVMA Facebook Page.

ARAC Facebook Page Launched We have officially launched the Arapaho Clinic Facebook Page. Please drop by and like us to follow. We will use the facebook page to post timely information, articles, holiday hour notices and such that you may find useful and interesting. We will also use that page to run a few contests for your pets during the year, complete with prizes (in addition to bragging rights to all your friends). We look forward to having a method to interact more directly and quickly with our clients and we look forward to growing our facebook page with you into a dynamic, fun, and relevant source of information!

Like us on Facebook !

A Few Words on the Website and Pet Profiles -Dr. Jacky May I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and complements on the website! If you are interested in being able to access your pets' vaccine and medical history records online then do not forget to log in to the Pet Profile section (located on every page of the website in the upper right hand corner). If you did not get an automatically generated mail with your password when we first entered your email address into our system, then feel free to use the contact page from that log in screen to let us know and I will get you manually set up and ready to go!

If you have pictures of your pet that you would like to upload into our medical history software so that they can be seen on your pet profile (or just stored as an ID picture in our software at the clinic), then feel free to email them to us directly at [email protected] as a .jpeg file preferably. A single picture per pet only please.

Pet Profile Mobile Apps There are mobile apps available to allow those of you with smart phones to view your pet profile information with your phones. I also have instructions for how to upload profile pictures for your pet through the apps for those with smart phones that are interested (please email me at [email protected]).

Petwise Mobile for iPhone Petwise Mobile for Android

Refills and Emails You can request refills via the Pet profile portal. However, please be aware that we do not check the email requests numerous times a day nor do we get any notification of new emails waiting during the day. So the email refills are best used after hours, or when you are not in any hurry to pick up the refill. The emails are checked for certain once a day, in the morning usually by about 9 am. Anything coming in after that may not actually be seen until the next day. If it is during business hours and you wish to pick it up the same day then it is still best to phone the refill request in.

You are welcome to email us directly at [email protected] Please be aware that the above limitations on when the email is checked still apply. If it is during business hours and you are after an answer the same day, then phoning is best. Phoning is also best for involved questions, please. Also, always leave the best phone number at which you can be reached if you do email us in case we need to speak directly to you.

Also note that this is the new 'official' email address from this point forward. We had to choose an email off the cuff when initially setting up internet access prior to the actual launch of the website. This new one is much closer to our actual URL address and so easier for everyone to remember now.

Upcoming Halloween Contest As Halloween fast approaches we decided to host a picture contest for our clients. And those of you who were first to be added to our email bank get the jump on everyone else this year. There will never be a better or more likely time to win while the pool of people currently getting our newsletter and facebook page feeds is small, but growing !!

Submit a picture of your pet or pets in a Halloween themed photo of some sort to our email address ([email protected]). We will collect them all, and depending on how many we get, either the staff will vote on the winner (if only a few), or we will select our top picks and post them on facebook so everyone that is following can vote. The winner will receive a free office visit ($49 value) to use with us at their discretion at some point over the next year!** Please submit your entries by October 25th.

**Fine print : Please note that the outcome of the contest can most certainly be influenced by bribery, preferably of the baked goods kind. The judges can be bought. We support lobbying and the purchase of favoritism wholeheartedly.